Losing a part of me

Category: Water

  • Day 882

    Wow. I wrote to Leslie late last night (after we were usually both in bed and asleep) that I would not be adding fibre into my shakes today. The way things have gone since then, I am going to hold off a couple of days before resuming with a single teaspoon of the powder. I honestly lost track of how many times I had to run to the toilet between yesterday morning and this morning, but it is certainly over ten. I am relieved that I did not need to do so either while I was out walking or during my class. With that said, just between the time I climbed into bed and the time I finally fell asleep I made four or five trips… plus one at 5:15am; yes, I have also had two movements this morning. While in moderation fibre will indeed help keep your bowels regular, in excess it can cause days where you are better off just camping out in the loo.

    I joked with Leslie this morning (prior to my weighing myself) that with all of those trips to the bathroom, combined with my actually staying true to the program yesterday (with no additions or substitutions) it was likely I would have dropped between 7-10 pounds. In fact, my weight dropped another 2.2 lbs., bringing my weight drop since Saturday morning to 8.8 lbs.! I gleefully crossed off another number on the fridge chart for the second day in a row. The last time I weighed less than I did this morning was March 5. I am only 6.4 lbs. from my weight on January 1, and thirteen pounds from my best weight of 2024 (January 22).

    Excuse me while I run back to the toilet…

    Okay I am back… and this is getting a wee bit ridiculous. It is a good thing that I am drinking as much water as I am, because otherwise I would have to start worrying about dehydration. As it is, I might head to the supermarket to pick up some Gatorade Zero to ensure my electrolytes don’t drop below acceptable levels.

    When I was a kid, I had a friend named Mark Nadler who I remember had to drink a glass of Metamucil every day (in addition to taking Flintstones Vitamins… it’s amazing the things I remember from before I turned ten). I never understood why, nor why I did not need to. I assume it was because whatever else I might say about her (and I can say plenty), my mother made sure we ate well balanced meals… or else!

    As I spoke with Leslie last night, I was reminded of my last visit to my Hong Kong tailor who commented that I had gained quite a bit of weight since my last fitting. It was only a seven-pound difference, but it was noticeable… and I can certainly notice it, as some of the clothes that I ordered in September do not currently fit… or I should say that they did not fit a week ago, but they seem to all (except for one vest) fit now. Yay! I suppose there is something to be said for the fibre cleaning out my colon! Nevertheless, I am this morning 7.2 lbs. heavier than I was when I visited the tailor at the end of February, and about 15 lbs. heavier than I was on the previous trip in September. My goal is now to make sure I lose at least those 20 lbs. more before they return in September, and that not only will all of my current wardrobe fit, but I will also be able to order new clothes with a smaller cut than I ever have. That will take some work, but it is certainly a short-term goal to strive for… assuming the end of September counts as short-term?

    I kept my promise to myself yesterday and walked but did not jog. It was hot! For the first time in recent memory, not only did I finish the water bottle that I brought with me from home, but toward the end of the walk I also stopped off and bought another bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade Zero. I walked 7.35km with an average pace of 9m44s/km. Not bad, considering the mercury was pushing 33° Celsius, and there was almost no cloud cover to speak of.

    We have another heat warning in effect for today, but the high temperature is forecast to hit 30°C and no higher. With that said, I might take another break from exercising because of my current bowel issues… I do not think it wise to stray too far from the toilet, and my Lodge brethren who are coming over will understand completely.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 880

    I told Leslie that I would not overdo it yesterday on my jog/walk, but I am not sure if I followed through on that or not. While the thermometer read 31°, it hardly felt to be over 22° (probably because of the wind), and it even rained for about fifteen minutes. All this to say that I ended up jogging the first 2km (average pace 7m20s) and then walked another 9.65km (average pace 9m48s) … with a few stops. I stopped under the railway bridge to escape the worst of the rain, then I stopped into three different stores (Bulk Bark, once again to escape the rain, and to collect some almonds to nourish my body!), and I stopped into both Shopper’s Drug Mart and Longo’s to do a bit of necessary shopping – including replenishing both my fibre and my coffee. It was a successful walk indeed, although I confess, I probably overdid it just a little bit. My total steps for the day (which included two walks with Princess Floof) came to 22,742… by far my highest step count since my first full day in Havana in February (and only the fifth day this calendar year that I have exceeded 20,000 steps). I am definitely feeling the effects in both my legs and my back today. In fact, I think I will go and take a Tylenol…

    Okay, I did that, and also a few other tasks that needed to be performed today. Now I can continue to write, and then try to get some work done.

