Losing a part of me

Category: Sleep

  • Day 187

    Yesterday was more successful than I had planned… and my weight was still up this morning. I was up more than half a pound from yesterday… but as I have said, it is the trend and not the individual points on the graph that are important.

    I suspect that one of the reasons that my weight was up because this morning I did not have a successful bowel movement today. I know, that is not a pleasant topic of conversation, but it is an important one when discussing weight loss. I hope tomorrow will be more successful.

    How can I be more successful than planned? I had my morning meal replacement, I had my mid-day meal (around 2pm really), and after my nap and fitness walk (which was done by about 8:15pm) I had another meal replacement. I could have had a third one, but I decided not to. One fewer meal replacement makes my weight management program more successful, right? Wrong. The nutrition in that shake, both proteins and others, are important for my weight loss. It would have been a bad idea for me to have two meal replacements between the end of my walk and bedtime. What I should have done was have my second one before the walk. Lesson learned.

    Today has gone well so far… I had my breakfast shake, I had lunch at 1:00pm, and when my class is over (around 5:30pm) I will have my second meal replacement, before taking Princess Sophie for her walk. I expect that once she comes back in, I will be able to go for my fitness walk. It might not be the same 7-9 kilometres I did every day last week, but I will try for at least 6-7km. I am not going to map it out, but I will do what I can without hurting myself.

    I mention hurting myself because I drained two blisters on the bottom of my feet this morning, so both feet were feeling it when I took Sophie for her walk. I am sure that as long I choose the proper footwear, I should be okay.

    I hope to get more sleep tonight than I did last night… I had a lot of trouble falling asleep, and there is no reason that I can think of other than my class. Hopefully this evening will be better.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 154

    I did not sleep well last night, and so after I had breakfast, I went back to sleep. I got up and showered, and while I am staying awake, I am wondering if I will ever regain my energy levels. It is seldom that I am this tired for having done nothing.

    My weight this morning was excellent… I dropped to my lowest weight of the year. I did not trust it, so I got onto the scale again, and sure enough… same number. Yay.

    For lunch today we had the rest of the chicken soup with matza ball, and we each had half a deli sandwich. They were wonderful… but I will not be rushing to pick up more of them. We may assume that I have been losing weight in part due to my illness, and the fact that I am eating smaller portions because of it. Even eating the terribly unhealthy sandwich, as I am only eating half of it, is not terribly bad. When I am healthy, I would be devouring the entire sandwich. Bad idea.

    There is another school of thought to consider. While I am eating with Leslie, I am moderating my portions. While I should be doing that even when I am not with her, having her with me forces it. Before anyone asks no, Leslie is not forcing me or guilting me into smaller portions. I know that the smaller portions are what I should be eating, and so I am trying to eat that while I am with her. Maybe being with Leslie is not only good for my soul, but is also good for weight loss?

    I have not had a cigar since Saturday. I am thinking I might try to have one today, but I will see. I will not be pulling out a very good cigar, rather I would smoke something that is less expensive, just to see if I can taste it properly, and if my lungs are okay with it.

    Speaking of that, I am disappointed that I did not lose my sense of taste. Leslie did, and that is a very common symptom of Covid. I would have been happy to lose it… it is easier to lose weight when you do not get any pleasure out of food!

    This evening I am going to prepare breaded chicken breasts with a salad. Tomorrow I will have to do some shopping, as we will be out of a few of the vegetables. For today, we have everything we need.

    Have a great day folks!

  • On My Way

    I finally fell asleep around 3:30am and slept about 4.5 hours. Yes, I am tired. I took care of my morning rituals, and then I packed my sundries into my suitcase. Yes, it was really weird waking up without Princess Sophie needing to go for a walk.

    I mentioned in my middle-of-the-night post that I did not eat a second meal yesterday. I am not sure if that is why I was 2.2 lbs down on the scale this morning, or if it is the Taekwondo and golf, or if it is the weird sleep patterns of the last few nights. Whatever it is, I am taking it. This is my lowest recorded weight of the diet, just in time to go to Dallas.

    I should clarify… I am not going off my diet in Dallas; I am going to eat different than I usually do, but still smart. I do not want to come home in a week to find out I have gained ten pounds. No, that is definitely not my intent. As well, Leslie will still be working while I am there, so I plan to do some walking. Yes, I know how hot it will be down there… I am not going to push myself, and I am going to take plenty of water with me when I go out during the day.

    Speaking of water, Leslie reminded me that I cannot drink the tap water there. I am good with that… I know that we in Canada are spoiled, and even in California I filtered the tap water before drinking it. Bottled water will be big for me while I am there.

    My son the elder is driving me to the airport today. He is coming by in a couple of hours, so we get to spend some time in the car together. I do love spending time with him, and if anyone wonders why I do not call him by name, it is because I do not want to embarrass him. We have a great relationship now, but it was not always so good. I understand he is sensitive, and I am careful to not press him. That is why there are very few pictures of him on my Facebook page. I did show Master Sasha a recent photo of him the other night though, and Sasha was blown away. My son is now older that Sasha was when he was teaching him Taekwondo. How things change!

    I golfed with a couple of nice guys from China yesterday. None of us were great golfers, and we all had fun. After I duffed one shot, one of them pointed out that I might be having trouble because I wear two watches (I usually do not while playing golf… I have been a little out of sorts these last few days). I thanked him, but said I suspect it is because I am a lousy golfer who does not practice enough. That was the end of the discussion. This morning my left wrist is bothering me a little though. It is not hurting, but I certainly notice it is there. Note to self: Wear either the fitness watch or the nice watch when golfing… but never both of them.

    As we prepared to tee off, I was chatting with the starter, and I told him that I was just happy that I was shooting in the low 90s again. He told me that 90% of golfers never break 100. I don’t know if that is true, or one of those out-of-the-air statistics… but it made me feel better for how badly I have been playing!

    The local forecast for the day is hot and rainy, but I am wearing shorts. The average high/low temperatures in Dallas for the next week are 38°C/26.5°C… I am bringing a couple of pair of pants, but I expect to be wearing shorts almost every day of the trip. For those keeping score, yes… the average overnight low temperature in Dallas is higher than the average daytime high here. That is hot! Thank G-d for air conditioning, right?

    Have a great day folks!