Richard Ha writes:

After ten months of trying, I’ve finally come to accept that I cannot lose weight through exercise only, while ignoring how much I’m eating. Now that I have realized that, I am able to move ahead with a new program.

Now I look at exercise as an activity for its own sake. My exercise goals are now focused on maintaining muscle mass and lowering my resting heart rate. Previously my main goal was to spend a lot of time expending calories. But my body started shrinking from non-use. It’s the “old man syndrome,” and I cannot succumb to that.

To maintain muscle mass, I’m going to do regular weight-lifting exercises. This is something I have lots of experience doing, and something I love to do. Lowering my resting heart rate has more to do with short bursts of high heart rate activity than long, slow, distance work.

My resting heart rate, after one month of relatively little exercise, was 67 beats per minute this morning. My goal is to maintain it in the mid-50s.

To lose weight, I am increasing my consumption of vegetables so that they make up approximately 2/3rds of what I eat every day. I had been using a small bowl as my dish. But now I will use a regular-sized plate, so I can see and keep track of everything. Previously, I lost track of how many bowls I consumed as well as of their make up.

On Saturday, we stopped by Cronies for lunch. Their salads are extremely large. June and I split a Kalua Pig Caesar’s Salad. There were still two servings of protein and two servings of veggies in each half.

Because I have this new goal of maintaining a 2/3rds veggie and 1/3rd protein ratio, I knew I would need to eat mostly veggies for dinner. So far, this all seems doable.

Now I’m looking at what I can eat to achieve my 2/3rds vegetables goal. Besides fresh lettuce in salads with tomatoes and cucumbers, I need to include steamed or cooked veggies. Soybeans, string beans and sweet corn immediately come to mind, as do eggplant and squashes with olive oil and herbs.

I now weigh 201.5. I lost another pound. So far so good.