Phil,
Just in case you're interested, I've found a lot of the suggestions 
from the South Beach Diet helpful.    I don't follow the diet 
religiously, but I used a lot of its information to help me turn a 
corner and change my eating habbits.  I've lost 20 pounds so far and, 
the best part is that the stomach is the first to go.  Greg and I 
have always tried to walk three miles a day, but we also have an 
eliptical in our basement now and I do that for 30 minutes a day, if 
the weather is lousy.  I just started taking blood pressure 
medication this last summer and my goal is to get off of it.  I feel 
like I'm running away from medication.  Thinking like that has been 
very motivating to continue with a healthier life style.  I always 
thought that  I had a pretty healthy life style to begin with, but it 
is amazing what you learn about how you can improve if you are determined.
Kathy


At 11:52 PM 1/7/2007, you wrote:
>Brad,
>
>I have a beer belly and don't even drink.  The only thing I hate about
>health food stuff is how much it cost.  I do take multiple vitamins daily
>but I have been on blood pressure meds for probably ten years and it works.
>If I'd lose this beer gut, however, I probably wouldn't need the blood
>pressure meds.  Man, when you get to be my age, getting on a good diet,
>exercise program, and weight los program is easier said than done.  I worry
>about heart attacks all the time, too.  We bought one of those Schwin air
>dynes a few months ago and I really like it but trying to develope a daily
>routines, is harder than I thought.
>
>A few years ago, my son helped me measure 80 feet from one of my guy anchors
>where the guy wires tie to my ham radio tower.  The cables came down and
>were turn buckled to a 4 foot I D steel 10 foot pipe that was about five
>feet into a concrete base.  I tied a thick rope between the guy anchor and
>the pipe at the other end where the yard was long enough and 33 revolutions
>around it equaled exactly a mile.  I did two, and often three, miles every
>day.  The ground was rough and it got difficult to keep going but I found it
>felt physically much better than two miles on my treadmill.  The problem was
>the weather.  Snow, mud, and super cold temps made it difficult to keep a
>daily schedule all year round.  Anyhow, my neighbors, after a few days of
>seeing me doing this, called up and wanted to know what in the Sam Hill I
>was doing.
>
>Phil.