after dinner walks

Yesterday it started getting hot, and I really didn't feel like walking. But I drug my butt out there and did it. Lydia came along.

It was so hot neither of us felt like putting on sneakers. Well, the sneakers wouldn't have been bad, but the socks would have been tormet. So we wore our Birks.

Lydia decided she doesn't like walking in Birks. I, on the other hand, would do it all the time.

First we took the dog out. After being a bad boy in the house, he walked the best he's ever walked. He didn't stop much, or run ahead. Then we dropped the dog off and headed to Fountain Hill. We only did the fairly flat route between Delaware and Broadway, but it was enough to get the blood moving and work up a sweat.

Today I walked on campus, then between storms, walked around the block. We'll it's actually a variation on Adonis' route. I wanted a lot of up hill since I only had a half hour before it started to pour again.  Got home in plenty of time.

Tomorrow is a fast day. I have a weigh in on Friday and I've gained weight back. I even crossed back into the 220s. That's unacceptable.

reflections .... realizations

I've been blogging since about 2007. My brother had started to blog about boomerangs and the blog was free from RCN. I think it was called the RCN Journal. I signed up (Tall and Fat Tales) and had nothing to write about. It laid dormant until that summer when my international student, her friend, Bonnie, my brother and his wife went tubing on the Delaware. The story was unbelievable. I finally had something to blog about. My first post was "Tubing on Willy Wonka's Chocolate River".  It included stories on graffiti on my garage, and the "do not use or you will die" sign on my 50-year old furnace, and some walking adventures. Normal, mundane stuff. Nothing on a regular basis.

Then high blood pressure happened in October of 2008. One of the family curses. I needed to get serious about exercise and diet. I was 256 pounds. My blood pressure was over 200.


I found quickly that I could not just walk for the sake of walking. I bored easily. Everyone who reads this blog knows that. I needed a goal. I saw one of the sappy commercial for the Koman  Breast Cancer 3-Day in winter of 2009, did a little research, and signed up for the 3-Day. My friend Karen was dying of the disease. It was perfect. Plus she lived in Philly. She'd meet me at the finish and I'd collapse at her place. Sadly she died before that could happen.

Regardless, I was motivated and began training. Part of the online fundraising platform was a blog, and it was a way to keep me accountable. If I missed a day of training, and then blogging, my sister was sure to call. "Didn't you walk yesterday?" she'd ask. After it was over, I printed it all out and stuck it in my photo album because once the 3-Day was over, it would be gone.

At the same time the mundane stuff remained on Tall and Fat Tales.

I liked blogging and finally had something to talk about. Training for the 3-day I lost about 10 pounds and 3 dress sizes. In one summer. Clearly I was all fat. (I wonder what the number is. My BMI is still 44!) I gave up drinking massive amounts of soda and started to eat better.

After the 3-day I moved my walking adventures to Tall and Fat Tales. Then the notice came from RCN. No more blogs. It didn't occur to me to make a copy. All that is gone. Now I have books printed.

When I did the Walk Your Butt Off test program in fall 2011-winter 2012 I weighed in at about 236 pounds. I didn't even notice I had lost another 10 pounds. How is that possible?

Still I was discouraged. I was still FAT. I am still fat. Nothing I did — at least in my head—seemed to take the weight off. I was still wearing the same sizes I wore after that first 3-Day.  I was walking my ass off and doing half marathons, climbing stairs, changing my diet over and over, going to nutritionists and to no avail. That's what motivated me to sign up for the Sugar Crushers test panel.

When I started the Sugar Crushers test panel I weighed in again. This time I was about 226. I don't remember. Numbers aren't my thing. But it looks like I had kept off the WYBO weight loss. This time I lost 8 pounds in a month. But dang it was hard. The restrictions nearly drove me screaming down the street. I can't function like that.

