Losing a part of me

Category: Challenges

  • Day 286

    I was certain that after yesterday’s 2.6lbs drop, my weight would creep up a little bit today. In fact, it dropped. As well, my BMI, that devil of a number that confirms that yes, I am indeed obese, dropped to 39.0. I continue to be excited by my progress, especially as the numbers on the scale continue to creep closer to the magical 300lbs mark.

    I mentioned the last couple of days I was having a bit of a blockage issue. That finally passed this morning, and I had my first healthy bowel movement of the last few days. I expect that was a contributing factor to my day-over-day weight loss, in addition to my mostly sticking to the program yesterday (there were some peanuts, as the evidence was discovered by my sleuthing wife).

    Lyle and I were talking about food yesterday. He is a gourmet chef and has also been losing a lot of weight recently. We discussed the bad rap that fatty food has always gotten, and how the sugar lobby convinced the world (and the US FDA) that fat was the real enemy. All the while, it was simple carbohydrates and sugars that are the real villains. With that said, I am amazed that I got from one end of the Halloween season to the other without being tempted by any candy. I did not buy any to give away (which is good, because nobody knocked on my door), and I did not partake in any of the giveaways that were offered to me over the last few days.

    I remember one Halloween a few years ago when I was living in my apartment in California, the first year of the pandemic. I bought a big bag of miniature chocolate bars, and while my buddy Tam and I sat on the balcony smoking cigars, we would toss them to kids (and adults) passing by. We probably ate a few of them as well… this was in the first month after I fell off my weight management program, and I did not yet realize that I was falling back toward the pit of morbid obesity. Last night, I sat outside on the balcony after 7:30pm with only a cigar… and a video date with my wife. All in all, it was a much healthier Halloween than 2020 was.

    I woke up this morning to the very sad news that my downstairs neighbour passed away last night. She has been very sick for the last couple of months and went into hospice care ten days ago. Her dog Bella was always the mean kid on the block, barking at Princess Sophie like she might intimidate my girl. Still, we know she was a good doggie (if not well behaved). Her mom Wendy welcomed me to the neighbourhood before anyone else, and I will miss our chats when I would be coming in and she was sitting on the patio. Charlie’s mom and I were lamenting how fast it happened, how someone can go from ‘not feeling well’ to ‘riddled with Cancer’ to ‘dead’ in two months. It is another reminder to be grateful for what we have, because G-d can take it away just like that.

    I am going to head back to Lyle’s house this afternoon again. While it is cloudy and a bit foggy now, the sun is forecast to come out around 2pm, which is when I’ll head over there. The forecast for the next few days is sunny and warm for the season, and we Canadians do not take for granted warm weeks in November. Yes, I wish I had a job… but I am going to make the most of this time in the meantime. We will smoke a cigar in Wendy’s memory.

    With Halloween behind us, I am hoping that people respect the next eleven days, and do not start decorating for Christmas until after Remembrance Day. Of course, it would be nice if they could hold off until after American Thanksgiving, but that is a lot to ask for. I am not against Christmas, but I do believe that we should be able to remember our fallen soldiers with dignity and solemnity, and without grinches and santas and whatever else jumping out everywhere. Of course, some will say this makes me a grinch. Fine. Get off my lawn.

    The stitches in my finger are not bothering me. What is bothering me is having to wear the bandage on it. I removed the old bandage yesterday and put on a fresh one; in fact, I went through this exercise twice, because I did a shoddy job the first time… and because there was blood seeping through it. Here’s the weird part though: the blood was on the opposite side of my finger – that is, the side that was not sliced and sewn back up. There was no indication of damaged stitches or bleeding, but there was a bloody bandage. Maybe that was a Halloween thing, who knows? I will continue to keep it wrapped and as dry as possible for the next week and will ask my doctor to look at it when I see him on Monday. I expect that by then I should be mostly healed.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Go The Distance!

    I wrote this morning that I would need to register two walks of thirteen kilometres each today and tomorrow to come close to achieving the September Step Month badge from Garmin, which did not seem at all reasonable, considering that my longest walk to date was 10.5km.

    I killed today’s walk, breaking records… not Dallas records, but actual since-I-started-walking records. I did achieve the 13km distance, with an average page under 10m00. Obviously, my step count was higher than ever, as was my calories burned. Even so, I am still 23,750 steps from earning the badge… but I was not thinking about the badge as I walked. I was thinking about going the distance. I was thinking about shattering my limitations, and not simply beating my old record by .25km. I wanted to get out there and shatter things.

