My Health Journey

In the post "How I Lost 50 Pounds and Kept Them Off" , I discussed the changes I took over the course of the last few years to gradually lose the weight. The main idea is to lose weight gradually enough, while keeping the focus on building healthy eating and exercise habits, so that by the time you reach your desired weight, those habits are so ingrained that you would keep staying active and eating healthy.  In all those years, for instance, I counted calories for only 4 or 5 days. That's all I needed to get an idea of portion sizes and see how what I'm eating measures up against my caloric needs. Beyond that, counting calories felt like a waste of time. As I saw from my own results, it was unnecessary, as long as I eat nutritious whole foods and stop eating when I'm full. What I left out of that earlier post, is how I got myself to instill each of those habits in me. The book No Meat Athlete has excellent sections about habit-forming. For me it meant ...

Cleaning my closet, I decided to discard the first pairs of jeans I bought after I started losing weight five years ago. They were a trim size 38, way slimmer than the unspeakable size 40 I was wearing. I loved them. But now I cannot bear to wear them anymore. They feel heavy, baggy, and without a belt, can slip down my hips zipped and buttoned. Meanwhile, even the size 34s that I had gotten more recently feel big. Moreover, I managed to get into size 33 jeans I had saved from 1995 !  So now, the size 38s are out of commission. (I only kept wearing them so long for sentimental reasons that no longer apply) So how did I do it? How did I lose some 50 lb., and over five sizes, and get to feel 25 years younger, in five and half years? Discarding my first "weight loss" jeans from 5 years and more than 5 sizes ago. There is no magic potion. The way I did it was through small changes in my lifestyle, introduced gradually, one at a time, until each change was embraced and beca...

I registered for a 10-kilometer race in April.  It's good to have a goal to keep me motivated and on track. I ran a 10-miler last year and several half-marathon's earlier. A 10k is not a hard distance, but I haven't been running long runs since the summer. This race is in one direction, and is all downhill, so I should be able to get my fastest pace. My best 10k I finished in 57 min, which is better than my target of 1 hour. If I want to get down to 50 min, that's a target pace of almost 8 min/mile, which is a stretch to maintain, even downhill, but I can try. Moreover, all my previous races were before I knew about my allergies. My race breakfast was typically a nut-laden energy bar, and often I would carry almonds for the road. That, as I found out since, really impacted my sinuses and my breathing. Will be interesting to see how my performance improves after removing that contaminant, and also after the months of reshaping my glutes and stretching my hip flexors....

For the last two months, the unbearable humidity stopped me running. Instead, I focused on the corrective exercises in the book  Anatomy for Runners . Those exercises aimed at strengthening my glutes while stretching my hip flexors, letting me swing my legs back further than I did. In other words, they aim to take out a lifetime of sitting postures out of my gait. The nice weather this week afforded me to test my (partially) corrected body on a couple of runs. My shadow running. The stance of the legs has improved. As can be seen from the shadow picture above, my legs project equally front and back from my hips. My upper body posture needs some work, but the key is the leg stance. Previously, I would run largely by thrusting my legs forward, one at a time. My legs extend too far to the front, causing me to hit my heel more, probably contributing to my recurring plantar faschitis. Further, only one leg's muscles are used at any one time, and my center of gravity (cg) wobbles a...

Exercise calendar I made using an excel Template To keep track of my workouts and help me vary it up, I use a monthly exercise calendar I customized using the Excel templates at Vertex42.com . Typically I rotate between three types of activity, like running, weights, and yoga. The calendar helps me sequence them to ensure I have enough days of rest or active recovery. If I am training for a race, I weave my selected training schedule into the calendar. I can then check completed workouts, enter notes about my time, etc. For more detailed notes, I recommend keeping a dedicated exercise journal. A good example I have been using is the  getfitbook .

