The Journey

Another great week for you, JPB, you did very well!

Awesome JPB!

Meanwhile, finally a workout I can be proud of! (I'm still huffing and puffing as I write this.) I didn't make it to the gym at 10, but I did make it, and had the bright idea of riding my bike to and from (gorgeous day). That added a LOT, especially with hills (huff, puff). And I really do better with concrete rather than willpower goals -- if I quit halfway up the hill and don't do anything else, I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere. If I do half a mile on the treadmill instead of a mile, it doesn't really change anything except for in my own head.

I felt that way the other day.

I walked to town to go to the bank.

just about dint make it back home again...

Thanks folks! I'm still feeling great and doing well.

Great job, yourself, soz!!! I know what you mean about pushing yourself to do as much as you can in one direction. I've always walked in one direction away from my house. When I've reached half-way then I turn back or make a circular loop but I never do laps around the block.

I'm up to 1.9 miles in 32 mins (about 3.6 mph), which is faster and further than I was going the first few weeks but still slower than my old pace of 4.0-4.2 mph. I may or may not ever get back there but I'm pleased with my progress and I'm not stressing my leg.

Great to see folks posting!

Hit the 15 lb lost milestone this morning. Eight more to reach my goal - hopefully in time to stabilize a bit and get a baseline cholesterol before my Oct 21st appt with the neurologist.

Heading downtown to meet up with joe, jw, and map for lunch. I already know what I'm ordering - large grilled steak salad - yummy!

Workout day today, soz!

Congrats on dropping those 15!
Say hi to the Windy City bunch for me.

I may get out to Chicago next summer.
Maybe we can meet.

It would be great to meet you, George. I hope you make it to Chicago sometime.

As you mentioned, some of us are having lunch with JPB today. Each of us is buying her a dessert. Maybe, she can get those 15 pounds back!

You're a bad, bad man, LeRoy Brown.

ohhhhhh.... that would be great!

And, you're right about jw. He's a very bad Leroy Brown!

I must let everyone else on this thread know that I did see you today and that you look like you have been taking good care of yourself.

JPB looks fine, everybody!

Thanks, jw. Although we all know your posts are the opposite of what you mean half the time.

I am doing fine. I enjoyed our 2 hr lunch!

I did not make it this time. Missed the 10 AM time I'd set, I managed to go on Tuesday anyway even though it wasn't at 10 so I said "OK so I'll do it later," then this happened and that happened and poof, the day was over.

I'm going to do something tomorrow, if only an energetic bikeride. 1 PM seems to be a more realistic time for it (that's when I used to work out regularly).

I am sure you all had a great lunch together and enjoyed yourself. JPB
deserved to reward herself with dessert after losing so much weight already and sticking to her exercise plan.

I am trying to go tomorrow morning at 7:00 am after dropping off Jane at
school. Went today too, but I've been eating a bit more the past days.

I don't meant to be obnoxious. I am extremely pro JPB doing well.

But- I'm a not diet person. I'm more for change your lifestyle bits, whichever direction you choose on that.

Me, I choose gourmet. (kidding).

You're not obnoxious, osso, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I'm actually doing (or attempting to do) precisely that -- lifestyle bits. Unfortunately I have a timeline that isn't of my own making. In three weeks I will no longer be able to afford the meds that I've been prescribed for life. Not that I've ever wanted to be on any of them, but my attempt last summer to do the slow and steady lifestyle changes through walking and moderate changes (which worked for me 15 years ago) resulted in a broken leg that completely derailed that approach. I still can't walk as much as I'd like or need to do to get my weight down to the point where it's below my elevated bp trigger (> 176), allows for maintenance of a stable weight and lower cholesterol, and allows me to have the conversation with the neurologist in October, 2011 about converting over to a less costly and possibly more natural anti-coagulant therapy.

I've tracked my bp for years and I know that it's fairly linear (almost point for pound) as my weight increases past 176. By being 30 lbs less than I was last winter then my bp will be 30 pts less. As I said in my opening post, my goal is an overall healthier lifestyle keeping my medical history in mind. The first step has to be to get my weight down to a level that allows me to proceed on to better balance and it needs to be done fairly quickly (while still, hopefully, with good nutrition). It also needs to be sustainable. Coming off my meds and regaining the 30 lbs total I will have lost while reaching my goal is a recipe for disaster. The maintenance portion will require permanent lifestyle changes - you're exactly right.

My posts in the past three weeks have focused on weight loss because it's the most crucial component of what will allow the rest of the plan to fall in place. It's also the thing I have the most control over - I can control everything I put in my mouth and every step/workout I make. I'm hopeful that the 3rd and 4th phases of the food plan that I've chosen (I don't even think of it as a diet) will allow me to make the rest of the changes that ultimately result in an overall change in my approach toward healthier living.

Good job on your workouts, CJ! I hope you made it to the gym today.

No dessert other than the benefit of a good conversation with joe and jw. I posed the question, "What, exactly, is the point of a philosophical discussion?" You can imagine that they both had plenty to say about it We also solved the problems of the postal system, health care, and the needs of a democratic society. Ok, it's possible that neither of them accept that I have all the answers there.

I arrived in the city just in time to hoof it over to joe's workplace and continue on to the restaurant. I wandered a bit after lunch but then decided if I hurried I could make the 2:35 train home which means that I ended up with a double dose of walking for exercise yesterday.

Just to post an example food intake from this plan, yesterday's intake was:

Breakfast - 2 egg omelet with peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, ff feta cheese
Lunch - my favorite dinner salad in all of Chicagoland - grilled steak, roasted red peppers, shallots, blue cheese on a bed of arugula
Snack - 8oz vanilla yogurt with 2T oat bran
Dinner - 6 oz roast pork loin with a full bag (4 servings) of frozen/steamed artichoke hearts with lemon.

Result - I'm down 0.5 lbs today.

Today it is! Finding your best daytime slot is key. I know if I don't do my 8MM exercises before breakfast then they won't get done. I also know if I don't go to the therapy pool from 12-1 on Monday then I won't go until Wednesday at the earliest. Establishing a workable routine is a huge benefit. That, and you get to come back here and post that it's DONE!

Thanks, JPB. That is a perfect summary of our lunch yesterday.

(Of course, the lunch would have been less than 2 hours if joefromchicago and I weren't so long-winded.)

Mr B is having a discussion about a "possible business relationship" with the folks who he's been meeting with on a project that may someday turn into an employment opportunity. Hopefully they aren't asking him to be an unpaid investor!