 So another weekly weigh in and not very positive. I gained 3.4 lbs.
It seems like I can’t get a consistent slow drop. The last few weeks have been a series of ups and downs. I lose 1.6 lbs, zero loss, gained 1.6, zero loss, lose 4.8, zero loss and now I gained 3.4 lbs. Good news is I am feeling better, sleeping better, belt is close to moving to last notch. The pain in my knee is being managed by Aleve and ice. And more important I feel better about myself. When I look back at the food choices this last week I am amazed. We were in Corpus Christi and I ate boiled and grilled. There were no fried seafood platters and no cream sauces. There were a few slips but not to the point that I went over my weekly points or activity points. (Means I didn’t go crazy). The only thing really different is I didn’t walk as much because of my knee and that is now manageable. If you have ever had trouble losing weight, don’t feel like you are alone. I would just like to have a steady drop instead of these crazy ups and downs. But if my recent history is any indication…what goes up must come down.
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 Last week was painful. I was experiencing a lot of pain in my right knee the last couple of weeks. But last Tuesday it was so bad I thought I had damaged something.
I made an appointment for Friday morning with the same Orthopedic Surgeon who performed Michele’s knee repairs. I was apprehensive that my walking/jogging was going to be interrupted with 2-3 weeks of surgical recovering. Dramatic? Not really I could barely walk on it. X-rays and exam later…I am old. I have severe case of arthritis in my right knee. Only way to fix it- replace knee. However, it doesn’t have to happen anytime soon. Doctor says to do the following: keep losing weight, no more jogging, no leg extensions in the gym and finally no rapid lateral movement. Working backward I have never in my life ever tried rapid lateral movement, so there is one off the list. No jogging-no problem. And finally, when I get in the gym (whatever that is) I will be sure to remember-no leg extensions. Then came a shot in the knee with a needle I am sure was designed for a horse. Right in my knee. I couldn’t believe that needle didn’t come out the other side of my leg. Before the day was over the knee was feeling pretty good. I am scheduled to go back in 30 days. Michele and I had planned a weekend at the coast, so off we went. Within four hours I was poolside drinking a Pina Colada and everything was perfect. The next two mornings I walked on the treadmill in the hotel fitness center with little pain. Monday I spent 25 minutes on stationary bike at home and Tuesday I split time 15 minutes bike and 15 minutes walk. Final result, Doctor says to keep losing weight, walk as much as I can, ride the bike and use a treadmill. It all depends on me as to when I can’t take the pain any more. But the more weight I lose the less pain and the easier it will be to recover from the knee replacement surgery. Hey apparently I can’t mess it up any more than it already is…. Just a small setback for a week, but now the beat goes on!  Imagine you have just left on vacation. You packed everything you need, loaded the car, gone over the check list and take off down the road. You pull over 100 miles later to fill up with gas and you realize you left your wallet at home. What a sick stupid feeling that would be driving all the way back and starting all over again. November 24, 2006 I had just finished the One-Ton-of Fun Challenge. My final weight was 374 and I had lost 34 lbs. and had just walked the 5 Mile Turkey Trot. Today I weighed in at 379. The same as last week zero gain or loss. But I can’t help but think I have to retrace my steps and start all over again. I weigh 379 and I am walking more than a mile a day. The difference is that in 2006 I crossed the finish line and did not change the way I live my life. Today I am committed to live a healthier lifestyle for the next 100 years. But I can’t help it; I wish I hadn’t left my wallet at home. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
 I am feeling pretty good. I am still having some pain in my back which I know is getting less with every day I walk. Yet I keep thinking it is miraculously just going to go away. I can walk almost an half a mile now without having to support my back by holding my arms behind the small of my back. Never the less, I walked more this last seven days than any previous week. And today I walked the farthest single day to date. 2.0 Miles. I asked, since I have walked one and half miles, if I could make the 5K or 3.3 miles. The response I got was not to over reach and shoot for 2 miles first. And today I walked 2 miles. It was not as easy as I thought it would be…but I made it. The 5K or 3.3 miles will come. I am trying to build more days of over a mile and not focus on how long it takes me. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
 So you would think after a great weigh in I would have gone public sooner. Tuesday was a busy day for me, out of town meeting in the morning and a 4:00 appointment back in Austin. Knowing this, I weighed in on Monday. This week was a -4.8 lb loss. It was a big drop after a couple of weeks of ups and downs. Not sure I really know, what is a healthy weight loss rate per week? Over the last six weeks I have lost 11.2 lbs. or 1.9 lbs. per week. That sounds like a reasonable weekly average. I want to thank everyone for all you positive comments and explanations for last week’s gain. I have experienced plateaus in my previous weight loss adventures. When you start eating better and exercising I think it is a shock for your body. And it tends to shut down and hold on until it realizes this is the way things are going to be. So maybe my body has gotten the message…exercising and eating better every day is the new deal. This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
Once a week I have been challenging myself to walk a little further than my previous longest walk. To date that distance is 1.53 miles. Saturday has been the day I have set aside to give it a try.
