Walking

I just got back from my lunch walk and I pushed it and did the 1.7 mile loop in 35 minutes. That's about 20 minutes a mile, which is not great, but it's not too bad considering I'm wearing my heavy hiking boots and a lot of that route is uphill, especially at the end. The 1.7 mile loop is also a great indicator of my mental fortitude, as there are opportunities to cut it short

I've already walked more in 3 days than I did all of last week. Here's a chart summarizing the last 10 weeks of walking plus the first 3 days of this week. My walking weeks start on Sunday.
As you can see, a good week is usually followed by a down week, which should get better as I lose more weight and stress my feet and knees less. I'm going to try for 10+ miles this week as I close in on my next goal of 280 lbs.

Hatch Heart

I started seriously dieting and exercising again 91 days ago. At the time my resting heart rate was about 85, which was not so great. This morning my resting heart rate is 68, which is much better. It's much easier for me to catch my breath after walking now as well. When I started three months ago I'd be breathing hard for five minutes, but now it's more like a minute or two. I've still got plenty of gut, but it's much easier to lug it around now.

Yaulp

I'm down to 286 pounds with this morning's D.B.A.N. I'm back in the groove with the low carbs so my goal by Christmas is to reach 280. That may be tough, but I think it's possible to achieve. My right foot is still giving me some problems with what is probably some tendonitis, but I'm making myself walk at least a mile a day even with the pain. I have to push through it, cause thong season is rapidly approaching.

I probably shouldn't admit this, because I'm sure my wife will be horrified, but I've been doing my own version of fatboy aerobics in the basement at night after everyone else is asleep. I just put on some crappy music and then start moving around. I highstep, lunge, stretch, dance, do squats, or anything else in sort of a freestyle movement exercise. I basically just want to work up a sweat for about 10 minutes, then cool down and go to bed. I've only been doing it for about a week, but I already feel more limber. I've also started doing a few crunch type movements to work on my abs, but since ab work is the the part of exercising that I absolutely despise I'm working myself up slowly for that. For me there's nothing worse than sore abs. Ugh. I know, I know, that just means I need to do more of them. Back off Heff!

After a visit to the OB/GYN yesterday, Marissa is scheduled to be induced on Dec. 28th, so that's the day I get to see my boy for the first time. We thought she might deliver on her own earlier than that, but there was no further dilation from last week. I was hoping we would do it on the 27th since that was my Granddaddy's birthday, but the doctor is off on Tuesdays and didn't want to do it that day.

Misery Loves Company

I'm not really miserable right now, just tired. It's hard to get all the thoughts to stop spinning around in my head at night so I usually spend about an hour or more tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable place on the couch or the bed.

I first reached 290 lbs on November 18 in my current quest for delardification. I bounced up a little at Thanksgiving but went back down to 290 within a week. I'm still at 290 today, but I suspect I'll go below within a few days. It took a few tries to get back into the low-carb groove, and my recurring problem with the top of my foot aching caused me to only walk about 3.5 miles last week.

This is my 4th day with no cheating on the carbs, and I walked a mile last night with the dachshund. Things should return to normal soon and the weight should start coming off again. Luckily, Paul Clemmons has been entertaining all his Big Tobacco cronies the last few weeks and has reportedly been gaining weight like a fiend. Maybe we can start the new year off on an equal footing.

Marissa has been having a lot of sleepless nights this past week. Last night at Midnight the baby was kicking and wiggling more than I've ever seen him do so, causing much pain for his Momma. She goes to the OB/GYN this afternoon and we should get the schedule nailed down for inducement around the 27th. She may not make it that far, though.

Wrapping Up The Week

I'm very glad it's Friday. It's been a long week and is most likely a prelude of weeks to come. I need to start getting more sleep to prepare for the arrival of Jackson, but sometimes just closing my eyes and sleeping is hard to do.

Marissa went to the OB/GYN this past Monday morning. After speaking with the doctor they decided to induce labor just before the end of the year, but the doctor thinks he may decide to arrive on his own before that. Monday night Marissa was feeling bad and having problems with her stomach. She couldn't decide if it was contractions or nausea. Later that night she started having really loose bowels and about 1:30 in the morning she started "bazooka barfing" and couldn't even keep a few crackers with water down.

We talked to the doctor about 2am and she told us to try to keep her hydrated and to call the office Tuesday morning if things didn't improve. I managed to grab a few hours of sleep that morning, but Marissa may not have really slept at all that night. After talking to another doctor around noon, they decided we should take Marissa to the hospital so they could start an IV to make sure she wasn't dehydrated.

So we got to hospital about 1:30 and they put her in a room and checked her urine. Her ketones were 2+ which they said indicated she was dehydrated. They said they'd give her one bag of IV fluid then she'd probably go home, but after that first liter she was still too high on the ketones, so they gave her a second bag along with some anti-nausea medication. We left the hospital about 6pm and went home and put Marissa to bed and me soon after. We were both exhausted, but Marissa especially was since she hadn't really slept.

She felt much better the next day and everything seems to be fine now. She goes for her weekly checkup this Monday and we'll find out then what day she'll be scheduled for induction.

The Final Countdown

Marissa decided to go to the OB/GYN this morning. She wasn't scheduled to go until next Monday, but she had what she thought were some contractions over the weekend and felt really tired, so she called this morning and went in at 9:15.

At this point she's dilated to 1.5 centimeters, so final operations have commenced for the arrival of the next little Hatch into the world. The doctor also agreed to set a date of the 27th, 28th, or 29th of December to induce labor if he hasn't made it out by then.

Hatch Dragging

Sorry about the delay between updates. After taking most of last week off from work, I've been pretty busy this week with meetings and deadlines. Several people are taking off all of next week so we're pushing to get some things done around here.

The diet and exercise is progressing nicely again after the Thanksgiving debacle. I ended up gaining four pounds before I got back on the low carb diet this past Sunday, so I was at 294. This morning I was back down to 290 and I should be able to cruise down lower fairly quickly I hope.

Since I cut the carbs out again starting Sunday my butt has been dragging the first few days of this week, but I've still been making myself walk. After my walk at lunch today I've already put in 8.4 miles for the week, and this may be the week I break my mileage record since I started recording all of this over 8 weeks ago.

Marissa went to the OB/GYN this past Monday, and everything is still fine with her and the baby. Her blood pressure was up a little the week before, but now it's come back down to normal levels. She's still in nesting mode, but I think she's almost got everything she wants for the baby and the baby room.

My Petzl helmet finally arrived yesterday from Amazon.com. It's really nice, but it may be a little tight thanks to my Hatcher head. I adjusted the head band as wide as it will go and it will go on my head, but it's tight. The chin strap is also tight at it's maximum length, but losing more weight will take care of that as the Hatch jowls begin to ebb. I think getting another short haircut will help too. My hair is a little woolier than normal right now.