Through the past weekend, I stepped up my exercise and woke up Monday morning (long 4-day holiday weekend) with severe pain in my left shin. After researching and discussing with a couple of athletic type people, I learned that I had shin splints. They were so bad on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings that I didn’t exercise at all and that was frustrating. I finally started getting back to walking, albeit very slowly, on Thursday morning.

The cause of my shin splints was most likely related to ramping up stress on the shin without proper footwear. So, I went to a running shoes store (Frontrunner) and had my foot measured, arches evaluated and a gait analysis. I invested in some higher end Asics shoes and carbon fiber insoles to help prevent further injuries. They were expensive, but a good investment.

My target calorie intake decreased this week as my weight decreased. I did a good job sticking to the calories and didn’t miss even once, though I was close. My bigger challenge was that I accidentally consumed less than 1000 calories on Thursday. This is a very unhealthy caloric intake and I even ate ice cream at the end of the day to put myself over the 1000 mark.

My weight throughout the week as up and down. But, by the end of the week, I was down to 306 pounds, so I am approaching the milestone of getting under 300 pounds. Plus, my heart health range has moved up a bit and I am in the “Poor to Fair” territory.

My blood pressure is still a big concern and my follow up appointment is next week.