Knees

My knees. They currently hurt. That is all.

The Dentist - Part 1

I had a fantastic appointment at the dentist today. I do mean that. The cleaning went smoothly. They gave me novacaine. I can't feel my face right now and I think I accidentally bit my tongue and won't feel the pain for another few hours. I tried using a mouthwash to clean out some bacteria. When you have no feeling on the entire right side of your face, keeping liquid in your mouth is a challenge. I tried to accomplish this feat and hilarity ensued.

Weight update

I hit my first magic number this past Friday, but still have a ways to go.

1st magic number - BMI benchmark
* Original estimate: May 15, 2009
* Projected estimate: May 1, 2009
* Actual: May 1, 2009

2nd magic number - Initial goal
* Original estimate: July 10, 2009
* Projected estimate: June 19, 2009

3rd magic number - Lowest weight in ages
* Original estimate: July 17, 2009
* Projected estimate: June 26, 2009

4th magic number - Middle goal
* Original estimate: September 18, 2009
* Projected estimate: August 14, 2009

5th magic number - BMI benchmark
* Original estimate: September 25, 2009
* Projected estimate: August 21, 2009

6th magic number - Final goal
* Original estimate: October 23, 2009
* Projected estimate: September 11, 2009

My stomach is starting to get flat. I need to lose weight from my gut, waist, butt, and thighs. Pretty much the majority of my weight is currently sitting in my core which makes sense. When a person puts on weight, they usually put it on the core areas first (mentioned above), so when a person loses weight, this area gets more affected last.

Go, go, go...

Tea

I was sorely disappointed today when I went to my workplace break room and found there were no packets of green tea left. They had all disappeared.

I, traditionally, am a water drinker. I drink lots of it. I annoy waiters and waitresses with the amount of water I order during your everyday meal. Most people are 75-80% water weight whereas I am some sort of human-aquabeast hybrid. I don't drink soda any more and never was a coffee drinker.

Recently, I've been experiencing coldness in my fingers and nose, especially near lunch time and following lunch time. I can't really explain it. It may be a slowing of my metabolism, low blood circulation, or Reynaud's Syndrome. Here's to self-diagnosing!

I've found a cure to this by drinking a cup of tea - hot. No sugar, no milk, no cream, just the tea please. I'm a bit worried about the additional caffeine, but there are many teas which are caffeine free. Additionally, tea contains considerably less caffeine than coffee on average. It makes me not cold anymore so I think I have to stick with it.

So far I have tried green, earl grey, and apple cinnamon. I prefer the green tea for its simplicity.

The waiting game

I am currently trying to lose weight for the following reasons. This is a ongoing task:

1. More healthy - Being more healthy improves my circulation, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and resting pulse levels. This also gives me higher levels of endurance and cardio levels which applies to many things.
2. More attractive - Despite the fact that people talk about being attracted to confidence, personality, and sense of humor, many people will not consider dating someone to learn about their personality if they do not initially find the other person attractive on a physical level.

It occurred to me recently to me what is most aggravating about attempting to lose weight - waiting. You can work out heavily and eat sensibly, but most bodies are highly resistant towards losing weight. The human body works hard to maintain a sense of balance and the status quo.

Here is what I am currently doing:
1. Walking/running - I walk for 10-15 minutes to get increased circulation through my legs and loosen up my joints, then I run for a few miles.
2. Eating - My daily diet involves eating a bowl of cereal, a turkey sandwich, a banana, and some sort of stirfry or chicken with vegetables for dinner. I probably consume 1500-1600 calories per day as a conservative estimate.

I weigh myself every Friday morning in my skivvees. I have been losing weight every single week, but it's annoying to see differences in weight loss from week to week. The last few weeks losses have been the following:

* 1.6 pounds
* 3.2 pounds
* 0.8 pounds

This past week I was pretty rigorous with my exercise, increasing my regimen. I also remember having some crackers with peanut butter on a few days, but not an excessive amount. The up and down quantities are confusing to me because I want to reduce my current level of health fanaticism (something I have been doing fairly regularly for the past 7 years).

I am putting in the work required, but I wish it was moving along more quickly which tends to be aggravating.

I understanding this is all unreasonable whining, but it's soothing on a superficial level. :)

Maintain and have patience!

Swollen feet

My left foot (not the movie with Daniel Day Lewis), but my actual left foot is slightly swollen right now due to running. I went a little longer than I had originally anticipated due to a spike in energy level and ended up running for about an hour and change today. It feels really good finishing off that run, but I'm a little hazy right now. When I mean lazy, I really mean wobbly, which is why I'm sitting on my ass right now for recovery. Keep it going.

Insomnia

I have had a problem staying asleep for almost two months now. I have insomnia and I don't know what is causing this problem.

1. I am eating healthy foods.
2. I am eating reasonable portions.
3. I exercise almost every day.
4. I don't feel increased amount of stress in my life compared to when I was sleeping well.

Last night was one of the worst nights I've had since this started as I was laying in bed for hours trying to go to sleep with no success. I feel like hell today and don't want my fatigue to overwhelm other parts of my day-to-day activities.

I'd strongly prefer to not take medication to combat this.

Weight

So, I've recently been on a health kick, exercising rigorously, eating healthy and reasonable portions. I am closing in on my initial goal weight. I thought, this morning, "What is my ideal weight?"

So I checked out some web sites for my height and body type. For my international friends, please forgive me usage of pounds rather than kilograms. Years of living in the U.S. has forever tainted me...

People's choice: 200 pounds
BMI recommendation: 136 - 179 pounds
Metropolitan Life: 164 - 188 pounds
Devine formula: 166 pounds
Robinson formula: 161 pounds
Miller formula: 158 pounds
Hamwi formula: 171 pounds
Health Status: 143 - 178 pounds
FoodFit: 182 - 200 pounds
Health Discovery: 161 - 184 pounds
Shape: 161 - 184 pounds

Statistics (in pounds)
Low: 136
High: 200
Mean: 171.52941
Standard Deviation: 17.83647
Variance (Standard Deviation): 318.13971
Population Standard deviation: 17.30392
Variance(Population Standard deviation): 299.42561

I've come to many conclusions from these numbers. I am amused that in order to meet the healthy low number of the BMI (136), I would more or less look like an emaciated skeleton. Here's to health!

The push-up

I have been on a health-kick for the past half-year, focusing on running. I found a great site on pushups with a plan I am going to try out.

http://www.hundredpushups.com/

Attempting to find and maintain motivation.

Hunger

I have had one cigarette in my life and nearly coughed up a lung in response to the experience. As such, I can't relate to the feeling some of my smoker friends have described in terms of craving or hungering for another nicotine fix.

Sometimes I wonder if it is the feeling I get when I feel hungry. Am I truly hungry, or is it just weakness in my mind? I find it occurs more frequently when I am bored or my mind isn't occupied which makes sense. The problem is differentiating between actual hunger and the underlying habits buried in my brain.

The tally

I run every day. If I miss a day, I usually feel the jitters, and, worse, when I get back to running the following day, it's never as good of a run. I don't run as far as I would like, but I clip in at an adequate pace, sweat several gallons, and push my heartrate to higher levels.

Running is a grind. It is repetitive, and, in turn, can be boring. You run, usually in the same gait, moving one foot in front of the other and repeat several thousand times. Despite the boredom that can occur due to repetition, running offers something that is not boring - a mental challenge.

Here are the various things I think of when I get into a good running rhythm...
* I am starting to slouch. Focus on my posture to run more efficiently.
* My arms are moving in a crossing pattern. Try to get more parallel angles with them.
* My body is starting to rotate with each gait pattern. Focus on my posture.
* I have sweat dripping into my eyes. This itches or will get into my eyes, which is something I don't want. Wipe it away.
* My breathing is starting to get strained. Focus on breathing while my body involuntary keeps up the gait. Make sure I'm not missing breaths so I don't tire early.
* My legs are starting to get tired. Are they really tired or can I go further? Mind over matter.

To me, running is more about my mind overcoming itself, not just my body.

I weigh myself every Friday morning after I wake up for a benchmark. I lost three more pounds today. The tally keeps adding up and I have to keep up with it. Focus.