So here are the weekly numbers, and we have a bit to talk
about:
Starting
Weight:
|
230.0
|
Original Target*:
|
243.2
|
Adjusted Target:
|
228.2
|
Actual Weight:
|
231.2
|
Loss/Gain:
|
+
1.2
|
Total Loss:
|
71.4
|
% of Goal:
|
51.5%
|
Avg. Loss/Wk.:
|
–
2.2
|
*Original target calculated from a
starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.
|
|
Thursday, I weighed in at 227.2, which took me past the
75-lb. loss mark. Yay me, right? Except that I noticed the right side of my
face had swollen to the point that it was starting to creep into my visual
range. I had had a little swelling for a few days, but I had thought it was an
impacted sinus, which I’d had before. So I called Teladoc and paid $45 dollars for
the doctor to tell me to go to the ER.
The ER doctor treated the swelling, which was cellulitis, as
almost a side issue — he was much more concerned about the polyp in my right
nostril which I’d had for several years. The doctor was concerned because my blood
oxygen was down to 88%. So he ordered a CT scan and called in a local ENT to
consult on the case. Turns out the polyp was only “benign” so far as cancer
goes. Over the last 5½ years, it had been slowly growing inside my face. So the
ENT ended up removing the mass in an endoscopic examination.
When I was discharged, my blood oxygen was at 98%, my BP at
112/72, and my pulse a slow but healthy 48 bpm. Amazing what having two working
nostrils can do, huh? Ah, lovely oxygen! Two morals from this: 1) Never let
financial concerns keep you from taking care of a health issue; and 2) No
matter how smart you are — if you’re not a doctor, you shouldn’t try to guess
which health issues are serious and which aren’t. Being smart is not the
same thing as being wise.
While I was there, I began to notice that something else was
wrong ….
The issue is gastric regularity and its absence. Put as best
I can, I’ve noticed over the last few days that, while the production line still
seems to be working, the shipping department is not getting products out of the
warehouse fast enough. At least part of the 4.5 pounds I put on in the hospital
was due to constipation, though I drank a lot of water. I’d thought that it
might be an issue with my medication for hypothyroidism or that it might have
been due to extreme coffee deprivation (as funny as that sounds, coffee does
promote regularity). However, two days after my release from the hospital, my
gut remains at a standstill.
Looking at my numbers, I find that, like most Americans, I
don’t get nearly enough fiber in my diet
— only about 15.87 grams a day over the last week, as opposed to the
recommended 30 grams per day for men over 50. (For men under 50, it’s 38 g/day;
for women, it’s 25 g/day 50 and under and 21 g/day over 50.)
Again, introducing
more fiber into your diet is a matter of rewriting
your food script: reducing refined grains in favor of whole grains, as well
as eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans. Popcorn is a good source of
fiber; it will fill you up without filling you out, so long as you avoid butter.
However, it’s best to introduce more fiber gradually along with plenty of
water, to give your gut time to adjust.
So much of successful weight loss consists of what Bill
Cosby once called “re-behaving”: unlearning the toxic choices and habits we
formed over our lives, learning to make better choices, and forming better
habits. I almost called them “new habits”, except that the habits we formed, as
I discussed in my previous status update, were heavily influenced (dare I say,
distorted) by the effect of modern food production and marketing techniques.
Certainly, the way the average person prepared food 150
years ago wasn’t especially healthy or nutritious. Nevertheless, given their challenges
in food preservation and variety, I’d think that different cultures had plenty
of time to develop cuisines that took what was available and got the most nutritional
bang for the buck through the process of “by guess and by golly.” And advances
in biology and food science now give us not only better ways to preserve and
prepare food but also better insights that enable us to walk back certain
changes, particularly through the clean food movement.
But what to do in the meantime? While there are a number of home
remedies to get the shipping department back to full output, magnesium
oxide (such as in Spring Valley’s magnesium supplement) will also help
regulate blood pressure and lower your LDL cholesterol. However, be careful — while
a high dose of magnesium can move things along, the laxative effect is only
good for a few days; as well, too much supplemental magnesium can be toxic. (Here
is a chart outlining the tolerable upper intake levels for supplemental
magnesium.)
And there’s something to be said for drinking a glass of
water with a little lemon juice. Namely, don’t. Ugh.
The upshot of all this is that progress is essentially “on
hold” until I get the distribution process moving again. I have a post-hospital
follow-up scheduled with my primary care doctor later this week; if I’m still
having issues by then, I’ll take them up with her. In the meantime, it’s
magnesium for me now and gradually introducing more fruit, vegetables, and nuts
in the future.
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