Don't Miss More Than One Day…

“Don't miss more than one day of exercise.” Yes, that’s what it said, and I was shocked. In a short blurb by Jennifer Gruenemay at Lifescript, in her daily fitness tip, she said that skipping too many days between workouts jeopardizes the health benefits I was after in the first place. Experts say that you are less likely to stay with your routine if you skip more than one day between workouts. My routine has me at the fitness center 3-4 days a week. I typically go Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. If I skip Saturday that leaves two days off. There are times when I have a cold and I stay away out of consideration for the other patrons. Other times I get overwhelmed by work and cut out my workout. When I went to New Orleans for a conference, I missed for eight days.

The second part of her blurb not only gave me hope, it changed my thinking and that’s frequently a good thing. She said, “Working out every day doesn’t necessarily mean you have to train like you’re running a marathon. Alternate hard workouts with easy workouts, like just walking for 30 minutes around the block…” I can do that. I can even sit on the stationary bicycle I walk around on the way to my desk in my home study every day, and pedal gently for a while on off days.

I tend to be a somewhat obsessive, all-or-nothing type person. I think of my workout as ten minutes of fast walking on the treadmill to get my heart rate up, two circuits on the weight machines, and twenty minutes back on the treadmill followed by a five minute cool-down at a slower pace. If what I do is not that, well, it’s not my workout. This one paragraph blurb has me reevaluating my rigid thinking. I can walk for 30 minutes, ride my stationary bicycle while watching the news, or even push a lawnmower around the yard and still be moving toward my goal of heal and fitness. Sometimes you have to hit me over the head.

Today I weighed at the fitness center and my cumulative weight loss is 35.5 pounds. I only have 5 ¾ pounds to go until I reach my first goal, to no longer be obese. I wonder how it will feel to walk around thinking to myself, “I’m just overweight”.

Here’s my recap for yesterday.

Daily Dietary Recap-4/12/2007
Calories	Protein	Carbohydrates	Sodium	Fat	% Calories from Fat
1348.79	64.77 g	216.22 g	1026.42 mg	27.38 g	18.27%

Yard Work is Exercise Too

Even though the title of this blog is Diet, Cooking, and Exercise, I rarely talk about the exercise part of my health quest. I have been wearing a pedometer on my right shoe for two weeks now courtesy of the college where I work. We have organized into walking teams and report our daily mileage weekly. The whole event goes for four weeks and the winning team gets bragging rights.

I go to the fitness center four days a week and warm up and finish on the treadmill for a total of about 2 miles. In between, I complete two circuits on the weight machines. The normal workout takes about an hour and 15 minutes.

Today I spent most of the day doing yard work and somehow I wound up behind the push mower while the student I hired to help, rode on the riding mower. After several hours of yard work (wearing my pedometer all the time), I took a shower and went to the fitness center where I completed my normal routine. Tonight I glanced at my pedometer and noticed a dramatic increase. On non-workout days, I log about 2 ½ to 3 ½ miles walking from my office to class, down various halls, and pacing while I lecture. I find I pace more now that I have lost much of the weight (32.25 pounds lost as of today). On workout days, that goes up to 4 ½ to 5 ½ miles. Today I have walked 8.3 miles and the day isn’t over yet. I sure felt better doing yard work and had more energy because of the weight loss and my conditioning program.

Here is my recap from yesterday.

Daily Dietary Recap-3/29/2007
Calories	Protein	Carbohydrates	Sodium	Fat	% Calories from Fat
1258.38	72.43 g	223.37 g	1198.06 mg	14.02 g	10.03%