Losing a part of me

Category: body

  • Day 1078

    It was a relief to see my weight drop a little this morning. Actually, it dropped quite a bit… but because of the terrible increases over the past week, it is still way over the terrible mark. Add to that my hip is still in agony, so there will not be any exercise today (or likely for the next few days).

    I am still unsure if we are going today or tomorrow, but it is likely that my buddy and I will be driving down to the USA tomorrow to pick up our packages. As long as I do not get tempted by junk food this should not be a problem. Additionally, this evening I have a meeting at the Lodge, but we are not serving dinner (that is next week) so I should be able to get through today without too much trouble.

    While my hip is still in agony, I finally got a good night sleep last night, with my fitness watch registering 7h59 minutes, and an excellent sleep score of 93. At long last I got some much-needed rest. Phew! Also, Chanukah is officially ending at sundown, but other than the Lodge dinner I did not overdo the holiday. I am just grateful that the holiday invites for Christmas and such are behind me. Now it is time to try to get back on track.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1061

    I was relieved to see my weight drop back to almost the same level it was before my cheat day Saturday. It is not quite back, but almost. This morning’s 2.2 lbs. drop was welcome indeed… especially knowing that tomorrow evening is my Lodge’s holiday party, and while I will not be over-indulging… I do hope to be able to at least eat something. With that said, I still do not know what is on the menu, and in case it is something that I cannot eat then I will at least have a protein bar stashed away in my car. Of course, I am hoping for turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce… but I will find out tomorrow!

    My sleep score was a 75 last night which is not bad. I am sure that had I gotten to bed an hour earlier then it would have been better. As it happens, when my eyes opened at 6:00am I did not want to go right back to sleep, knowing that my alarm was set for just ten minutes later. My body battery was a 72 this morning… also not bad, but I know that neither of these scores is great.

    There is something that the reader should know about me, which is that I do not remember pain. If something is hurting now then I know it, but if it was hurting an hour ago but is fine now then it is completely out of mind. That is why for the last few days as I wrote my journal entries, I have had trouble remembering why I did not jog my entire workout the previous day. I realized that as I was on the treadmill yesterday and made a note on my phone (for this morning) to remind me that my ankle has been tender. It is because of that I have been mostly walking on the treadmill, and not some sort of ‘out of shape, out of breath’ issue. As I wrote yesterday, “I would rather reach that goal at a slower pace than miss it at a faster one.”

    I did hit my steps-goal yesterday with a 5km workout on the treadmill, but only about half a kilometre was jogging and the rest was a brisk walk. With that I am happy to see this morning that my steps streak is sixteen days, tied for my longest streak which dates from April 10-25, 2023. It was just two days after that I got onto the plane to Dallas, and then to California with my wife for our religious wedding (we had already been married civilly for nearly a year by then). This time I have no travel that will impede it… although tomorrow will be a challenge because of the evening social obligations. I have a few ideas that I am thinking about trying and am not precluding the possibility of spending an hour on the treadmill during my class and watching the lecture instead of my regular TV. We will see… but for that to even be an issue I have to extend the streak today, which means that after class I will be going at it on the treadmill… and thanks to my lovely but occasionally obstinate dog who does not care for the wet weather, I will need to go longer this evening than I normally would.

    It is time for me to get signed into my class so I will end here. Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1055

    At long last I had a productive bowel movement this morning. While it did not completely clear out my system, it certainly had a negative affect on another one… but nothing that a little plunging could not fix.

    I decided to buy a package of rice cakes yesterday. I will not be doing that again. I have disposed of what is left.

    I was relieved that the lodge that I visited yesterday ordered pizza… and that the only ones that did not have meat on it had olives. The former I cannot eat for religious reasons, the latter because I just do not like olives. As such the only cheating I did after the lodge meeting was a dram of whisky proffered by one of the lodge officers. They also invited me to their holiday party this Saturday evening which is being held at a local brewery. I am seldom tempted by beer, but I will go for the camaraderie.

    Yesterday did not go as planned (mostly owing to the rice cakes I would think), but I managed to eke out one small victory. It was 10:30pm before we left the lodge, and I had not yet hit the 6,500 steps mark on my fitness watch. I wrote yesterday that I wanted to extend my steps-goal streak, but when I got home, I still needed to take Her Floofness out for a walk (which would never amount to the 4,500 steps needed to hit the goal. By the time she and I got back in (around 11:15pm) I was still below 7,500 steps. With very little time to spare I changed into my workout kit and got onto the treadmill. I knew that my workout would not be a good steady one, but I wanted to hit my steps-goal. I did the first kilometre at the same 4mph pace I had done my previous jogs at. For the second kilometre I kicked it up to 4.5 mph, and actually felt like I could have gone farther at that speed… or faster. For the last 1.3 kilometres I dropped the pace to a brisk walk. The daily goal was 11,000; I got off the treadmill at 11:45pm with 11,018 steps registered and finished the day with 11,027 (I take my fitness watch off when I get into the shower of course).