    • Distance: 13.02km (9km)
    • Duration: 2:08:09 (1:27:49)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 9:50 (9:44)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m40 (x2) (9m18s)
    • Steps: 16.3k (11.4k)
    • Calories burned: 1,571 (1,083)
    • Elevation gain: 66.6 (39.1)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 126 (130)

    Of course, the day is not nearly over (I should press the Publish button around 2:15pm), so it is still possible for me to end the day needing only 20,000 steps to earn the badge. It will not be hard for me to walk another 4,000 steps today – that will involve a trip to the recycling bin, maybe a couple of walks around the complex. I’ll take out the trash, maybe I will offer to do whatever shopping is needed (although I do not think there is any needed, as Leslie placed an order with Amazon Prime this morning). I don’t know… but if I wake up tomorrow needing only 20,000 steps, then I will try for the badge.

    The problem with that previous sentence is that I do not have too many days in the past year where I walked more than 18,000 steps… and I am not sure if I have broken the 20,000-step mark. I know that if I even want to think about that badge, I will have to hit 22,000 steps today, and then 20,000 tomorrow. Doable? Yes. Possible? Sure. Likely? That’s a whole other story.

    In the meantime, I signed up for some October challenges on Garmin. There is the Garmin Pink October, meant to support breast cancer awareness. It is 100,000 steps in 10 days… perfectly achievable. There is the Halloween Walking challenge, for which I will have to complete a 3-mile walk between the 28th and the 31st (no big deal). The big challenge though is the October Step Month, which is the continuation of the September challenge I am working toward. 300,000 steps in the month. If I do not get lazy as I did this month (My first recorded walk was only on September 5, and then from the 10th through the 23rd I only recorded three walks) then I should be able to knock that one out of the park.

    Something that I will have to start paying attention to when I get back to Canada mid-month is the weather. I have been spoiled, both in Canada and in Dallas, with the weather these last few months. The last half of October is when things in Canada really start to cool down, and more importantly start getting really wet. If I am going to be walking outdoors when I get back to Canada, I will have to start thinking about weather-appropriate clothing. I have a few baseball hats, and I have long-sleeved shirts and training pants. I also have my new Team Canada jackets which would probably be good outerwear. My biggest challenge will be remembering how important it is for me to get out and do it. Hopefully my beautiful wife will remind me if I do not get out for a couple of days. Hopefully I will not need prodding or reminding.

    The rest of the day is open for me. I have a few minor bits to take care of, but for the most part my day is over. Leslie is making dim sum for dinner (which we all love), and so far, I have only had two meal replacements. I will have another one around 3:00pm, and then the dim sum. Of course, I am drinking a lot of water… and yes, I stopped midway through my walk to pick up a Gatorade Zero. I think I am doing pretty well on my plan. My diet buddy texted me a few hours ago to let me know she is looking forward to talking this evening, and that she has a weight-loss announcement. I have no idea what that means, but I hope she accomplished something amazing. I am crossing my fingers for her.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 202

    I had a harder time yesterday than I have in quite a few weeks, and I am not sure where it came from. To start with, I had a bowl of popcorn in the afternoon. Thankfully it is the last of the popcorn that I had in the house, so that will not become a habit. In the early evening, after my second shake, I was still hungry. I knew there were bagels in the freezer, and I was so tempted to pull one out, defrost it, and really ruin my diet. To curb that temptation, I decided instead to make a salad. I did not add tuna or salmon to it, only vegetables, salad dressing, and pumpkin seeds. There was nothing satisfying or even enjoyable about the salad… but it did the job of distracting me from the evil bagel, which was the point of the exercise.

    I will also mention that, once again, I forewent my evening shake because of the ‘cheating,’ which is probably why my weight this morning is exactly what it was yesterday, and not up.

    I took a break from walking yesterday, giving my legs a chance to recover somewhat. When I woke up this morning, my legs were achier than they have been in the last few weeks. Sometime last week I realized how nice it was that I was not having the next-day leg cramps that I had at the beginning. I wonder if it is because I had not been giving myself any chance to recover. Either way, the aches are not a bad thing. They are a reminder that my muscles are being used and strengthened, and that is all part of getting back into shape.

    Speaking of getting into shape, I need to have a conversation with my friend who owns the Taekwondo school this week. I do not know how that conversation will go, but I do want to speak with him. My plan right now is to start practicing and re-teaching myself at the park… but we will see how that goes.

    My goal for today is to get through today. I was weak on food yesterday, and I did not exercise. I will try to be stronger today, and if my legs are okay, I will go for a walk. I have other things I need to take care of though… and I do not want to injure myself by not recovering fully. We’ll see at the end of my class.

    Have a great day folks!