August 16, 2012: Day 15 of 30

8/16/2012: Day 15 of 30
Morning weight: 177.2
Today's calorie count: 1370
Morning exercise: 8 minutes/1500 meters row machine, 20 minutes stationary bike level 11, 24 minutes/100 floors stair machine level 7.  Average heart rate: 134, Max HR 162
 Evening exercise: 28 minute brisk walk - did not wear heart rate monitor
Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read: None
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes are in italics) - None.

Yesterday was a long day, with one branch meeting starting at 7:30 in the morning and another branch meeting not ending until 7:45 last night.  I did not get any reading in, but I did get my walk in before I went to bed last night. Today is my last day at the bank and this evening there is going to be a little going away party for me.  It would be a natural moment for me to have a drink or two, but the 30 day plan didn't include any drinking.  I guess I'll have to let others have a drink in my honor!

I have no idea how late the festivities will go, but usually these things don't last more than a couple of hours.  I think I should get home in plenty of time for my 15 minutes of exercise this morning.  Then I have four days off!!  I am looking forward to being able to get caught up on some things.  This has turned into a busy week since we had so many branch meetings.  It'll be good to be able to take a deep breath before the excitement starts at Castle Creations!!

Have a great day...

August 15, 2012: Day 14 of 30

8/15/2012: Day 14 of 30
Morning weight: 177.4
Today's calorie count: 1542
Morning exercise: Strength training - see day 9
Evening exercise: 28 minute walk/jog  (8 minutes walking HR around 102; 20 minutes jogging HR around 105 for 4 minutes then 135 - 145 for rest of jog)
Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read: None
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes are in italics) - None.

I've gotten a little busy this last couple of days and today will not be an exception.  The Business Banking group is doing a series of branch meetings and we have one this morning that starts at 7:30 and one this evening that won't be over until 7:30 tonight.  I should be able to get a few pages read at lunch today.  If I don't get caught up on my blogging about Younger Next Year before the weekend, I will definitely do it then.  I am looking forward to my 4 day weekend before my new job starts!!!!

Yesterday's workout was tough.  For some reason some days are just harder than others, and yesterday was one of those days.  I kept trying to imagine all the good things that were happening inside my body to my muscles and circulatory system, all that C-10 running around making my cells younger and stronger, and that kept me going!!!

I better run...I have that early morning meeting.  Catch up with you later!!!

August 14, 2012: Day 13 of 30

8/14/2012: Day 13 of 30
Morning weight: 177.8
Today's calorie count: 1608
Morning exercise: None - day off
Evening exercise: 45 minute brisk walk with Jack (about 3 miles - forgot to wear heart monitor)
Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read: 22
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes are in italics) - will catch up later...running late today.

I'll catch you up on my Younger Next Year reading this evening when I have a little time.  Yesterday we had a meeting at work that ran until 7:45 so I was not home until 8:15.  Because of the late hour, our 4 mile walk became a three mile walk, but we got it in and kept up a very brisk pace.  I'm usually in bed by 9:15, so I needed to get home, take a quick shower, and cool down a little before hitting the sack.

I am very pleasantly surprised that each day brings a little more weight loss.  I am so used to losing a couple of pounds and then flattening out again, that I keep half expecting to see a little bump in my weight or at least a flattening out.  But as I told Jack, I am going to celebrate each day for the gift that it is.  Yesterday morning I was practically dancing around the breakfast table because I was so tickled to weigh 177.8.  This morning, (8/15/12) when I got on the scale I weighed 177.4!  It appears as if the 30 day plan has kicked my body into high gear and it's just burning away. 

The last few days at work are going to be looooonnnnngggggg.  I know I still owe you more on the job transition, and that will probably come this weekend.  I have the weekend, Monday, and Tuesday before I start the new job, so I will have a lot of time to blog and get all caught up.  But, for now, I just have to make it through these last three days at work.  I don't have much to do, which is the biggest problem.  It's good in that my team functions so well that they really don't need me for their day-to-day functions.  There won't be any hiccup at all when I leave when it comes to "getting the job done."  I do know that they'll miss my leadership and I worry about who will be there to fight the corporate fights for them.  I have to believe that my boss will pick up that mantle, as is primary, if not sole, responsibility is business banking.  I wish them all the very best!!

