Exercise update: It's been a mixed week. I was traveling for work Sunday through late Wednesday. I did some solid planning and made sure I did lots of walking in the airport on Sunday to begin because I knew I'd be sitting in my car and on the plane to Houston (I flew out of Minneapolis, my favorite airport). I also had workout clothes for my stay in Texas and I'm pleased to report that I worked out Monday and Tuesday at the hotel with a mix of a tiny bit of outdoor running, elliptical, dumbbells and steep incline treadmill walking. So that's the good news...
I knew Wednesday was a lost cause as I went from class, to an airport shuttle, to a plane, to my car to drive home by 1:00 a.m. Not that big a deal because I had hit it hard the two prior days and could get back at it Thursday (oops), well Friday (nope), and no doubt Saturday (can't explain why but just didn't). So I didn't update my blog on Thursday (which breaks a committment to myself) and have somehow managed to get to Sunday morning and realize I haven't worked out beyond a dog walk since Tuesday.
Well my new favorite book Mindset, teaches that failure is just information, so I'll process the information and move on. The biggest piece of information is that I have lots of habits and routines built around my work that don't support my health. I need to work on breaking those and stop using work fatigue as an excuse to skip workouts and eat poorly. It's also interesting that the woman I live with who is related to me by marriage strongly encouraged me to work out today because apparently I'm not real pleasant right now. I didn't believe it and told her to go to hell... j/k, but I didn't realize my malaise was so obvious. So I'll probably hit the gym when she gets home, even if it means I watch the Packers from a treadmill or elliptical. That mood to exercise connection is particularly strong lately.
Nutrition update: My nutrition has followed the same up and down pattern over the last 10 days. I have done a great job of avoiding ice cream even though I crave it like a junkie, but I used fatigue and convenience to allow myself to eat fries 3 times in 10 days, so that's not great.
The lesson is the same, I need to plan not react or I make bad choices right now. It's just hard because I feel like I can't find time to do all that planning. Of course, bad health habits will shorten my time on the planet, so I need to make the time. Seems that my de-porking program tomorrow is coming at the perfect time. Many around me would say that nutrition is my nemesis, so I'm hoping to do good work in that area. I've even noticed I struggle to write much about nutrition, perhaps that means something.
Random Musings: The training in Houston was fantastic. It's about approaches to helping first generation students do better in college. If I have a professional passion, that's it right there. Now I just have to strip away enough BS at work to find time to work on being a crusader for helping people move from powerlessness to where they want to go. That feels like a mission.
Wish me well as I begin the 12 weeks to A New Me tomorrow night. And of course while I go to the gym today so I quit being crappy to people I love.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Confronting the brutal facts
I've come to dislike books on leadership, but back when I still thought they were interesting, I read one called Good to Great by Jim Collins. It's about companies that made the leap from being good to being great and why and how that happened. Try to ignore the fact that this "greatness" was mostly associated with stock prices (offends my socialist soul:)), but there was interesting stuff in there. My favorite part was the observation that great success is often preceded by facing the "brutal facts" meaning an honest accounting of where you are.
Well today I went for a biometric screening that kicks off my A New Me program and I had to confront the truth. The truth is that after a summer of progress I have completely fallen apart until very recently. Let me share some numbers to illustrate what I learned.
On August 16th of 2011 (4.5 months ago), a similar screening showed the following:
Height - 5'8"
weight - 198 lbs
BMI - 30 (this is obese)
Blood pressure - 139/93
Total Cholesterol - 185
HDL (Good Cholesterol) - 29
LDL (Bad cholesterol) - 128
Blood Sugar - 94
Today (1/5/12) I showed the following measurements
Height - 5'8 1/2 " ( I think they misread and meant 5"7 1/2" but I'll take it)
Weight - 204.4 (up 6.4 pounds in 4 months...)
BMI - 30.6 (more obese and I think they gave me more height than I should get)
Blood Pressure - 112/80 (my only real good news)
Total Cholesterol - 220 (Holy Crap a 35 point jump in the wrong direction)
HDL - 37 (a minor gain, but under 40 is "at-risk")
LDL - 154 (Good Lord up 26 points)
Blood Sugar - 108 (this is pre-diabetic)
I also learned that I am at 28.1% body fat.
These are my brutal facts. They make me want to wallow and whine, but mostly they tell me to get busy living or I'll soon get busy getting sick and eventually dying (to paraphrase Shawshank).
I also need to get busy learning and that's the purpose of the class I'm taking starting the 16th. I need to learn to deal with stress some other way than fast food and slothdom, and I need to learn to eat like a 41 year old man/athlete.
