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How does a 65 Year old Man Lose 15 Pounds?

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I recently turned 65.  Have you noticed how difficult it is to lose weight when you turn 65????   And how easy it is to put it back on!  I guess it is difficult to lose weight at all ages, but my metabolism has slowed down so much that I have to lower my calories to almost nothing in order to lose any weight!  At any rate, I have been traveling some over the past year and I noticed that my weight had started creeping back up.  It was time to go on a diet and lose some weight!

On July 10, 2016 I decided to start my diet to lose 15 lbs.  I weighed in a 195.2 lbs.  That is way too much for me!  So far, I am down to 184. Only four more pounds to go, but the past six weeks have had a lot of ups and downs.  Here is my story!

I normally eat pretty healthy.  In my younger days, after especially after I was divorced, my diet was terrible.  I was one of those people that ate fast food for lunch and dinner most days.  Then I watched one of those documentaries where a guy ate nothing but fast food for a couple of weeks and his health and body chemistry went totally downhill! So I gave up fast food. Just that one thing did improve my health, but the weight gain from that time would put me on a road of a lifetime of dieting.

For some reason, it was much easier to diet in my younger days.  I could take off weight fairly easily back in my 20’s and 30’s.  Now it is a difficult fight.  Some time ago, I read somewhere that our body has a set point.  The body is programmed to to weigh a certain amount based on your normal eating.  What I’ve found is that the body always wants to go back to the higher number.   So the key to maintaining a good weight is to never let it get out of hand in the first place!  But for me, that ship has sailed, so I have to figure out a way to lose these 15 pounds again!!!!

It is amazing how my weight has fluctuated over the years.  In high school, I weighed about 150 lbs.   I could eat just about anything then and never gain a pound.  In college, my weight went up to 170.  I always felt best at that weight.  I kept 170 on my driver’s licence up until my weight got to 190. (Didn’t think I could get away with it anymore at that point).  When I graduated from college and started working in an office, my weight started to increase.  I think it was from going out with the staff to eat lunch every day.  My highest weight ever was 215.  I never want to go there again!

Starting Tuesday, I’ll let you know how I lost the 11 pounds so far at 65 years old, what worked and what didn’t work.  And what comes next!  Stay tuned!

 

Black Population Statistics

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THE BLACK POPULATION 

  

The last official count of our US Population was in the 2010 Census.  According to the 2010 Census, there were 42,020,743 Black/Afro-Americans out of a total population of 308,745,538.  That means that Afro-Americans made up 13.6% of the US Population when the Census was taken.

The US Census Bureau also does Yearly Population estimates.  The latest one available is from 2014.  According to those estimates, the Black/Afro-American Population has increased to 45,672,250 of a total US Population of 318,857,056 or 14.3% of the current population.

2010 CENSUS – Self Identification

Now there are several things you should consider when reviewing these figures:

  1. The Census is based on self-identification, so the individual decides what race he/she is!
  2. For the first time in the Census of 2000, Individuals were able to self- identify with more than one race.  Since America has always unofficially gone with the “One Drop” philosophy, or that one drop of African-American blood makes you African-American, the numbers above include those who describe themselves as Afro-American alone and those who self describe themselves as Afro-American in combinations.
  3. The Census form provided 5 potential selections for race: a.)White, b.) Black or Afro-American, c.) American Indian of Alaska Native, d.)Asian, e.) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and f.) Some other race.  FYI, for purposes of the census, Hispanic is not considered a race; it is viewed more as a heritage or national origin, such as Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, etc.
  4.  The Census Bureau also defined as black anyone that selected or marked his form as Negro, as being from African Nations such as Kenya or Nigeria, or Afro-Caribbean entries such as Haitian or Jamaican.
  5. In the 2010 Census, 38,929,319 individuals reported as black alone.  Another 3,091,424 reported as black in combination.

According to a report on Population from the Census bureau, the total American population grew 9.7% from 2000 -2010.  During that same period, the Afro-American population grew 12%

The 2010 Census also concluded that the majority of blacks (55%) lived in the south.  The south, for census purposes includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, DC, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, NC, SC, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.  Total Black Population in the south is 23,105,082 or 20.2% of the total south Population.

Black Population Rankings by Region

      REGION             BLACK POP.           %BLACK                         <a >

  1. South                      23,105,082             (20.2%)
  2. Midwest                   7,594,486              (11.3%)
  3. Northeast                7,187,488              (13.0%
  4. West                         4,133,687               (5.7%)

 

Black Population Rankings by State

According to the Census, The Top 10 States for Afro-Americans contain 60% of the total Black Population. Those states (including the black population and percentage of blacks in that state) are as follows:

           STATE              BLACK POP.    %BLACK

  1.  New York               3,334,550              (17.2%)
  2.  Florida                    3,200,663             (17.0%)
  3.  Texas                       3,168,469             (12.6%)
  4.  Georgia                   3,054,098            (31.5%)
  5.  California               2,683,914             (7.2%)
  6.  North Carolina      2,151,456              (22.6%)
  7.  Illinois                     1,974,113              (15.4%)
  8.  Maryland                1,783,889             (30.9%)
  9.  Virginia                   1,653,563             (20.7%)
  10.  Ohio                         1,541,771              (13.4%)

