Health

August 2024 weight loss report: Unchanged!

Technically, I am down from a month ago (July 31), when I was 166.9 pounds, but I am not down from the start of this month (August 1) when I was 166.6 pounds. Instead, my devilish weight came and went over the last 31 days before returning this morning.

For August, I dipped below 166.6 five times, the lowest being 166.1 pounds. But alas, I was mostly stalled out for the month.

Was it the crackers? It was probably the crackers.

But my body fat still decreased a little, which is good, and the overall trend is still down, even if it literally slowed to a standstill for August.

I keep saying it, but this time I really will have to cut down on the snacking, I am apparently doing more than I realize. No more tubs of lard! If I snack, it will be a few pods of sugar peas or a couple of strawberries or something. No chips, no crackers, no cookies.

We’ll see how that goes.

Stats:

January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds  
Current: 166.6 pounds
Year to date: Down 5.7 pounds

August 1: 166.6 pounds
August 31: 166.6 pounds (unchanged)

Body fat: 
August 1: 25.1%
August 31: 24.7 (down 0.4%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
August 1: 29.7% 
August 31: 29.8% (up 0.1%)

BMI:
August 1: 23.8
August 31: 23.9

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Return of lumpy knee

I was suspicious when my Garmin Forerunner declared a rest day today, as it’s normally a run day. But then I noticed the area around my right knee felt a little…tweaked. The Baker’s cyst (I really hate that word, but at least I don’t have my surname attached to it) never fully went away, but it feels a bit more fulsome right now, so it’s possible I may have aggravated it with all of my recent activity. That will teach me to exercise!

(To be fair, it’s not really hurting or anything, it just twinges a little at certain angles ‘n such.)

I’ll take it easy-ish tomorrow and see how it goes, but I’m still planning on a run on Friday.

No more crackers

Seriously. I’m not a parrot.

I make a vow, here, publicly, on the interweb: I will eat no more crackers.

When I break this vow, I will return here and self-flagellate or something.

I mean the kind you eat, but an image of the same is proving elusive.

Defeated by napping

One of the reasons I was not perturbed at moving from my Apple Watch to a Garmin Forerunner 255, which is a notably less capable smart watch and with a worse screen (though it works great in bright light, the opposite of the Apple Watch) is that I felt the Apple Watch gamified too many health aspects. I get it, the design is meant to prod and poke you into doing more, ultimately for your own benefit. But eventually it just felt like nagging.

The Garmin watch, by contrast, makes it easy to see your states, and awards you badges when you hit certain milestones, but it’s otherwise pretty quiet, so the gasmification mostly comes from within.

It turns out, I started gamifying my sleep and didn’t really notice it.

Specifically, if you get a sleep score of 75% or above for seven days in a row, you earn the Sleep Streak™ badge. I like earning this because badges, plus it means I’m sleeping well! This trained me to stick closely to my set sleep schedule, which the watch uses to issue relevant reminders before nappy time. It also puts the watch into a kind of sleep mode, where the display no longer lights up when you raise your wrist–you must specifically tap the backlight button.

Yesterday, IU found myself feeling in need of an afternoon nap (probably due to the run the day before) and the watch substracted nap time from my total recommended sleep for the night. This meant I could a) Go to bed at the usual time and get up earlier b) Go to bed an hour later with no penalty or c) find a way to screw this up somehow.

I chose Option C.

I went to bed late, but late enough that, even though I slept in a little past my usual wake-up time, I still didn’t hit the lower-than-usual minimum. My sleep streak ended. I had a sad.

I have resolved to return to a more normal sleeping pattern tonight. I swear! See: #$@!

July 2024 weight loss report: Down 2.1 pounds

Woo, I’m down this month. Last week I hit a low of 166.3 pounds, then it started creeping back up and just two days before the last day of the month it took another 0.5 pound jump. Yikes, as they say. But today, the last day of the month, a minor miracle occurred, and I dropped enough to bring me down 2.1 pounds for the month, and down 5.4 pounds for the year. That’s pretty minor weight loss for seven months, really, but as long as it keeps dropping, I’m reasonably happy.

Also good news: My body fat percentage has dropped more than by just a rounding error amount, from 25.9% to 25.2%. I mean, it’s still just a big rounding error, really, but it’s trending the right way.

Overall, then, a good month in the Battle Vs. Fat.

Stats:

Weight:
January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds  
Current: 166.9 pounds
Year to date: Down 5.4 pounds

July 1: 169.0 pounds
July 31: 166.9 pounds (down 2.1 pounds)

Body fat: 
July 1: 25.9%
July 31: 25.2% (down 0.7%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
July 1: 30.0% 
July 31: 29.8% (down 0.2%)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

June weight loss report: Down 0.9 pounds

Actual weight loss! But wait, there’s more.

I had early success in June, dropping to 168.4 pounds after starting the month at 169, but then started to seesaw through most of the rest of the month. On June 23 I somehow managed to gain 1.7 pounds overnight, ballooning to 171.5 pounds.

However, the next seven days I lost weight every day, save for one, where I maintained. I ended up dropping 3.4 pounds during this week, which is kind of crazy. I didn’t skip meals or anything, I just didn’t snack much and walked about a billion steps.

I also spent several weeks enduring a summer cold (or what I assume was a summer cold), however this did not affect my appetite, though I did refrain from running.

I will maintain the low-impact snacks and walking (and soon, running) and hopefully the downward trend will continue in July as I approach my proper slim ‘n sexy weight. 

Weight:
January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds  
Current: 168.1 pounds
Year to date: Down 4.2 pounds

June 1: 169.0 pounds
June 30: 168.1 pounds (down 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
June 1: 26.0%
June 30: 25.8% (down 0.2%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
June 1: 30.0% 
June 30: 29.9% (down 0.1%)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Brain yoga

Or meditation, as normal people call it. I need to learn me some. I’ll do it in my own way, which means bumbling about until I get it right. It’s the way I learn best!

But I want to do this because I think it will be genuinely helpful, possibly even transformative.

On the other hand, I could just decide it’s dumb, line swimming, or knowing how to ride a unicycle.

Time will tell.

Sick: The investigation

Checking my journal, I first wrote I may be suffering from seasonal allergies last Sunday. After a few days, it became clear that this was more of a cold, not allergies. I am still feeling the effects five days later, mainly in terms of coughing (mostly in the evening and early morning) and tightness in the chest, and some intermittent stuffiness. It could be worse.

But this is also only the third time I’ve been sick since January 2020, a period of four and a half years:

  • April 2022: I caught the big one, Covid-19, after my partner brought it home from the university. I don’t blame him.
  • June 2023: I caught something similar to what I have now, also after my partner presumably brought it home from the university. I still don’t blame him.

This time, my partner is blame-free. Er, I mean, I still don’t blame him, and he hasn’t gotten sick. So now I wonder where I caught this particular virus, since I live a generally hermit-like existence. A summary:

  • I first experienced symptoms on Sunday, June 16
  • I went birding on June 8, about a week before. This feels like too long a gestation period, but I had exposure to strange people. And birds.
  • I rode public transit the same day, June 8, but again, it seems a long gestation period. I don’t remember anyone coughing on me.
  • I went to the grocery store multiple times. A possibility, though I’m never up close and personal with anyone there, and the building itself is very spacious and well-ventilated.
  • I walked around public parks and trails several times. This seems an unlikely source.
  • Maybe it was my partner and he just hasn’t shown any symptoms, so I can blame him!
  • Aliens?

In the end, I suppose it doesn’t matter. It just makes me a little paranoid. Mostly, I’m just annoyed because I had just finished my first post-injury 5K run and was looking forward to more exercise this week, not a lot of naps, feeling blah and popping Tylenol. Also, being sick only three times in four and a half years is pretty good. The irony is that of the three times, Covid-19 was actually the mildest. I am not advocating catching Covid-19.

Have I lost my blogging mojo?

Yes, I have.

I am not sure why. Last year I was fairly regularly averaging two posts per day, but this year I’ve sometimes struggled just to get an average of one per day, or to just post at all on some days.

I wonder what has changed, but have no real answers. I don’t think it’s anything like “long covid” or associated brain fog, because it would have kicked in sooner, I think. Or maybe not.

I can explain the lack of a post for yesterday, though: I am experiencing either a nasty seasonal allergy reaction, or have some kind of cold (I lean toward allergies, given the symptoms, time of year and the fact that my partner, who typically brings germs home from the university, remains healthy). I have taken allergy relief pills to help reduce symptoms and as I type this, I feel better than when I first got up. But that only explains yesterday.

