Let me start off by saying I know losing weight is no joking matter. We in this country have a serious weight problem and I am contributing to the problem, but that stops today for me. I know what to do to lose weight but I just don't do it. I know that diets aren't the answer, it takes a change of life style. I am also smart enough to know that because I love to cook I will not stop making treats, so I will have to be careful of how often I make them and how much I eat in general. Sounds like I should keep a food journal.
I know that you need to exercise daily. In other words I have to burn more calories that I take in. I will be going through this journey will a good friend of mine by the name of Blake. He needs to lose a few pounds too, and it is nice to have company in this journey. I have another friend that I worry about too. I need to get Willie on board with me.
I am resigning my job as the city gardener because of my health. I have allergy induced asthma. A couple of months ago my lung function was about 40%. It was about 60% three years ago and has been going down ever since. It usually comes back up during the winter when the pollen count is down, but it didn't this year. My allergist has been trying to get me to resign for four or five years, but I haven't done it. Last summer I started seeing a Pulmonologist because my breathing was so bad. She told me I need to resign, but being 57 years old I didn't want to try to find a new job. With my lung function going down and not going up Vick and I decided I needed to resign. The hope is my lung function will improve when I am not out in the pollen everyday. I have been off work for about four weeks and as of my lung function test last week I have gained 8 points. Great news. Now we will see if losing weight helps it to go up, too. My goal is to exercise for 300 minutes a week.
I will be recording this journey as Santa. I have been the city Santa for the last ten years. It has been a dream of mine to play Santa for as long as I can remember and this has been a great run. It has been a riot, but has also had several touching moments. I will include some of those stories as this blog goes along. As Santa, I was asked what my favorite cookie was and my answer was always "Santa has never met a cookie he didn't like." My cookie zone shows how much I like cookies,hence the name of my blog.
A couple of months ago I was part of the biggest loser casting call. Blake and I went to Salt Lake, but we didn't make it. That was one place I felt small. at the casting call they told us even if we didn't make the show, we should start that day on our journey to lose weight. I talked with a friend of mine. I told her I wasn't sure I wanted to lose alot of weight because I didn't want to quit being Santa and her comment was, you are entering a new chapter in your life and maybe it is time to put the suit away. I don't like to admit that maybe she is right.
Today, 20 April 2011, begins Santa's journey to lose his cookie zone. I am embarrassed to post my beginning weight, but I know I need to, this is so people can encourage me to keep going. As of 6:15 AM this morning Santa tipped the scales at 390.4 lbs. This weight makes it awful hard for Santa to get up and down chimney's and Mrs. Santa is getting tried of letting my suit out.
