August 22nd, 2012: Day 21 of 30 - Day One on the Job and Lots on My Mind...

8/22/2012: Day 21 of 30

Morning weight: 176.0

   

Today's calorie count: 1607

Morning exercise:  Strength Training - same as day 16 except I could do 6 push ups in each set from my toes before finishing the set from my knees.

Evening exercise:  30 minute swim.  46 laps of 25 meter pool, freestyle. 

Alcohol consumption: None



Going to Goodwill!



I cleaned out my closets over the weekend and this is the pile of clothes that are now too big for me to wear, which is most of the clothes that I own!  I can now fit into the smallest clothes in my closet, size 10 pants, but they are snug.  I did wear a pair of size ten pants to work last week.  They looked good, but I did bring a skirt with me just in case I ripped out a seam (which I didn't, but I did get tons of compliments on my new slim figure)!!

I went shopping this weekend to buy a few things for work/play.  That's one of the perks of the new job, the dress code, if you can call it a dress code, is pretty casual.  Jeans are totally OK.  I have several skirts in my closet that I am still wearing.  They are a size 14 and are getting too big, but they are still serviceable.  I figure I can still get one more dry cleaning out of them.  That's one of the nice thing about skirts, as they get looser they just ride lower on my hips, but at least I can still wear them while I continue to lose weight.  The jeans and pants I bought this weekend were a size 12, which I am fitting into very comfortably, now.  I only bought 2 pairs of jeans and 2 pairs of pants to get me through the next couple of months, until I have to buy smaller clothes!  Luckily, we had received a 20% off coupon at Kohl's, so with Kohl's standard sales and the coupon they were pretty inexpensive.

The bigger shopping front news is that I finally went bra shopping!  Until Monday I was still wearing the same bras that I was wearing before I started losing weight.  Believe me, after losing 47 pounds I needed new bras.  In fact, my bra size went from a 42DD on February 27th to a 36DDD now!!  Wow!!! Before trying on bras I thought I was probably a 38DD, so I had the cup size right but I was actually smaller on the band size than I thought I would be.  I am guessing that by the time I have lost another 26 pounds I will be a 36D - a very reasonable size.  That will be a much lighter burden to carry around!!  I'll be able to wear the three new bras I just bought until I get to my goal weight, but they weren't cheap.  Good bras are so expensive.  I paid $60 each for them.  Three bras (Macy's) cost me more than 4 pairs of pants, a shirt, a sweater, a fleece V neck top and 3 pairs of fleece pants (all of which I bought at Kohl's).  The fleece shirt and pants are for our camping trip to Maine next month.  I know it will be chilly in the mornings and evenings at the camp site, so now Jack and I both of fleece jackets and pants to wear while sitting around the camp fire.  They'll also be perfect for warm pj's this winter.  It's OK if my pajamas get a little too big for me!!

My first day at work was pretty much what I expected.  I am the first Finance Director that they have hired and the woman that has been doing the job, Kate, will still be there, but in a different capacity.  Her new title is Business Director and she will be mostly in charge of HR and Customer Service/Marketing, I think.  She is one of the co-owners of the company.  The transition is going to take a while, as she slowly gives up responsibility and I take it on.  Right now we urgently need to complete the 2011 compilation, so I started working through the list of questions from the CPA yesterday.  This is always a difficult transition, coming into an organization at this level.  The people that work for me have to invest time in training me, which can be resented to some extent, so earning their trust and respect as quickly as possible is important.  It's unfortunate that I have to dive right into this compilation so quickly, because that is forcing me to dig through dirty laundry on my first day, but we'll make it through this.  I also find it difficult not knowing anything.  It just takes time, I know, but I feel clumsy when I can't use the computer systems, don't know my fellow employees, and don't know all of the numbers on the financials.  Therefore, I am feeling sort of tense right now and will probably be tense for a while.  One of the big challenges I face is not eating to relieve the tension.  I have 9 days left of the 30 day plan, and then I will need another short term plan to get through September.  This weekend I will need to buy a new book (I'll probably get Aging Well) to read and blog about.  It's important for me to keep my head actively engaged in the game!