Blank chart I use to fill out my workouts Record-keeping is key to successful weight training. Though I have always recorded my exercises, I was applying the records far too automatically in determining what weights to use on a particular day. Looking back, it appears I have been increasing weights too fast, and adhering too rigidly to the plan. That, perhaps, can explain the frequent injuries I was having. After a year-long hiatus from weight training, I wanted to ease in gradually. I am finding the need to revise my strategy for weight training. The main observation is that my form degrades as I continue an exercise for more reps . As muscles fatigue, others pitch in to fill their place. The hip starts to move to assist the bicep, or the lower back moves in to help. That's not good because it's recruiting muscles other than the ones in focus, for a job they're not meant to do in the first place. Another observation is that I'm not training for an event. Rather...

One of my earliest goals when I started exercising was losing weight. Following the advice in No Meat Athlete , I wasn't counting calories or anything - just striving to eat healthy foods, including lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains, and to avoid processed foods. Then, more recently, I learned I had severe food allergies to nuts, and a moderate allergy to wheat.  Nuts I could give up, although they occur as ingredients in many a thing, from peanut butter, to marzipan, to almond soap and massage oil. Wheat is much harder to let go off.  We tend to eat wheat at almost every meal, and it enters many processed snack foods like cookies and crackers. I did some trials and found out I get less congested and can breathe and feel much better if I avoided those foods. However, given wheat's preponderance, I decided to cut down rather than eliminate it completely. To do this, I refined the two-step process I have relied on for the past few years. First, is the shopping li...

Apart from a few nice walks at sunset, the heat wave kept me indoors for most of the last ten days. I managed to do three weight sessions: Monday, Friday, and Labor Day Monday. I have been battling injuries on the left side of my body. Through yoga and foam rolling, as well as a couple of chiropractor adjustments, I managed to eliminate that pain by the beginning of the weekend. I had been using mostly 5 and 10 lb. dumbbells to reintroduce my body to weight training gradually.  Friday's session felt easy I decided to upgrade the weights to 12.5 lb. for the Monday session (keeping the left arm at 10 lb. for some exercises to give it more time to heal). In retrospect, that was a mistake, as I had spent an active and vigorous weekend with my girlfriend. We exercised both in and out of bed. She left me exhausted on Monday, and I should have rested instead of immediately doing weight training. By Tuesday morning, I woke up with serious pain on my entire right arm, from the ...

Boredom is probably the single greatest enemy to persistence in a workout plan. Within weeks, my daily walks helped get me physically and mentally healthier. Just as quickly, however, I realized I needed to vary the route I walked or would sooner quit. The same applied to my runs, bike rides, hikes, and everything else I did outdoors. I needed new trails, new terrain, different scenery, and trails of varying lengths as well. Route created on Google Maps Google Maps quickly became my friend in that regard. I used it to survey the area around me and find routes, and also to measure distances. It is indispensable when it comes to travel. I study my destination for routes and print out maps ahead of time. With that and my running or hiking gear packed, I have no excuses to skip a workout because of travel. Furthermore, running or walking is a fun way to explore and sight-see. You see a lot more than from a moving car. Google Maps  is also indispensable for planning long ...

My old cumbersome dumbbells A few years ago, I reached a point in my walking where I was no longer making progress. I was walking at least an hour each day on outdoor trails. My weight loss reached a plateau. I realized that all the walking strengthened me to the point where an hour walk is no breeze, and my recent weight loss meant it was taking less effort to walk. I tried extending my walks, or taking two daily hour walks. It was nice to spend all that time outdoors, but with work, my daughter, housework, and other things, it became difficult to find that kind of time. My PowerBlock Dumbbells To boost my development, I decided to go back to weight training, something I had done briefly as a teenager, and then again in college. However I did not like gyms. The thought of getting into the car to go to a gym, to exercise in front of other people no less, robs me of half the motivation to work out. If only I had a set of weights at home, I thought, then I'd have no e...

