Weigh-in Week #7…plus some other objective measures.

So you all already heard about my weekend. I fully expected to suffer from the “Brakke Bump,” as a result. (Only a few very close friends will get the reference, so let’s just say I expected to gain some weight.)

I am happy to report that I weighed in at 362.6, a .8# drop. Since I was expecting to be a few pounds up, that really felt like a gigantic win for me. I can’t explain my psychology. One week I lose 1# and I am ready to give it all up; two weeks later I lose .8# and I am dancing a jig in the training room. Yep, I am a weird cat.

Remember though that my BMI actually went up this week, despite losing weight. Some of you are saying “huh?” and that lets me know that you didn’t read the last post. If you had read it, you would have found out that this week, in a health assessment, I found out that I am only 6’1.75″ tall and not the 6’2.5″ I have long thought myself to be.

And since height is one of the factors used to calculate BMI, last week I was 6’2.5″ tall, weighed 363.4 pounds and had a BMI of 46.159. This week, I am 6’1.75″ tall, weigh 362.6 pounds and have a BMI of 46.999. Is that a kick in the shin or what?

In other news, as stated earlier, I have struggled with high blood pressure for years. (being 380+ pounds will do that) My all time record worst BP was in January of 2007 when I thought I was going to die of a heart-attack/stroke while at work at East Troy High School. So I drove myself (of course) to the local clinic where I got a BP reading of 210/115. YIKES!!! Started blood pressure medication that very day. I have had some periodic success getting that lower over the last 5 years, but on average the best I’ve been able to accomplish was about 150/90 (Still not great if you aren’t familiar with BP ideals).

Last week, I went into the doctor for a semi-annual check up. My BP was 140/80. Since 120/80 is the number I have been told to shoot for, I feel great about this. If we can keep that down for a while, maybe I can get off one or both of the blood pressure meds I am currently on. I just don’t feel like a person in their 30s should be taking meds for common health ailments like I am. I want off!

I am also a borderline diabetic. (That borderline thing is interesting. With three doctors over 5 years I’ve been pre-diabetic, diabetic, and now “not diabetic.” And none of my numbers have changed.) I take metformin 2x a day to manage my insulin release. I don’t really understand how it works, but basically it helps the insulin my body makes work better. I’d like to get off of it too.

One of the most accurate ways to measure for diabetes is a test for your A1C hemogloblahblahblah. I’m not really sure what that is either, but I know it reports out something like your average messed-up-ed-ness of your blood sugar over the last 90 days.

You are a diabetic if your number is over 7.0. The last time I had mine checked was in May and it was a 6.2. The time before that it was a 5.7. Last week it was 6.5. So not great news in that it would appear that my diabetes may be advancing.

However, I am taking the view that I’ve only been doing this for about 40 days at the time of the test, and the 50 days before the test were absolute crap in terms of what I ate. So, since the test is an average, let’s wait until I get another test at the 90 day mark of this project and see what the number is then. I’m betting it goes back down. What do you think?

So you all know, I haven’t weighed 35_ for about 10 years. So I am super stoked for the chance to come in under 360. I will be working my tail off over the weekend to get below that number before my next weigh in. However, next week is homecoming, so there in lies the challenge. We’ll see what happens.

Stay positive, and failing that, stay strong!! Be careful out there. Have a great weekend.