Friday, April 26, 2013

This years bicycle ride plan


In 2011 my longest bike ride was 16 miles; in 2012 my longest was almost 40 miles. This year I am shooting for 62 miles as my longest but would love for it to be 75 or 100 miles. What holds me back really and truthfully I do. I can never seem to make the time I need to work at this. But it is early in the year and I have already done two 17 mile rides back to back without wanting to just quit. So I know I am getting stronger. I just have to be careful and not push so hard that I get hurt. 
The Round Rock Outlaw ride is this October 12th I hope to do at least 62 miles and if possible to go for the whole banana and do the 100. I know I said that last year and did not make but 40 miles. Let’s just see how far I really can go this year.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

We all make mistakes.




I keep going back at what I let happen to myself over the past holidays and I do not like what happened. I had battled with trying to get off the blood pressure meds all summer and my weight just went up then back down if I started taking my water pill again. The first of November I was down to 197 and was feeling great, then what did I do I lot go and started eating a little sweets here and there and by the first of the year I was up to 202, and I also decided to try again at getting off my water pill and gained even a little more due to the stress of my wife’s illness. But I shows that the day my wife had the surgery I started back on the water pill and started eating correctly again and my weight has come back down to 197 and I have even had a day or two where it has dropped as low as 194.
Hopefully I have regained my control and I will not let this happen again. I know this holiday season I will look back at what happened this last year and I will do my best not to let it happen again. We all make mistakes but we only learn from them if we analyze the mistakes and we do our very best to not make them again. 

One step at a time

One step at a time is just that. We take one step every morning waking up, we take one step at every meal, and we take one step with every exercise we do. With me my one step is being mindful of what I eat, and that I get up and move my body every day.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

On to the Next Level whatever that may be.


I have been rereading the books that have gotten me this far, and I have decided to recommit myself to going to the next level, whatever that may be. I still have love handles and I still have fat around the old belly that really needs to go. I do not believe to do this I have to come out of maintenance, I just need to be a little more careful about what I eat. I am eating about the right amount for my height and size. My BMR is around 1750 to 1800 and I am trying to eat 2000 a day. So what am I going to do? Let’s see, cut back and as close to out all processed foods, I have been drinking diet root beer a few times a week I will cut that out or at least down to special times. I will increase my protein and lower processed carbs, will increase veggies, and fruits, but I will continue my fats from nuts. About all I can say about my exercising is that I will do more stretching, and will do setups planks, leg lifts etc. Anything that will straighten my core muscles. I know this will not happen overnight, that it may take me another year or so to get there, but I am hoping to see some improvement before the end of summer.
Can I do this yes. I can do anything that I set out to do as long as I have the Faith.  I only I need is your support and encouragement. 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Spring and summer plans


Ok I have a spring and summer goals in mind. I would like to finally get off my blood pressure meds, my new doctor really believes that I do not need them for my blood pressure but agrees that I have an addiction to it. I am done to 1/8 of the amount that I was on and my blood pressure is still really good, and sometimes after my workouts it will go so low that it is in the very low blood pressure range. I really believe that I am very close now to getting completely off of it. I have talked with my doctor and my next step is to take the amount I am taking now every morning every other morning for a week or so and see how it goes. Then if everything still looks good to just stop taking it. The key here is to monitor my blood pressure every day to be sure it is still in the good range that she has set out for me.
My other goal for the spring and summer will be a lot harder, I want to finally get down to where my doctor would like me to be and that is about 190. My plan for this is not set in stone as of yet and will mostly depend on how it goes with getting off the blood pressure meds, for I really believe I will gain some when I am completely off of them. I do not plan on going out of maintenance to lose the weight I just plan on it working out from the plan I have been on for the last 2 years. My calorie budget per day is 2000 calories and I do my best not to eat into my burned calories. By eating 2000 calories a day my body should reach its set point. The set point is where it is the healthiest weight wise. And as long as I can stick with my walking and other exercises I should stay fit.
This is my plan and I am open for suggestions.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Looking Back


I look back over the changes I have made since I started this journey (1/1/2011) and I cannot believe it. I have lost more than 85 pounds; I have gone from 46 waist to 34 waist. When I started this journey I could barely walk a quarter of a mile I now walk and average of 6.5 miles a day. I was eating fast food like it was the only thing available, now I refuse to eat fast food at all. Fried food was always on my menu, now I eat it every now and then but even then it is cooked at home in olive oil and not very much of it even. Before starting this journey I did not get outdoors much (was always too tired) now I cannot stand to be inside. I hired my yard work done (I just did not have the energy to do it); now I love doing my own yard (it gets me outside). I lived on the computer and that was all I did, now the computer is my way to make a living and I get away from it every chance I have. I drank died coke like it was water (it was my water), now I cannot stand the taste of it (will drank an A&W Root Beer as a treat). At that time it was not only seconds at every meal it was thirds most of the time. Now I eat what is on my plate (and it is a smaller plate than before) and it most of the time is more than I want. I have always loved fruits and vegetables so that was not a change I have just changed to way I eat them and I can make a meal just out of fruits and vegetables if I wish. I was always a huge red meat eater, and I still eat red meat but not near as much. I have always loved fish; I just eat it a lot more now.
The biggest changes are that I was on cholesterol meds, acid reflux meds, a high dose of blood pressure meds, I am now down to just 1 eighth the amount of blood pressure meds I was on and should be getting off of it soon, and no longer am I taking cholesterol or acid reflux meds. I also have a completely different outlook on life. I was a chore just to get up in the mornings and to do anything. I know look forward to getting up and doing whatever I need to do and better yet what I want to do. I look forward to walking and to riding my bike and even to doing yard work. Life is so much better and I feel so much better. I believe I have a future at my age instead of it being the end of my life.
Everyone needs to exercise and to eat correctly for no other reason than to feel good about themselves and their families and there calling in life. You noticed I hope that I did not say their work I said their calling, as we all have a calling and most of us do not have any idea what that calling is.

