Hey all - just an update about my health. Well, more of telling you what's been going on. About 3.5 weeks ago, I started getting a cough. A very soft, sharp cough like the one my wintery cold/weight induced asthma gives me. So I went back to my inhalers. Then it started to go away. Then, unfortunately, I caught a cold in there and got incredibly lethargic and tired. So much so that I was working my daily schedule around finding time to sleep. The fatigue seemed to go away this past week but the cough got even worse to the point of Thursday and Friday of last week I was having to take breaths between words in sentences and the heavy, loud coughs were not making my stomach a very happy organ.
I figured it was pneumonia or bronchitis. IANAD, of course, and mine informed me that because I had no real tightness in the chest or fever or cold symptoms, (any more), that he thinks something has agravated my asthma. I'm at the point where I wake up refreshed but the wheezing and violent coughing leaves me a shell of a human being by the end of the day absolutely drained of any life. Not conducive to being a father to my 2 year old, (as of yesterday), and a supportive husband to my wife.
Doc put me on an 8 day dose of steroids, working me from 5 a day down to 1. I'm at the point now where I plead and greatly desire for some relief so I can live a normal life again. I suppose this serves as a sort of apologies and request for forgiveness for those I'm seemingly avoided or ignored the past few weeks. I only hope this medication solves the problem and I can get back to being my normal self....or at least a better version of my normal self.
I learned a new phrase today from Eugen Leitl on the WTA-talk list: "Permanent percutaneous implant" which apparently refers to "crossing the skin barrier, in contact with both the outside environment and biological environment". A Google search ellicits about a hundred results includeing everything from bypassing the esophagus with a tube directly to the abdomen for feeding someone, various prosthesis, "bone anchored" hearing aids, insulin pumps etc.
Anyway, the reason this is of interest to me is because these are the cyborgian add-ons people are talking about when they discuss digital implants - futuristic merging of human and machine to make our species "more efficient" etc. I think wearable computing is going to come before these implants become more prevalent as a sort of bridge but that doesn't mean there is no research being conducted with them.
Yeah, major life changes going on and with such choices comes the desire to better oneself on many other ways. I'm going to start to try to eat right again as I've been self-destructively eating and not exercising for the last year or so. I've gotten more sick than usual, more tired, and had more skin problems as a result. I know I can do it and, frankly, I need to do it so I can support Kirky in her efforts as well.
I plan on sparing you all the details publicly so if you'd like to be a part of the experience and don't mind some honesty alongside occasional ranting and some research, comment here and I'll add you to my LiveJournal friend-filter. I think there's a few fandom-oriented "get healthy" LJs out there. Pointers appreciated.
Other plans include a martial art aligned with my personal philosophy and a language - perhaps Arabic, Persian, or Korean. I also need to spend more time on my work - I really want to take my efforts in accessibility and offer my research to the public and standards efforts. I also hope to pick up some new skills - ASP or C Sharp to help me better understand the workings of our MSCMS.
Right now, sign, it's all about balance. I need some bad.
Well, this morning I've started back on track to "improve my way of eating". I say "Way of Eating" because it's not any particular diet per se. It's modified South Beach Diet (SBD) if you want to label it but basically it's just good food sense - low fat, low carb, no hydrogenated oils, lots of water & omega 3s.
I gave up on SBD the day Will was born because a combination of things - 1) I was in the mood to celebrate and reward myself, 2) I didn't want to have to think about eating or cooking, 3) It was just easier. Well, it was easier until the cravings came back. About a month ago I started to have an ice cream sunday every Friday & the week Kirky was gone in California I was a horrible, horrible sugar/snack binging fiend.
I haven't weighed myself recently but I probably gained about 15lbs back which would put me at about 280lbs total. I think my lowest was 264lbs. Anyway, its not just about the weight. As much as I love all the junk it seriously effects my blood sugar and puts me into these draining "food comas" after meals. I daresay it even contributes to my lethargy & poor moods.
Luckily, I'm starting back up pretty quickly so the weight gained doesn't have time to, er, get stored & solidify. However exercise will be interesting - since I haven't done my walks since May, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to cope with the heat.
