Weight Loss
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- Duncan
- Personal Development
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It is mid-July, and it has been raining now for 7 days in a row (which I learned was a new record for this area). I have written before on my efforts to lose some weight. At one point, it was coming down quite steadily. That was a year or two ago. Since then I got distracted, and it leveled off.
In my last visit to the doctor, he indicated that my cholesterol is up, and I have to lose more weight too. You can be off course for a while, and hope to get back on track before you run out of time, but eventually you have to do something or you will face the consequences. Time is that finite resource that you can never get back. I don't feel I can wait any longer.
Make Time
I like to exercise, and so we go walking and cycling and kayaking often. I find that weekdays it can be too easy to get your time booked up with meetings and events. One of the key learnings I got long ago is to put in the big rocks first.
In "First Things First," Stephen Covey tells a story that one of his associates heard at a seminar. The seminar presenter pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar and placed it next to a pile of fist-sized rocks. After filling the jar to the top with rocks, he asked, "Is the jar full?" The group replied, "Yes." He then got some gravel from under the table and added it to the jar. The speaker jiggled the jar until the gravel filled the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asked, "Is the jar full?" This time, the group replied, "Probably not." The speaker then added some sand and asked, "Is the jar full?" "No!" shouted the group. Finally, the speaker filled the jar to the brim with water and asked the group the point of this illustration. Someone replied that you could always fit more things into your life if "you really work at it." "No," countered the speaker. The point is, if you don't put the big rocks in first, " . . . would you ever have gotten any of them in?" |
If you want to make your health a priority, you have to schedule it in your calendar first, and then any left over time is for the other things. What happens usually is that exercise is scheduled last, and by then there is no room left.
Diet
Of course exercise is not the only key to weight loss. You have to adjust your diet too. I like to think I eat fairly healthy, but there is room for further improvement.
Milk
For the longest time I have drunk homogenized milk. It says on the container, 3.25% fat. So I always wonder why switch to 1% or 2% milk, if you are only talking about a change of 1.25% or 2.25% fat? It seems so little that the benefits would be infinitesimal. Also I like to make foamy latte coffees, and I thought that you needed the full milk to hold the foam structure.
Anyways, this last weekend, we switched to skim milk, which I read was zero fat. I was able to make a decent foam for my lattes, which is most of my milk consumption. I have yet to try it on anything else.
Looking Forwards
I have to work on my weight loss. I have until October when I see the doctor again. I want to surprise him. I don't want to end up on various medications, and suffer some coronary. I have too much to live for. I know it can be done. My sister was worse off, and she has been hugely (excuse the pun) successful with her own weight loss program. Her results are an inspiration to me and I have a lot of appreciation for her determination.
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Duncan