Spring has sprung
I had a wryly entertaining visit to Hospital last week. It wasn’t anything special, just a check up. It was entertaining for the subtlety of the specialist’s non-directive and ever-so-polite recommendation. He noticed that all of my numbers and readings were fine but still my BP has – or may have been – creeping up. He mentioned some longtitudinal studies which indicated that, all other things being controlled for, the best correlate for increasing BP was increasing weight. He then observed that my weight was also creeping up.
Message received and understood.
In truth, it didn’t need a specialist to tell me that, but it did reinforce what has been obvious to me every time I look in a mirror. So a period of weight loss is in order and the best way to achieve that is to eat less crap and do more exercise. So here we go.
I tried to pick up running again last year but my knees objected. It could be that they objected because of either or both of extra weight or poor technique. Either way I’m not ready to pick up running again – yet. Instead I have borrowed a contraption from a neighbour which attaches to the back wheel of a cycle, raising it off the ground and turning the cycle into an exercise bike. The work effort can be controlled through the cycle’s gears. I had my first 15 minute session this evening and am happy. I didn’t do anything more than cycle at a comfortable pace but that’s good – I’ll do that for a couple of weeks and see how it goes and then start to increase the effort.
As for food: my immediate response has been to cut down on the amount I eat during the day. On days when Kirstin has not been here I have skipped lunch and that’s my main plan for the next while, as well as looking at what I do actually eat and reducing it. I ate particularly well during March – I was in Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the US; probably I ate too well. That has to end.
More as we get it.
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