Back when we lived in Oregon, we would sometimes go to a Mexican restaurant in downtown Newberg. The restaurant was run by El Salvadorans. They served fairly good Mexican food, but they also served a side of curtido, an El Salvadoran blanched cabbage and carrot, pickled salad. It was extremely good. Lorena and I were talking about it the other day and she decided she would try to make some. Today is her first attempt, but we will not be able to try it out until tomorrow because we want it to be a little bit more vinegary by the time we eat it. AND, it is on my approved diet items list.
I am finally trying to get back on the weight/exercise/health wagon and get my program on track. To that end, Lorena cooked her first chicken shish kabobs of the season. Last week she did some bee kabobs. Shrimp makes the trifecta and I am hoping for that next week. They are a summer staple for us and are even good reheated for lunch the next day. Now, all I have to do is get back on track with my walking. The problem here in Texas is that, within a few weeks, it will be too hot to walk at lunchtime which is my ideal time to do it because it gets me away from the desk for an hour. I have a plan, though–mostly I just need to be disciplined about it.
Lorena had her annual medical check-up yesterday and it came out great. She continues to work out HARD four days per week and that was manifested in her results. The doctor told her that she only needs to come in every other year for the time being and that the best thing she can do to say healthy is to maintain her rigorous exercise schedule. Now, with her new Garmin watch, she can track everything she does quite nicely. Again, this is a lesson to me, I have completely fallen off the health wagon again and need to get back on and start exercising. Maintaining the same kind of schedule Lorena maintains would be optimal–two days per week on the rowing machine and two days per week running on the treadmill. I like to do as much as I can outside, but that really is not very practical in the summer in our part of Texas.
I was in a really good place, health-wise, just a couple of months ago. Then, after the graduation and the holidays, I gained a bunch of the weight back that I lost (maybe 60%). If one squints their eyes, they might say I had a little bit of a viable excuse through the new year. But now it is MARCH! And there is no excuse for anything after mid-January. Yesterday, though, I climbed back on the wagon. I ate the appropriate amount of calories with zero junk food. Today, I am doing it again and also I put in my first walk in several months. The worst part is that I have move back up into the obesity range. I can get back down. I just need to make sure I do not get distracted again.
60 calorie Dave’s Killer Power Seed Bread (made in Oregon with Red Mill flour) has been a staple of my weight loss regimen ever since we discovered it back when we were living in Wilsonville when my parents were coming to the end of their stay on this earth. We have had somewhat of a struggle finding it in our part of Texas–not that it is not available, but that it is almost always out of stock. Well, we ran over to Burleson for part of the celebration of Lorena’s birthday. We needed some spicy pickles and we knew they were available in Kroger’s, but were pleasantly surprised to find they had four loaves of this prized product so we bought them all!
I quit watching my diet (on purpose) and exercise (had good intentions, but did not follow through so well) during the graduation and holiday travel and celebration. At my peak, I had gained back almost 20 of the 40 pounds I had lost. A lot of that must have been water because I am now back down to a little over a 30 pound loss of my high weight when I started this current health kick. I am now four months in and have an 11 month runway bereft of reasons to break my diet and even less bereft of excuses to not exercise. There will be a business trip or two and some celebration down in San Pedro, but those are one or two day events, not three weeks like for the holidays and graduation. I actually had moved from Level 2 obese to Level 1 obese to then barely into the merely overweight category (BMI of 29.9 for me). So, my short term goal is to get back down to that category, then aim at getting to “normal.” I am not sure I trust the BMI charts at the CDC (or just about anything else they do), because I was considered obese at 10% body fat when I was playing judo in college. That is a problem for another day, though. I will talk to my doctor about it when I see him in February. I was hoping I could be in the merely overweight category by the time I saw him, but I do not think that is going to happen now.
We returned home yesterday from all our graduation and holiday travels after getting up at 3 AM to catch a plane from Washington (DCA) to Texas (DFW). We had Christmas dinner at Jack-in-the-Box because that was the only place we could find open on the way home. Then we sat around and did literally nothing–well, not entirely true because Lorena is incapable of leaving stuff unpacked, but for the most part all we did was sit around and recover with some comfort food thrown in (VERY cheesy mac and cheese). While I was writing this blog post, Lorena sent me an image of what we ate for Christmas dinner. It truly was spectacular. Kelly did the bulk of the cooking over Christmas and Lorena did the bulk of the shopping and organizing. It was all just amazing. We had a prime rib, bone-in roast with new potatoes, mushrooms and a superlative, Kelly-invented gravy. This morning, Lorena and I ran the last two diplomas down to Michael’s for framing after an Egg McMuffin breakfast with hash browns and a pie at McDonald’s. Of course not much of the above is on my approved diet plan, but I promised myself I would not wreck everyone else’s time during the holidays due to strict adherence to my diet. Now, I am kind of afraid to get back on the scale and get going again. Lorena bought two “L” steaks (t-bone, I think) at the Mexican grocery store in Godley, so that is my drop-dead last diet deviation with a minor exception for New Year’s Eve.
