Introduction

Hi, my name is Max, and this is my Wellness and Fitness Project. For this project, I am required to create a ten day food diary using MyFitnessPal, which is a really cool website that allows you to track everything you eat and all exercise. The website has a huge database of almost every food imaginable. Even homemade foods have an average value for calories, sodium, fat, carbs, etc. Throughout my entire ten days, I did not have a single food that MyFitnessPal didn't have a match for.

Another component of the assignment was to find my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), Body Mass Index (BMI), and some information about my heart. All of this info can be found under the Body Info tab above, or you can click here. My Fitness and Nutrition Reports from MyFitnessPal can be found under the Body Info tab as well.

During my 10 day recording period, I actually had a stomach bug, so it is worth noting that my data is significantly skewed. I did not eat as many calories as for some of the days, and only exercised twice which is very much out of character for me.

A few details on using this site... 

A few notes about viewing this website- in order to go back to after clicking a link, select the back arrow in your internet browser (usually in the top right corner). Also, I included a Song of the Day in each post. To play the song, just click the play button (the song may take a second to load). Finally, under the My 10 Story tab, the most recent post is Day 10. To go in chronological order, scroll to the bottom of the page until you see Day 1.

Wrap-Up

When I first started this project, I originally wrote this on my expectations:

"Overall, I like to think of myself as a relatively healthy person, and hope that my project will reflect that. However, I think that an area that could improve would definitely be my eating habits at indian springs. The food that is cooked in the dining hall is delicious, and while a large number of healthy choices are offered, it is hard to choose a salad over an ice cream sandwich. I think that my physical activity/exercise levels are moderate, but I would like to improve them so that my food choices do not have to be so strict. That said, I love the idea of using technology in order to improve my nutrition and activity levels, and thoroughly look forward to using MyFitnessPal, and looking at how it stacks up to other software products I have used.
I also think I am going to have a hard time not cheating on what I eat and what I record, but hopefully, that won't happen."

I was definitely not counting on a week-long stomach bug, but I did learn a lot from this project. Up until the time of writing this post, I had never once looked at how much sodium I was consuming, especially on days 7-10 as my diet started to return to normal. In addition, there were a few days where I defaulted on sugar as well on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9. If you'd like to see the specific numbers, scroll down to any of the previously mentioned days and select on the link to my food logs.


In terms of my behavior when it comes to recording my food and exercise, I found myself trying to eat healthier and exercise more, though that wasn't always possible. I think that this project has really showed me some areas of my diet I could definitely improve.

Day 10 

I'M BACK!!!! Woke up this morning feeling great! After a quick breakfast, I headed to school without a single grumble from my stomach. In celebration, for lunch I had a mound of warm, rich spaghetti with a hearty tomato and Alfredo sauce. All throughout the day, I felt great with absolutely no stomach aches, and thankfully, no "almost puking" in Mrs. Jacobs class (although that didn't keep her from making me sit by the door with a trashcan close by). I ended up going to dinner at a barbecue joint, and had the most amazingly juicy, warm, almost happy-tear inducing chicken sandwich.

Oh yeah- I also ate a big ol' piece of pie. For the final time, here's my food log.

Song of the Day: A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie and GoonRock

Fergie feat Q-Tip & GoonRock - A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) Mp3

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Day 9

This is my second to last day of this project, and my stomach is almost completely. Interestingly, the combination of not being able to eat very much and having to record my food, my portion sizes shrunk significantly. I realized that I've been eating WAY too much. Also, my efforts to decrease my sodium and sugar intake has been futile. In another interesting twist, I was over my limit for fat as well, which was somewhat demoralizing. If you want, it's worth looking at the increase in the quantity of food I ate as my stomach got better. This is a link that has my whole 10 day stream of food logs, and this is my Day 9 food log.

I recently went to my pediatrician, who told me that I have a nervous stomach as a result of stress. This is a link to an article giving the general details. 

What I've found is that my stomach ache began as I was being assigned a lot of long term projects in various classes, with many of the due dates being the same, including this project. I think that is what made me sick, which sucks, but was also something that is good to know.

Song of the Day: Shake it Out by Florence + The Machines

Day 8

I'm almost done with this 10-day food diary, and I have to say, I could get used to it. For lunch I had a corn dog from the cafeteria, and if I can stomach that, I can stomach anything. Yet again, I went over my sodium and sugar limit, which is something I now have to watch more closely. There are 540 milligrams of sodium in a corn dog. That's the equivalent of almost 4 chicken breasts. This is a link to a cool website where you type in various foods, and it gives you all of the nutrition information instantly. Simply type the name of your food and click enter. Here's my food log, notice that my sodium and sugar values are red. I'm going to really watch that from now on.

