The slow but steady march

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Today I "officially" started my Kaiser Multifit program; which began with a class. 
For the most part, I realized that the "plan" I've already had myself on for a month was more restrictive than the one they advocate. They limit red meat to twice a week; I've had red meat only once in 8 weeks, and that was a couple of meatballs last weekend with spaghetti. I've successfully avoided fast foods, prepared foods, junk foods; I've been eating lots of whole grains with chicken or tuna once or twice a week. Where I've kind of fallen down is my veggies and fruits, I'm still not eating enough of those.
Still, here I am, weighing less now than I have in at least 5 years, possibly 10 years. 
The funniest thing in this class: a woman actually asked if Burger King was a better choice for fast food, I assume because they claim to "flame broil." 
Worst thing: when it was pointed out to me that I can expect to take a four-pill cocktail of prescriptions for the rest of my life. I haven't had many emotional moments since all this happened -- I just prefer to be logical and unemotional about big, serious things -- but something inside me snapped for just a moment. I felt... well, young and scared. I was surrounded by people who were mostly 20 years my senior, and I realized that if I live to a decent age, I'm looking at 45-50 years of taking pills every morning and every evening. 
Now, I know that it's not as if I have HIV or anything, and the "cocktail" isn't that dangerous and it won't kill me if I miss a dose; all things considered I am going to be okay and it is all just a "chronic condition."
Still, it was a momentary chink in the armor that I didn't expect and didn't really make all that much sense to get upset about.
I took the opportunity today to try to kick start myself again. Last week was pretty lonely and depressing for some reason, and the fact that my steady weight loss seemed to plateau last week didn't help. But I'm back to losing again this week, in fact I am likely to -- for the first time in a decade -- become just "overweight" this week. I know, that sounds like bad news, but according to the harsh and unfair Body Mass Index (BMI) system, I have been "Obese" all this time even though I don't look obese. So, finally falling down the chart into only "overweight" is a pretty good sign. The next threshold, however -- into "normal weight" -- is a grueling 33 pounds farther away.
Anyway, this afternoon I bought myself a bike. I'd been looking for a bit, thinking it would provide a better workout than walking; all the bikes I've been seeing are incredibly expensive, like in the $1000 range. I was shocked -- I mean, what ever happened to the $150 bikes? Shows how long it has been since I bought a bike, eh?
But today I found a really good bike at Off Ramp Bikes. It was on sale (and I didn't even get the cheapest one) for about $360 or so. The sales guy was very helpful, showing me how to choose the right bike, making sure it was the right size for me (man, I feel SHORT now), and getting it all tuned up for me before I took it home. 
I haven't been on a bike in many years; I took it out for a spin around the neighborhood and immediately realized that yes, it is a workout. I think I got in about a half mile before I was just tired out, my knees getting stiff. 
Okay, so this will take a while, and I'm certainly not going to be a new Lance Armstrong. But it's a start in the right direction. 


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