Folic Acid Deficiency

So, I've got my blood test results and the diagnosis was a deficiency of Folic Acid and slight Anaemia.  Whilst a nutritional deficiency does not come as a surprise to someone who does not enjoy eating vegetables, how it affects my feet does.  It seems that it causes problems with the nervous system and my little toes are right at the end I suppose and thus the first to be affected.  I've been prescribed folic acid tablets.  I asked Jo if it would be cheaper to get them over the counter however it worked out that I've been prescribed 24 times the dose they give to pregnant women.  The thing I probably should not have done next was to look up the effects of taking such a dose and it would appear that long term use leads to increase risk of cancer.  And thus I am now trying to eat more foods rich in folic acid/folate e.g. Spinach.  and rich in iron e.g. Liver.  Now, I hate liver but I quite like liver pate, so this is doable.

I've also been looking at the symptoms of low folate and low iron and strangely enough, it includes poor sleep quality.  As part of my journey of weight-loss and fitness, a change in my diet may also contribute to better sleep.  The fitbit flex has been a real eye-opener in this regard.  

Two of the dashboard elements on the Fitbit.Com site shows the amount of sleep and steps taken.

It also gives a more detailed analysis of my sleep.  I had always thought that it took ages for me to fall asleep but it would appear that I average between 7 and 10 minutes to fall asleep.  I then get between 45 minutes to an hours sleep followed by very broken sleep.  The chart above shows a set of 4 night-shifts and me getting into bed about 8am and waking about midday.  You can also see where I have my afternoon nap.  You can also see the broken sleep even though I am in bed alone, indicating that it is not Jo waking me up.  There are some excellent resources online but very few appear to accommodate shift workers - One of the last things a shift worker wants to hear is "Try to get into a routine, going to bed at the same time each night."

As you can see above, I actually got 4hrs and 49min sleep which is really good for me.  I had been struggling to keep my eyes open for much of the evening and despite the following broken sleep, I do not recall waking up very often.  Obviously, exhaustion helps me sleep but so far I have not found anything else that really helps.  Whisky, rum, cider, ear-plugs, abstinence of caffeine and wearing socks in bed all had pretty much zero effect on my sleep pattern.  Also, regardless of the amount of time I spend in bed (11 hrs yesterday) I still average between 2.5 and 3 hrs sleep.  I think I may well try the intermittent fasting again to see if that helps.  However, this time I could try to not eat during the 16 hours following me going to bed instead of the 16 hours prior to waking up.  I know that this will annoy a lot of people who still subscribe to the "six small meals a day" and "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".  

Whilst I really detest YOLO, it is important to differentiate between doing something stupid because you only have one life and doing something drastic to prolong said life.  You won't get me jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane but making dramatic changes to my diet and life-style in an attempt to live longer makes sense to me.  With that in mind, it is now 02:15hrs and I will try not to eat until 18:15hrs.  Might try this for a week and see if there are any noticeable results.

Watch this space as as usual, feel free to leave positive/constructive comment (nobody has yet)

Fitbit Flex Journey

First, a little recap or "Previously, on Book of Cy":
So, I met my wife some 21 years ago and we married 16 years ago.  When I met her, I was 20, slim and fit.  I was working at a solicitors office as an Office Junior which is an affectionate way of referring to the office dogs-body.  I did anything and everything asked of me which involved a lot of rushing around the office and running documents to other offices.  I would cycle 4 miles to work each day and 4 miles home in the evening.  I could eat anything I liked and not put on weight.

I started work at a small publishing company and went from a very active life-style to a very sedentary life-style.  Working behind a computer all day, slowed metabolism and egg & bacon rolls for breakfast, I soon got up to 13st 7lbs and there I stayed for several years.

I started a new career and thus improved my fitness although my weight stayed the same however my new career imposed even more time spent sitting with short periods of activity.  Add to this the rigours of shift-work, not being able to get proper meals at reasonable times.  Here in the UK, and probably the world over, good, nutritional food is expensive and not convenient whilst junk-food is quick and easy and thus my weight had crept up to over 15 stone.

I looked at different methods of weight-loss.  The issues here is that I do not like exercise and do not play sports.  I have looked at PS3 software like EA Sports Active which are good in their own right but I have always had a very small lounge area which inhibits the amount of exercise that can reasonably be done at home.

We have since moved home and have a much larger lounge making the Just Dance a breeze.  We also got a dog a little while back and thus I resolved to walk her each day a decent distance, thereby improving my health.  By this time I was hovering around the 15st 7lb mark.

This is when "disaster" struck.  Whilst out walking Dora,

 I suffered what felt like a fractured toe.  I had broken that toe twice in the past and the feeling is quite distinctive.  I limped home, each step getting progressively worse.  I buddy-strapped the toe up and got on with things, trying to take it easy.  However, after two weeks of limping around at work, my foot had swollen and become extremely tender and I could not wear my work-boots without excruciating pain.  My foot could not take any weight and I had to phone in sick.  Believing that my toe was fractured, I had to rest it.  I won't go into the details of my struggle with the doctors and their demonic receptionists but the X-ray report did not discover any fracture.  I've had blood tests which I am now awaiting the results.  

The end result of not being able to walk properly for a month is that my weight had shot up to 16st 4 lbs.  This is the heaviest I have ever been.  I needed to do something to get my weight down.  There is a definite motivation to lose weight when health issues such as diabetes, heart-disease, arthritis and now potentially gout are sitting in the background.  And thus I started looking at the influx of wearable tech and fitness trackers that are on the market.

My eye was immediately court by the Garmin Vivofit.  It looks smart with exceptional battery life and logs all the data I could possibly want.  Yep, that was the one I wanted and was for sale in Asda for £69.  All I had to do was check the reviews on Youtube and I would be ready to purchase.  Youtube reviews showed it as a very competent fitness tracker and thus back up to Asda to find that the price had jumped to £99.  Well, that required a little more thought and research to which I discovered that the Vivofit does not sync with my phone (Galaxy S3 Mini).  I now discovered that the Vivofit comes with a USB wireless adapter for syncing with a PC but I do prefer the additional ability of syncing to my phone for when I am away from home.

So, back to the drawing board and researching the most suitable fitness tracker for me.  The Jawbone UP appears to sync by plugging into the earphone socket which, after being the proud owner of a palm device with a screwed earphone socket from being over-used, was a complete no-no.  I found that the majority of new wearable tech is only compatible with the newest phones.

This is when I found the Fitbit Flex reduced to £69 in Halfords.  Steps, Calories and sleep all tracked and compatible with the S3 mini?  This was what I was looking for.  I also looked at the Fitbit One however did not like the sweat-band type of strap for wearing it.  The information logged is quite comprehensive and the sleep tracking is a real eye-opener.

It is early days but the wristband is like the proverbial bit of string tied to your finger.  It is a visual reminder of my goals.  The Fitbit dashboard reminds me that I should be drinking more and the food logging reminds me that I need to eat less.  The pedometer reminds me that I need to be moving more.  By setting up my goal of reaching the 12st 7lbs that I had when I was 20, the Fitbit site sets up my calorie limits to achieve this and has an almost holistic approach to reaching this goal.  Is it as good as having a personal trainer setting out meal and exercise plans?  No, probably not.  Is it far cheaper and more accessible?  You bet.

And here is the real eye-opener, no pun intended.  I have tracked my sleep for the last three nights.  I know that I snore, I know that my weight is a contributory factor.  I now know that I am averaging about 3 hours sleep each night.  This is a real motivation to sort my weight out.

It's the start of a journey.  I feel positive and optimistic with regard to the potential results. Comments etc are welcome.