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Friday, October 14, 2011
Last night didn't go as planned. I'd mapped out a route along a creek trail that is somewhat closer to where I live. The plan was to do about 2.5 miles in the hour before meeting up with my daughter.
First change of plan ... daughter worked and wanted to meet up earlier rather than later. But the item I was meeting to give her was at home. So had to go there from work, then to meet daughter. Of course, that means she wants her vent to mom, talk to mom time. She hadn't eaten dinner, so we split a Subway footlong. Then I walked with her several blocks to where she had choir practice.
Now, from there to the point I planned to start my route are several bus routes. I waited around 15 minutes, got disgusted and walked. Figure it was a better warm-up anyway. Measured that later and it was nearly a mile itself.
Get to the trail and set off. There's a detour. That I knew about and had planned for. No biggie. Except a ways along the detour without any warning but a fence in the way, the detour version of the trail comes to a dead end. I must have missed a turnoff point somewhere a ways back. About face, don't see this turnoff so I just keep going back to where I started and continue along the trail in the other direction.
Blech, I don't like the trail that way. It's really a paved walking/biking road. Worse, the creek has been paved in. Literally. There's no lush wildlife - it's just water pouring along a cemented in slot. Sure, mid-winter after rains it would be above that level and fill out to the large square blocky "steps" between that cement and the higher trail, but it's still not visually appealing.
About the only thing interesting was the collection of sleeping ducks and a few Canadian Geese mixed in (probably stopping for the night to continue their migration). But it was mostly dark and hard to really see them.
Off the trail I went and walked through downtown. At that point I had no idea how far I'd walked, and I didn't want to mess up my 5k walk training by doing less than I needed, so I continued to walk until I got home.
Mapped the route when I got home. That's when I learned the initial "warm up" stretch was nearly a mile. And when I learn the rest was about 3.5 miles. ^_^;; Yeah, I think I'm fine for the 5k walk Saturday other than now being a tad sore.
Oh, some neat things along that walk:
- At one point I was able to watch the Adobe HQ Semaphore.
- At another point I hear church bells tolling out 8 pm. Rather than stop, however, they segued right into a bell rendition of the Beatles song "Yesterday".
- Our city's idea of what is art sometimes boggles my brain. Sometimes it's very neat. I have to admit the decorated sharks were coolness (Sharks = hockey team). But the pile of poop, I mean Quetzlcoatl statue ... yeah, that's just embarrassing.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
I had this idea originally that I'd just walk 1 mile every day. And I do maintain that as my minimum cardio level of walking. (I don't tend to count the other miles at more casual start and stop paces.)
Logging my mile tonight, I realized as I edge the speed higher, instead of more calories burned it is about the same or less. Reason being that I'm finished sooner.
1 mile @ 2 mph = 30 min = 142 calories
1 mile @ 2.5 mph = 24 min = 136 calories
1 mile @ 3 mph = 20 min = 125 calories
1 mile @ 3.5 mph = 17 min (approx) = 122 calories
... The faster I go, since I'm going the same distance, the less I burn.
So I get to revise my routes and push them to nearly at least a mile and a half, maybe two miles. Not that it's a bad thing. One I could do is a combination of the 1.25 miles if I skip my second bus home and several neighborhood blocks to bump it up. Get in the habit of that every evening, and I wouldn't even have to go anywhere. (Only negative on that route is I usually hit at least three lights, so my time looks longer and I walk in circles on street corners.)
The other option I've been considering is getting a backpack, carrying a change of clothes to work, and hitting the park/trail near there before heading home. Negative with that option is it's either a waste of time waiting on buses or a 15 minute "warmup" getting to the Light Rail Train to get to the park.
Pros and Cons, pros and cons.
No matter what, more walking is in the offing.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I know I'm rather out of touch with music that many people my age would tend to listen to. I run into the funniest reactions whenever people insist on pushing to find out bands, singers, genres.
I'm 42. I prefer Trance and Techno, high energy music with a very lively and repetitive bass, and will often have stuff like Armin van Buren's podcasts running as background music.
Years ago I followed the original Rap, not the gangsta stuff these days but the fast rhyming wars, the turntable battles. I went to Freestyle concerts and saw such names in clubs and car shows as Johnny O., Stevie B., Cynthia, Rodney O. and Joe Cooley, and Spanish Fly. I also have a spot in my heart for Latin Dance. Cumbia, Merengue, Salsa, Lambada - music that just draws my feet to dance.
There's really a huge array of music I like, but one of the commonalities is a beat or rhythm that makes my feet want to move. I'm well-known for not sitting still if I have music playing.
Get up and DANCE. That's my "hyper" music playing.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Wound up eating dinner with my daughter tonight. Initially she wanted chinese, which would have worked well. Ended up going to Johnny Rocket's instead. Whew ... talk about wasted calories. I probably over-counted, given that I only ate about 1/2 the fries, maybe 2/3 - so hard to tell - but not all. But over-counted or not, OUCH.
