Digg ThisThe current cold snap has given me some time to reflect on things happening in my life of late. Ironically, without a job, I’m actually busier now than I was when I was working 9 to 5, which is interesting. I have a lot of irons in the fire.
First off, I’m actively job hunting. They say that job hunting is a full-time job, but I have to disagree — it’s more like a busy part-time job: the latest figures I’ve heard reflect 25 hours per week as optimal, and I am doing just about that.
I’m also working on Plan B (perhaps more diligently, I must admit), which is setting up a freelance shop. While I can say that my recent agency experience helps enormously, I still find that I have a lot to learn, and a lot of questions to ask. With time comes experience, and with experience fewer headaches. I’m getting there. Slowly.
I’m building my office, finally. The room has been there all along, but with bare, stud walls and exposed styrofoam insulation; it’s cold and the lighting leaves a lot to be desired. It’s also a colossal mess. My new carpentry skills are coming to good use, I find. I’ll eventually post before and after photos.
I also joined WeightWatchers — and for good reason.
Reasons, truth be told. Last Christmas, my cousin underwent a quadruple bypass operation. Rob is 51 years old and had blockages of 100%, 99%, 85%, and 75%. He evidently suffered at least one heart attack the week before his surgery without knowing it.
The doctor said that during surgery, he squeezed Rob’s heart — and it squeezed back!
Our grandfather died of a massive coronary while on the golf course. It was his third or fourth — possibly his fifth — heart attack. My father had two heart attacks — the second of which should have killed him — and his brother, Rob’s father, had at least three (and was also a late-life diabetic).
Another cousin (one of Rob’s older brothers — there’s a total of 9 kids in that family, 8 boys and one girl; two have passed on at this point), at about 58 years old, died of complications from diabetes, heart disease and smoking. He also never went to the doctor, which compounded the situation. He was not overweight, as I remember. Not more than 10 or 15 pounds, at least.
So at the tender age of 47, I find myself some 74 pounds overweight, with high blood pressure and chronic sleep apnea. My cholesterol levels are good, with the exception of my good cholesterol (which is low) and my triglycerides (which are high). It’s called Pre-Diabetic Metabolic Syndrome.
This can’t stand. I have to make some changes, and I have to make them now. Yesterday, in fact. It’s time to get serious, so I have begun to do something about it: I’m changing my habits. This is the main reason why I have been so quiet of late: I’m concentrating on change.
Three things I can say:
- 1) WeightWatchers works. Period. They teach portion control and positive reinforcement;
- 2) WeightWatchers is easier when both you and your spouse actively participate in the program (my bride got me into it);
- 3) Neither healthy eating and healthy living mean you have to give up delicious food — it’s quite the contrary!
As the weight falls away, my apnea grows more severe; I evidently reached a weight where the apnea abated, and as I lose that weight, I’m now traversing that space where my apnea peaked. Fortunately, I’m more aware of it now, and I can work around it; it will fade away as I approach a sober weight.
So that’s what those funny little numbers at the bottom of each post represent: my total weight overage, total pounds lost, and pounds left to lose. I weigh-in every Saturday morning. My initial goal in WeightWatchers is 25 pounds, of which I have 4.8 — and 10 weeks — remaining; I think I’ll make it handily.
Next stop on the change train: smoking. That has to go.
(73.8  20.2  53.6)
