Losing a part of me

Category: Weight Management

  • Day 169

    What a great day yesterday was! I got amazing news from my doctor (huge weight loss), I spent a lot of the day with my loving wife (who had to work, but she was still here); I went for an amazing power walk with these tremendous stats!

    • Distance: 7.25 km (5.00 km)
    • Duration: 1:17:03 (54:41 minutes)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 10:37 (10:54)
    • Steps: 8.8k (6.1k)
    • Calories burned: 419 (288)
    • Elevation gain: 27m (16m)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 114 (112)

    Being able to cut 17 seconds off my per-kilometre pace felt great. Yes, I was pushing myself… but I should always be pushing myself! The encouragement comes at one-kilometre intervals when my phone reads off my time for the last kilometre… and how far I have gone. My fourth kilometre yesterday was my best per-km yet… 10m12s. By the seventh kilometre I was back down to 10m42s, but that is still an amazing pace.

    I should mention that at the end of the fourth kilometre, I stopped for a few minutes. I forgot to bring a bottle of water with me, and so I stopped at the gas station on the corner and bought one. Unfortunately, their computers were down, and so everything was slow. I did not intend for it to be a seven- or eight-minute break, but I am not too upset by it.

    I came home and took a shower (obviously). Leslie and I then got dressed up and she took me out for a birthday dinner at The Keg, which was delicious! I did not go crazy; I started with a Caesar salad, and then had the 12-ounce New York Strip Steak with mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes. It was a very nice treat! For dessert, the waitress (who is not a collectible!) brought a complimentary piece of Billy Miner Pie, which was absolutely sinful. Leslie and I shared it, and I appreciated the help because… yeah, had I eaten it alone I could imagine the number on the scale this morning would not have been a good one.

    Yes, after all that, the number on the scale was down! Not by much, but down is better than up, right? I will take it happily!

    This evening Leslie and I are going to meet my ex-wife and sons for dinner. She has met my son the elder, but this will be the first time she meets my son the younger and Theresa. It feels awkward to say the least. We will get through it, but to make it more palatable for my son, we are going to a restaurant which he loves… and where there will be a lot of temptation to eat poorly. I remember taking my son to Buffalo Wild Wings a couple of times while on diet, and I have been able to resist the temptation to splurge. This evening the temptation will be greater because of the stress of the meeting.

    Because I know that I cannot go nuts, and I cannot let my guard down, I decided to plan ahead. I went to their website and decided that I will order the grilled chicken salad. It has 640 calories and is pretty high in fat, but it is still a smarter choice than… well, anything else on the menu. Planning ahead is often a key success factor with dieting, and I think this was a smart choice. Leslie told me that she woke up in the middle of the night and had the thought that our choice of venue would be dangerous to my diet. I told her that I was planning to eat well and surprised her when I told her I was going to order a salad. As I always say… Lead me not to temptation! I know exactly where to find it.

    It is nearly 2:00pm and we are not leaving until 5:15pm. Leslie still has to work, so I am going to go out for another walk. I really want to keep that habit going. One thing I learned last night is that of the several pair of athletic shoes that I own, the ones I wore yesterday are not conducive to power-walking. Indeed, shortly after the 5km mark my feet started to complain about them. I will switch them out for a different pair for today. As well, Leslie just ordered a new pair of shoes for me which look like they will be much more comfortable.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 168

    Today is my fiftieth birthday. A lot of water under the bridge. I have been through a lot, and I have survived it all. I am grateful for what I have and for who I am, and for where I am. Could it be better? In some respects, yes. Could it be worse? In many respects, absolutely.

    I started the morning at the doctor’s office, with some amazing news. I had said yesterday that I was hoping to have lost at least four kilos. I lost nearly five kilos since my last weigh in! Over 10.5lbs in the month which included so many opportunities to cheat and to fall off the program. Yay!

    The doctor also gave me other good news, most of which I will not share. Suffice it to say that I came back from the appointment happy, and I even brought the love of my life a pink drink from Starbucks, which cost me nothing because they give you a drink for free on your birthday!

    It was one year ago today that I was asked if I was daft. A year later I am married. Hopefully I am less daft than I was, but I know I will still do stupid things.

    So many people rue birthdays. Getting older is not fun, but it is better than the alternative. In my original chosen career path, I had a few friends who did not get to grow old, and I think it would be an insult to their memory for me to treat my birthday as anything but a celebration… and a memorial to them. This evening, Leslie and I will go for a lovely steak dinner. I will have a piece of birthday cake because… yes, I can. Afterwards we will come home and sit on the patio, and I will smoke an absolutely incredible cigar from my Unicorns Collection… the cigars that are over twenty years old, and each one is extra special not only because of its age, but because of the story behind it.

