Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Dreaded Gym

I made it to the dreaded gym finally. I've been a member at the YMCA in Niles, MI since the end of May and I went once in June to a different location and that was it. Since starting tracking my calorie intake on myfitnesspal.com I lost another 4 pounds and my weight yesterday morning was 251.0 pounds. Even though I'm happy with the progress, I feel stir-crazy about sitting around the house and computer and I want to get out and do active things. I love to swim but still haven't used the pool.

Today I procrastinated a little too long to use the pool at the right time before work, but I had time for 20-25 minutes on the recumbant bike. I've been preparing for the gym by buying things that I think I need to use the gym. This makes it a financial commitment and it gives me less excuses not to go. The purchase I'm happiest about is the gym bag because we went shopping for a gym bag and a carry-on bag the other night and ended up finding a three-peice set that included both that was well under budget for what we planned to spend. At $32 for the set, that's less than my wife would have to pay to the airline if she doesn't stick to carry-on luggage.

My Gym Bag Contents:
Almost Prescription Goggles - These things are orderable on the internet for a low price and are great for finding ones towel, shoes, or family and friends on a crowded beach when without them everything is a fuzzy blob.
Tiny Radio - This thing is supposed to allow me to hear what's on the TV at the gym. This is ideal for the poor college student who might want an Ipod but doesn't want it so bad that over $200 seems like a must-have item.
Ear Plugs - There were two types at the sporting goods store for swimming. At $3 and $4 respectively, I decided it would be cheaper to buy both than to spend money on gas to come back if I wanted the other kind.
Swim Trunks - I'm not at the competitive level nor do I have the body of Michael Phelps. Modesty is in order here. At the same time I don't want to be in the water with board shorts and while I wouldn't mind wearing them outside of the water or in a jam, I'll stick to the more traditional size of swim trunks if I can. When I found some for around $10 each that fit well I grabbed two different colors. They also seem to work fine for working out when I'm not in the pool, at least for now.
Shower Gel - I guess I didn't need this since the Y provides soap and towels, but hey, it's marketed as being good to use as shampoo also.
Deodorant - Between my deodorant and my shower gel, I left the gym smelling much better than when I got to the gym.
Padlock - Since I don't want to walk home in wet swim trunks with no wallet and no truck, I've selected a $3 steel lock that was imported from China and was conveniently available at the Dollar General store near the gym.

My experience was pretty good today. After getting to the parking lot of the gym and realizing I could use a little something under my arms and I should also get a padlock, I left for my last three gym bag purchases. I looked at the time after the purchases and realized it was really cutting into my potential workout time, but I wasn't going to use that as an excuse to not go. I went in and changed and sat down and started pedaling on the bike. I entered my desired workout information and then kept pedaling while I tried to adjust my radio to the frequency provided to hear the televisions. This didn't go so well. I could barely hear one of the stations and there was a lot of buzzing. I left it there and then put my hands on the heart-rate sensors on the side of the bike. After about five or six minutes I decided to try to get a better station, whether it was for a gym television or just the radio. The bike started displaying that it had lost my heart-rate, but being confident that I still had a heart-rate I kept trying to find a station and kept pedaling. When I did put my hands back on the sensors, nothing happened. The resistance had stopped and the screen was frozen in the screen telling me that it couldn't read my heart-rate. It wouldn't tell me anything else and my miles and calories burned and time were all gone. I had to reset the program and just opted for a manual program instead of a target heart-rate. I rode for another 15-minutes on the manual program and burned another 149 calories. When I saw that I only had five seconds left I tried to pedal faster to get to 150, but sure enough my unfriendly bike happily stopped at 149 and gave me my stats exactly when it had been told to end my workout. I'm claiming 200 calories for my first workout this month under the circumstances.

