Going Off the Deep End

Cheryl is wearing a sleeping bag with arms.

Today it was a bit colder starting out. For which I was glad about. It is better when it is really frozen to walk instead of the “warmer” 32ºF. When it is 20ºF, like it was Today, it makes for the ice to be much harder and less water means less slipping. Remember you cannot slip on ice. You only slip on the water that is on the ice. I found that out yesterday. Near Lake Street on the way to Cheryl's office I took a picture of here all dressed up in her sleeping bag with arms and her “muffins” and flat head hat. She was the first one in the office I think Today.

Transformed into the RAMS.

At the reception desk, the letter of the firm she works for are there it is called MRSA. So named after the man's initial that started the firm. But I “knoticed” that if the numbers were rearranged it could spell MARS. There is a store across the street from there with that same name. And she told me that sometimes people rearrange the letters. So, being from St. Louis, I spelled “RAMS” with them. I thought it looked nice.

Home of the famous gum maker.

So Today I went down Madison to LaSalle then over to Wacker. [Cheryl used to live on Wacker.] Then through my astute powers of navigation I made my way down past WGN and NBC to the AMC Theater and on down to the Navy Pier. Once on the pier I walked all the way down to the end and took a few pictures. It was nice to see the city from the position. While I was on the pier I saw several ships that were docked. I guess they do cruises when there are more people about or when it is warmer. One of the ships, I believe it is called the Odyssey, had different times for cruises. The longest one was a three hour dinner cruise. I was thinking, No No! Don't take the three hour cruise. Remember what happened to Gilligan. Heck the cruise was so bad for the Skipper that he lost his name. I would have to guess for the cruises that are shorter that they just push you off the boat.

Where does this thing go to?

There was a lot of things on the Navy Pier to see including a round elevator. It didn't seem to really go anywhere. Maybe they put people in that while they are waiting for the lines at the Shakespeare Theater. That would make sense. I believe it was at the Chicago Tribune that they had stones from several prominent places in history. I got a picture of one rock from Pearl Harbor. They had them from all sorts of places. I would like to find out more about this.

The people were out good Today. They seemed to need to get from place to place and were in a hurry to get there. My total distance walked was 8.94 miles. This now puts my total percent of goal at more than 7 percent. Only 93 percent to go to reach 1750 miles. So far only 112 miles under my belt. I guess that is why it seems like it is taking so long. But at least I am seeing the numbers move toward my goal daily. That good.

Diet or No Diet

Diet is as important as exercise.

Plus I am really trying to watch what I eat. I am not so much restricting any certain foods to help lose weight. I am however certainly restricting some for over all health. Things such as hydrogenated oils and salt and added sugar are on my restriction list. Another thing it to try to reduce the amount of refined flour I am consuming. Whole grains are fine but this is still a guideline. Having more things like fruit and vegetables is always a good thing.

Home of some very good fitness tools.

I was checking my baseline metabolic rate on line and it says for my height and weight I should be at 2336kcal per day. This is, of course, if you want to keep that weight. My goal is to reach 200 pounds. At least this goal is. I may work more after I reach the “big” one first. But when I get to 200 pounds my metabolic rate to maintain that weight is 1900kcal. So an average of those two would give me around 2118kcal per day. That is still higher then the levels specified on food labels. So my percentages can be very little higher. Like for dinner last night we had baked Italian chicken and some broccoli with cheese sauce and some stuffing and store turkey gravy. We had no calorie lemonade to drink and latter on for dessert I had some strawberries and cherries with low fat whipped cream. I think all together it was about 700 calories. But I do need to use a calories tracker. You can find one at livestrong.com. It is very user friendly and helps you track the food you are eating plus the activity that you are doing for a overall view of what your fitness level is.

I think the better image of my activity and the progress I am trying to make the more likely I am to stick with it and be successful at it. After all isn't that the goal of any fitness program?

Keep on track,

Thomas