This year I set a weight goal of 145 pounds. On January 1st I weighed 165.9 pounds, meaning I have nearly 21 pounds to lose. Yikes. Here’s where I’m at after the first month:
January 1: 165.9 pounds
January 31: 164.2 pounds
Weight loss: -1.7 pounds
Not bad but I’d technically miss my goal–at this pace, I’d be 145.5 pounds by December. Clearly, I need to step up the exercise, cut down the snacking or ideally both. I am making progress, though not being able to jog outside yet is cramping my exercise style. I only had two donuts the entire month, though! My goal for February is to go donut-free. And lose more than two pounds.
In the third week of January, a lot of people will have left their resolutions for the new year in tatters or more specifically, in the crumpled wrapper of a bacon cheeseburger. It is because of this that I want to celebrate another achievement as I work toward my goal of hitting 145 pounds this year: I have again dodged copious numbers of donuts.
Yesterday boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts were left in the kitchen area at work. I already had a small advantage in that I don’t like Krispy Kreme donuts–they are light but also almost sickly sweet with a heavy and kind of gross glaze. Still, in times past I would have gobbled up one or two without any thought. Coworkers were chowing down up to three (or more) each.
But I had none.
I was later informed that there were also boxes of the fancy ones, filled with jelly and such and probably 500 calories each. Those would have been more tempting but I’m pretty sure I would have resisted.
Next week I’m going to cut out all gratuitous snacking. Almost all snacking is gratuitous. I’ve done this before and I think this, with regular exercise, is essential to the weight loss.
I’ll probably be on the treadmill again this weekend but there is perhaps a slim hope that the last of the snow will be gone from the trails around Burnaby Lake. But I doubt it.
My weight on January 1 was 165.9 pounds. Today it’s 164.2 pounds. Losing 1.7 pounds in 24 days isn’t exactly wasting away, but it’s a start. I will continue to dodge donuts.
There’s not much to say about working out on an elliptical because the environment and machine never changes. I suppose if the machine magically came to life and galloped outside with me hanging on for dear life it would be different but so far that hasn’t happened.
Tonight I started with 14/12 on incline/resistance and eventually dropped the resistance to 10 before bumping it back up slightly to 11. At one point I felt muscles in my legs actually burning. Not literally on fire, just really feeling them stretching and such.
I also brought a water bottle tonight. It helped, though the cup holder is designed for righties. Prejudice!
I began to feel pretty tired near the end but finished with 350 calories burned on the machine and 364 according to the Apple watch (I let it run about a minute long before remembering to end the workout).
I will likely do a treadmill run (bleah) next as I’d like to keep alternating. Plus the treadmills at least have dual cupholders so I don’t have to test my rightie hand-eye coordination when going for a sip.
Two days I vowed to pass on the donuts that would be served at the weekly staff meeting. My immediate supervisor, who runs the meetings, opined that he might accommodate me in some way.
Today at the meeting the usual box of donuts was presented. And my supervisor brought along a banana for me. He quickly added that it was okay for me to have a donut, too. A donana, if you will. One of my co-workers said today is the official day people give up on their New Year resolutions. I guess people break before three weeks have passed or something like that.
But I held firm. I ate the banana and declined those freshly-baked yummy, mouth-watering donuts. And I assured myself they did not taunt me.
I am at 164.2 pounds. My weight is starting to trend downward again. I am exercising regularly. My body fat percentage has dropped 0.4%. These are all good things and I will not let them be derailed by a wickedly enticing Boston Cream.
Not this week, anyway.
And today would have been a good day to have a donut, too.
Yes, for the fourth day in a row I went to the gym (Canada Games Pool). I have never done this before. I may never do it again. But I did it this week.
I chose an elliptical workout with a setting of 14/11, adjusted down to 14/10 for a bit before going back to 14/11.
On the machine itself my step and calorie count were down slightly (sad face) but on the watch the calorie count was up slightly, perhaps reflecting the fact that I was ever-so-slightly heavier and this burning more.
I actually felt myself getting tired earlier tonight, which isn’t that surprising given it was my fourth day in a row working out and sweat was literally pouring down my face. I made a tactical error in soaking in the swirl pool for about ten minutes before the workout. The logic was the dip would help my slightly stiff muscles loosen up. Although I felt I’d cooled off in the time it took me to dry off and change, I probably was still running (ho ho) a little hot.
Still, the end result was surprisingly consistent and I didn’t feel as wobbly heading down the stairs after.
I’m taking a break tomorrow (Monday) but should be back Tuesday, when I will likely tackle the treadmill again. Not literally tackle, because that would hurt. This also gives me time to find a groovy water bottle to help keep me hydrated and super-fast and such.
