jonhb

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January 27, 2009 //

I’m tired of restaurant food. Since the last post, I haven’t had a homecooked meal. Nor am I likely to any time soon.

It was a whirlwind weekend, with a long drive to Memphis and back. We attended a going away party for Sarah’s brother, who is probably enjoying his first wakeup call at Navy boot camp right about now. The food tasted great, as it did at most of the restaurants we ended up eating at. But it’s SO hard to make healthy choices. The only good choice I made was at Perkins: a build-your-own omelet with mushrooms & veggies, substituting fruit for the hashbrowns and toast. Everything else I ate (barbecue, pizza, hamburger) was delicious, but full of weight watchers points. I didn’t even count them.

Part of the problem is my exercise regimen. A couple hours after running six miles, my body screams, “FEED ME!” You put a pan of barbecue pork in front of me at that point, and you better get out of the way. I burn the calories, but then I quickly replenish them. Ugh!

So this week, I am in Philadelphia, looking forward to another week of foraging in the mass of fat, carb & sugar-pushing capitalist establishments. I understand why everything they offer is bad for you. Most Americans won’t buy the healthy stuff! I wish it weren’t so, but I’m no better. Last night, it took every ounce of will I had to call a local Chinese restaurant with every intent of ordering steamed vegetables and chicken (who the hell gets THAT at a Chinese restaurant?). Unfortunately, they didn’t deliver unless you had a $20 order. Part of me was glad. The little angel on my shoulder was severely disappointed, while the little devil was saying, “Carraba’s sounds really good!” I could either try to find this Chinese place in an unfamiliar city, or go to Carraba’s a block away. The devil ended up winning this one. And though the grilled tilapia, Italian green beans, and salad that I had SOUNDS kind of healthy, it was definitely loaded with fat and calories that I should have avoided. (I won’t mention the bread.)

Hopefully the hour’s worth of stair-climbing I did will mitigate the damage.

Categories Uncategorized

By jonhb

January 23, 2009 //

I’m excited! Keeping up with the weight watchers points seems to be helping. I just weighed in at 194.8, which makes me feel like my efforts are accomplishing something. It’s funny that I need some kind of change to occur to feel like my exercise is increasing my fitness. I wonder how I’ll feel when I’ve reached my target weight? I’ll probably have to start running farther, or doing more of certain exercises, in order to measure some kind of progress. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. Nobody is ever perfect, and seeking constant improvement is very admirable, in my opinion.

I tried something new this week. On Tuesday, we actually had snowfall here in Knoxville! It was bitterly cold, and when I looked outside, the sidewalks and roads looked white and icy. I decided I would not be running outside as I normally would. Instead, I went to the indoor running track at the gym. I had a problem with time restraints, though. It takes me about 10 minutes to get to the gym, and 10 to get back. Of course, there is always about 5 minutes spent going to the locker and getting situated. Well, the gym opens at 6:00 am. To be on time for work, I need to leave my house by 7:30 am, at the latest. There was no way I was going be able to do my usual 45 minutes of running. I had to allow some time to eat, shave, shower and the usual morning routine.

I thought about a post I recently read at Mark’s Daily Apple. The topic was Tabata sprints. The idea is that high intensity sprints for short periods of time will increase your aerobic fitness just as much as aerobic training (longer, lower exertion jogs) will. The added benefit is that you increase your anaerobic fitness as well. I’ve read about the Tabata method before with other exercises. By using this method, you supposedly get a good workout in just 4 minutes. Here’s what you do: for 20 seconds, give it your all. If you are running, you run as fast and hard as you can. Ditto for whatever other exercise you may be doing. After twenty seconds, you stop and rest for 10 seconds. Then you do it again, 20 seconds at your maximum effort, 10 seconds of rest. This cycle is repeated a total of 8 times, so you’re done in 4 minutes.

Well, I decided to give it a try. I timed it the best I could, but I’m certain that I didn’t exactly adhere to the 20/10 routine. It’s hard to see your watch when you are running as hard as you can. And I tell you, 10 seconds is REALLY short! It doesn’t seem like a rest at all! So my rests were probably closer to 15 or 20 seconds. For good measure, I extended the total time out to 6 minutes. At the end, I was worn out! I walked for about 3 minutes, then did it again for about 2 minutes. After that, I was ready to lie down on the track! I think there is definitely something to this method. It was a great workout. My lungs burned like they never have, even after my 10K run last weekend. My legs and glutes were on fire. I felt like I did my body good, and even made it to work on time.

