Geo - Eye's Wide Open 2012

[geo]

Day 159

B: nothing
L: baked potato and sweet potato
watermelon
D: mex veggies with salsa
grapes and peach

E: 89 mins walking - 10,688 steps. Total steps for day - 13,172 steps.
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Felt good and strong today. Did my morning and evening walk as usual and they went well. Weather was fairly nice, though I did get rained on a bit in my evening walk during the last 5 mins.

Rest of the day was spent doing some food shopping and taking my dau and friend to the pool. It was really beautiful during the day, not too hot or humid. I've noticed that I've been eating more fruit the past 2 weeks...more than the 2 pieces recommended on the MWL. I think this is what is making me stay a little bloated. Eating lots of high water content fruits. I think I will cut it back some for the next few weeks. I test again in about 3 1/2 weeks and I don't want my trig's to be artificially high due to the fruits, though I have no evidence it might be.

Did take a nap later in the day as I was feeling a bit tired for some reason...more tired than expected and then felt a bit rough the rest of the evening after the nap...too much sleep I guess. Oh well some days you just need a breather and a break from everyday things.

[geo]

Day 160 - Week 23

Its been 22 complete weeks now and here are my latest numbers:

Weight: 186.2 down from: 187.8 started at: 261
BP: 123/67 up from: 111/63 started at: 153/92
Pulse: 50 down from: 52 started at: 88
BMI: 25.3 started at: 35.4

Total weight lost after 22 full weeks on MWL - 74.8 lbs!

Down another 1.6 lbs this week. Thats 2 weeks in a row that I did'nt make the weight loss expected and that I feel bloated. I believe the reasons are 3-fold. One, I'm eating more water heavy fruits then I should. Two, my weight-loss is just naturally slowing down as I get closer to my goal weight. Three, I'm starting to gain some muscle, especially in my thighs and calves from all the walking/stair climbing I do. This is fully expected and I've been preparing for it.

So 2 actions for me is to get back on track with strict MWL and cut down on all the fruit I've been eating and ramp up my exercise to increase both my strength exercises and cardio. Both I've been planning for months now. I've been expanding slowly on the exercise front as I don't want to hurt myself knowing how out of shape I've been the past 25 yrs. So I've gradually uped my fitness level to where I think I can now start handling a more robust exercise program. So that will start in the next week and I actually look forward to it

B: oatmeal with flax and cinnamon
herbal tea
S: herbal tea
L: mixed veggies and salsa
herbal tea
peach
D: baked potato and sweet potato
watermelon
S: orange

E: 44 mins walking - 5281 steps. Stair climbing - d/u/d/d 17 floors. Total steps for day - 10,946 steps.
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Felt great today. Did my stair climbing as usual in the morning going a non-stop d/u 17 floors and followed that by going down the stairs at lunch and again in the afternoon. The afternoon session though caused pain in my left knee (have had surgery on it before), so I will hold off on doing that much stairs for awhile. It was a bit too much for my knee. I also did my walk in the evening which went well however later in the evening my knee was giving me some pain again. I haven't had any knee pain in about 3 months so this surprised me. I will need to be a bit more gentle for a few days...

Busy day at work as Mondays usually are. A bit stressful with lots of new things to work on and keep me busy. Was tired last night so went to bed early and slept well.

[geo]

Day 161

B: oatmeal with flax and cinnamon
herbal tea
S: herbal tea
L: mex veggies with salsa
herbal tea
peach
D: baked potato and sweet potato
watermelon and orange

E: 45 mins walking - 5,330 steps. Stair climbing - d/d 17 floors. Total steps for day - 11,114 steps.
M: 10mins
TM: none

Great day, felt strong and rested. Was eager to get to my stair climbing in the morning. Completed the d/d 17 floors with no issues in the morning and afternoon with walks around the building perimeter. No soreness or tightness and no knee pain like I had yesterday. Also did walk in evening at about 85 F.

Work was a little stressful but not too bad. Went shopping afterwards for some spuds as I was running short. Cherries were on sale again so picked some more of those up as well. Finally finished off the watermelon I got last week and now I have a honeydew left in the fridge I love this time of the year for all the fruits that are available. Sure beats all those overly sweet and fatty deserts and theirs no cooking involved

Continued to feel bloated throughout day but did release a good bit of water at night again but otherwise slept well. On Thursday I have my dental checkup. I bet they will be surprised to see how much thinner I am since last time I saw them I was not McDougalling I get comments about my weight-loss almost everyday at work now, usually from people I don't even know but they seem to know me.

