charts & numbers: it was a slow & steady kinda week

As promised, my first weekly installment of chart-y updates. (But for a quick primer on how these charts are put together, read my "using charts & spreadsheets to track my health")

without further ado, purty numbers

To see each chart in more detail, click on it and you'll be sent to flickr, where you can get a nice zoom. And you can find my collection of tracking images in this collection.


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weight

Started Monday at: 125.8 lbs.
Ended Sunday at: 124 lbs.
Loss/Gain: 1.8 lbs. lost!

Observations: Let me first say I'm *very* happy with these numbers. And I probably would have been content with a plateau for now. But I have to observe that, as with many of these numbers: The week started out with a positive progression, but as soon as the weekend neared, the numbers retreated.

I'll let life play itself out over the next several weeks before I decide if I need to do something about that. I mean, life is full of little ups and downs ... and the weekend seems like a perfect time to indulge / slow down / let go ... *but* is that really a good cycle? Is there any reason I shouldn't aim to find happiness in a consistently healthy, active lifestyle, weekend or not?


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scale numbers

Started Monday at (bone mass // muscle mass // body fat // water): 3.5 // 28.1 // 36.9 // 52.9
Ended Sunday at (bone mass // muscle mass // body fat // water): 3.2 // 31 // 35.2 // 50.3

Observations: I can't help but wonder if bone and muscle mass really change that quickly. But something I've decided about this scale is that even it's not accurate, if it's at least consistenly inaccurate, it'll help me monitor Change Over Time.

And isn't this change interesting? Again, during the weekend the numbers that had been headed in a positive direction started to turn back. What I'm most annoyed with myself at is the water percentage. Because (as you'll see below) my water intake dropped to near nothing during the weekend (more on that later).

The body fat is an interesting number. I'm not sure if it's correlated with the water numbers, or my drop in exercise toward the end of the week, or my excess food intake. Most likely, it's a combination of all three.

*Most* interesting? I'm more concerned at the slips in these numbers than I am by the weekend slip in my weight. I'm kinda happy about this — I'm putting numbers in perspective and what I've come up with is that my body composition is a much better gauge of health than my weight.


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weekly water intake

Observations: Ugh. Water became work this week. I was *ok* during the workweek (when I can get in the habit of filling my water bottle as soon as I get in the office and keeping it full). But come the weekend, I just lost that focus.

I'm probably the least happy with these numbers as with any this week. So I'm on a mission: At least 80 oz. of water EVERY SINGLE DAY next week.


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calories burned

Weekly goal: 2,000
Total burned: 1,670
Difference: 330 short

Observations: I'm happy overall, despite falling short of my weekly burn goal. The thing is, I've been having a little issue with shortness of breath (which I'm convinced is psychosomatic — I keep finding that it escalates in the hour or so after Patrick asks to see how my breathing's been lately). In any case, I've spent the later part of the week taking it a *little* easy just in case there's a problem.

It kinda bummed me out. Because consequently I missed my second Body Pump class. I'll get back to that next week with a vengeance (and after a few visits I plan to write up a brief summary of my experience thus far with the class).

I look forward to a week ahead of more activity. Think I'll shatter that 2,000 goal? I do ...


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weekly points

Observations: I've been *so* good about staying within points since I got back on Weight Watchers a couple of months ago. The past couple of weeks I've left my activity points on the table (while making sure to use up every single "extra weekly" point that I'm given by default). This week, though, with the breathing issue and a general dip in energy (which I blame on a shortage of protein), I decided to use up my extra weekly and activity points.

So, see that light pink line at the very top that creeps up throughout the week? That's my activity points slowly building up, on top of my default extra points. And if you'll noticed the dark mauve-y line that eventually takes over the entire chart by Sunday: it represents me using up every extra/activity point available to me.

I feel physically good having consumed all those points (not overstuffed). We'll see if it plays out on the scale through this coming week.


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heart rate zones

Observations: I tried to stay away from that power zone if I could help it. I'll admit I got a little bored on Friday (3/11) and pushed myself on the elliptical. And the bike ride Sunday (3/13), of course, pushed my heart rate up on hill climbs (and a couple of speed bursts that I did just for fun).

