Exercise: Will Not Help You Lose Weight

As presented by TODAY...

Of all the wonderful things exercise does for your body, more evidence suggests losing weight isn’t one of them.

Your daily activity level has almost no bearing on the number of calories you burn and burning more energy doesn’t protect against getting fat, Herman Pontzer writes in his new book, “Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy.”


“Your brain is very, very, very good at matching how many calories you eat and how many calories you burn,” Pontzer, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, told TODAY.

“The person who has a sedentary lifestyle and the person who has the active lifestyle will burn the same number of calories.”

What? We’ve all been taught the more you move, the more energy you burn, helping with weight loss. But that’s the wrong view of the human body’s flexible metabolic engine, Pontzer says.

A person starting that new Peloton program, for example, and exercising like crazy will burn more calories at first, but her body will adjust over the course of a couple months and begin to spend less energy on its many other tasks, like inflammation and stress reaction, until things are back to the way they were, he noted.  READ MORE

Opdivo Day Once Again

Early morning>>  up at 6:00 am, shower and out the door by 6:30 am and by &:30 am, I am sitting in the waiting area Chemo Infusions, for an available nurse to access my port, draw blood, and take me to one of the 8 Treatment Suites to await my Opdivo Infusion.  This infusion will be my 41st or 42rd...  I don't remember...  but I do know that I have had a least 40 of these infusions.

Recently, I had lost my appetite, was losing weight, and felt a little nauseas after eating and my Oncologist suggested that I ask my doctor for an Upper GI at the same time that I was going to have my colonoscopy...  and that is what I did and that is what happened...  and the results were negative...  indicating that my symptoms were coming from some other source.

After talking with a Pharmacist during my IVIG infusion, he informed me that ALL OF MY SYMPTOMS were side effects of OPDIVO except for losing my sense of taste...  although, he would not rule that out just because it is not recognized as being typical.

I will not be able to talk with my Oncologist for another month...  but, all of these symptoms subsided after I recovered from my colonoscopy which could be coincidence or it could have been that the IVIG Infusion the week before might have something to do with this as well...

WHO KNOWS?

Veins in Feet

For many previous years and because of my weight gain, I have not been able to see the veins on the tops of my feet like I used to see; in fact, my veins were so prominent that when I tied my shoe laces too tight, it would pinch one of the veins on the top of my foot (usually my left foot) to the point that it would start to hurt and I would have to loosen my shoe laces.

As I have mentioned before, in March of 2020, I started counting my daily intake of calories and then reducing that intake of calories in the hopes of losing weight.  I am not so sure if it was the reduction of calories that caused my loss of weight or the fact that I just ate less based upon the counting.  Either way, I lost weight...  and, 10 months later, that weight loss amounts to right around 30 pounds, although at the present time, my weight is fluctuating a couple of pounds on both sides of its new equilibrium which I estimate at 222 pounds.

My weight in preparation for a recent colonoscopy went down to 213 primarily because I was eliminating waste as well as liquids from my body...   and when my weight increased back to 224, I believe that it was largely due to an increase of fluids more so that putting food back into my body.

In any event, at 222 pounds, I can easily see the veins on the tops of both feet and while there are not as many veins on the top of my feet as is seen in the attached photo, I still see several...   which I have not seen in several years.

Currently...

In March of 2020, I decided for whatever reason, to start counting my daily intake of calories.  Doing something like this is not new to me because back in the 1990's, I decided to start counting my daily intake of FAT GRAMS and after collecting that data for over a year, I decided to plot that data on what was called an X bar R Chart to see if I could determine any trends and after calculating was was called statistical control limits, analyzed the data to see if my eating habits were IN CONTROL or OUT OF CONTROL.  I still have that data somewhere.

When I started calculating my calories, my weight was right around 250 pounds although it could increase to 252 and maybe 254 but never went below 248.  After 2 months of collecting calories and trying to convince myself mentally to reduce my caloric intake, my weight dropped down to 240 pounds.  

When I started I was eating over 2,500 calories a day.  Then I tried to reduce it to 2,000 calories a day and then a further reduction to 1,500 calories a day...

A staph infection put me in the hospital for 6 days and the only positive outcome besides being released from the hospital was the fact that my weight was now down to 230 pounds.

My calorie intake started to vary more than I had anticipated where one week, my intake would be between 1,200 and 1,500 and the next week, my intake would be between 1,500 and 1,800 but seldom ever got close to 2,000 and only over 2,000 if my wife and I went out to dinner or celebrated a birthday.

My weight was now below 230 a couple of pounds and for some reason, I lost my appetite just before having to prepare for a colonoscopy...   and, when all was said and done, the day of my colonoscopy, my weight was 213 pounds...  the lowest ever.

Within a couple of days after the procedure, my weight increased to 219, mainly because of fluids I suspect and a couple of days after that and because I got my appetite back, it increased to 221 pounds, but seems to be holding steady as my body reaches a new equilibrium..

