Lessons Learned & Learning 17: 510 Days of Maintenance

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.

My seventeenth 30 days looked like this:


Here's how the seventeen 30-day periods compare:


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 481 and 510 inclusive my weight averaged 149.7 and ranged from 148.5 to 150 (April 11) to 150 (most of the other days). I seem to be stabilizing, but I'm keeping an eye out, in case I need to change any eating patterns. Anastrazole (the drug I'm on to ward off cancer recurrence) might also be a factor.

Exercise Calories Burned:
I took 2 rest days (0 calories burned) during maintenance days 481-510, compared with 1 rest day during maintenance days 451-480, 3 rest days during maintenance days 421-450, during maintenance days 391-420, 1 rest day during maintenance days 361-390, 0 rest days during maintenance days 331-360, 1 rest day during maintenance days 301-330, 1 rest day during maintenance days 271-300, 2 rest days during maintenance days 241-270, 1 rest day during maintenance days 211-240, 2 rest days during maintenance days 181-210, 1 rest day over days 151-180, 3 rest days over days 121-150, 5 rest days over days 91-120, 3 rest days over days 61-90, 4 rest days over days 31-60, and 2 rest days over days 1-30.

My average exercise calories burned for this period equaled 409/day, with the highest burn being 955 on May 3, representing three hours of weed-whacking. That is, if fitclick is to be believed. More important, this marks my first such weed-whacking since April 19, 2014, about three weeks prior to my start on chemo. I needed to hire outside help for yard work while I was in treatment, so completing this three-hour stint gave me a feeling of sheer triumph.

On April 22 (maintenance day 492) I crossed the 13,000-mile mark (since Sept. 1, 2012) in my Virtual Ride Around the Equator and am more than halfway "around the world" from where I started. This places me at the longitude of Tripura, India (about 24 degrees N of the Equator).

Total and Net Calories Consumed:
Total calories for maintenance days 481-510 averaged 1847/day and ranged from 1421 (April 25) to 2173 (May 3, the day of my weed-whacking). Net calories (total calories minus exercise calories burned) averaged 1438/day (90% of maintenance) and ranged from 1017 (April 25) to 1857 (April 13).

Cancer Update
Am thrilled to report that my blood work on May 5 showed everything normal -- for the first time since April 7, 2014.

My blood pressure remains low (generally 90-something over 50-something) and I still have minor bouts of vertigo. My oncologist suggested that I increase my sodium intake. (My blood sodium is normal, but dietary sodium is different), so I've bumped that up a bit. It's a tricky balance because increased sodium tends to increase my carpal tunnel flare-ups. Those flare-ups have already been exacerbated by the anastrazole I'm taking.

My recent dental checkup included X-rays, now that I am far enough away from having finished radiation. Thanks to good hydration and prescription-strength toothpaste, my teeth have held up fine through chemo (which can do a number on teeth). They had looked fine at my cleaning last fall, but the X-rays formed the real test. This time I had worn a lead collar in addition to the usual apron.

All things considered, I'd say I'm in pretty great shape.

"Good Wishes" was the prompt for my Creativity Heals meeting in April:


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