I won't get these screenings again for a year in this program, but they will measure my weight and body composition in 12 weeks. I promise progress by then, mostly to myself, but I'll share it all.
So those are the brutal facts of my health and I think owning them starts me moving forward. It certainly justifies a focus on health for a while, rather than work or other extraneous crap. As they say, if you don't have your health...
I wonder what brutal truths others need to face to get unstuck in their lives?
Well today I went for a biometric screening that kicks off my A New Me program and I had to confront the truth. The truth is that after a summer of progress I have completely fallen apart until very recently. Let me share some numbers to illustrate what I learned.
On August 16th of 2011 (4.5 months ago), a similar screening showed the following:
Height - 5'8"
weight - 198 lbs
BMI - 30 (this is obese)
Blood pressure - 139/93
Total Cholesterol - 185
HDL (Good Cholesterol) - 29
LDL (Bad cholesterol) - 128
Blood Sugar - 94
Today (1/5/12) I showed the following measurements
Height - 5'8 1/2 " ( I think they misread and meant 5"7 1/2" but I'll take it)
Weight - 204.4 (up 6.4 pounds in 4 months...)
BMI - 30.6 (more obese and I think they gave me more height than I should get)
Blood Pressure - 112/80 (my only real good news)
Total Cholesterol - 220 (Holy Crap a 35 point jump in the wrong direction)
HDL - 37 (a minor gain, but under 40 is "at-risk")
LDL - 154 (Good Lord up 26 points)
Blood Sugar - 108 (this is pre-diabetic)
I also learned that I am at 28.1% body fat.
These are my brutal facts. They make me want to wallow and whine, but mostly they tell me to get busy living or I'll soon get busy getting sick and eventually dying (to paraphrase Shawshank).
I also need to get busy learning and that's the purpose of the class I'm taking starting the 16th. I need to learn to deal with stress some other way than fast food and slothdom, and I need to learn to eat like a 41 year old man/athlete.
I won't get these screenings again for a year in this program, but they will measure my weight and body composition in 12 weeks. I promise progress by then, mostly to myself, but I'll share it all.
So those are the brutal facts of my health and I think owning them starts me moving forward. It certainly justifies a focus on health for a while, rather than work or other extraneous crap. As they say, if you don't have your health...
I wonder what brutal truths others need to face to get unstuck in their lives?
Sunday, January 1, 2012
New Year, New Resolve
In my last posting, I talked about Reflecting, selecting and removing. Here's how it went.
Reflecting: I spent about 90 minutes reviewing old blog posts today looking for some insight. I can't say I found any, mostly it just felt repetitive. Maybe that's the insight? I'm repeating the same behaviors over and over and over.
When I looked for positive reflection, I did note that from April until July I exercised very regularly and got fit enough to do a triathlon, probably the high point of my fitness year. Unfortunately I also managed to train enough to develop a semi-serious foot injury which set me back for months and kept me from my Urbanathlon dreams. Still there was a lot of fitness added to my life this year.
On the downside would be the injury I mentioned and my remarkable inability to get my diet and weight under control. I might also add my continued anxiety of school and career choices.
So my only real insight is a reminder that we are what we repeatedly do and I'm going to try to find some positive behaviors to repeat this year instead of the same old tired choices I've made for years.
Selecting: There are literally dozens of choices I could make for goals this year, but the article I read said pick 2-3 that you will actually do. I'm going to cheat and combine a bit, but here are my 2012 goals.The top priority is health, health, health:
1. Stop eating French Fries beginning in January (today) and stop drinking soda by February.
2. Complete the A New Me program through my health insurance plan.
3. Get my weight to 180 lbs. or less by Riverfest so Hannah and I can go on the Bungee trampoline thing that I've been too heavy for for the last two years. That one wounds me just to type.
4. Urbanathlon and/or an Olympic distance triathlon.
Removing: I need to create space for the things I want to do so I've identified some useless things I do that could go away or reduce. Here they are:
1. No more games on Facebook (bye Zuma and Bejeweled)
2. Reduce blog updates to weekly
3. Reduce looking at grad school or other jobs to weekly
4. Reduce checking email at work to 4 times a day, every 90 minutes.
So, I'd hoped this might be a deeper post today but it's not there. Instead I hope this is practical path to meaningful change. If I'm doing this entry in a year, I hope that good health is a given and I can get on to other topics. I'll feel unstuck then.
Reflecting: I spent about 90 minutes reviewing old blog posts today looking for some insight. I can't say I found any, mostly it just felt repetitive. Maybe that's the insight? I'm repeating the same behaviors over and over and over.
