207

It's not an area code I want to visit (sorry Maine!) but more importantly it's not a number I ever wanted to see when I stepped on the scale. But the number 207 became a reality for me about three weeks ago when I decided to see where my weight was.

I can't say that I was surprised. Nobody can eat just one Pringle. But I was finishing off tubes of them in one sitting. I was also on a second plate at dinner most nights, not exercising like I should have, and in general just being lazy. But something had pushed me towards that scale in the bathroom. Actually a few things. The first was the Michelin tire I noticed growing around my waste and how hard it made it to squeeze into any of my pants that were not elastic. Secondly, I started to feel like crap after every meal. Like I was full and bloated and just wanted to go and lie down someplace. Not good when you've just eaten lunch at work and you've got 5 more hours to put in. I also noticed an uptick in my blood pressure. Usually health care providers ask me if I'm dead when they take my pressure because it's so low, but I was starting to get questions like "did you run to get in here"? Finally I had started using a sleep aid nightly and while it was supposedly non habit forming I had trouble going to sleep without it. Which kinda sounds like it was habit forming.

So what to do. I've never been a workout guy. My company provides a great gym and a fitness instructor right at the office but exercise isn't something that I'm interested in doing with people I work with. Is that weird? Nothing against anyone I work with. I don't exercise with anyone outside of work either.

The first thing I did was start to control my intake. I now count the exact portion size of my cereal in the morning instead of filling the bowl. I eliminated all but 1 of my standing lunches at work. I now only go out once every 2 weeks unless it's mandated as a working lunch meeting. Lunch at my desk consists of yogurt, fruit,  and perhaps a small portion of the previous nights dinner. I've slowed way down on the booze. Yesterday I had my first beer in 3 weeks. A glass of wine here and there is still allowed. The biggest change I made was a commitment to exercise 30 minutes a day for 30 straight days. Today is the 21st day of my challenge and I have technically missed only one day, but that night I did attend a concert given by the Offspring and I easily got the exercise by jumping up and down for 70 minutes. My routine is very simple. I borrowed from my companies annual biometric testing (push-ups, step test) and added in deep knee bends, squat thrusts, and some hip lift thing I read about. I alternate that exercise with a 2-3 mile walk so that I am never doing the same thing two days in a row. I keep track on a sheet of paper I hung in my closet.

The results? Well I had told myself I would not step on the scale again until those 30 days were up. I didn't want to get discouraged. But curiosity got the better of me and I checked on day 16 earlier this week. I was down 8 pounds to 199. There is some satisfaction there. But I also know from my prior attempts that those pounds were the easy ones. Honestly my only goal was to exercise for 30 straight days and see where that put me. I've got 9 more days to go. When it's over I'll need to decide what else I can do. I feel healthier for sure. I have been toying with eliminating all alcohol for 30 days and seeing what that along with the eating better and exercising would do for me.   

I'm almost 48. If you told me I was only halfway through this journey I'd be thrilled. But it's getting to the point where it is getting harder and harder to recover from poor judgement. Here's to seeing this new outlook through.