29 March 2005

Keeping fit and healthy

Seven weeks in the USA has played havoc with my health and fitness program, mainly because I'm not at all disciplined about exercise and finding the right food. So I weighed in yesterday morning at nearly 5 kg more than when I left home on 1 February. Yike! (I knew the scales would give me bad news, because my left knee hurts whenever I go above a certain weight, and it's been hurting for the past couple of weeks.) Over the past two years, I've become a big enthusiast for the low-carbohydrate diet, and I've lost around 18 kg (nearly 40 lb) by severely restricting my intact of bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, and similar items. Fortunately, I like meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, and fruit, so a low-carb diet isn't a big change from my normal eating habits. Unfortunately, the past few weeks have been spent in hotels or at events which provided a complimentary "continental" breakfast which was mostly carbs. I am not sufficiently disciplined to skip the included breakfast and pay for an omelette or something suitable, so I'm paying for it now. Then there's the exercise factor. Exercise is boring, so at home I've built some into my daily routine. On weekdays, I get at least one good walk, because we don't get mail delivery where we live, so we have to go to the Post Office to collect our mail. This involves walking down about 180 steps and another 100 metres to the PO, then back up 180 steps. Usually we (Eric and I) combine that walk with a stroll along the beachfront (a pleasant place), to make the walk longer. In addition to the trip to the PO, we try to take at least one other walk each day, usually in the evening, again along the beachfront. Did I mention we live in the resort town of Airlie Beach, one of the gateways to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia? It's a lovely spot. Here is an aerial view of the town and this is the view from my balcony.