Archive for the ‘General’ Category:
Post-Dinner Walks FTW
My wife and I have the great pleasure of living within walking distance of a nice man-made lake. The total distance from our front door, around the lake, and back is approximately three miles. Our neighbor, who has lived here for quite some time, gave us the estimate of the length and we’ve never had any reason to doubt it.
What we’ve started doing is walk around the lake after dinner as often as we possibly can. It’s not terribly strenuous but it’s a bit of added activity every day that has the potential of yielding good benefits down the road.
First, it gets us out and about. I spend most of my day on the computer, sedentary; so getting up and walking around more often is certainly a bonus. While I do go to Body Pump twice a week, every little bit extra certainly helps.
Second, it burns calories at a rate of 100 per mile so that’s 300 burned calories each time we go out. If there are 3500 calories per pound of fat, that’s a pound every 12 days if we’re running at equilibrium. In a year, that’s potential 31 pounds.
Lastly, it’s some good quality time where there are few distractions. We get a chance to chat and that’s priceless.
Subscribe to the comments for this postMuscle Doesn’t Turn Into Fat
Many many years ago, someone told me that if you kept bulking up and then stopped, all of your muscles would be converted into fat. That’s right, muscles that were not used would magically turn into fat.
Wrong.
Wrong and a bit insulting to one’s intelligence I might add. Muscle and fat are two entirely different tissues and there’s no way one could convert itself into the other, in either direction, so the mere idea of this is ludicrous.
How did this crazy myth come about? Likely as the result of poor conclusions made from observation. People who lift a lot tend to consume calories. When you stop lifting your muscles will begin to atrophy and the higher caloric levels, if they stay that way, will contribute to more fat in the body. Muscles shrink, fat stores increase, it looks, superficially, as though muscles as turned into fat.
Worst Drink Ever: Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake
How would you like to consume 2,310 calories, 108 grams of fat (64 of which are saturated) and 266 grams of carbohydrates in one fell swoop? Drink a Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake and you’ve pretty much just inhaled eleven Heath bars. Worst drink ever.
Check out the shake’s nutritional facts and awe at the fact that you get more than three days worth of saturated fat. Fortunately it does not contain Crustaceans (which include crab, crayfish, lobster and shrimp) because that would be way too much! To burn off that drink, it would take you FOUR HOURS on a treadmill going at a moderate pace.
Someone needs to draw skull and crossbones on that thing… it’s got some serious heart stopping power.
Healthy Roundup
On Thursday after my Body Pump class, I’m pretty sure I had some leftovers that were a little past their prime. I’m pretty sure because my stomach has been pretty upset at me for the last five days and I haven’t had usual youthful energy. Regardless, it’s certainly not anything as bad as Kevin rupturing his peroneus longus tendon in a volleyball game. It’s nothing grisly, just an unfortunate accident. It reminds me of a friend of mine who snapped both is tibia and fibula rounding third in a kickball game. Yikes. We wish you a speedy recovery man.
NCN gave us an update on his 6th day without soda.
Fat Man Unleased shares a review of Weight View with us.
And last but not least, Lazy Man laments how hotels are horrible for fitness.
On an unrelated note, I’m in the process of securing a Wii Fit, which I hear is all the rage. Looks pretty cool from this 2007 E3 conference video:
After Dinner Strolls
When I was younger, my parents would always take me along on their post-dinner strolls around the neighborhood. We would finish up dinner, clean up the dishes, and then take a walk that probably amounted to about a mile. We’d walk and chat and basically spend time as a family as we saw our little suburban neighborhood. It also was good exercise because it got our blood flowing after a meal, rather than sitting on our butts in front of the TV or something (I couldn’t watch TV after dinner so it wasn’t a big deal), and something my wife and I started doing.
Luckily for us, we actually have a more picturesque and longer walk than my parents. It’s about three miles round trip for us to walk around the lake and back, something we can usually do in about an hour, and something we try to do at least once a week. Another side benefit is that the grocery store is along the way so we often stop by there to grab a couple things we needed (saves on gas!).
For Happiness, Go Your Own Way
Many times in life we’re told where we’re supposed to go and there is a bit of comfort in that. You grow up listening to your parents. You go to school and you listen to your teachers. You try to get good grades and then you go to college and listen to professors. What you have to do is dictated to you by someone else. You graduate (or skip college) and you start working for a boss. That boss tells you what you work on today, tomorrow, next week. There’s a certain amount of comfort in doing that in part because you’ve always done it that way. But, for happiness, go your own way. That’s my 6 word memoir.
