A Weighty Matter

Background

I've mentioned before I keep pretty decent archives. I've got FORTRAN programs from high school, tape images from the 1980s, and archives of our PCs from early 2000s.

My crowning achievement is a spreadsheet from hell that logs my exercise going back to 2004 and my weight going every year back to 1997 (with sporadic entries even before that). There are gaps in every year, but there's enough data to have show clear trends.

(There is also enough data to push Google Docs towards a nervous breakdown if I reload it fresh from a local copy; ~14 cells on 365 rows per year for decades is not trivial, even with many of the cells blank. In ~ 2011, the Google Docs developers didn't believe that I could give their application trouble until I showed them with my 25 years of data.)

Today

Having slowly lost weight over the 15 years since my peak, and having lost approximately a half pound every week this year to date, I am now at my lowest weight since before 1997 (30+ years) by a comfortable margin. I'm still close to 40 pounds over the line between obese and merely overweight, but I am ~ two-thirds of the way down — progress has been made.

Tomorrow

I really need to work not so much on my weight, but on my conditioning. That's a topic for a different day.

Riding the Rail

The stairlift has proved useful. I wasn't sure it would, but two  round trips on it downstairs & back for meals me left feeling me less drained than I have been lately.  

In other words, it was not a really expensive mistake!

The top to bottom trip takes 105 seconds, I timed it when remotely parking it to charge in the front hall for the night. 

That space in the front hall will normally be more out the way than the landing park/charge space (even after they move it), but if we have actually have people using the front door that will change *real* quick.  

(It also can park/charge just outside my office, but that's only good if Katherine doesn't need the stairs. That works tomorrow morning, when she's gone to Aikido for five hours.)

MIssed it by that much!

The Stairlift is installed, inspected, customer ridden … and wrong.  

Per the diagram, when charging the chair on the landing it is supposed be almost in the corner, inline with the bottom half of the stairwell (effectively under the window in the photograph below). 

The charging station is actually almost in the exact middle of the landing, directly across from the center railing/pony wall.  In other words, it's a choke point. (It failed the laundry basket test.)  

I can't sign off on it (and thus will be locked out of it) until we have this resolved (or have a binding promise of same).

UPDATE: We paid ~86% of the total and I signed off on it.  They will be back next week to move the charger.

Stairlift as Designed With Offset Charge Station on Landing

Stairlift as Installed with Centered Charge Station on Landing

It's Here! It's Here!

The stairlift is being installed as I type. It's uglier than I expected. Mostly, it's heavier construction than I  anticipated (which is a good thing) and is effectively freestanding; it gets screwed to the stairs not to support it, but to simply keep it from shifting.

(When The Bomb gets dropped, you can add the stair lift along with Cockroaches & Keith Richards to the list that will be still be around afterwards.) 

Almost … almost

The dumb waiter (AKA the stair lift) should arrive at the vendor (Mobility Concepts Inc.) today; they called this morning and scheduled the install for next Friday, the 13th. They start at 8 AM; it should be all installed and inspected by the state at ~ 1 PM.

Baby Home Improvement

 The summer of home improvement continues …

I took the first small physical step towards installing a stair lift; I had Bel-Red Electric install a power outlet by the stairs. (The deposit on the lift was a far bigger step, but that left no physical evidence.)

They also installed a door bell camera (which required a higher voltage doorbell chime); now I can initially answer (or ignore) the door from my desk upstairs. They may save me some trips downstairs; it will certainly allow me to slow down on the stairs.

Lastly, they replaced our motion sensing rear porch light; the problem with the old one may have been user error, but I just had them go ahead and do the replacement with the new one anyway.

Stairlift … The Adventure Begins

 I just signed an order for a stair lift, including paying a 50% deposit on the stair lift.

I'm surprised they took a credit card for that amount, and I guess my AmExp IS bulletproof.  (I remember when it wasn't, 30+ years ago.)

My knees thank me.

Been There, Broke that

 

Old (torn) Strap Top, Spare Strap Bottom

I've previously noted that I torque my right leg and thus the right foot strap tends to slip off my exercise bike. It happens enough I usually check (and have reset) it every time I use the bike.  Of course, this increases the wear on the pedal strap, and I discovered it was torn this morning.

This is no big deal because I've got spare straps. I grabbed one, verified it was a right (not left) strap, and went to install it.  that's when I looked at it closely, and realized it was not actually a new strap: it was already torn.

Time to check the rest of the inventory, more carefully, and toss any other dead straps.

(And yes, if you look carefully in the photograph, both straps are torn.)

