Losing a part of me

Author: Mitch Garvis

  • Day 950

    Despite the heat yesterday, I logged a 9km walk. I ate breakfast and lunch, and then I had two meal replacements in the late afternoon and then evening. I do not think it right that my weight was, once again, up this morning. Phooey.

    Don’t get me wrong… it was only up a few ounces – .6 lb. to be precise. However, I do not feel that I deserved that up. I really felt that this morning my weight should have been down… and not just a little. Not fair. I know, the constipation might be a factor; that does not make me feel a whole lot better.

    I am not going to jump off the wagon because of this… I am going to once again remember that weight loss is not about individual points on the graph; with that said, the last two points present an upward trend which pisses me off.

    My plan for today is to forego the lunch. I ate my breakfast but will only have meal replacements the rest of the day. Depending on how I am feeling, I might go for another walk. We’ll see. I know that tomorrow I will not have that luxury as I have to teach all day. I know that I really should go out for that walk… and I probably will. I am just hoping that before I do my bowels decide that they are finished punishing me.

    Have a great day folks.

  • Day 949

    Yesterday went from good to bad in a hurry when a very close friend called me to tell me about something that is going on in his life. I will not go into details but he is close enough that his pain hurts me. I ended up eating more than I should have… but only by a couple of peaches – the last of the bag that I bought on the farm on Friday. It also stopped me getting out to exercise… but only partly. My back and leg and foot pains were also contributory factors. The leg pains are not related to the knee pains I was experiencing; they are clearly muscular and caused by extreme exertion, and my foot pain was caused by a blistered heel. I should be good to go again today… as long as I put something on my heel before I head out.

    My weight was up marginally this morning, almost certainly thanks to the peaches I ate last night. As much as I love them, I am glad that I have no more left. I was hoping that by this morning my weight would be down enough to check off another line on my chart. That will now have to wait at least one day more… probably two.

    It is a beautiful day in Burlington. I have a few things to do this morning (not the least of which is talking with my wife), but hopefully this afternoon I’ll be able to get out for a walk.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 948

    I was saying to Leslie last night that considering my intake and exercise of the day I would not be surprised if I would have lost over a pound from yesterday to today. Not quite… but I did drop nearly one pound. It was not enough to allow me to cross off another number on my fridge chart, but down is better than up. The fact that my weight was down despite not moving my bowels is a good sign.

    I suspect it is a combination of several factors that led to my back aching and spasming this morning, including not stretching before exercising (with excessive weight), a lot of time in a chair that might be comfortable but is not sitting right, and a bad sleeping position. I ended up taking a couple of Aspirin when I realized how much pain the occasional spasms caused. My first instinct was to say to myself that I would not be exercising today. I then realized that I can go out, I should just stretch before I start… and maybe curb the distance somewhat. We’ll see.

    It is another beautiful day out, and I will spend much of my time outside. I will likely at long last try the konjac noodles that I bought over six months ago on advice of my diet buddy. They have zero carbs and are fat free. My diet buddy told me that they are a great pasta replacement and seeing as I have all sorts of pasta sauces in the house I might as well try them.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 947

    I did not expect it to happen this morning, so when I stepped onto the bathroom scale and saw that my weight had dropped below 290 lbs. I was somewhat elated. Woohoo! My plans for today are to have a conversation with my diet buddy, and then I hope to go for a walk and I might even jog for a bit of it. When I am back I will shower, and then I will prepare the rest of the chicken that I bought yesterday. I don’t feel like writing much today, but I will try again later.

    It is now approaching 8:30pm. I ended up preparing the chicken and salad prior to going out for my walk/jog, which would have been bad only if I had decided to not go out for the walk/jog afterward… but I did. I donned my jogging kit (shorts and a t-shirt) and sauntered downstairs. When I got to the sidewalk I decided to jog the first kilometre, knocking it out in under seven minutes. I then proceeded to walk another 10km, averaging about 9m50s per kilometre. Not bad for a fat guy striving to be thin, huh?

    I achieved it Thursday, but it did not occur to me to cross off the 290 lbs. milestone on my refrigerator chart until this afternoon. I realized at that point that it was a little crowded, and so I decided to replace it with a new chart that started August 11. Now let’s see how long it takes for me to drop the 62.8 lbs. that I had gained from my best weight ever. We’ll see.

    It is time for me to turn off the computer and sit on the balcony to talk with my wife. Have a great evening folks!

