Hacking My Gut

Pacing

2011-11-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

I just finished week 4 day 2 of c25k, and I feel pretty good. It's the same program as day 1, but tonight I went a little bit further (like .01 miles - a very little bit). But the better part is that I was cognizant enough of my surroundings that I was able to figure out where I started and stopped running, and was able to figure out my running pace! (Yes, I know if you have an iPhone or a Droid, the app will figure that out for you. But I have neither. Back off.) My running pace - even for the dreaded 5-minutes-at-a-time run - was about 10:00 - 10:30 mins per mile. I know that's pretty darn slow, but I feel good about it. That time is especially nice for me because it's the same pace that I ran my first 2-mile run at Basic Combat training, 11 years and 40 pounds ago.So this is good. I'll want to pick up the pace, but later. After I'm able to run 3 miles at a whack. Maybe even after I've transitioned up to 10k runs. But for now, I'm happy.

Recent Records

2011-11-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Just finished w4d1, and I feel freaking AWESOME! Tired, yes. My lungs feel a little raw too, but overall, I feel great! I ran 5 minutes at a time TWICE - with is the longest I've run since at least December 2004. And not counting my warm-up and cool-down, my time (including walks) was just shy of a 12-minute mile. Not speedy, but I'll take it!So this workout goes like this: 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run. Start and end with 5 minute warm-up and cool down.I already mentioned that 5 minutes is longer than I've run at a time in about 6 years. But last week, 3 minutes was my record. Which means I smashed last week's record to pieces. I'm pretty happy! My legs are tired, though, so I'm gonna go see if I can down a recovery shake: Apple juice, frozen fruit and protein powder. Yum.

Hacking My Program

2011-10-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

So tonight I did week 3 day 2 of c25k. Sort of. It's a little weird. In comparison to the c210k app I tried, this has me running longer intervals, though for a much shorter overall time. But week 3 is a bit weird, because rather than ending the workout with a run followed by a 5 minute cool-down, week 3 ends with a 3-minute walk, followed by a 5 minute cool-down.But tonight, I took things into my own hands. And kinda succeeded.Usually, my workouts consist of me leaving the house as I press "start." The warmup is me walking to my local running trail (conveniently about 5 minutes away). When the app tells me to run or walk, I do that. When it says "halfway," I turn around and go back the way I came. Ideally, I reach the point where I started running at the same time the app tells me to start my cool-down, and I just walk home.Tonight, I didn't want to walk then walk some more, though, so my plan was to keep running for an extra 90 seconds after the "halfway" notice, then turn around. I was then going to start running at the 90 second mark of my last "walk" interval, then cool down for the regular 5 minutes. But I screwed up my plans a bit. When I finished my extra 90 seconds after the turnaround point, I thought, "gee, if I go just another 30 or 45 seconds, I can make it to that landmark," which I knew would make my total distance about 2 miles tonight, including my warm-up and cool-down. But that extra time going out had to be doubled coming back. So even though I started running with 90 seconds left on my last walking interval, I was nowhere near where I should be if I was going to make it home in the 28 minutes allotted by the app. So I kept running well into my cool-down time, leaving myself only 3 minutes for a cool-down. When I got home I was very tired, but I did make the time I hoped for. If I don't count my warm-up or (abbreviated) cool-down, my pace was a 13:20 minute mile. Not bad, considering that I walked nearly half the time. (Not great, but not bad.)I think for my next run I'll play it straight, though. Too much thinking involved tonight.

I'm Baaaaack!

2011-10-27T23:04:00.000-07:00

So, it appears I haven't posted here in almost a year. Ouch. Let me explain some of the stuff I've tried to do since then. I tried Couch to 10k a couple of times, then got really busy and stopped. I've also hit the gym intermittently, and tried watching what I eat. All of that was pretty successful -- as long as I kept doing it. But when I got busy with work or whatever, the weight crept back up. Not all the way to all-time highs, mind you, but up just the same.But here's my latest thing. Well, a couple of them. I'm doing lose it again, but I'm doing a better job of sticking with it -- at least so far. My goal is to record everything I eat, whether I have a good day or a bad one. I'm also working through couch to 5k again, but this time with a different app. I'm only on week 3, but so far so good. I decided to go with c25k rather than 10k because, as much as I love the idea of burning 500-700 calories in a single workout, I am too likely to just decide that I don't have an hour to run. But I can always squeeze a 30-minute workout in, and I've not missed a single workout so far. (I've put a couple off one day, but I haven't had to bump any workouts into the next week.)The last thing I've been using is fitocracy. It's goal is to turn exercise - regular, non-"play" workouts into a game. You get points for each workout you complete, and these points are posted online. You can join groups. I'm a huge nerd, so I'm in the Browncoats and Dr. Who groups, as well as Couch to 5k. Groups organize different challenges to keep you motivated, you earn achievements and complete quests and level up, like you would in a standard role-playing game. I've been on about a week and a half, and I've been enjoying it. A couple of times I thought to blow off a workout, but then I remembered my Fitocracy points, and went out anyway. So the silly little point system seems to be working for me.So that's it. That's what I'm doing to hack my gut right now. Anyone else have any great ideas?

Week 3 Day 1

2010-11-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

Today was 1:30 run, 3:30 walks, repeated 10 times for a total of 56:30 total run time. I got home about 1:30 early, though. I guess my out-and-back was almost completely uphill going out and downhill coming back. But I still ran rather slowly. My estimated run speed was about a 10 minute mile. That's OK, though, because my heart rate was much lower than it was at the end of my intervals last week (about 160 vs. 180). So on Wednesday, I'll try to pick up the pace on my runs a bit. I'm only supposed to go for about 45 minutes then, so I think I can handle a faster pace.

Week 2 Day 3

2010-11-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

I actually managed to run 3 days this week. Today was 1 minute running and 4 minutes walking. Total time, including warm-up, cool-down and about 800m (where my workout ended but I wasn't home yet was about 50 mins. For those of you keeping track at home, that's an average 14:52 mile. My run times were at about an 8:20 mile, which means that I ran at a pace that would allow me to pass the Army's 2-mile run.

If I were allowed to break the running up into 1-minute segments with 4-minute rests between each one.

And if my 2-mile run were only 1 mile long.

I think I kinda suck. At least compared to my 10-year-younger self.

Next week: 90-second runs! Woohoo!

I'm Back...

2010-11-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

So it's been... what? Eight months? Oops. I'm sure I had all kinds of good reasons/excuses to stop, but I don't even remember what they were.

But now, I'm starting over again.

Last week I bought the Couch to 10k app. Why jump straight to 10k? Well, I'm not sure. I think part of it is the fact that I really, REALLY need more than 30 minutes of exercise, especially if much of that is walking (as it is now, and will be for at leas a couple more weeks). Plus, I'm in this thing right now where I'm finding a huge lack of self-control, at least when it comes to food. So I need to counteract that in a big way.

Today I completed week 2 day 1, which entails 5 minutes of warm-up and cool-down surrounding 9 sets of 1 minute of running and 4 minutes of walking (with an extra 1 minute run thrown in right before the cool-down). The grand total was 51 minutes during which time I ran 3.48 miles. Not super speedy, I know, but at least I got out, right?