Update: I had three open sets of straps, and all the right pedal straps were torn; I threw them all out. I had one sealed set, used the right pedal strap from that, and ordered two more sets.

Walk a Mile in my Shoes

I wanted to visit the East Coast this spring.  However, after having a chat with both various people and my legs, my travel plans are set for Spring 2023: I'm not going anywhere far this spring.

Basically, when walking, I have too limited a range. I could do two miles a day in Stoneham when I weighed more, but since I let a MS relapse scare me two years ago, I have not been getting out. Now, walking just 0.26 miles with a cane inside leaves my legs tired. That's too low to even visit someone and do things like visit a park, hit a mall, and go out to dinner in the same day. I want/need better range to take a trip, even if using my cane and services like wheelchairs in airports. 

The good news is that I've been walking enough to show myself:

• It's not my bad knees limiting me.
• It is a lack general of conditioning of my legs.
• I noted (above) that I've done short walks of 0.26 miles (17 loops around the downstairs); how I feel after them is enough to know I have something to build on.

And I have a plan, namely a treadmill. My sister happens to already own what I am looking at, a Horizon T101. It's small and basic; the unit is not good for a serious runner or a tall person, but I'm neither. My stretch goal for Labor Day is to able to do two miles on it; I'll settle for feeling comfortable after walking half that.  

(One caveat is my knees could start acting up. I'll deal with them when I've enough done work to wake them up.)

Of course, upstate New York is beautiful in Fall Foliage Season … 

p.s. My exercise bike rides will continue, probably at a reduced pace. And it probably puts the kibosh on my previous secret plan, getting a road tricycle this spring. 

New! Improved! Revisited!

One of the exercise pedals needed to be revised a week after our last visit.  

With my bow-legged feet, there is a certain amount of toe-out stress on the pedals. This means sooner or later the straps with their hole can slip out of the friction fitted pegs on the pedal. The right pedal slipped out three times on two rides, so I took action.

I added Gear Ties under the pedal; they counter the toe-out force by pulling the bottom of the straps together; like a cotter pin on an axel, they don't apply force in the main (vertical) direction of the force on the strap, but keep it from falling off.

Problem fixed.  I hope.

(The left pedal may need the same treatment. Not today.)

Underside View of Pedal with Gear Ties

Sideview of Gear Tie on Pedal

New! Improved!

My exercise bike is ~ 19 years old; the threaded posts (in photo) pushing the pedals away from the cranks so the heels of my bow-legged feet don't hit them, are more like 29 hours old. 

Exercise Bike Pedal Extender Post

They became far more important as I tried to extend my ride time from 48 to 64 minutes. The problem was not the increase in overall length, that but it divides into 16 segments; going from 3 minute segments to 4 minutes on "hills" made me tired and therefore sloppy about keeping my feet straight. (Much banging of heels then occurred.)

The extenders work, too. I wish I'd found them years ago (It seems I wantedneeded to search for "pedal extenders" not "crank extenders"), but I've got 'em now. 🙂

My first 64 minute ride is now in the books.

My thanks to my usual bicycle engineer, Katherine! 

A Time To Cast Away …

I learned to ride a bike when I was nine years old, the spring before we moved from Cowlesville to Skaneateles.

My sister had gotten a new banana bike for her 11th birthday, and I got her old one as a hand-me-down: A green girl's Huffy with 20" Balloon Tires and training wheels that my father had painted blue and put a hand-cut top tube on to make it boys bike. I needed only a couple weeks to lose the training wheels.

In my teens, I took possession of another hand-me-down, a 3-three speed from my brother which was a little too tall for my diminutive height.

In 1982, I got my first new bike while living in Endicott NY, a Miyata ten speed racing bike. (Yes, it later shared garage space with our Mazda Miatas.) The highlight of that bike was in the summer of 1985 before I returned to Clarkson for my final tour of duty when I sold my car and put over 1500 miles on the bike. I also used it for commuting in Potsdam and Kingston.

After 20 years, we replaced the Miyata with a Trek hybrid. The Trek never got the heavier use of the Miyata, especially after it was supplemented by Schwinn Airdyne (upright) and Vision Fitness HRT 2200 (semi recumbent) stationary bikes. The Schwinn Airdyne didn't last; the HRT 2200 has, and is the bike which moved up to my office last summer.

The Trek has not been touched since The Before Time. Sadly, with my mobility/balance issues, which especially cause problems mounting and dismounting bicycles, this spring I decided the Trek has zero future with me. Yesterday, we sold it to Play It Again Sports for a pittance.

That makes me sad, but I am heartened because the HRT 2200 has gotten used this month; I've already beaten last year's total (and seven other years since 2004), and it's only early June.