Afterward, it felt so good to use a shower that doesn't spray rust all over me. I like the setup because there is a curtain for the dressing area and another curtain for the shower. I could almost just go to the gym once in awhile to take a shower sans rust. On a side note I realized that most of the shower stalls we taller and I had probably used one that was made for kids :)

I also wanted to share the website that I'm using for tracking fitness and calories and I know quite a few other people who are using it. I actually learned about www.myfitnesspal.com because of conversations resulting from blogging! It's free to use and is ad supported but the ads don't seem annoying or pervasive.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Being Overweight in the Adventist Church

My own experience of overweight and a member of the Adventist church hasn't been negative and only since coming to Andrews University have I begun to think about the social aspects of being overweight in my church. For those outside of my faith group, health reform is a fundamental belief of my church in which healthy lifestyle choices including diet and exercise are strongly encouraged. In particular four instances have led me to reflect on the matter:

A family member who has always had weight issues recently disclosed to me that she rarely goes to church in part because she feels like any time the topic of health comes up people tend to look at her and hurt her feelings by treating her as if she's the only one who needs to work on her health because she's obese.

A coworker who is a pastor told me that since working in our ministry and traveling a lot he's found it hard to stay on top of his health. One weekend after preaching at a local church, one of the members came and told him he couldn't even listen to the sermon because he was so shocked that an Adventist pastor could be overweight.

In our small groups we were talking about judging others and somebody in the group disclosed that he was guilty of judging people who were overweight.

A few days ago I came across a link on twitter that referred to a blog with quotes from the Bible about behavior and statements from Ellen White about the importance of Adventist ministers to adhere to health reform. The implication of the post was clearly taking a stand against employing pastors who were obviously not living in line with health reform (i.e. overweight). Sadly I've lost the link to the blog and would post it if I found it. My own nature would lead me to look at the context of all of the quotes to see if they were in line with the intent of the authors and I haven't had a chance to do that.  My gut feeling on at least the Bible texts was that proof texting was being used and the quotes from Ellen White provided good food for thought.

By weight and height I fall into the obese category and I have only these four recent points of reference to reflect on the matter. I hope the experiences of people who struggle with weight within our church is that they predominately encounter loving followers of Christ who support them regardless of their clearly visible challenges.

I also believe that our church is blessed with a wonderful health message that has the potential to allow us to drastically reduce many of the diseases and ailments which plague western society because there is a cause and effect relationship between what we eat as a society and the diseases that are common in the United States and Europe. I want to make choices that will lead me out of obesity not for the sake of physical appearances but that my quality of life would be better when I'm older.

And while some may correctly or incorrectly associate adherence to health principles as a requirement for ministry, it certainly is not a test of membership in our church. While I am actively seeking to make health changes in my own life that is a challenging and deeply personal decision that may include underlying issues for others in our church that we can't even begin to comprehend. I hope to be an encouragement to people who are overweight regardless of success in making changes. I also hope the name of my blog doesn't offend anyone as I seek to explore issues related to being overweight and the health message of Adventism.

Weight Loss Program for US Veterans / Free Info for Anyone

The VA healthcare system has a program for veterans called MOVE. They offer support groups, information, weigh-ins and nutrition counseling. It seems like it would be a great program to be more involved in but I'm having trouble fitting it into my schedule. They have a home program but an analog telephone line is required to plug into a scale and a Magic Jack won't work. The good news is they are working on upgrading to an option that can work with wi-fi networks and I should be able to participate in that once our national evangelistic campaign is over in November. Veterans who are enrolled in the VA healthcare system can participate in MOVE without a copay and may even qualify for mileage reimbursement if they meet low income requirements. VA healthcare can also arrange appointments with a dietitian on an occasional basis even if the veteran is unable to participate actively in the MOVE program.

The MOVE program offers a small survey that can be completed by anyone with internet access regardless of veteran status that will refer to information pamphlets that are also available for free on the internet.