Motivation

2010-02-22T20:02:00.000-08:00

I've missed a couple of weeks now. I have some pretty good reasons, I think. I've been working a lot of extra hours at work, and have also been spending a lot of time at church. When I'm home, I feel like my time is not my own, it belongs to my family - at least until the baby goes to bed. At that point, I have just a few minutes (it seems) to have some "me" time before I need to go to bed, if I'm going to wake up and get to work early.

Today, however, I got a bit more motivation, in the form of a doctor's appointment. The good news is that my HDL (the good cholesterol) is increased, and my triglycerides are down. My LDL (bad cholesterol) is stable, however, and my liver is still not doing terribly well. I was told that, like much of the rest of my body, my liver is fatty. Not too big of a surprise. What made things sink in, however, was when it was explained to me that fatty liver is often a precursor to liver cancer. So now, I get to fret about that, on top of heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Great.

But it was just the kick in the pants I needed (at least for tonight). Ideally, I will run 3-4 times each week. I will also be taking niacin every night (which will help with my LDL), and fish oil or flaxseed oil 3 times each day. I'm also going to do some research into under-the-desk bicycling equipment (basically an exercise bike, but without the seat or the handlebars) and try to get a couple of hours of that in each day while I'm at work. Ambitious? Yep. Will I be tired? Probably. But maybe I'll be able to eke out a few extra years of "daddy time" for my kids.

Howdy

2010-02-21T09:02:00.001-08:00

I'm taking a different approach to my weight loss, but one thing Rick and I will have in common is running. My kids school is having its annual 5K for Literacy and I would like to be able to jog the whole way, which in my current state is not possible. I would like my kids to be able to run too. Tonight we'll start by walking for half an hour and jogging every few minutes.

As for weight loss, I'd talked to some nutritionists several months ago who said I am not eating -enough- to lose weight; that I need to bring my caloric intake up by 100 calories per week until I am at 2000.. which should be 500 calories less than my body ought to be using, if I hadn't killed my metabolism. Well, I am almost there. I gained 10 pounds the first month, but I haven't gained anything since then even though I'm adding more food every week. And my kids are telling me I look thinner even though the scale says I'm weighing the same. So I'm going to keep going with it. If all else fails and I don't lose a thing, it'll at least be nice to eat like a human being again. :)

So Tired

2010-02-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

I haven't run for about a week and a half, due to an evil combination of weather, long hours at work and a cold. Today I finally felt well enough to get out, but it seems I suck more than I did a mere 10 days ago.

My 32 minutes of running and walking amounted to a mere 2.25 miles tonight - max. That's almost a half mile less than last time. And I feel much more tired tonight than I did last time, too.

So, what's going on? Is it because I'm still recovering from my head cold? Is it because I took too much time off? Is it because I wasn't really doing spectacularly well to begin with, so it was much easier for me to get worse? Maybe it has something to do with the copious amounts of Diet Coke I had to make it through the day?

It might be something else, though. I did make a conscious effort to take it easy tonight, since it's my first time out in a while. I also checked my heart rate and adjusted my effort down a lot because at the end of the first segment, my heart rate said I had reached maximum effort (according to the standard VO2 Max formula), even though I didn't feel quite as exhausted as I think I would have had I actually reached my max. Maybe my max is higher than the formula suggests it should be, and that's why I didn't feel like I was working that hard. Maybe I'm just convincing myself that I'm tired because according to the formula, I had a really hard workout.

I suppose I could clear that last question up by just having my VO2 max tested. Of course, that might be the sensible thing to do, which means I probably will never get around to doing it.

x-y ≠ -y+x ?

2010-01-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

Did the pizza I had for dinner tonight cancel out my run, or did my run cancel out the pizza? And why is it that, even though I know it's the same thing, I really, really really want the second answer to be the correct one? The overall calorie count is the same way, but the thought of that work being undone causes marked anxiety, while the thought of guilt-free pizza is incredibly appealing.

Why?

Today's Run

2010-01-26T22:13:00.000-08:00

I know, my entry titles are getting really old. But when most of what I have to write about essentially amounts to an exercise web log (exblog?), I start to run out of titles. I suppose I could just create random titles that have nothing to do with the entry, like this:

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Today I ran 2.64 miles in exactly 32:05. I was pretty tired at the end, but I felt really good, too. I feel like I've accomplished a personal best - at least for the past 5 years. My average mile time was about 12 minutes, with my "running" miles ranging anywhere from 10 minutes to 10:30. My lungs are feeling a bit crusty now, but I don't know if that's because I pushed a bit too hard (or maybe exactly hard enough?) or if I'm getting sick, or if it's just too dry right now. My joints feel fine, and life is relatively good. My timer worked very well, but there are a few things I want to fix - possibly by actually *gasp* paying for an app.

So, how did that work? A bit more exciting? Maybe I'll keep this up if I actually find out that someone besides me ever looks at this space. Actually, maybe I'll do it more if I don't. Less pressure may open up my creativity...

New Run

2010-01-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today's run was really weird. And kind of annoying.

Aren had to go to Cub Scouts tonight, so MB & I had the great idea that I could drop him off at the church, then I could run while he was doing scouts. Sounds great, right?

Well, I had a couple of hiccups. Of course. First, I forgot my flashlight. This wasn't a problem for the first 15 minutes of the run, but it got pretty dark pretty fast. Second, it was an unfamiliar route, so I felt like I was running a lot longer than I actually was. Third, my route was slightly downhill -- on the outbound trip. During that 1.75 miles, I descended about 141 feet. That meant, of course, my return trip - which occurred after I was already tired - gained 141 feet in altitude. (That would explain why it seemed so much more difficult, I guess.)

The final issue I had was with my new timer. My first set got screwed up because I somehow convinced myself - very near the end of my first set - that the timer had somehow restarted the run I was on. So I stopped, played with it for a bit, and restarted. It worked fine after that, which makes me think that I was just being stupid the first time, but oh well.

So that's that. Including warmup and cooldown - which I never do, but I will tonight because I'm not sure where exactly I started running (and stopped running, for that matter), my total workout was about 50 minutes, during which time I traveled 3.5 miles. At least I broke the 5k mark, even though I didn't mean to...

Update: I should have mentioned this earlier, but my legs are really, really tired today. Probably a combination of the uphill run and the fact that I'm still not quite used to running for a whole three minutes at a time. Ugh.

And I Ran...

2010-01-18T19:53:00.000-08:00

So, despite all my goals, I only got out one time last week. So when I went out again tonight, it was not as easy as I wanted it to be. But I think I went faster than I did last Monday, so I guess that makes up for it.

I say I think, because the stopwatch app I have can be a bit touchy. So while I went through 8 cycles of 3/1 run/walk, when I reached my last cycle, I was at about 33 minutes. So switching between timers cost me about a minute, which I did not factor into my speed, because I don't know what amount of that was running or walking. My total distance was 2.56 miles, and my speed was somewhere between 10:30 and 11:10 per mile.

Maybe I'll see if I can find a new timer. Or maybe I'll just download Apple's SDK and see if I can make my own?

Level Up!