I’m going to do a little more research on this stuff. Sarah told me that she has read blogs where people talk about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training.) I’m not going to stop doing my long runs, but I think this high intensity stuff may be a good time-saving measure to incorporate into my routine occasionally, especially when I’m running behind.

Tags Fitness, Tabata, Weight Loss

Categories Fitness, Weight Loss

By jonhb

January 17, 2009 //

When am I going to get serious?

I console myself with the fact that I am down one pound since I renewed my commitment at the beginning of the year. But it’s one pound. The scale probably isn’t even accurate enough to discern a one pound change. I’m probably just lucky!

Losing weight, while a good indicator of improving fitness, is not even my focus. I just want to be stronger, leaner, and more fit. I think I’m sitting here suffering from guilt, knowing that my eating has been a out of control the past week. Travel weeks seem to do that to me. I did ok for most of my breakfasts last week. Every day, I had properly portioned, low-carb breakfasts. Two boiled eggs and a banana. A veggie omelet, no cheese, hold the toast and hash browns. All of the breakfasts I ate were fine. Lunches were ok, too. No carbs. I had salads with some kind of protein (chicken or salmon). One day I had a grilled pork chop and vegetables. I think I kept it together ok for most of the day on the days I was out of town.

My downfall was the evening meal. After making sales calls all day, driving all over the state of Michigan in the freezing cold and snow, I found myself having late dinners (7 to 8-ish) and lost control on two occasions. The first wasn’t bad as far as the meal itself was concerned. I had grilled salmon with broccoli. The problem was the alcohol. The guy I was with was paying for the meal and he kept ordering Martini’s for us…and I didn’t say no to the fun, nor the empty calories. I rationalized that it was ok because I had run on the treadmill for 45 minutes just prior to dinner.

The next night there was no rationalization. I was just reacting emotionally to a very long, stressful day. Traveling through snow and vicious traffic in the Detroit area, I didn’t get to my hotel until 7 pm. I just wanted to eat and go to bed. And eat, I did. My counterpart took me to J. Alexanders and he picked up the tab. He ordered an appetizer, and since he was paying, I felt like it would be rude not to partake. The chips and spinach queso dip, along with my huge salad, baby back ribs, and a bottle of wine, were also a good (if not proper) stress relief. It was delicious and fun. But now I regret it.

Sarah has been doing quite well. She has been counting weight watchers points all week, and is rapidly closing in on me, losing 7 pounds since the beginning of the year. That is fabulous, and I’m very proud of her! She’s been very disciplined all week. That’s why she deserved to indulge in her weekly “cheat meal” yesterday, and I had no hesitation in cheating with her. It kind of ballooned into a “cheat day”, though, including ice cream at Bruster’s. Yesterday, my calorie intake was WAY out of control!

When you fall down, you just have to get up. I think Weight Watchers is kind of a pain in the rear, but it works well for Sarah. And it has worked well for me in the past. I guess it’s time to start counting points. Part of me thinks this is stupid. I know what proper portion sizes are. I know what foods I should be eating. I even know how to eat out at a restaurant and make healthy choices. Why can’t I just do it all the time? The answer is, I love to eat and I don’t WANT to do it all the time. But I also love feeling fit and healthy and I want to make good choices. If I need to set WW point goals in order to discipline myself, I guess that’s what I’ll do. I better go start counting…

Tags Fitness, Weight Loss

Categories Weight Loss

By jonhb

January 13, 2009 //

I’m back in the saddle again. The holiday is over. After spending a week in the office getting my bearings, I’m on the road for my employer again. As a regional sales manager, frequent travel is just part of the job. I hate having to leave Sarah behind at home so much, and the travel can get pretty tedious, but I can’t complain too much. I like the job. It is pretty interesting, with a variety of scenery and situations every day, and I get to meet some real characters. Most of the time that’s a good thing! There are also a few technical challenges from time to time that make me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile, helping someone solve a problem. But even more importantly, I’m also very thankful just to have such a good job during scary economic times like these.