This Saturday I was sick. Not important, I just didn’t feel well all day. Sunday rolls around I was compelled to get out on the street even though I didn’t feel well. In short my little further turned out to be the most distance walked in a single week. And Sunday I walked my fastest mile. It has been a good week on the street. I am consistently walking a mile five days a week. One day I am taking off and one day I am doing a light combination of stationary bike and walk. The only thing I did wrong on Sunday was thinking I could jog some of the route. “It is not where you start, but where you finish”. Don’t get too excited that I jogged a bunch. I just took off for very short jogs of maybe 200 feet. Return to walking while I sucked air. When I made the final turn and could see my house I thought if I jogged the rest of the way I could turn in my fastest time for a mile. So with great enthusiasm and very little common sense I took off jogging. Oops! I almost didn’t make it home. The wheels came off the cart. The only reason I made it home was I didn’t want to collapse in my neighbor’s yard. He takes a lot of pride in his yard and I don’t think he would consider me acceptable yard art. Not to mention the impression my body was going to leave in his grass. I made it to the front porch where I was greeted by my concerned wife and a glass of water. Sucking air is an understatement. I can only imagine what I must have looked like. Off came my shirt as I desperately tried to cool down and learn to breathe. I am building stamina and consistency. The goofy idea that I could jog came from a positive feeling that I was getting better, maybe a bit premature. But what the hell, I have fallen on my butt before. The next time probably won’t be the last.  I have taken the last few days to try to better understand my attitude. But when I weighed in on Tuesday, I gained 1.6 lbs apparently the same 1.6 lbs I had lost the week before. I was angry. Now before all of you who care start rushing forward with words of encouragement, I said angry. Not discouraged, not defeated, not unmotivated…ANGRY! I cannot describe it any other way.
I feel great. I am sleeping better, getting around my everyday life with more zip in my step. My clothes are feeling loose and my belt has moved one notch to the good. I have walked more in the last week than any week since I started. I have tracked all my food and stayed on plan. I am going to win this battle and there is nothing that is going to stop me. Least of all one week of weight gain. So Wednesday I got up a little bit earlier and went right back out on the street and walked a mile. And again today and again tomorrow…and then Saturday I am going to go a little bit further. But if you are driving around my neighborhood I wouldn’t get in my way because I am one pissed off fat man!  Not a bad week…but it was Sunday not Saturday. Saturday I had some social commitments and so I decided to make Sunday my go a little further day.
So here is how it went….not as quick a pace but a little further. I walked 1.53 mile or half of a 5 K. I mention the 5 K because as some interim milestones I intend to walk in a couple of 5 K’s before the Turkey Trot 5 Mile walk on Thanksgiving Day. I am five weeks into the walking thing and I am up to 1.5 miles. Physically I feel much better in just 5 weeks. I have less back pain and more energy in my everyday life. The lower back pain and hip pain is becoming less every time I go out for a walk. However, the pain in my back and hips is what is limiting me right now. I know the more I walk and the more weight I lose the less pain. I just have to be patient and keep at it…but I will say it is not as hard to get up and out on the street as it was before. No pressure, I just need to know I am changing the way I live… Happy Fourth of July! |
Joe Bacon
Happily Married to Michele and living in central Texas. Archives
January 2020
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