Losing a part of me

Category: Work

  • Day 1053

    I am not sure if today is Day 3 or Day 4 without even a half-decent bowel movement, and I suspect that is having at least some effect on my weight. Yes, I ate the rest of the chicken and salad (that I had purchased on Friday) yesterday, but it was not an unreasonable amount. I also jogged five kilometres on the treadmill. All this to say that I am reasonably sure that if my system was not backed up then I would have dropped more than a couple of ounces from yesterday morning. I am still 3.2 lbs. heavier than I was Wednesday morning.

    Today is going to be a challenge. We are having a holiday get together at a buddy’s place. We will mostly be smoking cigars, but the host asked about our pizza preferences. I told him to not account for me in his pizza planning. He then posted this morning that he is going to pick up special doughnuts. I am going to have to avoid those as well. I have packed three protein bars to take with me and will try to stick to eating only two of them. Whatever I do, when I get home this evening I will be hitting the treadmill.

    Speaking of the treadmill, I did a strong 5km jog yesterday evening. The difference between my quick-walking and actually jogging is the difference between setting the speed to 3.6 to 4.0. It feels good to be able to jog and not tire out as I would have a couple of months ago. I actually feel that the factor that stopped me from a longer jog yesterday was the time constraints – I had a meeting I needed to get to, so I had to cut it short when I did. I will see if I can go longer this evening.

    Over the course of the last couple of hours I have gone to the washroom a couple of times, trying to produce… something. It is hard and painful, but slowly over time I am getting some of that blockage out. It feels as if I have not had any fibre whatsoever. I am thinking that this evening I might consider a laxative to see if that helps.

    My sleep score last night was fair – a 76, which is mostly because I woke up earlier than I might have (especially for a Sunday morning). My body battery was up to 48. While I certainly slept better last night than the previous night, it would seem my body did not recover as well. Hopefully that will get better tomorrow. We will see.

    Speaking of tomorrow, I am teaching for the day. It is an intro course so nothing too deep, but I am looking forward to it. It is my only day teaching this month… yikes. I am glad to have not wasted my downtime… I sat a class, passed two certifications, and next week I am sitting another class to hopefully earn another cert. These two certifications will really increase my value as a trainer and as a consultant. I have gone through slow periods before and truly wasted them. Between November and December, I will have had two days of actual work… but I have definitely not wasted the downtime. Professional advancement is crucial in my line of work, and I have done a lot of that in this period.

    The plan for today is to NOT fall off the wagon, right? Okay… let’s try to make that happen.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1048

    I passed my exam yesterday! I was nervous… it was a grueling exam, and I was reasonably certain as I left the examination room that I had failed. When I got to the reception area and the woman at the desk handed me the paper with my results, she handed it to me upside down. I turned it over to see a single word… if the first word says ‘Congratulations’ then it was a pass. I was thrilled about it! Now I have to go through the entire process of getting endorsed so that I can pay my annual dues and advertise the certification. Yes, it is a bit of a pain compared to a lot of the previous certifications that I have earned (pass exam = certification) … but that’s what happens when you move up into the big leagues I suppose!

    With all of the pre-exam cramming and post-exam relief, it was late in the afternoon before I had a meal replacement. I then had a cigar with my wife (video chat is hard, but at least we were able to connect) and then decided to get onto the treadmill for a 5km walk. Following that, I showered and then decided to make myself eggs instead of another meal replacement. As I mentioned to Leslie yesterday, the only thing wrong with that is my cholesterol; she responded (tongue-in-cheek) that this week cholesterol may be bad, but we’ll see what it is next week. Yes, the medical community does seem to change their opinions from time to time.

    My sleep score was only 76, but I still felt pretty good when I woke up… probably because when I woke up at 4:00am thinking I was awake for the day, I was able to fall back asleep until 7:15. I am still waking up with a headache… after four nights of the same I have to think that the added element to my sleep regimen, which certainly does help me to fall asleep, is the cause. I will experiment with dosages and brands to see if I can both get to sleep and wake up without the headache.

    The bathroom scale this morning has me down 1.6 lbs. from yesterday, which means that after one week on the program I am down just over ten pounds. Yay! I will try to keep on the downward trend for the entire month of December… how wonderful would it be to lose another 15-20 lbs. before New Years Day?

    I am off to see a buddy this afternoon. I will do my best to stay true to my program so that I can continue to lose weight. When I come home, I will get onto the treadmill. I will do my best. The only cheating I plan to do this month is with turkey dinners that I am invited to. Other than that… I will stay true.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1031

    Okay… yesterday I was disappointed that I had gained nearly two pounds from the previous day. It was actually a bit over 1.5 lbs., but it is what it is. This morning, I had shed exactly what I had gained. I was relieved that the gain was not permanent. Hopefully I will stay on track today.