That big black abyss on Tuesday (3/8)? My Body Pump class, which was less action-packed than I'd expected (though no less difficult). Next time I attend, I'll sneak in 30 minutes on the elliptical first.

At any rate, I'm happy with how this chart look overall. I'd like to see more health zone eventually, but this is a good start.


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overall heart rate & average speed

Observations: First, the outliers ...

The dip is my visit to Body Pump.
The uptick is my ride on the bike.

What I like to see, though? Notice my average heart rate (blue line) near the end of the week. It stays steady despite my big increase in average speed (green line, with the bike ride). That's gotta count for something.

I gotta wait for more data to say for sure that it's a good sign, but I have a feeling. ...

using charts & spreadsheets to track my health

Who doesn't know I love spreadsheets? NOBODY. That's who.

I've long created, used, abandoned and recreated Google spreadsheets to track my activity and food intake, but I've only recently (finally!) understood how to use Google's charting options to visualize the data. Which inspired me to go beyond the simple calories-in/calories-out tracking and start exploring my: heart rate, water intake, weight change and muscle/bone/fat/water percentages that I can borrow from our Homedics bathroom scale.

So how's about I just dive in and show you what I see everyday?

the charts

For the most part the charts I've included below display one week's worth of data (for the span between Feb. 28 and March 6).


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the mothership

Here are the raw numbers, which I fill in every day. I have some ideas for more data to add (a count of visits to the gym per week, separate tracking for bike rides, inch measurements to accompany my weight numbers, etc.), but for now this is giving me a lot of great analysis. A note: You'll notice I leave the heart rate/speed numbers blank on days I don't exercise, but I take the time to mark "0" calories on those days. When you see the visualization of those numbers later on I think you'll see why.


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daily water intake

Water! Simple and straightforward. I'm still trying to figure out the best volume of water to keep me properly hydrated every day. I've set a goal of 81 oz. for now (my Klean Kanteen is a 27 oz. bottle and to keep things simple, I aim to drink three of those a day, which brings me to 81 oz.).

I still feel thirsty, and wake up thirsty, so I don't know if I'm overdoing it, need more water, or need to examine something else in my diet. If I come to find that I need to increase or decrease my daily water goal, I'll adjust my chart accordingly.


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weekly points consumed

I already track my Weight Watchers points through my weightwatchers.com login, but I thought I may find some benefit one day (for some reason I have yet to determine) of having these numbers readily available in my charts.

Maybe one day I'll get curious about how my weekly activity performance compares with my overall food intake through that week? Or if my heart rate during exercise seems to spike on days I've consumed more points (or fewer)?

I really don't know yet, but the numbers are there to be crunched ...


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daily & weekly calories burned

I use this chart to keep an eye on my weekly goal for exertion: I'd love to burn 2,000 calories each week. You can see that in the week displayed here, I fell short of that goal.

(And regarding that "0" calories burned I mark on days I don't go to the gym: You can see how that "0" displays on my chart.)


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heart rate zones per workout

I need to further educate myself on what different heart rate zones mean for fitness, but some preliminary reading suggests that if I keep my heart rate in a lower (though elevated) range, I'll be in my "fat-burning" zone.

And that the further I push that heart rate the more it will push my body beyond that benefit and into ... I'm not sure. That's where I need to read more so I can understand what the higher exertion does for fitness training.

In the meantime, I've been trying to keep my heart rate in the first (teal) and second (green) heart rate zones (as determined by my smart heart rate monitor). And that pinky red you see in my earlier workouts? It's me nearly maxing out my heart rate before I started reading about healthy zones and how to approach aerobic training ...

(And regarding those nil data sets for days I don't work out: For this chart and the next, it would be funky to see "0" for my heart rate those days. I think it's more useful to mark progress from one workout day to the next, whenever it may fall.)


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overall heart rate & speed

And here's a big-picture look at my heart rate.

As far as I understand, heart rate is a good measure of overall health. What I do with this chart is keep an eye on my maximum and average heart rates for each workout, as well as the average speed for those workouts.

My thought? That putting those two numbers together will help build a more complete picture of wellness: If my heart rate goes down over time and my average speed goes up, then I'm getting in good shape.


