Yes, it’s official. I’m giving up the blog, so don’t look for any more posts on here.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not giving up on weight loss, or blogging about it. Far from it. But for whatever reasons, known only to them, Google has chosen to consign this URL to the 9th circle of Hell. It simply doesn’t turn up in Google’s search results for “weight loss blog”, no matter how faithfully I blog every night. As it used to be on Page 5 of Google’s results, and it’s now been two months since it appeared in the first FIFTY pages, it’s obvious that Google has decided it doesn’t like this blog, and that their decision is permanent.

So I’ll be buying another URL and starting over, and I hope to have it kicked off in the next couple of weeks, as I intend to start my weight loss program in earnest after October gets here, and I can start walking again.

In light of the fact that I’ll probably be moving to another URL soon, I probably won’t be making many long posts on here from now on. Unless I suddenly reappear in the first 50 pages of Google’s search engine results in the next couple weeks, this blog will be shutting down and moving to another URL.

But as long as I’m here, I’ll point out that I haven’t had a single drop of pop or iced tea or another sugary drink, or hardly any sugar at all, since Saturday. Tomorrow night will mark one week without sugar, and I’m not missing it near as much as I thought I would.

I don’t know what I did to tick off Google, but my site doesn’t appear in the first 50 pages of Google results for “weight loss blog.” It used to be on page 5. But it disappeared from the search results about a month ago and it looks like it’s not coming back. So I may have to get a new URL and just start over. There’s not much point in blogging every day if nobody reads it.

I finally got 4 hours of good sleep! Got to the sleep lab at about 7:30. By the time I was done signing papers and getting all wired up, it was about 8:15. Normally I go to bed around 10:30 or 11, so I wasn’t ready to fall asleep. Laid there for probably 90 minutes, listening to George Knapp talk about the legend of the Mothman on one of my Coast to Coast podcast downloads. Finally nodded off, but, as usual, my sleep was very fitful. I probably woke up 5 times between falling asleep around 10 and the respiratory technician coming in to wake me up at 12:30. Then, after some discussion, he hooked me up to the CPAP machine. When you first try to put the mask on, it’s horrible…it feels like someone is trying to shove a powerful fan down your throat. But after about 3 attempts, I got it on, and once it’s sealed against your face, it’s fine. Then he told me to lie on my back. I explained to him that I can’t fall asleep on my back, as I’ve tried over and over, sometimes laying there for a couple of hours to no avail. But he said just try it. So I did. This was about 1:00. About five minutes later I fell asleep, and the next thing I remember is him waking me up at 5:30. I slept like a log, and he said I only turned over once, which has to be some kind of record. I’m very excited about the results. I was pretty sure I had sleep apnea, which he assured me I do. He said I stopped breathing every three or four minutes sleeping on my own. But my big fear was that I couldn’t get used to wearing a mask to bed. Now that I see it’s no big deal, I’m looking forward to finally getting some decent sleep starting in a couple of week after the lab processes my test and sends the results to my doctor.

I’ve had trouble sleeping for years. And I’m sure my problem is either caused by or greatly exacerbated by my weight. I’m not going to go into all the detail of sleep apnea right now, but the doc thinks I have it, and we’ll find out tonight. The test is $1000 out of my own pocket, so I sure hope they get to the bottom of my problem. The only way I can function at work is to chew nicotine gum all day. And I think doing so aggravates my acid reflux, because when I lay off the gum for a few hours, the cough goes away. But then I can’t stay awake. So it’s either be miserable from coughing all day, or doze off at work. Since I want to keep my job, I’m chewing the gum. I was hoping I could get diagnosed and fitted with a CPAP mask within a few days, but the lab says it takes 10 days to interpret and process the results and pass them on to my doc, who will then have to write me a prescription for a machine. So two more weeks of this…I hope I can hold on that long.

It would be great to be able to get a good night’s sleep again. I knew a guy who wore a CPAP and he said the first morning after he wore it he felt like a brand new man. That would be nice to experience. They also say that lack of sleep contributes to obesity, so that’s another reason to look forward to getting a good night’s sleep every night.