That being said, over the weekend the light bulb went off. In four years I have lost 40 pounds and kept it off. (Sorry, no pixs of me in 2007-08. Clearly avoiding camera. Or maybe deleted them.) I'm not really sure if I can see it. (Though I do remember thinking I looked hot in the black and white. Clearly that was a mirage.) I am going to own and embrace that fact. Forty pounds is not insignificant. Perhaps I am not failing at this after all. I'm just doing it really, really, slowly. I only have 18 more pounds to go before I hit my goal of "onederland". Anything after that, pardon the pun, is gravy.

I will do this. Hopefully it won't take two more years.

the week so far

Monday kicked off with a walk with Bonnie. Since the heat wave broke, we did about 3.5 miles around her neighborhood. Lots of hills to burn and extra calorie or two. When we got back to her place she made smoothies for breakfast—sweeten coconut milk, strawberries, bananas, protein power and something else. They were thick like milkshakes and delicious. Alas, I can't have another until September. Today I started the diet for Preventions sugar cravings diet test panel.I also bought dumbbells for the program.

Tuesday, was doctor day. It was totally uneventful. She didn't complain about my weight, blood pressure, numbers, nothing. It was oddly refreshing. My weight was 228.5. Last Wednesday it was 225.5. Three pounds in one week? I doubt it.

Lydia came after work for supper, then we walked Big A. After giving him to Pat, we hopped in her car and went to Emmaus. We did her Passport To Fitness rubbings at South Mountain Park and the Wildlands Conservancy. The path on South Mountain was about 1.5 miles round trip. I'm thinking the Flood Plain Trail at the Wildlands was just over a mile. Half mile with the dog. We probably got in 3 miles. We probably would have walked longer at the Wildlands, but it was getting dark.

I decided to try the exercises for the program at 10 pm at night. Not a wise idea.  I woke up Wednesday with aching shoulders, neck and knee. My knee still hurts, but it is better.

Wednesday, my colleague and I walked downtown for lunch. It's restaurant week. My last supper, so to speak before this wacky diet. I had a 1/2 fried artichoke sandwich and a salad. Have you ever had fried artichokes? OMG. Good thing I had to walk back up that hill.

After dinner I headed down to ArtsQuest for the Musikfest 30th Anniversary volunteer photo. There are 24 original volunteers left. They gave us the blue shirts there for the photo. Then we had to give them back. They forgot to embroider 30th anniversary on them. Oops. Sitting on the right is Mary Pongraz. She was my teacher at Broughal back in the 60s. I was the only one there that called her Miss Pongraz. Mary just doesn't sound right.

 

I remember when this skirt had one tshirt on it. What is amazing is thirty years later it still fits. As a graphic designer I see the evolution of the logo.

I left The Steel and headed over to the D&L for the Wednesday Walking Workshop. 

Over the weekend they were trimming the trees on the canal path. To me, it looked like a tornado blew thru and destroyed everything. Glad to see the PPL tree trimmers prune just as badly in the forest. One of the workers was killed when he cut the line and they closed the path for a couple days. My hope is that is why nothing is cleaned up. The canal is dammed with fallen branches. I could have cried. There is no shade on the path, but the power lines are free. I don't like the trade off.

We walked from The Wooden Match to the Minsi Trail Bridge and back. When we got to the Minsi we climbed the stairs and came back down. On the way back, we used resistant bands. I was drenched by the time I got back.

Michele, the walking coach, is the workout coach  for the Sugar Cravings Program. After the workout, she went over the exercises with me, and showed me adaptions. Hope I remember them all. Maybe I'll try them tonight. Should have had someone videotape it.

The rain is back, so I'll be doing a Leslie walk tonight.

Tomorrow Bonnie, Pat from the Liberty Bell Wanderers, and I are going to test the new South Bethlehem 10k walk. It will be my first official trail design. If it goes well, and the board approves, paperwork will be submitted to have it sanctioned by the AVA.

Remember the weights from above? Wednesday 225.5, Tuesday 228.5, tonight 224.5. WTF?

Oh, if that isn't enough, sometimes this week I earned my 1000 mile badge on FitBit! 

throw away the scale.