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weight tracking

I had to do a little trickery here, as Google's charting seems to have a glitch: I can't set my X-axis to a number higher than "0."

Why do I want to adjust my X-axis? Because the narrower the range of numbers displayed, the greater the difference appears when I go up or down a pound.

What I discovered: I *can* set my X-axis at a number lower than "0." (Silly Google.)

So I've set the chart range to display between -130 lbs. and -114 lbs.

Which is a long way to explain why you see the line designating my goal weight (115 lbs.) hovering above my daily weigh-in line (which creeps *up* as I lose weight).

*Phew* Did you get all that?


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bathroom scale numbers

The number I'm most interested in here is my body fat percentage, which I would love to get down to 18 percent one day (which would mean me basically being an athlete and shifting my activity into high gear). Right now it's hovering around 28 percent.

I'd like to read up on healthy percentages for these other numbers. Right now, I'm around 52 percent water, 36 percent muscle mass and 3.5 percent bone mass.

A note about this chart: imagine that the walls of color you see are stacked one behind the other, rather than on top of one another. Which is why that little strip for muscle mass looks so tiny (36 percent), even though it's greater than the body fat (at 28 percent).

what does it all mean?

I'm trying to look at these numbers more in the spirit of scientific observation than fire-under-my-ass motivation.

I know I'm making good, healthy decisions. I know that my weight and various body percentage numbers will slowly approach a healthier range. I know my heart rate will slowly decrease as I get more fit.

But isn't it interesting to watch those things happen quantitatively? And couldn't these numbers be helpful to observe hiccups or to help me get in front of bad habits rearing their ugly heads?

I think so.

And I hope you think so, too. Because I plan to produce weekly updates using these charts. Maybe some monthly updates to analyze bigger shifts. And wouldn't it be great to see where these charts rest in one year?(!)

things that work for me

a sense of order
Please give me the same breakfast and same lunch every day. Give me the same time to go to bed and the same time to wake up. I like to catch the same bus. Hit the gym at the same time. Do mostly the same gym routine. Same soap and shampoo. Same makeup. If I could wear the exact same outfit everyday (the *cutest* one, of course), I'd do it ... but there are rules.

I'll fill in the spaces between with excitement, big new ideas, daydreamy dreams. But that sense of routine is my *bones* ... it gives me structure, something to build on.

My routine, though, has to be made by me. And I've come off a long stretch (year? more?) of giving in to a series of disconnected moments that mostly consist of sitting (because it's cozy) and eating tasty things (because they're tasty) in the quantity that suited me (because I wanna, that's why).

mission! So a sense of order works for me. Time for me to start working for *it*.


cutting sugar
So simple. And yet ...

When I eat sugar, I want it in this weird, overpowering way. Addiction? Is that too strong a word? But there's definitely a little voice that bubbles up in me. "cookie cookie cookie cookie!" I am not even exaggerating that it's on repeat.

Once I've successfully kept sugar at bay for, say, two or three weeks, I find it pretty easy to turn down in general. But we just came off holidays. And then there's that year or two of me not putting order (and healthfulness) on my list of priorities (what list of priorities? I think I might have also done away with *that*).

So, like, yestreday: big step. I did not *immediately* eat the delicious oatmeal raisin cookie that someone had brought in to work. I didn't even eat it directly after my (healthy!) lunch. I *even* made a deal with myself ... drink two bottles of water, you get the cookie. So I brought that cookie into my office. And it sat there for two hours as I worked away at my two bottles of water. But this is what was going in my brain (along with all my work-related brainstuff): "eat the cookie eat the cookie eat the cookie eat the cookie eat the cookie eat the cookie eatthecookieeatthecookieeatthecookie..." Not kidding. Even as I had these words resonating, I was thinking "people must know this is what's going on in my head when I face food temptations. That I am constantly battling a voice that's telling me to do something I know I would feel better *not* doing."

So there you go.

And that little voice quiets down, even goes away, when I've exchanged my sugary treats for fruity-spicy-whole-grainy treats.

mission! start using simple ingredients to create sweet treats for myself, instead of reaching for the highly-sugared treats that are so (so!) easy to grab.


lists. making lists. reading lists. scratching items off lists.
I have forever been and will always be at heart, a list-maker.