Low Carb corn? I'm not so sure about GMing food to make it low carb. It's.....unnatural.
That's what bugged the snot out of me while doing Atkins. All of these Atkins friendly products have sugar replaced with Sugar Alcohol and various checmicals to make it "lower carb" and I didn't really think about it until I fell off the wagon for the second time - hard.
Then I finally went on South Beach for a few months and learned a new way of eating. Good carbs, high fiber, low fat, and lean meats are the way to go. I will admit I do have Fat Free, No Sugar Added Edys on occasion though we just got an Ice Cream Maker from my In-Laws so I'm going to try and make my own. I also have the Carb Counter bread but it's 100% Whole Wheat - good carbs and they don't add any sugar.
I mean, hell - we still don't know how GM foods will effect the human body. We're still in the midst of testing and who knows over a generation or two whether we will have doomed the human race.
So yeah, it was my birthday yesterday. Because I'm lazy - always go to my wish list to find out what I want or need. I update this on a daily basis and use it to store anything that looks intriguing and rank them from "Must Have" to "Don't buy for me". Keep in mind the most recent additions are the ones I'm currently most interested in.
Anyway, the real purpose of this post. My gift to myself - food. I've lost roughly 45lbs since January 5th, 2004 on the South Beach Diet as previously mentioned. I wanted to take a binge break to keep muself from truly falling off the wagon this day. So I did and here's a bit of what I treated myself to:
Tuesday - At Baby-Prep Class
Thursday
Friday - The Birthday
Saturday
Tonight is a planned foray to Macaroni Grill. I will certainly enjoy that.
Now, the interesting thing about this is the food tastes good but I have no urge to continue eating like this. When I did Atkins, every few months I'd go on a massive binge and fall off it. With South Beach, I'm almost ready to go back. I think the fact that I've lost so much weight with a balanced diet and whole foods, my body doesn't feel deprived. Yay me.
On January 5th of this year, I started my trek into the world of the South Beach Diet as first recommended by my doctor and then by a group of friends who wanted to all try it together.
Due to this new way of eating combined with daily exercise (mostly), I have lost 41lbs as of this morning: down from 306 to 265. That's damn impressive if I must say so myself.
I say "mostly" regarding the daily exercise because the last 2 weeks have been nasty outside and incredibly busy at work - so I ignored my morning 30-min walk around campus. Plus, we had a ton of work being done on the house which disrupted access to the kitchen and I had a piece of chocolate cake to celebrate work's release of 200 more courses.
So tomorrow, provided the weather holds out for the most part, I will start up my morning walks again. I have 9 more pounds until I hit 50lbs and 15 more pounds until I reach my first goal of 250lbs. I have two more goals after that - to be 200lbs by the end of summer and 175lbs by next January. The latter goal is quite ambitious - but it wouldn't hurt.
As soon as I figure out MovableType categories a bit more, I will create a whole page dedicated to my foray into better health. I have a checkup on the 14th and think my doctor will be pleasantly surprised - I know I am.
It's absolutely unbelievable - Kirky and I finally decided to change our eating habits (read: diet) and are starting out on The Atkins Diet. We're just finishing up the first phase called "Induction" where you're supposed to limit your carbohydrate intake to only 20 per day. Because it takes a lot for your body to burn carbs, the excess often becomes fat. And since your body spends all its time burning carbs....the fat just stores up. So the theory is, as best as I can tell, is that if your body doesn't really have any carbs to burn....then it starts buring stored fat.
So far I've lost about 8 pounds and my energy level has been fantastic. Previously, after every meal I always had this "coma" feeling of being foggy in the head and my body just sapped from energy. Looking back on what we ate, I noticed that it was about 85% carbs. It's amazing what a little change to your diet can do. And that's the main reason I'm dieting - apart from a need to be healthier; energy. Some day I plan on having a child and I want to be able to keep up with it. As it is, I huff and puff around the house. Also, I haven't done any of the physical stuff I enjoyed doing as a kid - camping, hiking, bicycling...I miss it.If my energy level continues, perhaps I'll be able to be more active.