When I looked for positive reflection, I did note that from April until July I exercised very regularly and got fit enough to do a triathlon, probably the high point of my fitness year. Unfortunately I also managed to train enough to develop a semi-serious foot injury which set me back for months and kept me from my Urbanathlon dreams. Still there was a lot of fitness added to my life this year.
On the downside would be the injury I mentioned and my remarkable inability to get my diet and weight under control. I might also add my continued anxiety of school and career choices.
So my only real insight is a reminder that we are what we repeatedly do and I'm going to try to find some positive behaviors to repeat this year instead of the same old tired choices I've made for years.
Selecting: There are literally dozens of choices I could make for goals this year, but the article I read said pick 2-3 that you will actually do. I'm going to cheat and combine a bit, but here are my 2012 goals.The top priority is health, health, health:
1. Stop eating French Fries beginning in January (today) and stop drinking soda by February.
2. Complete the A New Me program through my health insurance plan.
3. Get my weight to 180 lbs. or less by Riverfest so Hannah and I can go on the Bungee trampoline thing that I've been too heavy for for the last two years. That one wounds me just to type.
4. Urbanathlon and/or an Olympic distance triathlon.
Removing: I need to create space for the things I want to do so I've identified some useless things I do that could go away or reduce. Here they are:
1. No more games on Facebook (bye Zuma and Bejeweled)
2. Reduce blog updates to weekly
3. Reduce looking at grad school or other jobs to weekly
4. Reduce checking email at work to 4 times a day, every 90 minutes.
So, I'd hoped this might be a deeper post today but it's not there. Instead I hope this is practical path to meaningful change. If I'm doing this entry in a year, I hope that good health is a given and I can get on to other topics. I'll feel unstuck then.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Gaining momentum and making a plan
Exercise update: I made it to the Y today for some workout time. That means I hit the Y on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so far this week. Pretty good. I am reminded today of how much better my mood is when get some movement. No wonder some people get to the habit of doing this stuff first thing in the morning. I've never been that guy, but maybe I'll get there. I didn't do anything fancy today, just 32 minutes on the elliptical and 1 set of lots of different weight things, but it all adds up. I'm scheduled for 12:15 spin class tomorrow, so I'll get cardio one way or another.
It also occurred to me that I haven't worked since last week so my mood may be influenced by that as well. I'm sure there's something to be learned there, but I'll save that for another time. I wonder how many people are sacrificing their health for their job? I wonder if you actually have to?
My head always jumps to the big goals, but let's just stick to moving more for now. Big goals can come later.
Nutrition update: No big news. Continued to work on reducing diet soda intake. Probably eating less junk because I'm not running out of the office for lunch, but I can't say I'm eating markedly better because I made sure there was plenty o' crap in the house. I'm getting back on the scale tomorrow, but for now I'm just trying to get in motion again rather than attach to a number. That will come with the program that starts in January.
Random Musings: I read a thing on a greatTwitter feed called the99percent (linked below, not about OWS) about New Year's resolutions. It talks about using a Reflect, Select, Remove approach. it made sense to me today. I'm going to work on reflecting on what has and hasn't worked in 2011, probably in a blog entry, and then select 2-3 impactful goals for 2012. And finally and most importantly, I'm going to remove some of the things that I'm doing that may prevent me from achieving my goals.
Obviously health and wellness will be a primary goal and one of the main impediments to achieving that is making time to do it. When I look for things to remove, I see the computer and the Internet and one of my time wasters. So I'll look for things to trim. Games on FB seems the easiest so good bye to Bejeweled Blitz, Zuma Blitz etc. I also want to use this blog in the best possible way, so I think it will be a weekly event starting on Sunday the 1st. That should keep me focused without stealing too much time from what really matters.
Enjoy your New year and I'll see you on the 1st. Here's a link to that site from Twitter I mentioned if you are interested. the99percent
It also occurred to me that I haven't worked since last week so my mood may be influenced by that as well. I'm sure there's something to be learned there, but I'll save that for another time. I wonder how many people are sacrificing their health for their job? I wonder if you actually have to?
My head always jumps to the big goals, but let's just stick to moving more for now. Big goals can come later.
Nutrition update: No big news. Continued to work on reducing diet soda intake. Probably eating less junk because I'm not running out of the office for lunch, but I can't say I'm eating markedly better because I made sure there was plenty o' crap in the house. I'm getting back on the scale tomorrow, but for now I'm just trying to get in motion again rather than attach to a number. That will come with the program that starts in January.