Last night I defied my own expectations by exercising on a Monday night. Monday night is usually when the couch has an unnatural magnetic attraction but I had a strange urge to get out and burn a few calories, so off we went to the Canada Games Pool.
My second run (so to speak) on the elliptical went well. I couldn’t remember the settings I’d used previously for height/resistance so I just made my best guess and went with 12/7. It proved to be harder so my guessing sucks.
On the plus side, I remembered to start the workout on my watch but since I ended it on time instead of letting it go for an extra five minutes as I did the first time, my calorie count was lower.
On the machine itself, my calorie count went up significantly, though, from 260 the first time to 339 last night. Also, my legs felt wobbly when I got off the elliptical and walked down the stairs to the main level of the pool. No stiffness or soreness today, though, so hooray on that.
I think for the next trip I will try the dreaded treadmill (I have no idea why–except perhaps madness–treadmills are always much busier than the ellipticals). I may then alternate between the two as each works different muscles. All part of my clever plan to become a big muscular something or other.
Today I finally remembered what exercise felt like. With a fresh layer of snow falling on New Year’s Eve and a forecast that calls for either clear skies or yet more snow, it’s looking iffy for running outside any time in the next few weeks (which will make it more than a month overall, kind of boggling for this region, really).
Instead of continuing to lament the icy conditions and eat Bugles, we headed to the Canada Games Pool. After soaking for a bit in delightfully warm swirl pool, I changed into my usual running gear and headed upstairs for the first exercise in weeks. It turned out all of the treadmills were occupied by people still determined to stick to their New Year resolutions (this will change dramatically in the next week or two), so I opted to use the elliptical instead.
I cleverly remembered to track the elliptical workout on my Apple Watch (and got a shiny badge for it) and was surprised that it and the machine seemed to be in almost perfect agreement on calories burned. The machine gives you a variety of pre-set workouts to choose from. Given that I am fat I chose “weight loss” and began 30 minutes of walking in place.
The first ten minutes went by without concern. After that, I started to sweat and my legs felt funny, as if they had turned to marmalade. I kept on and the marmalade feeling went away, replaced by a more general sensation of muscles being used in ways they were not used to. Which is to say, they were being used.
While everything seems fine now, I suspect that come the morning my legs will eagerly reminding me of the thirty minutes of action I put them through today.
Here are the stats, straight from the elliptical display (I think the distance may be miles):
Distance: 2.37 miles (?)
Calories burned: 260 (I sprinted at the end to get to a nice round number)
The Apple Watch recorded more calories, in part because I forgot to stop the workout for about five minutes after. Sayeth the watch: 374 calories, with a BPM of 154 BPM.
Also, when we first entered the swirl pool I swear the average age of the men (and it was exclusively men) using it was 90. On the one hand, it was nice to see so many gray old men out and being active (sort of). On the other hand, it felt a little weird to be the young guy at 52. Eventually, some younger guys showed up and even a few women, too. One guy was busy dunking his Apple watch in the water. I hope it was a Series 2 or he’s out $500.
Overall the experience went well and I look forward to doing again in our new frozen wasteland that once allowed people to run outdoors.
This morning I was greeted with this from the deck:
Boxing Day, Snow Day–who can tell the difference?
Still more snow. And as forecast, it warmed up just enough to change to rain so sidewalks are now slushy messes and roads have rivers running curbside, topped with layers of slushy snow that might fool you into thinking they’re solid until a vehicle drives through and sprays you from head to foot with a delightful slurry of ice, water and mud.
The forecast over the next four days calls for rain or a chance of rain, so presumably at least the new stuff will wash away, leaving the crusty old stuff still lingering until New Year’s Eve, where 3-7 cm of new snow is forecast. Snow on New Year’s Eve–what could possibly go wrong?
On top of this, I now have that feeling in my sinuses and chest like I’m coming down with a cold. Just as my sore back is finally on the mend. Typical.
I make no promises that I won’t spend the rest of 2016 complaining about the weather and my possible cold. Good night!
As foretold my the ancient prophecies and my post yesterday, it was a white Christmas as the crusty, icy snow from two weeks ago is still lingering around in plentiful amounts. Fortunately, it was also clear so I took the opportunity to go for a walk and keep my back from seizing up. Win-win as long as I didn’t fall. Which I nearly did, multiple times.
As I headed out one of my primary objectives was to find the least slippery route. The majority of sidewalks are clear, as are the streets so this was pretty simple until I got to Hume Park. Once there I got my first look at the Great Tree Destruction of Early Winter 2016. This tree fell near the kids playing area, intent on squashing a tot or two. It had already been cut up by park workers or passing lumberjacks.
