Journal

Week 51 2016, let it be know as a poop storm

So this week has been kind of terrible, but that being said, it could’ve been a lot worse.

Sunday, HVAC issue that I wrote about last week.

Monday, I was taking my car into the dealership (they give me a ride to work so I don’t have to bother anyone) to get an oil change / tire check.  My tires had been leaking, and I’ve just been to busy to get ‘em in, so I had just been filling them up.  On my way to the dealership, one of my tires, clearly had a big problem, so I pulled into the gas station to fill up the tire to make it to the shop, to see that it had clearly been shredded.  We paid for roadside assistance to make sure that we could get help when we went on our multi-state road trip.  So I called them to get a tow truck to take my car to the dealership.  You got the service, use the service.  The first group came back and said 4:PM, and I’m like I Can’t wait all day for that, got sent back to the customer service, they got another group that said 11:AM, which, while a while, was way better, then I got a text update that it was then 7:PM, So I tried to navigate through the menus to get to a person to talk to about the situation (I’m not even quite sure how I got there).  And added a window notification so I could then go to work.

The benefit here is that because I had been pacing around the Git & Go (thanks for the accommodation for the place on Franklin and Merle Hay), I had already gotten my steps and then some in for the day.

My co-worker came and got me and I made it to work.

So due to the combination of stress, forgetting my morning pills (including an acid reducer), I think forgetting my breakfast, drinking way to much iced coffee (normal + 2 starbucks unseated ones at the gas station) and probably just coming down with a stomach bug, I was at work for a couple of hours an then proceeded to return my lunch to the world.  

Not wanting to reduce Shannon’s earning hours, I had my brother come and get me (who happened to be in town visiting).

I attended one final meeting, but basically most of the rest of the day, I rested.

Tuesday, I was still feeling less then stellar, being without a car I decided to work from home, which is a clear benefit, and proceeded to work through a number of mostly email or process related things, and get on the right track for a number of items.  I took a couple of breaks through the day, and started eating a bit more then crackers around lunch time.

My HVAC people came over in the afternoon, did a visual and computer check of the furnace and found nothing the matter (good) and had no charge for the visit (also good).

2 tires only had leaks in them (which were fixed), the front two tires were shredded and had to be replaced, so the cost could’ve been twice as much, but I got away without having to much cost.

Late Tuesday, we went over to the dealership (I may have slept through the shuttle driver) and I picked up the car, everything seemed fine, though it seemed odd that my stereo was asking for it’s code (only happens when it completely loses power), I finally found the code (which I need to put in a more digital location) and thought that was taken care off.

Wednesday, I was right on time to make my 9:AM meeting, get out to the car, lights light up and unlock the door, put the key in, and…

nothing.

No click, no lights come on, nothing.

I thought that maybe I left the headlights on (not that I do that, but it could happen), but they were off.

So I call the dealership and they’re going to send someone out to jump the car.

I joined my 9:AM at home

My co-worker, over lunch, was nice enough to deliver me my other laptop allowing me to at least split screen (only in an emergency will I have my personal devices touch my work anymore).

Dealership called back and was like the post just wasn’t connecting well, so they fixed that.

I had a fairly productive day at home and made a bit of progress.  The only complaint I really had is that when coding, the auto-complete doesn’t work so well on remote desktop, though in thinking about it, I did install visual studio on my pc work laptop, so I should’ve used that instead.

Wednesday afternoon, we received a bill for Shannon’s PET scan from earlier in the year, which was unexpected.

So I think the Gremlin’s power is fading as we have only had a lightbulb here and there pop, but on that, we’re almost out of florescent lightbulbs and can start transitioning to LED.

So it could’ve been worse.  There could’ve been an actual problem with the heater, or twice the cost for 4 tires instead of 2 (though the back two do only have ~5k miles left on ‘em).  And we were able to payment plan the PET scan, which we will pay off more rapidly, just don’t have the cash without robbing the emergency fund.