Friday, April 5, 2013

We can win the battle of weight and fitness even at my age


Sorry if I bore you but I do like to look over stats, and what I have noticed is that every time I go to a lower weight that I have been before, while on this journey I have gained back as much as 5 pounds then I slowly drop back down sometimes I go lower than I have been and others I level out at a weight a pound or two above the lowest I have been. Then I will do a push to drop some weight and the process just repeats itself. I has been very frustrating to me but at least now I recognize it as being something that my body just does. It is like a few weeks ago I made it to 194 then boom I was up to 199, now I have been on a slow and steady drop back to 197.4 which of course I have been to before. If I am correct I will drop to somewhere around 196 and level off for some time then I should be able to drop again to 194 and below and the process will continue this way until one day in the distant future I should reach the goal that my doctor would like me to get to somewhere between 188 and 192. I believe I will do it but I will not push it, I just now believe it will happen even if it takes another year or more.
And I also believe if I keep working at it and retraining my body I will get off the blood pressure meds. You see even my doctor does not believe I need the meds for my blood pressure but due to the fact that I have been on them so very long my body just is not functioning without them. But I am slowly pulling my body off of them by slowly cutting it down and I believe that I will be off of them sometime before the end of this year. At this time am taking just 1 eighth of the amount every day that I was back last fall. I can win this battle too.
All I am trying to say here is that the more you know yourself, and the more you are willing to push yourself, but be patient you can win the battle. Yes I know there are certain issue that will not be won and we just have to except it. But the ones that can be we need to take on ourselves to win. But also never do it without your doctors approval and supervising. 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

This journey of health and fitness


I have been on my journey for about 28 months, in that time I have gone from only knowing I wanted to lose some weight, and I wanted to get off all of the medications that I was taking to knowing a lot more about how food, calories, and exercise works on the body. I have learned also that as you change your body you have to change the calories in, and you have to change or increase the exercise and you have to change what you eat and do not eat. I have also learned that like life itself our bodies are always changing and what you could eat one day may make you sick the next. But most of all I have l learnt that the body is amazing it adapts to life changes much faster than or minds and believes do. I have also learnt that I have to continually read and learn and to not believe everything that I read. When it comes to diet and exercise there are as many believes as there are humans in the world. If we are going to be successful at weight control, diet and exercise we have to find what works for you and I have to find what works for me. I have found trainers can be great in helping to come up with an exercise plan, if you take control and reason out what the trainers are telling you and you then modify that to work with your own body and conditions.  So what I am saying is do not be afraid to read, research, and or ask question but understand that you will have to adapted it to what you can do, when it comes to fiscal conditions and also work time, family time, and personal (me) time. We have to balance it out and be welling to except that we may not be able to do it all. It is better to exercise a little less than what we had hoped for than not to exercise at all.  Also be willing to except that we will not always be able to eat the way we would like for many reasons such as eating out, going visiting friends and family, and due to work travels. But if we are armed with knowledge of what works and does not work we can survive the events and have a wonderful time at the same time. Also remember we may have a bad day or week or if a long trip a few weeks but we can fall back and recover and we will make our goals just be flexible about the timing and be willing to modify the plans as needed. Life is so short so we should not be so single minded that we do not enjoy the life that God has given us. 

God is my Savior and without him I am nothing.


Life is short and we really do not believe it until something happens to make you think about it and you reflect on life and what you have. It seems that we all place importance on material things until we get to realize how short and wonderful life really is. If we spend just a fraction if the money and time that we spend on our material things on ourselves, our families, friends and the needy we would be so much of a better world. I see people every day that believe that without power, money and all the material things that go with it they are nothing. But really you are nothing without God and your faith that God will provide for you.
Also we are asked about what religion we belong to, folks I do not believe in religion I believe only in God and Jesus. Religions only get us in trouble and causes people to fight over things that are so stupid. God said that there is only one true Church and it is God’s Church which is the belief in God, for which you have to have the faith that God will provide for you. Without Faith we have nothing and all the material things of this earth and all of the money will be for nothing.
I believe in God. I believe that Jesus is the son of God that was sent to save my soul. I do not believe in religion for I believe religion is the Devil’s way to divide God’s people and have them continually fighting amount themselves.
I know that there are a lot that I disagree with me but I really cannot help it. I read my Bible from the stand point of having a completely open mind. I do not read the Bible looking for something to prove my believes; but to understand what God expects from me.
God is my savior and without him I am nothing.

God Bless all of my friends

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Just been thinking today.


I keep envisioning myself weighing in at 190 or even 185, but my body has other thoughts, I seem to drop down to as low as 194 this past March then my body says not so fast and inches back up to 198 or so. But I do see improvements in my percent of fat and also in the way my clothes fit. I guess it is only being human to not ever being satisfied and want more or in this case less. I have not given up I am just adjusting, instead of worrying about the pounds I am concentrating on my fitness, health and keeping my blood pressure under control. I do hope to keep my weight at 200 or below and as long as I have an average weight for this year at or less than 200 I have won anyway. I keep telling myself to eat well, exercise as much as possible, and keep the stress and blood pressure under control and everything else will fit in. It may not be to the doctor’s liking or even my liking but it will keep my body in balance and that is what really counts.