    I am so blessed to have my wife here to celebrate with me, and this evening will be just us. Saturday afternoon some of my friends are throwing a bit of a party for me, and that will be delightful. For today, Leslie and I will celebrate quietly… if indulgently!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 167

    I got onto the bathroom scale this morning and got a huge shock. After my 2.4lbs drop yesterday, this morning I was down another 3.8lbs from yesterday. I still say that every small increment helps, but these occasional huge drops are always nice too! The real tell will be tomorrow morning. I will be seeing the doctor for my official weigh-in. I have not been to his office for an official weigh-in since Day 139, so it is nearly a month. Unless something goes very wrong between now and then, I am expecting to see a huge drop – at least four kilos down from my last weigh-in, conservatively. I am crossing my fingers. At the same time, I know that hope is not a strategy, and so I will also be eating well today.

    Speaking of that, we started with a very nice omelet this morning. I sautéed some mushrooms and onions on one burner, while preparing the six-egg omelet in the other. I have been playing with blending the eggs rather than beating them by hand; yesterday it was too… something. I had them in the blender for seven seconds. This morning I kept it to three seconds, and according to my lovely wife, I got the consistency perfect today. Yay! Of course, I also added some cheese and dill to the mix, and it was quite lovely. Add to that my morning coffee, which is quite important. For nearly three weeks in Dallas, I made do with an inferior coffee blend (which was nobody’s fault but my own). It is wonderful to be home to my Pane Fresca blend of French Roast mixed with Belgian Chocolate.

    It was raining this morning when I took Her Royal Floofness for her walk. Not a big deal, but we did get wet. Fortunately, I have hats to keep me partially protected. We did not go as far as we often do, but she was able to accomplish what she needed to, and that was the important part.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 165

    Leslie and I are at the airport on our way home to Toronto. Getting through checking in and Security was a breeze… even though the TSA agent at Security was a bit of a prick.

    One of the advantages of flying business class is that when all of that rigamarole is behind us, we can relax in the business class lounge – in the case of American Airlines, the Admiral Club. It is the first time in year I’ve flown American, but the lounge is similar to the ones I am used to. I have a cup of coffee, Leslie has a sofa, and we have ninety minutes before boarding starts.

    This morning my weight was down another pound, which puts me exactly where I was before I got onto the airplane nearly three weeks ago. To be on vacation and not gain weight is a success, even though I was way down for a few days. Damn those tasty treats!

    One thing I am happy about is that my weight stayed stable, but I did not deprive myself. For example, yesterday for lunch we had a wonderful hamburger and fries. I only had beef twice during my stay here… well, three times if you count the pho.

    I will see the doctor on Wednesday, and I am hoping to be at least one but maybe as much as two kilos down. I am crossing my fingers. I have not walked since Thursday, but tomorrow is a holiday for Leslie (and the entire USA) so we will probably go down to Niagara Falls for the day. Tuesday morning I will resume my walking routine.

    Have a great day folks… and I’ll see you in Toronto!

  • Day 162

    It felt great to get onto the scale this morning and be back down below the last threshold I was under, then popped back above briefly. Of course, the Chinese food I had for lunch today probably won’t do me any favours, but every once in a while, you gotta splurge.

    My fifth walk in Texas went very well, albeit different than I originally planned it. My intention, as I mentioned yesterday, was to walk eight kilometres today. That did not happen. However, I picked up the pace! With the exception of the first, each kilometre was at or below 11 minutes. The best one was my fourth kilometre, which I clocked at 10m41s! I knocked out five kilometres in under fifty-five minutes, and that is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, three of my Canadian walks had a slightly better cadence, but there was only one walk that I have done with a better average pace.

    • Distance: 5.00 km (7.00 km)
    • Duration: 54:41 (1:19:42 minutes)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 10:54 (11:23)
    • Steps: 6.1k (8.7k)
    • Calories burned: 288 (396)
    • Elevation gain: 16m (31m)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 112 (110)

    Leslie’s friend and I are going to the movies in the evening, but before that I am going to head down to my new cigar lounge for a couple of hours. I am looking forward to getting to know the people there, and that will take time… especially since I am not going to be in town very much until mid-September.

    By the way, there are some things that I do not really discuss in these entries, but suffice it to say that Leslie has noticed a difference in my body this last week. Yay!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 160

    My weight was that has been creeping back up these last few days finally dipped back down this morning. Yay. I did not go for a walk – I have a pain in my side that I am wondering about, and I will relax for today. Hopefully Leslie and I will spend some time in the pool relaxing again. We’ll see.

    I do not have a lot to report… Have a great day!

