Oliver Lost Weight After Stomach Issues but Doing Better Now... Hoping Continues to be Healthy

Sleepy Oliver

Oliver finally seems to be back to his old self. He turned 12 back in June and then the first week or so of July he had a lot of teeth pulled. Since he had his teeth pulled, he had not been doing well. Eating oddly, although he has eat odd since he was a puppy, but mainly having bowl movement (BM) issues. Multiple visits to the vet, various bills, and finally this past week he got back to "normal".

When we took him to the vet on August 1 to get a shot to help with a urinary tract infection they had found the week prior after taking a urine sample. We wondered if this might have been what was causing him to have BM problems for most of July. As he was having stomach issues, we decided instead of pills, we would get the shot. While he was at the vet on August 1 they recorded his weight and found he had lost more weight. We noticed we could feel his ribs and bones on his rump. Sure enough, he had been losing weight. They told us to start having him eat a can a day. Typical Oliver though, he decided he did not want to eat the wet canned food any more. So, we switched him back to his kibble on Saturday and he is doing much better. 

Since he has started eating regular, we did start giving him treats again as well as his chicken he loves. It was tough when he was having BM issues but still hungry to leave the house and not give him a treat or biscuit. He would look at us as if we were made at him with big old puppy dog eyes. Yet he still greeted us when we would come home from work or being gone.

For now, we are happy he is doing better and make to himself. Hoping no more setbacks for him with eating, weight, or health. Thank you for the comments and share of concern for our baby Oliver. 

Not Working Out, Gaining Weight, and Lost Motivation Since Before Camping Trip in October

I went on vacation and I have not worked out since our trip back at the beginning of November. I worked out one day while we were on vacation and that has been it. I have also completely stopped doing Weight Watchers which is rather disappointing. Going into Thanksgiving Day I had plans to get back on tracking weight this weekend, but the motivation is completely gone.

For three months I did Weight Watchers every day. It worked as I had lost a little over 20 lbs prior to our vacation. I got all the way down to 237. Just a few weeks after my last work out and tracking weight and I am already up to 248. Tough to take off but goes on quick! 

The last time I rode the bike was almost a month ago. So, going camping, vacation, and then enjoying Thanksgiving disrupted my weight loss. I plan to get back to it but taking a break from tracking for now. I plan to not go crazy with eating, but I am not tracking anything I eat. I plan to start it up again in the next week and I want to start riding the bike again too.

I half thought about waiting to track again after December ends, but I think that is too long and it will make it all that more difficult to start it again in January. My goal is to lose about 40 lbs at this point which will get me down to my target weight. To get to my target weight, I need to adjust how I eat. During vacation, and a few times since vacation, I can think of a few times when I ate so much I was full. If I could adjust and keep food to eat later or the next day, this would help a lot. I am happy that prior to going on vacation I lost 20 lbs but now the work needs to start again to continue to my target weight.

Hopefully next week I will have an update of at least getting back on the bike. No plans currently to track food this week, but going to try for moderation of what I eat which can be tough at times.

Until next time, have a great week.

4 Months Peloton and Losing Weight Motivation

Weight Tracking from November 2020 to March 2021

Making progress at exercising and reducing weight. As with much of the population, 2020 and COVID caused me to max out my weight. Pants did not fit, did not feel great, and did nothing really other than work, watch TV, eat, sleep, and drink lots of beer. As indicated in November 2020 post (see New Peloton Bike+ Delivered...), we have been exercising and enjoying our Peloton experience.

When we received the bike back in November 2020, I was at my largest weight of my life of 259.2. Granted, I think a few times I have gone above 260 during 2020 year, but toward the end of the year and through the summer months, we started trying to focus more on eating better and not having a beer every evening, so by the time I started exercising it was a lower weight.

A lot of variation in my weight, as I would expect, but I did not expect to go three or four weeks at a time and not lose, or gain, a thing. The dates between February 13 and March 5, I remained a constant 256 with just an increase, or decrease, in a point. Suddenly, I went from 256.2 up to 258.2 and the following week I went down to 252.2. The most recent weigh-in being 251.2. 

It is sure interesting how the body works and decides it is time to let go of the weight. My weigh-in days are Sunday mornings. A few changes during the time I stayed at relatively the same weight included eating more vegetarian dinners during the week with a meat introduced on the weekend. For the past few months since prior to when we got the bike, I have been limiting myself to only beer on the weekends (with a few exceptions such as watching sporting events during the week), so that has helped with weight decrease. Amazing how much weight can be lost just by doing away with any type of alcohol!

I have increased my bike riding to four times a week with at least one of the days being at least an hour of riding. The other three days are typically 30 minute blocks but broken up into smaller chunks or even two twenty minute rides that are easier than my 60 minute block. I continue to have fun and enjoy the experience that is Pelton. I am also trying to stay motivated to work out everyday with the Peloton app by doing weights, mediation, or Yoga. 

