rant: how bad health multiplies...

...or another lesson in common sense.

i've not been in a great mood lately, namely because of random health (not serious...at least not yet) 'situations' that have caused me to continue to ponder about how i've gotten to that point.

probably one of the triggers was me watching a late night show on the learning channel called "i eat 33,000 calories a day" (note: i tried to find the description but the learning channel website has a broken link to it).  it's a profile of about 4 people in england who are obese, in the morbid sense.  we're talking 600lb+ here.  they were eating in excess of 30,000 calories a day.  now, personally i draw the line at 12,000, so this was getting ridiculous.  all kidding aside (no, i don't eat 12K a day, but i could see how easy that could be), it was sad...and got me thinking (again).

you see, i'm not in the best shape.  in college i ate taco bell about 3 square meals a day.  religiously.  i was a huge taco bell fan...c'mon who isn't.  but, i was also riding a bike everywhere (had no car) and was pretty active in general...so i never gained weight.  fast forward years later and i've been married for a while now, 2 kids, "corporate" jobs...and i can't seem to find that bike anymore.  net result: +60 lbs.  ugh.

the events leading up to this are obvious to me: eating more (and of the wrong stuff), exercising less.  i didn't need any 'body for life', 'weight watchers', dr. phil, or oprah to tell me that.  i'm a victim of my own bad habits.  the choices you make in food have domino effects as well.  for me, it's resulted in lethargy, self-esteem loss (at the beach), GERD (which results in basically having heart-burn throughout the entire day, which is quite painful), and now more recently, dental health (i'm on part 3 of a 4-part series involving a root canal, crown, and potentially 2 cavities -- we'll have to see in part 3).  my wife and i have our engagement photo on our refrigerator and people cannot believe it is me.  add on top of all that, i have horrible heart problems in my family...and my dad had 2 heart attacks and is the recipient of a heart transplant.

when will the light finally go off.  like i said, i don't need any program to tell me that i'm out of shape and not doing anything about it.  the formula is simple: eat smarter, do some exercise...and do more exercise if you aren't eating smarter.  it's motivation for me that is lacking.  and traveling isn't helping -- conference buffets, late night dinners, etc.

anyhow, i really don't know why this was worthy of a post and certainly is more noise than signal to most of my entries, but part of me felt that if i put it in writing (rather than in my brain and my wife naggingreminding) something will change...maybe.  at least i'll cut down to 8,000 calories a day ;-)  some tips i have found are drinking less soda (oh yeah, i've already had 3 kidney stones as well -- mother of pearl you do not want those) and finding water-based, sugar-free drinks like crystal light.  for me, my drinks must have flavor, so plain water isn't a good first step.  the other thing i'm trying to do at conferences is leverage meal choices.  i've started to request kosher meals or vegetarian.  why?  first, because i'm hoping the choice will be better (and more controlled portion) than a buffet line.  second, because it usually *is* better.  that's one tip i'm trying out at least.

wish me luck -- and if you are a programmer like me who has seemingly started to spend more time behind the keyboard than usual, i hope you aren't in the same boat.

hmmm...maybe i could have taken a walk instead of taken the time to write this :-)