FatBlogger

85 down, 915 to go!

Well May has come and gone and I think my little walking "experiment" has been a complete success. Not on a grand scale mind you, I only lost 3 pounds, but there was other insight gained and I am ready for "the next step".

During the month of May I tried to walk 3 miles everyday, but there was 6 days I didn't walk. To compensate I would walk 4 miles the next few days. At the end of it all, I averaged 2.75 miles a day, burning about 350 calories each time. My last walk was Friday, and I went 6 miles.

What I was trying to accomplish in May was to establish a new habit, independent of diet and the weight-loss mentality, that exercise is going to be a part of my life regardless of what I eat or where I am on the "not ready to diet" scale. I think it has worked. I REALLY looked forward to just the simple act of walking for an hour, really looked forward to a rather secluded time by myself, just me and my Nano, thinking about stuff, working stuff out...and I came away with some rather interesting conclusions, not the least of which is WHY I AM FAT AND WHY I WANT TO BE, a topic I am eager to share with you in a post in the near future.

This task was NOT EASY, despite the very simple premise. For the first two weeks every fiber in my being kept saying, "stop walking, this is stupid unless you are going to diet". It was a real mental challenge to NOT equate exercise with diet, it was very hard to separate the two on a daily basis. But by the end of the month, I succeeded and never the two shall meet again. Diet and exercise work great together, but you CAN do one without the  other...and you should.

Besides, for many obese, the stress of dieting AND exercise is too much, many quit after three days. Why the all at once mentality when you have waited so long anyway? What is a few months of gradual steps compared to years of being fat and miserable?

The daily walking really jogged loose a few things about me and my weight-loss anyway, things that would never have surfaced if I had been trying to "not eat" things. I ate like I normally ate, which is not all that good to be honest. I just wanted to see if exercise can be successful with out diet, and it can.

Yes, you can lose weight just by walking. It takes A LOT of walking, but it can be done. Particularly when you do it at night or in the evening when you would normally be eating poorly anyway.  Transfer time and energy away from eating and use it for something good for you, a win-win situation.

just keep moving....

That has been my mantra, and not always as easy as one might think. The inner struggle to stop exercising, or in my case, walking, has been much stronger than I anticipated. There is this little voice (not a real voice mind you) that keeps telling me to stop walking and WAIT for the diet to begin. It seems that separating diet and exercise goes against the grain of established habit. GOOD! Anything different is good at this point, so I just keep walking.

So far I have walked 46 miles in 16 days, almost a 3 mile average. I have been trying to get in an hour a day, and usually walk about 3 1/2 miles in that time. I have missed about three days of walking so far due to rain, but try to make up for it the next day.

I am doing a little experiment this May, to see if just walking an hour a day will be enough to lose weight without changing your eating habits. So far I can tell you, I feel better, but not sure if that is translating into fat loss, I will tell you June 1.

Another good side effect of walking an hour a day it was it does for you mind, like clear the cobwebs. If I am having an issue with my teen, the walk usually clears things up for me. It is almost as good as meditation, just think about a subject while you walk, you forget about the walking and at the same time clear your head regarding your issue. I almost always come to some conclusion...or at the very least, have calmed down.

46 miles also translates into about 184 meals overseas, and boy, do they need it right now.

So on this one thing, this single thing that I am now concentrating on, it is going good. Not without an inner struggle, but one that I can handle because I am not wrestling with food issues or anything else...all I have to do is just keep moving.

A Journey of 1000 Miles Must Begin With A Single Step

Lao Tzu said that over 2500 years ago, and it is still true today. Good advice I am going to heed as I begin my own thousand mile journey in two weeks.

That's right, on May 1st I am going to begin walking, my only goal to complete 1000 miles, hopefully in a year or so. The way I look at it, and calculate it, I can lose at least 40 pounds just by the simple act of walking for an hour every day.

Of course I won't be able to do that at first, but this month I have been walking an hour once or twice a week to get back into it. Soon enough I will be up to an hour a day. Eventually I will want to jog a bit, then a bit more, then maybe even, dare I say the word...run!

This all came about because of my Nano, Nike+, the Houston Marathon and Lao. The Nano with Nike+  really is good motivation. You can join other challenges online, compete with friends, or just against yourself. Now they even have training programs like "walk to run", 5K, 10K, all the way up to marathon. It really is pretty neat. Not cheap though, but still less expensive than what you will pay for a gym membership you don't use! I think Nike has come out with a version that is less expensive, I don't think it plays music though.

Anyway, the thing can tell you how many calories you burned on that walk, and I started to notice that I was burning around 500+ for 3 miles. it occurred to me that if I just did that I could counter the 500 calories I over-eat everyday, and eventually my weight would go back to normal. Yeah, it's a long term project, but what the hell, I'm not doing anything anyway. Get moving, worry about the food part later, that is my new motto. It was probably my old motto too, I just forgot.

I had to change the site around a bit to accommodate my new widgets from my Nike+ but now you can see what I am doing, when, my pace.

