Situation Normal All Fscked Up
Well it’s been something like five months since my last post. Because that is the way all blogs go right? You create a blog, you do a number of posts, then you get busy and it falls off.
Well, mea culpa.
Anyway, I am about 12 days away from my next Dr visit.
My last Dr. visit was in early September and went very well, my A1C was in normal range. This was fantastic news, also honestly not great news. Because it made me start to think about what my life is going to look like with “normal” blood sugar.
I had a doughnut. And I’ve been more lax about candy and sweets.
But I have been exercising regularly and generally speaking, whenever I am going to have sweets, I make sure to work out, a lot.
Starting from more or less the beginning of June until September 17th, I paddles my kayak like everyday. I missed a day here and there, but generally speaking every day.
I also participated in the Paddle Antrim Festival Event. It is a two-day event, and the paddling route covers 42-miles.
I made it 36 miles of the 42. I completed all of the first day and while it isn’t a race, I was in the first 20 participants for the first part, up until lunch. It felt great.
Day #2 I was a little bit slower and the crossing of Torch Lake took a lot out of me, as it normally does for those that do Paddel Antrim Day #2.
I was not dead the following day and I woke up and went and paddled the river, like I had done almost every morning for the past 4 months. The next few days, I was very sore.
Texas
We headed down to Texas and while there I did hit up my gym, oh yeah, I joined 24-hr Fitness, that sadly is no longer 24 hours. Because I like to swim as my main form of cardio and well they were the best option.
Until they weren’t, I cancelled them and joined the YMCA. The main reason being, the YMCA is legit 7 minutes door-to-door, while 24Hr was anywhere from 20-30 minutes (depending upon traffic).
I wish I had joined the YMCA earlier, it is great. It is close, the pool is fantastic, their gym is spectacular. Not all YMCA locations are the same.
There are several in Traverse City, and the one that is closest to us, it is OK. The Pool is decent, the gym is a room with equipment. But it has a hockey rink, so regional differences.
I worked out almost every day while we were in Texas, but there were times when I took a break. Work gets in the way, other times I am sore and tired and just not feeling it. The other part is the YMCA closes early, earlier than 24hr and definitely earlier on the weekend.
Snikty Snikty Snoin
I also went down to UT (University of Texas) for a DEXA scan. It’s a body composition scan, that was actually my third scan. The 1st one was in Feb 2012, I weighed 261.5 lbs and that is when I learned about my ‘incredibly dense bones’, hence the Wolverine reference.
My 2nd scan was a few months later, in May and I had dropped a few pounds and got down to 245.
My 3rd scan was in Sept of 2023 and I clocked in at 207.3 lbs, the least I’ve weighed in my adult life.
The DEXA scan reveals the amount of muscle and fat in the various areas of your body. I lost quite a bit of muscle in my legs, close to 7lbs. I only lost less than a pound of muscle in the arms. Which tracks, I kayaked A LOT, but didn’t do a ton with my legs.
Winter is coming
My paddle on September 18th was the last for the season. So with us heading down to Texas I swam a bunch and some treadmill for cardio. I hit the weights at least twice a week.
But what am I doing back up here in Michigan. I bought a rowing machine. I actually bought it before we went to Texas and used it a number of times before we headed to Texas. It is quite a work out.
I am up to about 10 minutes at a time now, up fom 5 minutes at a time.
But as it hasn’t snowed yet, it’s cold enough, it just hasn’t. I have been walking, around 2.5 miles to 4 miles a day.
The weather is getting nastier, so I will probably be transitioning to the rowing machine and weights as my primary exercise, which means I am going to experience some “Groundhog Day” as just doing exercise in the garage is going to be a bit monotonous.
I plan to get a heavy bag, so I can work in some boxing for cardio as well. But I need to clean up the garage some more before we will have room for that.
Will I be normal again?
I don’t know what my next Dr. visit will show. Because the other thing I have been lax about is my CGM, I have been going for a couple of weeks without it at a time. But the last time I wore one, my blood sugar was good and my overall blood sugar levels after eating they were normal. Interestingly, if I ate Reese’s Peanut Butter cups the impact to my blood sugar was minimal.
So this next checkup, I am feeling the need to hit the weights harder and maybe not eat a cookie, or some jelly beans.
I mean, it’s like how many of us floss in the week before the dentist checkup.
But I think I will be OK, I feel good, I feel normal.
But I have to buckle down and stop being so lax.