My blood pressure continues to be generally good, and this morning I was pleased to see that my resting heart rate was back down to 48 bpm, after having been running between 55 and 61 this past week (likely completely unrelated to my stressful week - ha!).
You can see the new walking element added to my routine in the chart above. Today's numbers look a little hinky because it looks like I did two workouts this morning when in fact I did one - I had an issue with the DigiFit app dropping the heart rate sensor, and had to restart it.
An even more important win is in my fasting blood sugar levels. The first two weeks of tracking my fasting blood sugar I did not have a single value in the normal range - each reading was high, in the pre-diabetic range. Last week I had a single normal reading, which was very exciting, because it showed me that exercise and attention to my diet could, in fact, reduce my blood sugar levels.
This week was even better - - I had 3 normal values this week, including this morning. Sure, they are all 'high normal', but the operative word there is NORMAL. This is a fantastic trend, and I am confident that with time, I can bring all my readings into the normal range. Even my high readings were not so high this week as when I first started looking at my blood sugars, so I can definitely see substantial and positive progress here.
I have to confess that even losing another 1.1 pounds and having a normal blood sugar reading this morning, I was frustrated with my weigh-in. There is still a part of my dinosaur brain way in the back of my head that thinks "I worked really hard this week, and watched what I ate, made sure to eat enough, and to eat the right things, and for this iron discipline I lose a lousy pound??".
The rational part of my brain has now kicked in to remind me that 1 - 1.5 pounds lost per week is the objective, and I am perfectly within that range. Plus, there's all the positives, what with my improving stamina on walks, and greater frequency of normal blood sugar readings - - these are all things that I need to focus on, not the fact that weight loss is not instantaneous.
The real positive thing is that no matter how heavy the scale thought I was this morning, I was clearly under the 300 pound mark (in fact, my weight was not even close to 300 pounds). And that 300 pound mark is well under the 333.9 pound mark where I started. I know I am particularly guilty of focusing on the weight I am not losing, when I should be focusing instead on what I have accomplished. Even with minor fluctuations in my weight (that you can see in the first chart, above), I weigh nowhere near what I once did. That means that my workout and eating plan is working, and working well.
I am eating delicious meals (especially on the weekend when the Nerd cooks) and I can still go out and enjoy dinner with friends, and I am still losing weight, overall. This is a much more healthy and sustainable pattern than I had when I was first working out in 2000. Back then I starved myself during the week only to binge on the weekends, and because I was on such a calorie restricted diet, I eventually gave in to the cravings and gained all the weight back and more. This time, I am able to eat the things I enjoy, but in moderate portions.
What this process has taught me is to adopt more of a lifestyle change than quick fixes. My understanding of nutrition and portions and carbs is having a significant effect on the way I eat, and on the choices I make. And that will serve me well, I think, for a long time to come.
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