Trying to Loose the Weight Blogging Put On

One issue I have had for a fairly long time is my lower back. My father also has some horrible back issues, and as such I am always worried about how long mine will last. At one point in my life, I was actually thinking of joining the Canadian Forces Military to work on their computers, but when I mentioned that I sometimes get back pain, my medical was put on hold until I sought out further examination from a doctor.

The doctor checked out my back and said that my weight and lack of core strength would be the contributing factors to my back pain, but wouldn’t really stop me from doing basic training for the military.

By the time I was done my medical, I had already found another job, but I never really remedied the issue with my back, and sitting on my butt all the time working on the computer hasn’t helped this.

One of my biggest goals over the next seven months will be to work on building up my core strength so that I can help protect my back. I am also working on my posture, and ergonomics. Getting healthy, fit and preventing such issues can be rather expensive, as I know my current office chair doesn’t work well, and neither does sitting on the couch working for hours on end, slouched over.

So many things to learn, but I want to make sure my back works with as little pain as possible for as long as possible. My dad is currently popping anti-inflammatory medication from time to time to make sure his pain is properly managed.

Anyone else suffering from back issues, or have any advice?

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So today, I am in pretty bad agony. When at the gym yesterday, I was dumb and did one of those “I used to be able to lift…” and tried to do it again. The issue is that I haven’t lifted any weights for a long time, and wanted to strive to do as many major muscle groups as I could, and so today, I am sore from my neck to my ankles.

My shoulders and arms are especially sore because they never really have to do anything from day to day. I am kind of surprised they haven’t become atrophied and fallen off. The only things that get used are my fingers, and that is just to type these posts. I should have fingers the size of trees with all the typing I do.

So today, I decided not to hit the gym just yet. I plan on going back tomorrow, even if it is just for some cardio, but I forgot how much it hurts to push myself at a gym.

Despite the pain, I am still glad I am doing it. Building muscle always feels good.

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So I am a little bit behind on giving my weekly update, but I did record my weight at the same time I do each week to give a “fair” comparison and I have dropped another two pounds. This brings me to a grand total of 256 pounds, or a total loss thus far of four pounds. This also means I am only a week behind where I want to be, and at least the needle is going in the right direction.

Continuing to work on my diet, drink more water, and exercise more should see the continuation of my results. I have found a fair number of things very hard this week, but I am slowly adjusting.

The great news is that I now have access to a full gym facility, which should hopefully make things easier in the exercise department. Also, I am still doing my Three PM Runaways, where I focus on my health. I have been preparing healthy meals, reading up on best practices for getting healthy, and working out at home.

I have so many things to tell you all with regard to what I have learned, so stand by for a massive brain dump.

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One of the things I wish I could do would be to integrate exercise into my daily routine more easily, with something like bike pedals under my desk or a cool treadmill desk like seen on Awake at the Wheel.

That picture below (see site for picture) is little old me walking 1 mile per hour while blogging…at my desk. I’m there from 8:30am t 12:30pm, five day a week now. And, here’s the amazing thing…

It doesn’t even feel like exercise!

One mile per hour is the equivalent of a very slow walk. It’s slower than the pace I usually follow whenever I am on the phone (I have to move when I talk or feel like I’m gonna die). You don’t really get tired, you don’t sweat and, at my weight…

By lunchtime, I’ve already burned around 600 friggin’ calories!

And, here’s the other cool benefit, I actually work faster and think better when I am moving, so I end up getting more done faster. I wish this was my idea, but I have to admit to being turned on to this by one of my yoga students, Emiliya, who told me her and her boyfriend had been doing it for months.

I have to admit that this is something I am looking forward to trying the next time I go to my local gym, BodyParts Fitness, I will be bringing my laptop as they have book holders on their treadmills that should be able to hold my MacBook Pro, and let me do some basic stuff while walking away.

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So, I have a really cool story to tell you all. I have gotten myself into a gym, and before you go moan and groan, I will be using the membership, and I didn’t pay a dime to get in. That doesn’t mean I got a free membership or anything, but instead I bartered and traded for entrance.

I have some skills in web development, and so I put them to good use. I found a local gym that is near where I live and not a big box brand, and looked them up on the web. BodyParts Fitness is what I found. They have a website, but it was recently hacked and could use a graphical update.

