WEIGHT: 248 as of 5/17/2021
It's been an action-packed few weeks. I guess I'll start by saying it really
does come down to two things: diet and exercise. Over my adult life,
I've attempted a balance between the two several times, but it never quite worked.
I was generally able to get one right but not the other; I was like a kid learning
to ride a bicycle, tipping to the left and to the right trying to find an equilibrium
while moving forward.
To remain upright, all of those directions matter.
Today, I think the best I'm willing to say is I'm back on that bike, and I'm
upright.
My goals are weight loss and significant improvement in my general health. And
I think the weight loss will come with the health improvement.
Diet
I radically changed my diet nearly a month ago. And believe me, my diet was
absolute shit: I was eating hamburgers from several times each week to at least
once per day. Today, I can tell you I've maintained my normal breakfast, but
lunch and dinner is typically some combination of chicken and lettuce. I've had
red meat three times in the past month, and how it's prepared makes a tremendous
difference. I've also stopped eating and drinking after dinner.
MetFormin
MetFormin is a time-tested drug used to control blood sugar and lower one's A1C,
which is a measure of one's blood sugar levels over a three-month period. I was
prescribed MetFormin about two and a half years ago, and I had trouble with it
constantly — I would call such events my "MetFormin workout," because I'd throw up
everything left in my stomach at about 1:30 AM until I could taste the medication
I took hours earlier; then I'd be sore for a couple of days afterwards from the heaving.
I tolerated it so poorly that I simply stopped taking it. I was throwing up in the
middle of the night a few times each week, and I was waking up my family each time.
I've discovered the trick — and I wish I'd learned this years ago: MetFormin
and grease are NOT friends. I believe now the reason I had such a difficult time
with the medication is because I still had the diet of a teenager. I also believe
now that this was wisdom I was not ready to receive.
In the past month, I've only had "a workout" once or twice: both times after a day
when I ate one of those burgers.
The other time I enjoyed red meat was in a steak salad. The steak was prepared
well, except it was cut in the wrong direction. No grease. No problem that night. So,
I had my answer: grease was my enemy.
The change in diet is responsible for my current success with MetFormin.
Blood Sugar Testing
As far as diet, this is where the rubber meets the road. I started testing my
blood sugar again after several years' hiatus. And the readings were shockingly bad.
And shockingly bad was good.
It was good because it prompted me to really examine my diet and to make changes
to improve my readings.
It was this kind of analysis that led me to discover my number one enemy was
something I've been drinking for YEARS: Nestle Coffee Mate Sugar Free French Vanilla
coffee creamer.
My own testing led me to believe the problem was something about my coffee, but
I didn't know exactly what. Confirmation (of a sort) came from a few product reviews
on Amazon.com, made by people who have, or support people who have, diabetes. One
reviewer mentioned that his readings would spike 120 mg or more from use of this
creamer; my readings were consistent with his.
Happily, we still have some half-and-half in the fridge; I used it and a packet
of Sweet-n-Low in this morning's cup (though guidance I'm reading on the Web suggests
I should probably just go with our 2% milk). To be honest, it doesn't taste nearly as good.
My cup this morning was like a black-and-white photo; the vibrant colors were
comparatively reduced to shades of gray. Okay, that was pretty dramatic and sad. My
point is simply that I really miss the flavor and creaminess the Coffee Mate provided,
but I can't use it anymore. (By the way, I also found news of a class-action lawsuit filed against Nestle in the State of California
accusing Nestle of still using partially hydrogenated oil in Coffee-mate; PHO was
banned by the FDA years ago.)
Lifestyle changes like this and the overall change in diet are bringing my numbers
down to where they should be; this week I had a few readings in the 100's and 110's.
And I only started measuring my blood sugar again 10 days ago.
Exercise
All these diet changes and blood sugar readings are only half of the equation. I'm
very motivated to exercise now that warmer temps are here — I think I've mentioned
before the weird workout I devised in my pool late last year (my great regret being
that it hadn't occurred to me early in the season). But, as recent posts
have shown, I've brought back an old flame: cycling.
Swimming
There are so many benefits to swimming. Last year during the lockdown, our pool was
an absolute lifesaver: we spent time outdoors, we soaked in Vitamin D from the sun,
and stayed cool despite the hot summer weather.
Late last year I devised a weird workout that I stuck with until the pool became too
cold to swim in (I think I stretched it until early November). The exercises work the
shoulders, triceps, and lats, and probably provide some cardio-related benefits. Family
and friends have tried it and told me it's difficult for them to do — I interpret their
remarks as anecdotal evidence that I might be onto something. Friends last year also
noticed the changes in my body after doing it for a little while. All great encouragement.
So this is why I'm super excited to have resumed these exercises a few weeks ago.
When combined with the changes in diet, I think I'll have a body to really be proud of
by late summer.
Happily, I'm not the only one benefiting from these exercises: my daughter joins me
for these workouts. She reports feeling much the same things I do — she feels some
soreness in her shoulders and arms just after working out, and was feeling it later on,
too. I want to help her with her weight loss and exercise goals as much as I can. Plus,
it's time together in the pool. How great is that?
Cycling
Cycling is sort of the "leg day" counterpart to my upper body workouts in the pool,
but it's actually more than that — there's core strength being built just by being on
the bike (one doesn't really think much about this, but one has to support their upper
body by gripping the handlebars) and obvious cardio work, too.
I'm just getting used to riding again. I have a short "track" that goes around a few
blocks of my sub that boasts both elevation increases and decreases — great for getting
used to shifting and working to keep a consistent pace with minimal traffic.
Eventually I'll begin to widen my "track" to include more local scenery, and later
start some destination riding. Baby steps for now as I get used to things again.
Aging adds its own challenges. The biggest one I can think of is my eyesight. After
much thought, I decided to order prescription sunglasses. I bought them primarily for
riding, but I drive with them, too. I'm just not comfortable with not being able to
clearly read license plates or street signs. If I got into some kind of accident, I'd
be screwed trying to identify essential information without prescription lenses.
Conclusion
I'm really proud of myself for all the things I'm doing now. I mean, look at everything
I wrote — I've been doing all of that for only a few weeks. I'll weigh myself again
on Monday morning, and expect to be somewhere around 246.
At this point, I think the hardest thing for me is fasting after dinner. Somewhere
around 8:30 I start feeling hungry again for about an hour; I have to just ignore it.
Perhaps I'm finally acting like a grown-ass adult.
My initial milestone, which is to reach the weight of 240 lbs. by July 1st, is part of
the larger goal of getting down to wearing size XL shirts by the close of summer (Honestly,
I don't know how close I am at this point because I got rid of probably all of my XL stuff
sometime in 2019) and staying at XL through the colder months into next spring. It may be
ambitious, but if I can remain on my current trajectory diet-wise, I shouldn't have any
problem (after all, who gets fat off of chicken and lettuce?).
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