A Fortnight of Fitness: Day 7

The first week of my wife's and my fortnight of fitness to follow a plant-based, whole food diet has drawn to a successful close. One week to go.

Breakfast was once again oatmeal porridge with fruit (apple and banana) and unsweetened almond milk. I did not eat lunch, per se, but after going to the gym in the late afternoon, I ate a Larabar (whole food dates, coconut, and almonds) and some mixed nuts. For dinner, Deborah made us baked potatoes and I seasoned mine with organic, sugar-free marinara sauce. It was OK. I also had some leftover pinto beans and brown rice. For a snack while we watched TV in the evening, I shelled some pistachios and peanuts and air popped some popcorn.

My weight was down slightly this morning, at 216 pounds. My blood pressure before bedtime was 117/72. I'll graph the trends in weight and BP after the fitness challenge ends a week from today, but it feels like both are trending downward. My mood is good. I feel happy and positive.

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A Fortnight of Fitness: Day 6

Fantastic day! It was a holiday and, notwithstanding crap weather, my wife and I had a fun time. We slept in. We made breakfast smoothies using a new Nutribullet blender that Deborah had ordered online. I also had my usual oatmeal porridge. In the early afternoon, we paid a visit to my buddy Stefan's house to visit with him and his charming one year old toddler, Teddy, before running a few errands and then going to the gym. We worked out on the exercise floor for about 45 minutes (stationary bike for me, as usual) and then swam for 15 minutes or so in their 25 meter lap pool. We went out for dinner at the Great Dane, seeking plant-based whole foods, per the guidelines of our current two week fitness challenge. It is one of the few restaurants in Madison WI that has mostly vegan options (we can't even do eggs or cheese on this challenge). There may have been a light amount of butter on some bread that accompanied one of the dishes, but otherwise I think we stayed within dietary specifications. Pretty wiped from our gym workout, we returned home after dinner to relax for the evening.

I weighed in at 217 pounds this morning, up a pound from yesterday (Day 5), which surprised me a bit, because I exercised and stayed well within dietary guidelines. My blood pressure was 125/80 when I measured it before bedtime. I attribute the slight elevation to being aggravated about having to clean up some poop that my dog Foster decided to deposit in the house, after also accidentally stepping in it and tracking around the house. Grrr.

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A Fortnight of Fitness: Day 2

Veganism is tough. I won't lie about that. Last night for dinner, on Day 1 of this current fitness challenge to adhere to a plant-based, whole food diet for a fortnight (two weeks in the vernacular), I made a vegan chili and some black beans and brown rice, accompanied by a salad. I wasn't my best work, flavor-wise. Part of this could be the fact that my taste buds have been neutralized by the awful tasting zinc lozenges I have been sucking on due to a recent cold. In fact, that's probably a big part of it. That being said, Deborah did not seem too impressed with my culinary skill either, although she said she thought the food was overly spicy, rather than flavor-less. Perhaps I was overcompensating for my own lack of gustation. Hopefully, my vegan cooking skills improve over the next 13 days. But if they don't, at least this is just a short term challenge that will be over soon enough.

This morning, I weighed in at 220 pounds, down two pounds from yesterday. That was not unexpected given that yesterday's weight was artificially inflated due to the birthday pizza we ate the evening prior to starting this fitness challenge. Still, it is trending in the right direction. My blood pressure was a bit elevated at 133/79.

Qualitatively, my mood is not great. Part of that is my disappointment that my vegan cooking attempt was not more successful yesterday. Also, the weather outside is dreary and the forecast indicates increasing dreariness along with plummetting temperatures over the next couple of days. On the bright side, I got to walk one of my favorite dogs this afternoon, for a neighbor client. It's an Australian shepherd puppy, full of energy and incredibly bright. I also got to the gym for a decent workout, although I spent some of my time on the exercise bike shopping for textbooks for this semester of grad school, which was financially a bit demoralizing.