I have to sign off now, water my garden, and get ready for my third to last day as a banker.  More later!!

August 13, 2012: Day 12 of 30

8/13/2012: Day 12 of 30
Morning weight: 178.2
Today's calorie count: 1513
Morning exercise: 56 minutes of Strength Training - see day 9 of 30

• Set my heart rate monitor target zone for 60% - 75% of max (light aerobic) which is 101bpm - 126bpm. 
• 8 minutes were below target zone,
• 45 minutes were in target zone, and
• 3 minutes were above target zone. 

Evening exercise: none - day off
Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read: 25
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes are in italics)

This 25 pages covered the chapters on "The Drink" and menopause.

Harry's and Chris' opinions differ on Alcohol.  Harry, the doctor, believes that the threat of becoming dependent on alcohol is so severe that drinking any alcohol at all is just a plain bad idea.  He acknowledges the studies that indicate light drinking (for women, one five ounce glass of wine - or its equivalent - a day defines light) can have health benefits, but he feels the risk far outweighs the potential benefit.  Chris, on the other hand, happens to enjoy his nightly wine or cocktail and feels that a glass (or two - for men) of wine (or a beer or a cocktail) in the evening has many benefits and doesn't feel like the book should recommend against alcohol consumption completely.  So they comprised.  The advise in the book is this:  If you currently don't drink, don't start.  If you do drink, then assuming you are a woman reading this, one drink a night is fine, and perhaps two drinks once a week.  But as soon as you feel like you can't quit at that one drink and you feel a real drive to have more, quit.  It is not worth risking dependency over. 

The chapter on menopause was interesting and Harry quotes a lot of studies and provides some pretty valuable information on hormone replacement studies.  To summarize quickly, hormone replacement therapy is only advisable if menopause symptoms are unbearable.  And then it is recommended that estrogen be taken for a relatively short period of time, as in for the 3 - 4 years of actual menopause, not the rest of your life.  Of course, regular exercise and a healthy diet go a long way toward making menopause more bearable.  

Harry gives us a brief summary about what we do know about menopause, separating the fact from the fiction.  The facts go as follows: 

• Natural menopause starts anywhere from the early 40s to the late 50s, but on average it starts at age 51 and lasts 4 years
• Menopause itself has only a few true symptoms:
• > 50% of women will have:
• Hot flashes - caused by sudden dilation of the blood vessels in the skin, which brings warm blood to your body's surface
• Night sweats - hot flashes at night when you are under the covers, which holds in the heat.  Also, your normal temperature at night is lower than it is in the daytime, so the hot flash swing is more severe.
• Mood swings - caused by changes in the chemicals in your blood, very similar to mood swings in adolescence.  Because they are chemically related they are unpredictable and different for everyone.  Because emotion is stronger than thought, it can take on a reality independent of external circumstances.  It is important to understand that the mood swings that come about before and during menopause are actual, physical surges of chemicals flooding through the brain in response to fluctuating estrogen levels; because by knowing that a women can keep in perspective that this is a temporary physical state and not a symptom of mental illness. 
• Harry stresses over and over again that mood swings are not a mental problem, they are a physical state.  Menopause has no association with depression, anxiety, or any other psychological disorder.
• About 1/3 of women will have significant vaginal dryness
• A small % of women will have:
•  Urinary tract problems
• Problems sleeping that are unrelated to night sweats
• Sexual satisfaction dips for some women and increases for others
• The following symptoms are NOT symptoms of menopause, they are symptoms of decay, which is preventable with vigorous daily exercise and a reasonable diet:
• Depression
• Weight gain
• Mental slowing
• Sleep troubles
• Joint problems
• Fatigue
• Anxiety

To sum it up, there are real symptoms of menopause that can be very uncomfortable for many women and that can last for several years.  For some women, estrogen replacement therapy is a viable alternative, but it comes with risks.  Before opting for hormone therapy Harry recommends learning as much as you can about the benefits and risks so you can make an informed decision. 

For most women, the symptoms of menopause can be reduced and can be manageable with exercise and diet.  And for all of those other symptoms we like to blame on menopause like depression, weight gain, fatigue, mental slowing, sleep troubles, joint problems, and anxiety...well...we have to stop blaming those symptoms on something we can't control, because we can stop or significantly alleviate those symptoms with exercise and diet.  Stop the decay, start the rebuilding.  Start exercising every single day and do it for the rest of your life.  It is the best pill you could possibly take.

August 12, 2012: Day 11 of 30

8/12/2012: Day 11 of 30
Morning weight: 179.0!!!
Today's calorie count: 1580
Morning exercise: 90 minute bike ride

• Set my target heart rate monitor for 60% - 75% of max (light aerobic) which is 101bpm - 126bpm. 
• 4 minutes were below target range,
• 50 minutes were in target range, and
• 36 minutes were above target range. 
• Minutes above target range were during hill climbing.  It doesn't take much of a hill to get me in the 130s.

Evening exercise: 30 minute walk with Jack (about 2 miles)
Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read: 35
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes are in italics)
This 35 pages covered most of Harry's chapter about diet.  He sums it up with three words, "Don't eat crap."

Specifically he talks abouts fats and starch, "The White Foods."

He starts with starches or "bad carbs." Bad carbs are The White Foods - potatoes, white rice, and pretty much everything made with white flour.  Good carbs are those that you find in nature like fruits, vegetables and whole grains.  Aside from the fact that good carbs have all kinds of great nutrients in them that you don't find in The White Foods, the biggest problem with bad carbs is that they pack a much larger - much, much larger - calorie-per-pound punch than those found in nature.

There is no equivalent to The White Foods in nature and your body does not really know what to do with them.  One of the primary signals your body receives when digesting food is the amount of sugar you just ate.  In nature, there was relatively little sugar in the food that was available.  A large meal of game, nuts, and fruits consists of relatively little sugar.  That sugar would signal the release just the right amount of stomach acid and insulin to digest that meal.  Your body doesn't know what to do with a large meal of hamburgers, french fries and a milk shake.  It sees all that sugar and releases way to much stomach acid and insulin, both of which accelerate the cycle of decay. 

The basic moral of the story on "The White Foods" is don't eat them.  Or, "If it doesn't grow that way don't eat it."  Ideally, you should be able to recognize the food you cook with and eat as something that came from the earth in more or less the condition that you see it in before you cook with it or eat it.

Harry then talks about fats.  The first type of fat he talks about is active fat, which we absorb and burn up every day, fat that we might store for a few hours, or a couple of days, but that moves in and out of our bodies as easily as it does in the migrating birds flying to Africa.  It's the healthy, "unsaturated" fat you've been hearing about.  This fat, which is supposed to be the majority of the fat you consume, is the basic fuel for your metabolism and a key building block for your body.  This is fat as fuel, you are constantly burning it as you go about your day.

Unsaturated fat is also the fat that is used for growth.  Our cell walls are largely made up of fat, as are all the connections between our brain cells, our sex hormones and many of our chemical messenger molecules.  You couldn't live a moment without the scaffolding of healthy fat that supports each living cell in your body.  Indeed, you can't make a new cell without fat, and you make new cells all the time - more than twenty billion a year - especially when you are getting younger.

Unfortunately, most of the fat that we eat today is saturated fat - which is the type of fat we use to store energy for hard times.  This is the fat that is used to store energy because it is light and it is amazingly stable.  This stability is also the reason why saturated fat is used so widely in the food industry.  Unsaturated fat gets rancid fairly quickly.  Saturated fat has a long shelf life.  It just makes economical sense to make those Oreos with a fat that will allow you to be able to sell them for as long as possible.