  • Day 159

    My weight keeps creeping back up. This morning it was back to where it was the day that I left Canada. I guess there was a weight loss effect to Covid, and I have recovered. I am not worried… I know that I am snacking on some things that I should not, but I am also eating mostly pretty well, and I am walking a lot. Today’s walk was my longest since I got here and tied for my longest. Here’s the breakdown:

    • Distance: 7.00 km (5.00 km)
    • Duration: 1:21:17 (56:10 minutes)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 11:36 (11:09)
    • Steps: 8.7k (6.1k)
    • Calories burned: 394 (287)
    • Elevation gain: 28m (25m)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 106 (108)

    As we can see, I am not walking as fast as I could, but I think the distance is important. Tomorrow I will try to speed it up a little… my first 7km walk I had a pace nearly 40 seconds per kilometre better than I did today. I should also remember that it was probably 15 degrees (Celsius) cooler than it was today. Yes, there is room for improvement… but I also have accomplished something!

    Breakfast today was cereal. Tomorrow I will go back to preparing omelets, which I suspect is a lot healthier for me. Lunch was leftover salmon with salad… and two (very small) Japanese chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They were so good! I will make something reasonably healthy for dinner… although I am thinking of making air fried potatoes. We shall see

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 156

    It is hot out there! Today is an important day, but I started out with a bowl of cereal, and then I went for a walk. I wanted to push myself further than I went yesterday, and I did… to a point.

    • Distance: 5.00 km (4.00 km)
    • Duration: 56:10 minutes (46:17 minutes)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 11:09 (11:33)
    • Steps: 6.1k (5k)
    • Calories burned: 287 (226)
    • Elevation gain: 25m (22m)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 108 (108)

    I did take a bottle of water with me today and thank G-d I did because it was hot! I was hoping to go further, but I realized a couple of things. Firstly, I needed to pee after the second kilometre. Secondly, it was hot out there! My phone registered it at 35°, and it is going up to 38° today. Wow.

    The bathroom scale continues to be good to me. This morning I was down another pound and a half… despite the fact that I ate pizza for lunch, and chicken wings for dinner. I did not gorge myself, but those are foods that one does not associate with weight loss. I also had a dram of whisky with my cigar last night.

    Leslie have an important meeting to head out to now, so I will post more tomorrow. Have a great day folks!

  • Day 155

    My walk this morning hit a lot of firsts. It was, firstly, my first post-Covid walk. I know I am not yet 100%, but I did want to give it a try. It was my first walk in Dallas, and my first walk in 36°c heat (that is about 96° Fahrenheit). All good starts. I took it easy, so it is also the first time I am posting my stats here where they are worse than the previous attempt.

    • Distance: 4.00 km (7.00 km)
    • Duration: 46:17 minutes (1:15:57 minutes)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 11:33 (10:51)
    • Steps: 5k (8.7k)
    • Calories burned: 226 (402)
    • Elevation gain: 22m (22.1m)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 108 (114)

    All in all, I am extremely happy that I did it. I will try to do it tomorrow, but I have to remember to bring a bottle of water with me. Yes, it is bloody hot out there!

    Breakfast was good… I had an omelet with onions, broccoli, and cheese. After I came home from my walk, Leslie and I decided to be bad… we ordered pizza. We do not cheat often, and I have been jonesing for a pizza for months. It was delicious indeed! For dinner, I will make chicken wings and a salad. Leslie is still new to the air fryer, and I want to introduce her to new ways to make food for her son. We bought the wings the other day, and I defrosted them overnight. She has a great sauce that we will use, but air fried is so much healthier than regular fried!

    My downward trend on the bathroom scale continues, and I hit another low this morning. I am thrilled by it! Leslie said that every time my weight hits a plateau, I just have to come to Dallas to see her. Maybe she is right? I doubt that Covid is having a real effect on it, but who knows? I am now three pounds down from my last weigh-in at home. To make things even sweeter, after my walk I stepped on the scale and was another two pounds down… I know that I lost a lot of water during the walk so it does not count… but it is still cool. If I were to have gotten weighed by my doctor at the same weight as I weighed in this morning, I would be 3.5 kg down from my weigh-in just over two weeks ago. Woohoo!

    I did enjoy my first cigar last night, and I was able to taste it, although I am not sure that I got the full effects. I got a strong note of cinnamon from the very first puff to the very last, which is not what this particular cigar should taste like. I will stick to a cheaper cigar for tonight if I decide to have one.

    It does get hot down here in Texas, that is for sure. A few people warned me about it, and I knew… but I forgot. Yessir, summer in Texas is not like summer in California. I will absolutely get used to it, I just forgot that the heat can be oppressive here.

    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!