Fat Man on a Diet

Hard as it is is to believe the competition has only one week left to go. We’ve been working away at this weight loss thing for 12 weeks and in that time the weight has dropped from 157.9 kilos down to 123.0 kilos as of this morning. By any rules this is a reasonable drop.

Of course there is still the open question of why I let it get so high in the first place, but I suppose that’s an entirely different discussion.

It’s a shame that my back is hurting so much at the moment since it means I can’t get to the gym either to work out, *or* to share in the excitement of these last days.

There’s no way I can tell if the enforced absence is helping or hurting my weight loss programme. At the last weigh-in two weeks ago I managed just a single kilo loss to 127.5 kilos, and that was purely water loss after dehydrating myself deliberately in order to show *some* loss! However, since my back began aching last Sunday… the weight appears to have dropped by nearly 5 kilos, which brings into question the value of exercise as a weight loss mechanism.

My opinion… which has no scientific back-up as far as I know… is that the main value of the exercise lies in two areas. Firstly toning the body as the weight drops away to keep muscles and organs functioning properly, and secondly a maintenance function to help mobility and hopefully ward off weight increase.

For me the value of the gym has been more to give me a social ’support’ system with a group of people all trying to regain a certain level of fitness and I do actually miss that. I can’t say I spend all day chatting because I don’t, but it is nice to have people there of a like mind to speak to if only casually.

Some people who know me outside the blog may find this hard to believe, but I actually miss being there!!

Weight dropped to 122.5 kilos and BP/HR still steady so doing ok.

Only problem is I can’t go to the gym because my back is still hurting. I know what caused it so I’ll try to make sure I don;t do it again… but that’s no consolation right now.

Will be back when things stop hurting… currently can’t sit for long.

Not been around much… I’ve hurt my back (again). It’s nothing to do with the exercie or weight loss, it just ‘goes’ now and then and has done ever since I damaged it as a child.

I’ll be back soon enough. This only ever lasts a few days or weeks.

Current weight is 123.0 kilos so I’m still losing slowly but surely. No idea why it stalled for so long, but if it’s moving… I’ve no complaints.

Except for the bad back of course

Went out very early today to watch the first Sydney Xmas Parade (my daughters were marching in it with the local Girl Guide unit) and forgot to take my measurements until I came back at 3:00 p.m.

When I came back I took the BP and then weighed… came in at 124.0 kilos. Bearing in mind how little I’ve lost in the past few weeks this is most odd to say the least. There’s no way I could have lost 2.5 kilos overnight even allowing for a walk around the city so what’s going on? Beats me, but if it *is* going down then why worry?

Tomorrow’s measurement will be the one to watch to see if it’s ‘real’.

Twice around the lake this morning convinced me I wasn’t ready to get back in the gym. Added to being exhausted *and* having to get the house ready fro the visitors I decided to pike it and go home.

Can’t stay away for ever of course but I *do* need to clean up so I won’t be idle while I’m home and Monday morning will be back there as usual… unless the house is *still* a tip!

Within a kilo or so I’ve been the same weight for nearly two weeks now and 126.5 kilos! This is in the face of increased exercise, reduced exercise, more food, less food, no tablets, recommencing tablets. No change.

Yet again I was told… reassured?… there *will* be plateau times and this is just one of those so to keep on trucking, and of course I will. I’ve come too far to stop or go back now. It’s just a bit disappointing to feel things aren’t moving.

The hip and knee are still painful… tho the hip hurts most… yet I managed to walk for an hour on the treadmill. After yesterdays effort I’ve decided my body *is* telling me what it can and can’t do, and what it is and isn’t prepared to support and *right now* for me walking is the best I can do.

I’d like to do the boxing, jogging, stair circuits etc but I’m simply not physically capable of doing it while I’m at this weight so it’ll have to wait in the wings for a few months until the weight *does* reduce and the pressure is lifted a little. At the very least Sally has shown me I *can* do it… or will be able to (I think) when the pressure has been lifted
so that’s a positive. I just can’t see I have anything to gain by causing permanent damage in an effort to accelerate the speed of the decrease.

As a matter of fact, the additional exercise has coincided with the cessation of weight loss so maybe they are linked. I wouldn’t know, but I know I simply can’t do as much as I’d like right now. Don’t want Sally to think I’m not grateful for her efforts but I think I’ll have to take a rain check on the sessions for a little while to let my body sort itself out.

And with that… back to the gym I go

Seriously… it does! It’s *very* unstable. In fact I’m considering going to the doctor, after the contest, to see if there is anything that could be done about it. It feels as if it’s not only bending forwards… but is moving side to side!! Not nice.

I think there is really something wrong with my back that has thrown out my hip… which in turn has caused the problem with my knee. I doubt anything can be done but I suppose it’s something else to get checked out just in case it *can* be rectified.

Either way I did do *some* exercise by walking from the garage looking after my car, all around Penrith Town Centre… and back to the garage (carrying four bags of odds and ends) so the day wasn’t a total loss as far as working out is concerned.

Of more concern is what I do tomorrow while my right side is in such an unfortunate state. Carry on as usual I think… but with less ‘impact’ work… i.e. no running or jumping. I’m sure Sally will tell me off… but I think long term I’ll cause more damage than I’ll gain in weight loss by doing it.

Two more weeks and I can get myself sorted out – I hope!

Had the ‘day off’ from the gym yesterday and will do the same again today. Sometimes there is just stuff to do that needs doing. Besides which my right knee is definitely ‘unstable and needs something to support it so a rest might help. Also I still have this odd ‘pulled muscle’ feeling at the back of my right thigh, which is almost like a cramp, and needs some rest to recover. I’ll be back on Friday afternoon though so I’m not abandoning it altogether

Despite the eggs and nuts yesterday lunchtime not all was lost for the day. I ‘pulled back’ by almost missing the evening meal… I just had some roast chicken pieces and a few tomatoes. The result is that my weight actually went *down* to 126.5 kilos despite my earlier concerns! What’s more my BP and HR have stabilised again. Could be worse

I’m not sure I’d want to mix up an ad hoc meal like that too often though before the end of the contest. I really need a structure to both the meal times and the meals themselves else I’ll just eat whatever and whenever and end up where I started from those months ago!!

Staying home isn’t a good move for me – even tho I had little choice. So far today I’ve eaten two hard boiled eggs, two ’standard’ tomatoes… and two small packets of nuts. I also had two cups of hot chocolate… tho that is low cal and 99% fat free. It’s a bit salty but filling.

This is in addition to my morning ’shake’ and lunchtime ’soup’… hence it being a bad move to stay here… especially alone!

Either way I will need to do lots at the gym on Friday, if I can get there, just to catch up on today’s over eager nibbling. I hope I can keep myself in line tomorrow!

No gym today. I have to go for a blood test. No gym tomorrow. I have to take the car for servicing. Gym on Friday?? Not sure yet

I might end up not being able to go to the gym until Saturday morning.

Actually bearing in mind the lack of weight loss this might be a good thing. Maybe a bit of a break will let the muscles repair and when I go back they’ll work more effectively. I’m probably wrong but either way I won’t be able to get there so I’ll just have to hope for the best!