Got this in my Idita-Walk email today. Now could someone please tell my doctor.

signed up for myfitnesspal.com

It's online, and if you have a smart phone, you can do it there. I have a stupid phone, so that won't happen.

Basically it's an online food journal. Does all the math for you. That means I have to weigh and measure everything. I lose weight when I do that. Shocking, huh? It also tracks the calories burnt exercising. That means I'll be tracking my exercise twice!

I've heard of it before, but kind of ignored it. Today I was bored at work, and saw it on Megan's Skinny Shimmy FB page, so I signed up. We'll see how it goes.

If I keep to the 1750 I should lose one pound a week. I'd rather have two, but oh well.

Dave, good luck on the weigh-in!

t.m.i.—the fat girl fitness test

This post will be too much information—tmi—but that's life. I have to be held accountable if I'm ever going to shed this weight for good.

So if you are feeling miserable, maybe reading this will make you feel better.

Part of the presidential challenge is to take a fitness test before you start. So I've been walking four years, maybe, and doing the challenge for seven months. It's about time I bit the bullet.

The online calculator did not accept fractions, so I had to round.

I was pleased that my mile was 13:47. I think after the WYBO it was 14. My resting heart was 60 (nurse Bonnie insisted) and the after was 78.

My height, sadly, is down to 5'9.5".  and my weight, on my new scale, is 226. So this will be the scale of record now.

I did 23 half sit ups in one minute. My shoulders and neck still hurt and for two hours after I felt like I was going to vomit. I cannot do a proper sit up. You could dangle a million dollars in front of me and it still won't happen. I really need exercise for dummies.

I fared less well with the push ups—6. I could not do even one on the floor. Even from my knees. I did them kitchen counter, but my shoulders were still hurting from the sit ups. I think I could do more. More on that later.

The sit and reach flexibility was 24.5 inches.  The results say I'm in the 95%. Wow, Bonnie must be in the 150%.

Overall, she's much more athletic than I am. No surprised. That investment in the gym paid off.

For this we only needed or waist measurement. For Megan's Skinny Shimmy group we needed the everything. We saved that for last. Here are the disgusting numbers:

Boobs: Upper 42.5, mid 44.5, lower 40.25
Waist: High 40.25, mid 40.25, low, 49.5
Hip: 49
Thigh: 26
Calf: 16.5
Bicep: 13

So her post for today says:

Happy New Year everyone! First challenge for the New Year: One Hundred Push Ups! This is a 6 week challenge designed to build strength and at the end of the 6 weeks, you should be able to complete 100 consecutive push ups. Please go to www.hundredpushups.com to complete the initial test to find out which level you fall into if you are participating. We will begin the challenge on 1/6/12!

100 push ups. Is she kidding? Did she inherit the Jillian gene from her mother? And Lydia calls me the task-master. 

I read everything, despite the constant pop-up to get a phone app. It says you can start with the wall, and basically do what we did with WYBO. However, my goal is 50. Maybe on the stairs. Clearly not on the floor. That will take more than 6 weeks.

I'm level 1—0 to 5. We will see.

didn't think things thru, again

As everyone knows, I was in the test panel for the book Walk Your Butt Off. It was fun. I might have learned a few things.

Then about two weeks ago I got a call from the author to fact-check my information. Excuse me? Yes, I'm actually in the book at several places. With my stats and photo. Yikes! What was I thinking?

Yesterday I got a email from Prevention magazine.  They are printing an excerpting of Walk Your Butt Off in the February issue. The email had questions like: Am I still walking? Am I still doing the program? Have I maintained my weight loss? Yikes! They might want to interview me.  I need to send them my current weight and a photo in workout gear.  Hopefully that scary picture will chase them away.

But think about it. This fat girl in a national health magazine, fat. Would I make a good poster girl for walking my butt off?  I don't think so.

But think of the other ramifications—the internet ones. I have done a fairly good job of keeping my private self, private. I have FB locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I have this blog set to non-searchable. I really don't want to be found. I didn't even give them permission to post the blog address in the book.

Something like this will pull all the haters out of the woodwork. So in February, if the blog disappears, and my FB page goes down, you'll know why.

kicked treadmill today

Today was the weigh-in for the Walk Your Butt off program. I have no illusions that I'll be in the book. From conversations around the room I could tell that some people lost a lot of weight, and did super on their walking test. They'll be in the book. But that's okay.

I did okay. Average. But that's who I am. And that's okay too.

On average I lost about 3 inches from each thing they measured, except the girls. They were closer to 5. My weight on their scale was 219. I started at 239. But I weighed in about 5-6 pounds heavier on their scale.  Fifteen more pounds and I can finally pass Sharon. Do I look any different. No. Do my clothes fit any different. Not really. Do I feel any different. No. Oh well. As Lydia would say "It's all good".

Textbook perfect blood pressure—120/80.  That's two great reading in a row. Hope it stays that way for the doctors visit! Maybe that beast has been tamed? Now what can I do to help the cluster headaches?

The treadmill test. The first time I was at 17:33 for a mile. This time I burned rubber at 14:22. Now several of you use treadmills all the time so this is small potatoes for you. But for me, it was the best part of the day. Please don't comment that you can do a mile in 10 minutes. Please. It will burst my very small bubble.

Next challenges:

• February-March the Iditawalk
• March Arena climb. Fundraising minimum too steep for the 54 floor stair climb now.
• April, the 10k. 6 miles fast. Hope I'm ready.

Then the big decision. Registration is $45 for the 50K. Do I do it or not? Have to decide by February 1

i shrunk an inch .. or more!

And that's only the beginning of the bad news.

You guessed it. It was doctor day.

I actually was feeling positive today. My BP readings at home were consistent from 125-135/60-70s. My weight was about the same. I didn't kick the sugar habit but I cut back maybe 50%. It was a good morning, till I arrived.

My appointment by the numbers. They aren't pretty. Shield small children from them. I don't want to scar them for life.

• Height is now 5 foot 8.5 inches. My drivers license says 5 foot 10 inches.
• My weight is 233.8. Fairly consistent with what I get on Bonnie's scale.
• My BP was (gasp) 162/82 with a pulse of 52. Yeah, that's bad.
• The BMI for that height /weight is 30-34. Making me obese, class 1

So we talked about diet and exercise. She saw my log. All the 5ks. We concluded the same thing the nutritionist concluded last year—I eat fairly well, but too much. (And I still graze.) At least she didn't recommend Overeaters Anonymous. She suggested Weight Watchers. Forced portion control and you can eat everything. Wish Megan was here. She's a WW devotee. She would kick my butt.

She also asked if I was still doing Tai Chi to reduce my stress. I confessed no. The class on Saturday is seldom held, the one on Tuesday doesn't work with my schedule.  I need a stress reliever.

Bottom line. If losing weight and more exercise doesn't get my BP under control she'll give me more drugs. Or worse send me to the Nephrologist. No thanks to both. Goal is less drugs, no more.

My next appointment is in March. I'm off to WW online. Although I think the people version will be better.

---------------

In January my internet comes due and I'm going to switch to something else. My current local service is too slow for class. I waste a lot of time waiting for things to download. That gives me plenty of time to hit the fridge. So I set up a gmail account for all my walking and relate health issues since my three day one is long and will disappear with the ISP.  New addy is e2feet at gmail.com.

i got thrown out of the pool!

Today was the Quakertown 5K Dash and Dip. We didn't quite dash, and we dipped and then I got tossed out of the pool. I was dressed inappropriately! Excuse me, the old man in the Speedo was dressed inappropriately, not me.

But that's the end of the story. You'll have to cool your heels to find out why.

We —Sharon, Lydia and I— met Kathy in Quakertown. Bonnie is still on the disabled list. We're hoping to pull her off the bench for the Alburtis 5K.

Before we start, let me say how wonderful Kathy looks. She's half the size of when I met her at the Jingle Bell Run. The baggy clothes she's wearing are not doing her justice. I think she had her surgery soon after Lydia. She's working the program to the letter and it shows. Way to go Kathy!

