Week 7: 231

Since wrapping my knee worked so well at relieving my knee pain while hiking, I actually tried jogging this week. But, I'm either a fast walker or a slow jogger. My best pace jogging was only 15 minutes per mile. But, I can walk on the American Tobacco Trail which is flat and paved at 16 minutes per mile. I'm not sure that the time saving is worth it, but I'll probably keep working it into my routine to see if I get faster. My knees okay this morning, but I could definitely feel the impact of jogging while I was actually doing it.

I'm very close to 229. I actually saw that weight on my home scale last night after jogging, so I'm really hopeful I can reach it at work next Monday. It was roughly a year ago I first went to the doctor for my sleep apnea and weighed in at 288. So, if I get to 228 before the end of March, I'll be 60 pounds lighter than I was a year ago. This is a very motivating goal. Onward!

Week 6: 234

Back down to 234. I got in a six mile hike on Saturday that I think did the trick. If I hadn't stuffed myself on Sunday night, I might have been even lower. But, with the nice weather, we had some friends over for a cookout, and one of the guests brought a chocolate cake, and it would have been rude not to eat a piece or two.

Mr. Cavin advised me to wrap my knee before hiking to help with the knee pain and, wow, it worked great! I had zero pain during the hike, and no significant stiffness the following morning. I would have been happy if it had helped reduce the pain, oh, fifty percent. I didn't expect it to remove the knee pain completely. We'll see if the results hold up this week, which has a lot more walking slated due to the longer daylight hours thanks to last weekend's time change.

Weeks 4&5: 237

Last week, I bumped back up to 237 from 234. I wasn't too suprised. Like most people, my weight fluctuates in a range from day to day, and 234 was definitely a lower number than I expected, on the lowest end of my daily weight shifts. Last week's weigh in also followed by weekend at Mysticon, so I'd had three days of no real excercise and eating out leading into that weigh in. But, this week, I have no excuse. I'd walked over ten miles the previous week and had been under my calorie goals all but one day. Oh well. I'm trying to console myself that I'm still down seven pounds for this contest, better than a pound a week, which doesn't suck.

This week also brought a milestone. I track my calories using a program called "My Fitness Pal" and yesterday it informed me that I'd logged on for 180 days in a row. Six months of continuous weight loss isn't a bad milestone, and helps me to remember to keep a long term perspective. The real achievement won't be the weight I'm at the end of this contest. It will be if I'm still keeping the pounds off a year from now.

Still, I do wonder just how to get past this plateau. The days are getting long enough to get in walks in the evening, but I have a finite amount of time in my days, and I'm not sure I can carve out that many more hours. Plus, I don't know if my knees can take it. My knees feel fine when I'm walking, but after I rest a while, my left knee aches enough that I limp. The stiffness and pain go away once I walk for a while, but I'm taking the pain as a warning that pushing much more might lead to real injury. Haven't tried biking yet this season. I wonder if that will hurt my knee?