Oh, but the trouble this job causes me in achieving my fitness goals…

How am I supposed to run in THAT?

Here I am in upstate Michigan, realizing that I’m going to have to be flexible. This is more of a challenge for me than it should be. My brain likes structure. I seem to be able to stick to things better when I have a regimented schedule. I made a plan, and I’m supposed to do my Baguazhang practice on Monday mornings. If I were at home, waking up at 5 am with my work clothes already ironed the previous night, this is what I would do. Instead, I found myself making excuses yesterday morning. I got in to my hotel around 11 pm on Sunday night due to flight delays, and had to be ready by 7:30 am the next morning. The fact that I had to iron my clothes that were rolled up in my suitcase, and that the hotel room was too small to do my practicing, made it really easy to blow the martial arts practice off. Plus I had to mentally prepare myself for the morning appointment. Lot’s of good excuses, right?

Well, I told myself that I’d make it up Monday evening. When I got to the hotel in the metropolis of Cadillac, MI, I discovered that their workout room consisted of three 1990′s era treadmills that had seen better days. The rooms here were rather small as well. I must admit, I came real close to just doing nothing. But I couldn’t blow off the exercise on the first night away from home. I would feel like such a wuss. So I improvised.

I got a bit of a cardio workout by finding the stairwell and walking up and down three flights of stairs for thirty minutes. I listened to a podcast as a distraction from boredom.

The people in the rooms adjacent to the stairwell were probably highly annoyed. The stairs were wooden, with carpet, just like in a house…not the reinforced concrete like you find in some hotels. So for thirty minutes…thud, thud up…thud, thud, down. The whole time I wondered if I’d be embarrassed if someone else used the stairs. I hoped they wouldn’t think I had worked up such a sweat just trying to get to the second floor!

After that, I went into the room and did a few exercises in front of the TV, watching CNN:
Three sets of 30 pushups (the last five on the last set probably don’t really qualify as real pushups.)
Three sets of 50 squats.
Three sets of 50 lunges.

Tonight, I’m in a different hotel in Ludington, with a decent treadmill. I guess I’ll get my Tuesday run in after all!

Categories Fitness

By jonhb

January 11, 2009 //

I ran with the Road Kill Running Club for the first time this morning. I had a good time, so I think it was worth the drive all the way out to Oak Ridge. Prior to this, all of my running has been done solo. Since I need to be aware of cars, dogs, and other hazards, I don’t take an ipod with me when I run. Thus, I’m left alone with my thoughts for the entire run. This isn’t a bad thing, really. I like having time with just myself. But sometimes…it gets a little boring. This morning’s run wasn’t boring at all. In fact, an hour passed and it seemed like nothing. I ended up keeping pace with two guys who kept a conversation going for the entire hour, so I didn’t find myself counting the minutes until I’m done like I sometimes do when alone.

The group was much smaller than I had anticipated, but this was because most of the people in the group had been on a Saturday marathon-training run and they were taking the day off. The three guys I met must have been the most dedicated! I’m sure I’ll meet some other people as time progresses, for I think this is something I’ll continue to do. I can have my alone time during the weekday runs. I’m going to try to let the weekends be for running with new friends.

Categories Fitness

By jonhb

January 6, 2009 //

So many new things to try … so little time. Yesterday, during my morning run, I started thinking about my exercise regimen for this year and about the new activities I’d like to try. Variety seems to really help me stay in the groove, so I want to mix it up a bit. I’ve had a lot of great ideas the past few months, but thinking about when to fit the ideas in to my schedule has been somewhat overwhelming. There are parts of my old schedule that I really enjoy and don’t want to give up, which unfortunately limits the time available for new things.

I don’t want to give up running. I typically run for 45 minutes on Monday and Wednesday, and for 1 hour on Fridays. I usually run in the mornings before work, and I really enjoy it. It’s kind of therapeutic (it hasn’t always been that way, but that’s another story). I’m pretty much maxed out on the distances I want to go. I’m not interested in training a marathon, but I would like to increase my speed, and maybe start running some 5K or 10K races. There is a local running club that has a group run on Sunday mornings, so I think I’m going to readjust my running schedule to 45 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, with a long run on Sunday with the club.

