Weekly Weigh In #5: The new math.

I weighed in today.  Here's the report:

Today:  244.8 lbs.


3lbs. lost this week.


23lbs. total lost.


(Not a landmark, but HOORAY!)




I know it's important to keep a food diary, but haven't committed to doing that yet.  I think it's because I'm more of a food recap kind of girl, not one to keep a diary as I'm eating.  So, let's talk about last week's food highlights.


I drank all my shakes this week.  I also had two salads with veggies, with no crutons or sunflower seeds (i.e. carbs).  They were light on the dressing (regular ranch, caesar).  Both salads had grilled chicken on them, of which I ate only about half.  (I still had my shakes to make sure I got my protein - either before or after my meal.)  


I started wondering how many calories I was eating when I had these salads from time to time (usually for business meetings or the like).  So, I decided to dig a little about one of the salads I had eaten this week.  At Chick-Fil-A, I had a chargrilled chicken garden salad, so I went to their website and looked up the stats and see exactly what I was eating.  I did this from my iPhone, while sitting outside on the porch.

On the Chick-Fil-A website, I found the single-best nutrition information I've ever found for a fast food restaurant.  It was so easy to find - not buried under a million clicks.  It was easy to read - even on my iPhone.  I was so impressed by ALL of this!  I have always been a fan of their service and friendliness, but this won me over.  As a person who has to change everything about the way she eats, access to real nutritional information is very important to me, and once again, Chick-Fil-A impresses me.  And the salad was DELICIOUS - and not just because I haven't had much food lately, but because it was fresh and crisp.

I think it's important to be able to access this kind of information easily.  Sadly, most places don't make it as easy as my friends at Chick-Fil-A.  


Case in point: Chipotle just opened within driving distance of my home, and I was really excited because I love their food... so I went to the website to see what the stats were.


Because Chipotle is a buffet-style restaurant, it makes it easy to customize your meal.  Well, their nutrition chart is also buffet style - so I have to take all the things I want on my rice bowl salad (sans-rice) and add them up.  And, I have to add many columns - calories, proteins, fibers, carbs, fats - oy.  Too much.  Who's going to actually do that math?  Most of us aren't.  And without realizing it, we're going to end up with 300+ calories of guacamole and sour cream because in the moment, it looks so glorious.  While I will always love Chipotle's food, I don't like their nutrition chart on their website.  (And I am surprised that not everything is on it - where's the rice?  I know the screenshot is only part of the chart, but it was conspicuously missing even when I scrolled down.)


My need to know nutritional information is new.  I have only recently cultivated an interest in this kind of math... adding up the calories, looking closer at carb/fiber ratios, and seeing how much protein is in my food.  (This is why I'm fat.)  But this new way of eating and reading and math-ing is now a part of me, and it's having a great residual effect on my family.

Case in point:  Today, my sweet husband took our kiddo to the airport in Tulsa for a visit to his Aunt and Uncle's home in Texas.  On the way, the boys stopped for gas, and Max got a snack.  He loves Funnyuns - and that's what he got.  This time, however, he read the nutrition label, and then said, "I'm never eating those again."  He proceeded to use his Dad's phone to look up some of the ingredients, and found out most of them were just hidden sugars and stuff that's bad for you.  Even without me there, Max was thinking about what he put in his body.  And while we all know I want to have a smokin' bod and fend off diabetes, THIS is my real goal - to leave a better food example behind for the kiddo.


In school, math was never my strongest suit.  I love my calculator and use it often.  But there is some math I can do in my head:  I know how many pounds I have lost.  I know how many I have to go.  And I can calculate a nutrition label like nobody's business.  That's what I call new math.