Health

The bold new food plan (I’m not calling it a diet)

It’s totally a diet.

But what I am planing on doing is what I did way back in June 2008 when I stepped on my scale and, over its piercing screams of horror, saw that I weighed 187.5 pounds (it could only show half pound increments, which seems like an odd limitation for something that only does one thing).

Today I weighed in at 171.9 pounds (thanks, modern-day precision!), which even a non-math expert like me can see is only about 16ish pounds short of my roly-poly former self.

(At this point I was going to share a screenshot taken on my iPhone 5 in 2012 showing my weight in MyFitnessPal as being something like 143 pounds, except I cannot find the shot now. So just imagine it here.)

The point here is my approach to getting to my desired goal of 150 pounds is not working.

It didn’t work in the early 2000s, either. In order to actually lose weight back in 2008, I had to redo my entire food plan and stick to it. I did and lost over 40 pounds. I don’t need to lose 40 pounds this time, so I already have a head start!

Here is my plan, which I will start on May 1, 2025:

  • No snacks, except for fruit or veggies. And no cheating by counting something like “strawberry shortcake” as fruit.
  • I will wean myself off non-sugar soda over the space of a month or so. This is to avoid nasty caffeine headaches from withdrawal, which has happened before.
  • Switch to drinking water.
  • Keep breakfast and lunch as is.
  • Be more mindful of calorie-rich dinners.
  • Continue to exercise regularly.

We’ll see how it goes.

Ultrasound ultrafun? (Not really)

I have had ultrasounds done before, so today’s experience was not new. But the preparation led to some unintended drama, which is almost always worse than intended drama.

My preparation for the ultrasound1 was to drink four cups (100 ml) of water two hours before, then hold it until I was on the table, as it were.

I drank the requisite amount (more, actually, as I had been sipping from breakfast onward) and felt appropriately bloated by the time I began the 30-minute walk to the lab. The predictable happened: my bladder, which has always seemed to hold a completely inadequate amount of liquid, began to say PEE NOW OR YOU WILL REGRET EVERYTHING.

I was on a sidewalk, so this was not an option. Picking up the pace only made the sensation more urgent, so I just kept walking, occasionally doing the flexing fingers thing when I really have to go. I tried avoiding thinking about things like waterfalls or warm cups of water.

Finally, I got to the mall where the lab is located. I had already done the calculus where even if I peed a bit, I’d have more than enough water in me to not alter the results. As I strode to the public washrooms, I thought about how the worse you had to go, the more likely the washrooms would be closed.

I turned the corner to the washrooms and the double doors leading to them were shut, with a sign on one:

CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE.

Of course.

I knew there were washrooms upstairs, so I gingerly climbed the staircase and made my way down another hallway, to a set of three washrooms: hers, his and accessible. Each door had a keypad on it. I tried the men’s and yep, it was locked. My bladder was not amused. I noticed the accessible washroom was OCCUPIED so I casually hung out nearby as my bladder got ready to explode. An older woman exited and I caught the door before it could lock, but no so soon that I came across as some creepy weirdo hanging around washrooms. Or so I hoped.

Having done the deed and restored some semblance of calm, I went to the lab and they got me in early. Nice!

The process was the same as before: lay on your back, then the left side, then the right side. Take deep breaths, exhale, repeat. Also, really cold gel will be applied to your skin and a cold wand will be pressed into the gel to remind you again how very cold it is.

Partway through, I was instructed to go take care of Mr. Bladder, then return. When I returned, the person attending asked, “Is that better?” and while it may seem an obvious question to ask someone who has been holding in a large amount of water for hours, I still said SWEET DEAR GOD YES. In my mind. Out loud, I just said, “yes.”

It all wrapped up shortly after, and I “rewarded” myself with a filet-o-fish at a nearby McDonald’s. It was fine. I was not overly thirsty. My doctor will know in 2-3 days if I’m pregnant, hosting an alien or maybe, just maybe, healthy!

  1. The other Ultrasound I had was the Gravis UltraSound (adorably nicknamed GUS), a sound card for PCs made back in the 486 days. Despite some compatibility issues, it was still more fun than the kind of ultrasound I had today. ↩︎

Have I complained about seasonal allergies before? (I checked, the answer is sort of.)

Because they are beating me up this year. My nose is constantly plugging and drying out, my mouth and lips are dry, and I have a semi-permanent glob of stuff caught near the top of my throat.

Today, my stomach turned on me, possibly because the nasal spray I used to clear the stuffed nose may have gotten into my stomach, where it is far less effective. Or maybe it was something I ate. Or stress. Or aliens.

Anyway, I can never remember how long the symptoms persist, but other than nasal spray offering immediate, if temporary relief, it seems like none of the other miracle drugs do much.

At least it’s not an infection.

I mean, hopefully.

I have escaped the penis camera

Which is not a phrase I get to type out every day.

But today I do, because a visit to the urologist has resulted in a referral to get an ultrasound. From there, plans will be made (or not) for a camera that would further probe my innards.

You can probably guess what outcome I’m hoping for here.

March 2025 weight loss report: Down 1.8 pounds

This one was weird.

Yesterday, I had a 1.8 pound jump in weight to a monthly high of 171.6, which would have put me up for the month.

But this morning, I was down a massive 2.7 pounds, which is my lowest for the month.

It also means for the month I’m down 1.8 pounds, undoing some of the February bloating.

I am running more and trying to eat better. I will continue to do both.

The bad news is I’m still up for the year, the good news is, I’m trending in the right direction again.