MOVE Homepage
http://www.move.va.gov/default.asp

Fruit and Vegetable Challenge Moved to Dedicated Blog

My challenge will be updated on a dedicated blog at http://morefruitsandveggies.blogspot.com/ This will allow me to explore some other ideas on this blog.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fruit/Veg Challenge Week 1 Goals

Week 1 begins Sunday, July 3rd. Goals may be completed in any order and don't give up if you miss one. The ultimate goal is to make healthier eating choices by making a habit of intentionally including fruits and vegetables in your diet. If you're already doing this, why not increase your variety? Dietitians recommend selecting a wide variety of colors in your fruits and vegetables to benefit from different nutrients.

Weekly goals:
1a. Buy and eat local produce. Visit a farmers market or a fruit stand.
1b. a red fruit/veg
1c. a fruit or vegetable that has pointy things on it
1d. a melon
1e. a fruit/veg you haven't had in at least a month
1f. a creative salad
1g. share a pie with a friend

62-Day Fruit and Veg Challenge Kickoff Days

So in addition to having a different fruit or vegetable each day for the next two months, weekly goals could help move things along and keep it fun. But the challenge begins on a Friday, which is a horrible day to begin a week. With a deep-seeded conviction that a week should begin on Sunday, I hereby proclaim that Friday 7/1 and Saturday 7/2 shall be kickoff days with week 1 to begin on Sunday, July 3rd.

Fri 7/1: Start out right with fruit in your breakfast.

Sat 7/2: Share a vegetable dish with somebody else.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

62-day Fruit and Vegetable Challenge Preview: Fruit - Pluot*

My wife and I decided to check out the supermarket in Niles, MI the other day to see what we might find for the fruit and vegetable challenge. One thing that caught our eye were some pluots. They had the skin coloration of a Washington apple with greens and reds mixed in and they had the texture of a plum. She mentioned that her mom likes these and has been wanting to purchase a tree so she can grow them. I'd never heard of them and they looked like they'd be fun to eat.

As we drove home to Berrien Springs, she demanded that I hand her a pluot. I argued, "But if we eat them now I can't use them for my fruit and vegetable challenge at the start of the month." She responded that they were already quite soft. Logic and curiosity got the best of me and soon we were biting in to our juicy pluots.

The inside also had the texture of a plum and the coloration was deep purplish red. It mostly had the feel and taste of eating a plum and what stood out was the intense sweetness on the outside and the sourness close to the pit. Soon I was finding myself out of dry places to hold onto the pluot so I shoved what was left of it into my mouth and chewed around the pit. The sourness was strong but in a way that reminded me of the sour straw candies we used to eat as teenagers which are now making a comeback. I whittled down the fruit until there was nothing left then rolled down the window and spit the seed out once we were past the Sheriff's office on Old 31. I'm pretty sure it's legal to spit biodegradable pits out the car window but I wasn't eager to have that conversation with the local law enforcement. Once we got home I went to research the fruit to find out what it was.

A pluot is a trademarked hybrid between a plum and an apricot. They have a few different varieties and the ones we had this week are the Dapple Dandy variety, which come early in the season and are harvested in June. Other varieties will be harvested through September so we might get to try some more later this summer.

*Pluots are the registered trademark of Zaiger Genetics of Modesto, CA. I have no financial relationship with any company that sells these other than being a consumer who found the fruit interesting enough to buy, but since I'm talking about their trademarked fruit I'll acknowledge that I'm using a trademarked name. 

Fruit and Vegetable 62-day Challenge

Update to my goal: While I think the challenge will be manageable to eat 31 different fruits in July and blog about it, I'd like to add vegetables into the mix and make it last through July and August. Part of this is because it will be so much more interesting if I can mix things up in Thailand while I'm on my mission trip. Not sure how my travel days will impact the challenge when I cross the international date line, but I'll keep in the spirit of the challenge as I adjust to my new time zone. The other benefit of adding in vegetables is I don't have to play on the grey areas of what is and isn't a fruit. For instance, botanically there are things like tomatoes and cucumbers that fall into the fruit category that just don't feel like fruits to me. In a crunch the botanical card would have been available if I run out of locally available fruits to eat but now I won't need to. 