Maybe I am also feeling the Mommy Blues a little bit as Steven's wedding is quickly approaching.  Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly happy and excited for him.  I don't know Elizabeth well, but I love what I know.  She is a wonderfully loving, kind, and intelligent woman.  She shares Steven's love for English and is every bit as intellectual as he is, which I think is something he really needs in a partner.  I am also impressed with Steven and how he has grown since he and Elizabeth have been together.  I think part of the transition in Steven has come about because Elizabeth has a three year old daughter, Ellia.  All of a sudden, Steven is becoming a dad!  There is nothing like being a parent that changes one's perspective of the world.  I love my son, dearly, and I am happy for him and his bride.  I couldn't be more pleased.  But, it is another transition.  He's moving on to a completely different stage of his life and all Momma gets to do is watch and pray for their happiness. 

I don't talk about my husband much, I guess because he's such a steady influence in my life.  That steadiness doesn't provide much to write about, which is a good thing!  But when I think about what I hope for, for Steven and Elizabeth, it makes me think about Jack and me.  Jack and I got married 3 1/2 years ago after being friends for 5 years and dating for another year after that.  In spite of getting married somewhat later in life, Jack and I have something that I hope that Steven and Elizabeth, and every other couple I know, can have.  There are so many songs and poems and stories written about love, and none of them quite capture the essence of it.  How do you talk about love without sounding silly and sappy and all that nonsense.  I have to say, prior to Jack, I didn't believe all those silly love songs.  I didn't think it was possible to love someone as completely as I love Jack, or to be loved like he loves me.  I thought that kind of, "we're one," love would make a person clingy and dependent and needy and weak.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It's a funny feeling to have someone else be part of me, but Jack is, in fact, part of me.  I tell him that I feel like I have a little Jack DNA in every cell in my body.  No matter where I go, no matter how far away Jack is, I feel like he is right there with me.  And not in a dependent, I need Jack, sort of way.  It's a comfortable, safe feeling of not being alone in the world.  It's knowing that, no matter what, he's there for me and I am there for him.  It's warm and uplifting.  His love steadies me when the seas are rocky, lifts me up when I am feeling down, soars with me when I'm on cloud nine.  It's truly amazing to love and be loved by Jack.  My fervent wish and hope for Steven and Elizabeth is that they have that same deep love for one another.  They have all of my love and support!!!  Congratulations Steven and Elizabeth!!  Love one another with everything you've got, and it will all work out, no matter what hurdles you have to jump over along the way!!

I guess I better head out to day number 2 on the job.  Another perk, the official start of the day is 9:00am.  I'll probably get there most days around 8:30.  It's kind of nice to have a longer morning at home, though.  You know how much I like my mornings! 

Have a great day!!!!!

August 21st, 2012: Day 20 of 30

8/21/2012: Day 20 of 30

Morning weight: 177.2

   

Today's calorie count: 1527

Morning exercise & evening exercise:  Mid-day 21 mile bike ride, about 2 hours 

Alcohol consumption: None

 

I haven't started reading a new book yet, but will soon.

 

My new job starts tomorrow!!!  Today I got a haircut, rode my bike, talked to both of my kids for a while, and made Jack his favorite BBQ chicken for dinner. 

 

I hope I can sleep tonight!!!!

August 20th, 2012: Day 19 of 30 and Conclusion of Younger Next Year

8/20/2012: Day 19 of 30

Morning weight: 178.0

If you read yesterday's post you know that I gained 1.8 pounds over the weekend as the result of Friday night's very salty salad at The Other Place (EB&T's going away party) and a very late and also salty dinner at Sullivan's Steak House Saturday night (Castle Creation's welcome party).  Now that the celebrating is over, that temporary weight gain is coming off.  Monday morning I lost the first pound and (spoiler alert for Day 20 post) this morning I was back to 177.2 pounds, exactly where I started off the day on Friday morning.  It feels great to have recovered so quickly.  I believe the reason that I did recover quickly is because I didn't overeat or drink alcohol at either occasion.  My calories consumed for both days was less than 1600.  I am sure the weight gain was water retention from a) too much salt and b) eating so late in the evening on Saturday.  If I had consumed tons of extra calories or if I had had several drinks, I'd be fighting carb cravings right now and be white knuckling it, for sure. 

