Thursday, June 29, 2017

Catching up...

It has been a busy week and so I have missed posting for a few days.
I have managed to keep active in spite of spending several hours on the road for the past couple of days. Diet wise has been a challenge.

I am still watching protein intake, but to need to focus more on some real exercise rather than just walking. I'm guessing that my 4 hour motorcycle ride yesterday burned a few more calories than usual as the head wind was pretty strong and I don't have a windscreen. I feel okay today but won't be surprised if my neck and shoulders aren't a little stiff later this evening.

I did have a bit of a binge late last night because there is ice cream in the house...
just need to keep things in moderation.

Be well,
John

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Sunday

Yesterday's lake day was pretty much as expected. It was an exceptional day on the protein intake, but the cold fried chicken lunch and the pork tenderloin sandwich for dinner also made it an exceptional day for fat intake. I had a few hard boiled eggs during the day so that added to the fat count. I managed to skip the chips and cookies on the boat and substituted beans for the fries with the sandwich, so carbs were pretty limited except for the breading on the fried stuff (I peeled some of the breading off of the chicken) and the Texas toast the tenderloin was served on.

All-in-all, not a bad day.

Today will be an easy day for the food management and an okay day for activity. Sunday is the last day of my diet week as Monday morning is my weigh-in day. I should probably make Friday my weigh in day so I have the week to recover from the weekend splurges, but life has a way of working out no matter when I choose to use the scale.

John

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Lake Day!

Last weekend I was at a kids' camp while family and friends were enjoying a day on the lake.
Today, I'll be on the lake with them!

Typically, I'd say this is going to be a cheat day, but since my focus is on protein intake and junk restriction more than on counting calories, I think I'll be okay. For a day on the lake and in the sun, the main thing is to stay properly hydrated. I'll need to watch how much I snack on the available junk food and I think I'll bring a few healthier snacks along for good measure.

I'll be leaving my cell phone behind so my activity tracker will show me at near zero for the day but no worries. The day is about relaxing and enjoying time with friends and time in the sun.

Day 6.
Here I come!

John

Friday, June 23, 2017

Midweek progress

I'm not going to be one that steps on the scale and records weight every day during my experiment in dieting, but the midweek number was surprisingly good!

My healthy eating plan to get me off to a good start is more about focusing on increasing my protein intake than about counting calories. I'm still using the My Fitness Pal app to keep track since it does this for me and has a pretty extensive data base when it comes to eating out. The protein focus reminds me of the days when I was reading and using much of the Adkins philosophy. Reducing sugar and starchy carbs is a part of what I'm doing, but not as restrictive as the Adkins induction phase. Right now, I'm more about shifting the way my body processes calories and builds new muscle tissue.

I'm also adding in a minimal amount of exercise to my daily routine. The exercise is to serve two purposes -- 1, to build a little strength and increase my metabolism (I guess that's already two) and 2, to start to establish a habit of regular exercise. One might think that I have all the time in the world to exercise now that I'm retired, but the simple truth is that isn't how I want to spend my time. I'm more interested in finding the minimum exercise that I can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle and sticking to that.

The experiment continues...

John
The Unhealthy Guy

Thursday, June 22, 2017

I hate this blog!

Ugh!
I've decided that I hate this blog.
I started it when I was at a really good place health wise. I had just lost 60 pounds in a year, was walking 3-4 miles daily, eating well and feeling great.

Unfortunately, I left most of the good health things behind and slowly (over a couple of years) regained most of the lost weight and gave up on the good habits of diet and exercise.
Like many people, I've struggled to find a balance of living the good life and living a healthy life.

So far, this week has been a good week.
I've refocused on the diet part of living -- not the restricting weightloss kind of diet, but the not eating so much crap kind of diet.
When it comes right down to it, I'm pretty aware of how different foods will affect me. The fitness adage -- Eat well, feel well. Eat crap, feel like crap. -- is true.
I've been re-reading old material and reading some new stuff and working on changing my attitude towards what I'm eating and manipulating my metabolism to do a better job of getting rid of the pounds that I've put back on.

When I started this blog, it was so that i wasn't always writing about food and exercise on my other blog. Now I never write about good healthy stuff on either blog!
I'm going to be back here more often.
I think that forcing myself to write about the struggle will actually help me to stay focused. Maybe I can turn the "I hate this blog!" feeling into more of a love/hate relationship that will at least provide a more healthy John somewhere along the way.

John <><