Current Progress

Steadily making progress toward my goal!! Every projection that I can make, even if I slow down dramatically, I will still make my final weight goal during the last week of February. However, if everything keeps going smoothly I should be done with my diet the last week of January.

Category	Start	Month 2	Month 3	Month 4  (In Progress)	Month 5	Month 6
Weight	235.25 lbs	216.21 lbs (217.24)	203.07 lbs (203.51)	196.08 lbs  (189.81)	(175.85)	(161.85)

(Projection in italic)

Status

I think that I've made some significant progress since I started tracking stuff on 9/17/2012.

Category	Metric	Change
Weight	235.25 lbs	0
Chest	45.5 inches	0
Hips	42 inches	0
Neck	17 inches	0
Waist	45 inches	0

This is compared to my progress on 10/20/2012. That is 33 days of dieting and exercising!

Category	Metric	Change
Weight	216.40 lbs	18.85 lbs
Chest	42.5 inches	3 inches
Hips	38.25 inches	3.75 inches
Neck	16.25 inches	0.75 inches
Waist	41.25 inches	3.75 inches

What has been the key to my success? Calories in != Calories Out. It is really that simple. For now, at least. That doesn't mean that I won't run into any significant challenges in the coming weeks but I'm off to a good start. It is nice to know that I'm on track to my end of year goal: < 200 lbs by December 31. My current average reduction in weight is 3.77 pounds per week which is .77 additional pounds per week over my target.

I need to continue to make progress on the other metrics as my weight continues to lower. The expectation is that for every 6 - 8 pounds of weight loss you can expect to lose 1" from your waist. Right now my waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is 61.6% which is way too high. My goal WHtR is 50% which means that my waist needs to be around 33 inches. Therefore, I need to lose an additional 8.25 inches or around 50 pounds. I'm hoping to reach this goal by the end of March 2013!

Category	Metric	Target
Weight	216 lbs	166 lbs
Waist	41.25 inches	33 inches
BMI	33.9 kg/m^2	26.1 kg/m^2
Waist-to-Height Ratio	61.6%	49.3%
Body Fat	25.5%	15%
Surface Area	2.15 m^2	1.88 m^2

In other news, the month of October has been pretty good in terms of my heart. My average blood pressure reading is 115/78 and heart rate is 82. This is compared to September with an average blood pressure reading of 124/83 and a heart rate of 92. I'm losing weight and inches off of my body and my heart is thanking me big time.

I can't even describe how much better I am feeling. I find it incredibly interesting that your body can actually get used to feeling bad. I'm actually feeling less nervous now that my numbers are getting better. Maybe I will come out of this being and less nervous/anxious person.

I have a lot of work to do in the next 6 months. With your support I know that I can do it!

Thanks! ;-)

Today's Nutrition

As of today, I've lost 7 pounds since September 17. This is due to a couple of reasons: 1. A dramatic decrease in sodium and therefore my body is retaining less water, 2. Lower calorie intake, 3. More exercise burning fat instead of calories due to my calorie deficit. My initial loss last week was more dramatic however water weight is always a tricky factor especially when you check your numbers daily (I'm obsessive).

One thing that I've noticed is that my appetite has lowered. I don't require massive meals to feel content. And my stomach isn't growling all night. That's a benefit and a curse. See. I'm eating so much low calorie fruits and vegetables that I'm having trouble finding enough calories to eat in a day. Like today I've eaten 1119 calories and I don't think I can eat any more. I should because I need about 464 more!

Lastly, I've learned something about myself and my heart rate. My heart rate at rest right now is in the 80 and most likely 84 (at night and in the mornings it gets down in the 70s). However, after I eat then it increases proportional to the amount of food that I eat. The jump can be as much as 30 points. I've been doing research and there isn't anything conclusive about this. I know that the heart has to work harder after we eat and this happens with most people to aid in digestion. However, because this sometimes makes me go tachycardic, this is something I'm going to tell the doctor on Monday. My current theory is that my current weight makes it more difficult for my heart and therefore it much beat harder than normal.

One Week Since My Hospital Visit

The Issue

It has been one week since my visit to the hospital and my symptoms have largely subsided. Since then, I've tried to make some proactive steps to make sure that my health is in order. This is really out of necessity because my blood pressure levels were really high and my heart rate was experiencing tachycardia. It was a scary experience that I do not wish on anybody. I'm thankful that all of my tests and levels came out normal; however, this has been an eye-opening experience that I need to take some significant action about my health.