While I'm talking about salty food at restaurants I am going to put in a plug for Seasons 52.  We have one on the Plaza and I know there are several other Seasons 52 restaurants around the country.  If you happen to have one near you and you want to have a nice dinner out, I recommend trying this restaurant.  They specialize in seasonally inspired, healthy dishes that are made from natural, fresh, wholesome ingredients.  They focus on keeping calorie counts for each dish reasonable (come on, people, anybody can make anything taste good with enough heavy cream and butter) and creating delicious taste combinations.  For me, it is a much more enjoyable experience to eat at a restaurant like that than to go to a restaurant that stuffs as many calories as possible onto a single plate.  Try Seasons 52 and let me know what you think!

   

Today's calorie count: 1554

Morning exercise: Strength Training - Same as day 16 of 30.  The only difference is that I was able to do 2 push-ups from my toes before going to my knees, in each set, instead of 1.

Evening exercise: 30 minute (2 mile) brisk walk with Jack.  The weather has cooled off a bit and an evening walk with Jack is really quite nice!

Alcohol consumption: None

Younger Next Year pages read:  Finished the book - 42 pages.

Notes from the book (Quotes and very near quotes in italics):

I finished reading Younger Next Year for the second time yesterday.  I am glad that I read it again and I am grateful for Ruth's recommendation to read the book and to blog about it.  In reality, I've now read it three times, because when I sat down each day (well, almost each day) to blog about the book, I had to read through the pages again to make sure I didn't miss anything important.  I now, finally, understand why we had to write book reports in school!  The book made a much bigger imprint on me as a result of my blogging than it would have if I had just read it again, for my own benefit.  I couldn't skim through any of it.  I had to absorb what I was reading so that I could be thoughtful about what I wrote.  Great advice, Ruth!!

The first part of today's reading was the end of Harry's chapter about the Limbic brain, the Thinking brain, and the importance of Caring and Connecting.  Harry talks about the links between isolation and depression and the converse, the links between connection and optimism.  He reminds us that most isolation is decay and that most decay is optional.  The other choice, the choice we can make if we choose to do so (redundant, huh?) is growth.

Attitude counts and optimism is a learned skill.  You can decide to be optimistic with remarkable success.  Women who are optimistic about mother-hood before pregnancy have a much lower risk of postpartum depression.  Optimistic women have lower mortality rates from cancer and heart disease.  If you approach illness with a positive, optimistic attitude, you have lower blood pressure, better immune function.  You recover from bypass surgery faster and better, you get out of bed sooner after back surgery and you go back to work and regular exercise sooner.  Anger doubles your risk of heart disease.  But perceiving your work as satisfying cuts your risk of heart disease in half.

Harry sites a longitudinal study that I have read about before that was done with a group of nuns.  Basically, the nuns wrote autobiographical essays very early in their careers.  70 - 80 years later those essays were compared to the life-span of each nun and the surviving nuns' health and attitude.  The nuns that wrote the most optimistic essays in their early 20s were 2 1/2 times (that 250%!!!!) more likely than the most pessimistic nuns to survive from age 75 to age 95.  In addition to that, the researchers could predict the risk of Alzheimer's for each nun, based on the essay that each nun wrote when she was a very young woman.  Harry asks you to Consider Sister Mary, who was highly optimistic and involved in her community throughout her life.  When she died at the age of 101, her autopsy showed fairly advanced Alzheimer's lesions in her brain, but her cognitive testing had been normal and she had shown no signs of dementia in her daily life.  It appears that somehow her optimism and involvement protected her from the disease itself.  This amazing study sites several other examples of the power of a positive attitude, but in my opinion Sister Mary's example says everything I need to know.  Attitude counts.  Optimism is a learned skill.  Make becoming optimistic one of your jobs, like exercising and connecting to others.  It may be tough, but is it worth it?  Is defying Alzheimer's and dementia worth it?  Hell Yes!!  My grandmother had severe dementia for the last 10 - 15 years of her life.  So severe that she had to have help walking, eating, and using the bathroom.  There was nothing wrong with her body, nothing.  It was her brain.  It no longer communicated properly with her nervous system and she couldn't make her muscles do what she wanted them to do.  She drank too much in her old age, too, which accelerated her dementia.  But it was dementia, just the same.  If you can prevent dementia by working every day to have a positive attitude and being optimistic, it is worth every bit of effort you put into it.  But I guess that's just my opinion. 

In one survey, the majority of people felt that the best years of their lives came somewhere after age sixty.  After!  I can see that.  I was looking forward to the second half of my life before I re-read this book, now I am positively pumped!!  Bring it on World!!  I'm ready for you!!