[pechke]

Yay! Just a thought, you could post some before and after pics here in your journal for all us to gawk at... then you will have even MORE people telling you how awesome you are

[geo]

Pechke. I'm nowhere near comfortable yet posting pics as I still have a ways to go to get to my goal. Maybe at the end of the month when I get my bloodwork done I'll say cheeze

[geo]

Day 162

B: oatmeal with flax and cinnamon
herbal tea
S: herbal tea
L: mixed veggies with salsa
peach
herbal tea
D: baked potato and sweet potato
orange

E: 45 mins walking - 5,321 steps. Stair climbing - d/u/d 17 floors. Total steps for day - 9,966 steps.
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Great day, felt strong and energetic. My stair climbing went well and continues to get better/easier every time. I can do all 17 floors, down and back up non-stop. Its still difficult but my recovery is relatively quick 5-10 mins and I know I could do another floor or two if I had too. Did my evening walk as usual and that felt like a nice stroll with no issues. Pretty much all my exercise has become routine and part of my life now. I get up every morning and expect to do it and I get anxious if I have to wait to get it done

We had our new dishwasher installed today and its quite nice. Lots of fancy buttons, and lights to do whatever you want. Typical German engineering. Should be trying it out in next day or so. It will be nice not having to do dishes by hand anymore. Its funny how spoiled we get with technology.

I received DrM's Digestive Tune-up book today. I was surprised at how short it is, but it seems dense with information and looks to be an easy read. I think I will get a lot out of it and its a great addition to all his other books I have. I wish I could find a copy of his very first book, "Making the Change". Even Amazon doesn't have a used book listing for it. Must have been a very small printing of it.

[geo]

Day 163

B: nothing
L: mixed veggies with salsa
peach
S: herbal tea
D: baked potato and sweet potato
1/2 cantaloupe

E: 44 mins walking - 5,302 steps. Total steps for day - 7,905 steps
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Felt good today. Was only able to get my morning walk in as it rained all day long. Felt strong with plenty of energy and was restless to get out and get my walk in. Worked fromhome today and stress levels were low. Amazing how that works.

Had my dental checkup today and it went exceptionally well. My dentist did not even recognize me. She was shocked at my weight loss and just went on and on about it. She even put it into my dental records. The exceptional part though, is that I'm now cured of my periodontal disease!!!

I've been seeing this dentist for 5+ years now. Going in every 4 months to have my teeth worked on as they were so bad. There has been minor improvements in the past 5 years but it looked like I would need to do this for life.

Now all of a sudden, the periodontal disease is gone and my teeth are doing great! And for the first time in 5 years, I'm going back to a normal 6 month checkup as I no longer have any teeth/gum issues. My dentist was so surprised by the changes. She said its very rare that she has a patient that sees my kind of improvement and was very happy to see that I was doing a great job of keeping my teeth/gums healthy!

Well I didn't have the heart to tell her that I've done nothing in the past 5 years differently in my dental hygiene, the only change I've made is following the McDougall program for the past 5 months
It seems that this woe even cures periodontal disease! Or I think more accurately, it allows your body to become so healthy that it can fight off all sorts of chronic diseases that we take for granted 5 years of expert dental care could not do what 5 months of McDougalling can!

Thank you Dr McDougall

[fulenn]

That's great about your dental visit! Wonderful that peridontal disease has responded to the WOE. I never thought about that being a result of all of this as I am blessed with good teeth/gums, but I will let my family know.

Congratulations!

Fulenn

[geo]

Thanks Fulenn! It was an unexpected result, but it does make sense. The McD program is all about increasing your health, everything else is a side benefit of that increased health. At least thats the way I look at it

BTW, I saw your pics yesterday and got to say its hard to believe its the same person. You look so much younger. Quite a dramatic change and quite pretty too Keep up the great work!

[geo]

Day 164

B: oatmeal with flax and cinnamon
herbal tea
S: herbal tea
L: mex veggies with salsa
peach
herbal tea
D: baked potato and sweet potato
1/4 cantaloupe and some cherries

E: 43 mins walking - 5,272 steps. stair climbing - d/u/d/d 17 floors. Total steps for day - 10,455 steps
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Great day today. Lots of energy and anxious to get some exercise since I couldn't do my walk last night. Did my non-stop d/u 17 floor stair climb in the morning that went great. Best effort yet and felt I could do a couple more floors if I wanted. I also did 2 more walks downstairs in the afternoon just to keep moving. Finally I did my usual walk in the evening and I had so much energy that I did a record fast walk of 43 mins. The weather was wet and cold but just felt so good to be walking in

Stress levels at work today was relatively low and it ended up being a bit of a slow day for a friday. Got a little reading in before bed last night and watched a couple shows with my wife. That pretty much covers the whole day

[geo]

Day 165

B: nothing
L: basmati rice with mixed veggies and salsa
cherries and banana
D: baked potato and rice with mex veggies and salsa
mango and clementine

E: 88 mins walking -10,632 steps. Total steps for day - 13,561 steps
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Felt great today. No tightness or pain anywhere. Did my morning and evening walks at good speed and felt strong during both. Weather was rather cool and wet again. Been raining all week it seems.

Also did some shopping today as usual for a Saturday. Stocked up on fruits and veggies for me and meat for the rest of the family. Otherwise just relaxed all day with the wife. Watched a bunch of dvr'd shows and some Olympics which were just pretty amazing really. Definitely makes me wish I was younger lol. Did a bit of online reading and watched some youtube video's as usual. Just a nice relaxing weekend day really

[geo]

Day 166

B: gluten-free hot cereal with flax and cinnamon
herbal tea
L: baked potato and sweet potato
banana
S: popcorn
D: 2 bean chili
grapes and 2 clementines

E: 88 mins walking - 10,690 steps. Total steps for day - 12,613 steps.
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Felt good today. No issues other than a little bloating. Had lots of energy and good strength. Did my morning and evening walks without issue. Low stress day and weather was beautiful. Got a good bit of sun today.

