Side benefits

I promised this blog would MOSTLY focus on the food, but I wanted to spend a few minutes on the most important single side benefit, and a few slightly more fun benefits.

If you scroll back to my very first entry in this blog "In which we begin" from May 16, you'll see that the previous week at my doctor's visit, my blood pressure had been 146/75.   This caused the doctor to assume his "lecture pose" and commence to lecturing me.  Specifically, this was the reason behind the weight loss (well, that and cholesterol issues).  So . . . Since Sunday May 15, I've been taking my blood pressure every night.  As yet my fancy BP machine hasn't been calibrated against the doctor's, but the trend is good.   The first night I took a reading was 135/72.  The high was 146/92 on May 19, but most of the time it's down in the low 120 or high 110 range.  Tonight's was 119/75.  I'm pretty pleased with the improvement. 

The second benefit has been in my still pretty minimal exercise routine.  I've been walking at work, both on my lunch break and by sneakily scheduling meetings as far as possible from my desk.  This morning and later in the day, I had two meetings in the far southeast corner of our complex -- eight tenths of a mile from my desk.   Between the two meetings and a walk at lunchtime, I walked over 5 miles.  I can now walk a mile in 12 minutes, with my laptop and briefcase, without either getting out of breath or sweating noticeably.

The third, and most fun, is that my wardrobe is going to need some adjustment soon.  My most recent round of dress clothes came from Men's Wearhouse -- which luckily for me has guaranteed tailoring.  Their website says "We guarantee if we have altered a seam once, you will never have to pay to have it altered again, within the limitations of the original garment, should you gain a few pounds or lose weight" I'm planning to hold them to that.  But shirts and some of my older work clothes (and all of my jeans) will need replacing eventually.  Karen still has "skinny clothes" so she's enjoying fitting back into favorite old outfits. (She recently wore the dress she bought for our first "Really Important Date" back in 2001).  I'm impressed.