Baseline

238 pounds

bp: 139/80

pulse: 61

prescription, an 81 aspirin and 3 replenex this morning

breakfast: 1/2 cup all bran with 1 teaspoon of raw sugar and 1/2 cup of 1% milk, 1 small banana, 1 cup of coffee with sugar and creamer

lunch: 1 slice of thin crust cheese pizza, 1 slice of thin crust with mushrooms and black olives (not a perfect choice, but at least it wasn't 5 slices, right?)

snack: 1 oats and honey all bran snack bar

decent amount of water today - i should start counting this accurately

dinner hasn't happened yet

i'm going to try to follow, more or less, a weight watchers dietary regimen, which allows me something like 24 of their "points" each day - i've done this before, and the hardest part for me seems to be getting in all of the required fruit, vegetable and dairy servings

i'll have to do salad for supper tonight

in addition to the walk, i've done the back stretches and kegels my chiropractor suggested a couple of times today - need to get on a schedule with that

also, icing my back as i type - nagging pain left of lumbar 4 all day - stiffness when i walk - difficulty moving from sitting to standing and vice versa - difficulty reaching or lifting

otherwise, i'm generally feeling well and in a decent mood - the walk was nice and not all that difficult - i didn't push myself too hard - i enjoyed breaking an honest sweat

UPDATE: 1 miller lite before supper, then a nice salad...24 points for the day, and i found out that i'm allowed 28 - but i didn't get all of my dairy or fruit/veggie servings in

A Savage Journey

Okay, it's really not been savage so far.

Here's the short story. I'll turn 50 in about 3 months. I've neglected my health for nearly a decade and it shows, in more ways than I can probably even enumerate.

Two things have happened recently that motivate me to change my habits.

• My blood-pressure has gotten high enough that it caused a T.I.A. last Autumn. For a very frightening half-hour or so, I was unable to recognize faces -- including my own face staring blankly back at me from the bathroom mirror. There seems to be no permanent damage as a result, but my blood-pressure (though improved) has remained unacceptably high despite the maximum daily dosage of a very good medication.

• I had learned to manage periodic lower back problems over the course of a couple decades, to the point where the more debilitating episodes happened less frequently and were less severe. Over the past month, I've had three killer back attacks which brought me intense, constant pain and interfered seriously with daily activities and special plans. I simply can't live with this kind of misery every couple of weeks.

So, today (so far) I've eaten sensibly, and I just got back from a short walk (about 3/4ths of a mile in a pleasant afternoon drizzle).

I'll use this Weblog to document my personal fitness journey, my habits, my progress, my frustrations and victories - minor or major. I'm keeping this mostly for my own benefit and convenience, but I'm also intrigued by the idea of putting it all out there in public view. Perhaps this will be an additional source of motivation and support.

Onward!