More Points than Pounds

Weight has always been a struggle for me. My blood pressure has been as well. 28 years ago I failed my first DOT physical. My blood pressure was too high. I could not pick out the numbers in the color blind tests. The doctor (jerk) told me that I could never drive a truck. Sudden death from heart disease had already taken 3 of my grandparents and 1 of my brothers. I needed to see my personal physician.

Talking to your personal physician is essential. My video business was struggling. Satellite technology was cutting into my business. It was November. The prior year winter I worked doing taxes with an accounting firm in Green Bay. When I left there on April 15, they had promised me that I would have a job come the following December. Now, they told me no. It was stressful. My doctor (who knew that I golfed) asked me when I put a red tee in the grass, could I see it. I said yes. He told me that I was not too color blind to drive a truck and that we could work on the high blood pressure.

He suggested walking, but running would lower it faster. I ran. Within two weeks I passed my physical and was off to driving school. I stopped running after driving school. Who knew how hard we actually worked? I didn't. My golf clubs laid idle in my sleeper. Soon, they were taking up too much space. Regular exercise was taking up too much time.

Fast forward to last year. When I took my physical last November, I was heavy. When they first took my BP, I was over on the 140 and the 90. On the second try, I passed by the skin of my teeth. It woke me up. Back in 1992 we lost my father to sudden death from heart disease. This May we lost my brother George to the same thing. It was time to do better. I needed to work less and exercise more.

The effort has been there. The results had not been as obvious. I have lost 12 pounds, but 11 of those were in the first 3 weeks. My exercise started out mainly walking and lifting weights. Twice a week I do a full circuit at the gym. Once a week I use my FIT system. After the first 2 weeks I began running. Running had always come easily for me. The results have not been great there either. I am able to run 4 miles in just under 43 minutes. I thought that I would be able to run 5 miles in under 50 minutes by now. It has been frustrating.

Then last week I went to see my new physician to get my blood pressure medication prescription renewed. They weighed me. Told me that I needed to lose more weight. Then they took my BP-120/82. Exercise does work.