We need to decide: who do we want to be? Do we live our lives blindly, regardless of the consequences, or do we proceed thoughtfully, working toward the future that we want to live in?

 

A couple of fairly uneventful days.  I have been enjoying my FoK chili, so I've kept to a vegan diet.  I have also gone to the Y the last 2 days, so keeping to the plan.

Stats:

9/8- weight: 251.4; glucose (PM) 116 (after workout, before dinner); BP (PM) 126/76

9/9- (AM) weight: 251.8; glucose 148; BP; 132/79; (PM after workout, before dinner) glucose 122; BP: 125/75)

morning stats for today- weight: 250.0; glucose: 152, BP: 135/79

I think I will discuss my thoughts about the first week in a post this weekend...

 Life continues.  Events outside of my normal routine continue to offer challenges.  No Y for the last two days because of family events.  The time for me to go is after school, between about 3:30 and 5:30.  When there is something going on, like dinner with family, there often isn't time.  Today there are no obligations.

I did a small experiment on Monday the 6th.  I made the FoK chili and wanted to see how it effected my blood glucose.  I took a reading just before eating it, then every hour for three hours.  It went like this: 162 (0 hours), 183 (1 hours), 223 (2 hours), 172 (3 hours). I don't know what it "should" look like, but there is it.  I will repeat this for other foods as well, just to see what my body responds well to.

Last couple days readings:

9/7: (6:30 am) weight: 251.2; glucose: 191, BP:, 133/79; (3:30 pm) glucose: 138; BP: 127/75

9/8 (6:30 pm) weight 251.4; glucose: 164; BP: 132/78

 It is going to be a real challenge to maintain my plan when my normal routine is disrupted and/or I have a lot of unstructured time, let alone when both are happening.  It was great to spend some time with family at the lake.  Because it was an all-day activity I did not go to the Y.  Eating was not great.  While I didn't go too overboard, I did eat some processed snack (chips) along with some veges and hummus.  To be expected I suppose (but I could do better resisting).

Sunday the 5th was better.  Went to the Y and then an evening movie.  Again, due to lack of meal planning, I ate a can of Nalley's vegetarian chili for dinner, processed and I'm not sure it was vegan.

Tonight we are having dinner at a family members house, which is advertised as vegan.  I'm sure it will be good; tomorrow we are going out for dinner with my sister and mother.  We are going to a Chinese restaurant that has vegan choices, but I'm sure will be over-processed.  When it rains it pours.

 Planning today to make that FoK chili and get some hummus and veges for my lunches this week.

I'm going to work on house painting today so I'm not sure I'll make the Y, stay tuned.

Stats:

9/5 (8:00 am): weight: 251.6; glucose 169; BP: 121/78

9/6 (6:30 am): weight 251.2; glucose 178; BP: 123/75

 Yesterday was an "OK" day.  I did go to the Y for a workout and that felt good.  I don't really mind having to wear a mask during this time, but it is a bit uncomfortable when riding the stationary bike, hot and stifling.  Not too bad though. I generally kept to my eating plan, I can tell that keeping the processed food to a minimum is going to be more challenging, especially when time is an issue.  I didn't work out until late afternoon, and when I was done I was hungry.  I stopped at the store for some snacks for today (we are going to the lake) and picked up a Trader Joe's vegan wrap for dinner. It was full of good stuff (sweet potatoes, beets, spinach, and hummus), but the tortilla is pretty processed. I still think is was a decent choice, but I need to plan ahead more, maybe have some vegan chili ready at home, so I don't have to stop to pick up dinner.  I think this weekend I will make some "Forks Over Knives" lentil chili.  It's good and will help in those times when I need to eat but don't have a lot of time to cook.

Today will present its own challenges.  As mentioned, we are going to spend the day with family at the lake.  These events don't usually include a lot of healthy food choices, especially not vegan or unprocessed.  Burgers, chips, things like that.  I thought ahead and got some fruit and veges, hummus, and another one of the T.J. vegan wraps for myself.  Is beer vegan?  We will see how things go.

Yesterdays stats: weight: 251.8 lbs; glucose: 190 (am), 148 (afternoon); BP 135/78 (am)

This morning (8 am) weight: 250.0 lbs; glucose: 175; BP: 132/86).

 I am going to score today's progress as reasonably good.  Today is my oldest daughter Andie's birthday, so we took her, her sister, and one of her friends out for dinner in a nice restaurant.  Due to a shortage of time, I did not go workout at the Y.  Not a real problem, if I go tomorrow.  Remember, my actionable goal is to workout most days of the week, not necessarily every day.  So I'm still good.  The restaurant (Mizuna) was great and I had an enjoyable field roast lettuce wrap, which was vegan. Of course, bread was included.  For dessert we shared a vegan carrot cake.  As far as my eating goal, this was a so-so meal.  The food was all vegan but the bread and carrot cake were more processed (and sugary) than I would like.  But hey, it was a celebration, and when we celebrate we do these things. 

I measured my health data twice today, once early in the morning (fasting) and then again in the afternoon, about 4 and a half hours after lunch.  

Weight: 251.4 lbs

glucose:  191 (am), 128 (pm), this last one was a bit of a surprise, lower than I was expecting.

BP: 136/78 (am), 135/78 (pm).

Tomorrow is another day.

 My hope is that I can use this blog in two ways:  first, as a motivational tool to help "keep me accountable".  Even yesterday, when I thought about what I might eat, I thought "you're going to have to declare this, so choose well". Second, this is a way of documenting how I am doing, how I am feeling, what is working and what is not.

To that end, I need some goals.  They have to be realistic, measurable, and achievable. My overall goal is to improve my health, wellness, and fitness enough so that Lori and I can walk the Camino de Santiago again in late summer 2024.  More generally, I want to be healthy enough to enjoy retirement (three more school years, June 2024).  I have a great fear that once I'm done working entropy will take over and my quality of life will decay.  I don't want that.  

 I believe that the root of my health issues is that I have metabolic syndrome.  My goals should therefore center on mitigating the conditions involved with metabolic syndrome, specifically my weight, blood glucose, blood pressure, and exercise.   I focus on these four because they are relatively easily measured by me.  Of course, I will look at lab results when they are available.  Most, if not every day, I will take these measurements and post them here.  My specific working goals will be:

1.  To eat as close to a minimally processed, plant based diet as I can, in other words, a vegan diet.  I will probably discuss why I chose this diet of over others, like low carbohydrate, in another post, but I don't have time now. 

2. To get moderate exercise most days of the week (4 to 7). This would include walking, bicycle riding, working out at the Y.  Stretching and some calisthenics would be a part of my exercise routine.

The target and hope is to improve these health markers.  So, daily I will track my weight (measured in the morning), glucose (measured in the morning, fasting.  Keep in mine the "dawn effect"), and blood pressure.  I will post them here and they will provide an indicator if what I am doing is having any positive effect.  Changes to the plan are always possible, and I don't expect perfect adherence-just a best effort.  You should always allow yourself and others grace.

So,  here are my stats.  For yesterday, September 1st:  Weight 251.6 lbs (a little less that I've been); glucose 200 (a very high reading for me).  I went to the Y and when through my "usual" routine (ride a stationary, recumbent bicycle for 30 minutes then stretching and exercises, about 30 minutes).  I did eat vegan, low to moderately processed food (a Trader Joe's spicy lentil wrap and Nature's Path Flax Plus Pumpkin Granola with applesauce and fresh blueberries).   Overall, I would say it was a good start day.