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	Archive through February 25, 2019	25		04/03 11:50am

I am having a good week. At my desk several hours per day, six hours on Wednesday. Blood pressure and sugar are stable. I did very well at physical therapy today, showing greater strength and stamina. Got a lot more work done each day this week than all of last week.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, March 22, 2019 - 10:26 am: Edit

Continuing improvements, weight down to 305.8 this morning. Diabetes is gone completely, blood pressure is getting better. I am taking only half of my BP medication. I finished physical therapy last week when I walked 1091 steps in six minutes; the goal was 600. Working about six hours per day. Walking the dog 400 yards per day. Getting 3500 Fitbit steps per day. Digestion is working much better than other patients in the support group.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, March 28, 2019 - 09:41 pm: Edit

For the last seven days I have suffered from headaches (in my face not my cranium) so severe at times that they made me all but non functional. Two doctors aren't sure what it is, maybe a sinus infection. The medication has started to work, finally. I have been making the final edits to the CL53 story but would have been done yesterday without the headache.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, March 29, 2019 - 05:30 pm: Edit

Felt much better today as the pills kicked in and reduced the blinding pain to a dull ache. God bless doctors. Got a lot done including a half-mile walk with Wolf, the first time he had been to visit the rail trail in 40 months. He seemed surprised that other dogs had dishonored his claim marks.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, April 03, 2019 - 11:50 am: Edit

Yesterday, I cracked the big barrier and weighed 299.0 pounds. I waited until today (297.6) to announce that in case it was just a fluke.

300 is not just "the big number" but halfway from my starting weight of 376 to my target weight of 225.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, April 04, 2019 - 11:33 am: Edit

I reached a new low of 295.2 this morning. That's probably a fluke by a pound or two because I have felt so tired on Tuesday and Wednesday that I went home and took a nap, skipping the "3pm second lunch" that I normally eat. The tiredness is said to be normal. With my body losing this much weight it tends to go into "reset mode" every week or two and that can manifest itself as exhaustion, coldness, or a plateau.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 07:16 pm: Edit

A few unreported updates.

I have bounced around 293 for a week but am determined to break that barrier tomorrow.

I started taking Yoga classes on Wednesday 17 April. This is the lowest of the low of yoga, "chair yoga" where you spend 90% of the time sitting down. Three months of that and I'll be ready for more. Doctor said "yoga wont kill you but i would not try any serious gym program before next year."

Yesterday, Leanna booked us on a 7-day cruise around the Hawaii Islands with various shore excursions. This is for sometime in mid-September including our anniversary.

Today (22 April) Wolf and I walked a one mile loop around the lower lake at Duck Park which was the first one-mile walk since Nov 2015. I was really not that tired. IT TURNED OUT that I took a wrong turn and it was only 3/4 mile.

Thursday, I will have my first try as "substitute group leader" for the Bariatric Patient Support Group. I will be leading a discussion on how to eat in restaurants without breaking the diet rules.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, April 27, 2019 - 01:13 pm: Edit

Yesterday, 26 April 2019, I hit 292.2 pounds and walked the dog one mile. (Apparently, last week's "first one mile walk in 3.5 years" was only 3/4 mile because I took the wrong turn at the lake. So yesterday was the first one mile walk in 3.5 years.) I also got my first "boat shoe badge" for walking 5000 steps in a single day.

Today I hit 291.4 pounds. Wolf and I walked one mile. I hit 6350 steps both days.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, May 05, 2019 - 01:28 am: Edit

May 4th
Today Wolf and I walked the fifth one-mile segment of the rail trail.

Tuesday my surgeon gave me a glowing report. He said my 50 pound loss in three months tied the record. He was very happy with my taking yoga.

Saturday, Leanna had an appointment so I did the grocery store run, getting food for Sunday and stuff for the trip Tuesday. The store used to be a major physical challenge and a scary and mysterious house of terror. Today I spent all of thirty minutes getting a cart of stuff on Leanna's list. It is good after years of just getting by by I am now Leanna's full working partner.

One more thing, I got down to 289.4 pounds.

During the Wolf sanctuary trip I hit 7000 steps on Thursday the 9 th, 8000 on Friday, then 14,000 on Saturday at the ABQ zoo.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, May 26, 2019 - 09:19 am: Edit

Quick update. Weight 281 this morning, lowest in years. Still walking every day (but Sunday) with Wolf, usually a whole mile but sometimes less if I am too busy. Friday we walked the one mile upper lake trail without even sitting down to rest. Energy, stamina, attitude are all very high. Fitbit is running at about 6500 steps per day. Trying to get an extra 100 steps every hour. Blood pressure is stable with half the meds, diabetes has been gone for months. Leanna is very happy.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, June 07, 2019 - 09:58 am: Edit

276 this morning, down 100 pounds since this started last July.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 01:40 am: Edit

An update. I am doing very well. My doctors say I am doing better than 90% of bariatric patients. I am down to 272 pounds. Tuesday 25 June I walked 9629 steps. Last week I averaged 7000 per day and reached the mythical point that "the more I do the more I want to do more." Tuesday night Leanna and I took the first "evening walk around the neighborhood" in decades. Every hour when Fitbit buzzes I walk 500 steps not just 250. Many hours I do 1000. I walk Wolf a half mile every day and most days it is a full mile. I have to get up early to walk him at 9am because the previous walk time of 3pm it is over 90F. I have been selected as the third ranking member of the bariatric support group, teaching one class a month. My lesson plans are so good the doctor puts them on his private website for his patients. Last week I had the first yoga class in which I completed the entire program without skipping any of it to rest. I can do Warrior Two really well.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, July 25, 2019 - 02:20 am: Edit

An update. Down to 264, 112 down from start.

I have hit a few plateau barriers and still have occasional periods of sleepiness or cold chills as my body fights to keep all that famine reserve it built. But it's all good.

I get 6000 total steps every day and occasionally hit 8000 or rarely 9000. Walking the dog is problematic due to high temperatures. I try to take him around the block every day as we can stand five minutes of even 104F but he suffers. I cannot walk in the evening as it stays over 90F until dark.

I am going to Crunch Fitness almost every day for an hour, including the 21-machines circuit and a brisk 1000 step walk carrying weights.

Getting tired of having this gross empty sack of skin around my waist. Next week I will see the doctor for my six month check and I will discuss having it surgically removed. He probably wants to wait six or twelve more months and I don't want to screw up the Hawaii trip, probably not time to do it before then.