Monday, May 3, 2010

1 Week down... 1 lifetime to go...

Well, here I am at the beginning of my week two. Week one turned out to be pretty good. I spent the week kicking myself out of bed at 5:30 am to go and exercise for 30 minutes before the family got up. One thing that I noticed was that I had a lot more energy going into the day than I had had before. I still spent the 30 min or so each evening walking/jogging/cycling with my wife Nan. She has been a great! She has reminded me that She needs me more than I need the sweets. I also owe a big shout out to Bruce for giving me the Clarity that I needed. I have lost two pounds this week. I now weigh in at 257 lbs. But I want to clarify this a bit more. I have decided that I am on a quest for the three legs of Longevity...

Health: My goal is to really change the way I live my life, which means finally living my life. I want to focus my efforts on increasing my health.. Lower Blood Pressure, reduce/eliminate the medications that I take and make better choices about the food I put into my body.

Fitness: This goal is to increase stamina in exercise/play. I have noticed that in one short week I have seen my resting heart rate (RHR) decline as well as the level of exertion that I have had to give to keep my heart rate in the Moderate range. I have been using my Polar F6 heart rate monitor to gauge my intensity and I am finding that my endurance is improving. We have started walking around town to take things to people or visit, this has been helpful.

Weight Loss: I listed this last because I am starting to believe that it not as important as the other two I have listed. Weight loss will be a result of me paying attention to the other two legs (like a three legged stool, you need all three to have stability). I will be happy to see less of me each week, but this is NOT going to be my focus... Creating a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable is my focus...!!! I believe that society could help a lot in this area.. I went to a dinner last week and the person serving the food tried to load up my plate "here, have two.. Don't you want more?... He's a big boy give him a big one..." I finally looked at the person and said "Quit trying to feed the Fat Kid" This shocked both of us, but it is true... Send food to Africa if you feel the need, but STOP loading us up with food... It is hard enough without people shoving food at us!!! I will eat what I need, when I need to and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't see me as a big cuddly bear that needs to be fed.. I may come out of hibernation and eat yaw'll... :-)

I have five more weeks to go before I can publish my empirical evidence about this new phase in my life... I really appreciate all my friends that have been so supportive of me in this endeavor... Maybe they do want to see me, and not view me.. I will keep posting weekly. I have invited my brother to join me in this and he has taken the challenge... Love ya Scott..

2 comments:

  1. Good job Phil! It's a daily struggle, but my doctor told me that if you work out it's easier to say no when they're passing the pie around. I've found this to be true.

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  2. Great job Phil!!!! One thing I say is when people offer me stuff is, "No thanks! I'm in training!" If they press it and say what for, I tell them, "For the rest of my life!" But usually just saying I'm in training seems to get through.

    I like your goals! They are great!

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