    I ate two things off the program yesterday: I already mentioned that I bought a handful of almonds at Bulk Barn during my walk. In the evening, I was still quite hungry, and I decided to indulge with a protein bar. I regretted it at the time, but knowing how much exercising I did throughout the day I do not think it was the worst thing I could have done.

    There are probably two other things (aside from my exercise and my meal replacements) that account for my weight loss these last couple of days. I have been drinking a lot of water, and I have been adding at least three teaspoons of fibre powder to my meal replacements each day. I suppose that may also account for the fact that for the second day in a row, I had a decent bowel movement in the morning, and then after my morning shake, I had a second one. I will probably lower that to two teaspoons per day, as I do not think I will really have enough solids in my body to warrant it. We’ll see how I continue to do.

    Speaking of weight loss, my weight dropped another 1.6 lbs. this morning, bringing me below my weight from the day that I decided to go off the program for a week (which became two weeks). It is still .6 lb. higher than the previous day, which would be my lowest weight since I rededicated myself to the program, and my lowest weight since March 12. My lowest weight of this calendar year was 259.4 lbs. on January 22; I am currently 17.8 lbs. from that day, and I am hoping to get back there pretty quickly. Of course, I know that in sixteen days Leslie will be arriving, and no matter how well I do between now and then I will be taking a week off the program while she is here. I doubt that I can lose nearly eighteen pounds in sixteen days, but it would be great to be under that by the end of July.

    (It can also be noted that I weigh 38.6 lbs. more than my best weight ever, which was on October 18 of last year… 244 days ago. If I can get back to that weight by October 18 then I will have lost a year but regained my footing and all of my progress.)

    I think I will take a day to rest from exercising today, if only to give my sore leg muscles time to recover. With that said, I ate two things off the program yesterday, and I will try to not do that today… although if I can keep it to one of the two, then I will be satisfied with that success.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 362 (For real this time!)

    As I wrote yesterday, there was no way for the bathroom scale to register a weight loss this morning without bringing me to the point of a one-hundred-pound loss. Following my morning washroom routine, I walked into the bedroom and looked at Princess Sophie and said ‘Girl, let’s hope to see the integer drop. Even if the fraction is .8, I would love to see the whole number as 294. 295 would reach it, but let’s hope that I surpass that number. I stepped onto the scale, looking straight ahead for five seconds as I always do so that the weight can be confirmed. The numbers on the scale read 294.6 lbs. I did it. Three days short of the one-year anniversary of my weight loss journey, I have surpassed the one-hundred-pounds milestone. I do not have a mirror in my room, but I can only assume there was a big smile on my face. I am not nearly at my goal weight, but I reached the next huge milestone.

    In the end, I did not go for my drive yesterday. I did not go to see Lyle yesterday. In fact, I did not leave the building except for when I walked Her Floofness. So, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that I did not accomplish anything. In fact, I went through all of my shirts (and I had a lot of them!) and tried them all on… or at least, I tried on all of the ones that I have not worn in the last week or two. I know that my custom-tailored shirts all fit, so that is fine. I was thrilled that all but one of my guayabera shirts fit. There are a couple of long-sleeved ones that I am really happy I can wear again. There is one that does not fit, but it should fit in a couple of months… if I keep up with my progress.

    I actually made three piles, in addition to the nineteen shirts that I put back into the closet: Shirts that don’t fit yet went into a bin with the rest of my pants that do not fit yet, along with a few t-shirts. Shirts that are too big were divided into two piles: one to donate, but the other pile is of really nice button-down shirts that I am offering to a friend who is bigger than I am, but who might be able to wear them. That pile has a dozen shirts that were all very expensive and are in very good condition. If he does not want the then I will offer them to another friend, and if he doesn’t want them then they are all being donated. This will all happen this week. In the meantime, my closet is so much cleaner with so muck more space that it has had in a very long time! I even re-hung the hang-down soft shelves unit that I was planning to take to Dallas with me. Only this morning did it occur to me that I am not quite done… there are shirts hanging in the closet in Dallas that will either come back to Canada with me or will be donated in Dallas. The timeline for that is not clear, but if nothing else, some of those shirts might make the trip back to Canada to be donated here, if only so that I can use them as packing material.

