I got the results from my blood work this week and was very pleased and not a little surprised. Recall, I made my eating and exercise modifications at the beginning of July, so these results were influenced by one month. From September 2009 through June 2010, I made no effort to curb my eating and did no exercise. In some ways, those months were probably worse in terms of poor food choices.

That is quite a turn-around. Granted, I made drastic changes to what I eat. Focusing heavily on fruits and vegetables, very little red meat and virtually no chips and other junk food. I still would have expected this to be a more gradual shift, but will take and enjoy these results. All the numbers are in the “just fine” range, except HDL (good cholesterol). And you can see it hasn’t move much in the last several years. Ideally it needs to be above 40, but the higher the value, the better. So this will be a focus item as I consider the rest of the nutrition challenge.

My doctor told me to get exercise and omega-3 to help improve HDL. I’ve been exercising for the last month and started taking fish oil a few weeks back. These seem like things that will take some time to show results. I did some research on what else you can do to boost your HDL and came up with the following list.

• Aerobic Exercise (duration may be the key to higher HDL vs. intensity)
• Lose Weight
• Stop Smoking
• Cut out trans fatty acids (no partially hydrogenated vegetable oils)
• Alcohol (Men: 1-2 drinks per day can significantly increase HDL)
• Increase monounsaturated fats (canola, avocado & olive oil and fats in peanut butter)
• Add soluble fiber to diet

The good news is that I am doing most of these things already. Will need to check ingredients more closely in addition to the nutrition labels to avoid the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Not too sure about the booze. There is a bit of playing the odds with that one. These are empty calories and the Heart Association strongly discourages drinking.

In any event, seeing results from making good choices feels fantastic. It is a strong motivator.

A short week because I changed my check-in date. Not too bad, this is probably what things will be like going forward if I continue to stick to the plan. I dropped a few pounds and slide the BMI to the left a smidge. I’m doing pretty well eating the right kinds of food, but need to

continue to work on getting the carb/protein.fat ratio down. The week ended with Carbs: 55%, Protein: 22%, Fat: 23%. Work will continue here. I do a pretty good job of tracking what I eat and drink. This table shows the top foods I’ve been eating. Peach count was driven by a visit to a farmers market last Sunday – they were awesome. The red for oatmeal means it was the highest calorie count for the week. Lots of fruit, pickles (low cal plus a bit of salt and crunch) and chicken. I’ve been looking at fruit to make sure I get the best kind – at the end of the day sugar is sugar and carbs are carbs. Still goodness as this is the best kind to eat. From an activity standpoint, I am working on a constantly increasing level. This week I exceeded my goals and will continue to do this week over week. The good news is that this will require a steady increase and variety of things keeping me out of a chair. This week I still did some swimming, a bit of walking, mini-tramp time but added some basketball practice and some basic soccer running and shooting. Basically stuff to keep things interesting. I think the numbers get a bit falsely elevated when I am on the mini-tramp, so I need to keep that in mind, but the numbers for Saturday are pure walking, I took advantage of times that I would normally stand around and walked. Walked, walked and walked. I logged more than 19,000 steps – pretty happy with that.

Next Milestone – Weight=204, BMI=34 (class-1 obesity)

Wrapping up my third week continues with some weight loss and movement left on the BMI map. I think progress is going well. I am learning, generally making good decisions and continuing to be active. I’ve found ways to get some walking in at work and to take advantage of TV time by getting on the mini-tramp (also helps curb the desire to snack).

I will be moving the Progress Report to Sundays as that maps to the start of the week for the FitBit reporting. There are some great reports on activity and food. The chart below shows my step count relative to everyone else in the FitBit system.

Still need to focus on the carbs/protein/fat ratios – but it will come! That is one of the key things about doing this without a program that will, in the long run, benefit me more than getting specific meals etc. That is the theory anyway. As my manager at work says, “I reserve the right to wake up a little smarter tomorrow.” The chart below shows a summary of my activity for the week. This is a cool view and as long as I maintain it, I’ll know how much I tend to get out of the various activities I complete. Last week, swimming was where I spent most of my time, but I think that mix will shift this week.

Anyway, lots of information to help keep me on the right path.

Actions

• Continue activity by utilizing the FitBit Training Guide.
• Continue to make good choices for food by amount and type.
• Continue to learn about the contents of food (carbs, fat, protein).

Next Milestone – Weight=204, BMI=34 (class-1 obesity)

P.S.  Logged some pool time today. I think I have pretty good form from the waist up, but tend to let my legs follow (arms do all the work). I made the effort to use my legs and it adds a few new dimensions to the workout. First, it helps even out my stroke and thus make the whole thing less choppy. Second, it makes for a better workout. It made me work my abs a bit, which I don’t recall from my college swimming days (no competition, but a year in swim PE). Going forward will work to make that more natural.