Dedicated and Determined to Change #45

I would like to know how many of you reading this are having problems losing weight.  And I don't want our daughter Ann e-mailing me that she has a lot of trouble losing weight.  She has never had one once of fat or been even close to needing to lose any weight.  Ann is in her middle 30's and still gets carded when she and her husband go out.  About a year ago she and I went to a movie and she had to provide ID to get into the theatre.  She is small, fit, and looks a lot younger than her actual age.   The reason I asked about the weight is it being such an important factor in regaining your heart health, and recovery.  To me if you have a lot of weight you need to lose it is the most challenging of all the lifestyle changes you will need to make.  You know I have talked about how fortunate I was in that regard.  I had already began to lose weight when I had the heart attack, so my mindset was in that mode when I returned home from the hospital.  I just continued on with eating healthy.   It is a lot different when someone tells you to lose weight, or you have to stop eating so and so because it is bad for your health. It is not as difficult  when you've already changed because you wanted too.   Every one's condition and health circumstance are unique to them after a heart attack.  Like how much weight to lose, or how high is their cholesterol.  I think in most cases it comes down to diet, elevated cholesterol, and too little exercise being contributing factors in having heart disease, or heart attack.  Obviously heart defects, and other cardiovascular problems are completely different.  But if you are like the rest of us, losing weight is going to require a lot of determination, and is important in getting healthy again.

I decided the best way for me to lose weight was not to diet, but to change my eating habits and what I ate.  I gave a lot of thought to what type foods I had eaten and how eating habits I had developed over the years had contributed to my being unhealthy.   I was snacking a lot, I ate way too much red meat, and I would eat until I was over filled at every meal.  I snacked from after finishing dinner until bedtime.   So if I changed those habits and reduced red meats that would be a good start.  Next, stop all snacking, and be satisfied but not full at every meal.  Leave food on my plate.  Don't pick out the biggest serving and leave the smaller for Cindy.   You get the idea.  I really believe when you're ready to lose weight permanently this is the best approach to take. Decide what factors you need to change.   It obviously is not as easy as this, as a matter of fact it is not easy at all. The point I am trying to make without discouraging you is you have to make your mind up that you are going to do this.  Don't even think about starting until you are dedicated to stick with it.  The worst thing you can do is start a diet that you can't stay with.  I think you have to be ready to make a major lifestyle change and dedicated to it.  When you've done that you're ready to start improving your lifestyle and health. 

We can discuss diet and healthy foods later.  But a heads up here.   Oatmeal is at the top of my list.....I would tell you the brand, recipe I use, and show you a picture of the box but they are being obstinate.

Workout, Fitness, and Heart Health #44

My workout this morning went very well.  I am still doing the same basic routine as I have for the last couple of months.  I have added doing some leg lifts.  The exercise is performed on somewhat of a standing platform with padded arm rests.  You stand putting your arms on padded rests and firmly grip two handles.  You adjust your position to straight vertical so that your feet are elevated about 3 or 4 inches above the floor while you are holding the grips on the arm rests.  You then briskly lift both legs holding them together, turning slightly to the left as high as you can.  Return your legs to a standing position, feet remaining elevated and not touching the floor. Quickly repeat this movement, without resting your legs, this time turning to the right. I generally do 10 of this movement alternating left to right.  In addition to exercising your circulation, abdomen and lower back muscles are worked.  I just started this exercise recently.  I do 2 or 3 sets of 10 rep's daily.  I'm still working on tightening up muscles, and the results of weight loss.

I have good news for me, Michelle's husband checked out my computer and the problems I was having.  He got things worked out for me and I am now back to normal meaning I don't have to use Cindy's.  As I told you, I was quickly wearing out my computer sharing welcome with her.   Not only was I using hers but it meant I was using her desk and office space.  Mine is upstairs away from hers so normally we can have our privacy when working on whatever.  But this sharing was a major conflict of each others time and I felt lost, because my routine of going to my office and doing what I do on my computer was out the window. It goofed up my entire routine for me beginning when I got home from the fitness center. 

I don't go back to my cardiologist until December, which I take as a good indicator of my recovery going well.  That first 6 months after surgery and all of that seemed to be doctor visits every couple of weeks.  I am glad that is all well behind me.  Some of you are just now getting through that early stage and are close to next working on issues like exercise, and beginning to rebuild your strength.

My cardiologist also very recently had me stop taking Plavix.  If you have had a heart attack you are probably taking Plavix, or are familiar with it.  Plavix is a blood thinner given to reduce the possibility of blood clots in heart attack patients.  Hopefully for all of us,  one of the overall goals of recovery is becoming healthy enough to reduce the amount of medication we need to take.  I had taken Plavix for almost 2 years so I felt good about being able to stop using it.  Now if I can continue to improve and reduce even more medication.

Next time maybe some about weight loss.

Exercise and Losing Weight #43

I went back and read some of my earliest posts about having a heart attack and starting recovery.  I have decided, for a while anyway, I am going to return to writing more as I did earlier and spend less time being technical about food.  That is the best way I know how to explain it.  I feel like I have been writing more like a text book to students than telling a story.  I would rather tell my story past and present as it goes along.  I know if it got boring to me, it had to be to you.  Now, if you don't think I should change, just email me.  I still plan on spending a lot of time talking about diet, weight loss, healthy food, and exercise, but I will try not to sound too much like an exam will be following this.  I'm not planning on not discussing foods in general, just change the way I approach it.  Food, healthy and unhealthy, and our eating habits, are a crucial part of heart patient recovery.  Also, I haven't heard from anyone out there in a while about successes in recovery.  I got an email from someone a few weeks ago discussing their exercise program.  I enjoy hearing how others are doing in their recovery.

At lunch today, Cindy was asking me about someone I saw working out this morning. If they had lost weight?  And I told her, no, they haven't even though they work out as often and strenuously as I do.  So  what does that tell you?   Well, they probably are not eating as healthy and wisely as they should. You know, that is not unusual, meaning I see a lot of people working out who obviously like to eat according to the size of their bellys.  Most are guys, and most are 50 plus years of age.  Now I certainly don't know if they are recovering heart patients.  The point is, I work out often enough to see these people regularly.  Most of you who exercise regularly see where I am headed with this.  Exercising is not the magic pill that guarantees you're going to lose weight.   Remember something I said way back in the beginning.  If you're going to lose any substsantial amount of weight, I can guarantee you will have to suffer through being hungry.  I don't care how much you exercise, if you are over weight, you are going to feel hunger pains to lose it.  Why?  Changing to good eating habits is only part of it.  Eating less and exercise go hand and hand with healthy eating in weight loss.

I am still having problems with my computer's internet connection among other things. Cindy has not revoked my using her computer priveledges, so far that is.  She uses hers quite a lot and has not complained about me being on it when she could be working.

I lost 9 pounds recently and I will tell you about it in the next post or so.  I hope my computer gets back to normal operation.