<p>Hot and sunny here today…almost 90. Went out for my brisk 3-mile hilly walk. At my normal turnaround point, I felt wimpy compared to my CC friends, so I decided to keep going and do the full 5 mile loop. </p>
<p>At mile 3…the path was closed for construction. I went on to the road and after a few cars coming to close, decided to turn back. So 7 miles total…with lots of hills. Thank GOD I had my ipod. You know, I like walking, but after bike riding so often, it just feels…SLOW. I do feel like I did something today though. And I might have a bit of a sunburn too.</p>
<p>That’s a long walk, toneranger. I don’t have the patience for that much walking. About an hour, maybe an hour and a half, is about my limit without a desitination or a picnic lunch or something!</p>
<p>I’m taking a day off. Nine days in a row of walking or exercising. Gotta stop and let the ol’ bones recharge I think. Spartacus round three tomorrow.</p>
<p>Well, I just thought I’d come back and say you were right - I’ve been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and PCOS, both of which can cause you to gain weight (just my luck getting two fat diseases, right? haha). Anyways, hopefully once I can get my medication straightened out things will improve.</p>
<p>I guess the good thing to come out of this is that I’ve disciplined myself into routine and frequent exercise and being careful with what I eat…</p>
<p>I’m on day 23 of my long-term nutrition and exercise rehab program. So far I’m down 4 pounds–slightly ahead of the pound a week that I’m aiming for, so I’m content. I don’t expect the pounds to just drop off, and I won’t be surprised if there’s a plateau every now and then. I have many more to go. We’re going away for the weekend tomorrow, and I will do my level best to stay on a good track. So far I have been able to stop eating when full, which sounds pretty basic but is a big step for me. I’ve been having small midmorning and/or midafternoon snacks that help me avoid overeating at dinner, especially. I’m nowhere near the inspiring exercise level of others on this thread, but managing my intake has been a high priority. There are some significant stresses in my life lately, so walking helps a lot. I have been doing free weights, too. Now I’m confident I can get through the month without saying, oh, the heck with this. That’s good news! Have a good weekend, everyone.</p>
<p>Taking a day off from working out as it’s a problem day for me. I will try to get in 6 on Friday and 6 on Saturday. At the moment, I’m out of my usual pattern and am time-squeezed for the upcoming week.</p>
<p>Congratulations. Managing the intake is about 90% of the battle and the first month is the hardest because you still **want **to put on the feedbag. Over time, that learned behavior is relearned to be replaced by wanting to eat more sensibly, but it takes time. I can’t remember exactly when, but at some point, I just stopped having to walk down the chips aisle in the grocery store to stare longingly at the shelves of Pringles. Once you get to that point mentally, where the new eating behaviors are entrenched, it is a lot easier. I think I’ve bought a candy treat twice in the last four months, both just a one portion size, unlike my old ways of buying candy and Pringles every time I was in the store.</p>
<p>As for exercise, don’t worry about what others are doing. Exercise is only effective relative to what you have been doing. Some of the mileage warriors here are impressive, but they didn’t just start to exercise like that overnight. I still have a vivid mental image of my first ten minutes on the old yard sale exercise bike. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder than that since and I bet that, even runing a half marathon, MOWC doesn’t match the heart rate percentage of the ol’ fat guy hanging on to the exercise bike for his first ten minutes.</p>
<p>Yikes, my son is signed up to volunteer at the race I am doing on Sunday, and he just got an email telling him he has to be there at 4:30 AM. I wonder how quickly I can become a morning person.</p>