Maybe there is an adult tricycle in my future. We'll see.

An Accommodation

I rode on my usual schedule of every other morning; due to minor distractions, today wasn't quite as far as Wednesday. Given I did get reasonable mileage in, and that my legs had trouble holding me up after I slid off the bicycle, I guess I did a decent amount of work.

As they say in Weight Watchers, "Progress, not Perfection".

I really detected that  my legs were wobbly when I crouched to swap my water bottle for a post-ride Cherry Coke Zero in my tiny office refrigerator (loaded only yesterday).

The new refrigerator is both a reward for my riding regularly, and an accommodation of my knees not wanting to do the stairs too often (and not wanting to bother Katherine, either). It also makes a refrigerated prescription that I take weekly more accessible.

My now riding regularly was highlighted in two small ways this morning:

• I asked Katherine to bring up breakfast so I could save my knees, and I noted to her, "We know I'm riding this morning".  I realized it just wasn't a question to me. It doesn't happen until it happens, but I had A Plan, and I meant to follow it (and did).
• Mid-ride, I realized that I could and wanted to ride harder, and I picked up the pace a bit.

I have long way to go, including fitness not related to the bike and making other accommodations as needed, but . . . progress.

New Refrigerator Between the Cat Tower and the Wastebasket 

Plan BT

I mentioned that I needed to adjust the music for my exercise bike now that it is in my office. This had multiple failed iterations:

• The main speakers in the office stereo are oriented for my desk, not the window that my bike is under.
• The secondary zone for the office stereo has a UX which was clearly an afterthought.  (I suspect drink was involved, too.)
• My spare set of cheap computer speakers weren't nearly up to the task of music.
• The computer (iMac) speakers were good in a pinch, but don't fill my ears from across the room. (On an absolute scale, they may be higher quality than what I'm actually using.)

But now, success!

The exercise bike console has a field expedient solution — a battery powered stereo BlueTooth speaker which my phone talks to. (I also used the phone as the music source is riding downstairs.) The speakers required no cash outlay; credit card reward points were my friend.

The field expedient part is the impromptu harness that keeps the speaker balanced on the console.  The strength part of the harness is a quartet of 12" gear ties; I am not sure they would be up to holding the unit on a road bike, but are fine here.  Two long rubber bands act as a secondary suspension to reduce wobble.

It occurs to me that the no longer mobile speaker will require recharging; I'll either dig out our longest USB cable or use one of the battery packs that live in our various briefcases.

Most importantly, I am now using the bike (and the speaker); I have had eight rides since it moved upstairs.

(Formerly) Portable BT Speaker Secured to My Exercise Bicycle.

Riding in the Rain

Well, THAT parade got rained on.

I don't think road bicycles are for me any more. In particular, while I might still have the power in my legs, I don't have the flexibility and balance for the mount/dismount.  

However a semi-recumbent tricycle may be good idea, say next season after I get better conditioned. Or one that seemed a good idea I found out that they run ~ $4500. Given how little used my current bikes have been used over the last 20 years, I can't see the ROI on that expensive a toy. 

Back to the semi-recumbent exercise bike.

Simple Joys for Simple Hobbits

I've had flaky knees for years, and this year they got worse. This especially impacts me on the stairs. We have considered complicated accessibility options, but deferred them for now not because of cost, but because they would be a pain to implement. So we're doing simpler things.

We had a railing all the up way on the inner edge of the stairwell. Not so on the outer edge.

New railings were installed this morning by WeHoneyDo on the outer edge of the stairwell, covering the top half and where the bottom half meets the landing.

They still need a coat or two of clear finish to smooth and protect the surface, but are quite usable.

Hobbit tested, they do ease my navigating the stairs.

Railing Extension From Lower Stairs to Landing

Railing on Outer (Left) Side of Upper Stairs

Back in the Saddle Again

The exercise bike is now up in my office.  No stairs to navigate to use it!

After riding Thursday, I rode the exercise bike again today.  I even got Coach Penwiper to join me for his traditional snuggle.

I actually feel that today over all I did too much with my legs (I'm wobbly), but not horribly so.

Since my MS relapse in April (which I seem mostly recovered from), I've let the conditioning of my legs go. This (and perhaps the MS) affects my balance, which in turn discourages using them, which in turn ...

The bike is not a pure be-all-end-all of conditioning, but it is certainly a good start.

After 16 years, I know the bike is easy to use, I just have to get on it. The bike moving upstairs is specifically helps that; while the bike is out of my way, it's in my face everytime I walk into the office -- a good thing.  And my office has AC, which allows a ride even in the warmth of the afternoon (good for when I am disorganized, like today).  