My plan is to watch my calorie intake

Maintain 1,500+/- calories each day

Stabilize my weight around 220 pounds

After I am convinced that I have been able to achieve these goals, I will start a plan of action to take my weight down to 205 pounds...  which was actually my goal in March of 2020 when I started.

My New Weight

The morning of my COLONOSCOPY, I weighed a flat 213 pounds and one day after, I weighed 215 pound, mainly returning the fluids back to my body because I did not eat much yesterday on a completely empty stomach that was full of gas.  So, in 10 months, I have lost 35+ pounds since there were numerous times that my weight exceeded 250 pounds...  and, I sat on my chair, on my fat ass, calling others obese...  I was obese as well and those comments were no doubt aimed at myself.

I can again see the veins on the tops of my feet which has not been the case for many years...  not months.  The lymphedema in my left leg will also respond positively because of this loss of weight, especially if I ever fly in an airplane again.  In addition, my heart will function better now that it has to deal with less weight and I should sleep better and have more energy as well...

YES... weight is that important.

My goal still is to get down to 205 pound which means I need to loose another 10 pounds and while that should be relatively easy, my main concern is not allowing my weight to increase that much or rapidly because I think that it is ok to eat a little more because of the lost weight.   Interestingly, the loss of weight did not result from EXERCISE but from EATING LESS.

Weight loss can be good for cancer treatment as well...  although, one has to be careful because weight loss can also indicate that cancer is growing as well; but, for me it is good because my last PET scan showed no metabolic activity.

It's A Good Day For A Colonoscopy

This morning I have to report to the local hospital at 6:30 am which is about a 5 minute drive from the house.  Ordinarily, I would not even go to our local hospital to replace a bandage, but my doctor is driving up from Knoxville for the procedure...  He is typically up her one day a week for some reason and I take advantage of his kindness.

My procedure, I have been told is at 7:30 am and I am the second one of the day...  so, I should be done about 8:30/9:30 am (give or take) and out by 10:00/10:30 am if all goes well...  and, there is no reason why all should not go well...   there has never been a problem before...  other than removing polyps.  I am also having an UPPER GI which should add about 30-40 minutes which is the 9:30 am end time...   and, if I feel like it, my wife and I might just drive to our local Perkins for an omelet and pancakes.

This morning, and because of the prep for my colonoscopy, my weight was below 220 pounds which is good...   nice and slow losing program...  and, about 15 more pounds to go in order to get to my 205 goal.  All things, even though they seem negative at the time, end up being positive.

Being Back Home

It is my ninth day at home since I left the Hospital after being there for 6 days and as part of my release, I am supposed to have IV infusions of antibiotics three times a days, and as part of Home Health's requirements, I am supposed to take my weight every day (at the same time) and my temperature.  After nine days of doing this, my temperature has remained relatively normal but my weight has dropped 9 pounds or 1 pound/day which in and of itself does not mean that much and I did need to loose the weight, but losing weight that fast still bothers me.

According to my CALORIE INTAKE spreadsheet, during the last 8 complete days, I have eaten 500 calories less per day except on one day I ate 400 calories more with 1800 calories being that point around which I was measuring.

In February of this year, I started counting my calories and before I went into the hospital, my weight had dropped from 250 to 235 +/-  or 15 pounds in about 4 months which is about 3-4 pounds each month which is slow and perfect weight loss so it does not harm the overall body in anyway.  However, compare that 3-4 pounds/month to 1 pound/day...  if this new loss is projected for 30 days, there would be 30 pounds of loss in 30 days which is now an indication that something else might be going on inside me.

With that said, let me point out here that while I was in the Hospital, a CT without contrast was performed and showed NO GROWTH as compared to my last scan 90 days ago...  so this contradicts my concerns...  but, I still have them nonetheless.

Weight Loss - Counting Calories

1500 - 2500 CALORIES PER DAY FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Results from March/April 2020

• Weight of 250 with clothes at Oncologist Office
• For the month of March, I averaged 2100 calories each day
• For the month of April, I averaged 1835 calories each day
• Weigh of 247 with clothes at Oncologist Office

YES, this is a frigging slow way to lose weight, but it works if one is consistent and persistent.  What might have helped was the fact that the last two weeks of April, I had added an exercise routine each day...  but, exercise is just supposed to help maintain the weight you have...  losing weight comes from the amount of food one eats regularly...

GOALS:

1.  Keeping eating less than 2000 calories each day (not counting -350 calories from exercising)

2.  Keep peddling 20 minutes in between walking a half mile twice

Note - peddling 40 minutes burns 220 calories and walking a mile in 20 minutes burns 130 calories

At my current rate of loss, 3 lbs ever two months, by the end of the year, I should have a weight of 235 with clothes on.