A Couple of Crappy Days…

Well, not quite the 2 days I was hoping, but I guess that’s life…

First off, it was back to the doctor’s yesterday morning.

A month back, I went for my 3-monthly check-up and wasn’t expecting the wake-up call that it actually was.

Sky-high blood pressure (175/x) and, even more surprising (well, to me, but not my wife–so she said), my blood sugar was in the diabetes range (>200). Gulp!

Upon reflection (and to be fair), the way I’ve been putting back the beer at weekends, in all honesty, the only person I’m really kidding is myself!

Let’s face it, when you can easily do the best part of 2 cases of beers over a weekend and still lie to yourself that it’s not doing you any damage then something’s clearly amiss.

(Again, I’ve mentioned it before that this is what I/we did in the Army, when working on the rigs and playing rugby, when I was sailing/delivering yachts (while ashore that is), etc.

Mojito Pints at Marina Hemingway, Havana, Cuba – circa 2009

But that was over a decade and a half ago now and, well, the years creep up on you and though you might be in deinal about both time and body/metabolism changing reality says otherwise.)

Carivore and OMAD

After the last visit, and mainly because of the blood sugar levels, I decided to switch to a carnivore-type diet. I’ve done both carnivore and a keto/ketovore diet before, and know how successful each was (and on their own merits). As such, to get the blood sugar under control, you need to minimise carbs; so for me, carnivore is far better for that.

With a reading of 116, the blood sugar result was the only real positive for me yesterday. It’s not quite there, but it’s moving in the right direction.

After 26 days of mostly carnivore, and over 50% of those days was OMAD (One Meal A Day) I’d lost a grand total of…

…nothing!

De nada. Not a thing.

In fact, at the doc’s, the scales said I’d put on 2 kg!

Talk about being p&$^% off!

In fact, just before it was my turn to get my BP done, I was saying to Jane, my wife (Jane’s her English name; her Thai name is Duangta), that I reckon I’d lost about 4 kg!

So, you can imagine how disheartening that was!

Still we are where we are, and at least the BP reading was bound to be better, right?

Wrong again, Russ. Not doing so good today, are we!

Still high. Still not good.

Fortunately, we soon worked out why.

As we often say in my line of work, “The error’s between the keyboard and the chair”…

…and, as it turns out:

1. It was my error with the tablets I’d been taking, and
2. the Heart Rate Monitor tracker I received 2 days ago and which was telling me my numbers were great were so far out it was next to bloody useless!

“Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies…” (Fleetwood Mac, ‘Little Lies‘)

Every Cloud’s Gotta Silver Lining…

However, other than that, the numbers from last month’s blood test were mostly good.

So, back in 3-months, lots to do, but now my blood sugar’s almost there, I’m going to start adding green veggies back into my diet and transition back to keto (I do miss my veggies!)

Oh, and after we left the doc’s clinic yesterday, we skooted up to the local hospital to try their machines…

My blood pressure was about the same (though a little lower than at the clinic), and my weight was the same as it was a month ago, so I hadn’t put on anything according to that.

(However, I know full well that I’ve lost a fair bit of fat from my mid-riff, my belly’s smaller, and a few in the kettlebell and other groups I’m in remarked similar last week, so it’s an NSV (Non-Scale Victory) all the way. But again, I was convinced I’d lost at least a few kg!)

I guess the main thing is, despite zero change there, I do feel lighter and healthier too.

The Second Crappy Day

Today!

As bouyed as I have been by my 10-minutes session with 2 x 8 kg bells on Wednesday, I was really looking forward to knocking another 10-minutes session out of the park with 2 x 10 kg bells.

However, it was not to be.

Admittedly, I had planned on doing this yesterday afternoon after we got back from the visits about, but as my shoulders were still aching and I was feeling a little dejected, decided to skip it and revel in an extra day’s rest.

As this is my first time with 10 kgs for about 7 or 8 weeks, and given the 12 rpm I did on Wednesday, I figured 10 rpm for the full 10 minutes would be both sustainable and [realtively easily] achievable.

Sadly not.

After 3 minutes, I could feel my lower right side pulling again. And seeing as it was in the exact same place as the last injury,–which I’ve only just recovered from–there’s no way I’m pushing it.

So, I decided to abort that session today.

Whether I’ll try again this afternoon or not remains to be seen. At the moment, it’s almost 1030 am, and we’ll see.

Admittedly, I do want to err on the side of caution but, equally, there’s a strong pull not to miss any training.

I have to admit, 10-years-ago-me, or even with another 2-3 months leeway with the competition, would probably give it a go. But now?

With just over 4 weeks to go.

Wind your neck in, Russ, and let caution win today.