I did get in a good bit more walking than I counted since I only counted the timed one I did. After eating, we walked to the Light Rail, and then she didn't want to go home right away, so we walked for at least an hour meandering about as she talked. So a teensy bit was burned, but nowhere near what would need to be.
At least tomorrow is W4D1 of the 5k walk training - and I can easily do a 2.5 mile or more walk. Long-term, it's not going to kill me ... but man was that a reminder I need to plan better for that kind of spontaneous eating out. I do it so rarely.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
This was a continuation on comparing finances to health.
- Borrowing Against our Future -
We don't wind up obese because, in one day, we ate enough calories to put on all those pounds. Honestly, we've all read that one pound = 3500 calories ABOVE your normal calorie intake. To gain 10 pounds in a day, we'd have to eat 35,000 calories PLUS our normal maintenance level. I don't care if we're a binge eater ... I don't care if we were the winner at a pie eating contest. We don't eat that many calories in a single day.
So how do we wind up obese? By borrowing against the future and not paying it back. We spend what we should on our body (based on weight, age, and activity level) and then we keep right on spending. Sometimes it's at least partly intentional, like borrowing for a car. We fully intend to pay it back in extra workouts or eating less the next meal, next day. Other times it's mindless. We spend a day shopping and just have to have that cute pair of shoes or that amazing toolbox that would hold everything.
We eat an extra 1000 calories this day, an extra 500 that day. Scarfing the whole pizza ourselves or going through a whole package of Chips Ahoy! in one sitting. I looked up those Chips Ahoy! since I've done that quite a few times. 160 calories per serving. About 13 servings per container. That's 5280 calories.
There's my 3500 extra calories in a day easily, and I had at least 16-24 oz. milk with that, if not more, as well as regular food at one or two meals. So while 35,000 a day is nearly inconceivable ... I personally could probably find days I had over 7000 more than my daily requirement.
Even if we don't overeat like that, even if we ate 2000 calories every single day, if some of those days we were completely sedentary (with a calorie requirement of only 1750 instead), then we unwittingly borrowed against our future right there.
I was borrowing all those extra calories the way some people use a credit card without thinking. I did that over 15-18 years very knowingly. But the patterns started much earlier. I actually was borrowing against my future in my teens, 30 years ago. The debt was more manageable, or at least wasn't in my face saying it needed to be paid.
And that balance grows while we keep paying the minimum balance - our activity level tends to decrease as we gain weight IF it was ever high to begin with. I remember getting into my car to drive the 2.5 blocks (short ones at that) to the 7-11 with my kids so we could all buy sweets. Later on, having lost my car, I did walk but it was never with an intent toward being active - it was the necessary to the bus, to work, to the grocery store type walking.
In addition, sometimes life takes a whack at us. We intended to pay it back sooner, but we got sick, injured, stressed, the holidays came around and they're all about eating. Whatever the reasons, somethings sidetracks us from paying it back and sometimes makes us borrow more against our future.
- Paying off the debt -
So we get to the now. I have 90 pounds to lose (approximately). I borrowed 315,000 calories that I didn't pay back. That's nearly 60 of those bags of Chips Ahoy. =P
Step ONE of paying it back is to stop borrowing more. There's a certain amount of calories to live by normally. (These numbers are based on me being 5'8" and sedentary.)
250 lb female age 42 = 2173 calories (my start)
As long as I eat only 2173 calories a day, I will maintain my current weight and I'm not borrowing past my current limit. I'm not going down, but I've stopped the upward climb. I am borrowing as much as I'm paying off - like the person paying the minimum balance every month, then charging to the limit again.
Step TWO is to stop borrowing on the ideal weight and pay the difference there.
160 lb female age 42 = 1703 calories (my goal)
125 lb female age 42 = 1520 calories (low end of recommended)
That lowest number - I call that the point at which I would be borrowing against my body's health to pay off the debt. Eating less than what my body would need at the recommended level is like not paying rent or groceries or utilities so I can pay toward my debt. It really doesn't work.
Those are mandatory expenses that have to be paid. Ending up with no electricity, gas, water, home, or food ... ends in death or less ability to work to pay the debt, let alone pay those needs. Ditto for the body. My body needs proteins to repair cells; those don't come from the energy stored in fat. Eating too little doesn't reduce my fat, it kills off my important cells.
Step THREE is finding an additional source of income.
For someone badly in debt, this is getting a second job or angling for a promotion with a raise. That doesn't come free though. We have to spend more time at it. We have to dress the part. If it's a second job, we have to get there (money). It might even cut into our family time or other things we otherwise consider important.
This is exercise. Without decreasing our consumption of calories below that body-necessary amount, activity can pay toward the debt. It does have a cost. The body-necessary amount actually increases, so we have to make sure we keep that in the right range. It takes time away from other things. (I can't spend all my evenings reading, playing WOW and star-gazing. I have to go walking.)
But it pays more than it costs in the long-term. Exercising increases our muscle mass, those muscles actually helping us pay toward the debt.
Not to mention, exercising can be a distraction when we need it from borrowing more. If we really MUST have that extra slice, how about if we burn the calories BEFORE we eat it? Pay down the debt that extra amount before we borrow it.
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