My Daily Schedule

Dec 14, 2008

EDITED 12/29/08 -- Nope, this vitamin schedule doesn't seem to be working.  I don't like taking my  iron with the rest of my vitamins and I need to figure out how to fit another dose of calcium in to get a true 2000mg/day.  So I have a new schedule I'm trying.  I posted about it on my blog here.

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Right before surgery, during the nutrition class, my bariatric center gave new patients an hour-by-hour schedule for meals and drinking water.  I've adapted that schedule to fit my own daily timeline.  Even now, a year out from surgery, I still use this schedule to keep me on track with my meals, drinking enough water and getting in all my vitamins.  I now have just a single schedule that I use for everything.  Vitamins are absorbed best when taken with food, so I try to coordinate my supplements with my meals.

I've recently added Vitamin A (because my labs shows I was near the bottom of the normal range) and Iron/Zinc/Copper (because my labs are trending low) .... so I'm still playing around with where to insert those additional supplements. But for now, here's my daily schedule.

7:00 a.m. --- Breakfast #1 -- Calcium +D
8:30 a.m. --- Water
10:00 a.m. - Breakfast #2 -- Multi-Vitamin, Vit A, B-50, Fish oil, Colace
11:00 a.m. --Water
1:00 p.m. --- Lunch -- Calcium +D
2:30 p.m. --- Water
4:30 p.m. --- Snack -- Calcium +D
5:00 p.m. --- Water
7:30 p.m. --- Dinner -- Calcium +D
8:30 p.m. --- Water
11:00 p.m. -- Bedtime (no food) -- Multi-Vit, B-50, Fish oil, Colace, Iron/Zinc/Copper, Vit C, B-12 (2x/week)

There are some things on my schedule that are programmed into my cell phone because I tend to forget. Breakfast #2, 11am Water, 2:30 Water, 8pm Water ... those are all things I need to be reminded about so the alarms help me stay on track.  

Yes, I do eat 2 breakfasts each day.  #1 is usually on my commute to work and is either a protein shake or protein bar or oatmeal while I'm driving.  Then #2 is something smallish and eaten at my desk at work.  

There's a long stretch between the afternoon snack and dinner (7:30 pm is my dream dinner time, often it's an hour later than that).  Sometimes I will have a second snack between the 4:30 snack and dinner if I have something going on after work (which is most days) and I won't be getting home until late.  

Because I eat all my meals and snacks on the road or at work, I try really hard to eat dinner at home every evening.  Sometimes I meet friends for dinner or can't make it home early enough to cook, but about 80% of the time I eat at home because it's so important to me.  Before surgery it ws pretty common for me to hit the drive-thru and just eat on the run ... but now I would rather wait and eat very late just so I can have a home-cooked dinner. 

As I type this my cell phone alarm is going off to remind me to get a glass of water for my last 20 ounces for the evening.  So I'm off to obey the alarm.  :-)

Pam

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