Day 41 - One Eighty Seven

After another 10 days of implementing the plan, I’ve lost another 5 pounds. That’s 12 pounds overall after 40 days. From all the people I’ve talked to, it still seems like it’s a healthy clip, hopefully not overly aggressive, I highly doubt it. 187??? I had to weigh-in three times just to make sure.

Now it’s time to find out what 12lbs really equates to. I take out my trusty medium size porcelain serving dish, it makes a nice base. This time, I go for the gusto and pile my blender on top of it, the entire unit, cap and all. 11lbs on the head. Needing one more pound I grab my daughters piggy bank (she really needs to save more). 12 pounds on the head. I lift the serving dish, blender, and piggy bank up a few times....yeah, that feels good. What a boat anchor, I can’t believe I was walking around with a serving dish, a blender, and a piggy bank inside of me just 40 days ago.

People ask me why I thought I’ve lost weight on this plan, what is the real reason I think I’ve been able to lose weight. The answer is two-fold, but simple. First, by living in a heightened state of awareness, and living consciously, I didn’t eat as much as I had been previously. No more cleaning the kids plates off when they were done eating, trying everything on the party buffet, or going back for seconds and thirds despite my full gullet. My body didn’t need it, and shortly after I made those decisions (based upon how pathetic my daily logs read), my body certainly didn’t crave it. When I was full, I was content. I was hungry a small number of times during the first 30 days, and when I was hungry, I ate, but certainly not as much because it wasn’t required. I tried to avoid stuffing myself because it physically hurt after a while. Secondly, I made my body move, day after day. Even though it was small and inconsequential to people that work out, it was much more movement than I had been doing before. That had to account for at least something. Pretty straightforward.

The last ten days have been as easy as the first thirty. Writing everything I eat and do, and reviewing it out loud daily. The discipline has stuck with me thus far, which is the bigger win. And as a result, the pounds drop off. I’ve incrementally added a few more pushups and sit-ups to the routine, now somewhere between 45 and 50 of each. Now that school has started back up again, we’re on a better schedule. In reviewing the logs over the last ten days, I’ve noticed a reduction in the amount of imbibing, only five of the ten days, and perhaps only two days in excess. This was a missing piece during the first 30 days, and I’ve tried to work on that. It’s much easier to be a hermit and be non-social when the kids need to be in bed by eight.

An odd thing happened on Day 9 of this recent ten day sprint. I woke up and couldn’t lift my left arm because my shoulder was in pain. I don’t know if it’s because I slept on it funny or what the deal was. It hurt pretty badly for two days in a row. I even had to take Ibuprofen for the first time on this plan. Contrast that with those other “get in shape” attempts from long ago when I was surely on Ibuprofen after the first week! Since this is the first time I’ve ever felt sore since I began, I was concerned. Could it be a long lasting nagging thing like tendonitis? What about my pushups? Uncertain, but I’m surely not going to a Doctor. The last time I went to a Doctor for some significant physical problem like this was when I hurt my back. Doctors prescribe medicine and make you go away. In short, Doctors are like weathermen, they don’t always know what the hell they are talking about. In fact, I don’t know why I am capitalizing Doctor...it’s doctor...there you have it, mere mortals. But since they are paid to know, they diagnose. Right or wrong. Then you come back, give them some more data on how you feel, and then they diagnose again. If this sounds like they are practicing on you, they are. That’s why they call it a “practice” after all. I forget where I heard that originally, but it’s held up very true. I’ll wait it out for a few days and do my own diagnosis.

For now, I’ve had to stop the pushups, and find another activity in it’s place. But what. I still walk dogs occasionally, but the last few days have been cold and rainy. Now the pressure is on. Wait, I still have that NordicTrack in the basement. You know those things, the archaic torture device looking wood things with ski’s and ropes and pulleys. When done right it looks like you’re cross country skiing. The reason I had it anyway was because of my back. The chiropractor I was seeing for my back (after several medical doctors failed me, my first foray into non traditional approaches), said that the NordicTrack devices were good because it helped support your back. So, I bought a used one. That’s the ticket. I unearthed it, dusted it off, and brought it up to the bedroom, much to my wife’s dismay. Ah yes, back in the saddle. Although feeling quite silly in the bedroom doing this thing (but not as lame as that pony tailed freak on those infomercials, what’s with that guy?), it certainly does work pretty well. I set it to it’s easiest resistance, and started to glide. It’s easy on my back, and I manage 25 minutes my first attempt. Piece of cake. Although I notice some sweating going on, but no muscle strain or soreness in the shoulder, legs, or back. There you have it, a new activity I can throw into the mix. Probably good I found something else as fall and winter approaches.

Next up is another 10 day sprint, which at the conclusion will be 51 consecutive days on this super simple, non painful, effective plan. We shall see if I taper off or continue to shed. Until then.