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Christmas Is No Excuse December 29, 2005

Our whole family visited my parents for 6 days over Christmas, yet I still didn’t miss a day of walking. I even went out on Christmas day, arriving back home with perfect timing to have a shower, get the girls up, and start the unwrapping of presents. The streets were absolutely deserted on Christmas morning, and not a single shop was open in the main street. It was eery.

I know that exercise is only one half of weight loss, and food intake is the other. I haven’t done anything about my diet yet, which actually isn’t too bad. We generally cook pretty healthy food, although admittedly my servings could probably be a bit smaller.

I figure that it’s easier to tackle one aspect of your lifestyle at a time, and once exercising becomes entrenched as a routine habit, I’ll start to work on the diet. Besides, it’s Christmas – who can resist all the delicious treats and left-overs on offer at this time of the year?!

Weekly Weigh-In 2005-12-25 December 25, 2005

This was a pretty good week. I missed one day of exercise, but I think one day off per week is acceptable. I dropped a kilo, too, which is great! I was especially pleased that I was able to maintain the regular commitment to exercise despite all the Christmas chaos, and being on holiday at my parents’ place for two of those days.

It was very enlightening walking the streets of my childhood town again – it’s probably been 15 years since I last walked any of those streets. A lot of my old friends’ houses have changed, but a lot are still the same. Many of the houses have been turned into bed-and-breakfasts to take advantage of the local tourist trade, which has certainly skyrocketed since I lived there. Seeing the changes was an extra source of motivation to get out walking each morning, heading off in a different direction each time and exploring a different part of town. It’s interesting to note that there aren’t any new streets in the town at all!

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Sweat It December 24, 2005

In order to get benefit from exercise, you really need to get your heart rate up and sweat. You’re not out for a stroll to the shops, you’re burning calories!

So I’ve started jogging a bit during my walks. I find if I walk for a few minutes to warm up, and then jog for a minute or two, it really gets my heart rate up. Then I walk for a bit to get my breath back, then jog for a bit, then walk again, and so on.

The only problem I’ve had with jogging is that my iPod is one of the big ones, and it’s a bit heavy and bounces around in my pocket. I’m worried I’m going to drop it. So I’ve made a deal with myself that I’ll buy one of the tiny iPod Shuffles once I get my weight under 100 kg. They’re not very expensive, and I think that’s a milestone worth celebrating, don’t you?

No Exercise Today December 22, 2005

I didn’t make it out for a walk this morning (the girls were up and down all night, so we didn’t get much sleep), and wasn’t able to go at night because we had Christmas stuff to organise. This is the first day I’ve missed exercising since starting. I’m sure it’s good to have a day off every now and then, but I’m keen to get back out there again tomorrow morning!

Missed A Morning, Made It Up December 20, 2005

Today was the first morning walk that I missed. I slept through the alarm clock, and the girls didn’t wake up until nearly 6:30am, so all I could do was scramble out of bed, shower and get dressed, and head off to work at 7:00.

I actually missed going for the walk, and didn’t feel as alert at work today as I have been.

After we got the girls off to bed tonight (about 8:00pm), I decided to go out walking. My wife was doing some bookkeeping work anyway, so she didn’t miss me. I’m glad that I didn’t skip a day after all, and I slept well tonight after the exercise.

Weekly Weigh-In 2005-12-18 December 18, 2005

At the end of my first week, I’ve lost a kilo! Yay! I weigh myself each Sunday after walking, before I get in the shower or have breakfast. I realise I’m probably a little dehydrated at this point after the walk so the figure could be a little low, but it’s convenient and it’ll provide consistency in the measurements each week to weigh in after exercising and before eating.

My scales have a limit of reading of 1 kg, so I’ll be using that level of accuracy when taking measurements. I’d like to eventually get a set of digital scales that have the body fat analysis sensor pads as well, but I’ll hold off until I can convince my wife she really wants to buy them :-) .

I’m pleased to have made it through the first week unscathed, and am still enthusiastic about sticking with the morning walks. This is a great sign!

