So in the month or so that I have earnestly been striving to improve my health I have stumbled upon a discovery. I have finally realized how to make it stick. I can't tell you the number of times I have started working out, and gone good for a week or two. Maybe even three. But then it starts to fall apart. And the reason is simple. I was forcing myself to make a change. And when you are forcing yourself to make a change on a daily basis, you just get tired of it. It becomes more ...

I will count this week as a success. In fact, I will count it as a pretty big success. In short, down another 5 pounds, making it a total of 15 for the month of January. But other successes include: I ran 4.5 miles this morning, with a 3 mile split time that was 2 min 30 seconds faster than the 3 miles I ran last week. That was big. I like seeing those kinds of improvements. My pants continue to fit more loose: I can now take off my favorite pair of pants without even unbottoning or...

This week was a frustrating one. Even though I was exhausted I managed to exercise every day. In fact, exercise went very well. Considering that 3 weeks ago I had to force myself to run 5 minutes while on my long walks, the fact that I was able to run 3 continuous miles multiple times encourages me considerably. In fact, my wife and I are planning on doing a 5k together soon. Again, I was able to go up on the weight I was lifting. All good news. However, the frustration results from ...

So, my second full week is over. I am feeling good. I have noticed a definite rise in my stamina when I am working out, as well as a good increase in my maxes while lifting. That is promising. Also, I have dropped another 4.4 pounds, making it 9.4 pounds for the two weeks. One of the big things I wanted from this was to sleep better. Sadly, due to the stress of this past week, with the match and all, I slept terribly. Oh well. Hopefully that will change now that we know the results....

Well, since I made my resolution to get in shape and improve my health, one full week has now passed (I started mid week, so though it has been 9 days of exercise, I am going for the first full week). And I think that posting here will help me have a certain level of accountability, so I will report in. The first week went really well. I was able to exercise every day (except for Sunday, my workout 'day off'), and exercise substantially for the most part. I did a minimum of 40 minutes o...

I'm not a small guy, by any means. 6'3" tall, I have always had a large frame and a fair amount of muscle mass. But in the past few years I have added some unneeded and unwanted insulation to all that. However, I hadn't really realized just how much until, on a whim, I stepped on a scale the other day. Needless to say, shocked isn't quite the word. No, I won't say how much, but it was a lot more than I or my wife thought. So I made a resolution. And while it has felt good to get mo...

Medical miracles occur daily. People are alive far longer than the could have been even just a few years ago. Diseases that were death sentences in the memory of many who may read this are now thought of as minor speed bumps in life. The volume of new medical knowledge is amazing, and the unexplored horizons seem even more vast than they did prior to this explosion of understanding. With this knowledge has come the ability to stave off Death. This dark and minatory specter still lurk...

Of course I would never pretend to actually be able to learn all about life in eight weeks. But starting today I have eight weeks to learn all I can about the miracle that is the creation and formation of a new life. Wow, eight weeks. Should be fast, could be fun. And I am scared. Today I began my eight week OB/Gyn rotation. Certainly I won't become an expert by any stretch of the imagination in that time. In fact I will probably have no choice but to learn just enough to do well o...