I have tried this kind of thing before, like in "October Rules", and it did work for a while, but eventually crap happens and that motivation just fades away. This won't fade away until I reach 1000 miles. It will be glaring at me right up front every week.

What I am really looking for is to begin building a habit of exercise, before I try and change my dietary habits. Exercise alone, if I do it enough, could very well eliminate by weight struggle, probably in your case too. I have found it much to difficult to try and do both at the same time, so once again, I will attempt to separate the activity in my life from the food choices in my life...they really are two very different things...why do we lump them together?

Join me if you want, and we can take this journey together. You don't have to buy an iPod, I can figure your calories per mile, but you will have to e-mail me your age, weight and height. I can keep track of all our miles with post updates or something.

Hey, it could happen. Why not? We'll get started and figure out the rest as we go...and go, and go and go and go!

Fitness 19

Your comments have helped me shake off the winter doldrums and get excited about getting healthy again. I can do it. I guess because it is such a long road it can seem daunting. When you have had limited success in the past, you can feel defeated before you get started.

A new gym opened up right next to our neighborhood. I can walk there if I want, it is less than a mile. It is a franchise called "Fitness 19". It is a simple gym, minimal. Bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, weight machines. Nothing fancy to attract yuppie crowds, no damn juice bar, no tanning beds. I like that. My son and I went to the opening and tried out a few machines last night and I am actually excited about it.

Afterward we all sat down and talked about when we would be able to go, something you must consider when you have a baby! We have a tentative plan in place for that, but I am quite sure it is going to need a bit of tweaking here and there, babies have a knack for throwing monkey wrenches! My #1 priority IS the baby anyway, #2 is exercising, regardless of what time...hopefully that will be enough. Of course if I have to get up at 5am to go to the gym, I may need a bit of help and a heavy dose of caffeine!

It is coming together. We are all into it, even my sister-in-law who moved here recently... so there is a lot of support close to home now and shared goals... plus I have you guys!  There is a New Year on the horizon, and a new feeling of optimism...now all that is needed is a bit more preparation and a smattering of practice.

Week 5!

Now we are into our 5th week of trying to get this exercise habit going. Should be trying to get in  a total of 75 minutes for the week...could be every day for 7-1/2 minutes or 5 days at 15 minutes or 3 days at 25 minutes or any which way you feel like doing!

Does it feel like a habit yet? Are you starting to get addicted to flowing endorphins? I am. That is to say, I feel rather guilty and worthless when I don't get to exercise, is that the same thing? Probably not, but at least I don't feel guilty and worthless about my weight...even though it has not gone down, it still feels like I am doing something about it.

Last week I exercised for only one 30 minute period. However, on Saturday I did 4 hours of yard-work, planting, mulching, lifting...and on Sunday I spent about 3 hours block walking door to door rather quickly, probably about 8-10 miles total?

Sure that is exercise, it is activity, but it just doesn't feel right to me unless it is a more conventional aerobic exercise, like jogging. I need to be huffing and puffing I guess.

According to this activity calculator  I burned 400 calories jogging on the treadmill for 30 minutes, 1, 400 calories  doing the block  walk door to door and 1,900 calories doing the yard-work!  So why then does it feel  like I did not get my exercise in? Why does it feel like I did more with that 30 minutes than I did on the weekend? Huffing and puffing I guess.

Experts say that its all the same, but I don't think so. There is something in that aerobic activity that goes further, last longer, changes your metabolism rather than just burn calories, at least for me. I have never had a successful or sustained weight-loss without aerobic activity, like jogging. Never. Last year I walked and walked for the marathon training, about two months worth, I was feeling great, but not losing any weight.

Maybe this is just me, maybe just my imagination, maybe I tend to stick to a diet if I am doing more aerobic activity, but I wonder how many of us feel or react the same way, and how many of us give up when we can't get to that aerobic activity level routinely?

Well... such things don't matter right now for what I (and we) are trying to do here, establish the exercise habit...worry about the intensity later!

I like what you guys are doing out there, you are keeping me going, don't stop now!!!

Good Times

It has been hard to find time to exercise, it seems when the time finally comes where I can, I am just too tired.  I like the mornings, but the opportunity just has not been there with the baby now, so usually early evenings are my best bet, around 6. The trouble is that after I exercise I feel refreshed and re-invigorated, a good thing, but not when I go to bed a few hours later. I then stay up too late, get less sleep and the next day is a drag. Although I am seeing no results, this kind of trial and error is just what I was looking for, a chance to get it right without the pressure of being in a weight-loss plan.

I am a person who likes routine, or at least thinking and planning one anyway! The routine makes me feel like I am making progress, it is something I can measure. I like to be on time and punctual, I HATE to be late for anything, it just seems like failure to me. If I ever arrived at the movies 5 or 10 minutes late, I would turn around and go home! It seems I am less happy when I get my exercise in a scatter-shot fashion, taking advantage of any opportunity when it arises. I don't know why that is, it shouldn't make a bit of difference...but it does. When I get my routine down it will be smooth sailing right! RIGHT? Don't burst my bubble people. Of course with a baby under a year old, AND a 15 year old teen, can there ever be a routine? Can I ever be on time for anything, let alone on time for my exercise? I laugh at the folly of it all...

