Family Lobstah Fest 2009

Because Facebooks sucks to upload slide shows with music that is why this is here.

Becoming a Meander-thal

By the time I leave work I check my pedometer. I make sure I see more than 5 miles a day. It hasn't been a problem since I work in a place with a huge campus of 5 buildings. I park far away, I enter the wrong door, I take the long way to the bathroom. I walk to the next building for lunch and try to get 2 miles after lunch before the afternoon meetings. If by the end of the day I need to pull in a mile, I walk the "loop road" which is 1.5 miles. It all adds up. I walk slow because of the pain mentioned in previous posts... but I do walk about 2.5 miles/hour. The 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there and 40-60 minutes at lunch all add up at the end of the day. Therefore, I've decided that I am now a meander-thal, since I take meandering paths to get my daily activities done.

Funny though, my knuckles no longer drag.

A new low!

Alright, walking it off seems to be working. I am walking at least 5 miles a day now and maintaining a healthy balance on the intake. Even through a vacation I was still able to maintain my healthy choices and stay within target. As a result, I got on the scale this morning and saw 238.5 lbs. The first time in years I've seen below 240! My double XL's are starting to be too large even.

Gotta keep moving... catch you all later.

I'm not taking this sitting down!

For starters I HATE set points... and ANY talk about set points. My Body's set points have screwed me up in the past. I'd start out strong in a healthy regime of diet and exercise. I'd see some early success, then a plateau. Anticipating feedback from a scale I would get frustrated, hang on a short time and then grow indifferent before settle back into unhealthy routines.

What I hadn't taken into consideration until now is that my body IS adjusting. It's rebelling... but adjusting none the less. I look for other signs of success like being able to take two flights of stairs without requiring oxygen when I reach the top. Clothes fitting differently or better is another good indication.

So, with my awakening a month ago, I refuse to take my body's set point sitting down. I started out jogging for the first couple of weeks but because I have problems with shin splints and heel spurs... I rapidly discovered that walking a distance was better on this improving frame. I have a pedometer that is calibrated and records the distance i travel in a day.

I use a program that tracks my calories as honest as I enter them. I am committed to the accuracy of this because its for my own good. (I am also an engineer and calculating things appeals to me) It also keeps track of my exercises. The first couple of weeks I found moderate success in the form of feedback from an inanimate object know as a scale. But the 2 pounds that it said, remained unchanged for two weeks as I maintained a caloric budget in my target for my goals. I fought back the indifference and exasperation. Instead of jogging I focused on walking 2-3 miles a day. Then I increased it to 3-4 miles a day. Shin splints and heel spurs still surfaced. But about half way into the second week, I stopped getting shin splints and I just walked through the pain until my heel stretched itself out.

I wasn't going to let my body win. Finally I jumped on the scale and I saw 5.5 pounds off! I ran the calculations too, and discovered that given the delta of my RMR and the calories I consumed and burned, I was right on target! The scale didn't seem "broken" any more. I am continuing my daily walk and have increased my range to 4-5 miles a day. I have sworn off elevators at work and other places I frequent. I feel healthier and that is my ultimate goal. By mid summer I want to be walking 5-6 mile a day with out pain.

The weight will come off if I ignore that inanimate object and my body's rebellion. I will not take this sitting down.

A wake up call

Yes... it's been a year.

Anonymous commentor of my last post was also a good prompt.

This past weekend I had a scare. On Saturday afternoon, after a vigorous workout with a small chain saw, I had several brief episodes of sharp chest pain (around 4 pm). Not wanting to take any chances, I headed to the emergency room at Emerson Hospital. I had another episode in the car, and later, one in the ER.

In the ER, they hooked me up to EKG, drew blood, inserted an IV, and applied a nitroglycerine patch. And then we waited. And waited. they decided to keep me over night for observations because of a long list of risk factors for heart attack-- type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history, overweight, under exercised.

I had had an echocardiogram the next morning (which was normal), but there were problems scheduling the stress test as on a Sunday, and due to cost cuts, they didn't have a technician. Finally, around 2:30 pm, the cardiologist managed to get a technician. The treadmill stress test took about 30 minutes .The stress test was normal, too.

I was discharged later that afternoon and was told this was not a cardio event. Rather, it was most likely due to the activity with the (dull) chain saw.

I am back at a fitness regimine. I am starting out slow and looking at becoming more healthy rather than lighter. Hopefully the otehr will follow.