Friday, July 31, 2015

Expectations


I've not been very good at keeping this updated. Part of the problem has been that I haven't been very good at doing things that are worth updating.

I haven't been in the gym since February.

My eating was out of control.

The only thing I'd been doing well with was not drinking soda and hitting 10,000 steps 4 or 5 days a week.

Another issue that's been plaguing me has been my feet. Mostly my left foot. It's been hurting a lot over the past 8 - 9 months. I went to a doctor and had some medication and a couple of cortisone shots, and the pain has been relieved for the most part. Most days, I don't feel any pain and can walk normally. But it doesn't take much to set off pain, and the last couple of days have been intense since I had a near run-in with a nest of wasps living behind the circuit breaker outside my home. The sudden break into a sprint to get away to a safe distance really torqued my feet and my calves, so it's been pain from just below the knees on down for a few days. They feel much better today.

I'm starting to eat low-carb as of this week. My main goal is to try to stay around/below 50g of carbs a day, but not feel too bad about it if I get close to 100g - from some of the research I've done, 100g-150g is typical "maintain weight" amounts. Below 50g can help with faster weight loss.

Looking back over my diet over the past few months, although I'd cut out sugar sodas, I still piled on the carbs at an alarming rate. Potatoes, bread (sandwiches / fast food / bagels), pasta. A lot of pasta really, and that was negating other efforts I was making in portions.

I'm also going back to the gym this Sunday (my "Monday" at work) morning and getting in some time on either the elliptical or treadmill with some light weight work (and build up as I go). 

I need to revamp how I shop, what foods I prepare for dinner. I don't plan on making the whole family go "low-carb" but rather find alternative ways to prepare my portion of the meal. Some meals will be easy because I can prepare the main dish (the meat) the same way for everybody, but instead of having potatoes or pasta as one of the sides, I can have a salad, or a variety of veggies. Meat and veggies for me. :)

I'm participating in my first 5k ever in three weeks. At this point I'm probably going to be walking it.

So. Here's to better eating, and starting on the road to being great!