Other States with a high percentage of African-Americans would be:

       STATE                   %BLACK

  1. Mississippi        37.6%
  2. Louisiana           32.8%
  3. South Carolina  28.8%
  4. Alabama             26.8%
  5. Delaware            22.9%

A noteworthy statistic on the states would be those that increased their percentage of African-Americans the most between the 2000 and 2010 Census.  They were:

     Black Population Percentage Increase

  1.  Maine                      127.8%
  2.  South Dakota         119.9%
  3.  Vermont                  108.0%
  4.  North Dakota         106.4%
  5.  Idaho                          96.1%
  6.  Arizona                       71.7%

Obviously, these states had so few blacks to begin, it was easy for them to increase their percentages, but interesting nonetheless!

Another interesting point – of the 6 states that have a greater than 25% black population, 5 of them have voted Republican in at least 7 of the last 9 presidential elections. (Maryland being the only state that bucked that trend).  So much for political power or being able to forge coalitions to gain some political power!!!!!!  At least on the state level!

Also, I always assumed that the District of Columbia was at least 90% Black.  However, according to the census, DC is only 52% African-American!

Black Population by City

The top 10 cities for black population is as follows:

          CITY              BLACK POP.

  1.  New York        2,228,145
  2.  Chicago                913,009
  3.  Philadelphia        686,870
  4.  Detroit                  601,988
  5.  Houston               514,217
  6.  Memphis              414,928
  7.  Baltimore             403,998
  8.  Los Angeles          402,448
  9.  Washington DC   314,352
  10.  Dallas                    308,087

Cities with the largest percentage of Black Population

         CITY              %BLACK POPULATION

  1. Detroit MI                 84.3%
  2. Jackson MS               80.1%
  3. Miami Gardens FL   77.9%
  4. Birmingham AL        74.0%
  5. Baltimore MD           65.1%
  6. Memphis TN             64.1%
  7. New Orleans LA       61.2%
  8. Flint MI                      59.5%
  9. Montgomery AL       57.4%
  10. Savannah GA            56.7%

I hope this post provides some perspective for you on the population of Afro-Americans here in the US.  If you would like to a closer look at the data for yourself, click here!

This book may also be of interest to those of you interested in how prison affects our population

Black Men and Prostate Cancer

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HOW ONE MAN HAD TO DEAL WITH PROSTATE CANCER

 

You may be wondering, what does this guy know about Prostate Cancer?  Is he a Doctor?  Does he have some type of degree in medicine?  Well the answer to both of those question would be no!   However, if had asked me if I had prostate cancer and have I had prostate cancer treatment, sadly, the answer to those two questions would be yes!

There is nothing I can say or describe, or write about how it feels when you first hear the doctor say; ‘Sir, we have your biopsy results back, and You have Cancer!”  They are devastating words filled with dread, misunderstanding and fear.  Somewhere  in the back of your mind, there is a glimmer of hope that says you can beat it.  Later, I was to learn that Prostate cancer has one of the best cancer survival rates.  However, when you first hear that term “cancer” – your life changes forever!

This comes from the Prostate Cancer Foundation from 2012, the latest year that data is available:

“Of the more than 242,000 American men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and the 28,000 who will die as a result of it this year, a disproportionate number of African-American men will be represented in each group. The disparity is eye-opening: African-American men are nearly 1.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian men and 2.4 times more likely to die from the disease.”  See Full Article here:

That is not a pretty picture for African-American men.  So I wanted to share my experience with this process in hopes of helping those of you who may be facing prostate questions in your life now. The technology to treat Prostate Cancer is changing and upgrading quickly.  So I don’t claim to know the best treatment.  Nor can I tell you what  you should do if you find yourself in this same position.  But what I want to do here is to take you through my journey from detection through life after treatment, so that you will at least have an idea of what to expect!

Beginning in April, I will post three articles on my prostate treatment journey:

1. The Buildup

This could also be called the Detection/preliminaries.  I’ll take you from my first PSA test that showed that there might be a problem, all the way through the biopsy, which was far and away the worst part of the ordeal for me!

 

2.  The Treatment

Here I’ll take you through the process I used  to choose the right treatment, Then we’ll discuss the surgery I included in my treatment to implant seeds in the Prostate.  Finally, I’ll cover the countless Radiation Treatments that were included !

 

3.  The Aftermath

The last article will focus on Life after treatment – the good and the bad and how I have handled it.

This is a must read for all Afro-American men.  I hope you will join me and pass along your comments!

 

See Below a book by Patrick Walsh on Surviving Prostate Cancer.  Walsh is well-known for his work on nerve sparing surgery that revolutionized Prostate surgery.  Although I am not the biggest proponent of surgery for prostate removal, the book covers all aspects of prostate treatment, so pick it up if you would like more information!