<p>Thanks, interesteddad. I’m making mental notes of those times when I resist the unnecessary calories, because it is a big deal. Years ago when finally I lost my baby weight, my pre-baby weight, and my post-baby weight, I learned not to keep certain foods in the house (my son is not a big cookie or chip eater, and guess why?). The only problem: Those foods exist outside the house! So this week when I sat in Starbucks happily sipping my iced skinny latte, I was proud to have resisted the cookie. And thanks for that bike image. I’ll keep it in mind when I get back on the elliptical next week! Now I am off for family weekend, where I’ll get most of my exercise walking around our son’s huge and lovely campus.</p>
<p>What helped me a lot was to just think about a short-term 5 pound goal. Then, I could pickup the cookies or the Pringles, read the calories, and make a choice that I could live without them “just for a few days” until I reached the 5-pound goal. Seeing the scale move became a real motivation rather than some faraway goal months down the road. It lifts the psychological enormity of giving up those foods forever. I mean, it’s not that hard to say no to a Starbucks cookie for just a week. Then, a funny thing happens. The learned habit of reaching for those foods goes away.</p>
<p>Have fun at parents weekend. Part of my motivation for deciding that I had to eat less and move more was trying to walk up and down the hills at Swarthmore throughout graduation weekend. It was just ridiculous having to stop and rest on the big hill.</p>
<p>idad…the first month IS the hardest. But it’s hard when you hit a plateau too. I really only have 5-10 lbs to lose to get to the point where I’m happy with my weight. But I’ve worked my diet as much as I can. I eat around 1500 calories per day which is not much for my height. And I do keep active. So for those of us trying to lose those last few pounds, it is HARD. Weight lifting would help…I know…but I need to get my darn elbow back!! </p>
<p>Anyway, maybe I should just settle with what I have and stop stressing about it. I saw Bill Clinton on TV last night. Apparently, he has lost over 20 lbs by going on some vegan diet. I thought he looked gaunt and unhealthy. So maybe a few extra pounds is not so bad for us older folks!</p>
<p>I hear ya. Particularly after drinking wine in the afternoon and then hurrying up the hill to a baccalaureate service. Sheesh. Talk about the classic ol’ fat boy lookin’ like he’s gonna keel over.</p>
<p>toneranger:</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t think skinny looks that great on Bill Clinton. People ask me what my goal is and I really have no frame of reference to even judge. I know what certain weights are like in my 30s, but not in my 50s. Stuff moves around over the years! I’m so happy to get to a point where I don’t look like a big ol’ fat boy anymore that I feel like everything from here on out is a bonus.</p>
<p>There’s no question that losing the final ten pounds to an “ideal” bodyweight is very challenging. Even the rah-rah guys like iPod nazi are honest about that. I’m seeing my weight loss curve start to flatten out, which is OK. I’m not feeling deprived with my current eating and I’m starting to enjoy workouts just to get stronger and fitter – it’s paying dividends in plain old quality of life like carrying stuff, squatting down to pump up a bike tire, etc.</p>
<p>Wish me luck. I’m off to a restaurant lunch with sis-in-law and I know that will blow my calorie targets all to heck. I’ll probably end up reversing my norm and having a 1000 calorie meal at lunch and a bowl of soup or salad for dinner snack. Just depends on the menu. I couldn’t talk her into the restaurant with the good french onion soup. Even with the crouton and cheese, that’s only a 500 calorie lunch.</p>
<p>Went to the gym with a friend, did upper body work for 15 minutes, biked for 15 minutes at a relatively high speed and a 3-minute cool down, and stretched afterwards. Stretching my hamstrings I realized I could actually lift my legs almost exactly perpendicular to the ground - a big difference from a few weeks ago, when it was more like a 45/50 degree angle! Had lunch with some friends, salad and some whole-wheat pasta with tomatoes. Walking back to my dorm I thought “It’s so beautiful out, and I have good music playing, so why not jog the rest of the way back?” Hard choice, but a good one. Took the world’s best shower when I got back.</p>
<p>Last night we ordered a 12-piece bucket of chicken from KFC so I had a few calories last night. I hadn’t eaten that much during the day but I’d guess full maintenance calories yesterday and no workout.</p>
