Splurge Friday and a Little Reflection.

This is Labor Day weekend.  I had a big goal set this weekend.  I planned to weight 170 lbs.  Why that weight on this date?  When I set it in the winter, it seemed a reasonable goal to obtain.  This morning I am 15 lbs. above that. Earlier in the summer when I suspected that I would not get to 170 lbs by Labor Day, I readjusted to be happy with somewhere in the 170's.  That did seem reasonable back in June and even that easier goal I missed.

Still, I am not down.  I did hit 185 lbs this morning.  I finally got off the 186-187 mark, if only by a pound or two.  I seem to have at this weight for an eternity.  Well, OK, not eternity, but for a too long anyway.  I continue to get compliments from people on my weight loss.  That feels great. I get lots of questions on how am I doing it.  Eat less and exercise I say. That always gets a funny look and the question, "that's it?"  Yep.

I know several people who have had some sort of operation to tie up their stomach as a way to lose weight, lost weight, and then gained it all back.  I am not sure how that works, but I bet it's uncomfortable.  We me I just want to develop the right habits to get to the right weight and stay there.

The Charming Mrs. SWMBO asked me the other day if I am going to keep getting up early to exercise when and if I lose all the weight I want to lose.  Yes was the answer.  I don't exercise now just to lose weight.  I exercise to stay fit.  I don't like to exercise, really, and in a perfect world I could just roll over and go back to sleep instead of getting up to peddle my bike.  It's not really bad once I start.  It's nice to plug in the iPod, peddle and get into that zen zone. The time goes by pretty quickly.  When I am done I feel great.  Why stop? 

My final goal was to get to 150 lbs. by my birthday of 2011.  That's in February.  Will I get there?  I hope so, but I don't know.  With the proper habits I will get there sooner or later.

The numbers for today:

• Blood Glucose:  119 mg/dl.  OK, nothing to write home about. 
• Weight:  185 lbs.  Not 170 lbs. but better than 186  lbs. 
• Exercise:  45 minutes on my bike. 
• Mood:  8.0.  It's Friday before a long weekend, I am meeting my good friend Bob Miears for lunch at the Mason Jar Restaurant, the Charming Mrs. SWMBO and I are going to Tony's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina for a meal and some strong margaritas with friends and I have the the reasonable expectation of going back to work on Tuesday.  Life's good. 

Menu:

• Breakfast:  Fruit salad of a banana, strawberries and blueberries and one slice of leftover pizza. 
• Lunch:  The grilled portobello mushroom sandwich with a side of butternut squash at the Mason Jar.
• Dinner:  Leaning to the fish tacos at Tony's and two margaritas.  I have been waiting all week for this moment.
• Snacks:  Pretzels.

Going for the Flow and Get a Swelled Head.

But before that, my number for today:

• Fasting Blood Glucose: 110 mg/dl.  That's the top number for normal. 
• Weight:  186 lbs. Still.
• Exercise:  45 minutes on my bike.
• Mood:  8.0  Decent blood glucose, number, a long weekend to look forward to, Heidi Klum comes on tonight and the Charming Mrs. SWMBO and I will have some homemade pizza for dinner.  Seriously, how bad can it be?  

Menu:

• Breakfast:  Banana and oatmeal infused with herbal tea and topped with blueberries and strawberry.
• Lunch:  Leftovers of some variety. 
• Dinner:  Homemade pizza and a glass or two of healthful red wine. 
• Snacks:  Pretzels. 

No one ever seems to dispute that exercise is good for you.  A lot or a little, it all adds up and is considered good for the heart.  The offshoot is that good blood flow to the brain may also have the additional  benefit of slowing down aging of the brain.  The proper functioning of the one organ, the heart, improves the function of another, the brain.  Good blood flow to the brain may slow the aging of the brain. Blood flow is measured as the cardiac index.  People with high cardiac indexes (strong flow) had bodies that maintained their brain volume compared to people with low cardiac indexes (low blood flow) who showed reduced brain volumes.  Their brains atrophied.  Even people with blood flow on the low end of normal had showed signs of brain atrophy. 

The benefit of this is that a brain that is slowly aging will delay or even prevent the onset of dementia like Alzheimer's.  Strong heart, strong brain. 

Maybe.

Ronald Reagan and Johnny Weissmuller were good athletes who stayed fit and who died of complications from Alzheimer's. Closer to home, my mom, who used to exercise along with Jack LaLanne and was into aerobics before the word existed, is in the final stages of Alzheimer's.  Is the relationship between good heart health and good brain health just a coincidence?  Were their hearts strong enough?  My guess is that there are other issues here beyond heart health, but that's just me.

Still, for me, I am going to stay huffin' and puffin' and sweatin'.  If nothing else, I feel better and look better.  That's worth something, right? 

Chocolate. Is There Anything It Can't Do?

Because I have been bad about posting, the numbers.

• Fasting Blood Glucose:  125 mg/dl.  Good, not great. 
• Weight:  186 lbs.  More like 185 1/2, but whose counting?  Well, me.  I am tired of this plateau and I want to get down.
• Exercise:  45 minutes of heavy sweatin' cycling. 
• Mood:  7.5.  Could be a lot worse. 

Menu:

• Breakfast:  Banana, oatmeal with craisins and strawberries. 
• Lunch:  Leftover something.  We have a lot in the fridge. 
• Dinner Pasta Rustica, but with a twist.  The Darling Mrs. SWMBO wants to substitute spaghetti squash for the pasta.  Easily done. 
• Snacks:  Pretzels.

We have a neighbor who is on a diet.  She has lost I think it was over 70 lbs and she want to lose more.  Good for her.  She is inspiring.  She, like me, will get a sudden craving for chocolate, so she and her husband will take a vigorous walk done to a local dollar store and get something chocolate.  Lately, her craving of choice has been M&M's.  Man, talk about developing some good habits.  Exercise and chocolate.

The happy news is, chocolate can be good for you.  I have read that it is the most chemically complex food substance we put can put in our bodies.  It has a chemical for any mood or need.  Need to calm down, chocolate can help.  Need to get a bit up, chocolate has you covered there.  It's also good for your heart, within moderation.  From this study, the key is to indulge only a few times a month and make it high-quality chocolate, which means something made from high-density cocoa powder, which I am taking to mean dark chocolate, which happens to be my favorite. (Well, anything made from chocolate happens to be my favorite, but so what.)

I am not sure how much a serving is, but I am sure it is much smaller than I would like.  Here is one of my current favorites, Brix.  It's made to go with red wine, which is also good for your heart.  So, I get a twofer, two faves good for my heart and all I have to do is sit back and enjoy. 

Life is gook.