2010-01-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well, it was sort of a level up, anyway. I moved up to a 3/1 walk/run scheme tonight. It wasn't terribly difficult, as far as the cardio goes, but I did find that my muscles seemed really tired, as though I had been doing squats all night instead of running. Weird.

The "sort of" part comes because my running speed was actually a bit slower than the last time I ran (which was actually last Friday - I didn't miss the ENTIRE rest of the week). I don't feel too bad about that, though, because:

a) As mentioned before, I felt less-than-exhausted at the end of the run

b) I purposefully held myself back a bit, since I was increasing my running time by 50%.
Now that I know I can do this, I'll see if I can boost my speed a bit on Wednesday.
One other thing, though. On my last couple of sets, I pushed myself a little bit more, just to see how I'd do. I finished breathing much more heavily, at 2 paces in/2 out. Just for kicks, I measured my heart rate at the end of those sets, and it was about 164-ish. I did the math for the estimated VO2 max, and it comes out to just under 90%, but it didn't feel that difficult. Maybe that's just because I only sustained it for 15-20 seconds at a time, or maybe my VO2 max heart rate is actually higher than the estimated 187. I should see if I can get that tested sometime - probably after I'm actually running for 30 minutes without taking a break. Or at least a full mile without a break. I haven't decided yet.

2010-01-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Today's run (yes, I actually made it out!) was not too bad, I suppose. According to my map, I ran about the same distance and speed that I did on the 28th, but I felt like I worked a bit harder tonight. Actually, that's not entirely true, I guess. There were a couple of legs where I definitely worked harder, but a couple where I slacked off a bit, as well. I guess its also possible - probable, even - that my guess at distance for the 28th was off, too. I know that night I didn't really have many landmarks that would show up on a Google Maps terrain image, but tonight I did.

And it's possible that I just ran slower.

But the point is that I did it. And I didn't hurt too much at the end, either. My knee was bothering me a bit, but not too much, by the time I got back in. The back of my leg (biceps femoralis?) did try to cramp up for a minute at the end when I was trying to stretch my other leg, but other than that, not too bad. I took 400 mg of ibuprofen about 30 minutes before the run, and some acetaminophen after. My ankles are a bit sore, but not too bad. And my knee is feeling better, too. So there we have it.

I'm not going to be able to workout tomorrow evening, other than to walk around the church a bit. (My new calling requires me to be there most of Tuesday nights.) But I'll run again on Wednesday, then again on Friday and/or Saturday, with walks on Thursday and whichever other day I don't run. I might move to 3/1 run/walk, too... we'll see.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

So, what better way to ring in the new than with a lovely story about my goals causing me physical pain? I can't think of one!

I went out today, having missed both Wednesday and Thursday, due to extreme fatigue on the former and vague muscle/joint pain in and around my ankles on the latter. But today, I was determined to not miss.

And I didn't. I stuck to my scheduled run, but it was really uncomfortable at the start and again at the finish. I took a lot of Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen and I don't hurt too much now, but it still bothers me. I'm not quite sure what to do. I want to run - I need to run. I actually look forward to it, and am disappointed when my legs hurt, but I don't want to go and hurt myself so I'm out of commission. I'm guessing that since the pain is controlled with OTC analgesics (albeit at the maximum dose), it's probably nothing more than my body trying to build up strength where it's never really needed any before.

Hrmph. I guess I'll see what happens next week. BTW, I'm going to try to work out 5 times next week, though I expect at least 2 of those to be just walking or cycling. I haven't decided whether or not to move up to 3 minute runs. I'll probably stick with 2 minutes for Monday and see how it goes from there.

Feeling better

2009-12-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, I took the rest of the week off. I could rattle off the ~~excuses~~ reasons I didn't run (it was cold, my ankles hurt and it was CHRISTMAS, for crying out loud!), but I wont. Except that I just did...

It's true, though. My ankles and knees really were bothering me for most of last week, and that helped nudge me into inaction. It works out, though, because on tonight's run, I felt pretty good. Even afterwards, I don't feel as tense as I did after last Monday's workout. So hooray for me. Hopefully it will last...

In other news, I got an iPod Touch for Christmas, and have been busy looking for apps that will help me in my efforts to not be such a slug. The one I want to mention tonight (because I actually used it) is Chronolite. It's a free app that allows you to set up to 4 separate timers. (The paid app allows more, and has some more flexibility, but I'll let that be for now.) So I set timer 1 for 2 minutes, timer 2 for 1 minute and timer 3 for 5 minutes (warm-up and cool-down). They worked pretty well, except that a couple of times I had a hard time resetting or starting the timers. I think that was mostly due to the fact that I have a screen guard on my iPod, and it was in an armband with a protective cover, as well, so the sensitivty was a bit low. As a result of that, I had one run and one walk session where I'm not sure how long I actually ran/walked.

The breakdown for tonight's workout: 2.36(ish) miles in 30 minutes, using 2 minutes run, 1 minute walk. Depending on walking speed, my running pace was somewhere between 8:30 and 10:45 per mile, and my average pace was around 12:45 per mile.

Hopefully, I'll be able to run 2-3 more times this week. I'm going to remain at the 2/1 pace since I missed last week entirely, and depending on how I feel, I may extend Saturday's run to 45 minutes... but we'll see.

2/1

2009-12-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

First things first. I missed my run on Saturday. I walked out the door and to my staring point, jogged about 10 steps, and realized that my knees were screaming, "Don't you DARE!!!" So I stopped, turned around, and walked home, thus missing what should have been my last 1:30/1:30 run.

I did get out tonight, however, even though I was completely exhausted. Rather than try to make up for Saturday's run, however, I decided to plow on with my schedule, moving up to 2 minute run / 1 minute walk. My knees protested again when I started, but I thought, "Meh, I'll keep going and see what happens." Sure enough, by the time I'd been running for about 30 seconds, my knees weren't bothering me at all. (Wish I'd thought of that Saturday...) I did find myself adjusting my gait throughout the run. Every now and then I'd sense myself hitting the pavement too hard, or trying to cushion the blow too much with my toes (which seemed to bother my knees more, interestingly enough), so I'd tweak it slightly and move on. It seemed to work for me. My exertion level was on the high side of "medium" - with most run segments being 3 steps in, 2 steps out. I may decide later that this level is too low for a good workout (I haven't bothered to check my pulse yet), but for now I'm fine with it. Remember - three weeks ago, I hadn't run furher than 50 feet in almost 5 years.

I checked my numbers, and if my distance (found at USA Track and Field association) is correct, I did about 2.25 miles in my 30 minutes. Depending on how slow my walks were (between 2 and 3 miles per hour), my running pace was between 9:00 and 11:30 miles. I figure I'll get a more accurate read later on, after I've been doing this for a while. Right now, though, the focus is still on just getting out and going, rather than speed.

Ouch.

2009-12-16T21:47:00.001-08:00

Today has been pretty busy. I worked late, then when I got home MB had to walk out the door, so I was stuck babysitting the wee one. By the time MB was home, it was nearly 8:00 - too late for a regular run, I thought. In fact, I almost bailed on today's run altogether, but I decided instead to go out for 20 minutes and work on speed a bit.

