Two pounds

It's just two pounds. Many people eat that much in one meal. We all gain and lose up to or more than that during a day, and over time from our exercise, eating and activities. And it's weight easily absorbed by the body, often stored as fat, and kept in the digestive system until it processed and expelled.

It's just two pounds. But to my body it's everything. As I finally reached 135 pounds, the weight now varies between 135.0 and 137.0 pounds. I got there over a week about a month ago dropping from 140 pounds to 136 pounds. Not sure why, only that it did.

Since then I don't get to or over 137.0 pounds anymore, but it takes exercising (walking 6-8 miles 5-6 days a week) and watching my diet (what, how much, when I eat). I don't count calories except in estimates to know where I'm at for my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and adding calories from walks.

This is about 1400-1500 calories on non-walking days and 2000-2200 calories on walking days. None of that however is reflected so much in my weight, measured daily first thing in the morning before anything else. The naturopath said it's the time must before you body begins to change from sleep to awake.

I don't worry too much about the number so much, just to know the lowest weight I am for an idea of the floor my body is at when the digestive system is completely empty. The fat level is slowly decreasing, but it's not so much reflected in the weight except over weeks or months.

What I monitor is the change between days as it's indicative of what the body kept or lost from the previous day(s), which is why is varies 0 to 1+ pounds. This relates back to what, how much and when I ate the day(s) before the digestive system is still holds or lost.

What's important these days is that this small difference is in the digestive tract, which in turn enlarges the large colon, which in turn puts pressure on the lower back and Sciatic nerve, causing the lower back and legs to hurt.

I'm not sure why this happens, only it does. There's no pain when I'm 135.0, mild pain at 135.5, moderate at 136.0 and more at 136.5-137.0. And the pain makes the walks harder for every .5 pound, reflected in muscles feeling tired and sore and the pace slows, from 14 minutes per mile to 15+ minutes per mile.

This is where I'm at. Not where I thought or want do be, but am. The back specialist noted two years ago from scan of my lower spine (L3 and lower) from the 2012 and 2015 scans my compression is less but the degeneration is slightly worse. Two years later it's likely a little more worse for wear.

Anyway, this is where I'm at now. I walk 5-6 days a week, and watch my diet, namely what, how much and when I eat. From there it's helping the digestive system with supplements the naturopath recommends after all the tests, to process food through in a timely manner.

So it's the work to balance the exercise, diet and body, specifically the digestive system to work. I've learned the less I eat the better I feel, the more I eat the worse I feel, which is counter to what the body needs for energy.

And the more I stay within my short food list the better I feel, the more foods I try, as naturopath recommends to expand microbiome in digestive tract, the worse I feel as the body takes time generate the bacteria and digest the food(s), usually adding weight for 2-3 days while it processes the food.

That's conundrum between food and digestive system, digestive system and lower back, lower back and walking, walking and fat/weight. Such is life now.