In order to stay connected and optimistic you need to matter to others; it's our limbic imperative, and it's deadly serious.  You need to connect to people who need your help, your nurturing and your support.  And you need to get at least a little dose of all of those back in return.  Without this give-and-take, you decay.

Harry gives some advice on how to stay connected.  One option is to keep working in some capacity as long as you possibly can.  For some of us that is an economic necessity, yet even for those of us that need the money, the benefits of work go way beyond the paycheck.  Work provides structure, an opportunity for social interaction, and - with any luck - makes us feel valued.  A second option is to build connections and communities through fitness activities.  Join a cycling, walking, skiing, or tennis group.  A third option is volunteering.  Giving back to the community can be very rewarding and builds tremendous limbic connections.  And, finally, Harry speaks briefly about spirituality.  He states that Spirituality is too profound and too personal for us to give you any advice on which road to take, but we do know that for limbic reasons alone you should be on the journey.  The growing number of reasonably well done studies on spirituality all point to its importance in our lives for both mental and physical health.  People who search for meaning in their lives and their experiences survive loss better, cancer better, heart disease better, and have healthier immune chemistry, lower C-6 markers of inflammation and lower risks of stroke and Alzheimer's disease.  People who report that faith is an important part of their lives have mortality rates a third lower than average.  They have lower blood pressures and lower blood sugar levels, spend fewer days in the hospital and report substantially higher levels of life satisfaction and emotional well-being.  You can decide for yourself how much of the positive effect stems from the increased social connections offered by organized religion and how much from something ineffable, but the simple message is that it is important to look for the meaning in your life's experience.

In conclusion the book's final chapter is titled, Relentless Optimism. We have every reason in the world to be optimistic about the second half of our lives.  So much of the decision - growth or decay? - is ours to make.  I get to decide, every day, if I want to decay a little or grow a little.  For me, that is a very easy decision to make.

For the first time in my life I am looking forward to getting into very good shape.  I mean, I am looking forward to getting into excellent shape.  I've lost 50 pounds before...hell, I've lost 75 pounds before.  But I have never lost a lot of weight and then spent the next year getting into the best possible shape I can get in.  In the past, I've lost a lot of weight and still been disappointed in my soft gut, the wiggle waggle between my thighs, the fat on my back, and the flapping under my arms.  I've sighed in disgust and moaned in despair and thought, "I'll never look good!"  Well... let me tell you, I am working hard to banish those thoughts from my brain, forever!  Do you know what I think is beautiful?  Fit is beautiful!  Healthy is beautiful!  Active and engaged is beautiful!  The great outdoors is beautiful!  The oceans, prairies, mountains, and deserts of this great nation are beautiful!  Being able to ride my bike 100 miles in one day or hike a long trail is beautiful!  Doing it with people I love is even more beautiful!  And not hurting at the end of the day is even more beautiful, yet!!

I have never in my life had so much optimism and excitement for getting fit.  I can't explain it, really, but as I said a few posts ago I have started thinking beyond Goal # 1, which is to lose 74 pounds and get to a healthy 150 pounds.  I've built a support system that is way too important to me to give up, just because I reach that goal. (I have 27.2 pounds to go.  I should be there by the end of the year.)  So what's next?  How will I engage that support system in 2013?  What will my new goals be?  What will I work towards?  And the answer is I am going to work towards getting very fit.  I discussed this with Jeremy last Friday and he suggested that my 2013 chart should be a Body Fat % chart and I think that is an amazing idea.  I can't even imagine what my body is going to feel and look like if I work for a year on physical fitness, after I'm at a healthy weight.  I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be a very gradual bit of additional weight loss throughout the year, but that won't be the goal.  The goals will be physical.  Obtain a healthy Body Fat %, be able to do a dozen pushups from my toes, be able to do a pull up, complete a triathlon, run a half marathon, perhaps?  Thinking about, dreaming about, and planning for these goals excites me.  It makes me happy.  It makes me optimistic for this second half of my life!! 

By the way, Appendix #1 in the book is Harry's Rules.  They go as follows:

1.      Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life.

