Missed A Day

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Ken Montville

Yep.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I really, really, meant to try to get to the gym for my measly 30 minutes on the treadmill but by the time I got out of my 3 hour meeting, got some ink for my printer, had lunch (otherwise known as eating and piling on the calories), it was almost time to get going to my late afternoon meeting.

The worst part of the meetings, of course, is the munchies they have readily available calling my name every 3 minutes. Eat me. Eat me. Eat me. That’s another discipline altogether. Resisting the munchies.

God, where does the time go.

Yeah. I could’ve run home, put on my gym clothes and run out the door to go to the gym. In fact, that’s what I really should’ve done to build the habit, the repetition, the discipline. But I didn’t do it. I cam home and vegged just long enough to miss my window of opportunity.

So I’ll try this thing, again, tomorrow. Maybe I’ll try to get to the gym earlier in the morning. That way the day won’t get away from me.

So This Is What The Gym Looks Like?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Ken Montville

I had a few errands to run to day but mostly they were things I could do later in the day or, really, later in the morning. After all, I was only planning to spend a ½ hour on the treadmill.

The MIssus went off to work (I work from home) and I jumped in the shower to get rid of the bed head hair and at least brush my teeth. I put on my gym clothes and sneakers and headed out the door.

The gym I go to is about a 7 minute drive from door-to-door. That’s counting the traffic lights and the time it takes to park. When I go – usually mid morning – there are people at the gym but not nearly enough where I have to wait for a treadmill to open up. In fact, it’s busy when there is someone on the treadmill next to me. Usually, I get empties on either side.

The place really doesn’t change. Six monitors high against the wall showing about 4 different things. News, sports,music videos. It’s the music videos that they blast throughout the gym. That’s why I figured out it was a good idea to bring my iPhone in and listen to Pandora. At least, I could choose what I was listening to and it would be right in my ears so it would drown out whatever is popular these days.

The visuals are a bit distracting. Television always hypnotized me. If I walk into a room with a TV on it doesn’t matter if it’s the most maudlin soap opera or a cartoon, I become transfixed. The gym is the same way except that I try to keep my mind off the monitors by continuously moving my vision across the different scenes and then back to the treadmill read outs.

30 minutes at 2.6 mph at 0% incline. It burnt, according to the treadmill, 204 calories based on my weight. That’s the nice thing about gym treadmills. You plug in information about yourself and it provide an almost customized result. 204 calories is not quite the two pieces of toast I had this morning…and certainly doesn’t cover the raspberry jam and Frosted Mini Wheats with 1% milk.

Nevertheless, it’s better than nothing which is what I was doing before today. The MIssus even gave me a little attaboy in the evening. (Typically, she would scoff at such a small amount of calories burned but I think she realizes she needs to be supportive of even the smallest effort)

Tomorrow? The morning is jammed up with appointments. That means I’ll need to go in the afternoon. I really, really, really need to make this a habit.

I Guess The Gym Helps A Little

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Ken Montville

I went back to the gym today.

Yeah. Big Announcement.

It was a little crowded when I got there but had thinned out by the time I was ready to leave which was, believe it or not, just about 40 minutes later.

I did my treadmill thing. Still not very fast and not for a huge amount of time (30 minutes) but I’m need to get back do pick up my speed and maybe a little bit more time, too. I also tried an elliptical type machine but I couldn’t quite get the hang of it and I was a little nervous about going gangbusters because of a) my knee and b) my neck and c) I had never used the machine before. I can see, though, that I really should try to switch up a little.

Needless to say even 30 minutes at 2.6 mph only burns about enough calories to cover a hard pretzel or two and I still went over my calorie limit for the day. I am starting to log in everything, though. I used to “cheat” and just not add stuff in. My Fitness Pal was pretty forgiving like that, Each day was a new day. Lose It! is a little different. They send yo a spreadsheet at the end of the week with your daily totals and then a weekly net. So, if I don’t add in everything it thinks I was way under and gives me the high five I don’t really deserve.

I’ve been kind of edge today, for some reason, and the exercise didn’t “help” the way exercise is supposed to. I guess when people talk about exercise pumping out the endorphins, they mean regular exercise over a sustained period of time. Something I have a hard time doing…the sustained period of time thing.

Tomorrow, I give it another go. Maybe I can make a habit of this or something….. Hope springs eternal.

