Just got my 56 year old wellness report in and its not that great

vsndesigns

Hi, My Name is Victor and I just got my Wellness Report in from my Doctor's and the prognosis isn't that great. I found out that I am Obese, Diabetic, Hyper Cholesterol, and have Gout...jeez...so I looked up something to count calories and here I am. Not much to say, except this kinda came as a surprise to me and I plan on doing something about it. That's about it. Except, well, I came home today instead of eating out for lunch and instead of fast food, I made a bowl of instant apple cinnamon oatmeal sweetened, a bag of Kirkland popcorn buttered, and opened a caramia artichoke bruschetta on crackers, and a bottle of Arrowhead water. Okay, is this all I have to do to fix myself? If so, this is no sweat, but I have a funny feeling this isn't the end of it. Vic out.

conniewilkins56

You have a long way to go baby lol

quiksylver296

Read this thread. It's great for newbies.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

OGingerBeardMan

It's a step in the right direction. One down!

zebasschick

did you log the calories for all those foods?

a bag of kirkland popcorn is 2.5 servings of 190 calories each, so the popcorn alone was 475 calories.
https://www.costco.com/wcsstore/CostcoUSBCCatalogAssetStore/Attachment/9555_nutritional.pdf

the bowl of oatmeal was probably around 160 calories - quaker is - the artichoke bruschetta was probably about 70 calories for every 2 tablespoon, and no one eats just two tablespoons, and the crackers - depends on how many you ate. i'm guessing you had at least 825 calories - you could have had a sourdough jack for 700 calories or a monster taco and a small fries for 570 calories.

the most important thing i found about losing weight is knowing how many calories is in the various foods i eat and knowing portion sizes - i weigh everything, and thanks to my electronic food scale and finding ways to speed up the weighing process, i'm losing weight very nicely. without knowing calories and portions, a lot of people eat healthier foods that aren't actually lower calorie and so they don't lose weight.

weigh what you eat, find a listing for the food in the myfitnesspal database that is accurate - many aren't, so check nutritional info the first time you add a food - and set your height, weight and weight loss goal. then add everything you eat to your daily diary, and myfitnesspal will tell you how many calories you have for the day, how many you have left, and you can even set it to show your daily cholesterol.

btw, i lost my first 50 pounds by doing food substitutions. instead of full fat cheese or ice cream, i ate light cheese and ice cream. some suck, some are delish, so it takes some experimenting. i found a lot of alternatives to what i was eating and cut calories by more than 25% without actually eating less.

good luck!

LyndaBSS

Welcome to the community!

If you haven't already, read the stickies at the top of the getting started forum. Very informative and helpful.

I'm 61. I am a type 1 adult onset diabetic, have gout, am obese and have anxiety and depression (for right now). 😉

I started mfp two months ago, eating a pescatarian diet and am now off insulin, recent bloodwork results were normal range and my anxiety and depression symptoms have lessened.

Weigh everything on a food scale.
Fill out the food diary truthfully.
Stay in a calorie deficit.

Good luck with your journey!

concordancia

Did you also get a recommendation to a dietician or diabetes education classes?

I could not have eaten what you did today without serious consequences tomorrow, but I also know that the single most important factor in treating diabetes is weight loss (it just doesn't seem to help me, for some reason), so if you are eating fewer calories, you are moving in the right direction.

nighthawk584

54 here and was basically in your same condition last April. When I found out I was pre-diabetic, I did a 180 and dropped all my bad eating, drinking and no exercise habits. It takes work , dedication and your willingness to want it bad, but it is possible! I'm down 64 lbs so far. I never thought I couldn't do it, I just didn't think I could do it this fast. Don't give up!

vsndesigns

Thanks for all the nice comments and links. Yuppers, I went ahead and entered all the calories in. I'm still hungry and only thought I was doing good. Well, at least I jumped on the elliptical, the recumbant, and a little walking. And I drank 3 bottles of water so I guess I at least I got my water requirements in...am I supposed to be dizzy?

LyndaBSS

You're off to a good start. There's a learning curve involved. Do yourself a favor and start slow. Otherwise, you might get discouraged.

I find that logging my food diary a few days in advance works well. It alleviates a lot of the stress of thinking about what to eat.

nighthawk584

quote="vsndesigns;c-44061035"]Thanks for all the nice comments and links. Yuppers, I went ahead and entered all the calories in. I'm still hungry and only thought I was doing good. Well, at least I jumped on the elliptical, the recumbant, and a little walking. And I drank 3 bottles of water so I guess I at least I got my water requirements in...am I supposed to be dizzy? [/quote]

I got very dizzy at the start but I have(HAD) high blood pressure too and my body was adjusting to the sudden change...it has improved over the months though and my blood pressure is perfect now.

rheddmobile

Hi! If you are fully diabetic and not just pre-diabetic, I recommend you ask for an appointment with a nutritionist. The high carb foods you are choosing - sweetened oatmeal, crackers, popcorn - are not ideal for helping a diabetic control blood sugar, especially when eaten without fats and protein to slow digestion. I am a type 2 diabetic, and like @concordancia , I would not be able to eat the meal you described without serious consequences. Are you on any medication now? What was your a1c?

Also, dizziness and hunger cravings shortly after eating are signs you need to learn to read in order to manage your diabetes, not something to shrug off and ignore. Get yourself a blood sugar monitor and use it until you learn how different foods effect you. Depending on what medication you may be taking, you could be at risk for low blood sugar during exercise. Hunger cravings shortly after high carb meals can mean your blood sugar shot up then dropped. Definitely ask for professional help, diabetes is very manageable but there is a learning curve.