I am now below my pre-Thanksgiving weight. I even ran out of notches on my belt so Lorena picked me up a new one yesterday. One thing I have been doing that I think has helped a lot is walking every day instead of walking just four or five days per week. Previously, I had gotten to the point where I would only lose weight on my fast day, but now it seems like I am losing a little weight every day–maybe 1.5 to 2 pounds per week. It might be that I am just taking back off the stuff I put on over Thanksgiving. Only time will tell. My next big hurdle is the back-to-back celebrations for my Graduation then a week with Christian and Kelly for Christmas. There will be way too man good opportunities to make bad eating choices between now and the end of the year.
The red arrow shows my 5.5 pound backslide during the Thanksgiving holiday. Just today, I made it below my previous low, but it took me two weeks to take off what I put on in about four days. My goal for the upcoming graduation and Christmas celebrations, is to enjoy myself with family and friends while not having such a big hiccup. I am not sure I can do it, but since this semester is almost certainly the last time I am going to be in college as a student, I will give it the old college try!
Well, I did not do as well as I wanted over the Thanksgiving holiday in terms of weight gain, but I suppose I could have done a lot worse. I was up around five pounds. I absolutely think it was worth it. The time with family was just amazing, but the food, drink, and camaraderie facilitated by cooking, eating, and cleaning up together were priceless. I am planning to do the same thing for Christmas, but maybe on a smaller scale. We are going to be with the kids for Christmas, but the kids are going to go off and do their own thing for New Year. Lorena and I have a ton of big travel coming up this winter so we decide to just stay home and cook a small turkey–principally so Lorena can make turkey enchiladas with the left overs.
It has been well over a year since I have weighed under 200 pounds. This morning, I made it. I expect to fluctuate above and below that for a week or two, but God willing, I will below for good very soon. My next big goal is to move from obesity class 1 to merely overweight which is when I get to a BMI of 29.9. In my case, that is 191.2. The long-haul goal is to get down in the mid-150 range–anything at or below 159.3 pounds puts me into the normal weight range with a BMI of less than 25, but I am not sure yet whether that is even healthy based on my body type. All that adds up to 40-45 pounds left to go. I am down 35 pounds since I started a little over two months ago.
There is a new restaurant in San Pedro Lorena claims is the best one yet. It is just down the hill from our places and the believe it is better than our previous which is, honestly, very hard to imagine. The name of the place is Tacos Atarantados. That, I am sure, will be my first stop the next time I am in town. The last think I need right now for my current nutrition plan is another place that makes tacos I cannot resist.
Oral creatine administration may improve short-term memory and intelligence/reasoning of healthy individuals but its effect on other cognitive domains remains unclear. Findings suggest potential benefit for aging and stressed individuals. Since creatine is safe, future studies should include larger sample sizes. It is imperative that creatine should be tested on patients with dementias or cognitive impairment.1
Christian said I should take a look at creatine monohydate as a possible supplement. Christian and my Ph.D. classmate and old friend, John S. have used it to help with their weightlifting. I need to get back to weightlifting as I get older, partially because it helps maintain bone density, but also because I like it. That might have been a reason to start taking the stuff all by itself, but when I watched a video on creatine Christian sent me, it talked about help for short term memory during age related cognitive decline. I looked into it. It is not completely clear yet, but there seems to be evidence that it helps. So I ordered a bottle from Walmart and am going to give it a try.
Avgerinos, Konstantinos I et al. “Effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function of healthy individuals: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.” Experimental gerontology vol. 108 (2018): 166-173. doi:10.1016/j.exger.2018.04.013↩︎
Lorena is totally a machine when it comes to her workouts. She NEVER misses one. She just sent me this image she took at the gym in Christian’s apartment building. Both Christian’s and Kelly’s apartment buildings have gyms with Concept 2 rowing machines. I was trying to figure out how many years she has been rowing and I think it goes all the way back to 2007 when we first moved to Raleigh. That means she has been rowing two to four times per week (sometimes she runs and she used to use an elliptical machine) for 45 minutes to an hour for the last 16 years. No wonder she is so healthy. I read an article a couple of months back that was titled “Exercise is the Best Medicine.” I believe that.
For my part, today I was down over twenty-five pounds when I started my latest health kick. The weight loss has started to slow down some, but that was expected. The one day per week fast and the daily intermittent fasting with long walks really has helped. It was a struggle getting started and it has taken longer than I remember when I was younger, but I seem to be on track now. My blood pressure was perfect when it was taken at the dentist appointment yesterday and that felt pretty good.
Lorena’s new Garmin Vívoactive 5 GPS (31st anniversary) watch arrived just in time for her trip to visit Christian in Cambridge for the next week and a half. I get to stay home here in Texas in my office and work. It is an AMAZING watch. I got my Garmin Instinct several years back with a black and white screen. Her watch has a longer battery life, more features, cost just a little bit less. I have to say I am envious, but I also have to say she deserves it way more than me. She still runs four and a half miles two times per week and 8k+ meters on the Concept 2 rower two times per week. She definitely will benefit from the fitness watch. It connects to her phone, keeps track of everything and is really quite fashionable, too.