Day 10 of my 30 day challenge to myself

Exercise. I Get It!

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Ken Montville

The last couple of days I’ve been eating “over” the calorie limit imposed on me by Lose It! which is more than the calorie limit that is being imposed on me by My Fitness Pal in order to achieve the same goal. Lose 1½ per week. Of course, My Fitness Pal has also asked me how many calories I plan to burn off with exercise. LoseIt! does not. In fact, Lose It! doesn’t say anything about exercise. It does have a way to enter it into the scheme of things.

I’ve never used it.

I realize that there are two parts of the weight loss equation. One is eat less. The other is exercise more. I haven’t been doing the second part.

Sure. I have the excuses. My neck has been killing me. I’ve been going to a chiropractor who told me that the treadmill wasn’t the wisest thing and I should try the machine that is sort of like cross country skiing. Yeah. Right. I’m on it.

Then there’s the timing. I want to go but I just can’t seem to find the right time. I get caught up in things and then things pop up. I guess the work around for that is to go first thing in the morning. Bed head hair and all. That’s what Tyler Weeks of 344 Pounds preaches on a regular basis. His hair is really short, though. Can’t hardly mess that stuff up.

The it’s getting in the car to go to the gym. That should be the easy part but it’s not.

Needless to say,though, exercise really, really needs to get integrated into my daily routine or ain’t nothing going to happen – new scale or no new scale.

By the way, I ordered the new scale. It should be here June 1st. If that’s as volatile as the old one(s), I won’t have technology to blame.

This is Day 9 of my 30 day challenge to myself.

Weekly Weigh-in … Week 14

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Ken Montville

Hoooo-ray!

Even though I went on a little business trip to an exotic locale (if you can call San Juan, Puerto Rico exotic) and didn’t log everything that went into my mouth, I was still able to reduce my weight.

Last week — 284.6 lbs
This week — 283.2 lbs
Reduced — 1.4 lbs
Total from the beginning — ~19 lbs give or take a few tenths

Of course, my all time high was about 303 lbs right before the Christmas holidays but I started actually counting around the beginning of the New Year.

The Way I Eat

Obviously, the ideal is to keep track of everything I put into my mouth and to add it to my online calorie counter and exercise log. It tells me how many calories I should take in just to maintain my current weight (my Basal Metabolic Rate). However, life is not ideal.

In addition to going to San Juan between last week and today I also went to a chili dinner fundraiser thing for a local swim club in my area. It wasn’t a lot of food but it was chili (with cheese and rice and cornbread and cookies…you get the idea). I think just the awareness of the fact that I want to keep reducing my weight is helping me from going completely nuts and loading up plate after plate.

Now, though, I don’t think I have any big meals on the horizon – fundraisers, professional associations, meeting friends for dinner – anything like that. So, now I can get back to watching those calories more closely.

Back To The Gym

I also went back to the gym yesterday for the first time since my arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus. 30 minutes on the treadmill at 2.0 mph. That’s a pretty leisurely stroll but it was 30 minutes straight and it burned 163 calories that wouldn’t have burned otherwise. As time goes on. I’ll increase my speed, increase the incline to the treadmill and increase the burn rate on the calories. I’ll also get back into the circuit training which helps with the strength and, I’m told, also helps burn the weight off a tad faster. Plus, I need to make sure my muscle tone doesn’t go completely to hell. Not that there is that much of it now.

So, all in all, I’m pleased that I’m making progress at about 1.357 pounds a week. It would be nice to step it up and maybe getting back to the gym will help with that. I’m still looking at a goal weight that is a looong way down the road.

Onward.

Back on the Treadmill

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Ken Montville

I hadn’t been to the gym in a couple of days. One was because of the snow. I figured that doing two hours of strenuous snow shoveling was plenty for the day. Then when I stepped on the scale the next day and nothing dropped off, I got a little discouraged and thought “to hell with it”.

But, I know that, at some level, if I don’t go back and keep going back I’ll fall out of the habit and it won’t help burn the calories I need to burn. Of course, this is all going to be for naught when I go in for my arthroscopic surgery on February 8th. The orthopedic surgeon says I’ll be out of “gym” circulation for 8 to 10 weeks. Other people say they’ve been up and walking around or knew people that were up and walking around within a few days.