The earliest meaningful lists I remember making involved, at age 15, me looking forward to being an adult: what my apartment would look like, what clothes I would have, what furniture I would buy, what colors I would put on the walls, etc. Lists have covered everything from big daydreams to what I needed to get done in the next three hours.

It's only in my recent adulthood that I actually *did* the things on my list. lists + action = productivity and accomplishment! It's a good feeling.

But in the last year or so (what is it with this last year??), I've stopped taking the time to list-make in the first place. And I've come to understand that even in those earlier list-making years, when I wasn't *doing* the things on the lists, the mere act of compiling the list was productive: it engaged my brain, focused it on a goal, and forced me to be creative in thinking on that goal.

My list-maker brain has atrophied. Horror!

mission! Make lists! This one is fairly simple, because despite having *not* made meaningful lists in the past year or so, I know I still deeply enjoy them. All I need to do is dedicate the smallest corner of my day to it. (I totally count this entire blog entry as my first list, by the way. Totally.)

Bottom line? I'm ready to examine the things in my life that help me stay engaged in a healthful lifestyle, and I'm ready to make those things a priority.

weekend warrior

Productivity, fueld by coffee (PS: I totally photoshopped myself a clear complexion ... forehead pimple! I almost gave myself more eyebrows, too ... )

OK, OK. So I admitted to falling down a little with the no-tracking thing. That's Step 1.

Step 2 is to get back into warrior stance and do some stuff. Including starting to track food again. Hey, wanna see my spreadsheet? I knew you did! I'll explain how it works in a future writeup.

It's nearly ridiculous how much focus this tracking thing brings to my food decisions.

I recorded my breakfast, and I've already written out my lunch (hummus sandwich with veg and feta). I'll be going out to dinner with Patrick this evening and I know I have 6 points left for the day (plus a few extra weekly points if I want to use them). I'll probably drink a beer (3 points) and have a piece of pizza (5 points).

And you know what? I don't feel deprived. I feel in control and happy to know I'm making good choices.

other plans for the weekend
A nice long walk. I haven't exercised since our long ride along the Creeper Trail. I could go to the gym or get on my bike, but after such a long absence — and being in need of re-centering — a walk is perfect. I love, love, long walks. I like the fresh air and the time to reflect.

Brewer's Jam! Patrick and I are going to help man the homebrew club's booth, and I plan on having fun, drinking beer (counting points, of course), and helping my husband hand out tasters. I also designed the homebrewers' tab cards, which was a super fun good time. Aren't they nice?

Write up the next entry in my tracking tools how-to. I can't just let a series sit unattended! I may even write up the third entry, too. (My first entry in the series, by the way).

23-mile bike ride! It's one of my Stinger goals, to replicate a ride Patrick and I took several weeks ago when I still just had a mountain bike. When I originally set the goal I'd assumed it would be a big deal to ride that far on a road bike, but after our neighborhood tour a few weeks ago, I think it's gonna be pretty comfortable. Still, it's sitting there, unfinished. Oh, and it'd be our Sunday bike ride. Another goal, chipped away!

Here's to getting up and dusting yourself off ...

why tracking my food is important

Omuhgod I've started this blog entry about five bajillion times. Because it's half reflection, half confession and I don't know which one should come first.

bullet points
- Tracking is important to me because it helps me focus on healthy decision-making.
- I have not tracked for at least a month. Isn't this funny? Because I've just finished part one of four-part series detailing how I built my tracking tools.

This may read very heavy, but I share it with a light heart, and the objectivity of a lab study. These are facts (for myself) I'm laying out. Some of them talk about guilt and shame and the like, but I don't feel guilt or shame for having an area that needs improvement. I think of this as the coach telling me I really need to work on my follow-through, because I keep sending the baseball directly to right field.

what it means & what happens when i don't track
Not tracking my food is something like a harbinger; it's also something like a symptom. Not tracking usually comes as the result of something; but it also results in things. Some background on what tracking does do for me ...

Tracking assigns eating cues. I have never (ever) been someone who eats out of hunger. Left to my own devices, I grab the food that tastes good and that I imagine will make me happy in that moment. It doesn't matter if that moment is 8 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m. When I track my food — within a context of how much is appropriate to eat in a given day — I'm much more aware of how much fuel my body actually needs.