My latest health kick started a month ago on Christian’s birthday. Today I weighed in at a little over twenty pounds less than when I started. My Body Mass Index has dropped from 36.6 (obese level 2) to 33.6 which is obese level 1, a little less than half way just overweight. My eating is significantly decreased in quantity and increased in quality. My exercise is still a pain in the neck, but not painful. I am walking 2.5-3 miles, four days per week, but hope/plan to increase that. My velocities are up from when I began so that is good. The short term goal is to get to under 200 lbs. before my graduation on December 15 after having navigated the Thanksgiving holiday without gaining it all back.
Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Matthew 9:14-15 (KJV)
I have used the excuse that I do not have time to eat right and exercise for way too long. The latest excuse was that I got fat because it was too hard to find the time to exercise while I was in school full-time while working full-time, too. That was not only not true, but no excuse at all for eating badly in addition to not getting any exercise. About a month ago, I decided it was time to quit making excuses and get my weight and health under control. I am currently walking 2½-3 miles four days per week. I think that is fine and I enjoy it, but I want to add some weight-lifting to the mix as soon as the stars align and I can both afford the weights or a gym membership. That is a topic for another time because my focus has been on getting my eating habits under control.
So, a month ago, I made some radical changes to my diet with the idea that I would maintain a low caloric intake (< 1000 calories/day) long enough to get myself down to a normal weight, normal being defined as the level below overweight and obese as defined by the CDC. At the same time I had been reading about the health and longevity benefits of fasting (e.g., Eat less, live longer? The science of fasting and longevity). I have also started doing a fast day once per week last week and am going to try to stick with that for the duration of the weight reduction part of this program. I do not seem to have less energy than before now that I am acclimated to the limited number of calories per day, but will see if that changes over the next few weeks and adjust as needed.
If/when I get down to wait, I hope to remain on a restricted calorie diet with intermittent fasting after I investigate it a little more. Longer fasts of a week or two a couple of times per year seem to have some benefits, too. I just need to remember:
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
I decided to walk around the neighborhood this morning because the weather has cooled down from over 100° during the day. I got dressed, put on my Monterrey sun hat (given to me by my beloved Mexican mother-in-law) to protect my bald head from the sun. It was 86° when I left the house, but the temperature recorded by my Garmin watch showed that it got up to 95° while I was walking with an average of 94.2°. That is still a good bit too hot for my Anglo/Finnish bloods so I think I will wait a couple of weeks before I try it again.
All that said, I have confirmed, again, my preference for walking around the neighborhood over walking on a treadmill. It is more fun (or at least, less boring), I walk faster and my heart-rate stays in the 50-85% optimal training zone for longer with less discomfort. I am not sure why that is, but that is they way it seems for me.
I used the Ph.D. as an excuse to avoid exercise and eat properly. It was a lousy excuse. Consequently, I not only got fat, but out of shape. Now that I now longer have an excuse, I started a program on September 5, to eat write and get some exercise. In the 16 days since I started, I have lost 12 pounds. Experience tells me that will slow down after the first month, but it is nice to get that first burst of progress. My intermediate goal is to get under 200 pounds before my graduation on December 15. That is a aggressive, but I think I have a shot at doing it if I remain consistent. The hardest part of the current program has been the exercise. I did not know how bad it was until I did my first hour on the treadmill. I only made it 2.1 miles. I did 2.9 miles yesterday, but it was rough and I might have to back off just a tad.
The end goal is just to be healthy. I am not sure what that means in terms of weight because I want to start lifting weights again after I get down to 180 or so. The Body Mass Index (BMI) charts were way off for me when I was younger because I had a lot of muscle mass. I measured as obese when I had less then ten percent body fat. Now, though, I think the BMI charts will be more correct because I have been so sedentary for so long. Right now I am just at the very bottom of the Class 2 obesity range. I hope that I will be in the Class 1 obesity range within the next few days. I have to get down to 191 pounds to get to the merely overweight range and all the way down to 159 pounds to be normal. I think I will want to do some body fat testing to figure out what really makes sense for me if I ever get that lot, but that is at least a half a year away.
My old guy weight-lifting book arrived today. I ordered it as soon as Christian recommended. As soon as I got the email that said it arrived and was in our (snail) mailbox, I got all excited with the idea of reading it while I am on the treadmill today. After I saw it, I realized is was WAY bigger than a trade paperback and I might not have too much luck holding it while I walk. We will see. I checked to see if they had a section in the book for guys approaching seventy. The DID! Also a section (the last one) for guys in their seventies, so I think I am all set. Now I need to the book, determine what weights and other material I need to start the program, then make the decision about whether we want to buy weights or head down to a local gym.
