I've had good weeks, bad weeks, good months, and bad months when it comes to losing weight. But, I keep track of everything and just keep plugging away at the low carb way of living. Right now I am enjoying a "Peanut Butter Cup" flavored coffee, made with Da Vinci's syrup in sugar free Chocolate (just a dash) and sugar free Peanut Butter flavors! Oh, how I've missed the flavor of Peanut Butter! I also plan on making another batch of the brownies I made a few weeks ago, but adding the PB flavor to make them PB Brownies, yum! I've rarely met my "monthly goal" of 4 to 5 pounds, but I'm good with that...it'll just take longer! This "longer" thing is why my charts all look like they're coming to the end of it...I need to extend dates out a bit still, lol. These monthly weights are a little "off" though, I made these by taking the first week of the next month and subtracting the first weight of the month labeled (like in April, I started May at 275.0 and started April at 273.6...so it shows a weight gain for April), it isn't perfect, but it let's me see if I'm having any major issues going on weight wise! And no...I'm not losing 24 pounds each month! Since I have it set up for an entire year already, the current month shows my current weight ass what I've lost, I cut that part out of the picture.
So, if you haven't figured it out by now...I like numbers and I love Excel! I took a class (back when MS Office texts were for 2003) and learned a ton of info on "how to" use all the features. I even have a spreadsheet for my blood sugars...that ones uses a "COUNTIFS" code! That counts the number of times my readings are within specified numbers, hence the "S". I have that spreadsheet set up to graph my readings, provide a daily average, and a weekly average. I'm in the process of "back logging" from my hand written logs so that I can establish monthly and yearly (eventually) averages as well. On another page of the workbook (every week has it's own page), is all other important information from the doctor's office. Such as weight information (always different from at home...), blood pressure (always high, has been since I was a little kid), Hb A1C readings (a "snapshot" of what my sugars have been up to over the last 3 months), and noted from the doctor (like lowering my Lantus). The plan is to have this all printed off and in a binder I can take with me to the next appointment! I like being well organized and doctor's love charts! I have been self-graphing my blood sugars since I was 11 years old (off and on), but back then, it was all done on graph paper with colored pencils, now it is much prettier!
This is last week...readings in pink are over 150 mg/dl (the measure for sugars in your bloodstream) and yellow ones are under 95 mg/dl. The unhighlighted ones are between the two and considered "in range". To the right of the readings are my insulin requirements (what I took) and continuing right are the daily blood sugar averages. At the bottom of the far right column is my weekly average. The line graph goes from 270 down to 40 mg/dl, so extremely high or low readings do go off the chart! Obviously, even with an A1C reading of 7.1%, I am not in tight control of them all the time! I like using that particular gradient color scheme in my charts (I used the same color for both weight and sugars), here the color changes based on where my sugars were, blue for higher readings, orange for really low ones. Visual cues are always useful!
I was obviously struggling with new insulin needs that week! I have since lowered my Lantus (long acting) and am working on stabilizing everything again.
I love this! What an excellent way to keep track of all your weight loss information!
ReplyDeleteHow might I get a copy of your weight-loss spreadsheet?