I kept up with my 90-second rotations, but I pushed myself much harder during the runs, usually getting down to two steps per inhale/exhale by the end of the segment. I felt pretty good, but only because I kept telling myself how awesome I was to keep pushing like this, even when it's tough.

Then I finished my run. I got home and my lower back was completely tensed up. I took every type of pain medication I had and laid down on the floor, but I was still really tight. I turned put the massager on my back and took a hot shower (not at the same time), and that seemed to help somewhat, but I'm still rather sore. My legs seem to have recovered (or the pain killers are working on them), but my back still hurts. I think I can feel one bunch of muscle fibers in particular that are still tight, but I don't massage my own back very well.

What I'm really worried about, though, is the possibility that I've gone and screwed up my back yet again and will have to go in for round 3 of surgery. My one hope right now is that this doesn't feel like sciatica, it's just overly tense muscles.

Suggestions?

Just a short note...

2009-12-14T22:15:00.000-08:00

...to document my last two runs. I ran for about 36 mins on Saturday (50% more than any other day, qualifying it as a "long run" in my weak workout book), putting in just shy of 3 miles. Again, not a very fast pace, but that's not my point right now.

Tonight I changed my run/walk ratio to 1:30 each and ran about 2 1/4 miles in about 30 minutes. I plan to do the same on Wednesday and Friday, then keep the same ratio for 45 minutes on Saturday. Here's hoping.

One thing I noticed about my workout tonigh was that by the end of it, I wasn't running all that fast. Let me clarify. I wasn't pushing myself as hard. When I first stared tonight, I was pretty tired after 90 seconds. I measure relative tiredness by how many steps I can take with each inhale/exhale. So "pretty tired" is when I reach 2 steps per inhale, 2 per exhale. That's where I was after my first couple of sets. So to keep from killing myself, I consciously slowed down. But by the end of my workout, I was still at 3/3, even after extending my run an extra 45 seconds. I obviously slowed down more than I meant to - at least on those last couple of sets. The question is, how do I find the balance between not pushing myself too hard, so I hate doing this, and not pushing myself hard enough, so I don't actually get any better?

Today's Run

2009-12-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

I was copying some documents for work today, and since it was going to take upwards of 30 minutes to copy, I decided to knock out today's run. I took more-or-less the same route that I did Monday, but I had to take a very small detour due to work on the running trail (probably .1 mile extra). But I was more disciplined with my stopwatch, so my run time was almost exactly 24 minutes, rather than 25-26 minutes, like it was last time. So I think I may have run a little bit faster, but I'm not sure. (Speed isn't really my goal right now, so I try to avoid thinking about it as much as I can, squashing down the little voice that's constantly saying, "Hey, I think you ran faster last time. Speed up, or this run won't do you any good.")
Anyway, it went well. I'm pretty tired, but my joints are still feeling pretty good. And more importantly, I've now run three times in less than one week. Now, I just need to decide whether to run on Friday AND Saturday, or just Saturday.

I'm not dead yet.

2009-12-07T17:25:00.001-08:00

I realize it has been 7 1/2 months since I posted last. It has also been just about that long since I last exercised, too. There's definitely a correlation there, possibly even causation. (I'm not sure which way causation might run, though.)

But I'm back, and I've got a new fitness project - running. I've never really been what you'd call a "runner," though at a couple points of time in my life I ran fairly regularly - mostly when I was on active duty in the Army and I either had a physical fitness test coming up or a drill sergeant ready to pounce on me if I didn't. When we first moved to Arizona, I ran several times a week, but that only lasted for a month or two. Then I stopped. Then I got out of the National Guard. Then I really stopped running. I don't think I've actually had a workout based on running since, oh, January 2005. Until now.

I read recently about some new research that seems to indicate that a lot of the problems people get from running are because all the running shoes we buy change our gait from a natural one (leading with the toe and allowing the bones of the foot to absorb the impact) to an unnatural one (leading with the heel, causing the impact to be sent straight up through the ankle and into the knee). The idea is that if we all ran barefoot (or, at least, with less padding), we would be able to run with fewer injuries, and therefore be able to run more.

So, I decided to give it a shot. Tonight was actually my second run (my first was on Saturday). Since it has been so long since I've run at all, and since I'm actively trying to change my gait, I'm going with a regimen where I run for one minute, then walk for two, repeated 8 times. I haven't purchased new shoes - the ones I'm using are about 18 months old and were bought at Payless for about $25.

Past experience tells me that my shins and knees should be killing me right now, for running in such awful shoes. But I actually feel pretty good. My calves are rather sore, having to absorb a lot more motion than they're used to doing, but they don't feel injured - just sore. My knees and feet feel fine. And the kicker is that when I run (as opposed to when I'm just walking), I'm running much faster than I used to. Tonight I did just shy of 2 miles in about 25 minutes - which is not too much slower than my firs-ever 2-mile run at Basic Training. (Remember when I said I've never really been a strong runner?) If I assume that my walking speed was about 3 mph, and my math is correct, that means when I was running, it was at about an 8-minute-mile pace. Not amazing, I know, but not too shabby for someone who has had 5 years and two back surgeries since his last workout.

Here I Am

2009-03-30T17:07:00.001-07:00

Okay, first to answer the question that's on everyone's mind. (Well, everyone that is participating...) Last week I ended up with -16 points, mostly because I managed to gain about 4 lbs. I was really good up until Thursday, which was our annual pizza/chicken nuggets/strawberries/birthday cake shin-dig. So, I blew it that night. Friday we went out to a Japanese hibachi-style restaurant. I felt pretty good about the fact that my willpower kept me from allowing the chef to spray sake in my mouth, so I was pretty much done for as far as food goes. Then we had the weekend, which sucked, too. In addition to calories not-kept-track-of, I had a lot of salty foods, which did not help me lose weight, either.

This week had a better ending, but was about as bad overall. I was only vaguely conscious of my calorie intake, and only recorded my food intake on 1 or 2 days. But I did end up losing 1.4 lbs (mostly water, I'm sure), leaving me at 252.6 lbs. Better, right?

Now -- today. I'm on track to be well within my calorie range for today. I don't know if I'll get around to actually exercising tonight, but I'm going to give it a shot.

So, who won this week? It's looking like Eva's the winner by far, unless Rody's got a big surprise for us. Good luck this week, everybody!

Road may seem MIA...

2009-03-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

But he's just a bit busy with work and school to keep up on adding his stats to the spreadsheet. He is, in fact, still a participant. He picked up a couple of GoWearFit (the Pharmanex version of the better-known BodyBugg) from work the other day. He was so excited to get them. I got more excited after seeing how it works. Unfortunately, we still need to enter in every bit we eat, portion sizes, etc. It does have a lot of brands and some take-out food already built in, but there always seems to be a bit of entry needed for stuff not on there.