    I could not understand why my apartment was so cold yesterday. I was absolutely freezing by around 4:00pm, which was weird because yes, it was cold outside… but it was much warmer than it had been even earlier in the day, let alone the last few days. It was only after I got up to turn the thermostat up – and realized it was already at 75°F – that I knew something was wrong. I am feeling fine – not a hint of sick – so what is wrong with me? And then it dawned on me… I had already drunk 4-6 litres of water in the afternoon, and that makes all the difference. During both of my previous extreme weight loss attempts, I had made notes that the huge quantities of water that I drink have several effects, including, most relevant to this topic, is that it causes me to feel really cold… especially my extremities! While that does not solve the problem, at least it helps to know what is causing it. Yay.

    Something that I was worried about as I prepared to start my intensive program was that I have food in the house. When I first did the program in 2017, I emptied the fridge and the cupboards. I threw out everything… including spices. The only thing that I had in the cupboards for the twelve-week intensive program were boxes of my meal replacement shakes. This time around, I did not make that jump. If I wanted to, there is plenty of tuna and salmon in the pantry, plus a couple of cans of soup… and yes, all of my spices are still there. I don’t have much other than condiments in the fridge (except for a couple jars of pepperoncini, partly because I really like them but also partly because I always thought it was fun to hear Leslie’s reaction when she saw them. In the freezer I have a lot more… aside from a half-dozen Montreal bagels, there are a couple of steaks, several pieces of fish, a couple of packages of Beyond Meat burgers (and a package of the ground beef), and a box of a Buffalo Cauliflower meal that I think I bought to make when Leslie was here last but never did. The point of this is that I have plenty of opportunity to cheat… and like at lunch on Saturday, I get to prove to myself each time I open the fridge that I have the willpower to resist the temptations. In addition to everything else, it is another way that I can try to change my behaviours for the long term, all with the goal of breaking my unhealthy relationship with food.

    Like every day since Wednesday, yesterday’s intake was four meal replacements only. The difference is that yesterday morning I made the switch from the American product (with fewer calories, but more shakes per day) to the Canadian product. Unlike the American program, the Canadian one calls for four shakes per day; at 225 calories each, that makes a 900-calorie day. Add the negligible calories from what I add to my coffee, I will still be under 950 calories per day. As long as I can continue to lose weight on that, I will be happy. Now if plateau again, the only change that is left to make would be to cut out coffee… or at least the sugar and milk (or non-milk) that I add to it. I have not decided how long I will stay on the program, but I do have some thoughts on it that I will share later.

    I have been spending so much time these last few weeks about achieving the under-300 lbs. milestone and the losing 100 lbs. milestone that I have not really taken the time to recognize another, which is less clearly delineated that these others. In all of my serious weight loss attempts over the past six years, I have established and then several times changed what my ultimate goal weight is. That number has fluctuated between 195 lbs. and 225 lbs.; in the app that tracks my weight that came with the bathroom scale, that number is currently set to 210 lbs., only because the app needs you to enter a goal weight. In truth, I realized a while ago that I have not weighed under 250 lbs. (which was already fat) since the 1990s… in other words, my mid-20s. As I write this, I am fifty years old, and I recognize that the older body will not look like what the younger body looked like. In other words, my goal is to be slim… but I do not know what slim at my age (and with my body type) will look like on the scale. The important thing for me to recognize is that I want to get slim, and whatever my slim weight will be, for the first time since I started this journey a year ago, I do not have to lose one hundred pounds to get there. It is unlikely that I will ever weigh under 195 lbs., but if that is where I need to be to slim, then by the time I realize that I will likely be within 15-20 lbs. of that number anyways.

    I have so much more to say, but I have to head out to start my day. I am making sure to take two meal replacement shakes with me (along with a shaker bottle, not knowing for certain how long I will be out. Unlike during my modified program, if I am out and about without a meal replacement, I cannot drop into Bulk Barn to pick up some peanuts without it being a clear violation of my program.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 287

    I gained weight this morning, but it was not a significant amount. .2lbs is what I would call a ‘margin of error’ gain. With that said, I did cheat yesterday. I had peanuts (which is not a daily thing but is not unusual). I also had dried apricots, and a couple of ounces of sharp cheddar cheese. It is a misconception that fruits are good for you. While they are healthy, they are also filled with sugar. Dried fruits are much worse, because the sugar is concentrated. While you might eat two or three fresh apricots, it is not difficult to eat a handful of dried ones (as I did… probably eight or ten of them). In other words, I ate the equivalent of ten apricots worth of sugar. Yes, that was a slip. It will not be a common one, but once in a while, I do like to treat myself to something sweet.

