Maude jump-starts the summer with a new goal, amid an exciting life transition. The 2020 Twenty: Entry Thirteen.
July 17, 2021
So for those just joining us, the first three months of this journey were highly encouraging, somewhat successful, then ultimately unproductive. And the next couple months, though heavily productive in other areas of life, were basically a wash on weight loss. Now, incredibly, I’m almost through Month Six, and despite losing six pounds a short few months ago, I’m still basically back where I started. Am I going to let discouragement get me down? Nope. (At least not anymore.)
Encouraging: about a week post-New Orleans, I weighed in just nineteen pounds over my lowest 2020 weight. So that was a good chip off the Big Twenty right there, despite all the yummy food I ate, most likely thanks to all the walking I did. Even better, that was a clothed weight. A naked weight the next day showed only seventeen pounds over (which was twenty-one pounds from the ultimate goal)! When I lost the original forty pounds, I mostly counted on morning naked weights. At the time, I was still living in my apartment in the city, with my own bathroom. Now I have far less privacy, so I don’t get those weights as often. But usually, clothing only theoretically adds a pound, maybe two (and puts my home scale more in line with what the doctor’s scale will say anyway!).
Confusing: At the end of June, I clocked the Big Twenty +3, which is about as high as I’ve gotten. So it’s apparently extremely easy for me to gain or lose six pounds. End of story? No.
Earlier this month, I went in for another A1C check, my three-month follow-up to April. This time I was seeing, for the first time, my new primary care provider. Due to yet another scheduling mishap, I won’t see my endocrinologist until September. I haven’t received the result of this month’s test, but I did get some odd news in the office. Looking at my records, my doctor told me that my A1C from April was four points (or rather four tenths of a point) lower than what I was told in April, in writing–when I had my medication doubled. And, not surprisingly, that four tenths of a point is the difference between diabetic and prediabetic. So I don’t know where the mix-up was, but I’ll report on this month’s results in the next entry. Hopefully that will clear things up! And I hope it’s good (especially since I’m taking twice as much medication as I was a few months ago). I did do some really good work a few months ago that could figure into my new result. Now I’m hoping to do some good work that will shine in the next one.
Of course, as usual, the doctor had an obvious suggestion about what I should do with my weight. Why else are we here? So for this chunk of time, I’m aiming to lose as many pounds as I’d gained around this time a year ago, which was just less than half of the Big Twenty (and that’s 7-8 pounds. I was just getting started!). I’ll have to make short time of it. It took me more than three months to gain that last time. But then, I did lose thirty pounds in five months once. And six in a few weeks fairly recently. So I know for a fact it can be done!
Incidentally, last night on MyFitnessPal, something happened that hasn’t happened for a long while.
And there’s just something about that tiny accomplishment (a tiny accomplishment that took a whole day), that tells you: YES! Go on! Do this! So this morning, I’ve planked, and I’m going for a hike in a place that reminds me . . .
I have some fabulous life news, of which I’ll share more soon! But the most time-consuming, energy-building, and energy-sucking work I did in May and June is finished. And it will soon be replaced with more, different, time-consuming, energy-building, and energy-sucking work–that will only go well if I’m taking excellent care of myself. Something unexpected and wonderful came up as well! My life is set to change in the most amazing ways. I am about to reach the other end of the COVID-19 tunnel we went into sixteen months ago. And I’ll be in a completely different place than where I started. (I just want to bring the weight part back; that’s all!) I’ll report when I get there!
In the meantime, I’m bound for the trail!
What do you think? I would like to hear from you, but you won’t find the typical Comments section here. If you have given the issue some thought or have an experience to share, please enter it here, or send your response to Maude@mauvereport.com. I would love to hear how the rest of America is doing with this in 2021.