Staying the Course -- 03/05/2018

[Superbob]

Greetings, Breakfast Clubbers -- let's get up and march around the breakfast table! Anyone here old enough to remember that radio show from waaaaay back, "Breakfast Club"? I think I remember the host was Don McNeil. Will have to google that. But not going to do an add or revision to this post....

Okay, we are the Stay-the-Coursers, not the Breakfast bunch. But it is always nice to think about the luxury of a big breakfast with maybe pancakes, eggs, sausage and of course grits in our part of the world, the American South. Usually, though, I have oatmeal and toast. That's the case today.

Here in Carolina, we got some whip-around effect from the huge nor-easter --- windy for three days with 30 mph and sometimes gusts of 40 or 50. Nothing like what they got slammed with in New England, though. And they say another may be shaping up for next weekend.

On the weight front, I seem to be down just a fraction of one pound. I am still 4.2 pounds from goal. Honeybunny, it looks like you have a good shot at winning this challenge. We have gotten take-out just about every day for a week now -- DW understandably doesn't feel like cooking because of health problems and I am a lousy cook. We may try some prepared meals that my son buys through his workout club -- supposed to be healthy and reasonably priced.

Our wonderful core fitness teacher is supposed to be back tomorrow. She had to help a family member in Ohio. We had a sub who is skilled but more geared to twenty-somethings than we of the senior set. So maybe this will be the week to get back track.

Hope to hear from everyone this week.

Cheers,

Superbob

 

[Superman]

That take out stuff is a tough way to battle the lbs. Too much sodium for starters. I do hope DW starts feeling better. I'm sure it's no fun for her, but it also seems bad for you as well.

My last post in the last thread could just as easily be my post to start this one, but I don't dare cut and paste. Hit 196.2 lbs (23.9 bmi). Pretty happy with that. We had one child's birthday with a family party, then a kids party, we will have a confirmation party for another, followed shortly by another birthday, then off to Disney World. I'm still trying to build that cushion in my weight to handle the trip. No easy task.

Won't be home till after 10:00 tonight, then I have to try to make a 5:15 am spin class tomorrow. My wife works late tomorrow. Then it's an orchestra concert, piano lessons, then a piano recital. Won't have everyone home all week really. One of my boys is in a statewide math competition this weekend too - so the weekend brings no relief as one of us has to drive him there while the other is left to the home running around. Oh - then next weekend we lose an hour with Daylight Savings - so getting up early to bike will be even more challenging.

 

[honeybunny]

Was up a tad from that 149.6 this morning, but that was to be expected considering the Aldi's apple pie I consumed over the weekend. It would be swell if I could reach my weight goal first, SB. The couple of times I participated in a weight challenge I didn't come close to winning.

Good for you Superman on hitting your target weight. Sounds like your life is pretty busy. Mine is generally sluggish what with working 10-hour days four days/week then being a slug on the weekends. I'm just plain tired of "having" to do things. I want a loose schedule and try to keep it that way.

Moving forward with confidence that with that apple pie now gone I will be able to keep to a reasonable calorie consumption and get rid of that last 5.6 lbs.

 

[epstns]

I guess I'll join the struggles here. I'm up a pound over last week, but like SB, there has been too much restaurant food of late. My schedule for the week is totally trashed, with many unexpected errands and trips across town when it should be meal time. Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

This week I have two dental appointments - one planned, one not. I am in the midst of having a lot of restorations done. About half are permanently cemented in place, the last two were "trial fitted" yesterday morning. I left the dentist's office with two temporary crowns in place. After dinner, I had only one. . . back to the dentist at noontime today to re-cement the errant crown. Not a big deal, except that the round trip is about 25 miles across town and back. Not a fun ride. On top of that, one evening after work I will need to drive almost the same distance into town to pick up Gonzo. Gonzo is my car, which has been vacationing at the car spa, awaiting a part from somewhere in Germany. Fortunately, the Spa offers loaner cars, so at least I can get around while Gonzo is partying.

I'm back to trying to find a reliable heart rate monitor to use when I am exercising. I have tried the chest-strap ones, but don't like them. I don't like Fitbit, as my wife has had no end of trouble with hers. I have also tried the Mio wrist strap, but it is inconsistent (and no longer made). The most recent failure is a Garmin wrist-strap unit. This gem reads quite nicely while I am getting dressed, walking through the health club and up the stairs to the cardio room. As soon as I start my routine and get up to speed, the monitor tells me that my heart rate is somewhere between 60 and 70 BPM, never going above 70-ish at peak, some 20-30 minutes later. I am sure my heart rate is well above 70 after 2 or 3 miles on an elliptical machine at a 12-minute/mile pace. Heck, if my heart rate was that low after that much activity, I'd be in the running to be the next Superman! I know neither of those assertions are true. Anyone have any ideas? I am aware that pacemakers are notoriously hard to monitor with retail gear, but I'd like to find one that at least works some of the time.

So, I'm just trying to hold it all together, hoping for an early spring. My daughter in MA is waiting to see how much of the storm they get, so our fingers are crossed for them.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Steve - dental problems, I've still got the tooth which has root resorption going on - went to a new dentist for a second opinion (locally, within walking distance becasue I don't want the issues you've had with travelling a long way to see the dentist) who said to just monitor like the other BUT he found some decay under a crown which the other dentist had failed to see. He showed it to me on the x-ray, the x-ray done by the other dentist ! So I am going to have that redone BUT also he said I had loads of tartar (calculus) at the back of my teeth. I only had an ultrasonic clean six weeks earlier and I have regular cleans and scales, so he wants me to have an hour long proper clean. I am so upset at the way we trust dentists and hygienists, and pay them, and then find things aren't going like they should. I checked the back of my teeth with a dental miror I have and sure enough there is tons of tartar there, far more than would build up over six weeks (especially with the care I give my teeth and the diet I have). I'm having all the work done, the deep clean and crown, at the end of March in one long session of two and a half hours becasue I'll need to take antibiotics for this. I'm alergic to penicillin so I'm going to take azithromycine - never had it before so fingers crossed.