    The cheese was a craving that came out of nowhere. I don’t know why, but while I was sitting with Lyle yesterday, I decided I was really in the mood for a piece. I bought the smallest block of aged cheddar I could find and ate two small strips of it… probably 2-3 ounces… after paying the cheese tax to Princess Sophie… and her house guest, Mr. Charlie.

    I do not think that any one of those cheats would have prevented me losing some weight, but the three together resulted in a slight gain. My bad, and I will do better today! Yes, I still have the cheddar in the fridge, but I will not be devouring it on a regular basis.

    This morning, while I was getting dressed, I grabbed the wrong pair of jeans from my armoire. They were tight… I did not remember them being that tight! Because of my damaged and bandaged middle finger, I was not able to button the top button, so I took them off… only to discover that they are a Size 40. I have two identical pair (Levis 501) in a Size 42 (which I wear on a regular basis), and apparently a Size 40 (which was on the ‘hopefully next month’ shelf). While they were tight, I suspect that if my finger was not bandaged, I would have been able to squeeze into the Size 40 jeans. I am not ready to call that a non-scale victory just yet… but it is a good sign of progress!

    I mentioned over the last few days that I had a few days of constipation, and that yesterday it finally passed. I realized as I was speaking with Leslie last night that I could draw a direct line between not drinking enough water to having a stool too hard to pass. Drinking a lot of water is something that I should be doing every day, but I confess that I am often remiss on that. Saturday and Sunday I did not drink enough, so Sunday and Monday I was constipated. Monday, I drank a lot more, so Tuesday I was finally able to poop.

    I have no real plans for the day, except that I am going to try to pick up a Lego set that I spotted on Facebook Marketplace, which Leslie might like. That would take me to Hamilton, so I reached out to Lyle to see if he would be free. As of now he says he is likely busy, but he will let me know if that changes. Who knows? We might have a cigar three days straight leading up to their trip to Italy.

    I will try to be good today. I will have my regular lunch, and aside from that I will do my best to not veer from the path. Despite having cheese in the fridge, I will refrain. If I am out for a while and end up having a handful of peanuts, then let that be the worst transgression… and let me keep the size of the handful small!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 239

    Yesterday did not go as planned, but it did not go too badly. After my minor procedure at the doctor’s (which did not hurt a bit) I came home and made lunch. So far, I was on track.

    I then had a bunch of Salt and Vinegar Goldfish. Not so much on track, but still not off the rails.

    My housekeeper came, and I sat on the balcony with my book and a cigar. We are still doing well.

    Around dinner time, I decided to polish off the leftover fajita bowl from the previous evening with my son. I had forgotten that he had given me a single wing in my leftovers container. Both the fajita bowl and the wing were delicious!

    Late in the evening, I had a meal replacement shake. I was quite peckish, and I did not want to go to bed hungry.

    Throughout the day I drank more water than I usually do on non-exercise days. I think that is one of the reasons my weight was down nearly a pound today (from the reading on the bathroom scale from yesterday, and not from the doctor’s office reading). I am happy about that, but I know I have to get out for a walk today, which I will probably do after lunch. Sun and all, the forecast high for the day is 64° Fahrenheit, and I am wondering if I should tough it out in shorts, or if my training pants are the uniform of the day. I suspect that I’ll stick with shorts, but that will be a gametime decision.

    I reached out to my diet buddy about this evening. She has missed more meetings than she has made these last couple of months, and more often than not, I have not gone out of my way to keep her in line. While most of the time it has been because I have had other things going on, the truth is that she has not really been managing her weight loss, and I have felt it a bit discouraging to meet with someone weekly who would tell me about the poutine and whatever else she was eating. Two weeks ago, she told me she was starting the program again. I look forward to chatting with her this evening, and seeing what progress she has made.

    I am feeling a bit out of sorts today. It is not a physical thing; it is just one of those ‘Lost in Space’ days. I usually take a bit of time to write my morning article, getting distracted by the odd email or whatever. Today, I say here for nearly two hours, looking at Facebook and Discord and whatever else, until I finally wrote this last paragraph. If I had not gone overboard yesterday, I might have thought it was a calorie deprivation thing. No, I doubt it… not after the extras that I ate. I must just have my head in the clouds.