Somehow, after seeing it add up the calories I use throughout the day I am more motivated to go through the bother of entering in the info for the food. I was happy to see that you can put in your favorite recipe and tell it the number of servings and it calculates everything for you. This is especially nice since most recipes' serving size is a little smaller when eating the food by itself (I don't often add salads and sides to the meals we have at home unless we have guests). Though I bet that would help meals to be more filling in a volumetric way versus a caloric way. Hm. I should reconsider my meal planning. Anyway, some other nice features to this little gadget is that it recognizes when you are sleeping versus just laying down. It measures not only your heartrate, but body temp and 'acceleration', or movement. Seems pretty accurate - like Saturday night it showed a nice solid blue bar for most of the night, while the last couple of nights have been choppy. I was for sure more rested this weekend than I have been the last couple nights. It calculates your 'sleep efficiency' based on the amount you actually sleep. It's nice to have the validation that I did or didn't sleep well on any given night. My only complaint is the software seems finicky. Seems like the driver for the device isn't always found on our computers by the website. Not sure if it's our computers of the website. Sometimes it's a matter of switching the browser to IE from Firefox or vice versa, or closing your session out and trying again. It's annoying. I blame it on slacker developers somewhere :)

So this is Road's method of tracking right now. I'll try to get it translated to the spreadsheet. He's just the mystery competitor right now.

Congrats to Eva for being the winner last week!!! I found this forum on some fun tips on when to find little ways to fit in an exercise here and there. The site has lots of workouts too, if you like to change things up. And how is it that Rick ended up in the negative???

Slowly but surely...

2009-03-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

So yay to both Rick and Eva!!! Good work on gaining those points. I guess I really need to outline specifics for me to be evaluating myself against. I guess at this point, my goal is to do any amount of time dedicated to exercise. I was doing really good a few weeks back before our official contest. Weird eh? I do have to say that I have been really good this week about NOT eating out. And making more than just homemade goodies, (That's good for both me and Road), at least nothing since Sunday's late night cinnamon meringues that I made with Lex :) I am also trying to make sure that I eat some protein every 3 hours or so. I even ordered some protein bars that I used to always get back in my gym rat days. I usually read a health article, am I supposed to post a link on here to the info or summarize or just indicate it on my spreadsheet?

Here's a nice short slideshow of "Diet Mistakes". We are all probably aware of most of them, but I am visually inclined, so I liked it. And here is a sample recipe that has had a 'makeover', I always like to find cooking tips for making something a little healthier.

Good Day

2009-03-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone. I'm going to see if can do three things at once (let me know if you think this isn't fair...)

First: I'm encouraging you all. Good job, Eva, on yesterday's performance. I also noticed when I updated the spreadsheet that you were on, too. Hope you got some good stuff to put in. Rody, where are you? You're not going to let me win this week without even trying, are you?

Second: I'm blogging, so this counts for that. I stayed within my calorie range and walked for about 40 minutes. (I'm going to buy some new running shoes eventually -- maybe when I lose 10-15 lbs.) I also kept my goals: Recording everything I ate and eating 5 fruits/veggies. So, I maxed out on points today. Well, I maxed the things that have limits, anyway.

Third: I'm giving a review of www.sparkpeople.com -- the updated site. If you haven't seen this, it really is a great tool. It lets you keep track of diet, cardio and strength training exercise. It has a LOT of articles (many of which I will quote as I post my articles in the future). Best of all, it is completely free. Its diet tracker is one of the easiest I've seen. The database has thousands of entries, so when you go to enter what you ate, you'll probably find it pretty quickly. If you can't find it, you can add foods yourself, which then become searchable by other users. When you first register, you set goals for yourself, and it gives you guidelines as to how to accompish those goals. And for motivational articles, it is excellent. As I said before, I'm going to find some of my favorites and send you the links. One thing, though: You do have to be a member to read the articles. Did I mention that it is free?

GAME ON!!!

2009-03-16T17:34:00.001-07:00

Okay, after much discussion, we finally got the rules worked out, and we started the contest this morning. So, here I am writing about how everything worked today.

First, my starting weight is 250.2 lbs. I overshot my calorie intake by about 200 calories, entirely because I didn't plan well. I didn't plan breakfast well enough, so I had a granola bar. I didn't plan snacks well, so when I got hungrier than usual earlier than usual (see breakfast), I ended up going to the convenience store (conveniently located behind my building) and buying snacks. (I did manage to get trail mix, rather than Doritos, at least.) Finally, for lunch, I didn't plan anything at all, so when MB was at McDonald's with the kids, I had her pick up a burger and fries for me. (I think this one, by itself, pushed me over the edge easily -- even though I was relatively "good.")

I did OK in exercise. I pushed Aren on his bike (and ran along next to him) for about 15 minutes, and later on tonight (after the Amazing Whiny Baby goes to bed), I'm going to go on a walk for about 40 minutes.

How did you guys do?

Ice Cream for Breakfast!

2009-03-06T18:06:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know this blog is all about me trying to become more fit, and that a big part of that is trying to eat healthy.

But every now and then, you just need to forget about it -- for a good cause.

When Aren went on his Make-A-Wish trip a few years ago, we stayed at Give Kids the World Village, which is dedicated entirely to children with life-threatening illnesses. Because it is all about, well, giving kids the world, kids who may not make it much longer (some have passed away just weeks after their trips), kids are encouraged to do things they would not get away with normally. The prime example of this is the Ice Cream Palace, which serves ice cream (free of charge) from 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM.

Tomorrow is Founder's day at Give Kids the World, so everyone with even a tangential relationship to the place is encouraged to eat ice cream for breakfast. Now, to be completely honest, the thought actually makes me a bit ill. I'm really more of an "eggs and bacon" kind of guy. Or if I really want something sweet, I'll have a pancake, or an english muffin with jam.

But for GKTW, and for the I will make the sacrifice.

A Cautionary Tale

2009-02-25T19:07:00.001-08:00

I learned a valuable lesson. Last night, I learned that when eating at any restaurant, especially alone, you should always, ALWAYS, be sure you know what you're going to get.

I'm on a business trip, and therefore have been eating alone for the past couple of days. Tuesday night wasn't a big deal because I ate at a place that was more like a diner than anything else (even though it self-identifies as a "sports bar" -- but the only sporty thing I can see about the place are the flat-screen TVs hung on the wall, two of which weren't even showing sports). I ordered a hamburger and fries, and wouldn't you know it, I got a hamburger and fries. No surprises.

Last night, though, I decided to "treat" myself to Red Lobster. Stop laughing. The nearest seafood place of any kind to my house is about 90 minutes, and I can't go there because MB starts heaving about 10 minutes before I even think about suggesting that we go there. And besides, Sierra Vista is so desolate that I even look forward to going to all kinds of places that I would be embarrassed to mention.

So, I went, intending to order some salmon. The menu says I can get steamed fresh broccoli and another side, so I choose a baked potato -- splurging a bit, you see. The waitress also asked if I wanted an appetizer. Now, I was way too smart to try to order an entire plate of calamari or even hush puppies. But, I decided to splurge again and ordered a single cup of soup.

Two little splurges. I'm doing pretty well, right?

Then she asks what kind of salad I want.

Huh?

"It comes with a salad. Do you want Caesar or Chef?"

I go with the Caesar. I'm doing a bit much, but I'm still OK, right? I mean, it's a salad. How bad can it be?

Then she delivered the salad. The kind of salad where every lettuce leaf is coated in dressing. The kind of salad that would be too much for some people to eat for lunch. And she puts down the "cup" of soup, which suddenly looks more like a quart. On top of it all, right in front of me, she places a basket with four steamy cheese biscuits. This could be a decent lunch for me, by myself.

