Have you heard? The supermarket chain Hannaford’s has had independant analysis performed on much of their stock. They assign stars based on the nutritional content of the foods using a scale more stringent than the FDA pyramid (which is damn useless, IMO). Unfortunately, there isn’t a Hannaford close to my home, but I applaud their efforts to provide nutritionally accurate information to their customers.
As for me, I’ve maintained the 12-13 pounds I lost over the summer. I regained maybe 3-4 pounds over September and October, which I expected, but I seem to be maintaining my loss relatively painlessly. My hubby, currently approximately 50-60 pounds overweight, ran and finished the October Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. I am so proud of him. He did so well, with very little strain and injury afterward. My main goal was to rekindle his interest in once or twice weekly regular exercise. I hope I’ve succeeded.
His family health history is extremely scary- especially the men. Several of his male relatives have died of lifestyle related diseases younger than age 60. Cardiac disease, high blood pressure, diabetic complications, etc. His father had a major heart attack at 49. Now, they all smoke and most of them drink heavily. Hubby does neither and uses that as his out.
“I don’t drink or smoke, so my weight and lack of regular exercise isn’t as important.”
UH. Yes, it does matter. I’m worried. Unfortunately I’m turning into a nag, most likely. It’s hard to watch. It’s hard to comfort him when a relative dies of these problems. Not because I’m unsympathetic, but because I see myself slowly walking toward that future too. I want to shake him and say, “Please wake up. Please see what’s happeninig. Please come for a walk with me. Make us a salad. Broil some fish. Stop making excuses.”
I’ve got to figure out how to involve him and try to change his habits by stealth if I have to. Without nagging him to death. He often does things for me even when he isn’t interested or doesn’t want to, so maybe I can kind of lead him along until these things become an established part of his daily routine. Of course, all of this advice could be said directly into a mirror. I too can benefit from all of these things.
As for myself, I’m trying to get back onto the regular exercise routine too. The plan this week is walk Mon, Wed & Fri with Hubby if at all possible. Tues, Thurs & Sun I hope to do intervals or short jogs. Maybe I can get Hubby to come along for the Sun one too. Otherwise I’m planning to do it myself no matter what.
I’m trying to return to the journaling habit too. I’d kept a food journal all summer, with excellent success. Come late August it was all blown up. Now I’m trying to return to it. The holidays are coming up & I’d like to lose another 10-15 pounds and maintain again for a couple of months and resume losing. Slow and steady.
I saw a BMI chart yesterday which said I’m in the 30% Obese level I category. I knew that already. What surprised me is that to get to 25%, which is the highest normal BMI, I only need to get to 145 pounds. I’m 5′4″ BTW. Medium build. I was, am, shocked. I thought I’d need to be under 135 to get into the normal BMI range.
Now, I know that reaching even the tippy top of 25% I still need to lose 30 pounds. However, considering that in June I had nearly 50 pounds to get to the same place? I’m happier than I was then. Not satisfied, by any means. Happier counts for something.
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November 6, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Austin
I first came by to say thank you for your comment today. I had no idea you’d come by at all let alone on more than one occasion. I wasn’t offended at all, not in the slightest. so the first order of business is to say thank you the second is to say that perhaps the pleading you did with him on here is something you could exchange the “nagging” for.
I wonder if he feels he can’t fight his DNA and family history and that nothing he does will change his “destiny”. Perhaps he feels trapped and like there is really nothing he can do to stop what happens in his family from happening to him. I’ve heard people say this before. But this isn’t 100% true, not in this day and age. Not if changes are made that count, changes in mind and body make a huge difference.
Exercise can be fun if you get creative with it. I personally will not go to the gym but I’ll jump at the chance to walk the dog and play with him outside. I’d jump at the chance to throw the football around with a kid or something, play basketball w/ friends and stuff like that. Lifting weights isn’t something I care to do nor is some aerobic work out, but other forms of exercise like golf with no cart and hitting a tennis ball against a wall is something I’d do in a second. What activities can you guys do together that give exercise and fun? Perhaps changing the methods might make things more effective. Address his thoughts and not just his actions….
here I am lecturing you as if I know you or something. sorry…from my journal you should know I talk a lot even when my thoughts aren’t exactly solicited.
Austin
November 6, 2006 at 11:31 pm
NoMoreExcuses
Hi Austin- Thanks for stopping by & answering my post. Thank you, too, for giving me food for thought. I’d never thought of this issue from this POV. It’s very eye opening, to say the least. The old adage, you get more flies with honey than you get with vinegar is likely very true. Opinions politely stated are always welcome.