Overweight, and the challenge to feel good

The writer of this blog is somewhat overweight.  At any superficial glance he looks to be on the skinny side.  He knows better, and knows exactly what he should weigh and exactly where the extra pounds have gone.  Doing sit-ups and stretches does not help.

He knows that there are two issues going on here.  First is the lack of endorphin pumping and metabolism quickening exercise.  That is a definite problem at the moment, as physical limitations make even well paced walking for any distance something that can become difficult.  Maybe that can improve, and he optimistically thinks that is more than wishful thinking.  He is looking for every sign that improvement is in the offing, although getting back to the old ways of innately speed walking everywhere in his suburban town and through all parts of Manhattan is quite unlikely.

The second issue is eating.  He cooks by both necessity and because most of the time he likes to do so.  Cooking for two can easily lead to too much food, good for leftovers for lunches, even breakfast, but not good for the temptation to eat too much of a just cooked meal.  He likes his own cooking.  When not cooking they buy take-out, always too much served and that leads to the same problem.

Then there are just what he views as wonderful bad habits.  He likes those little cans of Coke, one a day, and on occasion a little ginger ale refreshment.  He loves ice cream in the evening, particularly Ben and Jerry's vanilla.  Why not be forthright about just eating straight cream rather that some concoction with nuts, berries, and chocolate, all of which get stuck in his teeth.  Then there are snack foods.  Solid dark chocolate in moderation is supposed to be good for him and he enjoys believing that and nuts of almost all types are healthy as well, again in moderation and perhaps if possible without too much salt.  His father always had a salt shaker beside him when he ate already salted nuts.

Other snack foods that apparently fall easily into the "bad habits" category are potato chips, fritos, doritos, and cookies.  The problem with each of these in his mind is not the product itself but the ease with which he can overindulge, very easily.  Fortunately he has finally outgrown his long held devotion to Cheetos, not through any willpower but because removing the trans fats as few years ago really ruined the taste.  The furniture appreciates this change, regardless of the reason.

Then there is the egg thing.  He cannot make himself believe that eggs are bad for his health.  At least every other morning he eats a couple of  eggs, over easy or scrambled with finely chopped green and red pepper, both always with tabasco.  Egg by-product mayonnaise is another weakness.  His daughters would view the amount of mayo that he puts on a turkey sandwich or hamburger as obscene.  My God, that''s right, the man occasionally eats hamburgers.   

He knows the problem, but he is in a quandary.  Lack of self-control or too much exuberance has long been an issue for him, in many good ways but also in ways that were clearly not so good.  Much of this was offset for many years by energetic regular exercise and by good genes.  Now the denial of simple pleasures is difficult for him.  He knows that his chronically problematic right knee does not enjoy the extra weight and that his issues with walking endurance are probably not helped by another scoop of ice cream, another portion of chocolate cake, a second bowl of chips, or that baked potato with Marie's blue cheese dressing slathered on it.

The outlook is uncertain but he is gaining determination to eat less and more carefully, and push to get more exercise.  He lives in uncertainty but knows that he has no choice but to put one foot in front of the other and see where he ends up.

"It's a wonderful world", or let's just say it's an aspirational world for now.