The 30 Day Intake Experiment

My entire life I’ve been what is commonly known as “fat”, or, as the clothing industry calls it, “Big and Tall”. I have been blessed with both an impressive girth and height. For as long as I can remember these have been my defining physical qualities. I generally cast an imposing figure over my contemporaries, that didn’t stop the teasing during my childhood of course, but those times passed generally without much incident. And for years these attributes caused me no real harm, medically I was “healthy” besides my obesity. My cholesterol was low, my blood pressure normal, no problems with sugar levels.

Now, as I stare down thirty, this is no longer quite true. For the most part I’m still healthy (again, except for the pounds of extra flesh), but cracks in my infrastructure have begun to creep up. The blood pressure is starting to tick up slightly, the cholesterol and sugar are still good, for now. But more worrisome is my knees. Starting about a year and a half ago they began “grinding” and generally starting to, well, not be their old weight-supporting selves any more. Even more troubling is I have a family history of knee problems. My father (who is NOT obese) is having both his knees replaced this year.

So, what does this have to do with the title of this blog post? What is the “30 Day Intake Experiment”? The 30 day experiment I am about to take is my first step towards, hopefully, leading a more healthy life style. This is my attempt to be honest with myself about my eating habits. For the next thirty days, I will be recording EVERY piece of food and drink that I consume. I have created a twitter account and will be posting pictures of every meal I have every day. In this manner I will not be able to “cheat” or lie to myself about what my diet is.

I fully intend to follow this up with increased physical activity as well, it’s a little difficult during the height of a Cleveland winter, but I will find some way. This is simply the first step. Believe it or not, I once had a membership at a gym, and those two years were probably when I’ve felt the most energetic and healthy. It’s definitely something I want to get back to. Ironically, I originally joined the gym in anticipation of our daughter, and haven’t been able to go back since we’ve had her. Children take up a ton of time :)

In another twist, completely unknown to me, this month is the “Fit in February Developer Challenge”. Strangely apropos don’t you think?