Chasin’ Around, Doing More of the Same

Sometimes being productive is about ruts and routines. Moreover, those routines make for habits which make for lifestyle changes. And that’s a good thing. I reckon that is a fair description of the last couple weeks of workouts. Hitting the gym consistently, keeping dietary blips to a minimum --though the last couple days on that front have been overly naughty. Last weekend was another solid week of aerobics class, burning over 2,000 classes each day. And this weekend is a plan for more of the same. On Monday, I played soccer with our company league in Jakarta for about the third time in my life. While wearing my heart rate monitor (which henceforth I will only refer to as HRM), certainly didn’t make any less terrible a player, it also me to register a solid 1,500 calories burned running around like an idiot. I wasn’t happy about losing the game but I was happy about losing the calories.

On Monday, I will return to Papua for the third month weigh in on the original scale. Stay tuned for the results.

Fat Man Fantasies

My experiment and a killer superset of calf-raisers on Saturday left me barely able to walk the last few days. Therefore, I took one day of rest and only had a light pool workout to get the blood flowing yesterday. This down time has perhaps allowed me to ponder my process and objectives some in the last couple days.

No, this passage won’t involve extensive discussion of my thoughts about Kelly Carlson, the best thing to come out of Minneapolis since – well, maybe ever. It’s not because I couldn’t think of enough things to say. It is because I don’t think fat boys’ fantasies about cute girls are much different than those of skinny boys. And because my girlfriend reads my blog.

Instead, the point of this passage is to talk about the practical ways being obese affects your life. There are plenty of subtle but important ways to which much attention could be directed, like self-esteem and self-confidence. Talking about such things would make me feel un-dude-ly and then I would have to watch Rocky IV again.

The fat man fantasies include doing stuff like:
Sitting…

• in an economy plane seat comfortably, or at all;
• in a lawn chair without worrying that it may explode at any moment like a drunk uncle at your cousin’s wedding;
• on wicker without doing that semi-squat for fear that it may otherwise produce some version of one of those post-twister tales about straw sticking into electricity poles down the street;

Buying…

• candy bars without feeling like a meth-head loading up on sinus meds;
• clothes in the normal person section;
• clothes with fewer X’s on their labels than your movies;
• clothes that you like, not just the ones that come big enough;

Riding…

• horse without worrying about winding up on the butt end of some fake (or real) PETA poster;
• amusement park rides;

Or anything involving water. From the beach to swimming to water sports, anything involving water is full potential for huge embarrassment or even practical limitations.

These are just some of things I look forward to.

Pound of flesh

I performed an experiment yesterday, to see how much work was required to burn a single pound of fat. I measured the progress with my Polar heart rate monitor, which by the way – for those of you thinking about way to improve the data associated with your workout is great.

• Exercised for 3.5 hours continuously:
• Included 2 classes (one Spin class and one Bodypump class) and 50 minutes on the elliptical machine;
• Average heart rate of 122 through that time; and
• Peak heart rate of around 200, too high actually when I was pushing hard during the Spin class.

All of this burned 3971 calories, around the amount needed to burn one pound of fat. Of course, I only “lose” that pound of fat if that my caloric intake is equal or less than my BMR or calories burned by my body on its own.

This experiment is useful in helping to remember why weight-loss is so difficult. One, we often want the weight to drop off in days or weeks, when it often crept onto our bodies over months or years. Two, it takes a hell of a lot of work to burn a pound. Further, it was useful in giving me something to concentrate on during one really tough Sunday afternoon workout.

I have a confession to make about yesterday also. While getting ready for my workout, I watched the Rocky IV training scene and final fight sequence not once, but twice. Now I need to go look for my high school letterman jacket and selected action figures to complete my transition to total loser. Err, I mean ‘Biggest Loser’. Off to the gym.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I would gladly trade today’s news for Alexander’s mishaps, even borrowing his string of descriptors fails to capture the awfulness of today. Erica’s mother passed away this morning. Though she was quite ill, her death was still shocking – all expectations were that she would recover. Erica and Iren have returned to Manado for the services and to discuss the plan for Erica. With her mother’s passing and her father having taken off before she was born, Erica is left without a biological parent to play a significant role in her life, which further compounds the sadness of the situation.

My reference to the child’s title has nothing to do with the book’s theme, rather it is connected to my compulsion to lie on the floor, kicking and screaming that it isn’t fair that this young woman was taken from the planet so soon and her beautiful young daughter won’t remember her mother and will likely never meet her father. This child-like tantrum is so tempting because no words alone are adequate to capture the grief of the day, no notion of fairness in the world is fulfilled when considering the situation, and no other action seems more effective in handling the sorrow and anger.

A small plateau

Based on today’s weigh in, in the past week, I have not lost any weight. That was disappointing – but I will try to keep reminding myself to keep in mind the longer-term view, that I have lost about 30 lbs in 70 days which is still ahead of the pace I need to keep to reach my goal by the end of the year. I have a two-prong plan to combat this short plateau:

1. Use protein-powder for meal replacement and as a snack to avoid overeating at meals. And, use this in the context of improved discipline on my diet. Staying focused, especially after a minor setback is important.
2. Increase my cardio regimen. Boredom is becoming a bit of an issue so I am going to attempt to increase the diversification, including some swimming and added aerobic classes.

In addition, this plan with persistence and patience should allow me to overcome this minor sticking point. I would really like to have a good weigh-in on April 1st (though I won’t utilize the date to announce any fake results) – as I would like to be well ahead of target by the end of the first quarter.

Still alive

More plane crashes and natural disasters for Indonesia. As this writing might indicate, I am not among those unfortunate victims. I did know one of the currently “missing” Australian citizens who were on the flight. I hope you will all join me in sending your thoughts and prayers to his family, as well as all the other loved ones who have lost someone dear. May this serve as a helpful reminder to tell those dear to us how much they matter and treasure our every moment.

Two becomes three

Erica is Irene’s niece. Erica’s mother in Manado is very ill so Erica is staying in Jakarta until she recovers. Erica is as joyful as she is cute, a delightful little girl. She cannot speak yet, but I am certain her first words will be, “Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.”

Luckily, the title doesn’t refer to my hands – though being able to deliver a Stooges-style eye gouge amid a game of mercy would be a good bar trick. It refers to, in part, how two weeks between updates have stretched into three. A string of personal events, in addition to my continuing all-consuming professional schedule, have kept me off the blog. Through all this, I would grade my performance around a C- or D. I have only missed getting into the gym a handful of days, and I have done OK on my diet. And, still flawless on the booze ban, even at the wedding of my two dear friends, Sam and Irma. Luckily, the culture of weddings in Yogyakarta isn’t that of Ypsilanti, North Dakota – an open bar at a wedding back home would be a move financial suicide. Though the momentum is still going in the right direction, I need to recommit and increase the velocity again. On that point, I need to hit the gym before work.

The setting for Sam and Irma's wedding - Congrats!

A beautiful setting and ceremony in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.