2.      Do serious aerobic exercise four days a week for the rest of your life. (Shouldn't that be 1(a)?)

3.      Do serious strength training, with weights, two days a week for the rest of your life. (and 1(b)?)

4.      Spend less than you  make.  (I guess I need to make more money!!)

5.      Quit eating crap!

6.      Care.

7.      Connect and commit.

And that's a wrap on "Younger Next Year," authored by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D.  I hope you found some of the posts about the book interesting and, perhaps, inspirational.  I have had such a great experience blogging about the book that I think I may have to find another book and do it again! 

August 19, 2012: Day 18 of 30

8/19/2012: Day 18 of 30

Morning weight: 179.0

I gained a pound, but we're not going to freak out about it.  Last night was my welcome to Castle Creations dinner with all of the Directors and their spouses.  Dinner started at 7:00 and we did not leave the restaurant until 10:00.  Drinks, then appetizers, then salads, then dinner, then desserts takes a while.  The good news is I was incredibly disciplined and while I am sure everyone else ate and drank at least 2000 calorie meals I kept mine to 550 (best guess).  I did not drink any alcohol, while most of the others were drinking before, during and after dinner.  When appetizers came out I had 2 bites of calamari (44 calories - all calories are my best estimates), a bite of a crab cake (18 calories), a piece of ahi tuna (20 calories) and two bites of bread (23 calories).  The entire appetizer course took about an hour, I was hungry, and the little tastes of a variety things, that were all very tasty, made the hour go by without too much discomfort.  Then came the salad course and that is when the salt hit my plate big time.  The chef at this restaurant was way heavy handed with the salt.  I was counting on the salad course to fill me up a little bit, but there was so much salty dressing and cheese on my salad that I only ate half the Caesar salad.  I counted that as 210 calories.  Then came the dinner course.  I ordered the sea scallops, because I love them and they are amazingly low in calories.  The sides were family style, so that worked out OK.  There were 5 large scallops on my plate, but again, the salt was crazy.  I moved the scallops out of their sauce onto the edge of my plate, and they were a little better.  I counted 155 calories for the scallops.  For sides I had a couple of tablespoons of sweet potato casserole (49 calories), 2 tablespoons of creamed spinach (18 calories) and about a cup of asparagus (Yeah! The hollandaise sauce was on the side! - 14 calories).  I had decaf, black, no sugar or artificial sweeteners, for dessert.

The weight gain, I am sure, was caused by eating so late.  I was still eating dinner an hour after I am usually in bed.  And the salt.  When I woke up this morning my hands were all puffy.  They reminded me of surgical gloves that someone blew up.  All day I have been careful to avoid salt and drink plenty of water.  It will take a couple of days, but this pound from today and 8/10ths of a pound from yesterday will be gone soon. 

I am very, very glad that I have decided to be so disciplined.  That discipline made it very easy to make good choices both Friday and Saturday nights.  I can't imagine how many calories I would have consumed if I had said, "It's a celebration, I can eat whatever I want."  Way too many.  And I'd be looking at a lot more than a 1.8 pound setback from 2 nights of back to back special occasions.

Today's calorie count: 1577 (Ruth and I have decided that with the amount of exercising I am doing - 6 days a week for an hour in the morning and 6 days a week for at least 15 minutes and more often than not 30 minutes in the evening - that a reasonable amount of calories is between 1500 and 1600 calories.  I am being careful not to eat less than 1500 calories so that I have the fuel I need for my workouts.)

Morning exercise: None - day off.  I traded today for Tuesday because Jack and I needed to put together shelves and rearrange all the boxes in the basement, which took several hours.  Since I am off on Tuesday, I am going to go for a two hour bike ride, then.
Evening exercise: 30 minute swim.  This was very, very difficult for me.  From now on my goal will be to swim twice a week in the evenings.

Alcohol consumption: None

Younger Next Year pages read: None - I would normally be reading now instead of blogging, but my eyes are very tired today and I was having trouble focusing on the print.  I hope to finish the book over the next couple of days.

And that's that. 

8/19/12: Week 25 Photo

8/19/12:  End of 25 Weeks

I don't have much to talk about; I just needed to get my weekly photo up. 

I did swim for the first time today.  I swam for 30 minutes, but I was concentrating so hard on living through it that I didn't count my laps.  I'll try counting them next time so that I will be able to tell if I am improving.

I wiill post about Day 18 of 30 in the morning.

Till then...