The rest of the week, has, on the other hand, been pretty good, baring a few burned out bulbs here and there.

2016 - Week 30 Cooking

This next week will be a combination of planning, volunteering and packing.  I'm taking 3 days off to volunteer at the ACS conference that'll be here in Des Moines.  So because I'm trying to trim out what's in the fridge and around the house, things will be pretty simple this week.  That being said, I fear I'm going to miss the prime part of tomatoes grown in dirt season.

I think I've come to a realization.  It has been difficult for me to adjust my cooking to keep my carb intake to a max of 60 grams per dinner (meal, but dinner specifically).  Example, I see Cook's Country's lemonade variances, and I'm thinking that sounds great, but when it comes down to it, I'd allow myself a taste (sip or two) and then wouldn't touch the rest of it.  Good for my waistline, but decreases my desire to make it at all (probably much to Shannon's loss).  Rice?  Mostly out.  Beans?  Kind of the same.  I can still have them, but it makes it difficult on portion size or in combination with anything else.  Pizza?  Yeah again, I can still have it, but it's not as satisfying.  Some of that my clearly be related to the restriction of minor-binging (a problem I have) which still holds that internal fat kid unhealthy satisfaction.

I have a box of Samoas from a niece, and I just realized I'm not going to eat those.  I wan't one cookie, and the rest I'm gonna drop off at the office.   

2016 - Week 27 Cooking Results

This week as challenging.  Starting Sunday, I started a downward descent into a very painful throat issue.  So much so that on Wednesday, I headed to Urgent Care to have a doctor opinion on the matter.  While it appears as if both from the long and short strep tests came back negative (just got the negative culture test result this morning), even though I covered the vast majority of symptoms (pretty much all of them) of Strep.  So as swallowing has been painful, it's been kind of a horrible food week.  That being said, I'm well on the path to being well, with Thursday being the bottom of the pit.  Things are still mildly swollen, sore, but swallowing bread no longer feels like sandpaper.

That being said, I had enough pain killers (over the counter) to have an enjoyable dinner with Shannon and Eric at Reed's Hollow (at least until the end when I desperately wanted to go home and take some more ibuprofen).  That food...damn.   Bison Made Right?  Go, eat it...

Celery Chicken (lets try again)

Pretty good...could've used more celery.

Skirt Steak with Basil & Garlic Scape Pesto

I wasn't feeling 100% (to say the least) so as long as I had to eat something, it might as well be something I had to chew on for a while before taking the painful, at the time, step of swallowing.  So I skipped the pesto part.  Steak was enjoyable spikes of pain here and there.

Burmese Chicken Salad

Vaguely followed this...ok I used some of the ingredients, and then ended up with a  spicy chicken salad.  I used some pickled goat horn peppers, diced fresh jalapeno, diced scallions, diced pickles, diced onions, dijon mustard, mayo and cooled, pulled rotisserie chicken.  Good stuffs.

2016 - Week 22 Cooking Results

Crispy Falafel Pita with Yogurt Sauce

After many jokes about waffles, I made falafel.  This was pretty tasty and due to the use of a food processor, worked pretty quick.

Whole Grain Mustard Chicken Salad

This was...ok.  I suppose it would've been better if I had cooked the snap peas a bit less, or cooled them a bit more.  But even so, it was ok.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Curry

I adjusted this a bit.  I didn't fry the shallots, and used chicken thighs over the legs.  I liked it quite a bit.  It could've used more spice though.  Perhaps the unlabeled dried small red peppers I got from the market weren't as spicy as I thought they might be.

Scrambled Eggs & Apple & Feta sausages

Sausages were pretty good, eggs (farm fresh) were pretty good too.  Quick and simple, sometimes what is needed.  This was, by no means, a balanced meal though.

Health

I went a little nuts on Sunday / Monday, and on Monday I got my first "yellow" reading in a long time.  So the realization that I can't take a break...ever, was hard to digest.  The take away from this is that I was even hungrier the next day for garbage food, then I was previously.

