Today was a weird day for me. I was trying to get some client writing done, but I had a hard time focusing. I am writing some articles all about why sugar is bad for you and how a low sugar diet will increase your level of health enormously. Well all this writing requires a lot of research on the subject because I obviously don’t know everything about it. So, I ended up spending most of the day doing research instead of actually writing. Of course this research has only confirmed the little bit I have learned about sugar and what it does to our bodies when eaten in excess. I’m not going to get into all of that now, but I will put it in another post soon. But, let me just say this, ingesting too much sugar, whether it’s in the form of table sugar or high fructose corn syrup, can be devastating and detrimental to your health and cause diseases that will surprise you.

Okay onto meal tracking and exercise tracking for today. I decided I didn’t need to add all the little details for each meal, instead I will tell you my grade according to Calorie Count and the days final numbers. Let me know which way you prefer though, and that’s how I will do it. Tracking isn’t just for me, you know. I do it so you can benefit too, hopefully. Maybe if you see what I’m eating, it will help you make better choices as well.

Breakfast:

• 1 South Beach Protein Bar Cranberry Almond

Lunch:

• Quaker Old Fashioned Oats – 1/2 cup with 1 teaspoon organic sugar

Dinner:

• Top sirloin steak grilled, approx. 4 oz
• 1 medium baked potato with 1 tablespoon of Country Crock Light Spread
• Grilled red and yellow peppers and jalapenos

Daily Analysis:

• Daily calorie target: 1800
• Actual calories consumed: 962
• Sugar consumed: 16 grams
• Carbs consumed: 116 grams (they were mostly all good carbs)
• Protein consumed: 53 grams (right on target)
• Fat consume: 34 grams (also right on target)
• Nutrition Grade: A- (yay!!!)

I can’t rave enough about this site! The tools are so easy to use and the information it provides is priceless when it comes to food and activity tracking. You get graded on individual foods when you look them up and enter them; then you get a who days analysis when the day is complete. You can check your analysis anytime throughout the day too to make sure you’re on target with all your nutrients. Calorie Count also incorporates your activity into your daily caloric input and output…very cool tool.

Speaking of activity, Jeff (my hubby) and I walked 2 miles at 3 mph today. I’m doing my first 5k walk/run on Saturday and I need to have some sort of gauge to see how I will do. I wanted to do a 5k walk today at 3mph but my hips were hurting and my toes felt kind of numb. I just got new shoes a few weeks ago and have had some issues with them, but this is nothing new for me. I have small ankles and narrow heels, so shoes aren’t always easy to find, especially when it comes to running/workout/walking shoes. I got some heel inserts to help with the slipping, which works great on the right foot but not the left. The toes and other areas seem to fit fine and I didn’t have any issues anywhere else. My toes weren’t numb actually when we got home, they just felt weird.

I will try to walk tomorrow but it’s youth Wednesday and I spend most of the day working for our youth Pastor, so we will see how it goes.

Check out Calorie Count if you haven’t yet and give it a try. It’s free to create an account…not a trial run or anything…just free.