health note June 24

Woops! I see it's been two weeks since I posted an update, and reading my previous post may have been discouraging since my weight was up that day. On Friday, 6/11, I dropped 2.2 pounds to 211.0. Yay! But that next weekend I attended a family wedding and small reunion, then work and rain gave me an excuse to not walk much for a couple more days, so by Wednesday, 6/16, I was back up to 214.3. Boo! Not to worry, doing the right things yields positive results.

In the last eight days I have dropped 6.8 pounds, and weighed in this morning at 207.5. (The last time I remember my weight being 208 was in 1995.) I'm probably not going to hit the 6/26 target I posted on 6/1. I intentionally set the bar low (using a limbo analogy), and my gut still can't get under that ever-lowering target. But I have dropped 9.4 pounds in the 23 days since June 1, and I don't think I would have accomplished that without an aggressive target.

I would like to tell you by what method I have accomplished this eight straight days of weight loss, even losing weight over this previous weekend with our regular Sunday family dinner. Unfortunately there is no silver bullet. The answer really seems to be to just keep doing the right things over an extended period of days, weeks, and months.

First, I am NOT on a crash diet, but my stomach has been slowly shrinking, so I am satisfied and feel full with less food in it. When I remember, I eat a bit slower, giving my brain time to get signals from my stomach and inform my mind that I'm no longer hungry. One trick my wife taught me a long time ago, probably from Weight Watchers or some women's magazine, is to put the fork or spoon down after each bite. That gives me time to chew my food before I swallow, and I find myself savoring the flavors more as I eat. Men, don't underestimate the value of a good woman's advice or her magazines; my cardiologist recommended I read women's fitness articles after my heart attack in 2001.

Second, I eat less at a time, but more often. Ideally, I eat at 6AM, 10AM, 2PM, and 6PM. I don't have many ideal days, but again, I set a good target and get as close as I can without making myself crazy. I hope you are seeing that I intentionally do not stress about my weight. Stress is a very real killer. I look way down the road, I set up a somewhat difficult target, I recognize that I probably won't hit the bullseye, but I know that if I hit one of the rings then I am better off than I would have been if I hadn't tried. So I find myself grinning as I look back over a day and realize I have been eating and snacking all day and never got hungry. Not every day, but it happens. I keep walnuts, soy nuts, and raisins on the kitchen counter where I can grab them easily when I have a craving to chew on something. I take sunflower seeds to eat when I'm reading on work breaks. I buy the kind still in the shell so I have to work to eat them. I now prefer Winco bulk sunflower seeds over the better-known brands; they seem to be a bit less salty and have a nuttier flavor, and are not as bland as the low-sodium brands. I also throw fruit in the blender with lo-fat vanilla yogurt, 2% milk, and a spoon of cinnamon powder, then put a quart of the concoction in the refrigerator. It usually takes 2-3 days for me to finish that off.

Third, I have lost my craving for some of the more unhealthy foods. This was neither a goal nor an expected outcome. I have so come to enjoy my turkey chili, brown rice, stir-fry veggies, bran cereal, lo-fat vanilla yogurt, fruits and veggies of many kinds, and spices (black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, garlic, onion, oregano, cinnamon), that I honestly no longer enjoy the feeling of grease in my mouth. I have always loved chips and salsa, but I have two large unopened bags of tortilla chips in the pantry that have been sitting there for weeks. I'm sure someday I will open them, eat them, and enjoy the flavor, but they no longer scream at me to sit and stuff myself while watching some brainless tv show.

Finally, and this is key, I move. It isn't as important what type of movement I do, I just have to move. I keep moving until I sweat, then I keep sweating for at least half an hour. When I started 18 months ago I couldn't will myself to move and sweat that long at a time. I was completely undisciplined and had no clue how to set a target and start working toward it. I am somewhat competitive, but I have never been an athlete. I was a perennial bench warmer on school sports teams. Never in my life have I worked this long on a single physical goal. I encourage you to start moving, and find a way to chart your progress. Learn to break a sweat even if you are simply walking. As you keep at it your ability to go longer, further, faster will improve gradually and naturally.

My wife heard it takes 12 weeks of a regular workout routine for weight loss to really kick in. I think my recent six months may be an example of that. In 2009 I started at 264 and ended at 244. I wasn't moving much, and I had stopped losing weight. October of that year I was clear down to 235, but after my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, the weight crept back up to 244.

Sometime early this year I really noticed how the effort my wife was putting into getting healthy was having a very noticeable, positive result. Her friends were complimenting her, too. Her good results was one of the motivators that got me to renew my effort to get healthy. So I started walking. I could easily walk a mile at first, but two miles was a bit painful. It made me sweat. I needed to sweat.

As the weeks have gone by I've tried to run or jog or do intervals, but with a knee that flares up the most effective long-term exercise has been to simply keep walking. Through the natural conditioning and strengthening of regular routine activity, I now start sweating in the second mile, and it is the fifth or sixth mile that makes me really work. So far this year, with the increased activity and smarter calorie intake, I have dropped from 244 to 207.

I intend to keep setting long-range targets that I probably won't hit. I am enjoying the long-term results. My 42 inch waist jeans used to be uncomfortably tight. Now the 38 inch waist jeans I dug out of an old clothes stack have to be cinched up with an older 36 inch belt.

And this week, for the first time in years, I am actually hopeful that I might really be able to start running. I am being very cautious, and need to visit a doctor that specializes in sports medicine to get the knee checked. I would rather walk for the rest of my life if running means damaging my knee to the point of needing drastic surgery. But twice this week I have run and the knee pain has gone away at about a quarter mile. My mile speed is only 9:30, but I am not in training for competition. I'm really just looking for a faster more effective way to get the heart rate up and keep it up so I sweat faster and longer, burning fat calories more efficiently. I guess that's the point of aerobic exercise, isn't it?

I hope you find this encouraging. Life really is possible after obesity. The Biggest Loser television show can be very motivating, but the winners spend 16 weeks getting educated and abused by professional trainers. If you can find a local Biggest Loser competition, join it. I haven't done that, but I am living with a person that is in her second competition and is doing very well. That group accountability is very powerful for many people. You may need to start slow, but start. Maybe you will be able to enjoy playing with your grandkids a bit more. Maybe your spouse will enjoy being with you a little bit more; if you are anything like me you will be more enjoyable to be around if you feel a little bit better about yourself. I used to quote the old Muddy Waters song, "I was built for comfort, I wasn't built for speed." But fat isn't comfortable either. I'm still overweight, but going in the right direction and really starting to enjoy the process.