Blood pressure

In terms of at risk health indicators, as well as my fasting blood glucose level not being as comfortably low as I might like, I sometimes measure my diastolic blood pressure at a touch over 80. That seems another reason to keep exercising and monitoring. It hasn't been too bad for well over a year now: a few years ago back when I was obese it was over 90 sometimes so at least the recent trend is good.

Diet for managing weight

For many weeks now I have limited myself to eating 14Mcal per week but lost less than half a pound per month. My weight remains at around the top of the healthy range so I would like to buy myself a greater margin there. Perhaps with a little more weight loss my other health indicators would improve a little too. In British Imperial terms, I have already lost well over four stone and kept it off but perhaps I could yet stand to lose just one more.

What puzzles me is that the modern weight calculators suggest that I should need to eat well over 16Mcal per week to maintain my weight. I do take the occasional break from counting calories when we are with extended family or suchlike but I rather doubt that is enough to explain such slow loss. I suspect it is instead more to do with how individuals can vary from the mean.

When I originally reached a healthy weight and adjusted to a more generous maintenance diet I had hoped that I would indeed get to eat more than 16Mcal per week. Instead I am now thinking that I may need to limit myself to 13Mcal per week, at least from mid-August after life has settled back down from various summer holiday things. I will look again at increasing the limit back to at least 14Mcal if I reach 150lb.

Nice cheap red wine

Tonight's cheap red wine is European: I am enjoying a very easygoing Romanian pinot noir from Bradshaw's illustration series whose label bears a pretty peacock. Reviews are enough mixed that I wonder if the quality varies but I appear to have been one of the lucky ones with my little quarter-bottle.