April -- 100s

I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but it's an idea from my brother.
100 miles -- he's running them; I'm walking.
100 reps of something every day - squats, pushups, mountain climbers, lunges, etc.

Yesterday I did a brisk 3 mile walk (going to have to up the distance), and 100 free squats.
It was a spur of the moment decision and I don't know about today. Maybe 100 crunches or sit-ups? Idk.
I'm thinking another 3 mile day today, but will have to plan for longer walks to make the 100 total miles. In the back of my mind is adding a little running, but I also know that it will probably stay in the back of my mind (which is where it belongs). 

It's day 2.

Be well,
John 

June 9: Mission Accomplished

It's actually a few minutes before midnight on the 8th as I write this day's report.

I just passed 12,000 steps so it was a good activity day. I'd like to be able to report a purposeful day of planned exercise, but that isn't what happened. What happened is I worked at clearing almost all of the stuff out of the garage. That meant a bunch of trips from the garage, around the house to the basement. I moved a couple of pieces of furniture as well as boxes, tubs, and pictures. 

By the time I was finished I not only had 10,000+ steps, we are now able to park both cars and the motorcycle in the garage!

On the diet front, I had planned a modified intermittent fast day. The initial plan was to eat between noon and 8pm. Noon turned into 4 o'clock before I stopped working and had a nice mixed berry, protein smoothie. We had dinner around 5:30 and I finished out the day with a blueberry protein smoothie around 8. 

Over-all I was below my starting calorie target for the day. Add in the exercise calories from 12,000 steps and I ended up with over 1000 calories still on the table (so to speak).

Little sister set tomorrow's (6/9) step count at 7,500. I think I'll walk my bicycle the mile to the gas station, air up the tires, and ride it home. That will cover almost a third of my steps and take care of getting air in the bike tires. I suppose I'll do the same with Chris's bike at some point.

Be well,

John

June 8: An Unexpected Challenge

It's Monday and that means it's weekly weigh in day.

This morning's scale was a solid 240, so I made my first interim goal a few days early.

I had a very weak step day yesterday (2,911), but did get a good 45 minutes on the exercise cycle. I am okay with that and actually starting to prefer it as a daily exercise time. I get more cardio benefit from cycling than from walking and also burn more calories.

But ...

Last night I received a text from my younger sister asking if I made my 10k steps and making a challenge that we both get our 10,000 steps for today.

Sacrebleu! I guess I'm in for 10k steps today.

Yesterday was a good day on the diet. I still need to up the protein intake so I might decide to make a protein shake a daily snack or meal replacement for a period of time. I have twelve weeks to lose my next 20 pounds. I know it's not a great challenge for the weight loss, but the weight is just a way to measure my progress. The real goal is to be more healthy, and that includes how (and what) I eat as well as getting to and maintaining a more healthy level of fitness.

Be well,

John

More Work with no Walk

Another day without a walk. But it was a day that included a lot of walking -- 11,022 steps.
And it was another good food day, I even included a late evening protein smoothie to up my protein intake for the day.

Today's a new day.
Let's see what it has in store for us!

Be well,
John

Another Working Without Walking Day

Ugh!
I don't really mind a good working without walking day, but this was more of a busy kind of thing than actually working. And I'm sure that I could have added a mile walk to reach the 10K threshold, but didn't.
7,828 for the day. I've got some steps to make up to reach that 10,000 step average for the month.

I noticed something didn't feel quite right on the weight machine. Sure enough, a little internet research showed I threaded one of the cables incorrectly. I'll need to rework that to be able to use it correctly.

Another good day on the healthy eating side of the coin. Some days (like yesterday) I push the first meal of the day to around noon. That puts me at more of a two meals and a snack schedule and works well for me. I need to watch my protein intake. I'd like for it to be higher than it's been. I might have make protein smoothies a regular part of my day.

Be well,
John

Broken record...

Not the good kind of record breaking event -- the repetitious broken record.
I know, I know! I sound like a broken record when I say I'm going to get serious about healthy living again.

This week I read that if I'd quit giving up, I wouldn't have to keep starting over!
How true!

Never-the-less, I find myself at that old familiar place.
I did weigh in on May 1st and again today (the 8th) and have managed to drop a few pounds in the first week of the month and my first week of another go at it. I also managed to log my food intake every day (My Fitness Pal app) and stay within my weight-loss calorie goals 6 of the 7 days.
And I managed to walk a little every day and am back to some good stretching and a little light yoga.

The biggest thing for me is the healthy eating part. I find that when I eat well, I tend to want to exercise a little and let the healthy eating lifestyle move into other areas of living. Focusing on exercise doesn't work the same way for me. I can walk every day and still want to eat junk, but eating well every day seems to inspire me to more activity and better lifestyle habits.

Week 2 begins and it is another beautiful day in the Ozarks. I had my protein smoothie for breakfast (kind of a brunch since I was up late watching the ballgame) and have plans for a good dinner tonight. I'm sure I'll get my walk in at some point. I hope that your week will be grand!

Be well,
John

Processed Food Fast

Just as an experiment, I think that I'll keep a log of the processed foods that I consume during the day.
For the most part, we have eliminated most processed foods and primarily shop the perimeter of the grocery store. If you use the perimeter method of shopping you'll find dairy, meats and produce and skip all of the canned, boxed and prepared foods.