And I sat there, pondering the amount of food placed in front of me before I even get my entree when I suddenly realized that all the food was gone, and had been replaced by a large piece of fire-grilled salmon, broccoli and a baked potato. Where did the rest of my food go? I would blame it on the person sitting across from me, but there's nobody there. And then, just as suddenly, there is no food left on the rather large plate that was just delivered. I initially blame my invisible companion, but then I realize that I'm no longer hungry. In fact, I'm really quite full. Rather sick, even. What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE???

And I wonder how I've gained 70 lbs in the last 12 years. Actually, looking back on this, it's amazing I'm doing as well as I am.

Today's Exercise

2009-02-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

I'm embarrassed to say it, but I exercised today.

Well, it's not so much that I exercised but that I worked up a pretty good sweat.

Okay, it's not so much that, but that I worked up a pretty good sweat by... er... uh...

walking.

Yes, I walked for 60 minutes and its the best workout I've had in a long time. And I only went about 3 mph. I'm a pansy, all right? I'm terribly out of shape (unless you count "rotund" as a shape), and I'm afraid to push myself too much because I don't want my back to explode again.

Once you stop laughing, I just want to point out that even though my average was a paltry 20-minute mile, and that if I were still in the army I would have to go more than twice that fast just to not get kicked out (assuming they hadn't already expelled me for being excessively convex), I did manage to burn nearly 300 calories. Yes, it's true that those 300 calories won't even cover one of the slices of pizza I had for lunch, let alone put much of a dent in the way-too-big dinner I had tonight, I actually made myself exercise instead of allowing myself to lay in bed and watch some crappy made-for-tv movie. Like I did last night. I also walked home on Monday, so for those of you keeping track, that's 5 miles for me this week.

Trying to Not Suck As Much

2009-02-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I haven't written in a while. I haven't really done anything fitness-related in pretty much as long, so I guess it's only fitting.

Last week I had a conversation with Rody, and we've decided to re-vamp the rules. We also have added a couple of people to our little contest. I'll post the rules tomorrow (once we have agreed on them). Now, rather than just the long(ish)-term weight loss goals, we've added some things to do that we can keep track of daily. There will still be a prize for losing weight, but we have also added a prize for walking/jogging/running and weekly prizes for other types of exercise, staying with the diet and staying focused on fitness, as evidenced by writing on this blog.

Here's hoping that I will do considerably better over the next few months.

This Week

2009-01-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to decide if I sabotaged myself this weekend or actually did something good. Let me explain.

Things have been crazy at work. I've been putting in long hours, and haven't really had time to stop for lunch or snacks. By the time I get home, I'm exhausted, eat just a bit for dinner then crash so I can repeat the next day.

So here is a day-by-day (almost) record of my weight this week.

Monday: 249.6
Tuesday: 248.2
Wednesday: 247.4
Thursday: 246.5
Friday: 246.0

By Friday morning, I had lost 3.6 lbs, averaging .7 lbs per day. This means that, had the trend continued, I would have ended up with a 5 pound loss this week. Now if I had been on Biggest Loser, and had been exercising incessantly over the week, I wouldn't have worried about it. But I hadn't even done so much as walk all the way around the block. I was concerned that I had just been undereating terrifically, and that if I kept the very low calorie diet going, it would come back to bite me in the butt.

With that thought in mind, I actually made a conscious decision on Friday and Saturday to eat -- a lot. So much that when I got on the scale this morning, I hit 247.8. I don't feel bad about that number, because it represents nearly 2 lbs lost over this week, which is generally considered a safe amount of weight to lose.

So here's the question I posed earlier. Did I shoot myself in the foot, or was pigging out for a couple of days the smart thing to do? I guess we'll see.

This coming week promises to be very busy, as well. I expect to work long days every day, but I will also be away from the office for most of the week, as well. I think this poses some significant challenges. The biggest one is that when you don't have a refrigerator next to your desk to heat up the healthy meals you already prepared, it's much more convenient to eat out. And when you eat out, it's that much harder to eat healthy -- especially when you're on a military base, where most of the population runs 20 miles each week and actually needs extra calories just to maintain their weight.

Wish me luck.

Just a Couple Of Things...

2009-01-10T19:03:00.000-08:00

Very short, to the point, boring post.

Thursday, I officially reached my lowest weight since mid-September: 248.9. I'm pretty happy about that.

So what do I do? Blow it on Friday. I did well until dinner, when I had a slice of pizza (only one, though!), a Domino's Chicken Parmesan sandwich (not my favorite sandwich, but still decent) and a couple of blueberry/lemon poppy seed muffins (MB was feeling adventurous). I had another one this morning, but other than that, I've been good.

Tomorrow is my official weigh-in, so we'll see how it goes.

Research

2009-01-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

I'm going to throw something "out there" right now. This may shock those of you that have been following this blog, and have seen my sparkling personality shining through my prose, but I'm not a terribly popular person. I have two personal email accounts. One I use for subscriptions (it's the older of the two accounts), and the other I use for actual correspondence. The second receives only about three emails each week, mostly from old friends who don't really want to touch base with me as much as they want to spread the latest virus alert (don't open any more emails ever again or you will DIE!!!) or the oldest email petition out there (sign this and send it to all of your friends, or CBS will CANCEL TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL!). I don't even know when the last time was that my Yahoo account actually was used by someone who wanted me to reply to them. Well, besides the horde of Nigerian millionaire widows who need me to help get their fortunes out of the Bank Swiss Accounts and will "reward my generosity to the amount of $2m (dollars) for my help in this regard."

But just because it doesn't come from an actual person I know doesn't mean it's entirely worthless. I get almost weekly newsletters from Scientific American, and I found two articles that actually related quite well to this blog. This article discusses a study done recently by people who were on a weight loss program. Unsurprisingly, they found that those who ate healthy foods and exercised at least 30 minutes daily had lost at least 9 lbs at the end of six months. The interesting thing here (no sarcasm this time) was that those who recorded what they ate each day lost about double the amount of those who didn't use diet journals.

Now, I don't intend to log everything I eat. Nobody wants to read that, at least not yet. I do, however, plan to use this space to confess each time I eat something I shouldn't. (Which reminds me, yesterday, I had a bowl of Ramen noodles and two granola bars. Did I mention that already? If I did, just forget this parenthetical.) Today I've been perfect. Well for carbs, at least. But that's all I'm focusing on right now.

The other article indicates one way to be motivated to lose weight. Apparently, people who receive relatively small cash prizes for their efforts lose more weight than those who don't. This article puts a slightly different spin on it. Rather than gaining cash, the subject of the story bet his friend that he would lose a certain amount of weight each week. If he didn't, he would lose $500. Each week. That would motivate me...

I don't have the cash to pull off that kind of a bet. Fortunately, I do have that contest going with Rody. Hopefully that will be enough to keep me in line.

P.S. Speaking of staying in line, I want you all to know that when I left the convenience store next to my office today, I had NOT purchased chocolate chip cookies, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or pecan pies. Thanks, I'm proud of myself, too.