Song of the Day: Gone Gone Gone by Phillip Phillips

Day 7

While making some steady progress in terms of my stomachache, I had a minor epiphany- while I've been monitoring my food, the main things I've looked at were the Calories, carbohydrates and fat. That came to bite me in the butt after I finished entering my food into the diary. I got a big red 1,029 flash on my screen under sodium. Up until then, I had never once in my life look at the sodium content in any of the foods I eat. Having a high sodium diet is actually very detrimental to my health. This is the Centers for Disease Control's website with an article about high sodium diets and their health risks. Mainly, high levels of sodium can cause heart disease and high blood pressure.  To make matters worse, I also went over my sugar intake as well, by 23 grams. That's sorta depressing...
Here's my food log- be sure to look at the sodium and sugar columns (In red, the 1st and 3rd from the right.)

Song of the Day: Just Give Me a Reason by P!nk and Nate Reuss

Pink - Just Give Me a Reason ft. Nate Reuss Mp3

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Day 6

Finally it's Saturday. It's been a long week, and I've been going stir-crazy not doing any exercise. The only physical activity I've actually done is walk from class to class. Something that I noticed when reviewing my food logs is that I default on my sugar intake somewhat frequently. I didn't realize how much sugar is in everything. This is a cool website that shows the sugar content of lots of common foods.

When I woke up this morning, I didn't throw up, which was a plus, and ate pretty normal meals. My grandmother is staying with my sister and I while my parents are on vacation, so she took us out to lunch and dinner. Consequently, I am no longer having the problem of not eating enough calories.

Song of the Day: Titanium (feat. Sia) by David Guetta

Day 5

Woke up, threw up, went to school. Got to school, went to nurse, threw up, laid down. That was my morning, so all I ate was half a PB&J sandwich and drank some Gatorade. One thing that I have actually noticed about recording my food is that I feel much more inclined to make healthier choices, which is somewhat surprising. Lunch was a bland piece of bread and some mashed potatoes. I tried to go play tennis, but felt too bad so I went home. Woo. If you'd like to see the rest of my food, just click on the title- "Day 5." Here's my food log.

Song of the Day: Secrets by One Republic

Day 4

Well, things are getting a little better- I had a protein bar for breakfast (not the best choice), and more bland food for lunch. For the same amount of calories, I could of had this. That's right, I could have had pan-roasted tilapia with a Mediterranean tomato sauce, with a crispy, caramelized skin, all succulent and delicious. Dear God I love food... I'm going to try to eat something better for lunch tomorrow. Song of the day: Still Into You by Paramore (It was pretty much written about food and I). Click here to see my food log.



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Day 3

Ugh this getting to be ridiculous. I want mouthwatering delicious food, not this bland junk I have to eat. Unfortunately my stomach has some other ideas. Lunch was a delicious medley of Ritz Crackers and Jiff Peanut Butter. Mmmm! Sounds delicious doesn't it? You know what's interesting? Instead of eating 5 or 6 Ritz Crackers and Peanut Butter, I could have eaten an absolutely gorgeous slice of beef enchilada pie:

Alas, that was not the case. Click here to see my food log for today. 

Song of the Day: Royals by Lorde- It topped the Billboard Hot 100 today.

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Day 2

Woke up today with a lot of hope... and then proceeded to vomit profusely. I guess my stomach is not happy with this whole eating thing, and it sucks. I only ate 1700 calories today out of my 2400 and I'm pretty hungry. Because of this whole stomach thing I'm eating really bland foods, such as this (330 Calories) for breakfast instead of rich, filling, and delicious foods like this (approx. 500 Calories). I still haven't done really any exercise besides walking around campus. Song of the Day: Demons by Imagine Dragons. If you'd like to see my food log for today, click here.

Imagine Dragons - Demons Mp3

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Day 1

So today is day one of my ten day food tracking project, and what a better way to start it off then a stomach ache! This morning started off with a wonderful bout of vomiting which led to spending my first two class periods in the nurse's office. Lunch wasn't much better, I only ate half of a roll and the mashed potatoes in the Dining Hall. More throwing up afterward, then time to go home. Dinner was some rice and pork, which my stomach was not happy with. I'm going to add a song for each of these ten days. Hope my stomach feels better. Click here for my daily food log. 

Song of the Day: Wake Me Up by Avicii

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