26K

This weekend, I'll be meeting my friend JW in Hanam City and walking back to my place (or vice versa). This will be the first 26K walk I've done since the stroke; for the past four weekends, I've done 18K walks from Bundang back to my place. They're now forecasting rain for Saturday (99% chance), but I'm walking all the same. I don't know whether JW will want to join me for that, but JW or not, I'm going.

My left foot is covered in Leukotape. I've experienced a lot of irritation lately, and I think it's at least partially related to weight loss. Everything's getting thinner. Take sitting in my office chair, for example: I used to be able to sit in my chair all day with no problem, but I think my ass has gotten slightly bonier, so with less ass-cushion to support myself, the bum now hurts late in the work day, forcing me to adjust my position constantly. That's what it's like to be skinnier, huh? Not to worry: I'm still plump. I need to lose at least another 20 kg before I can even think about pronouncing myself thin.

My buddy Charles brought up the issue of yo-yoing. This is definitely a concern. Once I'm done with the Newcastle phase of my dieting, I'll be switching to a hardcore version of Dr. Jason Fung's paradigm, which will involve intermittent fasting and skipping certain days for eating (I'm calling this the "T Diet" as I'll be eating only on days with "T"s in them, i.e., Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday). While I'll be increasing the amount I eat on the days I eat (probably back up to 1200-1500 calories, maybe even up to 2000), I'm hoping the calories will average out to something close to where I was on the Newcastle Diet. This ought to prevent yo-yoing. I'm also going to continue ratcheting up the exercise, so that ought to help, too. Keep in mind that I don't plan to be skinny after 8 weeks; my current plan takes me to the end of December, which is when it all comes together. And rest assured, the Fung paradigm won't be as strict as all that: I do still plan to have two cheat days per month, although in August, I'm going to do only one cheat day because I have a hospital appointment in September, and I don't want my numbers to be ruined simply because of one naughty day.

Right now, although I was delighted by the weight loss that happened over the second week of this diet, I'm frustrated by where the weight isn't coming off: my midsection. The old folk saying is that the first place you gain is the last place you lose, and that would explain why my face is thinning out nicely, but the waist is still as fat as ever. I have a neck now, which is cool, but I'm still the Pillsbury Dough Boy around my middle. Oh, well. With time, I trust, that will all disappear, so I just have to be patient.

But for as much as I complain about the strictures of the Newcastle Diet, the diet drinks, the constant salads, the caloric restrictions, the low energy, and the rest, I'm really not suffering that much. I work at a job that requires more mental energy than physical; the diet drinks aren't all that bad (I actually like SlimFast... Soylent, not so much), and Paris Baguette salads may be among the best things that Paris Baguette makes. (I actually feel sorry for some of the fat staffers there, who probably snack on bread products all day as part of their job.) So all in all, things could be much worse, which is what I said after the stroke happened.

In the meantime, I've got a long walk with a friend to look forward to. We'll see how it goes, and I'll report on it when it's done.

UPDATE: JW texts back an "OK." So we're on.