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the Challenge

So I'm off to a slow start on blogging and here's an update on how things have gone so far.

The Good: I survived a birthday trip to the theme park without gaining weight, joined the YMCA, took a long walk on the beach with my wife and went golfing last week. In about half of my meals when eating out I'm making healthy choices. We opted for state parks passes on our vehicles when we renewed our plates, so there are a few places nearby we could explore for free to keep active.

The Bad: I've only used the gym once. I got some inexpensive gym shoes, a radio tuner so I can actually hear the TVs, and I've spent all of 20 minutes inside the gym since joining 21 days ago. I also got some ear plugs for the pool and I know we need to go to get our money's worth and be healthy. It's probably the wrong time of day to get on a scale but it's about four pounds higher than the last time I checked (259). Need to check in the morning. I'm also not eating enough fruits and vegetables and I'm often choosing french fries, chips (baked if I can), and chocolate as food choices.

The Challenge: I want to eat a different type of fruit every day during the month of July. It sounds fun to me and a bit challenging to go find different fruits to try. It's quite possible just from what's available in the local supermarket if I'm technical about what qualifies as a fruit botanically (tomatoes and cucumbers for example). And frankly if I have to decide between a lemon and durian I'm going to pick durian every day of the week. This would be easier when I go to Thailand next month, and I might have another go at it in August, but I don't want to wait to try this.

So for now my goal is to go to the gym tomorrow (which begins in two minutes) and to start planning my food challenge.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Introduction

I belong to a faith tradition in which health is a core value. Through life I have been reluctant to live by those values and over the years my health has deteriorated accordingly. I've lived by the health standards of Western society and have paid little heed to the health message of my church and am now facing the reality that I have a lot of work to do to undo a lot of harm that I've done to my own body.

When I left home to join the United States Air Force at the age of eighteen, I was 6'2" and weighed 155 pounds. I had made a half-joking commitment to a teacher at my high school in my senior year to become a vegetarian for a year because I had teased her about eating veal parmesan from a TV dinner, a.k.a. "dead baby cow" and felt bad about it. Since vegetarianism is encouraged but by no means required in my church, I believed I could follow through with that promise. I don't know if she took me seriously but I lived as a vegetarian for the better part of two years, including through basic training. I stopped one day not through a conscious decision but because I accidentally ordered a cheese burger instead of a grilled cheese sandwich one day (I defined my diet as lacto-oval vegetarian, which includes egg and dairy products). Soon after I discovered the joys of the 99-cent Whopper at Burger King and had fully strayed from my healthy diet. I also began to dabble in the alcohol culture that often goes with military service, which goes even more against the teachings of my church but seemed to be quietly overlooked by many of my faith as long as there weren't any major problems caused by it.

After a few years I married a young lady I had grown up with in church and we got stationed in England. Our diets continued to lapse and we loved having roaming barbeques with our friends. The guest of honor was usually Captain Morgan (a brand of spiced rum). By the time I left England, which was nine years after I had joined the Air Force, I weighed 250 pounds and hadn't passed a fitness test in two years, but at that point fitness standards seemed to be an oversight in the Air Force and I woke up one day realizing I was now fat. Somewhere in my career I had also taken up tobacco, starting with an occasional clove cigarette, to menthol cigarettes, to cowboy killers (Marlboro reds), to Marlboro lights.

In my last enlistment in the Air Force, weight and health continued to be a struggle, and Air Force leadership either began to get tired of jokes about our bike test from other services or they realized that our standards had become too relaxed and our service was overweight and out of shape. The Fit-to-Fight program (also known as Too Fat to Fight) soon followed and my own complacency of personal fitness had not prepared me for the pendulum shift of a culture that now recognized strong physical fitness as a requirement to military service. Go figure, right? My weight went down from a high of 270 to a low of 235 pounds through exercise, but running left me out of breath and I found myself frequently facing back spasms and often in need of exercise requirement waivers.