    In one week I am flying to Dallas, and I will again be with my lovely wife. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about that. Over the three-week period I will be in the US, I will also spend six days in Southern California, visiting my old stomping grounds. It will be good to catch up with old friends, every one of whom I miss dearly. I chatted with one this morning, and I officially started putting social engagements into my calendar for that week. Yes, the general theme will likely be cigars. The first such event I have put in is at the Grand Havana Room, one of (if not) the most prestigious private cigar lounges in the country. Fortunately, I have several friends who are members, and so getting in has never been an issue for me. With that said, I am more excited to see my wife (who I saw two weeks ago) than I am most of my friends (who I have not seen in a year). She truly is my beloved. 

    Have a great day folks!

  • Keep On Keeping On

    I knew that I was being a bad boy the second I told Ryan I would have one hamburger with a bun. Knowing my love of onions, he bought a couple of onion rolls (to go with the all-beef burgers that he was buying for me). I heard him mention to our other friend that he did not eat them, am I did not want to seem ungracious. I was carbing up… and I am supposed to be on a very low-carb diet.

    The burgers were wonderful, no doubt. I do wish he had not bought special burgers for me though. Had the only option been the patties with cheese and bacon in them, I could have begged off and not cheated… but my word, they were tasty! Yes, they… I ate one with the bun, and another without.

    On my drive home I knew I had to go for a long walk. I could not just eat like that and not exercise today… it would be a slap in the face to the milestones that I hit and wrote about this morning. I got home and changed into my workout clothes. I took Princess Sophie for her walk (the same path that we have gotten accustomed to taking most mornings, which it turns out is 1.2km), and then set out for mine… planning a route in my head that I knew would be long.

    What I did not account for was the (for Canada) grueling heat. I usually am nearly finished my water bottle (one litre) by the time I walk into the apartment. Today I realized that it was empty before kilometre number seven… and I was over two kilomtres from home. If I learned anything during my time in the Army it is that hydration is not a little important; it is huge. In truth, it is everything, because if you fall out from dehydration the consequences during training are not pleasant; in the field they can be disastrous. At the corner of Dundas and Walker’s Line, just after finishing kilometre seven, I paused my trackers and walked into the Circle K to grab a bottle of Gatorade Zero. While the bottle was gone before I had walked another 500m, the hydration and electrolytes were sufficient to get me home.

    • Distance: 9.5km (8.07km)
    • Duration: 1:37:15 (1:19:59)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 10:14 (9:54)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m43s (9m32s)
    • Steps: 12.1k (9.9k)
    • Calories burned: 1,187 (1003)
    • Elevation gain: 32.6 (30.3)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 122 (124)

    While my first two kilometres had me on a track to match or even beat yesterday’s walk, the heat slowed me down; while two of my first four kilometres were under ten minutes (and my average per kilometre was still under that threshold), I did slow down somewhat after kilometre four, and am not surprised that my pace fell off somewhat. Still and all, I was under 10m40 on every kilometre, so I am not at all disappointed.

    I do not know if I completely worked off the cheat-lunch that I had, but at least I did not throw up my hands in surrender. It would have been easy to just say ‘Oh well, today is a wash, I will start again tomorrow.’ That is not what I am doing… especially knowing that I am getting weighed at the doctor’s office in 3.5 days… and that night I will be seeing my wife! While I doubt if I will get down to 315-pounds by then, I am certainly not going to be happy getting onto the plane over the 320-pound mark. I dropped below that today for the first time, and I hope to be solidly and permanently below that by Wednesday.

    As I have done several times on days when I have cheated, I will not be having three meal replacements. I did not feel that I needed one before my walk, and while I am still not sure if I need one afterwards, I think it prudent to have it, lest I realize at 11:30pm that I am hungry.

    When you tangle up, tango on. Lunch today was a mistake, but I did not miss a beat in getting back on track. That is the best way to avoid failure.

  • 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!

  • Day 43

    The beginning of Week 7, and I am not sure that I am on the right track. I know, I should not be expecting the meteoric weight loss that I experienced when I did the program religiously, but I wonder if I have taken too many liberties with it. I will spend another week or so trying to follow my hybrid program fully, and if I do not resume my weight loss, then it is time to re-think things.

    Don’t get me wrong… I am still about 30 lbs down from where I started. However, as I have been doing the program without much direct supervision, I have to wonder if the slow (or sometimes stalled) weight loss progress is because I am trying to follow the program half-assed, or if it is just normal to not be seeing the weight completely melt away the way it does when I am on the full program.