I've been hovering around the the next big mark number mark.  And even though the loss since the max is significant, to me it would be meaningful to be under the big 300 again.  I have trimmed off 62.2 pounds (as of Friday).  I can tell form the way my own body looks that I've gotten rid of a lot of the portions of fat around my body (I can flex my legs and see blood vessels, which is kind of gross), but there still remains a lot of abdominal fat.

On the positive side, the bullshit program that my work gave me a choice to do (in person vs the one I picked, online) is generally over.  No instead of having to listen to the combination of about 20% science and 80% bullshit for 30-70 minutes a week, it's now these refreshers that are between 5-15 minutes (with no quiz).

I have been listening to The Foodist, which is interesting, and seems to have less bullshit in it, but still a dash here and there.

So far here's what I've learned for myself, these are not to be taken as scientifically based, since my sample size is 1:

  1. You will be hungry as you adapt down to the proper caloric intake level (for loss or maintenance), and probably even afterwards.
  2. There is a difference between being hungry and needing to eat.  I have an advantage here in being able to test my blood sugar and being able to tell where I am at.  I now have a path to say no, this isn't a lower then normal (note: not low) blood sugar, this is just a craving.
  3. When you eat garbage food, you will be hungrier for a while afterwards (last time was about two days).
  4. The majority of weight loss comes from the change in what you eat, you probably aren't going to burn enough calories to counteract extra food.
  5. Remove / Reduce sugar sources from as many things as you can.  This can be very difficult.  My list:
    1. Yogurt (removed)
    2. Coffee (removed) - only sweetener in coffee now is residual from dairy additions
    3. Cereal (reduced) - Change in type and amount (now is a topping to my unsweetened yogurt)
    4. Bread (reduced) - changed non-Joseph bread to smaller loaf and reduction in sugar addition
    5. Soda (already gone)
    6. Fruit and/or Vegetable Smoothies (removed) - can create a sugar spike
    7. Alcohol (reduced) - I just tossed a "beer" cause it was to sweet, after tasting it
    8. Peanut butter (in progress) - trying the first instance of peanut butter + salt, it was hard to find something without sugar but also had salt (even a tiny amount)
  6. You need to:
    1. Either pay attention to what you are eating (no distracted eating)
    2. OR limit the amount of eating by rules (ex: breakfast, I still read, however my breakfast consists of 170 grams of yogurt, 29 grams of Granola (very low added sweetener).  I have the option of:  Coffee (hot or cold brewed) with milk and/or a slice of toast with butter).
  7. Eat slowly
  8. Balance your caloric intake based on your doctor or dietitian's recommendations.   Currently I strive for 50% Carbs, 30% fat, 20% protein

 

2016 - Week 20 Cooking Results

Weight Loss continues:  17.08% / 13.32% (peak / 2016).  As a note from this past week, I'm still having trouble controlling my intake restricting from time to time.  We went out, and I really should have stopped eating the Mexican dish about half way through.  but I didn't, and was quite uncomfortable after the fact.  We'll calling this a learning lesson about what the new normal is.

BA's Best buttermilk Pancakes (gonna have to decide if I want less pancakes, or almost no syrup...whee)

Not the same...but still pretty good.  Nice to at least have them, even though I can't stuff my face with them.

Butterfly Pork Chops with rhubarb ketchup

I was excited to see a recipe for rhubarb ketchup, and this was good, however this was not near as good as the stuff that Brett made.  This was to sweet.  It was, however, a good start.  Less sugar, more port and red wine vinegar.  Even so, pair well with the pork chops.

Parm Baked eggs and Swiss Chard

Not a lot of up front work, and quite a bit of idle time.  It was pretty good, not fantastic...maybe needs something more.

Chicken and Chive Blossom Toasts

This turned out very well.  I purchased some Fox Hollow Farm More then Mustard after tasting it at this past Monday's Charcuterie class at the Cheese Shop.  This just sort of ticked in with what I should go together.  This turned into a delicious thing.

