South Dakota - Day 1

A few pics from the first full day in South Dakota:

At the SPAM museum:

Mitchell Corn Palace:

Crazy Horse Monument (incredible story!):

Mount Rushmore:

Bison up really close in Custer State Park:

Some of the "Begging Burros":

My Health Journey - Introduction

I'm restarting this blog to track my health improvements over the next few months.

A Bit of Background

I haven't been the healthiest of people, my peak health was probably in my mid-twenties, working out at Hart House, University of Toronto, running the occasional 5K race, once a year doing the 24-hour Run for the ROM fundraiser (approx. 5-6 times running 5K over a 24 hour period).

Prior to getting engaged in 1987 (28 years old), I took a solo trip to Greece for 6 weeks (my friend bailed on me at the last moment so I went alone).  I did a lot of walking on the trip and was pretty fit.

I love my wife Laurel and three boys!  But for some reason, I wasn't taking as good care of myself.  With each baby, I had "sympathetic weight gain" with Laurel.  She took it off, I didn't.  My sedentary job didn't help but mostly it was laziness and enjoying junk food!

In the 90's (I was mid-thirties), it started to fall apart:

• High blood pressure -> meds
• Thyroid over-active -> kill it off with radiation and take supplements for life
• Cholesterol is high -> meds
• 2003 - Blood sugar (A1C) too high -> Type 2 Diabetes - meds and diet
• 2009 - A1C climbing -> insulin
• Cholesterol climbing -> more meds (which I believe worsened the insulin)
• A1C still too high -> more insulin

At my peak, I was 221 lbs (5'11"), BMI (Body Mass Index) just in the "Obese" range.

Something had to change!

In Hawaii, look at that belly!

Thar she blows!

Next:  Phase 1 - Weight Loss