If you’d like to record your progress on my Weekly Update pages, feel free to add it to the comments. Sometimes it’s helpful to make yourself accountable to others, so you’re less likely to make excuses and give up! Use this template so we can all see how you’re going:

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A Man With A Pram December 15, 2005

G woke up early this morning, so I dressed her and took her out walking with me in a pram. She really enjoyed it, especially when I ran on a few flat bits of the footpath (another benefit of walking before 6:00am is that nobody can see you being silly!).

Pushing a pram seems to work different muscles – I noticed my legs were sore in different places today, and my arms were a bit sore too. I guess that’s a good thing!

I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t get as much exercise when pushing a pram as I do when walking briskly, but I was still pretty tired by the end of the walk. My town is quite hilly, so the pram gives some good resistance training!

iPod – My Smallest Piece of Exercise Equipment December 13, 2005

I walked again this morning, and actually enjoyed it.

Finding Time

Getting up at 5:30am seems to solve my Time- and Guilt-based aversions to exercise. I’ve found the extra half-hour in my day by simply getting up earlier, and so far it doesn’t seem to require me going to bed earlier at night. And I don’t feel guilty about leaving my wife at home to get the kids ready without help, since they’re all still in bed at that time (including her!).

Dealing With Boredom

But the big killer for me in the past has been Boredom. There just isn’t enough interest in plain old walking to keep me motivated day after day, week after week. Sure, you can vary your route on different days, but it’s still pretty uninteresting.

I’ve found a solution that’s working for me, though, and it might also work for you.

Audio Books

I have a half-hour drive to work every day, which is normally pretty much dead time. There’s not a lot you can do in a car to use that time productively, so you end up just listening to mindless radio. Then a couple of years ago I discovered the audio book section in my local library, and tried listening to books on the way to work. It turns out to be a great use of that time! I was getting through a full book every week or two.

Podcasts

About a year ago I started downloading and listening to podcasts, which were even better as they were directly related to my own interests – most of the books on tape were targeted to the older residents of our town, and I’d already been through most of the ones that really interested me.

So, I’m taking my iPod out with me in the mornings and listening to podcasts that I’m really interested in. Walking is no longer boring – it’s like I’m getting up half an hour early to listen to podcasts while my body goes for a walk.

Banish Laziness Too!

As an unexpected side effect, listening to podcasts also helps me with my Laziness problem. Each episode of a podcast is usually 10 minutes to an hour long, so it’s pretty rare that I finish an episode just as I get home (whether driving or walking). Each morning, I’m keen to get up and get out walking because I’m interested to hear the rest of the episode. Today I even kept walking for about 10 minutes longer because I wanted to keep listening.

Finding Podcasts

To find podcasts, just install Apple’s iTunes (available for Windows or Mac) and click on the Podcasts tab. You can learn more about using iTunes for listening to podcasts at the Apple web site. Or if you don’t want to use iTunes, read about podcasting at Wikipedia, download an alternative podcatching client, and search for podcasts at Podcast Alley.

Other Sources of Audio

If you can’t find any podcasts you’re interested in, or you don’t have broadband and so can’t download them, try audio books. Most libraries have them tucked away somewhere, and it really isn’t hard to rip the CDs into your iPod so you can listen to them more easily. You can purchase audio books online via the iTunes Music Store or somewhere like Audible.com. You could also purchase used audio books on CD from eBay, and then sell them again after you’ve listened to them.

Steve Pavlina’s Podcast December 12, 2005

I listened to some podcasts by Steve Pavlina on the iPod while out walking this morning – highly recommended if you’re interested in personal development. There are quite a few audio files already there on Steve’s site, so as well as subscribing for updates you can download all the past shows. They should keep me going for the next week or so!

The First Day

Today, I got up at 5:30am and went for a brisk half-hour walk. It actually wasn’t too bad.

Getting up at 5:30am instead of my usual 6:00-6:30 start actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It’s only really half an hour less sleep, and doing some exercise seems to wake you up faster and keep you more alert during the day.

The main benefit of an early start for me, though, is that the children normally don’t wake up until 6:00am. So nobody misses me for that half hour, and I can help getting kids dressed, making breakfasts, etc when I get back.

If G does wake up early, I guess I’ll get her dressed and bundle her into a pram and take her with me.

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