I picked up our goodie bags Friday night so we didn't need to register.

We arrived maybe a half hour early. It was hot, but we found some shade and waited for the race to start. Some headed to the bathroom. We all came prepared to battle the heat. Friday I had bought some sports drink and mixed 1/3 with 2/3 water in two bottles to take along. Lydia brought a bottle of G2 and Kathy had something yellow mixed. I think Sharon was drinking Propel. Maybe not. Again, stay tuned.

This race started on time. It was two loops of the park plus a serpentine in the parking lot.  "If you return in 12 minutes, and aren't Kenyan" the announcer said, "we'll know you only did one loop." Stereotypical yes. Funny, for me yes.

It was fairly flat. A few minor rises in elevation. Nothing I'd call a hill. There was some shade, some macadam, some stones, and a little dirt. I did not try to break any records and tried one power spurt. Didn't last long. I came in at about an hour, on the nose. Crappy, crappy time. Then the guy said they miss measured the course.

I was also having a problem with my New Balance Toning sneakers. I was walking over on them like I did when I was a little kid. Guess they need to go in the Soles4Souls bin.

Kathy and Lyd walked together most of the route. Then the G2 decided it didn't agree with her and she booked it to one of the many port-o-potties. Kathy kept going and came in at about 65 minutes. Her pedometer on her iPod said 3.7 miles. They announced it was 3.25.

When Lyd re-emerged Sharon was going past and they walked in together. They came in at a hair under 68 minutes. Sharon looked like shit. On the way home she said she was queasy but wanted to finish. She said she was drinking a lot. She handed me her water bottle and it felt full. She poured a lot out when we got home. So what was she drinking   those tiny cups they give you on the route? I sent her over to the very bored EMT people. They checked her out, forced her to sit and drink.

We went to the pool. I wore those horrible shorts because I knew I could swim in them. Lydia dove in as is also. Kathy brought her suit. I haven't been in a pool in a million years, and I was actually afraid to jump in. Once I got wet I was better. None of us could swim. Kathy and I could keep afloat, but Lyd doesn't have any skills.

After playing in 5 feet for a while we went to the kiddie pool. It's padded! They have this mushroom shower thing that's fun. Then we went to the slide. That's where I got in trouble.

First spot of trouble. I'm to fat for the slide. Too wide I guess. I got stuck. It had water running in it and I had to push myself to the bottom. The bari-sisters had no problem.

I finally got down and the life guard calls me over. Tells me I need to get out of the pool. I was dressed inappropiately. Huh? He was talking softly and I only heard every third word. My shirt was apparently the big problem. I was covered. I had a bra on. Oh wait. I had a beige bra on. The reason you do that is so you don't see your bra thru a white shirt. Maybe he thought I was doing a wet t-shirt thing? Oh vey. I have neither the body or the boobs for that!

So we left. We were close to leaving anyway I guess.

Speaking of boobies. Yesterday they closed the route for the 3-Day in Boston because of the heat. It was too dangerous to walk. today they opened the rout at 6 am so people could head out early. They might close it early again if temps reach 100. Here, it's 93 and seems less humid. I hope my sister 3-day-ers get to finish the rest of their walk and do so safely.

up four!

Weighed myself at Bonnie's. Bad eating habits the last week of classes took it's toll. I'm up four pounds. So much for the pound for pound challenge. Now I have 14 to lose! Yikes.

Tuesday update

Some updates for past posts.

ABC Channel 6 said there was 40,000 participants for the race for the Cure.  A lot closer to my estimate. However, many people didn't participate in the actual race so maybe it was over 100K. Who knows. I just went to the Koman website and they are only half way to their fund raising goal.
................................

Everybody has weighed in for the birthday pound-for-pound challenge. Participants are the birthday boy Dave, and siblings Barb and Sharon, and my niece Bonnie. I stopped at Bottom Dollar Store and used the first of my $10 of $20 purchase coupons to buy food for the food bank. I bought three each of everything. Guess we are feeding three families—large brown rice, large canned chicken and tuna, jar peanuts and dried lentils, split peas and white beans.
................................