About the only regular processed food item in my diet is whey isolate protein powder and I really need to increase my use of that and get a little more protein into my day.

I am a believer that abs are gained in the kitchen more than in the gym and need to get back to focusing on diet and preparing healthy meals. Our big meal of the day (usually late afternoon/early evening) isn't the problem. I think that lunch or midday eating is the biggest obstacle in my daily diet. Breakfast is not too bad, usually coffee and a smoothie or maybe some eggs.

The midday meal is a problem because it is usually unplanned and is whatever is available when I decide to eat. If I am out, that usually spells trouble on the healthy scale. I know that there are healthy options for eating out, but the truth is I tend to go for the fast option rather than the healthy one.

Late night snacking is also a problem. I need to make some more protein/fiber cookies or stick to a fruit smoothie and leave the nachos alone and the ice cream in the freezer! I know -- those things shouldn't be in the house if I'm sticking to the perimeter shopping method!

I know that my diet diary will show several processed items from time to time. I haven't eliminated them from my diet. I just want to see how I stand and how much of an adjustment is necessary to be comfortably healthy.

Comfortably healthy is my personal term for the compromise I'm willing to make between absolutely no junk food and satisfying my dietary cravings with an occasional indulgence or convenience.

So this isn't really a fast from processed foods as much as it is an awareness of processed foods. The awareness should create a marked decrease in consumption...
...at least that is the hope!

Eat well.
Be well.

John <><

Finishing well for 2015

Sometimes it just takes the right moment, the right state of mind to get things back on track.
I'm there.

This has been a good week as far as getting my exercise time in. Yesterday I managed a brisk two-mile walk in light snow as well as a little bit of time with the dumbbells, some time on the indoor cycle and some really good stretching.

Today I dressed warmly and walked 3.7 miles in 28F (-2C) temps, did a short bit on the indoor cycle and some body weight exercises. I am noticing some shoulder pain and will have to find ways to work around it. I'm not really up for another shoulder surgery.

I'm back to logging my calorie intake and being more aware of spacing out some light exercise to keep the metabolism up. I do need to get my protein intake up and I am really watching the insulin triggering sugars. It's been a while since I've made protein smoothies a regular part of my diet. I've typically tried to be more natural by eating eggs, beans and meat. But in order to get my protein intake up to where I want it, I'm going to go back to at least one daily smoothie.
And I baked some protein cookies today.

I'm also back to drinking more water. I noticed that I really don't drink anywhere close to the amount of water I was drinking while working. I just need to make sure that I always have a glass or bottle handy.

There is no waiting until spring to get beach body ready. Cancun in less than 4 weeks!

Be well!

John <><

On the Health Agenda for Today...

The healthy living agenda for today is going to be centered around food!

In my effort to get back to being more purposeful about paying attention to what, when and how much I'm eating, I made some good fruit and vegetable purchases at the store yesterday and need to get them divided into serving sizes and put into the freezer. These will be used in various combinations and with fresh, un-frozen fruits and veggies in my daily protein shakes.

I also plan on baking another batch of my protein/energy cookies and batch of chocolate peanut butter protein cookies for Chris.

I'm just trying to keep good, healthy foods around.

Eat well. Eat often.

John <><

Sunday Morning Smoothie

Today's breakfast smoothie is packed with great stuff!

1/2c dry oats
1/2c skim milk
1/2c frozen blueberries
1c spinach leaves
1 apple
1 scoop whey protein powder
cinnamon as you like

Wowser!
Good and good for you!

Fiber from the oats and apple. Antioxidents from the spinach and blueberries. Metabolism boost from the cinnamon and 30+ grams of protein! Just under 500 calories!

Yum!

Be well,
John <><

Blueberry/Spinach Smoothie

My Sunday morning smoothie:

1/2c frozen blueberries
1c spinach
1/2c non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1/2c skim milk
1tsp cinnamon
1 scoop Body Fortress vanilla whey protein

328 calories
44g protein

Good morning!

John <><

Today's Smoothie

I should begin by saying that I generally measure, bag and freeze my fruit at the beginning of the week. Freezing my fruit gives me the cold frozen smoothie rather than the slushie that you get from adding ice. I wouldn't recommend this unless you have a pretty high powered blender. It's a work out for my VitaMix and the blender I use at work can't really handle it.

This week I bagged 1/2 cup portions of red raspberries an blueberries and 1 cup portions of strawberries and spinach leaves (yes, I freeze the spinach leaves, too). I also sliced and bagged bananas (1 banana/bag).

A bag of each went into the VitaMix along with a cup of skim milk and a scoop of Body Fortress vanilla whey protein. I added a little more milk during the mixing process to help the machine along.
This makes enough for a good sized serving now (about 20-24 oz) and enough to fill my 1/2 liter thermos to take to work for later.

Total calories 538
protein 44g

The fruit adds lots of sugar at 56g and fiber at 15g.

Plus you get great anti-oxidants from the berries.

It is 100% good!

John <><

Breakfast smoothie

My breakfast smoothie for this meatless Monday:

1/2c dry oats
1/2c skim milk
1 apple (pink lady, today)
1c nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 scoop Body Fortress vanilla whey protein
a generous sprinkling of cinnamon
5 ice cubes

Mix in blender until... well, until smooth!

560 cal, 59g protein. 24oz of goodness!

John <><