Lessons Learned & Learning 25: 750 Days of Maintenance

Ejourneys

Prior maintenance updates: 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 150 days, 180 days, 210 days, 240 days, 270 days, 300 days, 330 days, 360 days, 390 days, 420 days, 450 days, 480 days, 510 days, 540 days, 570 days, 600 days, 630 days, 660 days, 690 days, 720 days.

The vertical red lines on my chart for average weight indicate the day that I had started taking anastrazole, the drug I'm on to try to prevent cancer recurrence (day 355) and the days of my bout with what was likely E. coli (days 580-581). More on the shifts in my weight trends around those events is in my 630-day update.

Here's how my 25 30-day maintenance periods compare:



My twenty-fifth 30 days looked like this:


Weight: I had reached my goal weight of 150 lbs. on Dec. 17, 2013. According to MFP, that would place my net calories at 1600 for maintenance.

Between days 721 and 750 inclusive my weight averaged 148.2 and ranged from 146.5 to 150.

Exercise Calories Burned: I took 1 rest day (0 calories burned) during maintenance days 721-750. My average exercise calories burned for this period (including rest days) equaled 404/day. My highest burn was 488 on Dec. 11, representing 75 minutes on the DeskCycle.

On Dec. 13 I passed the 17,000-mile mark (since Sept. 1, 2012) in my Virtual Ride Around the Equator. That places me at the longitude of Kisii, Kenya. I have now "traveled" more than 2/3 of the way around the globe! :-)

Total and Net Calories Consumed: Total calories for maintenance days 721-750 averaged 1950/day and ranged from 1556 (Dec. 22, a rest day) to 2354 (Dec. 7). Net calories (total calories minus exercise calories burned) averaged 1547/day (97% of maintenance) and ranged from 1207 (Dec. 28) to 1939 (Dec. 7).

On Dec. 17 I celebrated two full years of maintenance! Stats for that two-year period: Avg. weight = 148.8. Avg. daily total cal. = 1880. Avg. daily net cal. = 1483. Avg. daily exercise burn = 397 cal. Miles pedaled on mini-bike = 12,633.5 (daily avg. = 17.3). Total workout hours for all exercises = 780.7 (daily avg. = 1.07 hrs.). I haven't kept diligent maintenance records prior to MFP, but I'm pretty sure this is the longest I've maintained my goal weight -- by a long shot. Here's to Year Three!


Large size

Lately I've been playing around with public domain art courtesy of Project Gutenberg. The bird, snail, empty shell, and caterpillar come from several volumes of Zoological Illustrations by William Swainson. The sun, bottom trim, and background pattern are stencils made from illustrations in Batik and Other Pattern Dyeing by Ida Strawn Baker and Walter Davis Baker. The flowers are stencils made from illustrations in issues of The Botanical Magazine by William Curtis.


Large size

I treated myself to a USB microscope and produced this piece with these images.

I've still got my chemo curls. They're especially pronounced right after my shower and make me want to sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop."



I think they're a hoot and am having fun watching them grow wild -- the latest in my series of physical transformations. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2016!

Protranser

Wow, great curls! And the artwork was cool, too