I'm such a fine peice of ass below the waist!

If am using a piece of exercise equipment and it breaks, does that mean I'm exercing enough to wear it out?

I mentioned for the past year I've been using a stepper to help control my diabetes.  It's working.  The exercise is doing wonders for my legs.  However, last fall I broke a cable in the machine, and couldn't use it for a couple of weeks.

My stepper is secondhand from a local sporting goods store. I've had it for over three or four years, but haven't really used it seriously until the last year.  The stepper has to be at least 10 years old and has seen better days.  You can't even find new steppers.  They have fallen out of fashion.  So I knew the day was coming.  Something would break and I would have to fix it or find something else to do for exercise.  Tonight the other cable broke.

It's always something.  I already have to talk myself into exercising each day.  I don't need any more obstacles or excuses to keep me back.  I was doing TKD at the university  until they changed the rules.  The new regulations added a degree of difficulty and extra expenses which made the MWF routine untenable.  Then it was swimming at the local rec center. Swimming was great but changes in my class schedule made it more difficult to stick with a routine.   Although, I do miss the ladies in the whirlpool afterwards.  (I'm quite the stud with the AARP group in the morning.)   So having a cable break in stepper is just one more thing.  F*CK!

Thank God for Sportsmith.  After searching for replacement parts online I found Sportsmith.  I should have order a second cable in the fall after the first break, but I was too cheap.  However, after paying ten dollars in shipping I should have added a second spare cable to my order.  This time I ordered three cables.   By God, I'm gonna ride this machine until it fall into dust!

Life by the Numbers

Once again time to get the oil check.  This time my checkup is before what I called the Season of Food.  The time starting with Thanksgiving and runs until Valentine's Day.  It also happens to be the time Egg Nog is freely available in the Grocery store.  Everywhere you turn someone is trying to push something down your gullet: Thanksgiving, Christmas Parties, Work Banquets, End of the Year Functions, New Years, Super Bowl, My Birthday.  All I can say is THANK GOD for my Stepper, Exercise, and Modern Pharmaceuticals.

A1c :   6.8 (Down from 6.9)  Yippie!

BP: 128/80 (Was 122/80) 

Res: 16 (16)

HR: 62 (Was 80, I don't think the nurse can count.)

Cholesterol: 133  HDL: 34  LDL: 87  TRI: 60 

Bonus:  I lost 2 pounds, but I think It's just me pulling my keys, phone, wallet, pocketknife, and other crap out of my pockets before I step on the scale.

However, I have notice dropping two pants sizes.  My pants now keep slipping from my waist to my knees if I am not careful.   I must say I'm a fine piece of ass from the waist below,  but now it looks like I have a beer gut.   Tummy fat is always the last to go.

Life by the Number

BP: 122/80
HR: 80 Beats per Minutes
Res: 16
A1c:  6.9%!

Hallelujah!  A1c is below 7.0.  It has been a long road, and it is just a rest stop.  Giving up diet soda does wonders. And Exercise really does wonders as well.  Gotta keep using the Stairmaster in the basement.  Buns of steel here I come.  (I still have a Beer gut even though I'm not a big beer drinker.  I think it's the donuts for breakfast.)

So a week has gone by since I've checked out the effect of my kitchen floor breaking my fall. ( See previous post.) In the mail I finally recieve a bill: $4,399.50!  OMFG!  I tell the High Priestess she should let me die next instead of dialing 911.  Seriously, just elevate my legs, keep me from swallowing my tongue, and force me to drink 2 bottle of water and I'll pay you $100.   I could buy a fully loaded Mac Book Air 13" with all the bells and whistles for $1849!  The Emergency Room alone was $2,559.15!  Who gets that fifteen cents at the end of the bill anyway?  Is that Tax?  Or has the medical community found that people do not believe their numbers when they end in whole dollar amount.

Granted, I have health insurance.  The same day the bill came I received a letter from Blue Cross asking if this was work related or not.  Something has to be up if two Mega corps can contact me on the same day.  It will be just a matter of time to see what I really have to pay.  My deductible is already cover since have my blow hole in the back of my neck sealed.  That was early this year when I spend the month of January pretending to be a Blue Whale.

It might get to the point where people just work a job just for the health care benefits.

Life By the Number 2nd Qtr 2013
Wt: 265 lb  (Down from a high of 280 lb, but not as low as the 250 lbs I once was.)

BP:  138/90 -  That 90 needs to come down. Less caffeine and more exercise.

Heart Rate:  72 bpm -  More exercise since I have had this down to 60 bpm

A1c:  7.2%  This is not great but it beats the hell out of 7.7% and 7.6%

The 7.6 % was my own damn fault.  Not enough exercise since my swimming routine was thrown into Chaos due to a new blow hole in the back of my neck.  Plus donuts for breakfast are no way in hell a good idea. 

So I've spent the last 3 months working on the A1c.  I've cut out all artificial sweeteners, any diet with word diet.  So all my diet pop is now unsweetened ice tea.  I can live without the sugar but I need the caffeine.  It is amazing the change in my taste buds now that all the crap is gone.  Now that my body is not seeing all that fake sugar, everything tastes so much sweeter.  Fresh fruit, milk, bread, and raisins taste great.

I've been using my stepper 5 days a week and that has been helping as well.  I have lost weight and my buns are like steel.  Or course now it looks like I have a beer gut.  Curse you! uneven weight lose!

Ok the 3 month Check up!

Heart Rate 66 beats per minutes ( Very Good! Down from 80 bpm )

Blood pressure 120/70 (Very Good! Down from 140/80)

Let's hear it for TKD

A1c: Waiting for Results ( April 2003 13.1 Very Bad!) (Oct 2003 5.9 Very Good) (Those Girl Scout Cookies will kill YA! I had to buy 12 boxes because my daughter asked sooooo nicely)

HDL/LDL: Waiting for Result.... ( Those French Fries will do me in!)

Weight: LOL 273# How in the HELL does that happen! I'm only 5'8!

And the Meds I take make me gain weight. Well it will more power behind each kick.

The Secret of Power = Speed + Focus + Technique