Resolutions

2009-01-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

If you are one of the three people in this world who read (or pretend to read) this blog, I have some an announcement. Even though I hate goals (because I'm too lazy to follow through on most of them), I've made one of those "...every day" types of resolutions.

I've decided to write something -- anything -- every day. At least 500 words. I'm going to divide those words somehow between this blog, my other family blog and my own laptop. I'm thinking that if it has anything remotely to do with weight loss, I'll put it here. If it's anything else, I'll put it over on the other blog. And if all I can come up with is 500 random words, I'll keep those on my laptop, sparing you at least a bit of idiocy.

However, to spare you readers from what could end up being a very boring blog (and already has, at least a couple of times), I will do my best to keep the stuff posted here (and over there) relevant or clever (or both, if I can swing it).

And for what may end up being the other 300 days this year, let me apologize in advance. Thanks for your patience.

I'm Back... sort of

2009-01-06T21:13:00.000-08:00

The holidays are usually pretty tough for people who are trying to watch their weight. In fact, most people I know end up throwing their hands in the air after the third Christmas party they attend and just start hoping that they won't gain more than about 5 lbs by the first Monday after New Year's Day.

You know, that should be a holiday. We could call it "resolution day" because nobody actually starts trying to lose weight/get in shape until after they start work again, anyway. The ~~logic~~ rationalization goes like this:

Thanksgiving, 10:00 AM: "I'm only going to have one small plate of food, and most of that will be raw vegetables. I have willpower!"
Thanksgiving, 5:00 PM: "Pecan pie is OK. Look at all the protein from the nuts!"
Day-after-Thanksgiving, 12:00 PM: "I'm exhausted from standing in line at Best Buy all day. I'm sure my glycogen stores are pretty much wiped out. I wonder if we have any more chocolate mousse pie?"
December 15, after Christmas party #3: "Screw it. Maybe I just won't gain any more weight."
December 26, after standing on scale: "Honey, I think we need new batteries. This can't be right. Why does it say I gained 15 lbs this week?"
December 31: "Okay, this is my last hurrah! No more onion dip! EVER!"
January 1 (Thursday): "I heard that pretzels are good for hangovers. I can't do this yet. Besides, who starts a diet on Thursday? Sunday morning, it's on."

The strange thing is that it sort-of-almost worked for me this year. Actually, I can't really claim any impressive stores of willpower. Any weight that I've lost since my last entry has pretty much been beyond my control. We had a family reunion over Christmas, and stayed with my in-laws for nearly two weeks.

Now, before I go any further, let me make this caveat, and let me make it clear that I am not saying this just because I can't sleep on the couch. This is the honest truth: I really like MB's family. My sister-in-law (who we stayed with) was such a gracious host that as MB and I pulled into our driveway, we looked around and honestly felt like it was not our home. So, Sarah did a great job, as did MB's mom. If you are reading this, I really thank you sincerely.

Here's the problem, though. I don't like being a house guest. I always feel like I'm imposing, so I don't let people know what I really want, even though I know they would give it to me instantly. But since I don't let them know what I want, I never get what I want, so I end up feeling sort of mildly irritated. I know it's my fault, and I'm trying to deal with it. Two cases in point (that relate to this blog perfectly): Breakfast and lunch.

Like many (if not most) Americans, breakfast with my in-laws was usually cold cereal. This was a problem for me for two reasons. First, I was still trying to at least pretend that I was on South Beach, so cold cereal should have been pretty much out -- even for phase 3. Second, I'm not that big of a cold cereal fan to begin with. So on about 7 of the 10 days we were in MD, I skipped breakfast altogether.

Lunch entailed a different problem altogether. Lunchtime was usually spent not at my sister-in-law's house, but at my mother-in-law's. Not a big deal, you think? This is the part where I point out that for many of those days, there were no fewer than 34 people at said house. If you didn't move fast, everything would be gone before you even realized that anyone was even hungry. Translation: Get in there and throw some elbows, or you get cold cereal for lunch, too. If you're lucky.

So for the majority of my vacation, I only ate dinner and a few snacks. (Dinner could be sparse as well, with 34 people. But it always tasted great! Thanks, Mom!) The days I ventured into the District I made up in calories for the days I lost, though, so at the end of the trip I came away with no gain or loss, according to Sara's scale. (I don't know how it compares with my own, so all I can measure is the difference in the time I was there.)

Then came Sunday.

On Sunday, I woke up with some sort of stomach flu. I won't go into the details, but by the time I weighed in yesterday, I had managed to lose 2.2 lbs since 12/19, coming in at 249.8.
Now, before any of you decide to go drinking from cesspools, hoping to contract amoebic dysentery, let me mention that illness is NOT a good way to lose weight. Today I was up .9 lbs, most of which I attribute to the fact that once my appetite came back, it came back with a vengeance. I've eaten quite a few things today that I shouldn't have (to include my late-night snack of a very large bowl of Chocolate Chex, and two granola bars). Besides that, I still feel a bit off. So, hopefully my digestive tract will come back online in the next couple of days, and I'll be able to get back to business.
Until then, though, I'm sure we still have a bit of pie in the fridge...

Holiday Party

2008-12-14T17:44:00.001-08:00

Last night was our company party. It was at a place called Cafe Roka. Very tasty, great atmosphere. I enjoyed it quite a bit. And the best part is that, even though there was a LOT of really good food, I managed to not gorge myself! It was set up as a buffet, so while I could have gone back for seconds/thirds/fifths, I didn't. I can't take too much credit for that, though, because nobody else at my table did, and I didn't want to be "the guy who ate a whole lot of food." So I sampled everything (all was very tasty), and actually had a bit of self-control. Well, at least until dessert, when I think I crammed more food onto my plate than during dinner. Oh well.

Today I weighed in again. It came to 251.3, for about .5 pound loss from last Wednesday, or about 2 pounds from last Sunday. So there we have it.

Now, as far as my challenge goes -- We need to figure out when to start. Last week? Today? Let me know... if I use today's weight, then my target will be 238.75, which is lighter than I've been since Aren's transplant, I think.

Let me know what you think, Rody.

Challenges

2008-12-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

My brother called me this morning. Apparently, he actually read my blog the other night. That means I'm up to two confirmed readers! Including my wife, who is obligated to read.

Anyway, he mentioned reading how I'm gut-hacking, and told me he's working on his weight, as well, but he needs a bit more motivation (heart attack avoidance just wasn't doing it for him, I guess). So he offered me a challenge. We're racing in losing weight. There are about 7 pounds' difference between us, so we're looking for percentage of body weight lost, rather than a target pound range.

So here's how this first leg works: Whichever of us loses 5% of their body weight first (for me that will be just over 10 lbs), will receive a new Wii game from the other. I've also added him as an author for this blog, so he'll be keeping everyone updated on his efforts, too.

So, there you have it. I guess now I just need to figure out which game I want... :)

A bit better...

2008-12-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

So I haven't been perfect this week, by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm doing better (or I was, until I had pizza for dinner tonight... but only 3 slices! That's good, right?) I've been splitting my dinners and saving half for lunch. I've consumed maybe a total of 700 calories of candy/other carbs this week, and I have walked home from work three times this week. (It's about 2 miles.) As of Wednesday, I was down another pound and a half. I'm not quite to my pre-Thanksgiving weight, but it's moving in the right direction. If I'm careful tomorrow, I may even beat that at my Sunday weigh-in. Here's hoping.