I left my 9-to-5 (really more like 9-to-6 or more) job to become the master of my domain in the world of the self-employed. It was a scary choice because for the last 28 years I’d been listening to someone tell me what to do in a professional sense. My parents, my teachers, my professors, my bosses… but now I’m on my own. I tell myself what to do and, this part is harder, figuring out what I have to do… but I’m happier. I bear 100% of the risk but I also get 100% of the reward. Plus, I get to work out during the day instead of when I’m exhausted after work… that’s worth more than money. 
I’m going to tag these folks to write their own six word memoir:
- JD or Mac - http://www.getfitslowly.com (whichever one answers for Israel, how about the other one answer for me
- Tricia - http://www.bloggingawayfat.com
- Nickel - http://www.fivecentnickel.com
- Pinyo - http://www.moolanomy.com
- PaidTwice - http://paidtwice.com
The rules for this meme are:
- Write your own six word memoir.
- Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
- Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
- Tag at least five more blogs.
- Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.
Using Tiny Gym Lockers
I don’t have a gym ID card, I have a sticker on the back of my driver’s license with my ID number. I hand the license over to the attendant at the gate, he or she keys in my ID number and then lets me on my way. I usually bring very little to the gym, just my car keys and the ID when I go to my body pump classes every Tuesday and Thursday morning; so I’ve never opted to stick things in any of the tiny gym lockers from the front doors.
This week, I managed to lose my driver’s license for about 24 hours as it likely slipped out of my pocket somewhere in the gym. In a panicked mess, I retraced all my steps for about twenty minutes, unable to locate the stupid little card. I called up later that afternoon to the gym’s lost and found, also to no avail. Well, as luck would have it, my call in this morning yielded success! Someone had found the license and turned it into the lost and found, so all is okay. What’s frustrating is that this isn’t the first time I lost my license. I lost it about a month ago, albeit only for five minutes, so you would’ve thought I would’ve learned from this. Oh no… but two times is enough.
I’m going to start using those free lockers at the entrances to my gym.
Be Thankful You Can Exercise
One of my my body pump instructors made an excellent point the other day during class as we were going through the leg track. She’s normally a pretty chatty instructor and one of my favorites, but she made a great point about how we should enjoy how exercise feels, how exercise makes us feel, and how we should be thankful we can exercise. That our bodies are healthy enough to allow us to work it this way because not everyone is so fortunate.
I thought that was a remarkably different way to approach exercise and one that never occurred to me because I’ve been fortunate enough to always been able to exercise. Working out shouldn’t be a chore, it should be an enjoyable experience that has positive effects on your body. You aren’t going for a painful 30 minute cardio session or attending an hour-long class of misery, you’re working your machine of a body to ensure it can run farther, faster, and stronger than it did before the session. You’re working out so you can continue to work out in the future, you’re doing yourself a service and something some people can’t.
It’s a mindset thing and a very astute observation.
Honeymooning until March 17th
To those who have been visiting, I apologize for not having any fresh content up; we are currently celebrating our honeymoon in Hawai’i and will return March 17th. In store for you then will be my start of daily classes at the gym (some sort of cycling and circuit training) and a more diligent adherence to a more active lifestyle.
Thanks!
Cooking Light’s Top 20 Cities for Healthy Living
To celebrate it’s 20th year of publication, Cooking Light did a survey to see which were the top twenty US cities that matched its philosophy “to eat smart, be fit, and live well.” The number one winner? Seattle, Washington because of its “abundance of fresh local foods, walker-friendly streets, and inclusive attitudes helps make Seattle America’s best city for healthy living.”
Who else made the list?
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
5. San Francisco, California
6. Boston, Massachusetts
7. Denver, Colorado
8. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
9. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
10. Tucson, Arizona
11. Baltimore, Maryland
12. Colorado Springs, Colorado
13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
14. St. Louis, Missouri
15. New York, New York
16. Atlanta, Georgia
17. Austin, Texas
18. Chicago, Illinois
19. Las Vegas, Nevada
20. Kansas City, Missouri
Cooking Light names cities that best fit its philosophy [Source: Cooking Light via CNN]