8/18/2012: Day 17 of 30

8/18/2012: Day 17 of 30

Morning weight: 178.0 (8/10ths of a pound gain - in spite of getting in all my exercise and eating less than 1600 calories the day before.  I chalk this up to the dinner I ate at my going away party Friday night.  It was a chef's salad at The Other Place.  I had the dressing on the side and didn't use much of it so my best guess on the calorie count was that I was fine on calories, but the salad was salty.  I am pretty disciplined about the amount of salt I eat, and while eating the salad I noticed that it was much saltier than what I normally eat.  I am very sensitive to salt and am pretty sure that the overnight gain is related to the salt in that salad.  I drank only water, by the way.  I was not even tempted to have an alcoholic beverage Friday night!)

Today's calorie count: 1568

Morning exercise: None - weekend routine, exercised in the afternoon

Evening (afternoon) exercise: 63 minute jog, about 4.9 miles.  Average HR 139, Max HR 153

---I paid more attention to how I was feeling while running than I normally do and I realized that the first 47 minutes of my jog were actually pretty pleasant.  I felt good, I didn't feel like I was torturing myself, I was enjoying being outdoors.  All in all, a decent experience.  After about 47 minutes, though, it got pretty tough.  The last 16 minutes of the jog required me pushing through the point of not wanting to do this anymore and it was a lot of work.  That's not bad, though.  I think it is safe to say that 25 weeks ago I couldn't jog five minutes without drawing on every bit of inner strength I had!  Progress, Grasshopper, Progress!!

Alcohol consumption: None

Younger Next Year pages read: 20
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes in italics)- Finally, I am going to catch you up on the last 20 pages that I read!!!  Not that it is all that exciting, but a 30 day plan is a 30 day plan, and this is part of the plan, after all!!

These pages were the beginning of Part Two of the book called, "Take Charge of Your Life."  The book now moves away from talking about exercise and diet and starts to talk about the other important things we need to do in order to be Younger Next Year.

Chris gets the first chapter of this section and talks about the importance of caring.  In fact, Harry's Sixth Rule is:  Care.  Chris' words:  Care is a triple-barreled message, a Gatling gun of advice.  First, we urge you to care enough about exercise and nutrition so that you have a decent body and a good attitude going into the Next Third. (They often refer to life after 50 as the Next Third.  Personally, I refer to it as the Second Half, but each to his own!)  But that's only part of it, and not necessarily the most important part.  With exercise, you have given yourself a great set of wheels. But that doesn't amount to much unless you go out on the road.  The rest of the book is about life on the road.  Once you've taken charge of your body, you have to think about taking charge of your life.

It is important as we move into and through the second halves of our lives not to become withdrawn and not to turn into home-bodies, but to continue to reach out and care about others.  Connect and Commit is Harry's Seventh Rule.  It means rededicating yourself to family, friends, and companions.  Join groups, get involved in your community, whether it is work or play.  There is a tendency to do less of this as we age, and that is a huge mistake.  Humans are built to be involved with and to care for one another, and that does not change one bit as we age.  The book claims that being involved, connected, and caring about others is essential to healthy living.  In fact, it goes as far as to say, If we don't exercise our social skills - if we let ourselves become cut off and increasingly solitary as we age - we will become ill and die.  I've read many references to studies not included in this book that say exactly the same thing.  There is also the importance of going beyond caring for those in your circle and community, and caring for the greater good.  Harry and Chris believe that we were built to aspire to things beyond the interests of ourselves or our immediate pack...to "care" in the exalted sense about larger than human goals.  There is at least a possibility that this "higher caring" is what being a human is all about.  They then go on to say that this "higher caring" is a very personal thing and a serious discussion of "higher caring" is beyond the scope of the book.  But they do say that finding the selflessness within you - getting that one right for you - may trump everything else.  Caring at every level is one of the most important things you can do in the Next Third of your life.

Getting practical, Chris then recommends keeping a journal (how about a blog?).  He suggests that if you are going to have a life that you and others care about, it must be an examined life, and that means writing it down.  He recommends that three things go in the journal every day:  1) What I ate (I log all of my food in My Fitness Pal), 2) what I did for exercise (goes in My Fitness Pal and this blog), and 3) what I did with my life - sexually (Well, I think I'll keep that to myself), socially, morally...whatever you care about.  By journaling or writing everything down, it's a symbol that someone cares, even if it's just you.  He finishes the chapter by saying, whether you try the log or not, remember:  The great trick in life is to care.

