Sunday, January 1, 2012

Hello 2012

Well, I have finished updating my weekly weight information on the right side and have added a starting point for 2012.  Happily, my starting weight for 2012 is 7.6 pounds less than the starting point for 2011.

My weight has ranged from the high 170's to the low 190's for several years now and today's weight of 185 is right in the middle of that range.  I do think my weight could or maybe should go lower to reduce some of the excess I am carrying around my middle.  What I am going to try to do is push my body weigh down 10% and then hold it in a fairly tight range. That put's my goal weight in the mid 160's.

The only way I know to accomplish this goal is to carefully watch/control what I consume. For me, I record my food consumption in the Calorie King online program. Calorie King also gives me the opportunity to record my exercise in the same log. When the "holiday eating season" started around Thanksgiving I allowed myself to relax a bit and have just been careful to not overdo it.  Now that January 1st has arrived it is time to get serious again.

For exercise, I have found it is a lot easier to do if it is fun. I love cycling and since I have to go to work, one of my goals for 2012 is to ride my bike to work and then home at the end of the day on average 1 day per week. I am not cycling for the next month or so due to an upper right arm/shoulder injury so when I can start cycling again, I will be playing catch up.

I also have found I love running when I set goals and make connections with other runners.  My big running goal for 2012 is to break 9 MPM pace at my hometown half marathon the 1st weekend in June. My running blog, Allan Running, helps me connect with other runners and last night, I posted to RunningWorld.com's online running community "The Loop" for the 1st time under the user name "Allan Running". Pretty catchy, huh?

The last piece of the exercise puzzle is weight training.  Since every pound lost includes some muscle, I try to regularly do weight training to replace muscle.  At this time I have also backed off weight workouts until I can get my upper right arm healthy again.

Currently on my bookshelf is "The end of overeating" by David A. Kessler, MD. I actually started reading this book before our November cruise vacation.  Since my plan was to enjoy our vacation, get through the holidays and not over do it, and I thought the reading of this book might interfere with that plan, I put the book down early in the 1st chapter.  I do think part of maintaining a healthy body weight includes staying informed so this book moves to the top of my reading list as of today.

In an earlier post I indicated I had not been feeling up to par. I find that my White Blood Count has been low much of the past year and that as of December, my Ferritin count was low. My doctor tells me these issues are unrelated.  Hummm.........?  I have started taking an Iron FE supplement which should help the Ferritin level and will have some blood work follow up at the end of this month. 

Another goal for 2012 is to post on this blog at least once per month.  Last year I found that weekly was too often, I couldn't find the content or time to post that often. 

So here we are at the start of a new year. A clean slate. I love the promise of a new year because it gives me the opportunity to think about the type of person I want to be and plan to be that person. So, enough already, its after 9AM. Time to get moving.