Sunny San Diego

It's taken me a few days to figure out how to post to the blog from the blackberry but here we are. So far things here have been just fine. Yesterday was Brian's presentation and it went well. We went to the beach on Sunday to walk around, and I've never seen so many people at the beach before in my life. Pictures will most likely come when we get home. Right now I am sitting at an out door mall drinking the only sweet tea in California and enjoying the shade. It's been unseasonablly hot here so far. I think the hot and dry is messing with my sinuses slightly. I'll just have to suffer through, right?

Go Go Gadget Metabolism

So in an effort to be more accountable about working out, I'm going to attempt to post once a week about my progress and/or laziness.

Last week I worked out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and.... and... well I meant to workout more.  I really need to workout 5-6 times a week, but I can't really be too dissapointed in 3 times.

I worked out today too.  As usual it was two 30 minute sessions.  However, the heart rate monitor was having issues with transmitting/receiving, so the first 30 minutes I did on cardio mode.  It is a trapezoid of resistance.  I spent 18 minutes at level 11 resisitance, 6 minutes building up and 6 minutes building down.  The second session I was covered in enough sweat the heart monitor had no trouble doing heart rate mode.

I weighed in at 236.8 lbs.  I feel like I'm back on track on my goal of another 10 lbs.  This was only a few tenths of a lbs more than where I left off last Wednesday.  I suppose my metabolism is starting to increase.  Back in January and February any time off meant weight gain.  I was shocked last week that I really hadn't gained that much from being lazy for two weeks.  Regardless even if my metabolism is increasing, I can't count on it to keep me from gaining weight when I don't work out for stretches at a time.  It will decrease probably faster than it will increase.

I'm quite happy to be at 236.8lbs today.  This week I will get in at least 5 work outs and the result will be 232 lbs.

Damn You Scuba Steve

How dare you call me out!?!? The reason why there have been no updates is there hasn't been any progress, almost regression. After feeling that I accomplished something by losing 10 pounds, I celebrated by not working out. Its amazing how quickly you lose routine and how much of a chore it feels like to workout after you've stopped for a few days. Then you start to feel really guilty and slightly ashamed. You almost don't want to workout because you don't want to see how much weight you gained back. Sure I lost 10 pounds, but 238 isn't where I want to be, and I'm going to just go back up to 250 if I don't workout.

Anyway excuses really don't mean anything. They aren't going to help me lose weight. I regained my motivation again this evening. I got back on the elliptical and did another two 30 minute sessions. Afraid of being something like 245 I even had my wife turn away when I weighed myself. I was completely shocked to be at 238.5 lbs. So I consider myself lucky and its time to get myself down to 228 lbs.

Brian

10 Pounds!

I suppose you can call it a New Years resolution.  Since January 13th, I've been actively working to lose weight.  Today I've dropped 10 lbs since December 29th.   I'm quite excited since this was my first tangible goal.  

What are my goals?  Well I'm taking this in 10 lbs increments.  So my most recent goal is now 228 lbs.  Next I would love to be no longer in the "obese" category of Body Mass Index (BMI).  For a 6 foot tall person, dropping below 221 lbs the BMI category changes from obese to overweight.  I'm really shocked I'm considered obese.  That's the highest weight category.  I would think there'd be something higher, maybe fluffy or even just $@&#$.  I'm currently in the same category as some guy who can't even leave his bed because he's too fat.  Far off goals would include sub-200 lbs, and leaving overweight category of BMI and reaching normal (184lbs).  Those are so far off, I can't even image myself those weights.  I really don't have a timeline, other than steady improvement.  

How am I losing weight?  Well starting with Jan 13th, I've been exercising.  Each data point on the above chart corresponds to a day I worked out.  Back in January,  we dug out an old exercise equipment Anna owned, called Tony Little's Gazelle Edge.  I don't really recommend it.  I has nearly zero resistance.  In order to sustain a good workout I had to combine it with a heart rate monitor and 5lbs leg weights.  It took me 15 minutes just to reach my target heart rate and it was really easy for it to drop out of my target range.   However, I still worked at it and would do two 30 minutes sessions.  What I really liked about it was I could entertain myself with the TV and their was no impact on my shins.  At the end of the workout I was quite happy of not needing to ice my shins with bags of frozen peas.  At the beginning of February we upgraded to a real piece of exercise equipment, an elliptical,  Sole E25.  Yes it put a dent in our savings, and yes it takes up quite a bit of valuable space in our living room, but losing weight is really important to us.  We vow not to let it collect dust like most exercise equipments you see in people's homes.  Again I work out in two 30 minute sessions.  I usually have it on the heart rate setting, the Sole E25 has its own heart rate monitor that allows the elliptical to dynamically adjust resistance to keep you near your preset target heart rate.  I'll take a 5-10 minute break between the 30 minute sessions.  We monitor our progress using the Nintendo Wii Fit.  

  Anna said to tell you that she's extremely proud of me.  I'm proud of her also.  She is also working out with goals of weight loss.  Unfortunately, its much more difficult for her. The biggest issue she is working against is her work schedule.  While I'm able to work out in the evenings after work, she cannot.  When you work a 12 hour shift all you have time for outside of work is maybe a meal and sleep.  It unreasonable to think she would have enough energy (she doesn't) and sacrifice valuable sleep to exercise on days she works.  Anna is working on days she has off, but progress is much slower than me.  Regardless of all this, she keeps putting in a good 60 minutes on days she has off.  I do think we'll see progress, and I'm extremely proud she's keeps working at it.