{"id":13666,"date":"2018-02-21T06:50:33","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T11:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=13666"},"modified":"2018-02-21T06:50:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T11:50:33","slug":"a-retro-image-to-shoot-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=13666","title":{"rendered":"A Retro Image to Shoot For"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Whilst taking a trip down memory lane with The Spouse, we were looking at a photo album that I put together of our first of six trips to Australia. That trip was in February-March, 1996. Man, images of us as a couple of leatherdudes at the Sydney Mardi Gras brought back a lot of memories. But what was more interesting and inspiring to me was…
\n
\n…a random photo that The Spouse took of me whilst we were riding a rented Harley on The Great Ocean Road<\/a> along the South Coast of Victoria toward Adelaide. Man, was THAT a bucket-list adventure if there were one. I’ll write about that trip in a future blog post.<\/p>\n

Anyway, this random photo of me (scroll below) at a much younger age when I had hair and was more fit and trim inspired me. Whilst I cannot regrow my hair and fight male pattern baldness that I try to ignore has been happening to me, I can really work on the weight issue if I really wanted to. And I do. I do. <\/p>\n

I have also been inspired recently by my friend WC who has been telling me about his weight loss and how much better he is feeling. <\/p>\n

Dealing with weight-gain has been an ongoing battle since my chronic illness prevents me from eating “healthy” foods like vegetables. Honestly, I can’t eat most any vegetables, especially high-fiber leafy greens, without causing serious problems (that will remain unprinted; it’s really awful and stomach-turning.) <\/p>\n

I also just don’t like foods like yogurt, soups, grains (like quinoa, I call rabbit food), or food substitutes like tofu or “boca burgers.” Bleccch. I’d rather starve. <\/p>\n

Don’t get me near beans, salmon, nuts (especially macadamias), seeds (especially chia), berries (especially strawberries), or any form of legume. All of those things have a proven record of causing me serious reactions that have involved trips to the hospital emergency room (and even bowel surgery!) <\/p>\n

Further, I fight a sweet tooth that goes for a Coke instead of almost anything else to drink. My doctor says that I cannot drink zero- or reduced-calorie drinks because I am a kidney donor, and sweetener substitutes are not compatible with a 40% kidney (capacity of my remaining healthy organ. My sister got the 60% one, and is thriving.)<\/p>\n

But I really know, and my doctor confirms, that the only thing that works is diet and exercise. No instant fat-loss pill … no “quickie” instant diet, nada. <\/p>\n

While at a doctor’s visit with The Spouse for something else the other day, I spoke with the doctor about starting an exercise program. My own blood work was recent, and the doc looked at it and remarked that he was a bit puzzled that the results were so good (low “bad” cholesterol and borderline low blood pressure), considering that I have been eating an “ignorant diet” — meat and potatoes with indulging to my sweet tooth too often.<\/p>\n

The doc cleared me to begin exercising cautiously to start and to build up to a routine that I can work into my already-busy schedule. I never, ever, have enjoyed working out and I detest — absolutely run screaming from — gyms. But I do enjoy walking and swimming… so last night, I put five miles on the treadmill and now that the weather is warming up, will begin my walking routine with my walking partner this weekend. <\/p>\n

I also renewed my membership at the recreation facilities at my alma mater<\/em> university where I have free lifetime access. They have really great indoor swimming facilities and exclusively reserve 5am to 7am daily (including weekends) swim lanes in their Olympic-quality pool for “seniors” which they qualify to anyone age 60 or older. Ha… now I have senior status.<\/p>\n

Well, I’ve begun… wish me well… my goal is this:\"\"As I said, I may not get the hair back, but who knows, I may morph more closely to the Crocodile Dundee<\/em> image of my youth. LOL.<\/p>\n

Life is short: keep workable health goals in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whilst taking a trip down memory lane with The Spouse, we were looking at a photo album that I put together of our first of six trips to Australia. That trip was in February-March, 1996. Man, images of us as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}