I’m doing better when it comes to food. I’m eating much less. I’m trying to get used to being slightly hungry most of the time. It’s not that bad. Saturday I found two 20 ounce Pepsi’s I’d forgotten about in the fridge, and I drank those, but since then I’ve had no pop, tea, sweets or other forms of sugar. I’m going to try to keep it up. I’m really starting to enjoy the taste of pure, clean water.

That’s still my goal. Just maintain. Don’t get any bigger, but don’t worry about trying to lose weight. Although I did go all day without sugar today. Well, I’m sure there were minute amounts in the brats I had for lunch, and the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowl I had for breakfast, and more than a finite amount in the buns for the brats. But those aren’t causing my weight problem. That’s the result of the 5-6 Pepsi’s, Moutain Dew’s and iced teas I normally drink every day. Actually, when you add up the pop at work, and the tea at home, it’s probably more like the equivalent of 8-10 cans of pop. But today it has been nothing but bottled water.

So that’s not bad.

Watch it here.

I’m extremely tired, kinda depressed, and that’s about it.

Too busy getting caught up on my freelance assignments to write much tonight. I hadn’t thought about this factor when I took on all these freelance jobs. I will definitely have to cut back in the future if I’m going to keep my promise to myself to blog about losing weight nearly every night. It takes a good 45-60 minutes to knock out a decent post, and I don’t have that tonight. And just think, in a couple months, when it’s cool enough to walk again, and I’m spending 60-90 minutes out on the pavement, time is going to be even more precious. And since losing weight and blogging about it are the main priorities, making some extra money every month will have to take a back seat. I should probably just take on enough work to fill 10 or 15 hours, and knock it out on the weekends.

Anyway, cough still here, but not getting worse. I ate pretty good today, and I’ve got my evening meal planned for tomorrow. And I bought a 24 pack of bottled water. There is no tea or pop in the house.

Well, it wasn’t much of a blog, but I kept my promise.

Stay tuned.

Pretty fancy title, huh? Yeah…it’s late, 9:33 pm, and I was headed for bed. I want to start getting to work around 7:30 in the morning. It seems I get much more done before noon than, after, although that could just be my impression. I don’t have any hard evidence either way. At any rate, I was headed for bed when I realized I hadn’t blogged today. I want to blog at least 5 days a week, 6 would be even better, and 7 would be ideal. At first I thought I’ll just skip it, because I can still do 5 nights in a row starting tomorrow night…but it’s just too easy to blow it off one night, and then again the next, and before you know, six weeks have gone by without blogging. This is a routine I need to stick with if only for the purposes of self disciplien. So here I am. It won’t be a long one, nor will it be profound, but it will be on the internet tonight.

So how’s my latest theory about acid reflux being the the cause of my cough holding up? Pretty good, actually. Freebird’s World Burrito’s opened today, and we all had that for lunch, and I was worried about a flareup. But I got the mildest sauce, and I ate slowly, and I had no problem. Later though, out of habit, I absent mindedly ate too much. I wanted to get right to my writing assignment, so I stopped at Checkers on the way home and got their 2 Bacon Roadhouse Burgers for $5. That’s not really a whole lot of food compared to what I’m used to, but it was enough to make me start coughing. And actually, the sandwiches are huge (two patties each, with onion rings and bacon), and a normal person would only eat one. On top of the huge burrito, it was enough to trigger another night of hard coughing.

I need to start eating like a normal person, if only so I don’t cough up my esophagus. Well, I’m going to HEB tomorrow and stock up. For the foreseeable future, while I’m at home, I’ll be eating plain, non-spicy foods, like chicken breasts and green beans, hamburger patties and mashed potatoes. And much smaller portions, too, like one piece of meat to a meal. And after I haven’t coughed for a few days, I’m gonna hit the pavement again, picking up right where I left off, at eight minutes a night for starters.

So that’s about it. Stay tuned for future weight loss blog updates.