One less tree to pester people in Hume Park
The next timber that had timbered was across the trail at the bottom of the stairs leading into Lower Hume Park. This is the same spot where two trees came down during the windstorm of August 2015. It is a very popular spot for trees to fall over, apparently. No one had touched this one yet but I was able to climb over it without issue. (UPDATE: This tree was finally cut up and removed in April 2017.)
Another one bites the dust. Well, snow.
The stairs, which I did not take a picture of because it likely would have resulted in many broken bones, were covered in compacted snow that had developed an icy sheen. The compacted snow was also lumpy. This had the following effect when placing feet on the steps:
impossible for feet to rest solidly, causing them to slide
sliding on an already slippery surface causes more sliding
with little room to accommodate aforementioned sliding it becomes very easy to slide off the current step, land on the one below and then continue the process until the bottom of the staircase is reached, where one would arrive in a pile of broken bones and contusions
I went down the stairs by gripping the handrail with both of my gloved hands and clutching as if my life depended on it, which it did, probably. Even so, I still had my feet give way a few times, nearly causing me to go down express-style. At this point, I knew I would not be coming back up, no matter which way my route went from here.
The third fallen tree was leaning over the sidewalk on North Road, just before the turn-off onto the Brunette River trail. I didn’t take a picture of it because the sidewalk here was not in good shape. It also didn’t look that dramatic as it wasn’t blocking my path.
A short way down the river trail I came across fallen trees #4 and #5. These had been cut and cleared but the debris area indicated they had come down on the trail, intent on taking out hungry squirrels or people out walking in the snow because it’s pretty. While I did take a picture, I prefer this image instead, showing the amazing power of sewers to melt snow. There is a sewer line that parallels the river and every manhole (peoplehole?) cover was a snow-free zone. This batch of eight was big enough to have a picnic on, albeit a stinky picnic.
Sewers: fighting snow since ancient Rome
Fallen tree #6 was at Burnaby Lake. I ventured as far as the Cariboo Dam, where I normally start my runs. The first shot shows the uprooted tree from just behind. It fell away from the picnic area, so only wandering polar bears would have been at risk. The sun is already low in the sky because we have about 40 minutes of sunlight per day right now. Good ol’ winter.
Burnaby Lake, now with one less tree
This shot gives a better view of the trail, which is now a slick, icy insurance claim waiting to happen. I knew it would be like this but it was still kind of depressing. It’s going to take a lot of sun or a lot of rain to clear this out before running can resume. And we are expecting more snow, possibly in as soon as a few hours. I will need to develop an unnatural love for treadmills, for unnatural is all it would be. Or take up knitting, which is currently not affected by snow.
Good conditions for running if you are a snow leopard or abominable snowman
And so it was here that I ended my snowy trek, turning back and heading up to ride the SkyTrain home. It was nice to get out and despite being 2ºC I managed to keep up enough of a pace to not feel cold. But I’d rather be running because when I’m running I’m not within eating distance of Bugles, Ferraro Rocher or other evil concoctions I have foolishly kept in the household.
It is time to make resolutions because tradition demands we make silly promises, break them, express regret, then do the whole thing over again a year later, which is just enough time to convince ourselves that this time will be different.
That said, my goal to get to 150 pounds this year was going quite well until mid-October. By then I was at 153 pounds and was still running regularly, having recovered nicely from an injury in the early spring (and having escaped battered but without any broken bits in my Great Tripping Incident in August). Then two things happened:
I caught a very nasty cold. It laid me out for a couple of weeks and I missed a bunch of runs.
Simultaneously, the sun began setting early enough that by the time I was healthy again I could no longer run my usual routes after work because it was now dark and I’d be attacked and carried away by vampire bats.
To address #2 I kept running on the weekends, but once a week is not enough to keep in shape. I pondered running during lunch at work but did not commit to it for various reasons. I thought about using the treadmill at the Canada Games Pool but my partner kept offering to go and then not really wanting to, which made it easy for me to decide that yes, it was easier to just sit at home and eat bags of Bugles instead.
This is all to say that about two months later I am up to 164 pounds, an impressive backslide. Gaining weight is very easy. If I made that a resolution I’d have 51 weeks left to work on any and all other resolutions.
My first resolution, therefore, will not be a huge surprise.