    The steps-goal of my fitness watch is a progressive goal. I am not entirely clear on how it works, but apparently Garmin calculates the steps-goal based on the value of the previous week (about) achievements. As such, were I to stay in and do nothing then my steps goal would drop tomorrow, but if I had blown my steps-goal away then it would jump. As an example, there was one day in February when my steps-goal was 8,700, and I took 14,700 steps. My steps-goal the following day was 9,910, and I took 17,742 steps. My steps-goal the day after that was up to 11,480, but I only took 10,900 steps. That would have been enough to crush the steps-goal from any previous day, but because of the huge surplus on Days 1 & 2, it was below the actual goal for Day 3. I am currently on a 10-day streak, but I have been somewhat practical about it, in that I have not vastly exceeded my steps-goal on any given day. On November 30 the goal was 9,740. While there have been a couple of days during the streak when I ‘crushed’ it, most days I have only slightly beaten the calculated goal, so while the goal for yesterday was 11,000, today’s goal is 11,010. I will definitely need to hit the treadmill (or go out for a jog… it’s pretty nice out today), but I will not need to up my game to a new level to extend my streak to eleven days.

    My sleep score was 79, the best it has been in quite a few days. This despite the late-night workout. My body battery peaked at 66, although that is now down to 54. I am sure that before the day is done it will get all the way down again… but hopefully I will have a good night sleep and will be able to recover completely.

    A lodge brother is coming over for a coffee in a little bit, but aside from that and a Zoom meeting I have to attend this evening it should be a quiet and relaxing day. I will certainly hit the treadmill, but I do not think I have too much else going on. With the weather I might even sit outside with a cigar.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1053

    I am not sure if today is Day 3 or Day 4 without even a half-decent bowel movement, and I suspect that is having at least some effect on my weight. Yes, I ate the rest of the chicken and salad (that I had purchased on Friday) yesterday, but it was not an unreasonable amount. I also jogged five kilometres on the treadmill. All this to say that I am reasonably sure that if my system was not backed up then I would have dropped more than a couple of ounces from yesterday morning. I am still 3.2 lbs. heavier than I was Wednesday morning.

    Today is going to be a challenge. We are having a holiday get together at a buddy’s place. We will mostly be smoking cigars, but the host asked about our pizza preferences. I told him to not account for me in his pizza planning. He then posted this morning that he is going to pick up special doughnuts. I am going to have to avoid those as well. I have packed three protein bars to take with me and will try to stick to eating only two of them. Whatever I do, when I get home this evening I will be hitting the treadmill.

    Speaking of the treadmill, I did a strong 5km jog yesterday evening. The difference between my quick-walking and actually jogging is the difference between setting the speed to 3.6 to 4.0. It feels good to be able to jog and not tire out as I would have a couple of months ago. I actually feel that the factor that stopped me from a longer jog yesterday was the time constraints – I had a meeting I needed to get to, so I had to cut it short when I did. I will see if I can go longer this evening.

    Over the course of the last couple of hours I have gone to the washroom a couple of times, trying to produce… something. It is hard and painful, but slowly over time I am getting some of that blockage out. It feels as if I have not had any fibre whatsoever. I am thinking that this evening I might consider a laxative to see if that helps.

    My sleep score last night was fair – a 76, which is mostly because I woke up earlier than I might have (especially for a Sunday morning). My body battery was up to 48. While I certainly slept better last night than the previous night, it would seem my body did not recover as well. Hopefully that will get better tomorrow. We will see.

    Speaking of tomorrow, I am teaching for the day. It is an intro course so nothing too deep, but I am looking forward to it. It is my only day teaching this month… yikes. I am glad to have not wasted my downtime… I sat a class, passed two certifications, and next week I am sitting another class to hopefully earn another cert. These two certifications will really increase my value as a trainer and as a consultant. I have gone through slow periods before and truly wasted them. Between November and December, I will have had two days of actual work… but I have definitely not wasted the downtime. Professional advancement is crucial in my line of work, and I have done a lot of that in this period.

    The plan for today is to NOT fall off the wagon, right? Okay… let’s try to make that happen.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1040

    I was a bit surprised to see that my weight was up slightly this morning, but not terribly so. Today I will be eating the last of the chicken that I have in the house, and starting tomorrow I will be eating breakfast and then only meal replacements for the rest of the day. If my knee holds out I will also start walking. In fact, It looks to be a pretty nice day out today (albeit chilly), so I may go for a walk after my appointment.

    I do not know if this is the time that I will start and get all the way to my goal weight, but I am going to try. To that end, I printed a new fridge chart to encourage me. I have to do more than print papers though; I need to redouble my efforts and make it happen. I have to stop eating but more than that I need to stop cheating. I need to change my attitude toward food, and I need to once and for all break the unhealthy relationship that I have with food.

    While I am planning to walk outside today (with high temperatures of 7°C (41°F), I just went into my bedroom and cleaned everything off the treadmill. If it is my intention to use it this winter to keep active, then I have to as of right now stop using it to hang clothes. Yes, that stereotype is real… except in my case it will be temporary.

