Is an Irish Pint a Pound the World Around?

I got hooked on a House marathon the other day. It’s evil. They’re so good. Especially because they play on Friday nights when all I want to do is forget about work, curl up, and watch a TV show about my work environment? Seriously, what’s wrong with me?

One, of the like 7point25, episodes I watched was about an athlete who was discharged and re-admitted the next day. House (and crew) couldn’t figure out anything different with his labs or status…Except! That he had lost one pound. House jumped on the fact that he had lost one pound and held it over his peons’ heads like the obvious answer. ONE pound?!

After 1point25 weeks at my current clinical dietitian position, it baffles me that House would assume accurate weights were recorded on discharge and admission AND that it was such a pertinent change.

• First off, there is the clothing differences, bedding/tubing weight differences (if weighed on an ICU bed), precision in the scales & measurers, consistency in the time of day the weights were taken.

• Second off, hydration status is huge. Any healthy, weight stable individual does not weigh the same from start to end of a day. We eat, we drink, and we create “output”…

I mean, we even shrink height-wise throughout a day-a thought truly startling to this 5 foot being (ok, ok, 4’11.75’’).

I think about heart failure patients on fluid restrictions and Lasix (a drug that pulls water off your body). I think about ventilator dependent patients with tube feeds, free water flushes, and IV fluids. I think about patients with C-diff (a terrible case of the “runs”). I think about end stage kidney disease patients who have fluid drawn off them from dialysis or paracentesis.

And then I’m happy when people remain Close to weight stable.

Once my thinking thoughts spiraled, they came to that saying “a pint’s a pound the world around.” Meaning the weight of one pint of water is equivalent to one pound. Not pound of weight gain-that would be equivalent to 3,500 calories and a pint of water is zero calories- but a pound of [body] weight.

 

Of course, tomorrow-being St. Patrick’s Day and my second favorite holiday behind Thanksgiving, I’m thinking about pints. 8 ounces makes 1 cup, 2 cups makes 1 pint, 1 pint makes 1 pound, and 1 Irish pint makes a happy Margaret Catherine Murphy. No but really, 1 pint probably makes about 200 additional calories to help me celebrate one of the best holidays.

And after celebrating, I will have gained several pounds of body weight and maybe a little towards weight gain-and in the morning, I will have diuresised to a dehydrated body weight while unfortunately keeping the weight gain.

Tis the luck of the Irish for you.