Off the Rails

2008-12-01T18:34:00.001-08:00

Last week was not good. My one-day planned Turkey Day splurge quickly evolved into six days of not strictly adhering to the rules. And that, of course, makes it difficult to accomplish goals like, oh, say, losing 50 or so lbs.
BUT, it was not a completely unmitigated disaster. For starters, I only gained 0.1 lbs from last Sunday until yesterday, so it's not like I have tons of weight to make up for. More importantly, I've learned a few interesting (and hopefully valuable) lessons.
First, I discovered that it is nearly impossible to follow any kind of healthy diet without proper planning. And by proper planning, I mean ALWAYS knowing what you're going to eat two or three days in advance, and ensuring that you have food for those two or three days at least one day in advance. If the planning falls apart, or you allow the pantry to empty, it becomes much more difficult to resist the temptation to just run out for a burger or order a pizza.
Second, I think I've learned something about my own physiology. The first couple of days I was on the diet, I felt "snacky" a lot. I wasn't necessarily hungry, but I always wanted to eat. After the cravings died down, I was able to eat a lot less. And as a bonus, the acid reflux-level heartburn (which sometimes found me choking in the middle of the night) vanished as well. Since I started my binge, however, it has all come back. I have also found myself less able to resist cravings (again). And though I've tried to keep them in check, I have had a harder time getting them in control this week.
Which brings us to the next thing I've learned: It is much easier to justify breaking the rules if I've already done it. I don't know why that is, but I think it's a pretty common response to "cheating," especially if you think you are hurting only yourself -- and even more so if you don't feel accountable to anyone. (Hence this blog, even if nobody ever reads it.)
So, with that last lesson in mind, I'm going to try to outline every way I've "cheated" over the past week. Here goes:
Wednesday -- I had a (small) bag of Fritos for lunch because I didn't bring anything to eat. At dinner time, I had three slices of pizza, which was even worse than it sounds because two of those slices were double-decker slices. Twice the crust = twice the carbs.
Thursday -- The big day. Mashed potatoes & gravy, two types of stuffing, fruit, two (I think) slices of french silk pie and one (or two) slices of pumpkin pie. And a couple of crackers, too. And a small amount of fruit. That's it. Except for the rolls. Yikes.
Friday -- had pie for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch. Potstickers for dinner.
Saturday -- I don't know if I cheated. If I did, I was too much in a sugar coma to remember. Probably from the pint of Moose Tracks Ice Cream I shared with my wife as we watched four straight episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Sunday -- I had leftover bean soup, so that was good. Then I had Hunan Beef, which is deep-fried then drenched in a sugary-spicy-sesame-chicken-type sauce. Very tasty, but not healthy. And that's not counting the MSG, which supposedly has the same effect as sugar on insulin levels.
Monday (today) -- I ate way too much lunch. (More leftover bean soup.) It wasn't unhealthy, but there was a lot more in my bowl than I thought there were. Add to that the fact that it is more "bean" than "soup," and you understand why I've felt full today. And that was before the chili which we had for dinner. In big bowls. Not really cheating there, but I still feel bloated. And I had two biscuits, on top of it.

Wow. I suck. But tomorrow (and the rest of this week) will be better...

Week 1 Results

2008-11-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday morning (Sunday being official weigh-in day), I have lost exactly 5 lbs. I'm pretty happy about it, too. It definitely seems that my cravings are much smaller than they were early last week. In fact, yesterday MB & I (mostly MB) made sugar cookies. Ordinarily, that would have spelled doom for any type of healthy eating, but we didn't even touch them! Not even the dough! What makes this more amazing is that we were both in less-than-pleasant moods yesterday afternoon -- probably a combination of high-maintenance kids and having the AZ Cardinals get pretty badly beaten. We were primed for an emotional eating binge, but stayed away!

So, total resuls: Beginning of week 2 -- 250.8

Day 3

2008-11-18T18:21:00.001-08:00

So I've been doing this for three days now. Yesterday was, by far, the worst. I just felt hungry from the moment I got home until I went to bed, practically. Today was better, but only after I ate three large bowls of soup. (Mostly broth, some chicken and kidney beans in it, too.) I've also drunk a lot of water tonight, so that might have helped. The problem is, now I feel a bit waterlogged. Hmmm...

Suggestions?

Measurements

2008-11-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

So, apparently you can't have a weight-loss/fitness blog without putting some stats in. Eventually, I will put in some more measurements (waist, neck, etc.), but until then, here's my weight.

I started South Beach on November 16. At that time, I was 6'1" and weighed 255.7 lbs. Weigh-ins will be on Sundays. I'll see if I can find a tape measure and take some other measurements (and calculate body fat) later this week. If I can, I will post those once each month, say on the 20th.

Gut-Hacking

2008-11-16T20:22:00.001-08:00

I was trying to decide on a name for this blog. I thought about "I'm too damn fat" and "Roly-Poly Me," but they just didn't sound right. Then I thought about the whole purpose behind this particular blog. I don't just want hypothetical readers to keep me accountable. I want to keep track of how I'm doing for myself, too. I'm going to try different things, and I want to see how they work. It's a bit like life-hacking, but I'm not trying to make myself more productive (at least not directly). I'm trying to become more healthy. I'm gut-hacking.

About Me

2008-11-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my first post on this blog. If you are reading this, I apologize -- it probably means your life sucks and you have nothing to do. Being that bored is rough.

I am obese - at least, that's what Wii Fit says every time I come within ten feet of the balance board. I like to imagine that I have more muscle than average and that, while I am by no means svelte, I don't have quite as much body fat as my BMI indicates.

I suppose, though, that exactly how tubby I am is a bit beside the point. I have lots of health reasons to try to lose weight, anyway. I have high cholesterol, both of my parents are diabetic and my mother is a survivor of colon cancer. On top of all that, I am just uncomfortable. Not just with the way I look, but physically uncomfortable. I feel out of breath often -- when I'm sitting down. I think that's because of fat deposits beneath my abdominal muscles which are pushing my guts up into my rib cage, where my lungs usually like to hang out. I am also the proud owner of a slightly herniated belly button, which is tender to the touch at lest for a couple of hours each week. My slacks don't fit, and if I have to buy even-larger pants, I'll have to punch myself in the face. I've had two back surgeries.

I'm tired of all of it. I don't think that losing a lot of weight will fix all of those problems, but I hope it will make some of them better, at least. So, I'm starting (again) on my journey to become less rotund. I started this blog not so much in the hope that people will read it, but in the hope that the fact that people might theoretically read it might (theoretically) keep me on the straight and narrow a bit more than I might otherwise be inclined to do. So, here's my plan.

My wife and I are going on the South Beach Diet. Today was our first day, and we've managed not to screw up too much. I've done it before with some success, but this is the first time that we've both tried it at the same time. I'm not going to exercise too much to begin with, but I will set weekly goals for physical activity, which will increase over time. I'm going to post every few days to update all you theoretical readers on my progress, and eventually, I'll actually reach some fitness goals. It'll be great!