Day 36 - 70kg

Today is Day 36.

Today I hit the 70kg mark. This still leaves me 3kg above the magic line of underweight on the standard BMI chart, but over 10kg under my ideal weight, and 14kg down over the 5 weeks. In other interesting statistics Wolfram-Alpha tells me that my latest figures equate to approximately 11% body fat and put me in the lowest 3.2% of men on the planet.

I shouldn't be particularly surprised about another weight drop. I only ate half of last night's pizza and then I went out this morning for 23 miles on the bike with a couple of friends. I am still forcing myself to take vitamin and salt supplements to try and minimise the damage from my lack of food.

The other Venlafaxine side-effects are still going full blast as well. In addition to the effects on my appetite, last night was almost a perfect deja vu of Friday. I went to bed at 11 again, and after what seemed like an endless string of nightmares I woke up to find that it was just past midnight. I think this time I did manage slightly better and I probably got another couple of hours worth of sleep in 20 minute bursts between then and 6am.

I think the intended effects of the pills are also starting to build up though. I was much less stressed about getting out of bed and going out on the bike this morning. I did have a couple of little spots on the bike where my mind was wandering a bit. There was also a close-call with an oncoming van squeezing us to the side of the road, which in turn led to me thinking about suicide by vehicle again.

Tomorrow I have a visit to the GP to check on how I am coping with the new meds. If I don't get a better night of sleep tonight I am going to tell him I am coming off them. I will also have to pass another interrogation from the psychiatrist and a weight check at the hospital on Tuesday. If I drop below the 68kg mark they want to admit me until they can stabilise the weight loss. Seems like another good reason to get off the latest set of meds.

Tomorrow, after the GP, I am meant to be going back to work and then to running and swimming in the evening. I think all three of those is going to be too big a challenge. My realistic target is for two out of the three, but as long as I get one I will call it a successful day.

Day 36 was a better day.