Weight and sinus update

In addition to my running, I've been dieting, too. Cutting back on calories - I allow myself 2000 or less every day. I do not take into account the calories I burn running. I've been losing about 1.5 lb a week since I cut back to this level, sometime in March. It's a good, safe, healthy weight loss. When I started keeping track again I weighed in at 203 lb. Ugh.

This morning I weighed in at 188.5. Better but I'm thinking another 15-20 lb would be even better-er.

I weigh in every morning but the most important number isn't the daily weight - that can fluctuate depending on how much water or food is or isn't in my system. What I do is take the last 7 days and average those numbers. As long as the rolling average is going down I know I'm on the right track. This morning my average dropped another 0.2 lb, to 189.4. I got this idea from The Hacker's Diet, which is available in its entirety online.

In my mind, being thinner will make me a faster runner. But I've got to admit it to myself; I don't think it's weight that's slowing me down. Nor is it the strength of my legs. It's my lungs.

If I could breathe easier, if I didn't have to deal with allergies - I'm sure I could run faster and longer. It's one thing I can't entirely control and something I can't really correct at this late stage.

However... in addition to the Sudafed and Claritin I take all the freakin' time to help clear up my sinuses and breathing passages, I've started something new.

Introducing the neti pot. I thought it was some crackpot pseudo-scientific homeopathic garbage when I first heard about it. And, y'know, it just might be.

Basically it's a container that fits comfortably into the nostril. Yes, the nostril. And it's used to pour warm, slightly salty water in one nostril so that it fills up the sinuses and runs out the other nostril.

Sounds icky, huh? It is, kinda. Sometimes. But it also loosens up any clogs or obstructions in there, it's supposed to help with chronic sinusitis, and once I got used to it it actually feels kinda good. Like flossing, only, y'know, in my nose.

It's helped a little bit - this is normally the season when I'd be dying of allergies. And I still get a runny nose now, worse in the mornings when all the plants are first pollinating, spraying their sexy particles into the air everywhere, but it hasn't been as bad. Could be psychosomatic, might be the nasal enemas. Hard to tell. But it's a cheap solution and doesn't really hurt so I'll keep trying it.

I'm not sure how I, by myself, could test it out but if I think of anything I'll let y'all know.