Jan 1, 2025

It's been awhile.
I haven't been doing much in the way of healthy living during 2024. 
I reached my heaviest weight ever and am now on meds for my elevated blood pressure.
Although the 278 pounds (126 kg) is the most to begin a year, it is 7 lbs less than where I was at the beginning of last month. 

Damn! 
That's a lot of weight I need to lose.

Last week I was looking ahead and considering some healthful resolutions for 2025 and I decided that I didn't really need to wait until today to get started. I realize that starting slowly with a huge task ahead of me may seem counter intuitive to some, but I know that it is what will work for me. Today will be Day 4 in a daily exercise streak -- two days of walking, and one day on the exercise cycle. With the coming cold weather, I may be spending more days on the exercise cycle and treadmill than walking outside, but that will have to do for now.
My walks will get longer (2 miles, 3.2 km) so far, as will my cycling time (30 min). I'll also add in other work using body weight, dumbbells, and our weight machine.
The goal is to be in better shape and get off the blood pressure meds.

Diet wise -- damn, I just need to eat less.
A lot less!
The goals are simple -- lose weight.
Short term -- 5 lbs (2.26 kg) per week for the first 5 weeks, then half that (recommended for long term)...
Long term -- until I weigh less than 200 lbs (90.7 kg)

I should be getting close by the time I hit my 65th birthday in June.
I'll post regular updates in hopes that posting will keep me moving forward.

Wish me well,
John
278 lbs, 37.7 BMI

F is for f#@k (and for fat)

Yeah it has been a while since I've focused on the whole Healthy Living thing and I've been stuck in the unhealthy guy part. I started the year at 28 pounds more than I began 2022 and at my highest weight (you can read fattest) ever.

Damn! It is time to get serious about bringing it down before it causes some real problems. 
So this past week --

     I started by purposely waiting to begin consuming calories each day (modified intermittent fasting)
     I started by cutting back on the snacking.
     I started being a little more active.
     I started drinking more water.

I am starting slowly because I'm not new to this game and I know myself. Starting slowly and building is way better than going at it hard and quitting. I also know that it is easier to lose weight at the beginning and it doesn't take much effort to encourage me to do more. 
Having said that (and realizing that my Jan 1 weight may have been a heavy day), I am down 4 pounds at my Jan 8 weigh-in. 

Realist that I am, I expect to do a little more this week and probably lose a little less.
I am trying to avoid calorie counting and strictly monitoring food intake, but I am also aware of how effective that is for me and keeping it as an option.

John

Ugh! Maybe It's Time for a New Approach to Healthy Living

At this time last year I weighed 258 pounds--not the heaviest I've ever been, but pretty damn close. 
Over the next several months I managed to lose 28 pounds and was 230 by September. Then I just got lazy -- lazy about exercise, lazy about diet, lazy about caring. Ugh!

Now I find myself back at 248 pounds and basically starting over at a year older. I add the year older because I'm finding age to be a contributing factor in the increased difficulty of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 
My new approach is to make this more of a mind-body-spirit health kind of journey. I have some thoughts on how this will look and feel, but I'm not entirely sure how to express them at this point. There will most certainly be some Eastern influence in the way of meditation and philosophy, perhaps also in the physical exercise part. Although a person wouldn't normally consider reading to be a part of a weightloss or healthy living program, I think that reading will most definitely fuel the mental and even spiritual health part and be a significant contributor to the physical health. 

One of the gifts we gave to ourselves this past Christmas was an Instant Pot Duo. It's a pretty multifunctional kitchen device that can cook, slow cook, pressure cook, bake, hot air fry, and more. It's easy to use and easy to clean. Although we are still on a discovery journey with it, we've used it in preparing most of our meals. Of course, the fixing healthy foods part and consuming smaller portions is still up to us.

A new approach to an old struggle.
Let's see how this goes.

John

July 6; simple steps for the undisciplined

Monday morning weigh-in is 234 pounds. That's minus 24 pounds in the ten weeks since 4/22. 