    Yes, I went to the supermarket yesterday. Knowing that I have a meal or two left, I purchased vegetables so that I can have a salad with them. I also bought a handful of trail mix which I should not have done… but I also thought about buying breakfast cereal and stopped myself. A smaller transgression is better than a larger one.

    I finally got a good night’s sleep. I woke up feeling refreshed, and while my body battery was low from the time I woke up, the 80 on my sleep score was a relief to see. I will try to sleep well again tonight and am hoping that if I do exercise then it will contribute to that.

    When I picked up my prescription meds yesterday, I also took the opportunity to get my Covid-19 and Flu vaccines. I have still had no ill effects and hope this proactive measure will help to keep me healthy.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Dqy 1035

    I did not do very well yesterday again. I just need to get through today and then try to get back on track. In the meantime, I twisted my ankle as Princess and Sophie and I were out this morning. I do not think it is bad, but it is something I need to pay attention to.

  • Day 1026

    Remembrance Day is always one of those days that is a bit difficult for me. As I walked Her Floofness this morning, a woman with her young daughter engaged me in conversation. How’s the weather, cute pup, and so on. She then said to me ‘I see you are wearing a poppy too. Happy Remembrance Day!’ I said to her that no, it is not a happy day, but a solemn one. As she fumbled with a sincere apology I recovered quickly and told her that she had nothing to apologize for, and that our language does not have a phrase that we use to greet each other with on these solemn days. On any other day I might have just smiled and nodded, but I have trouble with that phrase… to a soldier it is like saying ‘Enjoy the funeral!’… it’s just wrong.

    My knee is still in agony, but I think it is getting a bit better… slowly. The anti-inflammatories that I am taking are helping and while I wish I could boost the dosage, I have to be careful to not do so. They can damage other parts of my body, and I do not want to do that. I have asked my pharmacy to send my doctor’s office a request to refill a prescription for the second gout medication that I sometimes take. I will follow up on that today.

    My weight was down this morning, and I am once again at the horrible mark… 300 lbs. even. I will try to eat properly again today so that in the next day or two I will once again drop under it. I slept well – my sleep score was a very respectable 85, which is better than most nights for me. I have also moved my bowels twice today – once earlier, and once just now as I paused to write this entry. How my body can go three days without is a mystery to me. I think I am going to make sure I take fibre every day for a while.

    The next twenty-four hours will be ‘one of those days.’ I am teaching a class for Germany again, which means I’ll be working from 1am-12pm. Fortunately it is only a one-day (night?) class, so while I will be a bit off, I should not experience the disorientation and jetlag I had last time. I need the work… I want the work! I will take it when I can get it

    Autumn is well and truly here. The leaves are on the ground, and I am wearing a sweater and my vest to take Her Floofness on her walks. While it was rainy yesterday, today is just damp but dry. Pretty soon the winter will be upon us, and I know our weather will get worse before it gets better. I will try to keep my attitude positive… some days it is harder than others.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1024

    It is now 6:30pm and I have had a long and busy day… and it’s not over just yet. I am going to relax and try to rest up. I know, I promised I’d talk about a few things yesterday but will put them off until tomorrow. In the meantime: Day 3 without movement, and my weight is up but negligibly.

    See you tomorrow folks!

  • Day 1022

    I was not happy to see my weight jumped back nearly two pounds from yesterday morning. I was not able to void my system again this morning, so that is probably a big contributing factor to it. While it is possible that the three slices of dried mango that I ate last night (yes, only three) might have played a small part… but not likely that substantial.

    I have not been working out, but at least I am getting 6500+ steps in every day, and I am eating right. Over the weekend I am hoping to get in my first good walk – this week did not go nearly as planned.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1021

    According to the bathroom scale I dropped about 3.5 lbs. from yesterday morning. This was not merely the result of my cutting my toenails last night. This morning, after several futile days, let’s just say that the fibre did its job. To say ‘what a relief!’ would not begin to do it justice!

    My food intake yesterday was nearly identical to the previous day. Owing to the fact that I miscalculated my timing this morning (because I slept in) I will have to make some changes… I do not have the fixings for a salad with my lunch and dinner, so I will probably prepare rice with my lunch, and will run to the supermarket immediately after class is over.

    With regard to class, we decided to shift by an hour. Instead of going from 11:30am until 8:30pm we are beginning at 10:30am and finishing at 7:30pm. That will make life somewhat easier for my eating… I do not like sitting down to eat that late at night.

    My sleep score was back up into the 80s last night. I am happy about that, and definitely felt well rested when I jumped out of bed. I did get up to pee around 5:45am and was hoping I would be able to get back to sleep… little did I know that I would sleep another 3;5 hours!

    The American election is now over and as much as I have hated the lead-up to it, I am not looking forward to the arrogance that will follow. I am tempted to turn off social media for the next three months.

    Have a great day folks!