Caution: Considerable bragging ahead!

CAUTION: This post contains numerous incidents of bragging. Reader discretion is advised.

A few posts ago, I wrote a post about my life on the weight loss roller coaster. If you're reading this, and you didn't read that piece, but wish to, CLICK HERE.

As a follow up, I am so please with what I have been able to accomplish since retirement in January, that I felt compelled to do a little bragging. If you're not in the least interested in reading about that, NOW is the time to navigate away. Still here? Don't say I didn't warn you!

THE BACKGROUND:

I really enjoy eating! I admit that unequivocally. As I have written before, I have never knowingly eaten anything by accident. I eat in response to some cues where viewing sports is a HUGE one, but I also eat when I am bored ... perhaps the two are related? I also eat when I am stressed. I can handle the first two, but if I could change any of the three, it would be stress eating. I tell you all this because, in case you're not aware, retirement has a profound effect on your stress levels, basically eradicating it from existence. 

Leading up to retirement, I had allowed myself to creep upwards in weight, where the belly made a reappearance, and I knew that the first order of business was to deal with that. Unlike many who need the feedback of the scale, I can look in the mirror and immediately see my issues. My frame doesn't allow me to fit nicely into any BMI charts, or other indicators of normality, so using the scale for feedback can be misleading. Having spent so much time on that cursed roller coaster, I know when I am feeling better, regardless of what any scale might say. 

CUE THE BRAGGING THEME INTRO:

The plan started with our retirement reward of a month in Florida, thanks largely to my mother's generosity since we stayed with her at her condo. The subtle changes in diet combined with the favourable conditions for more regular exercise were "What the Dr ordered" and the process quickly started, much to my lovely bride's consternation. She is a little less patient with her own body and she would jokingly poke me in the belly to indicate she could see a change, but I knew she was also frustrated that she didn't feel that way about her own body, despite my claims that I could notice a difference. I really could! I wasn't trying to cast any wool over her eyes.

When we arrived back home in Canada, the Social Isolation crap storm ensued, and we brainstormed how we would continue what we started in FLA. I wanted to continue with resistance training because I knew from previous "loop the loops" that it would work for me. We set Joyce up with a daily YouTube workout and established a daily morning routine. As the month turned plural, we stuck with it every morning and supplemented it with aerobic things like bike rides and walks. By the middle of April, we both could feel a difference. I had to bust out some of my "skinny" shorts from the "Big Reduction of 2013" while Joyce noticed a redistribution resulting in loose fitting favourite outfits.

Being a complete Type A personality, I cannot "sort of" exercise, needing to get after it full steam ahead.  That, combined with my heaviness, was not a good recipe for my already wonky knees and I suffered a little set back with a meniscal tear. Fortunately, I discovered that riding the bike didn't aggravate it so cue up the obsession again and regular ventures into the network of Lines and Concessions of Oro and Springwater became the regular choice. 

CUE THE BRAGGING THEME MUSIC:

I am loving the activity! As the graphic at the top of the post shows, I was pretty darn proud of myself for completing the almost 50 km loop from our place near Eastview to the end of Ridge Road at Line 13 of Oro and back again to home along the Rail Trail ... without stopping! Being a NEWB at this bike thing, time is not a focus, but I was tickled to have completed the journey in just over 2 hours. On the list of exercise MUST-HAVEs is to figure out how to keep my hands from falling asleep, but that's just annoying rather than a show stopper. 

I discovered recently while ticking things off the spring Honey-Do list that I can't even wear my "skinny" shorts without a belt or they end up around my ankles, much to the bemusement of my wife. She has finally accepted that I change at a much faster rate than she does, but she has also acknowledged that her persistence is finally begetting the results she longed for. We are looking pretty darn fine for a couple of "wrinkles", if I do say so myself!

There is great interest for both of us as we continue down this road of Social Distancing while that edict is in place. I can certainly see us cementing the habits that will assist us both with our desires, and I don't see us faltering, even when the limits are lifted. 

If we were to offer some unsolicited advice, we would encourage those looking to make a change to:

(A) Invest in an Instapot! We have fallen heavily for ours, a Christmas gift from our son Keaton, because it has made a huge difference in what makes it past our lips. 

(B) Embrace Confucius' sage advice that "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" and acknowledge and understand that the key to changing is persistence. 

(C) Schedule in a day each week for all of those treats that you love so dearly. It's not about dogged dedication ... it's about making moderate changes that, over time, make a massive difference.

To again quote my cousin-in-law, Tim Burtch, "Life is Good!"