I can’t imagine that, if I took care of myself, that I would be able to do some moderate exercise in a couple of weeks. Still, that’s a long time to be away from any sort of formal exercise.

So I went back yesterday and then, again, today. I’ve also been stepping up my speed, added a small incline to the treadmill and tacked on some additional time. It’s still not to the point where I’m huffing and puffing and sweating like a stuck pig (whatever that is) but at least I’m burning off some more calories per visit. According to the readout on the treadmill.

Weekly Weigh-In…Week 6

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Ken Montville

OK!

I reduced my weight by another 2 lbs. I weighed myself at 294.0 lbs. Total reduction to date: 8 lbs. So, still a way to go but headed in the right direction.

I’ve been trying to make it to the gym everyday but, one thing or another, I have missed a couple of days. Of course, I really don’t do a strenuous workout due to my knee issue. The concept is to try and build the habit of going so that when I’m laid up for a week or so (the orthopedic guy says it may be 8 to 10 weeks before I’m able to really go back) that I can get back into it.

At this point, since the exercise I’m doing isn’t killing me, it’s relatively easy to go. Plus, it’s a pretty nice gym.

Working Through the Ups and Downs

Even though I’m down 2 lbs from last week for a total of 8 lbs reduced from the beginning of the journey it’s still a lot of ups and downs. In fact, at one point during the last week I was actually at 293.2 lbs but then I kinda got a little sloppy with the calorie watching. Between blogging about my journey here and keeping my food diary, I hope to keep on track. It’s back to the gym today and getting more vigilant about what calories go into my mouth.

All in all, a good week.

A Little Setback

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Ken Montville

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I went to the gym to workout on the treadmill and used on of the treadmill’s pre-set. It had variable speeds and variable inclines. It also seems that it was a bit too strenuous for my left knee.

It hurts like hell.

I ended up going to my primary physician today who prescribed a pretty strong anti-inflammatory drug and also referred me to an orthopedic physician. I go see the orthopedic guy Thursday. In the meantime, I swallow a lot of Tylenol and rest my knee. God, this bums me out to no end. Not only because it gets in the way of my good intentions to exercise. It also gets in the way of work…driving around, walking up steps, virtually everything.

I really hope between the anti-inflammatory and the orthopedic guys, I’ll get back up to speed soon.

Gym – Day 1

Posted on December 26, 2010 by Ken Montville

The day after Christmas. I had signed up on Christmas Eve and my “official” first day was scheduled for tomorrow. That will be my orientation during one of the two free sessions with a personal trainer. I thought it might be nice to try and start the process today, though, since I’m scheduled to attend my wife’s family’s annual Christmas eat-a-thon. Assuming the snow holds off and we don’t get snowed in.

I had another motivation. I just like to see how things work without someone leaning over my shoulder suggesting that I do this or do that. I like to push all the buttons and see all the lights flash.

I’m most familiar with the treadmill since I have one at home that I rarely use. Nothing beats a gym grade treadmill, though. All kinds of different programs are already pre-set and you can see all kinds of metrics flash before your eyes. So I started out on the “weight loss” pre-set. I also started at Level 3 which was a big mistake.

After about 3 minutes I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep the pace so I stopped the program and reset it to Level 1. Even so, Level 1 is a serious workout. At least, it was for me. Varying speeds at various levels of incline. To the serious walker/runner it would have been a walk in the park. I was huffing and puffing and sweating like a pig. I was never so glad to see 30 minutes come to an end.

Even so, I was able to do it and I’ll go back tomorrow for the orientation and see what the personal trainer guy has to say other than the price of his ongoing support, encouragement and training.

The only other thing that was a bit of an eye opener about the gym experience was the nice digital scale they have in the locker room. It doesn’t look fancy but it does exude the aura of accuracy. So I got on it. It weighs a bit heavier than my home scale. Bummer. Now, I don’t know which one to believe. (Of course, I do…the one that weighs lighter!!)

Here’s the difference:

gym scale = 304.6
home scale = 302.8
Difference = 1.8 lbs

That’s something to think about.

Of course, it really doesn’t matter at some fundamental level that one is a couple of pounds heavier than the other. At my current weight, 1.8 lbs is negligible. Still, on the journey to permanent weight reduction every pound counts. It’s the encouragement to keep the habit of eating less and exercising more.