Take care of yourself

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

But how much does all that (Atkins) cost? That's one thing holding me back, is funds. I can't afford to pay for anything like that right now.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Man, it's just meat and salad. Seriously. That's all I had. Chicken and Ceasar salad one night. Steak and Ceasar the next. Pork chops and salad the next. Repeat, repeat, repeat. (You can swap up how you cook the stuff for some variety)

You'll spend a little bit to buy the snack stuff to replace all the garbage you eat now. But on the whole, after you eliminate the shit you buy now, you're not out any money. You might even save.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Round's a shape, isn't it?

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Time to bring this baby back.

There's a thread on the Journ Board about Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey recovering from colon cancer surgery. I don't know how old Rick is, but he's not old.

My best friend--38 yr old mother of little kids--just had surgery last week for early stage of colon cancer.

Get the freakin test.

A colonscopy is painless, done under general anesthesia, and you get to clean out your guts, which is really not a bad thing. Yes, it's a nuisance...but it can and will save your life. Colon cancer is completely treatable and preventable if you catch it early....a colonoscopy can grab those little polyps before they become deadly.

If you have any family history, or you're over 40, just do it.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

21 is completely right. Colon cancer can strike anyone. My cousin's 28 year old wife, with no family history of colon cancer, had it. She was lucky -- she had horrible stomach pain and that's how they ultimately found her tumor, although it took awhile since she was so young and had no family history and they just never thought to look for it. Colon cancer can show no symptoms, though. Anyway, they caught hers early and after chemo and radiation, they got it all. Her chance of recurrence is pretty high - 25-40%, but at least she knows to be monitored.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

i think this was discussed on another thread but i read in the SI piece on lance armstrong that 50 percent of people alive today will have a brush with cancer at some point in their life.

i know a guy who is in one of my classes in law school and he got testicular cancer. he is going to graduate but has to postpone taking the bar exam because he'll be going through nine weeks of chemo this summer while all his friends are studying for the bar. that nine weeks includes three weeks as an in-patient. he's 25 years old and thought he licked cancer earlier this semester when he had some radiation (or chemo, i'm not sure...i actually don't know the guy too well, but his wife and my wife are friends), but it came back right before exams.

scary. so yeah, get screened. and men need to be doing that self-check thing on a regular basis.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Three months ago I weighed 284 and looked like Sir Frump-a-lot.

I've changed many habits: cut out all junk food and sodee pop, cut out 95 percent of breads and pasta (I used to eat a lot of both) and focused instead on eating proteins and vegetables and fruits, to go with Soy milk and healthy juices. I work out up to 6 days a week, a combination of lifting weights and working the treadmill: either 5 miles or more than 1,000 calories in 60 minutes. The ab-work could be better, but I get in about 200 crunches. No more cigarettes. Haven't had a drink in 4 months. No drugs, though I've had chances to crack it up. I'm as clean as I've ever been. I'm so clean I'm dirty if any of y'all can understand that.

But, I'm down to 261. I feel much better than I did 3 months ago, Feb. 21. I'm slimmer, stronger and can run/jog/sprint for 60 minutes -- and for once I'm starting to understand the "runner's high."

It'd be easy to rest on my laurels, but that's the unhealthy way to look at things. Because it would be oh so easy to dive head-first into an Army trough of buttery, cheesey, bacony, sour creamy mashed potatoes, and eat 50 chocolate-covered Oreos, and suck down a few really, really cold Coca Colas; so cold and fresh that it burns going down.

I didn't write all of this seeking kudos. No need to dole them out. I just think it's important to keep this thread alive to show the guys and gals in this unforgiving, ruthless (but great) profession that it is possible to work crazy hours and maintain a healthy lifetstyle. You've got to want to do it, though. I drove by Taco Bell/KFC today and the urge to double back and order $15 worth of food jumped on my back. It took a lot of willpower to drive past the place and to the market to buy healthy stuff like sliced turkey and yogurt and stuff like that.

Anyway, that's the story, morning glory.

This is a challenge, and encouragement, to all of you here who want to get healthy. You can do it. You really can.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Mine's still a work in progress. This stupid weather we've been having this week has my sinuses all shot to hell, leaving me with no energy to go to the gym. I've had a head cold since Tuesday and can't seem to get rid of it, and so I just don't feel like going to the gym. I just feel as if I can't concentrate enough to get in a full workout.

I did, however, order the Atkins book and have been reading through that. I haven't had a chance to try any of the recipes, but that's mainly because I haven't been to the grocery in almost two weeks. I'm going tomorrow before region track and I'll get a bunch of veggies and stuff...hopefully I can find some good low-fat snack bars, too.

Today I went out and played disc golf with a bunch of friends. I think it took us roughly an hour to play 9 holes. That was one of the best damn workouts (if you can call it that) I've had in a long damn time. And I think disc golf is something I might take up on a somewhat regular basis.

If I get over this cold or whatever tomorrow, I'm going to the gym before leaving for track. Hopefully I can get back into the groove of things.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Well done, sir.

I'm not huge, but I've kind of let myself go over the past couple of months. Last week I got back into the swing of exercising just about every day and eating a lot better. First few days were hell, but I'm already feeling better.

It's amazing how easy it is, especially in this profession, to start living the Super Size Me lifestyle. I know I fell into that rut this spring because I was so busy.

I went to buy groceries today and I was stunned at how many aisles I was able to skip because I wanted to eat better.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Saw this AP story tonight and thought how appropriate it is for this thread. Here's a couple grafs:

'Healthy' foods a pitfall for dieters

Foods with wholesome images - nuts, yogurt and granola - are often consumed with abandon by dieters and end up sabotaging them, she said. Many brands of granola, for example, can be packed with up to 600 calories per cup and are loaded with more sugar than a cup of Cap'n Crunch.

While foods like granola and yogurt are certainly more nutritious than a bag of Cheetos, it's important to pick the lower-calorie brands that are not loaded with sugar or fat.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Bump.

Any cyclists in the house?