Why I Track My Food and Use Portions

If you are new here, thank you for being here. Warning, my thoughts are not linear. I wrote things as I thought of them when I thought they were relevant. Also, this is me, this is how my mind works. The main focus here is why I track my food shit and what stuff I use that is cheaper, has good reviews and I have tried and liked. If it says affiliate link after it that means that if you click on that and buy something I’ll make a small amount off of it.

Now to the post at hand, after a picture of my cat Jasmine.

Since doing chemo in 2020 a lot of food has become undesirable to me. This resulted in me eating almost only Cheerios. There are other cereals I like, however I like less sugary ones and this is a better price than some for the weight you get. Anyway, most days I only eat cereal. Once I started to get frozen meals delivered to me through CSO I finally started getting some real food. It wasn’t much though.

One day I found out that high cholesterol runs in my family. So I mentioned this to my PCP, who then ordered a blood test and my blood test came back high. She referred me to a nutritionist. Then when I got tired of waiting for my appointment I searched for an app to use to help me in some way. I found Cronometer and I’ve liked it from the start. I like it so much that I thought about getting the premium level to support the company. However, I’m still putting my money towards other things and the free versions does everything that I know of that I want.

Results were that I was greatly lacking in calories consumed. So I started adding smoothies like this lactose and gluten free pineapple, banana and coconut smoothie so I could get healthy nutrients. I also started using this digital kitchen scale (affiliate link) to measure my serving sizes the rare time I made something (like mac & cheese tbh). That way I could truly know if I was getting enough calories. 

Now I mostly use the scale for when I’m snacking on baby carrots or grapes or such. It was such a change only giving myself a certain amount that I weighed first. I WAS soooooo used to bringing a whole container of something out with me and just munching away. I feel much healthier now that I eat a reasonable, healthy amount of something. I know I can always go back and have more if I don’t truly feel satisfied. I always thought my sister was nuts and had so much patience and energy weighing her foods. Now, for me I have more energy because I weigh my food or portion it in these freezer and microwave safe containers (affiliate link) because I’m getting enough calories and less bad shit in my diet.

Now I almost never make prepared stuff because I realized how much sodium I was consuming. I really wanted to start feeling better so I dove deeper into the Ninja Foodi pressure cooker (affiliate link) world, after having had it for about a year. I checked out some Ninja Foodi Kindle cookbooks (affiliate link). I picked out recipes that looked easier and cheap enough for me to make. Check out the easy ninja foodi recipes I’ve made and liked enough to tweak share. Instead of putting my leftovers in the fridge as one batch, I split them up into containers. Saves me from weighing them and know I’m getting equal portions that aren’t too big or too small.

Then later it was suggested during my intuitive counseling session from Two Bear Healing Arts, that I have food intolerances. So I gave eliminating some stuff a try and realized that the discomfort in my belly wasn’t normal and was because I have a gluten intolerance. My belly feels amazing now, at least for me. I had a breast reduction Feb 11, 2022. I used to almost always be able to see my stomach past my boobs, even with a shirt on (center area then is filled in with the shirt). Now, like 3 cup sizes smaller, I usually can’t see my stomach when standing straight.

Back to the tracking food topic. Since I started getting enough healthy calories in I’ve felt so much better and I’ve slowly been losing weight. I saw under 200 pounds for the first time since my 1st brain surgery in 2018. Which is huge because my weight has never been easy to drop by controlling my diet - even when I went to Women’s National Golden Gloves when I was 17. I was supposed to shed just like 3 pounds with a good bit of warning and despite eating better (for me at least) I was in sweats and working out in Georgia in the summer to try to shed that last .3 pounds I believe it was. So yea, me losing weight from my diet it huge. 

Back to weight topic. This change in weight is also amazing because I’ve only done a little more activity with the No  BS Active program. I don’t do that near enough though. Have to be careful not to overdo it with my mind or body, as I’m disabled and literally have a damaged brain. 

If you’ve read all of this, or even just some and then this last part, I would love to hear if any of this makes sense or resonates with you or if you have an questions.