bolson

A year ago I had a Tuesday-night through Thursday-morning medical study visit, and last week I had another. Then I had a 'V O2 max' score of 47.2, this year I got 52. This is an improvement, but the techs were visibly worried about the calibration of the machine this year, so maybe I should accept that as within the margin of error for the test for now. But it's also reasonable to think that I've gotten somewhat fitter in the last year, lots of climbing and gymnastics to thank for that. I found out that my 'resting metabolic rate' is about 1900 calories per day (and last year it was about the same, maybe 1800) which means that just lying in bed all day will consume 1900 calories. This makes me feel less bad about the 3000+ calorie days I've been estimating recently, but I could still be a perfectly healthy(er) 10 pounds lighter.

Arrived 5:30pm Tuesday.
Went to an overnight stay on election night instead of going to fabulous parties. (Maybe we can charitably imagine some virtuous sacrifice, but really it was just dumb planning and being inobservant when I signed up for this sequence a couple months ago.)

Swallowed a little radio transmitting thermometer so that they can data log my core temperature for the next 36 hours.

Pee into a variety of containers, including one big one to collect all my pee for 24 hours. (Totaled over 3.5 liters.)

Got woken up by nurses at 6am. They took my various resting vital signs.

Laid quietly in bed (but not asleep) breathing into a hood for 35 minutes having all of my gasses measured.

Gave a blood sample, drank a sugary beverage, gave blood again every 30 minutes until 2 hours out. Had to just lie in bed and couldn't really move for those 2+ hours.

Didn't get anything but that sugary beverage until lunch around 1pm on Wednesday.

Played silly computer games that were supposed to measure various mental aptitudes. They were easy. Some of them were kinda fun. It makes me a little curious about games like "Brain Age" that are supposed to be good mental exercise, and how if they're really well designed they should seek to the edge of your abilities and always be a challenge. Hmm.

Got a small sample cut out of my left quadricep.

Found out that last week's "V-O-2 max"(?) test rated me at 47.2 ml/kg/min, which they tell me shows that I'm in pretty good shape. Must be all that biking.

And got randomized into the control group. Not what I wanted, less exciting but also less work. Eh.

I'm into the study, but they still haven't told me whether I'll be in the experiment or control group.
For my starting visit yesterday, they gave me a home scale to weigh myself with daily. Today: 191.8lb. My old scale that I'd been logging daily with: 195.0lb. The new scale promises 0.1 pound precision. Apparently the study scientists have also tested it for accuracy. I once tested my old scale by weighing myself and then weighing myself holding a various combinations of 10lb and 15lb dumbbells. It got the right difference up at that range (on probably not-too-precise exercise weights), but maybe the whole time it was off by 3.2lb.