Great Bend Tribune Managing Editor Dale Hogg and his wife, Volunteers in Action Volunteer Coordinator Linn Hogg, have embarked on this two-month lifestyle change experiment as a couple.

Linn

Dang-it, how did that cookie get into my hand? Six hours into my healthy-living styles diet and I just pick up a cookie and start munching. Of course, I didn’t start out with breakfast like I should. I did, however, find time for a cup of coffee.  The rest of the day went pretty well including getting out and walking.

I had bariatric surgery five years ago and lost a considerable amount of weight. The problem is the surgery is on your stomach not on your brain which is probably what gets us all into trouble in the first place. Most of us really do know how to eat healthy. We know what we shouldn’t eat and most of the time what we should. But we need some life event to force us into looking in the mirror and saying I have got to do something, in other words, some kind of wake up call.

The hardest part of this diet is getting in all the protein. Unless you can eat a large steak at one sitting, (which I can’t) you have to get creative. You can calculate these foods like this: 3 oz. of meat is 21 grams, 1 cup of milk is 8 grams, cheese sticks are 5 grams, Eggs 6 grams, Yogurt 7-11 grams. Why protein? Protein keeps your muscles strong, and I am talking about heart, lungs and other functioning muscles that keep you alive. It also keeps your hunger away. I try to fill up first with protein, then vegetables and fruit. Keeping in mind that bulky food, fill the stomach space.

Of course, I am also trying to drink enough water and stay away from foods that may say low in carbs, which means high in fat or low fat which can mean high carbs. This keeps me standing in the grocery isle reading labels. As small as those labels are, maybe it is time to get better glasses.

Big thanks to all the people who stopped me and offered encouraging words. Some of those were from people I met at the Dominican Sisters Mission Bazaar as I bought kolachees, breads and noodles. However, I did get sugar free apple butter. Better start the treadmill.

Dale

I grew up a chubby child. I wore "husky" sized jeans, a term long vanished into the waste bin of political correctness.

It wasn’t until I got out of college and started working that I got into running. This was the first time in my life I intentionally sought out exercise, except for playing on the playground as kid or riding my bike all over my hometown of Ellinwood.

On many of those early runs, as I was gasping for air, I tried to imagine what switch flipped in my head to make me do this. Anyway, that expanded to going to the gym and, ultimately, to riding bicycles.

But, as I near the half century mark (I turn 50 next May), I have come to notice inches showing up where inches were absent before. Love handles here and a little more flab there.

It is all a sign of getting older, I guess. It just takes more effort just to maintain the status quo.

Anyway, the first week has been challenging, to say the least. The most difficult part, I have found, is stopping my relentless drive to snack and my inability to eat enough vegetables.

I get enough protein, either through meat, eggs or a protein supplement I use in a shake when I workout, or add to may oatmeal in the morning.

But veggies? That’s another matter. It’s not that I don’t like them, its just difficult to get in the five required servings.

I also though the food journal would keep me honest, and perhaps it will eventually. We attended the birthday party of a family friend Saturday night and I found myself grazing all night long in addition to the meal.

Sure, I wrote all this stuff down, but the thought of including it didn’t prevent me from indulging.

But, this is a new week.

By the way, I have met several folks over the past few days who read our Lifestyles column last week and have offered encouragement. Thanks.