Collarbone Update, Canoe/Kayak “trainer”, and my experience with focusing on health not weight

I am now pretty much completely healed with my collarbone. I’ll get the final xray and hopng to get doc’s blessing to ride my bike and lift heavier when I get back (fingers crossed). In the meantime I’m still lifting lighter weights and doing a lot of walking.

I’ll be glad to get back to the bike. I’m getting a little tired of my “collarbone” treadmill. I’ve been doing powerhiking repeats up this hill that goes to an overpass in Morgan Hill. Of course now I can also drive again and get to better hiking scenery by car.

I’ve also progressed back to my canoe and kayak “erg” (homemade ergometer). As shown in the picture, this is just a dowel attached to resistance bands to an eyebolt in the wall. It gives pretty realistic resistance. I’m not up to full strength on it but can do a lot of reps, simulating “cruising” on the water. As soon as Doc says ok I’ll start going over to Monterey to get on the water. Closer lakes will open for kayaking in April. I can’t wait, I’ll be ready by then.

Focusing on health not weight- update on my experience

I first read Harriett Brown’s book Body of Truth on March 6^th and decided to try it out for myself.

I keep a training log where I track my exercise, where I went how long, etc. I also keep track of how “clean” my eating was: did I backslide and have any binge episodes, like more than one dessert at night, or did I eat a significant amount of “junk” (too much to be considered a special treat)? I can do well with all of that, but the bottom line at the end of the week for me has always been whether I lost weight (or maintained it if at my “ideal weight”). One of my main concerns starting this “health not weight” approach was “but how will I keep my feet to the fire about good eating”? Upcoming weigh-ins are supposed to be motivating. But I’ve found that actually doesn’t work that well, except maybe for a day or two before weigh-in.

But I remembered how it went in early 2017 when I didn’t focus on weight, and at that time had motivated myself by my making my objective to get any cravings to a minimum, which worked well. So I’m trying to use that for motivation again.

After a few days any cravings have gone away, and life is a lot more pleasant. Even though it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be, the little “gremlin” voice whispering in my ear still has been a nuisance from time to time, and it is nice to be rid of it completely again. This becomes self-perpetuating, motivating me to keep it up. Once I’m established at this it’s much better motivation than weigh-ins.

On March 17^th I went down to my brother, Bill, in Phoenix. There are a lot of great restaurants in his area so I intended to eat well and enjoyably but keep up with minimizing “junk”. This is kind of the acid test because I usually do a lot better at home than on travel. So far so good! I’ve been at it 14 days now . Lots of great meals, minimal junk. My brother and I have walked and hiked a lot too.

So far I’m feeling great! And my weight? I have no idea, although my pants still fit fine. 🙂