    If my foot was terrible yesterday, it is better (but not healed) today. I am going to stick with the Naproxen and hope that the pain abates completely over the next couple of days. Either way, I am going to speak with my doctor next week (I am seeing him anyways) about getting a prescription for Colchicine, which unlike the Naproxen is specifically made for this. Of course, it also means that I am going to have to take it for the rest of my life, just like my father did.

    In addition to my thoughts, I think I have to start tracking everything that I eat. I do not want to get to the point where I am ingesting too many calories to lose weight, but do not realize it because I am not paying attention. I’ll use the MyFitnessPal app for that and see what it looks like at the end. I also need to be drinking more water… I am not going through nearly enough, and that is probably another reason for both the stagnating weight loss and the gout.

    The weather today is colder than the last couple of days. In fact, it is the only day on the 10-day forecast that the high temperature will not reach above the freezing point. Nonetheless, if the wind dies down, I will try to enjoy a cigar on the balcony in the afternoon. If not, I guess I am home bound. With HRF Princess Sophie to keep me company, there are worse fates

    My plans for the day: Stay the course. Salad for lunch, chicken for dinner. Meal replacement bars in the mid-afternoon and mid-evening. Drink a lot of water. Lose weight.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 30

    It’s been just about a month, and I am down just under 30 lbs. One pound per day. How could I really be disappointed by that? If I was following the strict program, then it would have been more. I have stated before that I suspect the moderate approach will give me the best chance for long-term success.

    Yesterday I went to prepare a salad with my dinner, only to realize that I had no lettuce… or cucumber, for that matter… but it is the lettuce that is usually the base of the salad. For a minute I considered going shopping, but realized the weather was not quite agreeable to that. Instead, I took the bag of shredded carrots that I had and used them as the base of the salad (rather than an almost-garnish). I chopped tomato and onion onto it, sprinkled some pumpkin seeds, and then a drop of oil and a healthy portion of balsamic vinegar. It was unusual but not unpleasant.

    I think my class is going well. I am enjoying teaching them, although I had a mic blunder yesterday. Prior to class I was speaking with Leslie on the phone. Thinking my computer mic was muted, I told her of two students who I know are phoning it in… they have not done any of their labs, and I do not think they are even sitting through the class. I do not know if they are having their program paid by a government program which mandates they attend… and then I realized my computer mic was hot. I apologized to the group and took the opportunity to remind them that I mark attendance for those who log in, but the school has a record of who is doing the labs and who completes them, and that is out of my hands.

    —

    I was halfway through this morning’s entry when my phone dinged. A buddy was downstairs waiting to come up. I haven’t seen him in a couple of years, and it was great to sit and chat with him. The original purpose of his visit was to bring some cigars that I was buying from him, and we sat outside and enjoyed a beautiful cigar. Despite the chill, it is a beautiful sunny day, and we had the heater going. Once it was too cold to continue, we sat inside with another cup of coffee discussing cigars and golf and dogs and whatever else we wanted to. I really enjoy it when friends come to visit. I do not mind smoking alone, but cigars are a social lubricant best enjoyed with friends – old or new.

    Something that I have to be more mindful of is my water intake. The fact that I have been drinking a lot of coffee does not change the fact that I need to drink a lot of water, and I know that I have been neglectful of that the last week – since driving to Montreal, I suppose. If there is one thing you do not want to do when you have a six hour drive it is to drink so much water that you need to stop to pee every fifty kilometers. Leslie asked me about it Wednesday, and I confessed that I was not drinking as much as I should. I have tried to remedy that, and am so grateful for her help!

    I suppose I do not have a lot to report today. I have to go shopping now – I am woefully short of salad fixings, and I am out of chicken as well. When I come home, I will prepare a meal, and I will likely sit outside to finish the cigar that I left over. I am a firm believer that you finish a cigar in one sitting, and if you let it sit too long it goes bad. The 2-3 hours that this one will have been sitting should not be too rough, but if it is, I will just pick a new stick.