My Resolutions for 2017 Assuming Donald Trump
Doesn’t Destroy the World
drop to 145 pounds. Yes, I’m actually making the goal tougher for 2017. Secretly this was always my goal and 150 pounds was a soft target. I’ve been as low as 143 pounds and it’s definitely not too skinny on my frame. Though I am kind of skinny, anyway.
run at least three times a week barring injury or other extraordinary circumstance. I would previously include “the entire city covered in snow” being an extraordinary circumstance but really, there are gyms and treadmills, so this doesn’t qualify. It’s also the minimum needed to keep in decent shape.
no farmers tan. I wear t-shirts when running and as a result when I remove my shirt I a) blind anyone nearby with my ultra-white untanned body and b) get mocked for having conspicuously tanned arms right up to where the sleeves of my t-shirts sit. My solution this year will be to wear sleeveless shirts (I already have a few) and maybe a few stints working on a wee bit of a tan for my upper body. I might entertain the thought of running without a shirt when the weather is warmer but I’m not sure I should subject the world to that.
killer abs. Yes, the time has come to work on my upper body, especially if I’m not going to have an unseemly farmers tan. I haven’t decided how to do this yet. I have dumbbells but I tried them before and didn’t like them much. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I won’t like anything I try to achieve this goal. It will be an interesting challenge.
eat better. This means fewer Bugles and saying no when offered candy. Currently, I tend to say yes except you can’t hear the actual word because I’m already shoving the candy into my mouth.
learn to swim. Haha, no. I’m not trying that again! Well, maybe. But only if I can learn with people who really can’t swim, not the bunch of cheaters I was grouped with when I took lessons in 2009.
That covers my health-oriented goals. Now onto being a better person in various ways.
write 1,000 words a day. No exceptions except under extraordinary circumstances like every keyboard, pen, pencil and other writing instrument in the world suddenly disappear and even then I could scratch out words in the dirt with a sturdy twig. These 1,000 words are to be fiction, so blog posts don’t count.
read at least 32 books. I’d love to bump this to 52 and do a book a week but I simply can’t read that fast. Maybe I could make speed reading a 2018 goal.
be a positive influence to others. I have no specifics on this. I’ll just try to think before I post, be nice and smile (but not in a creepy sort of way).
win the lottery. I’d spend the money wisely, I promise!
That’s good for now. If I think of more I’ll add them and I’ll try to re-visit the list periodically to see how I’m doing. I expect tears.
We got a copious amount of snow, enough that it can’t be described as a dusting, not even a mega-dusting. I’d say it was a mini-dump, enough to be a bother when walking on sidewalks that haven’t been shoveled but not enough to paralyze the area.
Today, with slightly warmer temperatures, the snow became rain and most of the plowed/shoveled areas are now bare again. Yay. The areas that were not touched are covered in a slushy, uneven mixture of water-logged snow. If this stuff freezes (and temperatures are set to go down again thanks to the ominous-sounding Polar Vortex) it will turn into an uneven mixture of jagged ice ready to impale and injure. Not so much yay there.
All of this beings me to my weekend run. I have no idea what the trail at Burnaby Lake would be like except that it would probably be some variation on the slushy, uneven mixture described above. While you can indeed walk on this stuff and stay mostly upright, attempting to do at a higher rate of speed greatly increases the risk of falling on your hiney. I prefer not to do this.
And so it is that for the first time in a long time (possibly ever, though I’d have to check) that I was unable to run due to snow. I’ve actually run in the snow before–once–and it was surprisingly pleasant. But that was when the snow was minimal (a light dusting), very dry and therefore easily compacted under foot. Looking back, it was almost exactly seven years ago (December 13, 2009). That’s long enough to seem like ancient times now. I had yet to run 10K at that point (though I did run 7.99K in the snow).
Now, I have both a Fitbit and an Apple Watch and the Fitbit expects me to walk 10,000 steps a day. The watch has several metrics in its Activity app designed to make sure the day is not spent on a couch pretending to be a legume. With the weather outside being frightful and the thought of lounging about indoors delightful, I had to come up with a plan if I wanted to keep my activity streaks intact (with the bonus of, you know, actual activity which is good for you).
My solution was to go to Metrotown. Walking end to end in that mall probably takes the average person 12 hours. I can do it in less time, though it is a test of my navigation skills. Sunday afternoons tend to be crowded, so I was constantly adjusting my pace, slowing and accelerating, slipping past mega-strollers and people glued to their smartphones. I also did a little shopping, mostly of the window variety. Eventually I realized a more optimal path could be found outside the mall, as the sidewalks skirting the exterior had little traffic, with the bonus of no Christmas music.
I did this both yesterday and today and hit my goals both days. It was nice to meet my targets and yet silly at the same time. Who goes to a mall as part of an exercise regime? And yet it worked.
Now I’m just biding my time waiting for this damn snow to disappear. The next week is looking dry and cold so it’s probably going to hang around just long enough to tease a white Christmas before a deluge washes it all away. It’s our Christmas tradition.