My biggest problem is the bike is directly under the left stereo speaker (stereo separation, what's that?).   THAT is a first world problem, and I can name four solutions (cheap even!) off the top of my head. My first try will be connecting a cheap pair of speakers run off the secondary zone of the stereo with a cable which has been in storage since Massachusetts and a small adapter which should show up Monday.  (If it doesn't show up on time, I've got plans C and H on tap with toys on hand -- my next ride WILL happen on schedule.)

There But For the Grace of God ...

I had jury duty most of this week, a civil trial regarding a minor vehicular accident.  When the case went to the jury on Thursday, things didn't go well for the plaintiff: We awarded most of various contested medical bills, and $3000 for non-economic damages, which effectively is nothing at all.

The problem was that the plaintiff was obese with a sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, high blood pressure, and on disability from an old foot injury.  To us, the "Preponderance Of Evidence" standard was not met that his lingering pain was from the accident.  Quite frankly, with one party clearly at fault for the actual accident, the aftermath was amazingly murky.

Friday I was back at work at Google, where I had lunch guests of a high school classmate, her high school-aged twin sons, and a friend of the sons.   I wowed them all with our free food, climbing wall, foosball tables and other amenities.  When the boys all announced they wanted to work for Google, I gave them the lecture:  First, most of the employees we saw were not using the amenities, but rather sitting at their desks quietly working, and second, to be good enough to work where you want, one has to both embrace and command your field.  I also pointed out the physical plant was effectively a big parlor trick:  The real Google shows in how the company treats us, which is in fact pretty good.

I skipped the part about pure luck being involved, I didn't need to depress them.   But I did  think about my own luck, especially with the contrast of Thursday.  I am (still) obese and have various aches, but I have an interesting and well paying job, and I've avoided the abyss of declining health.

I've glimpsed the ghost of lifestyle future, and I dearly reminded why my self-improvement efforts this year are important.

Drew & Katherine's Big Adventure

I've been quiet about the diet and exercise front lately.   The weight loss has in fact stopped temporarily, with a week's travel and the recovery screwing up both my intake and exercise.   I'm not panicked (yet), but distractions like this after this much loss have been my downfall before.

Which is not to say I've given up.  In fact, yesterday we got out the bikes, checked the tires, and set course to have lunch at University Village in Seattle, a ride ~50% longer than we had previously taken.

The only problem is, we didn't make it.  About eight miles into the eleven mile ride, Katherine found her front tire was going flat.  After a trail side inspection, we decided the stem itself was leaking, and walked the both bikes to the nearest shop, Cycle University.  Nice owner, prompt service, but he didn't have the proper size tube.  So I  hopped back on my own bike, pedaled down to the near by Bicycle Center, got a tube, and took it back to Katherine at Cycle U where she had it installed.

Suffice to say the delay took the wind out of our sails, and once we got lunch next door we headed back.

I did still log ~ 21+ miles, a new daily high for me in the past 25 years.

YMMV

My weight loss trends remain very good.  However, sometimes, I am amused if not confused by the details.

In particular, this morning I dropped three pounds, after being down a pound yesterday.  That's on top of two pounds Thursday, for a total of six pounds since Wednesday.   I fully expect half of that to come rocketing back in the normal course of events, and actually prefer it would.  My healthy target is to lose 1-3 pounds a week, no more, and it's only more than 2 pounds because I'm exercising in part to avoid muscle loss.  (I also cleared it with my physician.)

Never mind that I had pizza two nights in a row and went over my daily budget at least one day during that period.

I blame portion control and my overall clean living, in particular that I've gotten at least some light exercise in the last 24 days out of the last 30.  Maybe that's how I wore out a connector for the heart monitor, which snapped off today when I unmounted the monitor from the chest strap after riding the exercise bike:

Aw, snap!   One connector for my Polar Monitor is AWOL

Fortunately, like Foghorn Leghorn, "I always keep a spare in my locker".

Slightly more seriously, my longer trend is making me feel like a bit of a freak.    My two month record is over two pounds a week, and doesn't seem to have any short term road blocks.  If that were average results for Weight Watchers and similar sensible plans, the world be a thinner place.  Katherine and I agree, Weight Watcher's metrics just happen to be a natural compliment to my own methods.    This hit home yesterday, as when I poked about the online Weight Watcher tools I came across a page which reported the number of days I had recorded my intake, which was 100% of the days since I started.  Since both I eat and use a computer every day, why wouldn't I record the data?

In any case, I'll try to keep it going while it works.