I’m not sure if that is official for anyone but me… but it’s time to get my butt healthy again.
I fared pretty well for 3 years. I had lost about 50 pounds, ran 3 half marathons, and had felt much, much better.
Then, I hit a skid last August… gained about 10 pounds back. Ugh! I tried to lose a few, but gained them back.
Then, December hit. I didn’t gain weight because of the holidays. It was a pretty rough time for me, which you can read about here. By mid January, I had gained another 10 pounds.
I feel miserable, and worse, I’m not getting any younger. I have about 15 months left before I hit the half century mark, and I hate how I feel. If I’m going to be 50, I don’t want to feel 50.
March 2014 Is “Get Healthy Month”
Starting Saturday, March 1st, I am doing 3 things:
- Eating low carb for 31 days
- Incorporating green drink smoothies
- Walking/Hiking an average of 15 miles per week
Let me break this down just a bit.
Eating Low Carb
I’ve done this before. I will eat less than 20 net grams of carbohydrates per day. This is essentially the “Induction Phase” of the Atkins Diet. I will increase that by about 5 grams in the second half of the month, but my goal is to break sugar and carbohydrate addictions.
I lose weight quickly for the first 10 days, and then things slow down as a lot of the “water weight” is gone. When I have done this in the past, my vital numbers all come into and below healthy ranges. Blood pressure, HDL, LDL, etc. I’m looking forward to this again.
Incorporating Green Drinks
We have a nice Blentec blender that is great for making smoothies out of fresh produce. I don’t mind the taste of green drinks, and will focus more on veggies than fruit. Fruit is higher in carbohydrates, but the green drinks tend to have more fiber, so that should offset the carbs.
There are good recipes on Blender Dude and Blender Babe websites. I’ll try and mix things up a bit and add some variety. I will plan on doing these every other day or so. Maybe more often. Once per day may not be bad… we’ll see.
Exercising
I’ve got to move. I thought about doing Shaun T’s T25, but I want to be outside. Plus, I want to be ready to begin running again in April, so I need to get my legs stronger.
My past experience has shown that eating low carb can make exercise harder, having less energy for prolonged workouts. I’ve run 5+ miles before on a low carb diet, but it is definitely more difficult. So, I’ll stick to walking and hiking until April.
Why?
Really… why do this? I mentioned above that I feel miserable, don’t like how I look, and am not pleased with how I let myself slide.
Diabetes is knocking on my door, and I do not want to let him in. Heart disease is ready to knock the door in too. I can’t deny that and as it is up to me, my health is my choice.
But, this isn’t really about me. I want to be healthy for Traci, for Josh, and for my girls. They need me healthy. They don’t need a fat slob of a dad who can’t get up and down and who constantly has to say, “Not now… maybe later.”
Yes, I want to feel better. I know that my health affects every aspect of my life. I will have some personal goals to keep me motivated too.
But my primary “why” is my family. They need me healthy now as well as healthy in 10, 20, 30+ years.
So, want to join me? March is Get Healthy Month.