  • Day 946

    My weight this morning was neither down nor up from yesterday. I know that I will not lose weight every day, and as long as the trend continues downward then I’m on the right track. Not that this morning’s breakfast at JJ’s was smart, but at least it was early in the day, and if I can get through the rest of the day carb-free then I can stay on track.

    (Spoiler alert: I had a tumultuous day and did end up preparing chicken and salad for dinner… with a small, lone challah roll.)

    I am sitting at the US/Canada border waiting to ask the Immigration officer a few questions. It was a long way to go for a few questions that normally will take no longer than 10-15 minutes to ask and answer… but from what I can tell from looking online there is no phone number I can call for this. I hope that it won’t take more than an hour or two of waiting. Of course, I won’t be publishing the entry until later in the day because there is no Internet access here… in fact, there is no cellular signal whatsoever, most likely by design.

    I had thought to myself as I drove down that once I was done, I might go into Niagara Falls, NY to have lunch; I then thought better of it because I would not likely find anything healthy, and having had a late breakfast it won’t be necessary. At least some days I can think about my weight loss without getting sidetracked by whatever enticements might lie in my path.

    It is now 9:00pm, and I was about to press Publish on the blog when I realized I should say that while I wrote that the day was tumultuous, it was not a bad day… just a long and busy one.

    It is time to light the candles. Have a great day folks!

  • Day 945

    I was on the phone with an old friend last night discussing life, the universe, and everything when he mentioned something that let on that he reads my daily weight loss blog. I am always surprised to hear that people read it because unlike my other two blogs (which have been dreadfully dormant for months) I do not advertise this journal anywhere. Hey buddy! 

    This morning was another disappointment with regard to the bowels, despite my adding a teaspoon of fibre to one of my meal replacements yesterday. I will double down on that today, adding a teaspoon to two meal replacements. Remembering how much I did not enjoy having diarrhea for nearly two weeks a few months ago, I will do that only one day. I know… that affliction was more likely connected to my stopping the anti-depressants, but I am not taking any chances. 

    Speaking of coming off the meds, today will be the last day I take an anti-inflammatory. I have one pill left, and then tomorrow my pill intake will drop to four pills of three meds per day. I know that I am getting on in age because of that number, but four is better than five. 

    I told Leslie last night that I decided that this morning my weight would finally drop to or below the 290 lbs. mark. Even with two days of clogged bowels I am happy to say that I did just get to that number this morning. Just imagine what I would be at if I were regular!? The way I am feeling this week it is likely I would weigh ten pounds less… but realistically at least half a pound. I am still feeling bloated and my jackets are still tight on me, and I suspect that a good de-clogging might relieve that. 

    It is a lovely day out, and Princess Sophie and I had a nice and easy walk around the park this morning. I do not think I have any errands to run, so after class I will take Her Floofness out again, and then I will relax on the balcony. Tomorrow morning I am planning on driving down to Niagara Falls to run an important errand, so it will be a busier day (with a lot more kilometres than I’ve done in some time. While I am there, I might consider going into New York State for lunch, but more likely I’ll just run my errands and then head back. We’ll see. It should be a lovely day for a drive, and hopefully I’ll be able to drive with the sunroof open and a cigar between my lips. We’ll see. 

    Have a great day folks! 

  • Day 944

    Welcome to another day of constipation, and another day of my weight being slightly up. Those two seem to go hand-in-hand most of the time. Hopefully, as was the case yesterday, sometime later this morning I will finally be able to move my bowels… but it has not happened yet. Grr. To make matters worse, I have also been quite bloated, which means that even the sports jacket that usually fit me is tight. I am not a happy camper, but I know this will get better tomorrow. 

    My knee is being a bit tricky. I don’t feel a thing, but then there are moments when I feel it. I tried the last couple of days to take lower doses of the medicines (both the anti-inflammatory and the regular gout meds) and I suspect the occasional aches are a result of that. This morning I did not skimp, and I will continue to take the proper doses. I learned my lesson. I am glad there are only two days worth of anti-inflammatory pills left, so after tomorrow I will be able to drop one of the pills from my morning routine. Phew. I take them because I have to, but I do not enjoy it one bit. 

    The weather has been cooler than it had been these last couple of days, and that will continue today. That is not to say that it has been frigid, but the daytime high temps have been around 21°C… and in the evenings I have needed to wear long sleeves. The forecast for tomorrow is slightly warmer, and by the weekend it will be back up to 28° during the day. A relief for people like me who prefer the heat, and who feel that the summers in Canada are far too short… and the winters are way too long. 

