Medical Evidence

Since I signed up for the school district's wellness stuff, I figured I should go in and see the doc.  I get a gift card for showing that I'm trying to be healthy, so why not?  Besides that, the fact that my cholesterol med prescription was out of refills, I figured it was time to go in for a physical.  So it had been over a year?  It could have been worse.  (More updates on my wellness plan later.)

So after the blood work last Tuesday, I went in this past Monday to get the good news.  Blood sugar is excellent.  Triglycerides are way down!  Good cholesterol is up.  Bad cholesterol is down. A lot!  Woo hoo!  I'm still working at it--not gonna grind to a halt just because the numbers say I'm not at much risk for heart attack or stroke or things like that (blood pressure is a teeny bit up--doc says it's stress and aging).  My weight is about the same as t was at this time last year, so I;d like to lower it some.  And it's coming off...very...slowly.

So, there.  I'm feeling pretty darn good about myself.  Portions are still hard, and so is battling the after-school snack desire.  It's a good thing there aren't any Oreos in the house right now either.

Like Bob Wiley, I'm not a slacker.  I'm doin' the work!

P.S.  Over the weekend I went under 290 (barely), but I'm back up to 291.  Work is still in progress.

Still Losing Weight...

despite eating grilled sausages, steak, chicken, (bacon and jalapeno) pizza, and a strawberry milkshake this weekend.  Down to 293.4, baby!  I just didn't gorge myself this time.

Witness the Willpower

Just so you know, in the past 72 hours I have passed on free cookies, cake, ice cream, donuts, candy bars, chips, Dum Dums (from  Sam), dark chocolate coconut almonds, and massive amounts of leftover pizza.  That should be worth something.

My mind and body don't agree, though.

I Just Wanted to Say...

No, this is not anything to do with William Carlos Williams or the plums he kifed.  I just wanted to say that I am still going walking in the mornings.  Yesterday I walked past the chocolate chip cookies that the wonderful PTA brought in for Monday Munchies not once but four times without partaking.  Whereas I praised them for the sugar before, they may become Monday's bane.  I also only ate one stuffed pepper for lunch (with quinoa, which does not taste just like rice).

The Monday morning weigh-in resulted higher than the last one, but it was lower than the initial one last Monday.  Progress!  I guess pizza and peach shakes over the weekend make a difference.  Heh heh.

That is all.

Almost from Scratch

So I wrote about my abysmal eating over the summer.  Amy and I have now decided how we're going to be come healthier--together.  It's going to be so much more interesting and motivating to have someone else helping me along.

The initial push starting tomorrow (Monday, September 9, 2013) will include exercising for 30 minutes at least 4 times per week, drinking enough water, eating enough fruits and veggies, not having any carbonation, limiting sugar and extra junk, avoiding eating after 8:00 p.m., daily reading, and more regular writing.  That means I'll probably end up with a few more posts on this blog, as well as my Joe Average Writer blog.

This past week was a practice run as we decided our categories for our wellness challenge and established some incentives.

So, tomorrow I'll try to get in an official weigh-in in the morning after I go for a nice half-hour walk.  The most recent revelation (Saturday) showed that I had lost 1.9 pounds since Monday (That's 296.9 for those that don't pay attention or refuse to do the math).  Not bad.  Since I started writing this blog I have had ups and downs, and I'm just about back to square one; it's almost like I've called the last two years a do-over for my health, but now I'm playing for keeps.  (Cue Rocky theme music.)

I know the results won't be instantaneous, the work will be slow, but I'm good for it.  There isn't any busy work getting in the way.  Just this little thing called a dissertation.

By the way, on Friday I turned down donuts and chocolate milk.

Here We Go Again, Y'all

So it's a brand new school year, a brand new month, and a brand new chance for me to start over with my health.  The vacation that wasn't quite as epic as Odysseus's return home has left me  little worse for the wear around the waist.  I didn't think that I was doing too badly, but apparently I was delusional.  Sitting in a car for muchas hours every day doesn't leave much room for exercise.  Even all the walking around the National Mall and the rest of D.C. plus the early morning jaunts in the humidity didn't combat the fast food and Southern hospitality.

That said, I weighed in this morning.  So, here it is: 297.8 lbs.  Wow!  Not good.  Close to the all-time high.  And since I've even been walking with Amy 3 times a week since we've returned, I can neither confirm nor deny that it was higher than that at any given point during this summer season.  So it's time to take more drastic measures.

I've already cut my portions (Today I only had one pork and slaw sandwich and one hot dog for the Labor Day get-together.) and stopped the carbonation since school began back on the 22nd.  Amy and I are going to try something a little different.  I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'll let you know.  Grrrr!!!

I'm not quite this big, even though my students might see me as such.  Kind of intimidating, huh?

P.S.  I know it's been somewhat disappointing over the past few months, but I'm going to try to get back over one hundred views in one month on this blog again.

Do Calories Really Count While I'm On Vacation?

I haven't weighed myself since I got back from vacation.  Frankly, I'm scared.  In the next short while I'll post all of the delicious fare I sampled while gone from home.  Honestly, it was a lot...and I'm not including all the junk snacks during the actual driving part of things.  Five thousand miles is a lot of beef jerky.

On one of our stops, someone said that while you are on vacation you are young, skinny, and rich, but once you return home you relapse and become old, fat, and poor again.  Yep.  I'm getting there.

However, despite my weight negligence, I have walked in the mornings semi-regularly since returning. I even exercised while I was on vacation.  The National Mall in DC kind of forces that on you.  So do several other sites that I will rehash at a later date.