When we eat saturated fat our bodies do everything they can to store it.  It's our rainy day energy source and if we're eating it, our bodies think we must need to store it for the upcoming famine.  And there is more bad news, saturated fat is not a passive player; it's an inflammatory messenger in its own right, an automatic signal that it's time to decay.  That explains why rates of colon, breast and ovarian cancers in populations around the world are directly proportional to dietary levels of saturated fat.

The moral of the fat story?  Read labels, avoid saturated fats.  But don't avoid unsaturated fats, they are an essential building block of your diet.  And avoid transfats altogether.

What's left?  Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, very lean beef and pork, poultry, and fish.  In short, avoid The White Foods and avoid saturated and transfats.  Getting down to the very basics, don't eat junk.  For the most part, you know junky food when you see it.  Just turn around and keep on walking!

Harry spends the first two thirds of the book talking about exercise and one chapter talking about diet.  Daily, hard exercise is the key to being younger next year.  If you stop eating crap, you will also be thinner next year.  He does not recommend going on a diet, he recommends that you start exercising every day, beginning with today.  Eventually, you will start to feel healthier and younger, and you won't want to be overweight anymore...it will just feel wrong.  That is when you will decide to stop eating crap, and once you do that you can't help but start losing weight. 

8/12/2012: Week 24 Photo - And Hello One-Seventies!!!!

Week 24 Photo - 179 Pounds:  45 pounds lost to date

Yippee Skippie!!!  I couldn't believe it when I got on my scale and weighed 179.0 pounds this morning!!  Woo Hoo! 

It seems to be getting more and more common for me to hit flat spells that last about one and a half weeks, which are followed by 2 pound weight losses over a couple of days.  I don't get it, but inevitably, just as I am getting very frustrated with the flatness of the progress line on my chart, I drop a couple of pounds and get right back on my trend line.  It helped a lot this time to be on my 30 day plan.  Even though my weight was pretty constant for the first 8 days of the plan, I was tracking my exercise and food very closely.  I knew I wasn't failing, I just wasn't losing weight.  This has happened enough times now that I know I just need to wait it out.  I didn't even start complaining about it until Friday, and by Saturday morning I was starting to see the results of my consistent efforts.

It feels great to be in the 170s!!  About 5 years ago I had worked really hard to get to 178 pounds and ended up having to have an emergency hysterectomy.  What landed me in the hospital was an ovarian torsion, which is a condition that occurs when your ovary twists on itself and the fallopian tubes cut off the blood supply coming out of the ovary.  The kicker is blood still goes in, but it doesn't come out.  You get the picture.  The ovary ends up acting like a balloon as it fills up with blood.  I have been through many painful things in my life; Cesarean section, vaginal child birth, 3rd degree burns, and throat and nasal surgery, to name the ones that come to mind immediately.  Nothing put me on the ground like the pain of that ovarian torsion.  I was vomiting from the pain, couldn't stand up, had cold sweats.  Yeah, it was bad.

We could have removed just the ovary, which would have been a simpler surgery, but I had bad fibroids on my uterus (yes guys - being a woman comes with all kinds of wonderful perks) that were causing me all kinds of problems on a monthly basis.  My OB/GYN recommended taking the uterus while she was in there anyway.  She promised me that I would not miss it one bit.  Well, she was right about that.  But I did have an ovary removed and I did have a significant abdominal surgery, and all of that did de-rail me, in spite of every effort I made not to let that happen.  Over the next several years I gained about 50 pounds.  The surgery and its recovery got me out of my exercise routine and I did not get that back.  I am sure the hormone change caused by losing an ovary messed with my body's equilibrium.  The things I used to do that always worked didn't work anymore.  I had to work harder and eat less than ever before to just maintain my weight, much less lose weight.  I kind of gave up on it...I just felt like I was getting old and kind of developed a f___ -it attitude.

Then I read Younger Next Year.  And I was approaching 50 years old.  And I knew, deep down inside, I really did want to live to be 100 years old.  And I wanted to have fun getting there.  Nothing tickles me more than seeing myself as a spry little old lady exploring the Long Trail with my children, grand children and great grandchildren.  I am so looking forward to the adventures that are out there, 20, 30, and 40 years down the road.  The fun half of my life is left.  I plan on enjoying every minute of it.