My motivation for doing the other non-bike days has been tough the past week or two. I tend to skip weights, or cardio, for mediation which is not ideal. Carrie tells me at least I am focusing on myself, but it feels as though I am cheating on the process. I have debated to just doing the four days of bike riding and not worrying about the other, but I do enjoy the feeling after I finish cardio or weights.

As the weather gets warmer, I do intend to introduce running into my workout again which will likely be one of my four days of workout. As I get older, I notice my knees hurt even following bike riding, so I am not sure how long I will be able to continue my runs. I do enjoy running outside though as compared to a treadmill but Oliver gets a walk following my run and I love how excited he gets when I put on my running shoes.

What are your exercise routines? How do you keep yourself motivated? What is your favorite workout? Do you wake up and workout in the morning? Do you work out in the middle of the day? Or, wait until the last of the day to get your workout completed? 

I would love to hear from you and discuss through comments on this post, Twitter, or FaceBook.

Eight Days out from First 10K

I look forward to running in Colorado in about a week for the annual BolderBoulder which takes place every year on Memorial Day. While I have been running and training for this event, I do not feel as though I am ready. I did have one of my best runs so far this year this past Thursday, but the others have not been great. Feeling lousy with breathing or following a run have all been part of the process. I am very excited to be running in Boulder, CO and to run in my first 10K.

The training and motivation has not been very strong at all this year. While I am putting in the effort to run at least three times a week, I have often times found myself having to talk myself into running. Tonight, we are having storms and so I would need to run inside, well, I made the excuse that I do not want to run as the power might go out. A new workout I have been doing is spin class. That is helping me to build endurance and push myself on days where I would normally not be doing anything at all. Still, I find that I am struggling as I go for runs.

We will arrive in Boulder on Saturday which will give us Saturday to get use to the altitude. I plan to do a light run on Sunday and then Monday is the big day for the race. I have not checked the weather yet, but I am hoping for nice weather for our run too.

My goal for this first 10K is to run the whole thing and not walk. I want to go at a moderate pace with it being somewhere in the neighborhood of 10:30 - 12:00 minute miles. I know that I often times am sucked into the start of a race and go very fast, but I know that I will not be able to maintain a 9 - 10 minute pace if I do that type of pace... especially in the altitude. So, I am hoping to target about a 11:30 minute pace and stick to it. If I can stick to that pace, I will finish the 10K in about one hour and eleven minutes. While this is a much slower pace than what I normally run for 5K's or even when I am out running in the neighborhood, I do not think I can maintain anything faster for this race.

The other part of the running is my diet. I have been very steady with my weight for the past year. This year, unlike last year, I have not cut out alcohol from my diet. This helped me lose weight the fastest and kept it off. I love the cold beer in the evening or following the mowing of the lawn, so I made the decision I would not cut out drinks. They taste good and gives me a reward following a workout or working in the yard.

I continue to use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and also my workouts. I have been using the site for the past three years. Great site! This site allows me to record my weight daily, weekly, or whenever you like. I was tracking it daily, but now it is randomly throughout the month. My weight stays right around 220. Yes, sometimes I dip down to 215 or go up as high as 225, but I usually fall right back down again to the 220 mark. That seems to be my constant.

I hope that following the race in Colorado, I will have another post. A post with additional pictures and of me smiling at the finish line with a respectable time. Until then, I hope you have a great spring and I do plan to post more over the summer.

 

Running Update for November... Updated in December

We are flying high over the United States on our way to Florida where we will spend one and half days before departing on our cruise. The plan for the cruise is to work out everyday. Treadmill, track, or running on the beach... Keep the running alive even while being on vacation.

My running the past month has been probably once or twice a week on average. With the days getting darker earlier and the cold starting to set in has led me back to running on our treadmill. I joined the gym at work, but have only been there once... That was only to check it out and see if I would like it. I need to get a new lock and figure out a routine for using the work gym. In the meantime, I have been running regularly on the old treadmill in the basement.

I really do not mind running on the treadmill. However, since I got my Garmin watch and like tracking miles and where I run, I miss not being outside to run. A few times when it has been nice, I have run outside. It is so easy to get cold running outside even when the temperatures have not been bad at all. Not having the right running clothes for winter has a lot to do about that problem.

The above three paragraphs were written while on our way to our cruise...  I never got back into finish up this draft blog posting and just came across it today.  So much for keeping the blogging going as I mentioned in my last post.  Instead of clearing this post, I decided I would go ahead and post it.

I did keep the exercise going during our vacation back in November.  I ran a couple times during our time in Florida and then while on the cruise ship.  Even though I ran, I gained a lot of weight.  With the vacation and holidays which includes a lot of eating, the battle of getting to my target weight is not working too well.

The running continued into December, but so did the eating.  I am basically back up to where I was a year ago when I started all of my exercise.  It still amazes me that when I take off a week or two from running that the next time I run I feel horrible.  It should be a lesson to myself not to take off because it is just like starting out new when I start running after a week or two off.

Until next time... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!