Chive Blossom Omelet

Turned into scrambled eggs.  Didn't want to face the possible defeat of omelettes (and was tired).  Still quite good.

Health Update

I had my 3 month follow up with my doctor this last week, and with the combination of diet, exercise and drug, I was able to drop my A1C from 7.9 to 5.5.  So The going theory is that if I am able to maintain this, I'll be able to drop the dose or drop the drug all together (woo!).  The weight loss continues, Loss:  14.93% / 11.07% (Peak / 2016).  There is some clear evidence that I can manipulate my weight by a few pounds (weight after mowing and yard work (low on water) vs just up out of bed (probably still low on water, but not as much)).  Which is why I used today's weight instead of yesterdays.

There has been some loss and regain weeks, some mistakes and corrections, but overall the trend line continues to go down.

Weight Loss and gains over the last 3 months

Weight Loss and gains over the last 3 months

I've also lowered the goal bar for calorie intake, and have generally met the goal (even the higher points should still lead to loss.

Last Month of calorie consumption

Last Month of calorie consumption

There is a matter of concern with the recent story on how the body can react loss and how one will more or less permanently have to reduce the calorie intake to just maintain the weight.  Which I knew I'd probably have to pay attention forever, but maybe not as close of attention.  So that turns it into a permanent journey.  That being said, we as a couple are making better choices, so that's a good thing.  I admit that sometimes I want something (ex: carrot creme brûlée from The Cheese Shop), but pass on ordering the whole thing (on the positive side I still got to try it).

I am excited that the farmer's market is back.  This gives me a reason to get up an move on a Saturday morning, though I probably still need to plan for something on Saturday / Sunday.  I also need to add a routine and time for some upper body stuff (avoiding stress on my wrists, which are already shitty).

On a less positive note, my Psoriasis seems to be adding spots for flare ups.

2016 - Week 15 Cooking

Weight loss once again continues.  Loss:  13.37% / 9.44% (Peak / 2016).  Even though I didn't get in the walks that I should've (trip to madison, some oversleeping).  I did mow the lawn for the first time this year (crab grass grows faster then grass), even though the weather keeps messing with the plants.  Anyways, less snacks.  I even had a modicum of self control when we went to a Mexican restaurant after volunteering at the Planned Parenthood book sale, and only ate a few tortilla chips (rather then bowl after bowl of them).  Also had a taste of the chips that came with my lunch in Madison (no other healthy options) and just left the rest.

The food strategy program that I'm semi-required to participate in makes me continue to roll my eyes at the misuse of statistics, combination of science terms and total bullshit.  Oh well.  I keep having hopes out there, and looking around and even some that claim to be science based seem to to have a sprinkling of science here and there, then, feelings and nonsense.

2016 - Week 14 Cooking

3 tickets so far this weekend, 2 required a ton of effort.  Reminds me of the old day of being on call, and that I don't like it.

Anyways, I may have snacked on fairly inappropriate snack items and may have had a breakfast or two that had way more calories then I have been having.  This was the first week in quite a while I didn't loose any weight, so I have to lock my mind back down and stop screwing around again.  Still at a 12.47% total loss (8.5% since the beginning of the year)

Big life changes, Type 2, mild anemia and other things

Just over 5 weeks ago, following a regularly scheduled appointment, I crossed over that line on my A1C into type 2 diabetes.  Was this a surprise?  Not really, while I eat quality ingredients, I am not necessarily the healthiest of eaters.  There is some family history of type 2.  So I've told a few people, mainly because I had to (work, etc).

Over this last while here, I've attended three 4+ hour classes to teach my how to manage my eating, use my blood glucose meter, and log what I eat and drink.  A lot of this has been frustrating, some of it has been easier then I thought.  Through all of this, C (name not used on purpose, but the people who know me, should know who this is), has been a huge help.  Letting me express frustrations, ask for help and get some advice.