Re the heart rate monitor, I'm using a Polar one which has a chest strap which beams the results for every session I'm monitoring to my iphone which I can view real time, or not as I wish, and then upload to Polar's website (a secure section just available to me) which shows me not only my heart rate during the session as time went on but also exactly where I've walked on a map via GPS so that if I remember where something occured I can work out maybe why my heart rate went up or down, eg slopes, woofy dogs, etc. I can also do resistance training with it and upload the data. It's all permanently there so I can compare different sesions, different days. I've heard that none of the wrist ones are very accurate.

 

[Zoltania]

I got a Fitbit Charge HR for Christmas. It's good enough for tracking steps, but I've found its heart rate monitoring to be quite inaccurate, especially at higher activity/heart rate levels. I can get my heart rate up above 150 on the treadmill (per manual 10-second pulse check and also using the handle sensors on the treadmill) and the Fitbit claims I haven't gone above 137.

Like Anne, I've heard that wrist monitors in general aren't very accurate; I think you have to get the chest strap type if you're serious about wanting to know your heart rate.

 

[epstns]

Anne - I know what you mean about trusting dentists. My prior dentist was a relative. He never sent me a bill for anything, but I kind of feel that I got just what I paid for. No end of ongoing trouble with work that he did. I changed to my wife's dentist about 15 years ago, and things are totally different. I also have cleanings every 3 months, but these are the full hour-long deep cleaning, without the ultrasonic as they are afraid to use it with my pacemaker. Just good old-fashioned handiwork, always with the same hygienist. With the amount of reconstruction I am having this time, I have already had 3 sessions of about 4 hours each, with about 3 to go. This will complete 7 crowns and a large removable appliance. Literally everything on top is being redone. It will be great when it is done, but it is quite the slog to get there. This is all a repeat of work done about 12-15 years ago, at which time, upon completion of the work, the senior dentist at the practice exclaimed "My, my. Instant orthodontia!" I may not have been blessed with good teeth, but at least I found someone who could fix what I had.

I, too, am allergic to penicillins, so we do not use amoxicillin for dental work. My dentist, cardio and I agree that clindamycin works for me. I take 4 capsules (150 mg each) one hour prior to each appointment. I sometimes have minor digestive issues with this, but I can usually control it by not taking the meds on an empty stomach.

As for heart rate monitors, in my case my pacemaker clinic tells me that it is quite likely that I will never find a portable monitor that will be accurate and consistent, given the pacemaker. I have used the chest-strap devices, notably Polar, with fair to good results. Then they got to be too annoying and I switched to the wrist monitor, hoping it would be "good enough." They weren't. So far, I've tried the fitbit - didn't like its operating controls. Had to continually fiddle with it to view rate, so I never took it to the gym at all. Gave it to wife. She used it for a year, then it went wonky and there is no way to do a complete reset of the device. (I know, I did check their customer support, and they cannot offer a way.) I did use a Mio Alpha for a while, but when it failed, I found that the company now only sells fitness software, no more hardware. Then I tried a Garmin, and that's the one that works fine at normal activities, but once I get to high intensity, like in the gym, it only shows erratic rates, always under 100 BPM, even when I'm doing an activity that positively brings my heart rate into the 130's or so. So. . . that's a bust.

I think that these monitors seem to react to ventricular rates, as this is the output phase of the system. Given that I am artificially V-paced 85-90% of the time, this may pose the problem for the electronic monitors if they are confused with the occasional erratic intrinsic pulses happening along with the pacemaker's rhythm at the same time. As for the wrist strap monitors, I have no theory. I thought that these reacted to the flow of blood as "seen" through the skin, and that flow, I am sure, is happening at a normal rate depending upon my activity. That the device only "sees" a rate of 60-70 BPM while I am whizzing along doing 12-minute miles on the elliptical can only mean that I am not compatible with these devices.

Oh, well. I only use the monitor to assess my level of cardio conditioning. I log my exercise accomplishments along with peak heart rates. If I ever do see a deterioration, I would call my cardio. So I guess I can only monitor distance, speed, time, and not heart rate. I guess if my heart stops, I'll know. . .

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Steve - I wouldn't like to have all that dental work that you've had, but I'm pretty sure it will be on the cards as all my crowns are at least 25 to 30 years old :-( And most of my teeth seem to be crowns or large amalgam fillings - I only have four teeth that are completely intact ! I hate the stress that my teeth have caused me since I was little and still now. I saw a photo of the jaw of a paleolithic human in the press the other week, perfect teeth, I felt so jealous. My son has perfect teeth too, even though he dosen't care well for them - by the time I was his age (29) I'd had so much work done :-(

My CRP levels are rising - were 9 last week and yesterday 12 - my GP is doing another test next Thursady to montior it. I've no idea why the CRP is rising - is it my shoulder problem, is it my tooth resporption problem, is it the end of a cold and cough I have ? I know 9 and 12 aren't massive but my GP is concerned about it rising when it was under 1.

The azithromycin I am due to take 29th March is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach prior to dental procedures, presumably to ensure good blood levels of the antibiotic. I hope it doesn't irritate my stomach.