Maybe I am seeing the world slightly differently now. The last year has kind of soured me on people in general, and institutions and, well, a lot of things. I seek solace in simple things now. I long to be in places that are quiet, where I can be alone, and not hear the drone of cars, or the chatter of others. I am worn down by the ever-present displays of selfishness and stupidity. It feels like it is all around me.

Whoa, this is deep ‘n depressing. Normally I would end a post like this in a somewhat glib manner, by posting an animated GIF of a cat being silly.

And you know what? That’s exactly what I’m going to do! With one of the classics.

Also, it’s sunny today, which is nice and something of a change for this soggy, damp spring of ours. The weather might be a factor, too.

Anyway, cat:

May 2024 weight loss report: Up 0.3 pounds

So close! Three days ago I was still under, but the pattern this month was clear: Every time I lost or gained weight, the near-exact opposite would happen, though the first half of the month the trend was going up slightly, and the latter half the trend was moving back down (I was under three times this month, all three times coming at least three weeks in).

The swings were also generally larger than normal, too. One day, I dropped 0.9 pounds, then gained back the exact amount 24 hours later. I have no good explanation for this.

So while the news is technically not good, the trend is moving in the right direction, and I am boldly predicting actual weight loss for June.

Slightly wacky fact: I’m ending this month exactly as I ended April, at 168.9 pounds, so in a sense my weight didn’t change at all! (It also made it easier to put together this month’s stats.)

Stats (note: I am dropping Body water, it’s not particularly relevant, as it fluctuates within a fairly small range):

Weight:
January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds  
Current: 168.9 pounds
Year to date: Down 3.4 pounds

May 1: 168.6 pounds
May 31: 168.9 pounds (up 0.3 pounds)

Body fat: 
May 1: 25.9%
May 31: 25.6% (down 0.3%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
May 1: 30.0% 
May 31: 30.0% (unchanged)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

The scales of…weight

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

Last night, the Garmin scale flashed a battery symbol in its display, a sure sign that the batteries were needing to be replaced soon. Very soon, as it turns out, as the scale promptly died right after. I did not have the four required AAA batteries needed to revive it. But popping out the old batteries and popping them back in revived the scale one last time. I stepped on, and it insisted I had gained over five pounds overnight.

I did not gain five pounds overnight.

I will get new batteries today and convince my OCD that it’s OK to have a one-day gap in my weight this one week.

And yes, in the olden days this wouldn’t be an issue, because back then scales didn’t need batteries. Such is modern life.

My watch is stalking me

My Garmin Forerunner 255 on my weirdly skinny wrist

One of the features of my Garmin Forerunner 255 is a daily summary that pops up just after 9 p.m. to tell me what kind of day I’ve had and to pass on a little sage advice on health/sleep/exercise before I bed down for the night. It always starts with a summary, like:

  • Active Day: This seems to be the best. It means I wasn’t a sloth and got some good exercise and generally stayed out of trouble.
  • Easy Day: As expected, this pops up when I don’t meet my step goal and am generally slothful and sitting on my butt. The blurb is never too judgy, but it will suggest I get some “light exercise” or something because it knows I’ve done nothing.
  • Demanding Day: This is likely to pop up when I do a lot of walking (20-30,000+ steps), exercise and have not gotten a good sleep from the night before, which means my body battery will be quite low (I think it bottoms out at 5/100, which has happened a few times). It basically tells me GO TO BED AND SLEEP WELL.
  • Stressful Day: Even if I otherwise have a well-balanced day, with a good mix of activity and exercise, this will still pop up if the watch feels my stress level has been too high. I suspect it is doing a simple correlation between heart rate and activity, so if my heart rate jumps up, but I’m not doing exercise, it’s probably stress. Maybe it’s more nuanced than that. I could probably look this up, but for the moment I’m pretending the rest of the internet doesn’t exist.

Stressful Day is when I most feel the watch is stalking me, because it has been uncannily accurate in this particular assessment. In fact, it’s been so accurate that at the start of a SE1Stressful Event, I will stop and think, “My watch is going to chide me for this later” and start thinking about kittens instead, to reduce the stress/anxiety/existential despair.

So even though my watch is stalking me, it’s helping me be more relaxed, fit and shinier. And that can’t be stressing me out.