I started a drug (commonly used) to reduce uptake in some areas, and increase sensitivity in others, and it seems to work well, my levels are now staying within a normal range.  Compare the last 30 days:

30 days of Glucose Readings

30 days of Glucose Readings

Vs the last week, where the numbers are mostly within range

past 7 days of Glucose Readings

past 7 days of Glucose Readings

Some of these readings are even when I was fasting (more on that below).  Graphs via mySugr (this does not count as an endorsement).

The most difficult part, for me, is changing how I eat.  I've almost always made the choice for pleasure, while eating, within reason.  Trying to keep it within reason, not gaining wait.  So now, it basically ruins a lot of staples in my life.  Pasta, very small portions, big thing of rice?, no small portions.  Sometimes I am surprised as to how much in the way of carbs there are in things, vs how much I should eat.  This has been straight up tiring.

On the other hand, it has made me adjust things to keep full (ish) and move forward.  I eat a lot more salads now.  Make sure I keep things down low, and only occasionally now, do I really seriously crave things.  This past week, a leftover salad didn't keep me full and I wandered back to look at the items in our snack filled area (like vendo-land except no vending machines, but you still have to pay).  I looked at the things I would normally snack on, then just walked away.

So while reducing my general intake of food has led to a fairly dramatic loss in weight (I'm going to credit the drug here for that, I think).  I am down 11% from my peak (4/3/2014) and 47% of that has been since the beginning of the year (~10% of the time I've been tracking my weight).  So clearly this is better.  I've tightened my belt a bit, and some things that weren't very loose are looser (especially my pants).

30 days of Calorie intake

30 days of Calorie intake

The frustrating part of tracking, is that clearly the app that I'm currently using (My Fitness Pal, again, not an endorsement), needs to clean up their database.  More often then not, when I import a recipe, I have to go through and edit it, especially with garlic, where it adds like 5k calories with a single clove of garlic...which is a load of crap, clearly.  They need to have something to flag items as wrong for inspection, and removal.  I have found that more frustrating then almost anything (data integrity, as many people that I work with know, is a pet peeve of mine).

So in the process of setting up a new computer, I cleaned off my desk and went through a bunch of lab reports (that I kept for some unknown reason) before I shredded them.  And I was consistently on the low side of normal, or just below normal on iron saturation.  It's amazing what a couple of percentages make.  The odd thing, is that I have plenty of the protein that carries iron, but not enough iron to carry...  So to check on that (and another condition), I had my 2nd colonoscopy before my 40th birthday.  On the positive side they found a polyp and it wasn't cancerous or pre-cancerous, however, you still have to prep for it, which is terrible...even with the shortened method (notice the lack of calories in the chart above on 3/6).  So I'm past that, I'm feeling vaguely less tired (still, on average, sleep less then 6 hours a night, with my machine), but still not quite right.  Doubled up on my iron supplement (600%+ now) and added Vitamin C (500mg) to help with uptake.

App wise, it's been frustrating to have support form one company, blame another for problem X, when you know for a fact (cause that's kind of what you do), that it is entirely possible to do what they said they can't do...  Or have them say, hey reboot your iPhone, we can't connect to Apple Health (seems fine like minutes later).  So I am still looking for better apps, but for now I'm using MySugr (paying) and MyfitnessPal (paying).  For me, I want (doesn't have to be one app):

  • Easy to use (bad UI annoys me)
  • Able to import recipes
  • accurate food information
  • calories and carbs and etc sync to times stated that they were taken (not daily amounts) (this will help in tracking carbs v glucose levels)
  • syncs with apple Health
  • web interface, iPhone / iPad support (syncs throughout)
  • secure data throughout (encrypted in transit, encrypted at rest, etc)
  • reports
  • Updated frequently (I've seen a lot of relatively highly rated ones that haven't been updated in a year or more)

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

And lastly, but certainly not least, a big thanks to my wife for their support through this.