Day 21 - Ups-a-daisy again and self choices

ABOUT ME

I'm learning to get less irritated with my body's mind games. I'm up 1.1 lb from yesterday morning. I am giving up on trying to figure it out. As long as I'm continuing to TREND downwards; all is well. I think I had leapfrogged right over 156 anyhow, so I guess my body wanted to go back and say "hello" to it. It's hard to believe tomorrow marks me rolling into the final stretch of this month long challenge. For those of you wondering, yes, I am going to continue on. This has always been a project with 2 separate goals: 1) Lose 20 lbs in 30 days 2) Eventually get to my ideal weight of 138 lbs - which I haven't seen in 20+ years and STAY there.

The 138 lbs will be an on-going process and we plan on slowing my weight loss back to a very normal 1 - 2 lbs per week instead of the marathon kick-off I'm in the midst of now. 138 lbs too low you say? "Nonsense", say I. "Gobble-de-gook." Western culture - particularly North American Western Culture has forgotten what NORMAL weight is. We are an over-indulgent, overweight group and have not focussed on health, wellness, portion control OR weight control. Most of us simply ACCEPT the middle-age spread as a fact of life and make excuses for our sedentary life style. Well I say - WHO SAYS THAT THIS SHOULD BE THE WAY IT IS? As we age, that's when we need LESS stress on our hearts, joints and overall body wellness. Yet, we tend to add pounds which strains all the areas that need relief. That's just plum crazy. Why are WE accepting obesity? This is particularly frightening among children and youth. IT IS NOT NORMAL. IT IS NOT HEALTHY. IT IS NOT GOOD to be fat. There I said it. Being fat is BAD for your mind, your body, your general well being. BAD. BAD. BAD.

I watched my Father spend most of his adult life overweight, suffer from high blood pressure, have a massive coronary (quintuple bypass) and finally succumb to diabetes (after being on the nightmare that is dialysis for years). All four of these items were PREVENTABLE, PREVENTABLE, PREVENTABLE and PREVENTABLE. I am trying very hard to learn from the sins of my Father. This is NOT pre-ordained. My story is not written in stone. I can CHOOSE to live a healthy lifestyle. I can CHOOSE to not be overweight. I can CHOOSE to do yoga & meditate to keep my cortisol level down. I can CHOOSE to exercise to give my heart a fighting chance. I can CHOOSE to prevent adult onset diabetes. These are CHOICES. MY choices I make for myself. No one else is making them for me. I choose to be independent as long as humanly possible.

Now, getting back to the 138 lb weight thing. Where did it come from? I used the simple formula of 100 lbs for the first 5 feet and then added 5 lbs for every inch. That puts me squarely on 138. I have an average build. I'm not petite, but I'm not super large either so I'm going with the average which is 138 lbs. You'd have to adjust it for yourself based on your sex (men would weigh slightly more) and your frame. But be honest - are you really a big frame or are you a medium frame wanting to say you're a big frame so you can justify some extra weight? Also, did you know that there are significant health benefits for being slightly UNDER weight? Life extension is just one of them. I'm not talking about being malnourished, I'm talking about being very healthy and nourished but maintaining a weight slightly below the recommendations. For the record - I have NO intention of doing that (at the moment). Being underweight has never been an issue for me - trust me on this. I have never yo-yo'd that way; only in the upward direction.

Today's conclusion? Choose wisely: it's your body, your health, YOUR LIFE. What are you choosing for yourself? Life doesn't happen to you. You are an active participant.

STATISTICS

Height - 5' 7-1/2"

Weight - For the record, I'm weighing in nude or next to nude on the same scale, around the same time every morning before eating or drinking anything.

WEEK ONE

DAY 01 - 173.4 lbs

DAY 02 - 167.3 lbs
DAY 03 - 165.0 lbs
DAY 04 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in
DAY 05 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in
DAY 06 - 162.8 lbs

DAY 07 - 161.6 lbs

WEEK TWO

DAY 08 - 160.2 lbs

DAY 09 - 160.4 lbs

DAY 10 - 159.2 lbs

Day 11 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 12 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 13 - 159.4 lbs
Day 14 - 157.6 lbs

WEEK THREE

Day 15 - 157.0 lbs
Day 16 - 158.2 lbs

Day 17 - 157.0 lbs

Day 18 - 157.1 lbs

Day 19 - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 20 - 155.0 lbs

Day 21 - 156.1 lbs <-- GRR

FOOD

Breakfast

2 cups of coffee

1 banana
handful of walnuts

Snack

15 cherries

1/3 pint of blueberries

Lunch

1/2 piece of live lasagna
salad (leftover from last night)
cauliflower tabuli
15 cherries

Snack

1 apple

squash linguine

Supper

Salad
Leek soup

EXERCISE

- power walked 3.8 miles