The Battle Rages On...

I've struggled with my weight for most of my life. In recent months, I've been trying really hard to address that. Getting down to a reasonable weight should help with a variety of issues, large and small, that get in the way of my living a fabulously enjoyable life:

• My karate should improve when I have less mass to move around.
• I'll probably snore less - or not at all - if I drop the extra weight. This will both let me sleep better and make my wife much happier.
• It will improve my blood pressure.
• It will decrease the wear and tear on my knees.
• My clothes will fit better.

This past July, I was laid up following a rotator cuff repair. The injury occurred while I was testing for my 3rd degree black belt (I passed, injury and all). Injuries during training are rare; in my 22 years at the dojo, the only other injury I had was a dislocated pinky finger I got while sparring (my bad).

Anyway, I wasn't able to work out at all for a couple of months, and it wasn't until fairly recently that I could work out without restrictions. My range of motion is close to 100%, but my strength is still only at about 80%, so I still struggle with some things. Unfortunately, not working out let my weight creep up ever higher.

A couple of months ago, I finally got my butt in gear. I started forcing myself to go to the gym again. We have a small gym at work that suits my needs, but the trick was getting there. I used to go every day at lunch, but fell out of the habit long ago when my workload got especially hectic. So I force myself to go to the gym almost every day I'm at work, usually spending a half hour on an elliptical or cross-ramp elliptical and another 20 minutes or so strengthening my shoulder. One nice side effect of going to the gym at lunch is that I usually brown bag it these days, and save a little (or a lot of) money not going out for lunch.

I recently started weighing myself on a regular basis. Every morning after I get out of the shower, I hop on the scale. It's a Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer, which is connected via Wi-Fi to my home network, and my weight (among other things) is logged into my Withings Health Mate account. Otherwise, I'd probably never write it down! This scale also calculates BMI, lean muscle mass, and body fat percentage. The biggest problem I have with this gadget is that it seems erratic. My weight fluctuates by 5 pounds or more day-to-day sometimes. This is much more than the usual couple of pounds a human being fluctuates normally, and I can't help but wonder if it's because I don't necessarily place it in the exact same spot on the floor every day. Or maybe I'm not perfectly centered on the platform - though the scale is smart enough to tell you if you're leaning too far in any direction. So I try not to worry about daily differences in my weight, as long as the trend is generally downward.

I also got a Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor about a month ago, since my BP is a bit high and my doctor wants me to monitor it. I use it every morning at about the same time, and it connects via Bluetooth to my iPad Mini. So far, it's more consistent than the scale - though I'm still trying to find just the right position in which to hold my arm while it's doing it's thing. The iPad app is ok, with only a couple of annoying quirks, and it syncs with my Health Mate account pretty seamlessly, so my weights and BP readings end up in the same log.

So, how's it going? I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and I've dropped 11 pounds since I was last there. Woo Hoo! On the down side, my blood pressure was up a little bit. Not enough to worry him too much, and we hope that continued weight loss will correct it soon enough. It's a drag, but I feel good that my time in the gym is paying off with my weight. Now I've just got to keep slogging and hit the milestones I've set for myself.

Withings Smart Body Analyzer

Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor