Losing a part of me

Category: Dog

  • Day 102

    I was able to stick to the plan yesterday. I admit thinking at one point that a meal replacement bad – in addition to what I had eaten already – would have been nice. I did not indulge – to whatever extent a meal replacement bar would be considered an indulgence – and I went to bed having eaten precisely what I had set out to eat throughout the day. In addition, I enjoyed a single cigar on the balcony, as well as a pot of coffee (enjoyed throughout the morning and early afternoon). It was, in short, a day that went according to plan.

    I am still unsure what my plans for today are. I will either be seeing Lyle and Dorothy, or Ryan and the gang. In the next hour I will make some calls and decide. It is a rainy day out though, so my thinking is that Ryan’s is the more comfortable option; Lyle’s would be to support him through a difficult situation, and if he asks, I will be there.

    Either way, I have to try to stick to the plan. My weight was down this morning, but only very slightly. I know I am seeing the doctor this Wednesday for my official weigh-in and would like to be a couple of kilograms down from last time. In other words, falling off the program (even for a day) would not bode well for that. Also, in ten days I will be on a beach in Cuba with Leslie, and I want to look as good as I can for her in my swim trunks! Okay, I am mostly kidding… but I did buy six shirts for the trip (along with my two bathing suits), and I want them to fit me as well as possible, and not too tight.

    I mentioned earlier that it is rainy out today. Leslie is thinking that might be the reason my knee has been hurting – that it has, as will happen with older people – turned into a barometer. She might be right, although I hope not. I am hoping that the only reasons my knee has been bothering me is because, thanks to HRF Princess Sophie, I am often required to sleep in less-than-completely-comfortable positions. I will have to pay attention to it over the next few weeks though… if it is true, then I will at least know when to expect it. Yes, my younger lady derives quite a bit of humour out of reminding me that I am getting old!

    It is a lovely and typical spring day, and my allergies are in full force. I have been taking allergy meds every day for the last week or two and will make sure I continue to do so. I have suffered from bad allergies since I was a child, and I am at peace with the fact that I might not be able to completely alleviate them, but at least by taking the proper precautions I can keep the worst of them at bay.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 63

    HRF Princess Sophie asked me very politely to take her out at 6:00am. She does not wake me to go out very often, so when she does, I take her seriously. The last time she asked, I was much heavier; it probably took me fifteen minutes to get dressed. This morning, we were out the door in under 6 minutes… and that included time for me to pee. I will chalk that up as a non-scale victory. The times she has awakened me at 3:00am I always go right back to bed. While my alarm does not go off until 7:15am, I decided not to lie back down right away this time. I had a couple of appointments that I needed to reschedule.

    I decided that Friday I am going to drive to Montreal for the weekend. I realized as I was going to sleep last night that the Princess has a vet appointment for Friday, and I have an appointment in the evening. Both were booked online, and so I sat down at the computer to rebook them. My appointment was easy, and I was easily able to create another appointment for tomorrow morning. I will have to wait back from the vet for confirmation, but I cannot see this being a problem.

    Coupled with the early hour, there was a bit of freezing rain when we went out, and Princess did not want to spend more time than was strictly necessary outside, so the walk was a brief one.

    My diet yesterday was again mostly good. I was out and about for a few hours when I realized I was hungry, so I stopped at Bulk Barn and picked up a small handful of peanuts. When I got home, I prepared my dinner – a piece of salmon with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh dill. It was delicious! I have not yet stepped onto the bathroom scale, but I anticipate good things from it.

    I have an appointment to get weighed today, and I am looking forward to being down at least a few kilograms from my last weigh-in two weeks ago. Yes, doctors in Canada use the metric system, which does not bother me at all. In fact, the only reason I use the imperial system for my weight loss is because a full pound lost is less than half a kilo, which does not sound or feel nearly as impressive. In truth, despite the big switch to the metric system in the 1970s, I was always taught pounds rather than kilos, and while I try to get excited about the more sensible metric measurements (where a kilogram is the weight of a litre of water, and not based on a weight found in a Paris vault for hundreds of years), but I confess I still think in pounds. I doubt this will change, but I hope my children will understand kilos better. For the record, I think in kilometres (although I can do the conversion to miles in my head).

    I can already feel it… there will be a nap in my future. I have a couple of errands to run today, but I should be home by noon. The forecast high is only 6°c, and there might be a little wind still. Hopefully my phone appointments will be considerate and work around my need for a mid-afternoon nap. They are restorative, after all!

    I will write more after my weigh-in, but in the meantime, have a great day folks!