Breaking points

I think part of my problem might have been that I was at a plateau, a really long, boring, barren one.  Nothing that I was doing was helping my weight, my blood pressure or anything else.  I tried doing Carido, Weight lifting, etc. My doctor upped my medication for my hypertension, then dragged it down, then brought it up again.  Even my blood pressure was plateaued, right around 145/100... which isn't good.

I'm not sure what happened in the last 2 1/2 weeks, but Friday I got some good news. Perhaps it was Stacy's class, perhaps its the B12 I've been injecting, perhaps its changing my eating habits or working out more... I don't know.  What I do know is that on Friday I found out that I'd gone from a 44 inch waist to a 41.5 inch waist.  Which is good, its not what I need, I need to lose more, but its a step in the right direction.

I kind of feel like I'm on an episode of House.  The one where they treat a problem with a ton of medications and when the patient starts improving, House says, "Now start taking each one away, one by one to figure out which is helping him."  I don't want to do that just yet, but it may have to be done.

November 9th is my official BCA (Body Composition Assessment) and November 10th is the PRT (Physical Readiness Test).  I should be good on the PRT, though I would like to try for an excellent.  The BCA is what I am worrying about.  Failing this one, is the 2nd failure I will have on my record in 4 years... which means, just like baseball, three strikes... you're out.

I really want to do all of this for my health. So that I feel better, so that I look better.  Its hard, however, not to be motivated by the fact that I could lose my job.  The worst part of this, is the Navy.  For decades there has been zero emphasis on fitness and nutrition.  Eating healthy on a ship, even today is a Herculean feat.  That last time I was on a ship, the only way I could eat healthy was to buy a freezer, put it in my shop and pack it with healthy food.

So, way back in 2005/2006, for some reason, the Navy got on the "Culture of Fitness" wagon.  They revamped their instructions and decided that if you had more than 3 PFA failures in 4 years, you would be ADSEPed (Administratively Separated) out of the Navy.  They made a big deal of instituting a culture of fitness into the Navy and that everyone should work out at least 3 times per week during working hours.  I have yet to be at a command that truly believes or has put forth this "Culture of Fitness".

Most ideas of fitness are making sure their people get afford the opportunity to PT.  There's no real training on how to do that properly. There is no instruction on how to change your eating habits.  Its still the Navy, expecting you to do what they tell you to with zero help.  If I could do one thing, one thing to change the Navy before I retire, it would be to get the upper chain of command of the Navy to understand that just because you put something down on paper in an instruction, doesn't mean its going to change anything.  They need to back it up with action.