I opened up my journal that I track my exercise in and realized I haven't written anything down since April 24. Not even race times. I have to look back on the blog to find them. I haven't even taken my BP!  Actually if the truth be told, all of 2011s journal entries are spotty. I've also not really kept up with the Walk with Walgreens program.  I guess all that feeds into my "i don't give a crap" attitude I've had. Today that changes.
................................

Sunday is Yoga on the Stairs of the art museum in Philly. Nearby is Trader Joe's, and on South Street is a Whole Food.  Not to mention the reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market. We will shop till we drop. I've already downloaded directions from one place to the other.  Need to put the cooler in the car.  Gluten girl will be stocking up and I will be dreaming of things I want but won't buy. It's a long story.

the 10 pound challenge

I'm sure my brother David never thought his birthday party would turn into a competition. It has. Just don't tell him!

My sister Barb called from Louisville Thursday night and said I wanna lose 10 pounds also. Then my sister Sharon joined. And if I not mistaken maybe Bonnie will give it a try. Bonnie might win. She's really competitive.

So there's no real prize except an atta boy. So I'm going to donate 10 pounds of food in the winners name, and 10 pounds of food in the birthday boys name to the foodbank. A different take on the Pound for Pound Challenge.

Speaking of the birthday boy, when he had his last party a decade ago, we gave toys for the local Toys for Tots. Wonder where the presents go this year?

it's baaaack

Spring has strung and lighter weight clothes have come out. And my every faithful Birks. Now that it's May I can get away with wearing them to work. No hose. No heels. Hurray.

While celebrating I discovered something. My laziness since spring has had an impact. Not on the scale. (Perhaps the scale. Don't know. Haven't weighed myself in forever, and I'm eating like a pig.) But my thighs. Without hose they rub together. Eeeeeeeek.

The best part when training for my first 3-Day was the day I discovered my thighs didn't rub together. My shorts didn't creep up. I did a happy dance walking down Smiley Avenue.

It's back. It needs to go away. Now I'm motivated. Schools almost over so. The excuse train has left the station.

I am goal and deadline driven: The  "rub" will be gone by Dave's birthday party at the ballpark. And so will the first 10 pounds (maybe more) of my 30 pound weight loss summer goal. With no classes I can do much more of the cooking.

So there. I said it. It's out in the universe and I must now do it.

I'll weigh myself this weekend at Bonnie's after the Race for the Cure.

technology vacation

This will be my last post till the new year. I'm taking a vacation from modern technology for one whole week. No blogs. No facebook. No email. No electronic banking, ect. until the first of the year.

Yeah, sounds pretty impossible to me too.

Yesterday I weighed myself at Bonnie's and I like her scale. It said 230. (: About six pound less than the doctors scale. Since the scale at the nutritionist weighs about 10 pounds heavier than the doctor's, I'm guessing that puts me at about 240, gaining three pounds from my last weigh in. Thank goodness the last weigh-in is Monday, January third. One less stressor.

This morning I took Sharon to the gym. Rode the bike at #7 for about 10 minutes, #10 for another ten minutes, slid up to #12 and finished up at #15. #10 was tough. #12 was tougher. #15 kicked my butt. I only did it for maybe a minute. When I got off I had Jello legs. I guess it would be helpful to know what the numbers mean.

We're supposed to get a snow storm tonight. Maybe as much as a foot. So my exercise tomorrow will be shoveling. Maybe. I never believe the weather people till I see it. This year it will just be three sidewalks instead of the previous five or six. Plus the space in front of my garage.

The Peeps 5K is Friday. The route has been totally changed. It should be interesting. Lydia is coming, as well as her Bari Buddy Kathy. And Bonnie of course. With Bonnie coming off a knee injury, maybe I'll actually beat her across the finish line!

