CHALLENGES AHEAD

I am approaching the one year anniversary of the day that I decided to cease being 309 lbs.  That day is December 24th.  In the retelling of my story, so many people were amazed that I would start a 'diet' on Christmas Eve.  My response is always the same, "I'm Jewish, December 24th was not Christmas Eve, it was a Wednesday."  I have apparently passed the first important challenge - that is, maintaining my weight after dropping it.  My progress came quickly.  I did basically lose all the weight within the first five months.  In the five subsequent months, I have watched my weight bop up and down within a 10 pound 'window'.  I still must be very careful about how much I eat.  I have noticed that I have slowly been increasing my caloric intake.  I do still eat too much food that is less than ideal.  I need to remind myself that just because food is purchased at a so-called health food store - it does not inherently make everything sold there, healthy.  I am extremely proud of my physical accomplishments over the past year.  The two high-points that come to mind were my successful walking of the 26.2 mile Chicago Marathon and the successful summit of Half Dome in Yosemite Park.  Both of these accomplishments would have seemed unimaginable to me one year ago and for my entire life.  As I look forward, I know that there will be more challenges ahead.  Some of these challenges are mental and some are physical. I look forward to challenging myself in new ways in the future.  I must simply remember that the greatest challenge and most important challenge of all is to never go backwards.  

Yesterday, I was speaking about my 'streak' of walking a minimum of 10 miles each day.  I wanted to wake up early yesterday and walk - but I was physically too tired.  The day before, I had started my day at 5:00AM and I just didn't have the energy for a early morning walk.  In addition, since I am now in Indiana, I have 'lost' an additional hour as I am now in the Eastern Time Zone.  The pressure was removed, as it was raining anyway.  I am likely just crazy enough to possibly set out for a walk in a light rain - but it surely would not be very enjoyable.  Even though my hotel does have a fitness room, the kind of place that I sought out for months and months earlier this year - nowadays, I simply enjoy being outdoors too much to face a two hour indoor workout. (When the weather turns really bad, I will surely return indoors.)  After my day with my customers concluded, I returned to my hotel room at around 6:00PM.   Although it was already dark, I set out to log my 10 miles.  I was 'armed' with my high intensity bicycle light which showed me where I was going and made me much more visible to the automobiles with whom I was sharing the road for much of the hike. So another day, another day - mission accomplished.  The time it took was a bit elongated as I was walking in darkness, and walking often on tall grass.  Still, it is a great feeling to go to sleep each day with that accomplishment checked off my daily list of things to do.

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Your Food Diary For:

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quaker - Instant Original Flavor Oatmeal, 6 pack	600	114	12	24	450	0
KELLOGGS - RAISIN BRAN (dry cereal, no milk), 2 cup	380	92	2	10	420	36
	980	206	14	34	870	36
L U N C H
Whole Foods - Turkey Meatballs With Marinara, 6 pieces plus sauce	460	16	20	50	1,440	4
WHOLE FOODS 5938 - UNSWEETENED BANANA CHIPS, 48.0 g (1/4 cup)	272	26	16	3	8	2
WHOLE FOODS - SESAME STICKS (SALTED), 1/3 cup	160	13	11	3	420	0
Whole Foods - Milk Chocolate Covered Cranberries, 12 pieces	180	27	8	1	15	23
WHOLE FOODS 7608 - YOGURT PRETZELS, 20 g (approx 8 pcs)	95	14	4	1	90	10
	1,167	96	59	58	1,973	38
D I N N E R
Campbell's Chunky - Manhattan Clam Chowder, 2 cup	240	36	6	10	1,600	6
WHOLE FOODS 7241 - UNSALTED SPROUTED RAW PUMPKIN SEEDS, 28 g. (1/4 cup)	151	5	13	7	5	0
WHOLE FOODS 8890 - STRAWBERRY VANILLA HEMP GRANOLA, 55 g (3/4 cup)	250	40	8	5	60	15
	641	81	27	22	1,665	21
S N A C K S
dang toasted coconut - original recipe, 84 g	495	51	30	3	495	33
WHOLE FOODS 7089 - 42% CACAO SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS, 45 g (approx 2 TBSP)	210	30	12	3	0	24
	705	81	42	6	495	57
Totals	3,493	464	142	120	5,003	152
Your Daily Goal	4,677	584	156	234	2,300	175
Remaining	1,184	120	13	113	-2,703	22
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,747 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	139	1,857
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	890
Daily Total / Goal	140 / 30	2,747 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	269 / 210	4,654 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 3493

total calories burned (10 mile walk) 1857 calories

total net calories 1636 calories

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.......................

fitbit day 76

25651 steps

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ten mile walking streak reached 9 days