Week 4: Mega Metrics

I have 28 days worth of Data! This is a cause for celebration! I wanted to put something special down today because I've not been so good about posting this week. Tonight, I've brought you just about everything I was supposed to post, plus a little more. Things of note this week: good results and I took some time to make my graphs look polished. Also, observe the new blog banner.

click to go over the rainbow

This week we can see some interesting habits in my sleep. Note 5/11 through 5/14. This is while I was working my "mids" schedule. What I see here is that when I'm on mids, I'm much better about being consistent with my sleep schedule, and I'm actually getting more sleep than my daytime work schedule. Perhaps this is a sign of Shift Work Disorder. I'm not sure if I buy into SWD just yet. It seems like a ploy to sell pills for what is otherwise obvious: When you work through the night, you sleep at odd times.

Moving on to the Composition of my diet. I've been posting "young data" in the last two weeks, but I figured I'd show all my composition cars at once since today is 28 days worth of data.

click for professional teens

Protein is an area I do fairly well in. For a 2000 Cal diet, the daily value is 50 g of protein. The DV is calculated to a % of your calorie intake. I'm actually getting a good serving of protein. This I want to emphasize because you'll notice I meet my protein needs with no problem given the recent change to a pescetarian diet. Although I still eat fish, it is not a daily food for me. Most days, I eat zero animal products. It is a common misconception that vegan, vegetarian, or similar diets leave a person protein deficient. Even when I was still eating meat, my primary source of protein was from sources like black beans and lentils. On average I ingest 74.04 g of protein a day.

click fo- Wanna ride bikes!

Sugars I don't quite have mastery of. I vary quite a bit, but I don't have a terrible average intake. I haven't observed any real noticeable fluctuation in my energy levels, but I've also minimized my caffeine intake. Sugar shouldn't be feared, I need it for my brain to function well (Editor's note: Results may vary). In a given day my average sugar intake is 69.47 g.

click regularly

I can't prove it yet, but I'd say that my success thus far has largely been due to good fiber intake. For a 2000 Cal diet, the DV for fiber is 25 g. As I've stopped eating meats, the foods that have replaced them have all been higher in fiber. Fiber, along with drinking lots of water (approx 2000mL) every day make me feel good. On average, I intake 33.86 g of fiber. I'm extraordinary at being regular.

click if you like pasta

Carbohydrates are more erratic in my diet, but I'm almost always under the DV. The DV for a 2000 Cal diet is 300 g. I eat on average 221.07 g per day. I'm particularly proud of this considering my choice to become a pescetarian. The increase in vegetables has not shot my carbs through the roof. Suck it Atkins! I'm doing this with a balanced diet.

click avocado style

Fat is a something I go over on rather frequently. It's not something I worry about. Fat is quick energy, and is easy to burn. My workouts help use this energy quickly. If I'm monitoring my calorie intake, and I'm active, fat content is lesser an issue. The DV for fat for a 2000 Cal diet is 65 g. My average is 59.87 g per day.

click because you see pretty colors

I won't lie. I've had cheat days. any day where my calories are exactly my DCV are days in which I have decided in advance that I the day would be better if I went off duty tracking things. On these days, I don't punish myself on the numbers, so I just record the day's calories to equal the DCV. For my diet content, I use the average values from all data previous. If you're wondering what that recent really low day is, it's from me staying up an not sleeping after my mid shift so I could flip my schedule back. This added a weird half day in. I did not starve myself.

click lightly

Today was my weigh-in. I woke up at my girlfriend's house and used her scale. It's the same model as mine. It read 170.6 lbs. I peed. It read 170.2 lbs. I didn't believe my eyes. It seemed like too much. I figured the scale was calibrated a little differently than mine. I decided to redo when I got home. By time I had got back I had drank some water. Despite this I ended up weighing in at 169.8 lbs. I didn't know what wizardry was afoot, but I thought that perhaps the scale wasn't level and I moved it. Upon the second attempt I weighed-in at 169.2 lbs.

I decided to write in 170.0 lbs for this week. This means that my new DCV is 1912 Cal, and my BMI is now 25.1. In terms of BMI, for my height and gender, a value of <> is normal weight. My goal is still 165 lbs. This means I'm close to completing the first phase of my wellness and fitness goals, but we'll talk about what changes when that days comes.

So what happened this week? No loss last week and then a loss of over 5 lbs this week? I speculate that last week's weigh-in might have been when I was water-heavy. I think it would make more sense and explain both weeks. 3 lbs in a week is normal at my level of activity and diet, but 5 lbs is a bit crazy.

It's much more difficult for me to post this stuff during the week due to the mids schedule, but I'm sure it's better that I'm getting more sleep.

Workout Data

Tuesday: Aikido - 01:45

Wednesday: Interval training - 00:30

Thursday: Interval training - 00:30

Friday: Interval training - 00:30

Saturday: Interval training - 00:32 (two minute bump! w00t?)

Sunday: Hiking in Rock Creek Park - 03:30