<p>I ran six miles at lunch today - it was so easy and I haven’t had any calories so far today. I have a sandwich on my desk that I’m going to eat after I finish a glass of water. I’m thinking of running another three miles later on today. Sometimes those calories make your workout pretty easy.</p>
<p>While running, I ran into a coworker that was running too. What surprised me about him running is that he was in a motorcycle accident this past spring (May I think). He was driving on a two-lane road and a car in the opposite lane took a left turn right in front of him and he hit the vehicle (Minivan or SUV). He had a lot of broken bones and was in the hospital for quite a while. Then we saw him in the office two times a week in a wheelchair. Then crutches and earlier this week I saw him without crutches though he wasn’t walking completely straight. I think that he ran two miles and then did weights/core for half an hour. His typical routine for the last 20 years is to run three miles, then do weights/core for half an hour. He is fantastically fit, thin with muscles in the right places and we’re thinking that that’s why he was able to recover so quickly from his accident.</p>
<p>So there’s another benefit - being able to bounce back from adversity.</p>
<p>Dang, BC. Even I can chow down on 12 pieces of KFC!</p>
<hr>
<p>OMG, I’m dying. I just did Spartacus Workout with the Spartacus Workout MP3 track I downloaded for the iPod. This guy has no mercy. 60 seconds for the first exercise.</p>
<p>“Begin 15 second recovery”.</p>
<p>“Begin next exercise in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”</p>
<p>After about three in a row, it feels like a freight train coming. Mind you, I’m seeing heart rates at or above 90% of max on almost all of these exercises. So the recovery ain’t a recovery.</p>
<p>I confess that I cheated. I was stopping after 45 seconds of most of the exercises instead of going the full 60 seconds. It wasn’t really cheating as 45 seconds is about my limit on most of them, but it did give just enough extra rest to grab a swig of water and wipe my face. I also paused after the first five exercises for one minute before the second five exercises.</p>
<p>I did make it through two full sets – two minute rest in between. Every muscle in my body was quivering and I was basically staggering. No Airdyne intervals today. Nothing left for 'em. Counting 5 minutes of warmup and 5 minutes of cooldown on Airdyne, I went for 44 minutes with an average heart rate of 79% and a max heart rate of 97%. Pretty intense. Can’t wait 'til I can add the third set. People who do this workout say that’s the killer. I can see it.</p>
<p>I already feel noticeably stronger on a bunch of these exercises. Between this and iPod nazi, Phase IIII supersets, I’m gonna get in good shape even if it kills me.</p>
<p>Oh, and I behaved at lunch, having just a bowl of french onion soup. So I can have fresh haddock poached in white wine and brocolli for dinner. Yum.</p>
<p>From the “Buddy, I Feel Your Pain” Department:</p>
<p>Check out this poor schlub trying to be a hero lifting too much weight in the Spartacus Workout. He’s doing it to the same relentless MP3 audio track I used today. He starts so gung ho and, then, on about Exercise #5, starts to fall apart. He’s getting run over by the train in part 2:</p>
<p>I wonder how the dude held up for the second and third sets? Baaa waaa haaa haaa. I’ve learned the hard way that you want to go at these kinds of workouts with a tortoise pace on the reps. It doesn’t do any good to go like a bat out of hell and collapse at the 30 second mark.</p>
<p>BCEagle- You DO recover faster from accidents etc. In 2007 I had a skiing fall and had a tibial plateau fracture (that’s not a giant broken leg, but still a break) and was on crutches from Feb-Sept with a surgery in July. I did intervals on my crutches in the office parking garage. I got off the crutches/brace on Labor Day and raced on Halloween weekend (and that was before I lost the 25 pounds).<br>
Then there’s THIS injury, which appears to be with me forever…</p>
<p>I ate so poorly today that I literally feel sick. I guess I’m nervous about the half-marathon and there was available crapola at work today. Tonight was bluegrass Pickin’ Party at our awesome park with beer and burgers. Not great preparation for a half-marathon, but at least I won’t starve during the race…</p>
And caffeine infusions make people run faster, right?</p>