I'm no dietitian and I'm obviously not a health expert. I had ice cream (twice) yesterday and regularly eat crap that no healthnut would touch. I am in terrible shape, have no regular exercise plan, and can't even force myself to walk daily most of the time.

So how does an undisciplined, unhealthy guy lose 24 pounds in ten weeks?

*I eat less. I pretty much eat what I want, but I eat less of it.

*I track my calories and know how many calories I need to stay below to lose two pounds per week. Although I don't restrict fats or carbs, I know when I'm consuming them and have a pretty good idea of how they'll make me feel. I also pay attention to when I'm eating.

*I utilize intermittent fasting (fast 16/eat 8) three or four days per week.

*And although it is irregular, I do try to manage some physical activity on most days.

That's pretty much it.

I understand how you might need some time to get your head into the idea of weight loss or fitness. I'm that way too. While your working on that, try doing just one thing to position yourself for success. Download a calorie counting app or a step tracking app. I use My Fitness Pal. There are many available. You won't even have to use it ... today. Just get familiar with it.

Simple steps for the undisciplined.

Be well,

John

March 14

I'm actually posting early on the 15th.
Yesterday's step count was 7613. Even though it was below the 10,000 step daily target, I'm okay with it. It was a cool, rainy day and I had some stuff planned. I knew going into the day that I'd have more than enough steps to reach the weekly total of 70,000 steps. My app hasn't updated yet with the weekly summary, but I know I've got it covered.

I think that I'll keep posting daily step counts to this blog for my personal motivation and accountability, but stop sharing the post to my Facebook page. Maybe I'll just post the weekly summary to Facebook.

John

March 13

March 12

March 11

March 10

March 9

March 8

March 7

March 6

Back at it...

March 5

So it's 9:30pm and I'm about 200 steps short of a half-day -- 5000 steps.
That's okay. I decided early in the day to give myself a pass today. I knew how the day might be and just decided I wasn't going to stress over it.
Back at it tomorrow.

John

March 4

Yesterday and today were pretty leisurely 3 mile walks. Maybe I'll pick up the pace again tomorrow. Mostly just working on getting the steps in.

March 3: Call it a streak

https://youtu.be/DnVrSZHnvYY

It's early, but the apartment is small and I'm in for the night so it won't go up much.

John

March 2

Two in a row!

John

March 1

Let's see how this goes.

One day.

John

August, week 3

Last week was pretty much a bust since I managed to miss 3 of the seven days of workouts. Travel, some unexpected schedule changes, and pure laziness all played a role.
It's said that the best exercise is the one that you will actually do -- for me that is generally going to be walking.
I haven't given up on the P90X3 thing and I'll be back at it this morning, but I really need to figure out some sort of a more regular schedule for exercise. You'd think that being retired would make exercising a breeze, but there is always something else to do. The first step is in making exercise a priority. I don't really think I'm there yet.
I also managed a few indulgences on the diet. I was mostly pretty good on foods and not so good on portions.

It's a new week.
Time to get after it.

John

February Goals

It's February and time to set some goals for the month.
I managed my mileage goal of walking 75 miles in January and will keep that for February, even with its three fewer days.

I backed off on the Squat/push-up challenge in January, but think I'll re-work the numbers and do it again in February. I'll utilize the gains I made in early January and decrease the end of the month demands that I think caused some of my physical discomfort.
3000 squats and 1000 push-ups breaks down to only 150/50 per day for 20 days (that allows for rest days, although they're not as necessary with the lower numbers).

I'm going to add some yoga back into my routine. I was surprised at the strength increases I found the last time yoga was a regular part of my fitness plan. I'm also going to use some weights, both dumbbells and the weight machine. I may have to find some alternative to the weights while on our trip to beaches of Mexico, but that shouldn't be a big deal.

I'll continue to be mindful of what I eat (and when) as I work towards being a healthier person in 2018. I hope that February still finds your New Year's resolutions intact.

Be well,
John