Determination Day 15 - The Physical

I had my yearly physical with my Doctor today.  Some of you might know that before Christmas, my DR thought I might have a Prostate infection.  Today I had blood work, EKG, and the dreaded finger (turn your head and cough).  The bad news, until I get my blood work back, is that my Prostate was slightly swollen.  The good news is that he thinks it is due to the infection which I'm on a 14 day antibiotic for.  Heart, Lungs, and everything else so far looks good.  Even better news is that I'm 282 lbs. according to the scales at the office there.  So that means that my BMI is actually 37.2.  Given that (and based on the equation I posted earlier on), my Body Fat Percentage is 37.1% ((1.2*37.2)+(0.23*39)-(10.8*1)-5.4) which is much better than 40.29% I had originally calculated.

It still means that I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I feel better about it.

I talked with my Doctor about my approach and he agrees completely.  I don't need to worry about how much I weight since as I add lean muscle and reduce body fat, I'll be swapping bad lbs for good.  He wants me to target a BMI of 24.4 which means a Body Fat Percentage of 22.05%.  Even though we agreed that I shouldn't worry about weight, that should put me at around 185 lbs of which roughly 41 lbs is fat as apposed to my current fat weight of 104 lbs.  So I gotta drop or swap over about 63 lbs of fat.

He also said that I should be able to do about 2 lbs a week.  So that will put me at about 30 weeks to get to where I want to be.  So that should put me look Damn SEXY by the first week of June.  "HEY HONEY, WE'RE GOING TO THE NUDE BEACH TO SHOW OFF!!!!!!"  And you think I'm kidding!?

All right boys and girls, I have my official targets and Dr. approval.  So Here We Go!!!!

Determination Day 13

I'll get back to the supplement breakdown soon.  The girls headed back north today and we spent the afternoon just chilling out.  I made a stir fry chicken dish that was fantastic, even if I do say so myself.  I fixed roasted vegetables with it.

I just got through watching Gran Torino and was moved by the story.  I'll be thinking about it for a while.  Clint Eastwood stared, directed, and produced it.  He even wrote and performed some of the music in it.  There are a lot of messages in the film, most of which are so subtle, you don't even realize it until after it is over.  It is a story about life, change, compassion, love, and learning.  I know this is a blog about some fat guy determined to get fit, but I think that the movie fits here.  It is a story about determination as well.  Determination to do the right thing for the right reasons.

Well, it's time for bed, going to get the grandbaby tomorrow.  I'll try to get back on track with my research as soon as I can.  I have to take some pictures for a friend of mine who is growing his catering business and get some stuff done at work.  I'm going to try and make it to the gym as well, so much on my plate :)

Determination Day 12 - Supplements part 1 of who knows

Okay gang, we’re back to the determination and focusing on Supplements, you know Vitamins and Minerals…..so what the hell are they?  I guess we should figure out what they are before we start taking a bunch of pills and drinking awful tasting liquids.

Supplements are nutrients that are not readily available in what we eat on any given day that we take in a controlled format, usually a pill or liquid.  Supplements are not just limited to Vitamins and Minerals, they also include: herbs and botanicals, amino acid, and enzymes.

All of these things can be broken down into Essential and Non-Essential (please note that Non-Essential does not mean that you can do without them).  Essential means that the human body cannot not create it or synthesize it and must come from an external source.  Non-Essential means that the body can create it but may not be produced at healthy levels.  For this post, I’ll be focusing on Essential nutrients.  Non-Essential nutrients and the amounts you should be taking should be recommended by your physician and usually done so after clinical testing (blood, urine, bowel, and other test).

Due to the formatting of this blog page, I've created another page for all the of this information around supplements. Click here to see it all Supplements and More  I took most of the information from Wikipedia and put into a single table that might be more readable.

Determination Day 9

I won't make any excuses (even though I could say the Holiday's were very busy), but the simple fact is, I just didn't get around to posting anything.  I have to thank CJ at Capozzi's for reminding me to keep blogging.  Chris and I took Rin, Brekke, K and F out for dinner tonight to one of our favorite spots ever in Atlanta.  I was as good as you can be at the restaurant since everything on their menu ROCKS!!!.

While there, we got into a discussion about Dolls and Action Figures.  Rin told us a funny story about a discussion she had with a guy who was adamant that girl toys are Dolls and boy toys are Action Figures.  Rin quickly asked the guy, "So what is Ken?"  We all lost it.

I have been doing some research on Supplements and what is really needed when a person is looking to get back in shape and is focused on lowering their overall Fat Percentage (see previous blogs).  I'm still working on these as there are many, MANY, different views on what vitamins and minerals do in the body, side effects, benefits, and how certain combinations work together for the best benefit.  I'll probably have to create a separate chart out for this and then determine which I will try.  One word of warning, read the label, look it up, and consult with your Doctor before you take anything.  Certain vitamins and minerals can interfere with prescription drugs you may already be on.

I'll keep you posted.

Determination Day 5 - Christmas Day

Snow!!! are you kidding me, in Atlanta!!!  Oh well.  Blew the whole food thing out the door, of course.  But I did manage to only drink water and cranberry juice.  Still having pains in my Kidney areas, so looks like I'll be going to the doctor on Monday (if he is open).

Had some fantastic friends stop by for diner!!!!

Determination Day 4 - Christmas Eve

Good and Bad today.

Here is the good part, my Brother-In-Law got married to a wonderful lady at our house today.  Congratulations!!!!  We had Family over for the event and a friend of our from college (whom Gil has kept a close friendship with over the years) did the actual ceremony.  It was wonderful.  As an added  bonus, Chris and I didn't have to do much cleaning since we had already tackled that earlier in the week.

Now all the dishes are done, left over's are in the fridge, and the house is still in pretty good shape!!!!! (It usually takes a couple of days after a crowd comes in to get things straightened up again.)  For all of that, I'm proud of us.

Now for the bad......I woke up this morning feeling like someone hit my in my kidneys with a baseball bat, both of them.  I thought at first it was muscle problems, which I am prone to, but the muscles don't hurt.  It is much deeper.  I had one diet coke today and then either Cranberry juice or water for the rest of the day.  Gil did some energy work and that helped some, but now it is hurting again.  If this continues through the weekend, I'm going to our GP on Monday or Tuesday.

A friend of ours who is a "natural healer", for lack of a better term, is concerned, but not overly worried.  She says that if pushing the water doesn't bring relief, then I will probably need some blood work and a urine sample taken.  On top of that, I have to get the second round of my immunizations done (which for a small needle, hurt like hell).

Keep an eye out for Santa, I think he may be in my neighborhood right now.

I'll try to get back to more Fit oriented notes after Christmas, for now it just feels good keeping my promise to write.  Little successes.

Determination Day 3

Everything is getting hectic.  Did really well, had 4 small meals throughout the day about every two hours or so, but then had a largish diner with gravy (bad bad bad).  It's taking a while to adjust and modify to what needs to be done, so am slowly getting there.  Will try to write more after Christmas.