    Have a great day folks! 

  • Day 943

    I was saying to myself (and possibly to Leslie) last night that sometime in the next few days my weight will finally drop below 290 lbs. Today was not that day, even though it did drop a little from yesterday.  

    My alarm either did not go off or it did but it did not wake me up, and so I was rushing in the morning. I suspect that had I had the time to sit and relax, then I might have been able to successfully move my bowels, thus my weight might have dropped more than the 0.6 lbs. That it did. As it stands, I hope that I will be successful either later today, or else tomorrow morning.  

    I took Princess Sophie out for our walk later than I usually do, and she seemed happy to stay in bed for the extra hour. I would have been too, had I not had work to get to. With that said, my sleep score and body battery both benefited from the extra hour. 

    While I am deliberately not focusing on a comparison to it, my weight yesterday morning dropped below what it was on May 22, when I last tried to restart my weight loss. I remember being disgusted with myself then for having gained 53.2 lbs. Since my best weight; imagine how I felt a little over a week ago when three months on that number had risen to 62.8 lbs.? I have a lot of reasons for having gotten back on track, but first and foremost of those is how terrible I felt about myself. This morning I am 51.8 lbs. From that best weight ever, and I know that I need to continue to work toward it. I still have that goal set for myself to shave my goattee when my weight drops to 240 lbs., and I intend to reach it. I do not know how long it will take… but I will get there. 

    In the meantime, I have other short-term goals to strive for. This morning, I tried to wear a shirt that was a bit tight, and two of my sport coats as well. I want to be able to comfortably wear any outfit in my closet without discomfort… or worry that something might rip. 

    It is another beautiful day in southwest Ontario, and I am stuck inside teaching. No matter, I might take my lunch on the balcony with a meal replacement and a cigar. I know that is what I will be doing after I am finished for the day… and once Her Floofness has been out for her walk. I hope to get through the day without cheating, and if I can do that for a couple more days then I know that before long my weight will drop below 290 lbs… and then hopefully to 285. 

    Have a great day folks! 

  • Day 942

    After yesterday’s slight rise in my weight, it was nice to see a solid drop in it this morning. While I did not get out to exercise yesterday (owing not only to the networking issues, but also to a bit of an ache in my knee) I was a bit worried, but I ate better than I had in many days and was rewarded with a two-pound drop on the bathroom scale this morning. Yay! 

    I am teaching again this week, and hope that I will be able to stay on track. I did go into the supermarket over the weekend, and while I was tempted to buy things that I should not be eating, I was good. Yay. 

    Before I weighed myself this morning I had a bit of a bowel movement, but after my breakfast I had a much more productive one. The fibre that I add into my meal replacements is doing its job, even though I wish it would have happened prior to my weighing myself. Oh well. 

    Have a great day folks! 

  • Day 941

    I consumed more than I should have yesterday, but I also exercised. I completed a 10km walk outside, and while my pace is not what it was when I was at it every day, it was also not as bad as it once was. Only four of the ten kilometres was under 10m00s, but only one of them (the last kilometre when I was cooling down) was over 10m15s. I did stop off a couple of times (once to take a phone call, once to go into the store to buy a bottle of water which I had forgotten to bring, and once to say hello to a dog and to share some water with him), but other than that I kept going. I am proud of myself for getting back to it.

    It was my initial plan after writing this entry to head out to try to repeat the feat – or at least to just get out and take a good walk – but I realized I am having network issues at home. I ended up spending the last hour working on my Wi-Fi setup because it is bad enough when I have issues on the weekend, but if I should have lag or downtime during the week when I am supposed to be teaching… well, that is just not an acceptable situation.

    After paying my overdue bill (my Internet provider has this ridiculous policy that sometimes they do not send you the bill, but it is your responsibility to pay that bill anyways) I was able to speak with technical support, who assured me that there was nothing wrong with my modem/router. I told her there was, and that my knowledge of my experience with the quantifiable metrics supersedes the checkbox on her dashboard that says it is working properly. She told me that they would have to schedule a service call, but when I asked if I could just bring the modem to their store, she confirmed they would replace it for me. Phew.

    Okay, so despite everything else that I was hoping to do today, this takes precedence. I will head out now, and hopefully I will be able to get back with enough time to head out for a walk before the rain starts.

    Have a great day folks!