Speaking of time, it seems to be a key factor in weight-loss, or at least being healthy;

What time to exercise?
How much time do you exercise?
What kind of exercise do you do with your time?
How much time do you spend eating and drinking?
What do you eat and drink with your time?
How much time do you sleep?

Become the master of your time and you will be one happy person it seems! This much I do know; when I exercise, or spend time with a vigorous activity, I feel good about myself, for that period of time, joyous in some occasions...and I often wish I could extend that feeling out longer by going longer. For as soon as I take a shower, and the mirror reveals the truth, it all evaporates into a thin veil of memory.

I think Denise is on to something, she has a thought , and I think it is a good one!

Week 4!

Here already? Are we really into 4 weeks? It is going by fast, like daylight...fading away into the New Year!

Now about this week...we are up to an HOUR of exercise, Yeah! That is a total of 60 minutes. Again, I am simply going to add another day of 15 minutes to my week. I failed last week, only getting in two days of 15, but I did do a days worth of yard-work on Saturday...does that count? I was beat, and decided that after a rally on Sunday , that I would exercise. Well....I pulled some muscle in my calf and could barely walk! I noticed it had been tight after my last treadmill exercise, and then something happened on Sunday and it just seized up painfully. Today it is better and I think I will give it another day and hit the bike on Tuesday.

Lets have some fun moving out there and close out this month with a good solid week of exercise!!!

Week 3!

OK, we are on our way into week 3 and should be aiming for up to 45 total minutes of exercise this week! I myself will be adding another 15 minute day to the mix, anyway you want to do it is fine, good, GREAT! Good luck, keep it up,  and let us know how you did!

Variety is the spice of life!

OK, we are moving right along! Now, maybe you have an exercise that you love...maybe you don't. One of the reasons to start out slow and build over time is to find that exercise that makes you want to exercise, to find that time of day that works for you. You need both those things if you are serious about making activity a habit for life.

For me, I like mornings because it is when it is coolest here in Houston, and quietest. Some of you up north might not have a need or desire like that, some of you may want to do things in your house or apt for awhile. Right now I say try as many different things as you can, you never know what might reach out to you, or into you, and move you in more ways than just your body.

For example, if I can get to a park in the early morning hours, with my mp3, it is truly a great and rewarding experience, talk about releasing stress. Sometimes I can't make it to the park, so my back up is the treadmill in the garage! You gotta have a back up right?

Here is a good web-site by the Mayo Clinic  with tips on how to get an exercise program going  that works for you. 

If you vary your exercise routines you are much more likely to keep exercising, and much more likely to enjoy it! Here is a good article at About.com regarding the study and another one about the benefits of exercise variety.

I found an interesting article from Johns Hopkins about how exercise variety seems to reduce the risk Alzheimer's.

I think my favorite sites about exercise though can be found at WebMd. Their "Calorie Counter"  is actually an activity calorie counter, and can tell you the amount of calories that different activities can burn. You can play with intensity, time and weight to see what you can do.

Another great site there is the "Metabolism Counter".  Now this is interesting; you plug in your current weight and activity and can see how much you burn daily. I like to plug the weight I want to be, and then turn up the activity to where I want to be and look at the difference...and WOW is it a lot, like around 1,000 calories more than what I am eating now at my fat weight! If I can ever get to that level, life will be sweet!

Try some different things, do what you can, what is convenient, what is available, what you know you can go back to again and again...and once in a while... try something new again just to mix it up!

Anyway, check these places out and let us know if you have any other sites or info to share!

Lets get some ideas going out there in the comment section of different activities we can all do, or try....

Week 2!

Already? Seems like we just got started and now we are into the second week! Everyone did great, most more than they had too! If you did not get your 15 minutes in, don't sweat it...well, actually...do sweat it...but do it in the form of some activity, not stress! You can still jump in at any point, remember...this is to build a new, healthier habit...and we are looking to do that over the next three months.

The post "what we're doing!" will always be on the upper right of the blog under "Exercise!", and it would be good to keep commenting there as you do stuff, we can support each other through that.

This week we are looking to get in a total of 30 minutes, any which way you like. I am going to add another 15 minute work out, so I have two days of 15 minutes each...but you can do 6 minutes for 5 days, or 10 minutes for 3 days, or 30 minutes for 1 day, or any combination that works for you. Remember to keep trying new or different things, experiment with activities, time of day, length of work out...just have fun and keep a mental inventory of what you liked about it or disliked about it and adjust next time. Knowledge is power, and if you don't know what you really like, what will really last for you, then you are just hurting your chances to make this a life long habit right?

No worries... no stress... just some gentle movement, knowledge, fun, support!

On Wednesday I am going to begin talking about different types of exercises, so get your ideas ready! See you then and lets get moving out there!