Tag: weight loss

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Exercise Health Living

Eight Years

Eight years ago today, I began one of the most important health journeys of my life. I entered my local hospital to begin treatment for morbid obesity. At the time, I weighed 305 lbs and had a BMI in the mid-30s. My blood sugar had been steadily creeping upward, and I had developed a serious problem in my right foot, aggravated by high blood sugar causing deterioration of the bone structure. Clearly, I was in serious trouble if I failed to take action. The time had come to make a change.

Unfortunately, I had tried twice before to lose significant weight, only to yo-yo down and then back up in weight. This time, I needed to be truly committed.

With the help of health professionals, I began a serious weight loss program. Following their counsel, I avoided bariatric surgery and instead focused on drastically reducing portion sizes. I also completely gave up alcoholic beverages, began a daily weighing regimen, and started working out with a personal trainer twice a week. With his guidance, we added a daily elliptical workout and a 20-30 minute outdoor walk. These have become regular habits, and I’m convinced this combination has made it possible for me to keep the excess weight off.

Here I am eight years later weighing between 210 and 215 lbs. I feel so much better than when I was so heavy eight years ago. As I’ve told many of my friends, I just wish I had taken losing excess weight so seriously much, much earlier.

When my calendar reminder popped up this morning informing me that it was eight years ago today that I began this journey, I decided to take a moment to note it here as well!

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Fujifilm X100F Living Monochrome Photography Palo Alto Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Fujifilm X100F

Free Country

Processed with VSCO with b4 preset

From a recent afternoon photo walk with my Fujifilm X100F. The days are warming but the sun angle is still low in the sky. Her shadow in perfectly parallel to the wall itself – walking directly into the sunlight.

I got serious about losing weight three years ago. In addition to watching portion sizes when eating, the keys to my success in this journey have been:

  • No alchohol
  • Weighing myself every morning – religiously
  • Taking a 30 minute walk every day
  • Hydration – drink more water than I think I need

Simple.

Categories
Exercise Living Walking

Demons hate fresh air!…

While driving to the post office this morning to drop off a photography book that I sold, I was listening to the latest edition of Len Edgerly’s Kindle Chronicles and his discussion with his longtime friend Bryan Person.

At one point, Len mentioned how he uses Austin Kleon’s latest book Keep Going as a trigger for morning journaling – and how one chapter in particular, highlighted the benefits of just taking a walk and getting away from “our devices!”

From Austin’s blog:

Here’s Linn Ullmann, in an interview with Vogue, on her father Ingmar Bergman:

My father was a very disciplined and punctual man; it was a prerequisite for his creativity. There was a time for everything: for work, for talk, for solitude, for rest. No matter what time you get out of bed, go for a walk and then work, he’d say, because the demons hate it when you get out of bed, demons hate fresh air. So when I make up excuses not to work, I hear his voice in my head: Get up, get out, go to your work.

This notion, for me, is one of the things I enjoy about street photography. While it’s fun to take some pictures, chase the interesting light, find exciting “stages” and backgrounds and great people, a big component of my enjoyment is just getting out, walking, and enjoying the fresh air and the scene. My friend Doug Kaye and I have talked about on our walks – how great it is just to get out of the house, into the city, and getting some exercise – both physically and for our minds.

At the moment, I’m just back from a walk at our local neighborhood park. It’s a lovely warm (but not too warm) Saturday afternoon and there were several couples out walking as well, a group taking portraits with the pond/fountain in the background, a couple chatting seriously while sitting on one of the picnic tables, etc. I often take my AirPods along on these walks to listen to a podcast – but today I didn’t. I wanted to just be in the moment, alone with my thoughts, without any other audio stimulation. It was great! Twenty minutes yielded just over a mile of walking – and the fresh air certainly helped chase the demons away.