    I always look forward to the weekend (as does everyone, I suppose), but knowing that tomorrow Leslie is coming I am looking forward to it even more. It is so exciting knowing that my baby will be in my arms in just over 24 hours. I have mentioned before that she is very supportive of my diet, and I have been trying to make her understand that just because I am on this program does not mean that she has to be. As such, I made a date for us to spend the evening with Lyle and Dorothy on Sunday. Lyle is a world class chef, and Dorothy is an amazing baker. When we were last there, Lyle discovered that Leslie loves mushrooms, and promised to make her something special on her next visit. The fact that I will not be able to enjoy that something special does not mean that we should not go and spend time with our friends, and yes Leslie should enjoy her mushrooms and homemade pasta and all of that wonderful stuff. Lyle is aware of my dietary restrictions and will likely make me a fabulous piece of chicken or fish to enjoy while they are indulging. I am really looking forward to it… but I saw Lyle last week and Dorothy a couple of weeks ago, and I have not seen my girlfriend since December. I am really looking forward to her visit!

    Wherever you are and whatever you have planned, you enjoy your weekend, and I will see you all soon!

  • Day 24 (Montreal)

    Success… mostly. Yesterday’s consumption consisted of four shakes… and one bag of almonds. As I had mentioned, I was driving to Montreal, and when I stopped for my first bio-break, I bought a small bag of almonds, with a marked value of 360 calories. I ate half of them between my first and second shakes, and the balance between my second and third shakes. I only had one shake on the road, and I pulled off into a Service Area to mix it up. I was a little nervous about that… When I was on the program five years ago, I mixed a shake on the same drive (from Burlington to Montreal) and discovered too late that the shaker-cup was not properly secured. I also discovered (shortly thereafter) that the shake material stains the leather (or whatever material the inside of my door was made of). I did not try to prepare the shake on the move, I took extra precautions to secure the bottle, and there were no accidents.

    On the same topic, that was the first time I had prepared the shake by hand since I don’t know when… I have a Ninja blender at home that does a much better job (it crushes an ice cube into the shake and gives it a creamier consistency, as well as keeping it cold), and when I was on the go (when I was previously on the program in the US) I simply took meal replacement bars with me. I am out of the bars and knowing that I will be away for three days, I simply took a box of fourteen shakes with me.

    I did not drink quite as much water as I usually do yesterday, owing to the fact that I did not want to have to stop along the road every 30 minutes. As it was, I made three stops, but one of them was also to gas up the car and to buy cigars (there is a good cigar shop on the Tyendinaga Reservation, in addition to much cheaper gasoline). Had I drank all the water I normally do, I suspect I would have arrived an hour later than I did.

    This afternoon, I will have lunch with my father’s widow, and we will share some rotisserie chicken. I suspect that will be the only food I eat this weekend, and it is not really a cheat… at least, it is not a cheat beyond the hybrid program I have been following. As such, I would love to step onto the bathroom scale Tuesday morning to discover that I have dropped a good amount of weight! There are no guarantees of course… but there is a simple equation: If I follow the program, if I consume only my meal replacements and healthy foods in moderation, then I will lose weight. It really is that simple. If my pre-diet intake was more than 3,000 calories per day (including a lot of carbohydrates and starches), then there is no way that I can consume less than 1,100 calories per day and not lose weight.

    I miss Princess Sophie. Last night was the first night since October 1st that she was not with me, and I worry about her… even though the woman who is taking care of her sent me a picture of her having a wonderful time. I still miss her and can hardly wait to see her again!

    When I arrived last night, my friends asked me to not smoke in the house anymore. For years I have been coming here and they always invited me to smoke, so this was a bit of a change. They are expecting their first grandchild soon, so I am not surprised. I gave them a little grief over it, but in truth it did not bother me. I will have plenty of opportunities to smoke cigars this weekend, and even if I would not, I would not really be put out. I still love them!

    I have spoken about my routine and being out of town it is necessarily disturbed. I had to remind myself after I finished my shake to pull my computer out to write. I did not take Princess Sophie for a walk, I did not make sure my dishes were clean, and I did not have to feed a puppy. Fortunately, I remembered to at least spend a few minutes writing. I suppose it is easier to want to sit down to write coming off a successful day, rather than one when I would be beating myself up.

    I have been watching the craziest period of ice hockey I have seen in years. In the last seven minutes the score has gone from 3-2 for Czech Republic to tied at 4, to ROC (Russia) up 5-4, and now it is tied. There is a reason that watching hockey is so much more interesting than just reading the scores! I do not watch often – I don’t even have a cable subscription at home – but I enjoy it when I do. After the game I am going to hit the road and pick up a chicken to take to Esti’s.

    Have a great day!