So I said to myself, "Enough with the bad-attitude, already."  On February 27, 2012, I made my chart, made a commitment to myself, and started this journey.  In the last 24 weeks I have lost 45 pounds.  I have exercised, hard, 6 days a week, every week.  My cardio days now consist of running, bike riding, and endurance machines at the gym.  I lift weights three days a week.  I count every calorie and average less than 1500 calories a day.

My goal is to reach and maintain a weight of 150 pounds.  I feel like that is a healthy weight for a 5'6" tall woman.  I can maintain that weight for the rest of my life.  My goal is to exercise every day for the rest of my life.  My goal is to be fit, active, healthy, and engaged in life until the day I die.  I don't want a slow decline into pain, incontinence, dependency, and boredom.  I want to live life large and go out with a bang!!  I can make that happen, but that means working at it today, tomorrow, and every day after that.

This blog is about my journey getting there.  Everyone who reads my posts, whether you comment on the blog are not, help me stay accountable to my plan.  My husband, my sister, Ruth, and my trainer, Jeremy (who I see once a week to help me with my weight lifting routines), are my A Team that help me stay focused every single day.  I am not doing this alone.  I've got help from all of the people in my life and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that!!!!

August 11, 2012: Day 10 of 30

8/11/2012: Day 10 of 30
Morning weight: 180.4
Today's calorie count: 1293
Morning exercise: None - Weekend Routine - exercised in the late afternoon  
Evening exercise: 68 minute jog (about 4.9 miles) 

• Set my target heart rate for 75% - 85% of max which is 126bpm - 143bpm. 
• 6 minutes were below target range,
• 42 minutes were in target range, and
• 20 minutes were above target range. 
• Almost all of the below target range were during my warm-up which is a brisk walk.  At one point my heart rate got up to a surprisingly high 176.  I was going up a grade, but nothing crazy.  I didn't feel like I was working that hard and I didn't feel light headed or anything, but I did notice that my toes were going to sleep.  I've had that problem before when running or cycling long distances, my toes would get numb.  Now I guess I know why, I'm getting close to my max heart rate and I am working at my body's upper capacity.  I slowed down after that and paid a little more attention to my heart rate.  I tried to keep in in the 140s for the rest of my run.

Alcohol consumption: None
Younger Next Year pages read: 26
Notes from book: (Quotes and very near quotes are in italics)
This next 26 pages was not nearly as interesting as previous chapters in the book.  Chris talks about some of the other joys of aging and precautions and steps he advises taking.  The chapters were not exercise related.  He had the following advice:

• Do everything you can not to fall into the habit of "Old Crones' Disease."  In other words, try not to get grouchy and negative.  Optimism and happiness are a lot more attractive and lead to a longer, happier, and more fulfilling life.
• If you need a hearing aid as you get older, get one.  They are not magic, they take some getting used to, but they do help.
• Your voice may start cracking as you get older.  Keep your sense of humor and laugh it off.
• Slow down, look both ways, repeat.  Take the time to make sure the coast is clear when backing out of the driveway.  As you get older, your reflexes really do get a little slower.  Hard to admit, but it makes sense to adjust accordingly.
• Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
• Wear nice clothes - and shoes.  You're working hard on your body, don't skimp on the clothes.  
• Sort of contradictory to the previous bullet, but here goes anyway:  Take care of your finances.  Plan now for what life looks like at 70, 80, and 90.  Spending less money today will go a long way tomorrow.
• Beware of the diet industry.  When it comes to losing weight, only one thing counts and that is calories.  Calories do count.  If you need to lose weight, start by counting calories.  I track my calories with my iPhone using the My Fitness Pal app.  I love it, it's easy.  Even Jack started using it, and he was more resistant to the idea of counting calories that most people.  You really don't have a clue how many calories you are eating until you start counting them.  Chris cautions you not to lie to yourself.  You're the only one you're hurting if you do.  If I consistently eat under 1500 calories a day I consistently lose about 1.8 pounds a week.  Find that number that works for you.