An Odd Day

Meet Preston. Preston and I met two weeks ago. I was walking hills and so was he...sort of. Hunched over, gasping for breath, I stopped and offered him a couple encouraging words.

An hour later we chatted for while longer....exchanged mini weight loss summaries, he took my number and I offered some concrete suggestions learned from my weight loss journey.

Got a call and plea for help before sunrise this morning from Preston. We set a time to meet at the place we both exercise. He was late but while I was waiting I met Cordelia. I don't have a photo of her but that will come.

Cordelia walked past me and we exchanged pleasantries and I commented on the notepad and pencil she was carrying. Ten minutes later. Preston still late. Cordelia
returns my way and approaches me asking if she can talk to me saying she is confused about some things. Though I'm trusting, I'm figuring scam in the works. Clothes, clean and current. Diamond or fake diamond necklace. Nail polish well chipped.

For the next 30 minutes Cordelia tells me stuff about her life...job, daughter, ex, mom, housing situation, a passion or two, interests. I listen and ask questions and make an observation here and there. I suggest she jot down a couple of the key points I'm guiding her to understand. She does. I see her mind working. Her eyes brighten. She asks for a card and I offer her my photo cards. She sees I'm a photographer and she brightens even more saying she just got a camera
and has always wanted to learn photography.

Preston arrives and I introduce him to Cordelia. She asks if she can contact me and I assure her that would be fine as she departs.

I walk Preston around the 1/2 mile loop. He sweats profusely on level ground which is normal for his level of obesity. I confirm his doctor has completed an EKG and cleared him for walking.
We chat about weight loss, redirecting his life related to it, his bad knees and burning back, what methods he's already tried and failed at, and more.

He then introduces me to his pal, Rodell who is waiting for him back at the car. He's up for a field trip so I take him to Inglewood Park Cemetery for his next lesson on weight loss and related concepts. I ask to see Rodell walk since he had a muscle removed from his leg. He has a pronounced limp.

Next stop on the fieldtrip is to Trader Joe's where we walk the entire store stopping at many items where he learns how to read product information labels...looking for portion size, sodium, fat, calories, etc. He seems to get it. Rodell says he enjoyed walking around the store. That he felt good doing it. I told him that was his exercise for the day and only then did he realize that he had walked more than he had in a long time.

Returned to Kenny Hahn where I asked if I could take Preston's photo and blog about him. He said sure.

I hope he makes it. It will take him a few years. I offer to meet he and/or his wife anytime to give cooking/shopping tips. I've been there and am still on my journey but perhaps he can benefit from my experience. He's 5'8" 365. 18 months ago I was 6'4" 365 when the heart attack hit.

I hope he calls again...anytime.

You can do it, Preston.

Back on Track

Farmer John's friend in the photo is how I've starting feeling in the last couple of weeks.

It started a few weeks ago when I tried to increase my walking regimen to about 7 miles every other day. I must have pushed my right foot too hard after doing 26 miles in one week and it got very painful to the touch and to walk on. Self diagnosing tendinitis, I've not been walking faithfully like I'd been doing before the injury and have not been as rigid in my eating.

The result? I feel like a porker having regained 5 of the 95 pounds I've lost and have been very frustrated after reinjuring the foot by trying to get back to walking too soon, etc.

Mentally and emotionally, it's been a refreshing awakening to find my emotions and state of mind so closely tied to my work and accomplishments in creating the "new" me. Since changing my eating habits and power walking, I've felt great...successful!

But, the lethargy I've felt in the last weeks not walking for fear of having to extend my healing/inactivity still longer has been frustrating. Though staying active (but not aggressively) my energy level decreased and my motivation to keep working hard seemed to lag.

Enough is enough...I've come too far to retreat though I'm the first to know I have a lot more to accomplish. I've GOT to test the foot. So, I got in 4.71 miles tonight and the foot feels fine. But the real test will be when I walk 5 miles on Wednesday. I think I will get on the exercycle tomorrow and try to go 26.2 miles and see how the foot responds. I NEED to be able to walk 7-10 miles every other day. In my mind, I want to be able to walk 10 miles EVERY day!

And the battle continues.