I'll be eating out a lot this week, so exercise every day is going to be critical. Maybe I'll even get to do the walking video I found online. Oh wait, no online. See it will be tough.

See you in 2011.

the new doctor

Yesterday I bit the bullet and went to a real doctor, not the doc-in-a-box. Hopefully this will work out well. We seemed to be on the same page yesterday, but it was an initial visit so things can change.

I've been doing research for awhile on doctors. I didn't want a pill-pusher. The pharmaceutical industry is rich enough without my money, thank you.

I discovered this doctor during a conversation at a bar. Who knew? I did some research on the net and found this on her LV hospital page: "Medicine is not an exact science, I am open to learning from my patients. I want to know everything about my patients, and I let them know where I'm coming from. All of our decisions are a negotiation. I want my patients to feel like they are also in charge." Amen.

I have to tell you my first impression wasn't good. Sunday I got a robot-call to confirm my appointment. Maybe that's how all doctors are now, but it took me by surprise. I arrived 15 minutes early to fill out all the paper work. Fun. I was surprised not only at some of the questions, but by what questions weren't there.

My BP was sky-high when the nurse took it. 156/88. But I was two pounds lighter, after lunch.

The doctor is very nice. She appears to listen. I was probably in there 45 minutes.

One question on the form was a history of mental illness, and I wrote none. One of her questions was about my living arrangements and I told her briefly about Pat. She flipped back over and said "you wrote there was no mental illness." I said I guess I should have wrote, "none diagnosed". She laughed. She said to dump the roomie and get a pet. I told her the roomie was my pet and she came with the house. I'm stuck with her.

Under heart disease I wrote "uncles, brother, father, maternal and paternal grandfathers". I totally forgot about Elin. On the page she was writing on she circled heart disease and put stars on it. Bad tickers are a Hendricks hallmark.

I told her my goal was to be off the BP meds. Like some of my siblings, she told me that might not be possible. Genetics. (See previous paragraph.) She told me about a patient who lost 125 pounds and exercises, and she is still on some because of genetics. It was disheartening.

We talked a lot about food and diet and exercise.  She seemed impressed about the amount of research I've done. My problem is putting it all together that it works. She encouraged me to see the nutritionist. She asked me if I ate "diet" food. I said no. If I can't have the real thing, I don't eat it. I try to eat low on the food chain. She seemed please by that.

She also understands the money thing. She knows and will write for the $4 Rx when possible. She wants me to have a baseline EKG so that she has a reference point when I'm "young" and healthy. That whole "heart disease" thing. She even wrote the Rx. But it isn't mandatory. She kept my prescriptions the same, but switched when I take them. She's going to get my blood work from Health Network, so that doesn't need to be redone. Bonnie, I had lipids done, right? Didn't I ask you what they were?

She is not happy that I haven't had a gyn checkup, pap, or mammagram in at least 10 years. Nor have I had that colon test you're supposed to have at 50.

She encouraged me to take the following supplements to bring down my cholesterol from the high end of normal—fish oil or flax seed, red rice yeast, and 25 mg of fiber. Hmmm. Instead of supporting the pharmaceutical industry I'll be supporting the supplement industry. And that's not controlled by anybody.

All that talk about money brought up the subject of the health care bill. She asked me my feeling about it. I told her I don't know. Everything I've seen is hard to read or slanted to one side or another.  I do know the current system doesn't work.

So that's it. I guess it went well. I didn't go running out screaming. I have another appointment in six months.

ask and ye shall receive

I've been talking about getting a new pedometer and this one was in my bag from the Camelot 5K. Fate?

It's on my waist right now. It seems pretty accurate. Let the step counting begin!

----

I've heard a lot about the 50 million pound challenge. I've even gone to the website a couple of times. Today I signed up. Will I use the site? Not sure. It told me my BMI was 33. Obese is 30. It's one thing to know it intellectually. Totally another to see it in read and white.

I put in my goal weight as 199 pounds. So that means I need to lose 37. That should be doable. Sounds a whole lot better than 80 or 90 that I really need to lose!