Random Musings: I read a thing on a greatTwitter feed called the99percent (linked below, not about OWS) about New Year's resolutions. It talks about using a Reflect, Select, Remove approach. it made sense to me today. I'm going to work on reflecting on what has and hasn't worked in 2011, probably in a blog entry, and then select 2-3 impactful goals for 2012. And finally and most importantly, I'm going to remove some of the things that I'm doing that may prevent me from achieving my goals.
Obviously health and wellness will be a primary goal and one of the main impediments to achieving that is making time to do it. When I look for things to remove, I see the computer and the Internet and one of my time wasters. So I'll look for things to trim. Games on FB seems the easiest so good bye to Bejeweled Blitz, Zuma Blitz etc. I also want to use this blog in the best possible way, so I think it will be a weekly event starting on Sunday the 1st. That should keep me focused without stealing too much time from what really matters.
Enjoy your New year and I'll see you on the 1st. Here's a link to that site from Twitter I mentioned if you are interested. the99percent
Monday, December 26, 2011
You just keep starting
Fitness update: Today has been ok. I took Cameron for a short hike and then got myself to the Y for 30 minutes on the elliptical plus some random weight lifting. It's not real focused but it is exercise and it's where I am right now. Once again, I noticed the positive effect getting some exercise has on my mood. Need to keep that learning in mind. I'm certainly not as fit as I was a couple months ago, but that is irrelevant, I just need to move more now.
Nutrition update: I have been drinking less soda since I've been away from work. Understand that my version of less is more than most anyone else would drink in a week, but I am reducing it and that's progress. I did weigh in this morning and I am large, no doubt. My holiday food choices have been mediocre, which probably qualifies as progress:) I'm choosing to not publish my weight until my biometric screening on January 5th. I figure that's a good place for a "before" moment. I'll probably include a picture then too. Between now and then, I'm just trying to do a little better than I have been.
Random Musings: I've had time to consume some media over my break so here's an update. I finally watched The Kids are All Right a couple nights ago. I thought it was fantastic. I laughed, I cried, I found catharsis. What more could you ask of a movie? The short synopsis is that it is about a family headed by two women in which the kids seek out the sperm donor they've never met. The interactions with the donor drive the movie, but what makes it sneaky good is all the lessons to be learned about family and marriage. I was struck by just how "normal" the main characters' marriage is even though it's same sex. Thank goodness people are trying to protect us from that (insert sarcasm here). What I saw is that being married and a parent is hard, no matter the circumstance. It's also funny and awkward and the best thing most of us will do. Anyway, I recommend the movie highly.
If you are wondering about today's title, it's based on a concept my Dad plowed into my head. He always talked about the only way to quit smoking was to keep quitting, meaning that if you slipped one day you just quit again after that. Seems to make sense to me with health too. Yesterday is just sunk costs if it didn't go well, you just start again today. Sounds suspiciously like AA, but long-time readers will know that I think my behavior reeks of addiction anyway, so maybe that's why one day at a time appeals to me. I started taking better care of myself today and I'm sure I'll start again tomorrow.
Happy Boxing Day
Nutrition update: I have been drinking less soda since I've been away from work. Understand that my version of less is more than most anyone else would drink in a week, but I am reducing it and that's progress. I did weigh in this morning and I am large, no doubt. My holiday food choices have been mediocre, which probably qualifies as progress:) I'm choosing to not publish my weight until my biometric screening on January 5th. I figure that's a good place for a "before" moment. I'll probably include a picture then too. Between now and then, I'm just trying to do a little better than I have been.
Random Musings: I've had time to consume some media over my break so here's an update. I finally watched The Kids are All Right a couple nights ago. I thought it was fantastic. I laughed, I cried, I found catharsis. What more could you ask of a movie? The short synopsis is that it is about a family headed by two women in which the kids seek out the sperm donor they've never met. The interactions with the donor drive the movie, but what makes it sneaky good is all the lessons to be learned about family and marriage. I was struck by just how "normal" the main characters' marriage is even though it's same sex. Thank goodness people are trying to protect us from that (insert sarcasm here). What I saw is that being married and a parent is hard, no matter the circumstance. It's also funny and awkward and the best thing most of us will do. Anyway, I recommend the movie highly.
If you are wondering about today's title, it's based on a concept my Dad plowed into my head. He always talked about the only way to quit smoking was to keep quitting, meaning that if you slipped one day you just quit again after that. Seems to make sense to me with health too. Yesterday is just sunk costs if it didn't go well, you just start again today. Sounds suspiciously like AA, but long-time readers will know that I think my behavior reeks of addiction anyway, so maybe that's why one day at a time appeals to me. I started taking better care of myself today and I'm sure I'll start again tomorrow.
Happy Boxing Day
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