Week 3: Back on Track

After a somewhat discouraging week of poor decisions, I got my act together and put in a successful week. After recovering from the long weekend, Tuesday through Friday was a good week of eating, getting back to my regular diet.

In the pool this week, I felt strong and was able to cut through the 0.5 mile swim with some vigor. It was nice to have all the "swimming muscles" back so I could swim all 18 laps with some intensity. This week, I might up the distance another 9 laps one day and try for a 0.75 mile swim. On Saturday, I got a nice bike ride in on an abnormally beautiful winter day in Oregon. The temperature had a small bite to it on the bike, but my body heat kept me warm on the 16 mile round-trip ride. The weather was DRY, and with the recent rain, the roads were CLEAN! With the road tires on my mountain bike, I almost like the winter ride better than the summer, because the rain keeps the debris off the side of the road. In the summer, you're practically riding on gravel. Maybe I'll adopt a street on part of my ride and sweep it up in the summers! :) I'm excited to get some rides into school perhaps this week. Maybe Wednesday.

With the combination of my diet and good workouts, I lost 3.8 pounds this week, dropping my weight to 295.6! I'm happy with the losses, I'm always afraid of losing too much weight too fast and gaining it back just as quick. Hopefully I'm developing healthy habits that will take it off and keep it off! My next mini-goals: to get into the 280s by the end of February, and maybe around 275 by our first baseball games in March (a MUST in order to fit into my uniform)!

Well, along with my healthy exercise and diet choices, I decided that 2010 would be a year of health at the doctor's as well. If you've ever slept in the same zip code as me, you know I'm a snorer. A bad one. Beyond that, my mom and wife both told me that I probably have apnea because I hold my breath at times in the night. For as long as I've known myself, I've always had sleep disorders. Beyond the heavy snoring and breathing, I often am restless at night, and have insomnia sessions that keep me up too late. Furthermore, as all my roommates I've ever lived with experienced, I can have full conversations (usually very funny conversations) and not remember them when I wake up.

So, one thing I did was check with a sleep specialist, and tonight (Sunday night) I go to the lab to spend the night and monitor my sleep. The doctor said I'm a likely candidate for apnea among other potential disorders, and I'm kind of excited for this experience. In speaking with people about apnea, I hear that if you can get a sleep machine or something to help aid your sleep, your life changes significantly. You wake up with better energy and refreshed. Being an athlete my whole life, I've always attributed the "tiredness" to my activity throughout the week. I figured that if I'm working hard, I'm going to be tired. It seemed logical. But I'm anxious to see if some treatment will help me. If I've been living my whole life with these sleep disorders, and been functioning on a deprived amount of energy unbeknownst to me, I might be able to experience a new kind of life with some help. The prospect of having more energy throughout the day for the rest of my life to accomplish all the goals I have is exciting. That would be an amazing blessing.

So, next week, I'll be able to share my experience sleeping at the clinic, but not the results until after Monday, Feb. 1.

Until then, God bless your journey!

To Health and Wealth!
Aloha,
Isaac