I contacted them to see if they were interested in trading my time and skills for a gym membership, and they contacted me to set up what amounted to a pitch presentation. I worked on a design mockup and put my thoughts together and met up with the owner. I talked to him for nearly two hours and we agreed that there was something good happening here, but I would need final approval from his wife and partner.

He asked me to continue to develop the concept. I was getting a little nervous because I was very busy with many projects, and if she decided she didn’t like where I was heading, that would be a fair bit of wasted time.

I worked hard on fine tuning the design and my presentation, adding in the elements they wanted, and finally presented it all to her yesterday. After a few questions, she looked very impressed, and the deal was made. I now have access to the biggest and best gym in St. Thomas.

I can’t tell you how excited I am, and all this is going to cost me is some time and effort. No yearly membership, no crazy monthly fees. This is something that many of us web workers can do, even if you can’t do a website for the local fitness centre, there are lots of other things you can do that could earn you membership.

Have experience in graphic design? Talk to them about creating professional posters for their gym, letterheads, advertisements for newspapers. Have photography skills? Help them build a portfolio of images for insurance purposes and promotional needs.

Love writing? Talk to them about helping build up a wider range of content on their site, and sell the search engine advantages of having more great content on their site. Giving away golden nuggets of information can mean bringing diamond class members to their gym.

There is no reason why deals can’t be made with local businesses. It doesn’t cost much for a gym to have you use their weights or change rooms, and they can see huge benefits from your time, energy and skills. If sold correctly, it is a win-win scenario, especially if it helps you get fit and them increase their business opportunities.

And if you live in St. Thomas, Ontario, I can’t recommend BodyParts Fitness enough. Their facilities are just huge and they have more than just work out stations. Sauna, hot tub, half court basketball area, squash courts, golf pro with swing analysis, and tanning booths are just part of the many things they have there.

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I have always wondered whether my eating habits are learned, genetic or psychological. Have I really made myself this way or do I eat the way I eat due to unresolved issues? Where does my lack of willpower stem from?

One of the things I have done since living with my now wife is keep a stash. A private collection of junk food that I enjoy. Not only because she would eat half of whatever I had, but also because I didn’t want to disappoint her. She has high hopes for me with regards to getting in shape, and I just couldn’t face her when it came to buying junk food. I would store it away, and eat it while she was gone. Even worse, I would binge on it in hopes of finishing it all so that there wouldn’t be any evidence.

At my worst, I was stashing away around twenty dollars worth of junk food every month. Chips, chocolate, pop, licorice, and other candies all hidden away in a tote in my office closet.

I don’t know why I did it, and I don’t know why I couldn’t stop. A while back my wife found some wrappers I had hidden away while she was looking for some paperwork in my office. Suffice to say, she wasn’t impressed. I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I was being so ridiculous.

She wasn’t stopping me from having junk food, but I felt like I would be letting her down if she knew I was eating some. Slowly we have worked on that one issue, and now I let her know what I am getting, and we discuss such things. She even sometimes offers to buy me some in hopes that being open, honest, and keeping proper track will stop any of the binge eating when cravings get bad, and stop the need I have to hide away my own surplus of junk food.

All of this leads me back to my introductory point but doesn’t answer the question. Do I have psychological issues that are related to my eating habits? Is this really something that people have or not? And if it does exist, and I do have it, will I be unsuccessful in attaining my goals until I somehow work it all out? Just some food for thought.

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There are so many lists that just don’t seem to understand the concept of flavour and unfortunately a recent post on one of my favourite health sites, One Big Health Nut, just doesn’t get it either. It asks you to replace bad things with slightly better things, but unfortunately you have to deal with the well known side effects: healthy things usually don’t taste as good.

One thing it mentions is to replace regular soda with diet soda. Unfortunately, I can’t drink diet soda due to the chemical sweeteners that they use causing me headaches.

Have you ever tried those healthy cereal bars? They are horrible. I will take most granola bars any day.

Other ones that it mentions aren’t really that much of an improvement, and with some the improvement is negated by the average portion sizes that people take of the alternative versus the original.

There are some good pieces of advice in there. Eating skinless chicken is a very smart way to cut some fat and some calories without losing any chicken goodness, especially if you cook the outside to be a little crispy. I also recommend switching to 1% Milk rather than the 2% that they mention. Normal whole milk has 3.25% milk fat, and even reducing that to 2%, if you can’t deal with the lack of sweetness in the 1% milk could save you some calories.

There is a lot of good advice out there, but none of it really deals with the special circumstances or needs of the individual.

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