To Hell with *this.* I'm gonna live!

Evelyn1

Evelyn1

New member
(From the "Serenity" movie - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/

Our plucky band of heroes is surrounded, vastly outnumbered, and imminently expecting to be overrun by lots & lots of infamously murderous bad guys. As final goodbyes are exchanged, Simon and Kaylee finally admit their long-unspoken mutual attraction -



Simon: In all that time on the ship... I've always regretted... not being with you.

Kaylee: With me? You mean to say... as in sex?

Simon: I mean to say.

Kaylee (hoisting her weapon): To Hell with *this.* I'm gonna live!)





(Note: some of the following is cribbed from part of my other posts here. So sue me. :cool:)



Okay, there I was in the doctors office, looking at blood sugar and cholesterol numbers that meant that there was a pretty good statistical chance that I was already dead and just hadn't noticed.



Admittedly, the numbers in question had not been all that good the last time the doctor had checked them, but they'd been nowhere near this bad.



The most alarming was a fasting blood glucose level of 120 mg/dl. When you get up to 126 mg/dl, you officially have Type II Diabetes.



I don't want to be diabetic: I've got enough problems already.



With that and the cardiovascular risks associated with my cholesterol levels, there seems to be a statistical near-certainty that - unless I make some drastic lifestyle changes - I *will* be dead within the next 5-15 years.



(I just heard that my mom's next-door-neighbor (a very nice lady & good friend to Mom) has recently been in and out of the emergency with heart/pulmonary trouble, can't breathe well enough to carry on a phone conversation of any length, and is not expected to be with us too much longer....

She's 62 years old.



That could *so* easily be me 13 years from now - unless I start living & behaving a whole lot healthier.)



So, drastic lifestyle changes it is.



I've stocked my kitchen with fresh veggies & fruit, plus whole-grains and/or low-fat everything. I've been keeping a food diary to make sure my diet is balanced. Quantity-wise, I've been trying for 1500 calories/day and winding up at about 1800, which is probably about right. (This somehow seems both more fun and more do-able than plain old just trying for and making 1800.)



I've already lost about 5 lb., my tight clothes are fitting better and my loose clothes are fitting baggier, and I'm feeling better than I have in a very long time.



Activity-wise, I've been pretty darned sedentary, and so almost anything is going to be an improvement. I've re-committed myself to my daily stretching routine, and plan to work my way gently into physical activity and exercise.



I've sort of done this drill before: about 20 years ago, I lost 70 lbs and was able to keep it off for about 2 years. This time will be a good deal harder, because -

- I'm 20 years older

- I have almost twice as far to go.

- And I have severe, disabling Chronic Fatigue/Fibromyalgia.



The CFS/Fibro accounts for some of how I've gotten into this. Among other things, It messes up my body's ability to repair muscles after exercise. The fibro is so severe that I was forced to quit work and go on Social Security disability, which sharply limits my weight-loss-&-fitness options where money is involved. OTOH, the healthy eating & activity may/should/will help improve my Fibro symptoms over time.



All and all good wishes and support will be greatly appreciated; and, as much as I can, reciprocated.
smile.gif
 
Day before yesterday, I did my first serious fitness walk since last summer, and (wouldja believe?) overdid it some -



Intended: approx. 1 mi. RT, approx. 50 ft elev. gain/loss

Actual: 1.5 mi. RT, 200 ft gain/loss (!)



Good outcomes:

- I feel much more energetic and alive.

- My skin looks and feels wonderful. There seems to be no better skin treatment for me than sweat applied from the inside out.

- Discovered a wonderful little woodsy trail in a part of my suburb that I hadn't explored before.

- Discovered several unmapped pedestrian connections between dead-end streets, which will be handy in varying future walks.

- This all fits in nicely with my eventual master plan for walking to the wonderful little juice bar near the bottom of my big (2 mi.), steep (300 ft.) hill.



Lessons learned:


I should take my cell phone with me, just in case.

If it's been raining off & on all day, I should take a hat.

If I'm leaving the house half an hour before civil twilight, I should take my ridiculously fluorescent Day-Glo pink hat.

I need to get some reflective tape or something for my navy blue jacket.

I need to mend my light khaki pants so I don't wind up going walking at dusk in black pants & a navy blue jacket.

The 1100 block of 180th St, where I'd intended to climb up the hill my neighborhood is built on, has a 2% grade. The 1100 block of 185th St., where I wound up climbing that hill, has an 8% grade. I should learn to read street signs.






In the spirit of the Hikers' "Ten Essentials", I'm creating my own Suburb Walkers' "Seven Pretty Good Ideas:"


Cell Phone

Hat

Light-Colored and/or Reflective Clothing

Gloves*

Lip Balm*

$3-5 dollars cash*

ID*


(*Amazingly, I did have 4 out of the 7 with me. :rolleyes: )



I'm not nearly as sore as I thought/feared I'd be, although I have developed the Gordian Muscle Knot just above my right knee. I've been drinking lots of water and a dilute, slightly salted lemon-limeade that is my homemade substitute for gatorade. Doing my daily stretches and taking long, warm showers has probably helped, too.



