hiking

Weight: 196.2lbs post walk

Diet: Fish, cottage cheese for dinner, banana for dessert and 1 protein bar for breakfast

I did the exact same distance as I did yesterday to see what the difference would be and there wasn’t much, as far as the distance, but I did plan to push a little harder today since it was the end of the week and I could rest for a day or two. My body definitely needs it. My left foot has been the work horse for the last 3 weeks, mainly because I’m still recovering from the right knee replacement and the weight shift has been to the left side. You can tell a lot by looking at the bottom of your shoe and analyzing the pronation wear. Normal pronation should show shoe wear somewhere near the big toe on the sole, or the inside toe area of the shoe. The heel should show normal wear on the heel, just to the outside a little. If you are walking or running normally, the wear should be even from the left shoe and the right shoe. If there is a weight shift, it should show on the sole as more wear on one shoe compared to the other. It usually takes some mileage before the wear starts to show, but it’s a good idea to check your soles from time to time, so you can tell if things are correct in pronation.

Today I dropped to my lowest weight yet. Last week when I came off of my fast, I weighed 196.4 and under a normal diet with no fasting, I dropped down to 196.2 this morning. A few of the things I’ve been doing this week to drop weight was to stay away from any greasy stuff, very limited amounts of sugar, no chocolate unless it was in a protein bar. No fast food and no beef! Obviously, no soda, unless it was Fresca, but I didn’t have a Fresca this week. I did start drinking Gatorade to supplement the electrolytes for hydration during recovery. I like those little Honey Stinger energy chews during my walks. I just pop one in my cheek and let it slowly dissolve while I’m walking. I usually have about 3 chews while walking.

Once I got home there were some guys working down at the dock and I needed to chat with them. I wound up making 3 trips up and down the hill to the dock which is about 72 steps from the back door to the dock, so I hit 10k steps before lunch today. Usually, it’s mid-afternoon. I can also count those 3 trips down to the dock as hill work this week because coming back up is a lot rougher than the trip down.

All in all, it was a good week and there were definitely some noticeable improvements in appearance and energy this week. Diet and exercise go hand in hand for weight loss. Have a great weekend!

Song of the day. Love some Katie Holmes!

6/17/2025

Weight: 199.2lbs post walk

Diet: 1/2 chicken breast, cottage cheese and pineapple squares

I had to split my walk today because I accidently reset my watch when I turned around to head back to the trail head where I started, so I have 2 different recordings today. The second half was a little less because it took a few steps before I realized what I had done. This fitness watch does a pretty good job though. I wish I would have had something like this 30 years ago. I knew I was going to be close to breaking 200lbs this morning, so I pushed just a little bit more and it paid off. I dug through my closet this morning and found a pair of unused New Balance 613 cross trainers that I had rat holed a few years back. New Balance shoes have always been the Cadillac of running shoes for me but the 613 isn’t really ideal for distance running. No further than I was going walking today, it wasn’t a big deal and the shoe is definitely lighter weight than those Asics I’ve been using. Feet are just about always an issue for distance runners. I can’t ever remember training for and running a marathon without a few blisters on my feet and dropping a few toenails along the way. It’s just part of the deal and pain tolerance is very important because you will experience pain if you’re going to train for marathon distance. I wrapped my big toe with the giant blister this morning, but little did I know that the big Band-Aid I used was rough and rubbed a blister on the toe next to it, so I wound up with another bloody sock today.

I gotta say that those blisters were all worth it when I weighed myself and saw that 199.2 on the scale so I decided to celebrate with a slice of my homemade crawfish pie for dinner this evening. Great morning out there on the trail this morning and I even stopped to have a quick chat with momma deer. She stayed around while I chatted with her for a little while and she said that she liked my shirt, before trotting off.

Just pulled the crawfish pie out of the oven and it will still be warm for dinner! It’s awesome with a dab of sour cream on top. If you’re interested in making a crawfish pie, my recipe is in the recipe section of this blog.