Tracking brings focus. My good habits require attention in a way that my bad habits don't. Tracking food is a ritual I repeat throughout the day, throughout the week. It requires me to stop and think about the food I choose to eat, and to answer for the decisions I make. That attention to cause and effect is enough to help me make good decisions. I feel more power to wait between meals, or to snack smartly.

... then when I'm not tracking ...

I lose focus. When I lose that sense of direction (sometimes for very innocuous things, like happy celebration times), I tend to let my good habits fall aside. I fill in idle moments with a bite of cheese, or a mindless grab at chips. Without innate hunger cues (which I suppose I may never gain), I have no idea if I've eaten too much on any given day (and usually the answer that I conveniently avoid by not tracking is that I have, indeed, eaten too much).


Giving in. ... to the cheese. And bread and butter. Cookie dough. More cheese. Things that don't contribute to my nutritional needs for the day. Indulgences. Every day. Isn't indulgence meant to be occasional? Isn't it meant to be special? I have nothing against the cheese, or bread and butter, or cookie dough. I think they're all a fine part of a healthy diet. But within the context of mindfulness.


I feel I have a terrible secret. Because when I'm not tracking, I give myself a pass to eat whatever I want, whenever. And that feels really good in the moment. And I don't want to give up those moments. So I keep them to myself. And a secret is terrible. Mostly, it reflects shame or a level of self-awareness that I'm not willing to face. This is food for Christ's sake! I should feel empowered enough to admit that I ate that block of cheese, damnit, and I won't let it get in my way of making the right decision next time! But I don't admit it, and keeping it to myself becomes a reason to make the next bad decision.


so, i confessed
Officially, I suppose. And it won't be the last time (it certainly hasn't been the first). But I would like to gain something for next time, maybe cut it off earlier in the pass.

building my tools: step one, gathering data

Note: I spent about a month building food and exercise tracking tools. I could have used prebuilt tools available online (Calorie Count comes to mind), so why do this myself? I love spreadsheets, organizing information and owning the process. I'm writing this brief series to detail how I built these tools for anyone interested in doing something similar. My resources include the USDA's food datasets, dietary guidelines, the University of South Carolina's Compendium of Physical Activities, Excel, Google Docs spreadsheets and a heart rate monitor.

step one: data collection
Food datasets. I wanted to use high-quality, scientific datasets. The USDA seemed a clear choice for nutritional information. They provide downloadable, comprehensive files for use by Excel (my choice) or database software (which I may actually look into for a future project, but that's a whole other series of blog entries).

Here's a snippet ...


A little overwhelming, no? You'll see later that I filter down the content to make it more useful and useable (I also edit the heights on those rows to build in a little white space and improve readability). If you download this Excel file, you'll find it comes with a documentation PDF. I suggest using it to understand the abbreviations and organization the USDA applies to the dataset.

Food guidelines. We all know about this ... five food groups (updated to the food pyramid a few years ago). But did you know that the USDA publishes a ridiculously thorough handbook for those guidelines? I'm using the tables found in Appendix A: Eating Patterns (numbered pages 51 and 52 of the handbook; if you use Acrobat to navigate, go to pages 62 and 63).

Another snippet ...


Ultimately, this data feeds my calculations for, say, how many servings of vegetables are in 1 oz. of spinach. Crazy, right? I'll go over that in my equations entry.

MET(s). Also known as metabolic equivalent, or a unit of measure used to help calculate calories burned doing various exercises. The University of South Carolina publishes a Compendium of Physical Activity with MET data for dozens of exercises (including household chores, gardening, etc.).

Snippet ...


This is probably the most unfriendly dataset I worked with. I could only find it in PDF format, and I had to copy and paste the content into a Google spreadsheet. In so doing, though, I chose to only include activities that are relevant to my routine.

I'm also using a heart rate monitor to collect data for additional exercise calculations, but I'll go over that when I discuss my equations.

step one, complete
And on that note, I'm done with data collection. Step two will cover how I filtered this huge mass of data; step three, the equations I use to make the data meaningful; and step four, how I integrated everything into a daily food/exercise tracking tool.