    It is already 6:00pm on Saturday and I have had a very productive day. I did several hours of billable work, which will help pay my own bills. Princess Sophie spent several hours with her boyfriend Charlie at the neighbour’s house, and she is now back home resting. I picked up my meds yesterday, and this morning was the first day that I took all three of my pills. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to get a good walk in.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1028

    Yes, I messed up yesterday. I wrote a three-word post, and yet I still messed up. How? I got the day number wrong. I fixed that this morning.

    My weight is way up. A couple of days ago I had an extremely emotional time of it, and I indulged. I knew I would pay for it. I bought (and ate) a box of breakfast cereal. I ate better yesterday, but because I did not weigh myself yesterday, I do not know if I lost weight from then.

    Why didn’t I weigh myself? It was one of those overnight classes. I was supposed to go to bed early Monday so I could wake up at midnight and teach from 1am until noon. The problem was that I was never able to fall asleep, so I finally got out of bed and readied myself for class early. I did not bother, but I knew I was heavier.

    I somehow made it through my class, and when it was over I took Her Floofness for a walk and then had a light meal, and then went to bed. I slept for 2-3 hours, and while I needed more, I knew I could not do it lest I wake up at midnight. I stayed awake until a reasonable hour, and then I fell asleep and had a wonderful night’s rest. Sleep score? Ninety-one! Yes, I slept very well.

    Today will be a more relaxing day. I am likely going to see a friend, and then will come home in time for dinner. We’ll see.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 1019

    My weight was up this morning by more than a pound. As we know, yesterday was a travel day and airports are not conducive to good eating. After Leslie and her son dropped me off I got through the security checkpoint and then found a pub where I could safely get a plate of fish and chips – not great for my diet, but safe for my dietary restrictions. I then boarded the plane with a bag of almonds and cashews which I had picked up earlier in the week. All in all, I did not eat terribly. The problem is that I am still backed up! I am hoping that sometime today that will begin to pass. If not, then I am thinking I might want to take a laxative, or at the very least some fibre. We will see how the day goes.

    My sleep score dropped down to a 67 this morning. I am not surprised because I got into the apartment very late last night, and after greeting Her Royal Floofness I did some unpacking (I wanted to make sure that all of my cigars were properly stored in my humidor), and then did not really get to sleep until 1:30am or so. Despite that I did not sleep in… I was awake around 7:15am as usual, and probably tumbled out of bed around 7:30am. I dove into my usual morning routine, including taking the Princess for her walk, and the day went from there. Hopefully I will sleep better this evening… we’ll see.

    I am auditing a class this week that is set in the Pacific time zone which means I’ll be learning from noon until 8:30pm… a bit of an offset from the norm, but not terrible. I will not be adjusting my wake/sleep schedule at all, but I will adjust my eating as necessary. It is now 1:30pm and I just had my lunch… which for the first time in a long time consisted of a meal replacement shake. Yes, per what I wrote several hours ago in the previous paragraph, I added fibre to it. I will be preparing a full meal for dinner, which I will prepare for the mid-class break (around 3:00pm local time). I will likely have another meal replacement after class (around 8:30pm) but that is all I plan to eat today.

    I went shopping this morning and despite all of the temptations I was true to my plans… I bought milk (despite the expiry date the milk in my fridge had turned), eggs, and vegetables for salad. Nothing more. I was tempted by so many things… and bought none of them. It is a small victory because I will have to do this again and again every time I shop. I know that sometimes I will fail, but I will try to succeed more often. As a simple example, I looked at the bakery section… and walked by. Yes, I like to have a fresh roll with my breakfast, but I was strong and did not buy them… today. I will have to continue to be strong.

    I suppose I should be paying closer attention to my class so I will close here. See you all tomorrow folks!

  • Day 988

    Yesterday was one of those days.

    Wednesday afternoon my plan was to get some sleep and then wake up in time to connect to the Erev Rosh Hashana services that my synagogue broadcasts. A bunch of different things happened to keep me from my bed, and when I finally did lie down at 5:00pm, my phone rang… it was a Lodge brother in crisis, and I spent over an hour talking with him and helping him with his issue. I am glad I was able to be there for him, even at the cost of two hours of sleep. I then fell asleep for a couple of hours, but I did not mute my phone. When I get seven text messages in short succession it usually means that there is an urgent matter that needs to be dealt with. It turned out that it was just seven completely unrelated texts that came from different people, and it was a coincidence that they all came within a minute. The alert was enough to wake me up, and I could not get back to sleep. I decided that rather than lying there frustrated, I would get dressed, take Princess Sophie for a walk, and then I would call my wife so that we could light the candles and say our prayers before I joined the services online.

