Hey there from New Mexico

cwolfman13

Hey everyone...so glad I found this site/app...it has really made my life a lot easier. Prior to finding this site, I was going old school and manually entering everything in a paper diary. Thanks to a collegue for turning me on to this site.

Little background...I'm 38 years old and was diagnosed with hypertension back in October. To boot, my cholesterol is through the roof. My doc put me on some meds for the blood pressure, but no statin yet...we discussed making dietary and general life style changes instead and we will re-evalute come February/March.

So here's where I'm at so far..I quit smoking in late Sept, which is actually why I made my doctors appointment...wanted to go in and brag a little...came out with HBP and high cholesterol LOL. I've made some really substantial changes in my diet; I actually always thought that I ate pretty healthy...didn't eat out a whole lot and cooked at home/brown bagged it most of the time. Problem was that I was eating a lot of the wrong things, and I was eating them all of the time...I'd estimate probably 2 to 3 times my daily allowance of saturated fats...and way too many calories to boot. Did I mention that I'm also an accountant and pretty sedintary (though I was an athlete in my younger years and a former Marine). To boot, I had absolutely no concept of what a "serving" of something was.

One of my big vices is dairy (and I'm missing it dearly)...I was literally a dairy freak. My afternoon snack, pretty much every day since I can remember has been 4 oz of sharp cheddar cheese washed down with a pint of whole milk! That doesn't even include cheese on my sandwhchiches or burrito, the cream in my coffee, the milk in my sugary, no real nutritional value morning cereal. Red Meat...at least once per day, if not twice. A good weekend breakfast for me consisted of 2 fried eggs, 4 slices of the fattiest bacon I could find, and about 1/2 Lb of potatoes, and a heaping helping of pinto beans (just to be healthy) all piled onto a large flour tortilla and smothered with NM Red Chile and..Mmmmm...sharp cheddar.

Well, wanting to be able to watch my kids grow up, and hoping to one day be able to enjoy retirement...and not be either dead or close to it, I've made some very awesome changes. I'm already feeling better than I have in years...I have more energy, I am more alert, and I'm starting to look healthier too. I'm not on a "diet" per sei...it's more like making better decisions...grabbing an apple instead of a snickers bar, a serving of whole grain crackers rather than half a bag of fried potatoe chips...lean chicken, turkey, or fish instead of beef at every meal (though Friday is still steak night)...etc, etc, etc. I keep very close tabs on my diary and am primarily monitoring my caloric intake as well as my saturated fats and fats...sodium is another biggie for me.

I'm really doing great with this and couldn't be happier with the changes. Since I started about a month or so ago (pre MFP), I've lost 8 Lbs (right on pace for 1 - 1.5 Lbs per week). My blood pressure has gone from 162/115 in early October to 130/30 currently and trending down...not sure how much of that has to do with the meds and how much has to do with the diet. Don't know my current cholesterol, but looking forward to the blood tests in March. I just re-introduced myself to exercise this past weekend when I started a training regiment for my first 5K run to take place on Superbowl Sunday (after which, I will indulge in some chicken wings and beer as my reward :happy: ) .

Anyway, glad to be a part of this community...gotta go train now!

sarahcuddle

Welcome, it sounds as though you have been making some really positive changes to your life, well done. I also started on here trying to lose weight mainly for health reasons as there is a lot of diabetes in my family. I think it's a great site and there's some really good support also. I have also started the couch to 5k programme and can now run for 20mins wheeras I couldn't even run for a bus before