Steve Oliphant’s Musings

Yesterday was day 4. It was Bananas and Milk day. I took 3 bananas from home and ate them in the morning. I bought a half gallon of skim milk during lunch. I drank it all, and I was so full it was uncomfortable!

Bananas: calories 90, servings 3, total 270
Milk: calories 80, servings 8, total 640
Apple: calories 72, servings 1, total 072
Carrots: calories 35, servings 5, total 175
total 1157

humph. this morning on the scale I weight 210. up 3 lbs from yesterday?!?! The food I ate is not enough calories for me to have gained. even with the milk.

I guess my scale is not super accurate.

or something.

I did walk my 3 mile route. I took my 9yo son along. We didn’t go as fast, but it was fun. I also did 4 pullups several times, never could pull out the 5 again.

Maybe it is because I was so full from the bananas and milk I didn’t eat my soup until I had a bowl right before bed.

Who knows. We will see what it is tomorrow.

And tonight is beef!

This morning I weighed 207.

This diet really works!

I am look forward to tomorrow when I can eat some meat

Today was a busy day – family dinner, then daughter’s orchestra concert to go to.

I still managed to get my exercise in and avoid the food by taking the dog for a walk during the family dinner. Actually more of a jog. I am not sure how long my course is – probably around 3 miles – but I did it in 40 minutes, a new record for me.

I also managed to pull out 5 pullups.

Food today: 2 oranges, 1 apple, a quart of the soup, 5 big carrots, 2 raddishes, and some calliflower.
bp: 133/80
We will see what my weight is in the morning.

woo hoo! 10 lbs down! This diet is definitely working!

On top of that, I was able to do 4, almost 5 pullups last night. twice.

and I haven’t missed a day yet walking for 30+ minutes.

Yesterday I ate (besides the soup, 2 oranges, 1 potato cut into small pieces, pan fried with no oil, seasoned with garlic salt, and 6 carrots and 1 apple cut up and steamed together. I could only stand about 2 quarts of the soup. I am getting sick of it! but it works!

Don’t watch if you are squeamish . . .

Today was a good day. I got to participate in the blessing of my brother’s son, my step-dad is visiting, and I successfully followed my workout and diet plan.

I had a bowl of soup for breakfast, an orange for a mid morning snack, and more soup for lunch and dinner – and nothing else but water and psyllium.

Blood pressure about 30 minutes after walk, before bed, was 161/101 – not as good as yesterday.

On the exercise front, I did the 3 mile walk, and I did 4 pullups! At one time! (yesterday I could only do 3 and a partial.) I won’t weigh myself until the morning, but I am excited to see the results of that too.

Time for bed.

-Steve

I got a checkup a few months ago (1/23/09), and the doctor told me something I already knew – I was out of shape! My blood pressure was high – 160/120, my bad cholesterol (265) was high, my good cholesterol (37) was low, and my triglycerides (343) were too high. I also weighed about 220 lbs which is a Body Mass Index of 29.8 – not only overweight, but right at obese!

Well, I decided to change my eating habits and start exercising. I successfully quit my daily soda pop with caffeine. I started eating healthier – less cups of ramen noodles and more baked potatoes for lunch – less junk and more fruit for breakfast, etc.

The doctor prescribed lisinopril 30 mg for my blood pressure, but I didn’t take it because I was confident that I could fix my blood pressure through diet and lifestyle change alone. After all, my wife fixed her esophogeal ulcers by changing her eating habits! If she can do that surely I can lower my blood pressure by eating better!

On 4/23/09 I went back and got my levels checked again. My blood pressure was still high and my other numbers were even worse! Weight: same, Blood pressure, same, Triglycerides: 444, Bad Cholesterol: 263, Good cholesterol: 33

So, I started taking the lisinopril. Today (4/25)I have been taking it for three days. I was very sick the first night and didn’t sleep, was sweating and nauseated and had a migraine – but that may have been a coincidence. (I do get migraines.) I have been ok since then.

I also made the vegatable soup that is the main food of the Heart Patient Diet and started eating that. (I have not started the diet completely – I ate a yummy California Skillet at Village Inn on my friday date night, and today I ate popcorn with Michael and shared some chocolate cake with Melody at Flying J.)

Today, I got back from a 3 mile walk with the dog (in the rain and mud – great fun -really! I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would) and took my blood pressure and it is 139/90. Not bad! The doctor told me the lisinopril can take 2-3 weeks to start working. Not sure what to think after only 3 days. It is probably an immediate low from the exercise.

But after that walk, (I jogged a bit on the way back – it’s downhill) I feel great!

I also did 3.5 pullups on my PerfectPullup(tm) bar (you strap on 40 extra lbs and see how many pullups you can do!)

My goal numbers are:

Weight: 180 lbs (high end of normal weight) need to lose 40 lbs
Triglycerides: 200 (150 is better) need to move 244 points down
LDL (bad) cholesterol: 130 (100 is better) need to move 133 down
HDL (good cholesterol: 40 (60 is better) need to move 7 up
Pullups: 20. hey – I could do 30 when I was in the Marine Corps! Of course, I only weighed 165 lbs and was 20 years younger . . .
Walk : able to jog the whole 3 mile route I do

So, Here is how I will get there:

1. Keep taking the licinopril and monitoring my blood pressure. When my blood pressure is consistantly low, wean off the drug.
I am also taking a couple of teaspoons of psyllium mixed in water daily, and several capsules of fish oil.

2. Go on the Heart Patient Diet (Vegetable soup) until my weight is down to 180 – plan is 7 days on, 7 days (or less) off. If all goes as claimed, I should be losing 10 lbs a week so I should hit my target weight in 4-8 weeks.

3. Walk 2-3 miles every day no matter what the weather. If can’t go for some reason, ride exercise bike for 30-45 minutes.

This should fix all my numbers within a month or two. We will see.

I guess I should set some interum goal numbers to make sure I am on track:

Optimal:

Milestone date: May 2 (1 week)
have walked or biked 30-45 minutes every day
have eaten the heart diet without cheating
weigh 210 lbs
do 5 pullups

Milestone date: May 9 (2 weeks)
no missed daily exercise
2 round of heart diet
weigh 200 lbs
do 10 pullups

Milestone date: May 16 (3 weeks)
no missed daily exercise
3rd round heart diet
weigh 190 lbs
do 15 pullups

Milestone date: May 23 (4 weeks)
no missed daily exercise
4th round heart diet
weigh 180 lbs
do 20 pullups

Pessimistic:

Milestone date May 2 (1 week)
have walked or biked 30-45 minutes a couple of times
have eaten the heart diet’s soup every day
weigh 215 lbs
do 3.5 pullups

Forget it . . . I am going to do the good one!