There are many causes of high blood pressure including:

• Smoking 
• Being overweight 
• Lack of physical activity 
• Too much salt in the diet 
• Too much alcohol consumption (more than 1 to 2 drinks per day) 
• Stress 
• Older Age 
• Genetics 
• Family history of high blood pressure 
• Chronic kidney disease 
• Adrenal and Thyroid disorders 

Of these possible causes there are some that I can immediately rule out: Smoking, Too much alcohol consumption, and Older Age. There are a couple more that are completely out of my control or unknown: Genetics, Chronic kidney disease, and Adrenal and Thyroid disorders. At this point, none of these issues are an immediate concern because I really can't control it and would be highly unlikely. So why worry about it? I do have an outstanding 24-hour urine analysis that is checking for the levels of catecholamines and metanephrines in my urine that I'm pretty sure are testing to see if I have a pheochromocytoma. That one is pretty hard to forget but I'm trying.

So that leaves that following causes for me to deal with:

• Being overweight 
• Too much salt in the diet 
• Lack of physical activity 
• Stress 

The Plan

Luckily, these causes of high blood pressure are something that I can handle with some changes in my lifestyle. Also, luckily, these are all issues that are somewhat related. Why am I overweight? Because I eat too much fast food. Why do I have too much salt in my diet? Because I eat too much fast food. So my first step to a healthier lifestyle:

1. Avoid Fast Food Like the Devil

So let's see some amazing numbers. One of my favorite meals is from Chick-fil-A. The fried-chicken sandwich just is so amazing that it probably takes me no more than 1 minute to eat it. I always get the meal; so we can add on a small Coke and a small order of fries to my menu. Of course, I always need my ketchup packets. Let's do an analysis of the nutrition of this meal:

• Calories: 910 (45.5% of daily intake) 
• Fat: 32 grams (49.2% of daily intake) 
• Saturated Fat: 6 grams (30.2% of daily intake) 
• Cholesterol: 60 milligrams (20% of daily intake) 
• Sodium: 2150 milligrams (89.5% of daily intake) 
• Carbohydrates: 128 grams (42.6% of daily intake) 
• Fiber: 4 grams (16% of daily intake) 
• Sugar: 53 grams (147% of daily intake) 
• Protein: 33 grams (66% of daily intake) 

* Based upon a 2000 Calorie Intake

This is terrible. In the worst possible way. Worse than terrible. This is a gut busting, blood pressure raising meal and I don't think that I can ever eat this again. 2150 milligrams of sodium is ridiculous. If I think back to the frequency that I ordered this meal and the other similar bad foods that I've eaten in a week, there isn't a question as to why I have high blood pressure. The thing is all fast food is like that. The better menu option would be the Chargrilled Chicken Cool Wrap but that still packs on 412 calories and 1070 milligrams of sodium!

There are diets out there that deal with high blood pressure. My nurse gave a form about the DASH diet which an approach that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods; includes meat, fish, poultry, nuts and beans; and is limited in sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, red meat, and added fats. Conceptually, I completely agree with that diet and it is a lesson that we must all come to learn and utilize daily:

2. Eat better quality foods

So that is what I'm doing. I'm not going to try a diet but I am going to change my thinking about food. For the interim, I'm reducing my total amount of sodium intake to about 1500 milligrams a day. In America, where we've perfected the art of preserving foods with sodium and have a salt shaker on every table, this is hard. However, I've been doing it all week and will hopefully see some physical results soon.

This is my results for the week (since Monday):

	09/10/12	09/11/12	09/12/12	09/13/12
Cals	1353	893	1503	1332
Fat	37 g	24 g	38 g	38 g
Cholesterol	95 mg	133 mg	35 mg	35 mg
Sodium	1157 mg	1044 mg	1382 mg	1381 mg
Carbs	198 g	101 g	254 g	208 g
Fiber	28 g	16 g	34 g	25 g
Protein	68 g	71 g	48 g	47 g
Sugars	72 g	21 g	105 g	78 g

In addition, I'm trying to keep my calories below 1475 in an effort to try to lose 2 pounds per week. I'm doing this by eating lots of fruits, nuts, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats and poultry. I'm avoiding processed foods because they typically are high in sodium content. I still need to incorporate more fish in my diet but we just don't prepare that at home very often.

3. Exercise

In order to lose weight and strengthen my heart and cardiovascular system, I'm going to be exercising at least 30 minutes every day. We've been walking but I want to slowly transition that into a run. We ran the other day and it just informed me how out-of-shape I am right now. But, if I keep working at it then it will get better. I've done it many times before and I know how to get into shape. I just need to motivation to do it.

In addition, I really can attribute my stress to my weight and lack of activity. As I continue to do this then I will lose weight, become more active, and reduce the stress that is in my life.

The Results (so far)

I'm currently taking some medication for my blood pressure and, for the most part, the numbers have decreased to normal-yet-somewhat-elevated levels. My hope is that in the next couple of weeks that my systolic number will be regularly at-or-below 120 and diastolic 80. I also hope that my resting heart rate will settle in the 70 - 80 range. I have made progress in a week but I've got some work to do. Thanks for supporting me in this endeavor.

First!

I wanted to just share with Michelle's blog but she told me to get my own blog. So...ha!