When Harry gets to take a stab about the importance of caring, he gets to the biology of it all and talks about the Limbic Brain and the Biology of Emotion.  He tells us that, Staying emotionally connected turns out to be a biological imperative, a critical part of the good life - and a real challenge as we age in our society.  He says that it all comes back to the biology of connect and love.

Basically, Harry tells us that the survival of social animals, such as humans, chimps, wolves, and dolphins, is dependent on being part of a group.  There is no such thing as a solitary human in nature, because isolation is fatal.  We were designed to be emotional creatures, which is to say that we are mammals.

Mammals have a second brain that sits on top of the primitive brain, it is often referred to as the emotional brain but its real name is the limbic brain.  It is the part of our brain that runs our emotions and, according to Harry, in many ways it is the most important brain that we have.  Complex emotions, from the limbic brain, are the reason mammals succeeded.  We are emotional creatures from start to finish.

Our deepest and most primitive emotions, fear and aggression, have control centers in our primitive brain. Killing prey, territorial defense, fight or flight, sexual predation and ruthless self-interest are the legacy of our earliest ancestors.  The great differentiator between mammals and earlier creatures is the ability to create positive emotion.  Reptiles run purely on negative reinforcement.  Mammals invented love, joy, pleasure and play, all of which are enshrined in our DNA, in the chemical and neurological pathways in our limbic brains.  The survival of humans was dependent on this ability to live and thrive as a group.  Reptiles are hardwired for individual survival...many of them eat their own young, for instance.  While humans still have that hardwired instinct for personal survival, we also have the concern for the survival of our children and the ability to sense emotions in others.  Our limbic brains give is the ability to love our young and work in groups, two essentially critical items to our very survival as a species.

Our third and final brain is the subtle, thinking, calculating, problem-solving, tool-using, social-climbing, chatting, linguistic neocortical brain:  the thinking brain.  The physical brain speaks the language of sensation and movement.  The emotional brain speaks the language of feelings and mood.  The thinking brain the conscious, thinking brain, our brain, your brain, speaks the language of...language.  With the development of the thinking brain we not only had own brain maps of the environment, we had access to other people's brain maps, too.  Collective activities like hunting, foraging, raising children and teaching each other how to make things took priority in early communication.  This ability to be part of a tribe allowed humans to expand to every climate on earth.

These three brains are intricately wired together.  We are primitives, mammals and humans all at once.  Our thoughts (thinking brain) and emotions (limbic brain) are partners in the never ending dance of life.  Thoughts and emotions alternate the lead, but most of the time our emotions, not our thoughts, take that lead, and our thoughts follow.  According to Harry, Emotion literally precedes thought at the neural level.  So a positive emotion will tend to generate a positive thought in response, which will loop back through the limbic system to generate a positive feeling.  The same loop works for negative emotions and thoughts.  Therefore, it is possible to train yourself to live in either an optimistic or a pessimistic frame of mind regardless of your external circumstances.  How you view your life has a surprisingly large role in determining how your life goes, so there is a real premium on having positive emotions.  You can help create these positive emotions by reaching out to good stimuli:  exercise, decent sleep, rational diet, love and play.  Happiness comes primarily from building connections, from giving and getting love and friendship, and that just takes good old-fashioned work- hard, but deeply satisfying work.  Connect and commit, in other words to generate positive emotions and drive away despair.  Study after study show that social connections are a more powerful factor in health and mortality than smoking, alcohol, exercise, nutrition or age.  Interestingly, staying physically active increases your likelihood of staying socially connected.  In a study of 6,500 older adults there was a linear relationship between levels of walking, biking or gardening and the number of social contacts.

To sum it up so far, exercise 6 days a week; don't eat crap; care about your life, the life of those around you, and the greater good; connect and commit, and keep an optimistic outlook on life.  Yeah...it all makes sense to me!!

August 17, 2012: Day 16 of 30 and Progress Update

8/17/2012: Day 16 of 30
Morning weight: 177.2
Today's calorie count: 1595
Morning exercise: Strength Training:

Repeat the following set 4 times:

• 12 Wide Squat Jumps:  Place an elevated board between your feet (I used two risers) so that your legs are more than shoulder width apart.  Do a body weight squat.  From the squat positions, jump up and bring your feet together so they land on the board.
• 12 Dead Lifts with 15lb dumbbells in each hand:  Dead lifts were described last Friday. 