I found myself seeking out God in Iraq, where there were plenty of atheists in the foxholes despite the old expression (many of whom I still count as acquaintances). One thing this encounter with God led me to deal with was that I didn't need to keep using tobacco, and after a few days of reading Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life, I walked outside, smoked my last cigarette, finished my morning devotional time and ignored the three packs of cigarettes on my shelf for a few weeks before disposing of them completely. I may have given them away rather than throwing them away, but I was done with that habit. I also came to the conclusion that I wasn't happy in my job in the Air Force. I mean, if I only found any job satisfaction when I was serving in combat zones, something wasn't right. Sure, always being on the fitness roster wasn't making life any easier but there was more to it than that. It was a little early for mid-life crisis but it was time to walk, and walk I did. With thirteen years and a few months of service, I felt God calling me to do something different in life. I decided to go study theology with the hopes of becoming a military chaplain eventually. I also quit drinking since I didn't think it would be ethical to keep doing so considering my church's stance on alcohol. And even though I was slated to get out and I had an injury waiver for many of the physical fitness requirements, a week before I got out my commander refused to let me be excused from taking one last fitness test. I actually passed with a high enough score to be removed from the remedial aspects of the program.

Unfortunately, that was probably the peak of my health over the last 10 years of my life. I quickly put weight back on after the exercise stopped and found myself back at 270 pounds within a year or two. I finished my bachelor's degree with little focus on health or diet, continuing to eat meat whenever I felt like it. A year into my master's program I did an internship at a hospital to focus on ministry within a healthcare setting and instantly hit it off with a classmate. Andrew Campbell was a few years younger than I was and was about my size and weight. We shared a love for God, good laughs, food, and England (where he grew up). We spent the summer working in the same program, living two doors apart in the dorms, and making midnight runs to the hospital cafeteria or to local eateries. We were about the same size and weight and we would both go back and forth between healthy and unhealthy food choices, often justifying a pile of junk food with a side salad drenched in dressing. Soon after our internship ended, I got a call telling me Andrew had died in his room after experiencing heart pain, and my visits to the doctor were showing that my health was headed in the same direction. My doctor wanted me to start taking medicine for blood pressure and I would likely be on medication for the rest of my life. These two events were the catalysts for me to reexamine the need for health reform in my life.

I enrolled in a program being sponsored in my local church because I believed that if I made lifestyle changes in diet and exercise that I would be able to both lose weight and avoid the need for lifelong medication. This program was helpful and I have yet to take a single blood pressure pill, but I haven't made all of the changes in health that I need to and because of this I haven't seen the great results that some of the people I went through the program with have. I am a reluctant health reformer, giving up beef and chicken but holding onto fish with the excuse of needing the Omega-3 to boost my HDL, eschewing eggs and milk but quick to order a grilled-cheese sandwich and fries, just beginning to let go of coffee and caffeine in favor of orange soda or other sugar-filled choices, with only a few days remaining to accept a slightly discounted membership at our regional YMCA.

Although I am slow at making health changes and have both progressed and regressed, I hope this blog can encourage others who struggle with weight and health issues from the perspective of someone who has room to grow (or room to shrink). I consider my faith to be relevant to this because the healthy lifestyle promoted by the Seventh-day Adventist church leads to longer and healthier lives. Adventists in the United States on average tend to live seven years longer than the average American. I intend to promote health values and share my personal successes and failures in reluctantly facing the reality that many of us need change in diet and exercise and that in implementing some or all of these positive changes we can improve our lives and live longer. This blog isn't meant to be exclusive to those who share my faith, and I welcome anybody who seeks health reform in their lives to participate in a manner that is respectful of one another.

I guess that's a lot for an intro, so welcome to my reluctantly reforming "fatventist" blog.