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Two years.....

Will he do it?

  • Heck no. Beer n wings Monday night at Twofer's place!

    Votes: 1 6.3%

  • Carrots and water here on out.

    Votes: 4 25.0%

  • Flip a quarter.

    Votes: 2 12.5%

  • Who cares????

    Votes: 1 6.3%

  • He'll be breaking bricks with his butt cheeks this time next year!

    Votes: 8 50.0%
  • Total voters
    16
two fingers

two fingers

Opinionated blowhard. But not mad about it.
Inactive
Feb 7, 2005
33,959
116,684
55
Eastern NC USA
#1
That's what I'm giving myself.

Back story: I just had my annual health evaluation at work. Nothing "horrible". But...

My blood pressure is still elevated somewhat (because I followed exactly none of the advice you guys gave me in the thread I started about is a while back).

My waist is a little bigger than last years, but nothing crazy. I'm not "fat"..... yet. (34" belt line and the measurement around the bellybutton is a couple inches higher at 6'1".)

All.of my "numbers" (LDL, HDL, A1C, blood sugar, etc.) were acceptable but near the wrong end of the scale of the acceptable range.

"Get to the point, Twofer! I'm losing interest!!!!!"

I don't blame you. :D

Point is, I turn 48 on Sunday. So, if my calculator is correct, I'm approximately two years from the "Big Five Oh".

Between now and Sunday, I'm going to eat like there's no tomorrow. I'm going to pretend than bacon is broccoli and beer is coconut water. :cool:

After that, I gotta make some changes. This time I have to stick with it. There's a history of heart disease in my family.... couple of strokes in the family tree as well.

I'll report back here from time to to for updates.

Short version?

Diet, exercise, peace/serenity/calm/stress reduction. I'll have to figure out some quantifiable mini goals to get me where I want to be.

My goal? Transform my mental and physical health before my 50th Birthday.

I'm not depressed. I'm not fat. But I'm certainly too stressed out from time to time. And ten minutes into a triathlon I would he calling a Lyft ride to take me to the nearest hospital.... or the nearest beer n wings joint. :D

I want to be in the best shape of my life on my 50th birthday. I'm a firm believer in accountability. You have to state a goal or you'll never reach it. You have to have people in your life who will give you crap if you quit.

So, here we are. Give me crap.... starting Monday. ;)

Now, where did I put that book @Joe Nerve wrote.....
 
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#6
I feel ya, in a similar situation myself. About 35 lbs over weight with HBP. way out of shape; my kid is almost 3 and he ain't getting any slower! I'm vegetarian (mostly vegan) but still way too much junk food and beer. Almost 40 myself and need to kick it into gear!

Whatever you do for diet, I highly recommend looking into plant based eating. I did that back in 2007, first time I got my health in control, and the weight just melts off. Eat to Live, Forks over Knives, China Study and Engine 2 diet are all good ones.

Good luck buddy, I'm routing for ya!

(I voted butt breaking bricks, just cause that's way funnier than carrots and water :D)
 
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#8
So, motivational story. (Just in case one will help):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)

I spent the first part of my life eating, drinking, and smoking like I expected immortality. Stopped smoking at 47 when they did a femoral bypass to keep from amputating my leg. Weight went up to 250. At 55 I pulled my head out of those aforementioned cheeks. Totally quit alcohol, started exercising and watching food intake.

At 65 I was 6'2", 183 lbs. 32 waist, walking 2 miles every day, bp 105/60 and cholesterol nice. At 67, I went to get an adjustment in my asthma meds, and doc wanted a treadmill ECG. No prob. Hit target pace, and the doc lays me down with a nitro tab and orders for an angiogram. 6 days later, triple bypass...consequence of all that stuff I pushed in my mouth 20 years earlier. I was one small tick away from the widowmaker, and had never felt a single symptom. No family history, nothing.

The worst part was watching my wife nearly hysterical with fear.

We are too soon old, and too late smart.
 
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#14
two fingers said:
I want to be in the best shape of my life on my 50th birthday. I'm a firm believer in accountability. You have to state a goal or you'll never reach it. You have to have people in your life who will give you crap if you quit.
Click to expand...

As one of my nephews used to say when he was about 3 years old...

"YOU CAN DOO-EEEEE!!!!!"

And ya might want to pat yourself on the back for where you're at now, which sounds like its still a lot better shape than many in your age group. 2 years of baby steps and little changes can accomplish lots.
 
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#15
Good luck, I hope it goes well. I quit drinking, or more accurately getting drunk, at 25. Then quit smoking at 31. Now I've started eating better and dieting to get back down to a good weight and I can honestly say this is buy far the hardest of the three. I lose 25 pounds, go to the doctor. She tells me blood pressure is great, labs are great, keep up the good work. And it never fails I fall of the wagon that very day and lose half of what I accomplished.

So I hope you succeed.
 
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#20
Also, this might be silly, but chewing your food. Like, all the way.

Until there’s no texture left.

Yes, I’m serious. It actually helps (well, helped me) in multiple ways.

Can be meditative and a practice in discipline. For me, every time a piece of food goes beyond a certain point on my tongue, my brain triggers me swallowing it, regardless of how much I’ve chewed it. Focusing on actually chewing allows me to really enjoy each bite, and be more present in those moments. More present, less worrying about this or that=BOOM: less stress.

You’ll quickly find yourself chewing each bite 50-100 times, especially fibrous or harder foods. It used to take me 45 minutes or an hour to eat a salad from Saladworks.

On top of that, it takes you longer to finish your meals... preventing you from eating during that 20 minute lag time between you being full and actually feeling full. So you end up eating less.

And lastly, the more you chew, the easier it is for your body to actually extract all of the nutrients out of your food. If you swallow something after chewing it only 5 times, oftentimes you can recognize it on the, umm... other end, if you will. If the food isn’t getting broken down enough at the front gate, it’s tough for your body to get everything out of it.

Oh, and drink water- lots of water.
 
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