Category: Phase 8

More Avengers vs X-Men. Ottawa was in the news for scary reasons.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 17
Yeah, well, yesterday was OK until emotional eating and drinking happened. I thought the calorie count was low and then I realized I forgot the wine. Whoopsie.

I want to bring your attention to a new situation called size-shaming. Not entirely fat-shaming as there’s a certain amount of muscle involved.

I was trying to track down a blood pressure monitor that would accommodate my arm. I’m an “extra large cuff.” The large cuff ends at 17″ and I’m 45 cm around my left bicep, with is 17.2″. No wonder my current device is not matching what the cardiologist measured.

It took a lot to find one online and Amazon.ca has one for about $150! Sheesh. Regular ones are a lot cheaper. I phoned a local medical supply place and they don’t even have it in stock.

I can’t imagine what kind of device they use on Dwayne Johnson.

Avengers vs X-Men. I’ve always wanted to go to Bamfield.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 16
Well, that wasn’t much of a cheat day. Our sushi place was closed and we went to Subway for speed. I ordered a huge sandwich and according to an online calculator it wasn’t that bad. Even with chips and pop.

But the difference is that the ingredients are way off zero carb. One thing with all the reading I’ve done is that the bio chemistry is far more complicated than calories in and calories out.

I do have my week’s supply of low carb set up at work and the weather is calling for cycling weather for the whole week.

Let’s see what kind of progress I can make!

I had this comic at one point. A map of Vancouver accommodations.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 15
Either I’m getting better at self-control or I’m not counting the calories right. Yesterday felt like I was cheating but the calories estimate seems low still. Odd.

It’s a funny trick to try to stay to a diet/fitness regime. If you concentrate on it all the time, you basically go nuts. If you don’t work at it, things go wonky and you start randomly eating.

It seems (stress seems) that things go better if you preset your mind well in advance of each food event as to how you’re going to handle it (e.g. “Tonight, when you go to get sushi, only get two rolls”).

I don’t know. I’m just adapting as I go. Tomorrow I start the third week of this phase. Eeek.

This is from a cover of a 2018 mini series I found. Here’s the Vancouver Restaurants category.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 13
It’s either luck, inaccurate calorie counting or self restraint that allowed me yesterday to cheat without a blow out. I was too full to eat dessert and by the time we got to the movie theatre I wasn’t hungry for the overpriced snacks.

Kudos to The Keg for having a easily found PDF of calories counts for their menu.

When I did my weights yesterday, I clearly pushed it because when I was back at the office holding my coffee mug of water, I had the shakes.

I was expecting more lasting effects this morning, but I seem OK.

I think I’ve moved passed the distress of the cardiologist. I took one of the BP pills out and I’ll have to see what the effects will be. I also need a BP monitor that will work on my arms.

I’m still feeling retro. Let’s go to Nelson BC.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 12
Yesterday was weird. I went to the cardiologist and he had me at 126/78. I looked up the cuff I use at home and it’s 42 cm max circumference and I’m 45 cm. So that might explain why my home numbers are off.

Naturally we talked weight. Sadly he did not respect my wish to not know at what weight he recorded me. I’ve been in mental stress management ever since.

He wants me to reduce 40 pounds but, given my slow process over the past 2.5 years, I hope he doesn’t hold his breath. I still think I need to recalibrate my metabolism so that it’s comes out of this multi-decade hyper efficient “winter is always coming; keep storing fat” mode. Given my diet history, I estimate I should have lost 100 pounds by now.

He was pretty impressed by my tracking sheet that I do every day. He could have a fairly accurate tally of what I was eating with calorie count.

His suggestion is to also track my calorie burn and see if I can match calories in to calories out. The theory being that it will force the system to use stored energy. I’ll be talking to the trainer about that one. It’s an interesting idea.

So today I focus on staying on track, building muscle and counting calories.

This is one of my favourite New 52 images. Let’s try Sudbury.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 11
Honestly with a 635 calorie M&Ms diversion I’m surprised the calorie count is as low as it is. I can’t help but think I missed something.

I see a cardiologist later today. If he talks about my weight after I tell him what I’ve been doing for the last 2.5 years, I’m going to melt his brains with my heat vision.

An expected side effect of trying to lose weight and change body shape is that my gut is not changing while other parts are. So last night I felt like my stomach was trying to fall to the ground. So gross. Part of it is the brain fighting change. This is my brain right now.

I’m feeling Batman retro. It’s time to go to Saskatoon.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 10
Important safety tip. Don’t book a massage therapy, personal trainer and chiropractic session in on day. Oh, and don’t ride your bike that same day.

Surprisingly I can still walk, but I am about as tender as a piece of pounded steak.

The diet part seems to be going OK. The psycho cravings are fewer and I seem to be able to shut off the eating machine by 8 PM.

Today I need to be chill and do all the tasks at hand.

However, I seem to be losing more face weight. Honestly, why can’t weight loss target the biggest place?

Old comic with early reference to Batwoman. Welland anyone?

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 9
The lesson learned from yesterday is that if you push out your breakfast time too far, you do so at your peril. I had a 9 AM doctor’s appt and I did not feel like eating before. I rode to the appointment and still didn’t feel like eating. By the time I got to work I was ravenous and ate the wrong things.

However, the calorie count seemed in the range, but the estimates are not as accurate, so I don’t trust it.

Last night I managed to convince everyone in the household to go to bed earlier. I got more than 7 hours, which is not normal, but it would be better if it were normal.

Today I also had a massage therapy appointment that was an attempt to get my rotated tight right hip to behave. Hamstrings and quads were screaming. I will really likely feel it when I hit the gym with my personal trainer.

Super retro Batman and Superman. They should go bowling in Parksville.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 8
Sushi has a lot more calories than I thought.

I begin week 2 of this phase in a doctor’s office to review the progress of managing my blood pressure. I’ve been taking numbers for the last couple of weeks and I notice it got slightly higher after I started Phase 8.

I’m wondering if there’s a change management piece to all this. If you look at the struggle people have to any change, regardless of a good/bad direction, I wonder if messing with diet/fitness is a bit more intense because it’s so chemical.

I think back to Saturday when I went to a different gym. There was nothing really wrong with it other than it wasn’t right. Everything was in a different place and this was WRONG.

So, if something that external can prompt such a vigorous response, imagine what’s going on inside when you squeeze off access to sugars?

No wonder I’m losing my mind.

She-Hulk images keep me in touch with my feminine side. There’s good pasta in Coombs.

Mutant Diet Phase 8 Day 7
Yesterday was terrible. Terrible attitude and I felt off. I was prone to anger and frustration. Eating was not to plan, but I somehow kept the calorie count sane.

I tried a different branch of the gym of which I’m a member and I can’t figure out why the place put me off so badly. It was busy. Nothing useful in terms of equipment seemed to be in a logical place and the staff completely ignored me — expect when I unwittingly walked into the women’s only area, which was as well marked at the exit from the former East Germany.

That and bad drivers put me in a mood. But I could tell my overall chemistry was wrong.

Today I am feeling better and wanting to know what the hell was going on. I may never know.