Stats:

January 1, 2025: 166.8 pounds

Current: 168.9 pounds
Year to date: Up 2.1 pounds

March 1: 170.7 pounds
March 31: 168.9 pounds (down 1.8 pounds)

Body fat: 
March 1: 25.9%
March 28: 26.1% (up 0.2%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
March 1: 30.2 kg
March 28: 29.9 kg (down 0.3 kg)

BMI:
March 1: 24.5
March 28: 24.2 (down 0.3)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

February 2025 weight loss report: Up 3.4 pounds

Also known as The Pop Tart Month.

February was the month I spent recovering from battling a kidney infection for much of December and January and I clearly sought solace in food, specifically:

  • Frosted Strawberry Pop Tarts
  • Cookies, cookies, cookies
  • Potato chips
  • Crackers
  • Cheese
  • Crackers with cheese
  • Anything with cheese
  • Basically, if it was edible and tasty, I ate it

This resulted in a rapid gaining of weight, which I could not shed. I course-corrected near the end of the month, steering my metaphorical ship about from the fatberg, but it was too late to make a difference. It didn’t help that I also jumped up another 0.5 pounds on the final day of the month (today). I started the month at 167.3 pounds, which should have been an easy target to beat, and instead ended at 170.7 pounds. Sigh.

Despite this setback, I do think I will begin losing weight again. I am back to running and my health seems at least OK for the moment. Also, my muscle mass increased by 0.4 kg (0.88 pounds), so it wasn’t ALL fat. Just mostly fat.

Stats:

January 1, 2025: 166.8 pounds

Current: 170.7 pounds
Year to date: Up 3.9 pounds

February 1: 167.3 pounds
February 28: 170.7 pounds (up 3.4 pounds)

Body fat: 
February 1: 25.8%
February 28: 26.3% (up 0.5%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
February 1: 29.8 kg
February 28: 30.2 kg (up 0.4 kg)

BMI:
February 1: 23.9
February 28: 24.4 (up 0.5)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Be an eagle, not a turkey

This was today’s advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger1 I almost spelled the name right on the first try.

It’s not bad advice. Turkeys are fine, but they can’t fly. Eagles can fly, look cool, and one tried attacking Donald Trump1.

I think I’m more a turkey-eagle hybrid, though. A turkgle. I can fly like an eagle, provided I’m in a plane, hot air balloon or the clutches of a California condor, but I’m generally ground-based like a turkey. Also, like a turkey, we have a similar amount of hair on the head. I think I wear my lack of hair better. No offence to any turkeys reading this.

You can read Arnie’s advice (in his accent for best effect) in his Pump Club newsletter.

  1. Just mentioning the name doesn’t make this a political post, technically. ↩︎

Zen and the art of not running

I’m not entirely sure, but I feel like it’s been so long since I ran outside (December 30, or 50 days) that I’ve become accustomed to it and am kind of avoiding running now.

For example, today is Wednesday–a run day! The snow is gone, the temperatures are mild, but the forecast calls for light rain, and I think, “I can’t run in that” like I’d melt or something.

But maybe if I just change into my running clothes and go out without a formal goal, I can test the waters, so to speak.

I will report back later with my success or lack thereof.

Also, filing this under “Health” since I may not actually do any exercise. 😛

My brain is complicated and is thinking on its own (I think)

As I’ve reported before, my trusty Garmin Forerunner 255 has been reporting that I have been under a great deal of stress, experiencing high stress while sleeping and generally having Very Stressful days for about two months now. At first, I thought it was misinterpreting my kidney infection as stress and acted accordingly. But I’ve been off the antibiotics for a few weeks now and haven’t seen any return of symptoms, yet the Very Stressful reports persist.

So, I thought, maybe it’s something else. What else has coincided with the infection over the past few months?

  • I have basically stopped running. This isn’t permanent, I took a break after tripping and hurting my hands on my last run on December 30, then got hit with resurgent infection, finally seemed to recover from that and now there is snow on the ground. But I will run again.
  • Dealing with the infection and aftermath (there are more tests forthcoming for other things discovered that may be innocuous or could be more serious).
  • I have done little in the way of creativity: few drawings, no work on the game. I have been writing, but it’s mainly been the nonsense you’re reading on this blog right now.
  • Dealing with condo/strata stuff, as we restarted our efforts to shed the current council and management company (the latter of which specifically started harassing us last summer).

So, that’s a lot of stuff. Some I can deal with easily. I can fix not running by running. I can fix not drawing by drawing. The health stuff I just need to put aside for now. I feel fine and there’s nothing else to be done at the moment.

But the condo stuff, this got my attention this morning when I realized something: My mind wanders over to it constantly. When I say constantly, I am not engaging in hyperbole, or even just regular bole. Multiple times this morning, I caught myself thinking about condo stuff. It just comes up, unbidden, in my mind. Really, it’s kind of weird. It’s like my brain has adapted to just slotting in thoughts about the condo/strata whenever I’m not focused on anything else.

I think this may be a large part of my Very Stressful days.

Now, I do and will have to deal with strata stuff for at least a few more months, so there is no escaping it. But I don’t need to be constantly thinking about it. So my goal is to somehow train my mind to not think about it or if I do, to quickly divert to some other thought, such as:

  • Kittens
  • Puppies
  • Pop Tarts (just thinking, not eating)
  • Grassy meadows
  • Summer
  • A nice relaxing bubble bath
  • Walking alone among sequoias
  • Etc.

Basically, anything that will focus me away from strata and onto something relaxing.

I’ll see how it goes and report my findings soon, in the name of science and possibly my sanity.