Remember Madeline?

Well she and I have finally been spending some quality time together. Last weekend I had a 7 mile ride and an 8.5 mile ride. Yesterday we did 11.5 miles on the Hop River Trail, and today we did the full 7.8 miles of linear trail in Southington (part of the Farmington Canal Greenway).

I must confess, I had no intention of doing the full trail today. I had already walked for 40 mins with the Mayor in the morning, and have an evening walk planned with Baron. I thought I could go for a really quick bike ride this afternoon - everything I read stated that it was only a 1.9 mile trail, which would be a little less than 4 miles by the time I was done. No brainer - a 20-25 mins bike ride. Ummm... little did I know that they extended the trail by 2 miles this year. Oops!

I think I mentioned that I started WW this week. For probably the 15th time. I'm very hopeful, it feels different this time. I feel different this time. I've figured out that while I want to lose weight, that's no longer my motivation. I want to be healthy.

It seems to be the year for reflection. Maybe it's just that many of us are starting to stare down another year evenly divisible by 10, maybe it's that we're going through major life changes, maybe it's just the overall mood of the state after such a tough economic turn and then a brutal winter. But it seems to come up every time I get together with friends. We're getting older, our bodies don't work the way they used to, and it's either now or never.

Yes, I need to lose 50 lbs. Yes, I'm going to be 40 this year. Neither of those things alone is bothering me. I'm bothered that I have at least 4 major flags to coronary disease. I'm not afraid of dying, but I'm very, very scared of being sick. I've never really had health issues, but the thought of stroke, heart attack, diabetes, are constantly playing through my mind.

Major indicators of future coronary disease:

• BMI over 30 - check! I hate admitting to this one, but I've been hovering between 30-32 for the better part of the last decade
  
• Waist circumference over 35 (duh, I'm a classic "apple" shape and obese)
• Smoker
  
• High cholesterol - I was tested last year, and my triglycerides are through the roof, as well as high bad cholesterol and low good
• Hereditary heart disease - nothing I can do about this one. But my paternal grandmother had quadruple bypass at age 40. 2 of the other grandparents had Type 2 diabetes. My mother and aunt both had high cholesterol and high blood pressure by the time they were 50. Genetic cesspool.

It's enough to leave me scared. What I want from the next year of my life:

• BMI under 30 by the big 40. Not sure if this is doable. It's about 10% weight loss in 12 weeks. While that might not be a big deal for most people... I didn't get this way by eating small portions and exercising.
  
• BMI under 25 by June 2012. Very reasonable. A slow steady 1 pound per week would get me there. The weight loss itself is reasonable, it's the motivation to stick with it that could cause problems.
• Become physically active. I know this is a little nebulous, so I thought about what I really want to be able to do that would let me consider myself "fit". I want to be able to run. Not a marathon, but actually run for more than 30 seconds without dying. I want to be able to ride my bike 25 + miles on a weekend ride. And most importantly... I want to participate in one competitive sporting event before I'm 41.
  
• I want to quit smoking. Quite frankly, I don't know how long I can continue smoking and trying to increase my activity level. My lungs give out long before my legs do.
  

Wow. I guess I have a lot on my mind this week about health. I know there's only a few friends reading, so I hope you don't mind if the blog turns in to long diatribes about struggles with health and being middle aged. But it's just where I'm at these days.