    Why did I go into all of that detail about Wednesday night? Essentially to say that I was so exhausted yesterday because between Wednesday at 12:15am when I woke up and Thursday evening at 5:30pm when I went to bed I got two hours of sleep. I got through my class just fine, but I am glad that in the afternoon I did not have a lot to do. I could not go to bed because my cleaning lady came… had I known what the previous two days would be like I would have canceled that in a heartbeat, but I was committed. I finally got to sleep at 5:30pm with the hopes that I would be able to sleep through until my alarm went off at 12:30am. In fact I did one better… I slept through the alarm and it was 1:05am by the time I got out of bed and got going. I am glad I did not sleep through my class!

    I am feeling much better today than I did yesterday. I was telling Leslie that with all of the difficulties in my life I am still a very blessed man, and I am grateful for so much. I am grateful this morning for having slept last night, and my class is going well. My weight, which has been up every day for nearly a week, finally dropped slightly this morning. Hopefully by the beginning of next week when I fly to Maine I will be down below 300 lbs. again. I will try!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 985

    It is 1:30am and I have been awake for over an hour, at my desk since 1:00am. I did not expect to sleep very week considering the time zone in which I am working (Central Europe Standard Time), and that it was light out when I went to bed – and for several hours afterwards. I know I woke up at 7:00pm and thought that I was up for the duration, but then fell back asleep and made it to 12:30am before getting up and at it. Hopefully I will be able to maintain this schedule for the week without too much trouble.

    I should mention that I taught yesterday on less than three hours of sleep, so I definitely needed the rest… I just did not expect I would get it!

    I did step onto the scale before getting dressed. I gained a bit since Sunday morning, but considering the time difference it is likely that I weigh the same as I did then. I ended up making chicken for lunch before going to sleep yesterday, and am satisfied that I did not gorge myself.

    I thought I would be satisfied with a protein bar this morning, but did not feel sated and so I am making some toast. I will make my omelette when class breaks for their lunch.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 984

    It is 11:08am, and my day is done. I have been up since midnight after nearly three hours of sleep. Because of my class schedule this week my schedule is completely off. I did not weigh myself this morning because I essentially woke up yesterday. I had breakfast when my class broke for lunch, but I am thinking that right now I am going to have a cigar and then maybe I’ll eat a protein bar before hitting the sack.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 942

    After yesterday’s slight rise in my weight, it was nice to see a solid drop in it this morning. While I did not get out to exercise yesterday (owing not only to the networking issues, but also to a bit of an ache in my knee) I was a bit worried, but I ate better than I had in many days and was rewarded with a two-pound drop on the bathroom scale this morning. Yay! 

    I am teaching again this week, and hope that I will be able to stay on track. I did go into the supermarket over the weekend, and while I was tempted to buy things that I should not be eating, I was good. Yay. 

    Before I weighed myself this morning I had a bit of a bowel movement, but after my breakfast I had a much more productive one. The fibre that I add into my meal replacements is doing its job, even though I wish it would have happened prior to my weighing myself. Oh well. 

    Have a great day folks! 

  • Day 939

    When I set out on my last challenge to myself in May, I weighed 291.8 lbs. and would lose just over twenty pounds before my downward slide began. This morning, having dropped 8.6 lbs. Since Sunday, I am one pound over that number. I am going to stay on track this time… I am going to keep losing weight no matter what comes my way. 

    I cheated again last night… in much the same manner as I had the previous few nights. I will try to do better today. 

    One thing that is better this morning is that I was able to walk up the stairs when coming in from my walk with Princess Sophie. I have been walking (or limping) down the stairs, but I believe today is the first time in several weeks that I was able to walk/jog up them. It felt good! Hopefully this weekend I will be able to do some exercise; we will see how I am feeling. 

    After a completely gorgeous week (during which I was stuck inside during the days), the weekend forecast is for rain beginning this evening and going right through Monday… when I will once again be stuck inside working the whole week. I cannot complain though; I have had the freedom to spend a lot of time outside in the sun this summer. Now it is time for me to earn some money. 

    I might have a couple of errands to run over the weekend, but overall I am going to be preparing for next week’s class. Additionally, I am hoping that I will be able to do some exercise… whether that is outside or on my treadmill. 

    Have a great day folks!