Another lazy day today. Spent some time making my bean chili. It came out really good, nice and thick, hearty, with a good mix of spices. I'm getting closer to something I really like. This time I thickened it with lots of grains. Used both millet and a 5-grain rolled grain mixture. It worked surprising well. A nice starchy meal that I ate by itself though could definitely use it as a topping for potatoes or rice or veggies. I made a large crock pot of it so this will be eaten over this week

The wife and I also watched a couple DVD's we had been saving up for a rainy day, MI:3 Ghost Protocol is great! I made some microwave popcorn for one of them. Burned it a bit but figured out how to get salt to stick to dry popcorn!!!

The secret is too use about a Tbs of water in the bottom of the microwave bowl. Add your salt/spices to the water, then put your popcorn in and mix it around. Finally nuke the corn. This will take probably about 50% longer than expected due to the water. But the corn will pop just fine and have a very thin coating of salt/spices on it! It will not be wet at all and not overly salty. The timing is critical so it doesn't burn, so you have to watch it and listen to the popping. Don't try to make every kernel pop or you will burn it. It came out perfect with just enough salt to taste great, especially if you haven't been eating any added salt for a few months like me

[geo]

Day 167 - Week 24

Its been 23 complete weeks now and here are my latest numbers:

Weight: 184.4 down from: 186.2 started at: 261
BP: 106/63 down from: 111/63 started at: 153/92
Pulse: 50 down from: 50 started at: 88
BMI: 25.0 started at: 35.4

Total weight lost after 23 full weeks on MWL - 76.6 lbs!

Down another 1.8 lbs this week. Less than I expected but still feeling bloated. Overall though I'm happy with the continuous progress. I'm probably losing at just under 2 lbs per week now or about 7 lbs a month.

Good news though is that I'm only 1 lb away from being at a "normal" healthy weight (24.9 BMI)! Which I should reach next Monday if not earlier. Then the following week I get my blood work done for my 6 month anniversary of McDougalling. Very excited by that

B: oatmeal with flax and cinnamon
2 cups of herbal tea
L: chili with veggies
banana
herbal tea
D: baked potato and sweet potato
1/4 honeydew melon
clementine

E: no walking today due to rain. Stair climbing - d/u/d 17 floors. Total steps for day - 4763 steps.
M: 10 mins
TM: 1 for elbow

Felt great with lots of energy. Did my non-stop stair climbing in the morning with no issues and with my best effort to date. It just gets easier each time I do it though still breathing very heavy at the end. Also went down the stairs in the afternoon with a walk around building perimeter. Could not do any walking after work do to the continuous rain last night.

Typical Monday stress day at work which was high. Lots of things to be done that were urgent (or at least people thought they were). People dropping the ball on stuff that I then had to account for...so much fun....not! Overall just not a good day at work.

Daughter wants to go somewhere before the end of summer. So trying to plan a little trip in the next 2 weeks. Difficult when money is tight but I think we all need a little vacation so we'll see what I can come up with

[geo]

Day 168

B: oatmeal with flax and cinnamon
2cups of herbal tea
L: chili with mixed veggies
banana and clementine
D: baked potato
1/4 honeydew melon and nectarine

E: 45 mins walking - 5,343 steps. Stair Climbing - d/d/d 17 floors. Total steps for the day - 12,011 steps.
M: 10 mins
TM: none

Good day today. Energy levels high and felt strong. Also felt bad I didn't get my walking in yesterday. Funny how missing exercise makes me feel guilty these days. Did my downstairs stair climbing in morning, noon, and afternoon along with the building perimeter walk. And did my normal evening walk as usual. Everything went well with no pain or tightness issues. Nice and cool in the evening.

Typical higher stress day at work today. Bosses boss flew into town so everyone was hoping around trying to look busy for a change Was a little tired today after work so didn't really do much. Watched a tv show or 2 with the wife before finally going to bed early and slept well

[geo]

Just a follow-up note...

I did my usual spot check weigh-in today as I was feeling a little less bloated today and my weight registered at 183.2 lbs! that means my BMI right now is 24.8 which now means I'm at a "normal" weight!!! Whoo Hooo!! It's been years since I could say I was not fat

Though in reality I still have plenty of fat around the middle to lose, so I'm nowhere near done yet. But I've reached another goal...well I will officially when I do my Monday weigh-ins. I'm just noting this date for future reference

So its taken me 169 days of MWL to go from 261 to 183.2 (BMI 35.4 to 24.8 a loss of 77.8 pounds, from obesity to normal weight!

That's an average weight-loss of 3.2 lbs /wk for the past 24 weeks...not bad I would say. Though at this point I'm losing closer to about 2 lbs a week give or take .5 lbs.

In 2 weeks I will have my 6 month bloodwork done and report all the details then