Monday, February 22, 2010

Finding time.

Weekly Stats
Current: 228.6
Weekly Loss: .4
To Go: 53.6
Total 96.4

The weight loss this week was quite the disappointment. When I weighed myself on Saturday, I was down 3 lbs for the week and was one lbs away from having lost 100 lbs. I expect the scale to be up a bit on Sunday since I don't work out, but Monday I am usually at least what I was on Saturday if not even more. To top it off, I went out walking in the cold this morning and went about 5 miles. Maybe the sweat froze to my body and weighed me down! Well, I will have to wait a week or two to see the 100 lbs milestone. At least I didn't gain.

I am often asked how I am losing the weight and I have talked a bit about this before. Exercise in and of itself is good for your health, but for weight loss in and of itself, it can be counter productive. The reason being is that working out will often increase your appetite. Often you feel you are justified in eating more since you are working out. However if you don't watch what you eat, it is easy to undo in one unwise food choice what you just spent an hour working out to burn.

On the other hand, just restricting calories can be counter productive as well. You not only lose fat, but in the process you will probably lose muscle as well. If you then resume your former eating habits, when you gain back, you don't gain the corresponding muscle back, but probably a higher percentage of fat. This makes each attempt at losing weight harder. It is really important then to both exercise for health and muscle tone as well as eating healthy and watching the calorie intake so the weight will come off.

This brings me to finding time to exercise. It is important to establish a time that works for you. I have found that getting up at 5 in the morning is best for me. Now as those who know me, I am not a morning person. I cannot get right out of bed. My good wife can get right up out of bed and be ready to exercise in 5 minutes. Me on the other hand, it takes me at least 20 minutes to get ready. I have to establish things like who I am, where I am and what I was going to do. I am only half kidding about this. I have to get a bright light on just to let my body know it is time to get going. So why do I choose this time to get up. It's because I have yet to have someone need my attention at 5am! The kids have never needed my help, the phone doesn't ring, I am free to get done what I need to do. I will even get up at 4am on occasion if I have to be somewhere early. Is it easy? Heck no! But it is easier as I have made it a habit. Some days, I even wake up before the alarm goes off and drag myself out of bed. Also being in better shape and being more healthy has led to better sleep patterns at night. It has also made it easier to go to bed at a decent hour because I am more than ready to go to sleep.

Find a time that works for you, but consider getting up early and making exercising a priority! If I can do it, so can you. Good luck Mike and Sarah as you start your training this week for the half marathon. Everyone else, keep up the good work on your goals to being more healthy! Hang in there and I will too.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A day late, 3 lbs short.

Weekly Stats
Current: 229
Weekly Loss: 3
To Go: 54
Total 96

Sorry I am a day late in reporting. I let things like exercise and having fun with the family get in the way. ;)

I had another good week! The extra work is paying off and I am a little ahead of where I need to be to lose 10 lbs for the month. I have currently lost 6 lbs at the half way point.

Saturday has become my extra mile day. I was able to do about 7 1/2 miles. I am trying to add on a mile each week. This has really helped out on my endurance and will better prepare me for all the hikes I have planned for the better weather. Since I had yesterday off for President's Day, I also did a 6 miler. The weather has been decent enough to get out so I made the most of it. I think it's about time for me to split time between three days of walking long distances and three days of circuit training and elliptical on the other three. I have really enjoyed getting out and about the past few weeks.

Gordon and Martha are still working out and seeing results. Mike and Sarah are training first for a half marathon on May 1st and a full marathon in the fall. I told Sarah I will work up to at least be able to walk a half marathon at the same time. It will help me prepare for my Timp hike in the fall. Great job to the rest of you for working out and taking off the extra weight as well. Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Are you ok?

Weekly Stats
Current: 232
Weekly Loss: 3.2
To Go: 57
Total 93

Having lost this much weight, people have been able to approach me and ask me if I lost weight. This has always been good that people can tell. When you get really heavy, you can lose 30 lbs and people don't notice that much of a difference. I always counted it as a victory when someone you don't know ask if you have lost weight. After having lost 93 lbs, I have had several unexpected questions. They focus around the same theme of "are you ok?". People have started to ask if my health is ok. I guess they think that I might have some health issue that might make me lose weight. I have assured several people that I feel better now than I have in a long time and I am doing just fine. There was a variation on this theme that humbled me though. I am a merit badge counselor for Family Life. I have the opportunity to teach the class once a year in June, but not all of the scouts finish it in the 2 class sessions. I had a young scout come over to the house yesterday who probably hadn't seen me since June. He asked if I had cancer. When I told him no, he told me that his aunt had it. I asked him if he though I had cancer since I had lost a lot a weight since he had last seen me. He told me no, he thought I had cancer because of my closely cropped, thinning hair. Conversation over. Signed his merit badge card and I wished him luck. Geeze!

I had a good week. I put in some extra work including a 6.5 mile hike up the bike trail in Provo Canyon. I was really happy to be able to put in that kind of mileage. When the warm weather comes back, I am anxious to try out my hiking legs on a trail or two!

Sounds like others of you are trying to cope with the cold weather where you are and still get some exercise in! Mike, Sarah, Rachel, Gordon and Bill, great job on getting out and making the best of it in the winter. Great job to the rest of you like Martha who are hanging in there getting the workout done at home. And kudos to you (Chris, Rick, Janet and others) who are dropping weight during a difficult time of year. Hang in there and I will too!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Walking the Walk - Star Time

Weekly Stats
Current: 235.2
Weekly Loss: 3.8
To Go: 60.2
Total 89.8

First the great news! I posted a new 10 lbs star! For all intents and purposes I have reached 90 lbs lost! I am also quite happy with my weight loss for January. I lost 10.6 lbs this last month which met my goal of 10 lbs a month. February will more of a challenge since it is a short month. Three less days will make a difference so I need to be dedicated to reach 10 lbs this month.

I have done all of my exercising indoors this month until Saturday. It hasn't snowed for several days and it was supposed to be good weather so I decided to see if I could make it around an old loop I used to walk. It is between 4 and 4.5 miles from my house down to Riverwoods, cutting back to the mouth of Provo Canyon and then heading home via 8th North. From an exertion standpoint I was really pleased. It was a good workout, but it didn't kill be at all. I had plenty of reserves left when I got home to get other things done. The only problem was that I didn't dress warm enough. When I got on University Avenue, the sun was still behind Cascade and the breeze was blowing from the canyon. Man was it cold! Once I got headed down 8th North and got the wind behind me it wasn't bad.

Shout outs to Janet and her husband for their weight loss! That is great! Chris has lost 40 lbs and Martha has been working out and enjoying yoga. Yoga is harder than it seems! I have been sore and tired after a yoga workout! Keep up the great work everyone. Hang in there and I will too!