I recently became acquainted with a group of guys that practice a Chinese martial art called Yin Style Baguazhang. I met with them a few times and really liked it. It’s a small group that is very focused on improving their skills. They don’t do it solely for the exercise, but I noticed that these guys seem to be pretty fit. It definitely gets your heart pumping and sweat glands working, and believe me, your muscles feel it the next day. No huffing and puffing like with your typical cardio class, though. Most of the exercise is isometric. Some of the exercises they showed me look really simple, but they are hard! Your body just screams “stop doing this!”, but you have to keep going. It’s all about discipline and training your body’s responses.

I don’t see any fun in torturing myself, but no pain, no gain, right? I think this could be good for my body and mind, but this is also something I can’t look at as just exercise. It is a real commitment. To see any improvement, I’ll need to practice (almost) daily. This will have to become the priority over my other training activities. Am I ready to make that commitment? Will Baguazhang burn enough calories and improve my fitness level enough on its own if need be? These are the things I’ve been debating with myself for the past few weeks. Time is the big issue.

I also enjoy going to pilates classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights with my wife.

I also want to start swimming & working out with free weights.

Something is going to have to go by the wayside. Looks like it may have to be the swimming.

Here is the plan I’ve come up with for the weeks when I’m home:
Sunday – AM long run (10K?), then work out at the gym (free weights) if there is time
Monday – 1.5 hr of Baguazhang practice in the morning
Tuesday – 30 minutes Baguazhang and 45 minute run in the morning, Pilates class at night
Wednesday – 1.5 hr of Baguazhang practice in the morning
Thursday – 30 minutes Baguazhan and 45 minute run in the morning, Pilates class at night (optional)
Friday – Free weights at the gym in the morning
Saturday – 1.5 hr of Baguazhang in the morning, then some other activity with Sarah as time allows

Of course, all of the above is subject to life getting in the way. I travel half the time, so I’ll just do what I can on the road. I’m going to have to do the best I can and not stress out about it.

Tags Fitness, Weight Loss

Categories Fitness, Weight Loss

By jonhb

January 3, 2009 //

Well, I guess it’s about time I introduce myself. I’m Jon, Sarah’s husband. Sarah has hinted in past posts about how I’d like to start posting, but with the craziness of the holiday season, it has been difficult to find the time. Now that the new year is here, there are no more excuses! Here I am!

I’m excited about participating in this blog with Sarah. I’ve seen how it helps her keep focused on her fitness goals, and how it has acted as an expressive outlet when she’s frustrated. I can use any help I can get to accomplish my goals, so I’m glad to be able to share my journey. (Thanks, Sweetie, for sharing your blog with me!)

I noticed a trend among some of my friends on Facebook lately: they are all posting pictures of themselves from “way back when.” Jumping on the bandwagon this morning, I posted a few pics of myself from 20-30 years ago. Gosh, I was skinny! I realize that it isn’t very likely that I’ll ever be as skinny again as I was when I got out of boot camp, but it gave me new appreciation for what is genetically possible for this old bod of mine. I’m going to keep that picture in mind as something to strive for. I made some significant progress this past year, so I know I can keep the trend going this year. I’m aiming for a Boot-Camp level of fitness!

Other than becoming fit, I do have one specific New Years resolution. I resolve to not blow it again in December this year! Something about the holidays this year just made me jump right back into my old eating habits. I had done so well all year, and I really thought I had changed the way I ate and viewed food. I guess I’m just like an alcoholic, though, or a cigarette smoker. Give in to that temptation just once, and you find yourself back in a rut of bad behavior. So this year, I am just going to have to say “Bah Humbug!” when all the holiday treats start showing up in the conference room at work. I don’t think this past month of splurging has done too much damage to my health, but it has had a psychological effect. Eating crap makes me feel lazy. I put off exercising and I just feel really FAT, even though I’ve only gained two or three pounds. I am preparing now to come back to this post in December, as a reminder to “Just Stay Fit.”

Tags Fitness, Weight Loss

Categories Fitness, Weight Loss

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