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Finding the time to work out

I remember the first time I told someone I just don’t have the time to do whatever-it-was, and he said back to me, “You know, we all have the same amount of time.” Yeah, I know. Thanks for the insight.

Once I got over being pissed off at his superior tone, I realized that he was right. He was, after all, just saying that what we accomplish depends on what we prioritize. Of course we can’t fit everything into our busy schedules, so we have to prioritize our to-do lists, written or mental, to make sure the things that are most important do get done.

At some point, getting into shape moved up my priority list. I think I probably owe that fact to my brother, because really, dammit, how was he gonna be in shape while I was a fat slob? It’s that competitive nature. I mean, I don’t have to be in better shape than him — it’s not like that — but I’ll be damned if he’s going to just leave me in the dust.

So I prioritized working out. I set aside an hour or hour and a half every day to do it. And I did it.

How about you? Maybe you don’t have even an hour to set aside, but how about a half hour, or fifteen minutes? Get started with what little time you do have and you may be surprised. Your physical improvements may lead to your giving a workout even more priority, even more time, and next thing you know … boom … now you do have an hour or hour and a half to get it done.

Don’t fool yourself that a lack of time prevents you from getting into shape. That’s just an excuse — and, honestly, maybe a good one — being in shape may really not be a top priority for you — but be sure to analyze your motives and what has hold of your time before you decide you don’t have enough.

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How is the diet going?

It’s been three weeks since I posted this update — and my waistline has not budged since.

To summarize, after many months of my waistline not shrinking beyond the fantastic losses I had experienced early on in my fitness quest, I had gone back to calorie-counting to try to lose some more inches of fat. I put myself back on a 2000-calorie (give or take) diet, shooting for 50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fat. Within a couple weeks, I’d lost an inch off my waist.

Three weeks later, however, my waist size is still the same as it was after losing that first inch.

Hmmmm….

I am not sure what to make of this. Admittedly, I do not measure other parts of my body to see if there are changes there. Maybe the fat is coming off other places. But it doesn’t seem to be coming off my waist.

I’m going to give this another couple weeks, through the end of March, and then evaluate whether I need to go to more extreme measures. Yes, it’s getting to be a bit of an obsession.

I’m actually kinda glad about that. I don’t want to lose my drive for fitness, get discouraged, quit. At this point, quitting would not be an easy thing to do, though. I know too much. I have seen too many great changes in my body. I can’t go back to what I was.

So, the diet is going great. I am not seeing the changes I want to necessarily see in my body, but I am still eating food I love and not going hungry, so I hope the rest will take care of itself.

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Dealing with arthritic knee pain

Today for the first time in a long time I woke up with no pain in my left knee.

Now, I am not foolish enough to think my knee is miraculously healed. I am, however, encouraged. After all, waking up with arthritis pain in my left knee is just a way of life for me.

Supposedly exercise helps with arthritis. Here’s an article about it from The Arthritis Foundation. I have found this to be true. After a workout, especially a yoga session, my knee always feels much better. The pain returns after a while, but getting the blood and joints moving does seem to help.

From that fact, you may assume that the stillness of sleeping would cause the knee to tighten up, and I have definitely found that my knee hurts worst right when I wake up and start moving around. So, then, what have I been doing differently that may have led to today’s pain-free knee?

A few weeks ago, after a recovery week, I noticed that my knee felt pretty good. Not great, but better than it had been. I thought about the exercises I do that may injure the knee, and Plyo came to mind. And parts of Kenpo. Jumping around may not be the best idea, if you are trying to protect your knees.

I decided to stop those activities.

My knee has been feeling much better and today, two and a half weeks later, I woke up with no pain in my left knee.

I fully expect to wake up with a painful knee tomorrow, but this is encouraging.

I am, btw, continuing with all other aspects of my training. I even added an extra legs day to make up for the lack of Plyo training.

We’ll see how it goes.

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“Just Do It” or Transition Dieting – Which is right for you?

I am a “just do it” kinda guy. I have a hard time doing anything in moderation, but I have trained myself to be moderate by completely eliminating the behavior I want to change for a period of time.

For example, I used to drink way too much. WAY too much. So I quit completely for 18 months. During that time, I did not even try a drink from a great bottle of wine my brother bought at a reunion we had (much to his dismay). I do drink again now, but I have control of it.

Same with grains. I used to be Mr. Grain. I had sandwiches, pasta, pizza, cereal, you name it, at every meal. So I quit eating grains completely for 6 months. I eat grains again now, but I have control of my consumption.

When I started Tony Horton’s P90X, I followed the diet plan supplied with the program. It was quite a bit different than what I had been eating, but I was easily able to change my mind about that and focus on my new style of eating. Just do it.

I know, though, that many people have a hard time, and I only recently read an article that might help those people. It’s about The Transition Diet.

The Transition Diet is a way to move yourself from one way of eating to another. It’s designed to get you to alter your diet in certain ways on a weekly basis over an 8-week period, so you can ease yourself into a healthier diet. There are cheat days involved, too, which, I think, all good diets have — you gotta be allowed to indulge yourself every so often.

You should read the whole article, but the essence of it is:

  • Week 1 – Eliminate junk food
  • Week 2 – Eat small and often
  • Week 3 – Eat some colorful, low-density food (like vegetables) at every meal
  • Week 4 – Cook at home
  • Week 5 – Reduce starchy carbohydrates (like rice, potatoes, bread)
  • Week 6 – If man makes it, don’t eat it – no processed foods!
  • Week 7 – Eat healthy, but without any rules — do it by feel, what you think is healthy
  • Week 8 – Eat a perfect diet — and it’s up to you to figure out what that is

Weeks 1 through 5 are cumulative, so you continue them all the way through. For example, week 1 you eliminate junk food and you continue to eliminate it through the rest of the transition.

Week 6 is more of a cleanse week, so really try not to eat any processed foods. Then add them back in, although hopefully in much lower quantities, after that week.

As I said before, all the weeks have cheat or reward days, so you have that outlet for your old habits.

I’m more of a “just do it” kinda guy, but you may not be like that, so if you really want to eat healthier, but have a hard time forcing yourself into a drastic diet change, you may want to try transitioning into it.

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You’re going to walk off that McRib? Really?

I think we often fool ourselves about our rate of calorie burn. There are many times I hear friends talk about eating something like a McRib with fries and finishing with “I guess I’ll have to get in a few extra steps on the treadmill to make up for this.”

WRONG!

A McRib with medium fries is 880 calories.

According to the Mayo Clinics estimates for a 200-pound person (less calories are burned for people who weigh less, more for people who weigh more), burning 880 calories would require you to

  • walk very briskly for over two hours
  • jog for about one and a quarter hours
  • run fast for about an hour

You can get the numbers here.

I really hope you aren’t saying to yourself right now, “Well, I don’t eat at McDonald’s.” The McRib was just an example. Most of us have poor eating habits that we justify. Acknowledge yours.

I am not saying here that you should not indulge yourself from time to time. In fact, I think you should do that. Do you enjoy a Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger with a Chocolate Shake? Have it!

All I’m asking is that you don’t kid yourself that you are going to burn off the 1200 calories from that meal (and that’s without fries!) with a walk around the block in your neighborhood. Not gonna happen.