my jogging stroller One of the earliest challenges I faced was integrating my exercise with my single-parent life. I had separated from my marriage when my daughter was only three years old, retaining shared custody. On my custody days, the child demanded much attention. She could not be left alone, so I was unable to do any early morning outdoor activities. Enter the jogging stroller. Upon a friend's advice, I purchased it a month after my separation. For less than $100, I bought my freedom to exercise outdoors anytime I wanted. The Baby Trend Expedition stroller I got was fairly sturdy. It supported my child until she was five years of age, and weighed 50 lb., as advertised. It also has two cup-holders for each of us and a phone / wipes compartment, along with storage at bottom. We kept it in good shape, so I sold it on Craigslist after for $35.                             I started with walking. I...

My bedroom workout setup. Injuries are a fact of an active life. Whether from accidents, poor posture, repetitive use, or exerting oneself too much, injuries get in the way of further exercise, leaving muscles weaker and withering away. Most of the last two years I have spent battling injuries. This led me to re-evaluate my approach. Rather than focus on running speed or weights lifted, I need to understand my body better and build around it. Something I am just realizing is that the workouts and routines you find in books are usually aimed at neutral people who are in reasonable shape and mechanically balanced. The same routines may not necessarily work for you if you are starting from a baseline of injury and imbalance. Instead, they need to be customized to fit your needs and your body, which requires first knowing your body. Last week I did a tour of my body with fairly light 15 lb. dumbbells. I felt much soreness in my neck, upper left arm, left hip and lower back, and right...

Had a nice one hour walk today around the lake. Under the towering trees shading the trail, I saw a caterpillar climbing a silk thread. Every day that I walk, run, hike, or bike outdoors, I see a small wonder of nature, be it a great blue heron wading in the pond, turtles sunning on a log, or deer almost perfectly camouflaged in the thickets. Last week, I saw a hummingbird hovering near a treetop, and a rainbow patch next to the setting sun. Over the years, I have seen red foxes and beavers. Caterpillar climbing on a silk thread. Every exercise session outdoors is an adventure. Even walking the same trail over and over, you see different things at different times of day, and as the seasons change. It is a refreshing way of breaking the monotony of exercise . For me, it wins hands-down over working out in a gym or a treadmill. Fresh air and Vitamin D are a welcome bonus, and being closer to nature is refreshing and healing. The outdoors often pose a challenge. Trail conditions a...

Sooner or later, every exercise plan stumbles upon obstacles, such as work demands, travel, weather, or injury. Following are the ones I encountered over the past five years. I will address each in turn in later posts, along with my response to each challenge. Finding the time to exercise. Schedule disruptions such as illness, travel or extended work commitments. Monotony: Boredom from doing the same routines and running over the same trails. Being a single-parent: I have shared custody of my daughter, which imposes the added challenge of integrating my exercise with my parenting.   Weather: a significant factor for exercising outdoors. Trail conditions: ice, rain, mud, potholes, construction closures, etc., can interfere with our planned activities. Injuries. Specific adaptations because of lifestyle. For example, I live in a townhouse, so end up doing stairs twice as often as usual, while my work involves sitting in front of the computer for long hours. These ha...

The heat wave halted my running to a standstill, so I resurrected the set of weights I have at home to resume weight training. Turns out the last time I had done any weights was last summer, when I decided to take it easy on my heels to alleviate the plantar fasciitis that had developed. Following the recommendation of my chiropractor, I decided to start with especially low weights the first few sessions and see how it goes.  Today was the third session. My first two sessions, starting with 15 lb. dumbbells, identified weak area of my body. Currently at the top of my list is my left shoulder / upper arm, which appears to have suffered an injury. For the last two weeks, I've been feeling pain there when I do dishes. Now I feel it with any type of press, flys, especially pullovers, and lateral raises, but surprisingly not front raises. My chiropractor adjusted it yesterday, but the pain was still there when I exercised today, suggesting it was ...