Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Happy Birthday America!

I ended my self-imposed lent with a 12 mile bike ride to an open house where I had my first burger in a year! Worth the wait....but now back to reality.

This lent didn't go as well as it could have. I didn't quite kick out the numbers I had hoped in terms of losing weight or burning calories. And I had a couple of days where I strayed. But I have a much better idea of how my diet works - I think I can average under 20% with most of the fat being the preferred unsaturated fat. And I hope I encouraged a few of you to think a bit about heart health. It is the biggest killer with nearly 1/3 of us likely to die from heart disease. So I am signing off and until next year when I hope you will join me again. In the meanwhile do something to improve your chances...see you next June 5th.

Regards,

John

Friday, July 1, 2011

What killed my metabolism?

Somehow things didn't quite work out right the last 2 days. On Thursday I did my lunchtime power walk and hit the gym after work doing an extra 10 minutes on the stair climber and even hitting the weights (not that I need to). Still, I only managed to burn 2,576 calories - fewer than my average and way short of my goal of 3,000. Friday was worse. I didn't hit the gym (only 3rd time I failed to make a workout during my 'lent') and burned the fewest calories yet at 2,403.

At least I got to focus on relaxation which is another key to heart health. Sailing can be relaxing when an experienced skipper is aboard to make sure that all is well - no playing bumper boats or getting sunk. I, however, am not an experienced skipper. Somehow, in a moment of weakness, James agreed to go sailing with me yesterday. He even brought the beer. And it was a gorgeous day without too much wind and we obviously made it back to shore. But it was not without peril. First, a crazy osprey flew directly overhead in an apparent bombing raid. I thought he was going to try to sh%t on us but turned out he was showing off the fish he caught. Later, we sailed towards some kind of Navy helicopter operation getting closer than we should have. Finally James strongly suggested that we would lose any battle to them so we changed course and sailed away back towards Glorietta Bay boat docks. Coming back with less wind we realized it was going to be a longer journey than we had estimated. I don't think the crew at the boat docks was too impressed with my skill at the helm. They suggested I get towed in so as not to hit the boats that were lining up for the 4th of July weekend festivities in the bay. I turned him down and somehow avoided hitting any boats and did it all without worrying about it - low stress - as it was only a rental afterall.



The Captain


View of Downtown SD