Planning to get in another walk (sans unplanned steepness) today. :coolgleama:
 
Walked again today. I did 1.3 mile (w/ 80 ft elev gain/loss) of Serious Fitness Walking, in a wooded park and then a nearby neighborhood where the "sidewalks" are grassy-mossy shoulders(verges?). Followed that with an 0.3 mi extended warm-down as I stalked the wily & elusive empty discarded plastic beverage bottle over an empty elementary school playground (I use them for crafts stuff).



Good outcomes:

- I feel good. Tired, and quite a few muscles are feeling that varied muscle conditoning you get from soft & slightly uneven walking surfaces, but good.

- Discovered a wonderful little woodsy park in a part of my suburb that I hadn't explored before.

- Bagged six plastic bottles. (Okay, they're not really all that wily. Or elusive.)

- Fulfilled another part of my eventual master plan involving walking to & from the wonderful little juice bar at the bottom of the big steep hill.



Lessons learned:



If it's been bright & sunny all day, I should wear sunscreen & bring sunglasses.



If I plan to fill the pockets of my cotton cargo pants with sunglasees, cel phone, and other impedimentia; it might not hurt to wear a belt.





Given that the sun does sometimes shine even in February, I'm changing my "Seven Pretty Good Ideas" to "Nine Not-To-Forgets"



Cell Phone



Hat



Light-Colored and/or Reflective Clothing



Gloves



Lip Balm



$3-5 dollars cash



ID



Sunglasses



Sunscreen (may be previously applied)







Then I sat decadently in the driver's seat of my fossil-fuel-guzzzling Toyota subcompact, drove down the big steep hill to the wonderful little juice bar, and ate everything in sight.



Well, not quite everything: a juiced-to-order yam-apple-pineapple-ginger-lemon "Winter Tonic," a quinoa-kale salad (sounds iffy, but tastes delicious), a baked yam, and tomato soup that Made Me Forget Until Just Now That I Hate Tomato Soup. (I hate Campbell's tomato soup. This soup was from a whole different, and much better, Soup Planet.) All of which set me back a total of $10... ...Did I mention that this is a wonderful little juice bar?



(Seriously. If you are ever anywhere near Seattle's North End, get yourself to the Alive Juice Bar in Shoreline (http://www.foodyap.com). You'll thank both of us for it.)



Then I hit the grocery store with the good prices on good produce. They have an excellent bakery as well, and there was a bad moment when I thought they had (a favorite not-so-health-promoting baked good) on sale at 10/$10.00. Then I saw that it was really 4/$5.00, so I could tell myself the price was too high.


Same thing when I thought they had 8" (not-so-health-promoting baked goods) for $3.49. Turned out that was the (not-a-personal-favorite (not that I won't eat them - they just don't make all my good intentions go pitter-splat) not-so-health-promoting baked goods) right next to them, and it was really $6-something for the highly-Evelyn-attracting baked goods.


Came home with loads of great produce and no not-so-health-promoting baked goods. Am dead tired now and headed off to bed. :)



(ETA - tried to use the "spoiler" feature for hiding/naming the not-so-health-promoting baked goods, and (besides not functioning in a way I could figure out just now) it seems to have messed up the formatting like nobody's business. Sorry about that.)
 
Sorry I haven't been keeping up on others' threads. Between managing all the changes I'm trying to make, and keeping up with non-health-&-fitness-related parts of RL, I'm kind of going six ways at once right now.





And, while we're on the subject of me, Me, ME...



I stole this questionnaire from Loch's "Taking Back Control" diary thread - http://weight-loss.fitness.com/t/32050/taking-back-control-a-diary (It looks like she got it from somewhere else, but I couldn't find where.) It's really helped me with establishing my goals and planning thing out:





-- How much weight do you want to lose?



120 lbs total (104 from current weight)





-- What is the timeframe for reaching your target weight?



1-1/2 years, give or take a few months.



I hope to lose weight at an overall average rate of 1-1/2 lbs/week. If that actually happened, and I lost 120 lbs in 80 weeks, I would be at my goal weight just in time for my 51st birthday in September of 2013.





-- How do you want to accomplish your goal (what methods do you want to use)?



Things I have read say that most people who really lost weight and kept it off usually did one or more these three things:



1. Kept a food diary

I've been keeping one for the last week or so - it really, really helps. I've also been making sure I actually take my vitamins (they don't work as well when they're just sitting there in the jar).



2. Exercised

I've gone for two fitness walks so far, and both times walked further and recovered faster than I had expected to. I've also been much more faithful about doing my daily set of stretches. Both of these have me feeling much better physically already.



3. Lost no more than 1-2 lbs/week

I've been losing more like 3-4 lbs/week, but the first week or two of a fitness plan often yields a dramatic weight loss. I expect the rate will taper off pretty soon, and then I'll just have a few extra lbs "banked" against future weeks when I lose less than a 1.5 lbs.





-- Who or what can support you in reaching your goal?



My mom. My BF. My BFF. My doctor. And I'm hoping you guys can help provide support, too... :)





-- How realistic is your goal?



I hope it's realistic. I maintained it once before for a year and a half.



It's at the very top end of most "acceptable" weight ranges for my height & build, & would give me a BMI of 28. Once I get there (or near there), I'll probably adjust it up or down somewhat to find what's best for my body.





-- When will you start?

Two weeks ago. :)





(second, much longer, part to follow)
 
Great work on the goals and the plan. Looks to be quite an enjoyable way to get exercise and already producing great results.


Glad that I finally found your diary, somehow didn't see it until today.
 
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