Half a bowling ball and my reward

I weighed in this morning and I lost 5 pounds in a week!  Half a bowling ball down.  I did have to change scales, but it is consistent with all other indicators.  From now on I will be using a digital scale.  I feel better than I have in a while.  Even 5 pounds off my body makes a difference.  There was one time in the middle of the week when I felt tired and I went home to take a nap.  I couldn't sleep right away and I went for a bike ride instead.  What a difference!  Moving helped me feel less tired than sleeping did!
Generally, I have been following all the guidelines.  Have had very few caloric drinks, haven't eaten after nine.  Have had 5 fruits and vegetables most days and have eaten salad almost every day.  I also have been moving, walking, biking or hiking.
So, my reward for when I lose the first bowling ball?
I told Christine that I would bring her zip-lining for her birthday.  Recently, I saw the weight limit.  It was 250 pounds!  I weighed 251 last week.  When I get to 141 I want to bring her zip-lining.  Victory number one!

6 bowling balls makes it hard to move

Imagine you are at the bowling alley and you need to pick out your bowling ball.  You know that feeling when you pick up the ball?  It's a bit of dread for me.  We often wrap our other arm around it so it will be easier to carry.  Now, imagine that someone tells you that you need to pick 6 bowling balls and you need to carry them all at once.  If you can get them all in your arms you are probably not going to want to move too much.  You may not even be able to move at all.  The thing is that if you have 6 bowling balls of weight on you (or more or less) it probably kind of snuck up on you like it did for me.  Still, you have all that weight and it makes it hard to move.  It makes my knees hurt when I go up the stairs.  It makes me breathe hard.  In so many words, it sucks.  Here's the bad part.  If I don't move, pretty soon I will have eight bowling balls and then 10 and then I won't be able to move at all.
Let's go!

Lost: A 10 pound bowling ball

Have you seen your bowling ball lately?  I think it has attached to me.  6 of them actually  10 pounds per ball.  I need to lose 6  bowling balls.  I would like to lose my first bowling ball by Halloween (that is about 7 weeks to lose 10 pounds).  Seems reasonable.  Today, I had more than 5 servings of fruits and veggies.  Christine and I went for a one hour walk this morning.  I had a salad.  Now, I just have to manage not to eat after 9.  That's in about 9 minutes.  I'm going to get an apple.

Did you hear the one about the obese dietitian?

I just went to the Body Mass Index calculator at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.  All you need to do is put in your height and weight and you get your BMI (a measure of body fat based on height and weight).  The great part about it is that it tells you whether you are underweight, normal weight, overweight or frickin obese.  Guess what?  Did you hear the one about the obese dietitian?
His name was bill.


I'm obese.  Yeah!
In order to get to the overweight category I need to weigh 227 pounds.
To get to normal weight I need to weigh 189 pounds!  I haven't weighed that since I was in college!

Next question:  How long does it take to lose a bowling ball?

The Plan: Week One: Giving Birth to a 6 year old

I weighed myself this morning.  251 pounds!  I have never weighed that much in my entire life.  It is fitting that I am beginning this plan on labor day, because I look like I could give birth at any minute (to a 6 year old child).
My plan:
Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day.
Exercise at least 45 minutes per day/five days a week.
Stop drinking sugared drinks and juices.
No eating after 9 p.m. (unless it is actually dinner, not 2nd or 3rd dinner!)
Eat a salad every day
Drink 8 glasses of water per day

Ask support from my athletic, fit friends.
Share with all of you my daily experiences through writing and videos.

Intervention number Two

Ok, another friend has intervened about my weight.
We were at a concert and she hugged me and she said she almost couldn't get her arms around me.
Yikeserama!
Time to do something!
today.
Bill