Repeat the following set 4 times:

• Stairs:  Run up and down 30 step flight of stairs once
• 12 Push-ups:  Do as many as possible on toes (1 only, for me) and complete the rest on knees
• 20 lunges with 12lb ball held over your head (alternate 10 each leg)
• 16 each side Reverse Wood Chop with 12lb ball:  Bend kness, so you are about halfway to squat position.  Hold ball high and to the right of your body, swing ball down and across body until it is in front of left knee, twisting and crunching torso on the way down.  Raise ball back to original position and repeat 16 times.  Switch sides.
• 30 seconds stair touch:  Alternate tapping stair with toe, hopping back and forth from foot to foot as quickly as possible

For the record, everything is sore this morning.  This workout worked me out, good!!!!

Evening exercise: 28 minute brisk walk - did not wear heart rate monitor
Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read:  I am going to catch up on Younger Next Year tomorrow.  Today, I want to share my progress results to date.

First, here's a new picture of my chart!  Can you see the stair steps in my progress line that I was talking about?  In spite of the plateus and occassional upward jags, my trend line has been amazingly consistent for the last 25 weeks.  This chart is my major inspirational tool.  It is the size of two posterboards taped together.  As you can see, I take my picture every Sunday (the same one I post on this blog each week) and glue it to the chart.  I love watching the line go down.  I hate seeing the line go up!  That's part of the inspiration.  I also love really looking at the pictures and seeing the progress.  What a difference 25 weeks can make!!  If any of you are considering a weight loss plan or Get Fit Initiative, I encourage you to make yourselves a chart.  Pin it to your bathroom wall so you see if every single day, several times a day.  You'll see, it works!

We did measurements at my training session yesterday.  Here are my March 7th stats compared to my August 17th status. (I started my program on Feb 27th with a 3 for $99 training package.  I signed up for my first 10 session package on March 7th, so that is when we took my first set of measurements.)  I am also including the photos taken on the days closest to those two days.

WEIGHT
March 7th:  220.4  (Actual start weight on 2/27/12 was 224.0 pounds)
August 17th:  177.2
Pounds lost to date:  46.8

BODY FAT %
March 7th:  39.9% (Ugh!!!)
August 17th:  32.11% (Still Ugh!! but better)
% Body fat lost:  almost 7%

CHEST MEASUREMENT (Directly under pits, above boobs)
March 7th:  40.5"
August 17:  36 1/8"
Inches lost:  4 3/8"

WAIST MEASUREMENT (at Belly Button)
March 7th:  39"
August 17th:  32.5"
Inches lost:  6 1/2"

HIP MEASUREMENT
March 7th:  49"
August 17th:  41.5"
Inches lost:  7 1/2"

March 11th, 2012

August 12th, 2012

I am very pleased with my progress!  If my trend line continues (and I see no reason why it won't) I will be to my goal weight of 150lbs by the end of 2012.

It helps me tremendously to have firm goals and as I am rapidly approaching the completion of my first goal, I have started to think ahead to 2013.  There are many, many things that have helped keep my head in the game over the last 25 weeks.  Two of the biggies have been my chart and my trainer.  When I reach 150, my head needs to stay in the game.  I will still have a long way to go when it comes to getting as fit as possible.  So I have decided that I am going to continue to work with Jeremy once a week throughout 2013.  He and I talked about this yesterday and we decided to make my 2013 goals fitness goals.  I am going to create a 2013 graph with a weight line on it and will continue to track my weight line twice a week throughout 2013.  But I am also going to have a % Body Fat goal line on my chart.  One of my fitness goals will be to reduce my body fat to a certain % (I don't know what that number is - Ruth, any thoughts?).  I'll also set goals like being able to do 12 push-ups from my toes, one pull-up, and things like that.  Perhaps I'll add completing my first triatholon to that list.  Anyone willing to do a triatholon in 2013 with me?  I feel a sense of relief, already, knowing the direction that my 2013 goals will take.  I don't have firm numbers set yet, but I will by the end of the year.  There's time for that, but I needed my brain engaged in the idea of 2013 goals, now. 

Gotta run for now..but we have 4 whole days to get caught up!!!  Enjoy your weekend.