Link to the Beginning, and Link to Last Post

Welcome Back

Welcome to the edge of oblivion! Okay it’s not that bad. LOL. Yesterday Kristin (wife) and I went over after work and tried to map out some of the remodel. It was fun, cold, and oddly tiring. Thankfully my sister had to pickup some things from our house and brought us dinner so we made it home in time to eat and put our daughter to bed. This is just a sample of things to come and it already derailed our usual routine enough that we overslept this morning.

I hate getting up late. I needed the sleep but holy cow my morning was chaos. Thankfully we got Olivia (daughter) to school and managed to do the things that had to be done.

Quick Recap

My goals for this season are to buy a house, build an ADU for my mom to live with us, move into the house, and launch my coaching business, without losing ground on my writing business or gaining a bunch of weight. I’m also turning 50 in June and processing all that comes with that. FUN.

Did I mention that I sprained my knee last November and re-injured it in recent snowfall a couple weeks ago. I mention it because I’m getting around much better and I thank God for that.

Health Plan (Part 2)

As promised, details of my current health plan. I want to ad a big disclaimer here. This is the plan I made for me and the thinking behind my plan. Don’t do things with your health unless you consult a doctor first.

I divide fitness into Diet and Exercise. Exercise has two components being active and actual exertion. Your baseline level of activity is super important and the most overlooked aspect of most fitness efforts. They assume if you are a warehouse worker, or an accountant, you have roughly the same regular daily caloric burn. Recent studies show that being sedentary is terrible for our health. No matter what we need to be active each hour.

Exercise #1 –Activity. One solution I discovered while developing my silly rules program. Based on two books, “The Power of Full Engagement,” (Loehr & Schwartz) and “The Coaching Habit,” (Micheal Bungey Stanier) I’ve been able to come up with some pretty cool ways to kick simple things I do every day up to another level. Imagine if, every time you ran to the bathroom to release some pressure, you did 5 push-ups leaning against the counter. You can increase your workout by 30 to 50 push-ups a day without sacrificing much time or burning up much willpower. If your job is sedentary, this is a big tip to level the playing field with people who actually burn calories while getting paid.

Another important habit to incorporate is walking at least 10 minutes at a shot. I used to write at coffee shops pre-covid. During the silly rules project I developed the habit of walking whenever I got stuck. Rather than sitting and thinking, I walked and pondered. It was revolutionary. Walking is fantastic for your digestion. It also get’s you breathing fresh air which gives you energy without caffeine. It also breaks up your time sitting. And as a bonus I got unstuck much faster while ponder walking than I did staring at the screen.

Exercise #2 –Workout. It’s vital that you break a sweat at least 3 times a week. In addition to just being more active we need to raise our heart rates. You can pay someone a lot of money to teach you how, and I’m not putting that down, but it’s not rocket science. You just need to elevate your heart rate. The more you do it the better you’ll get at it, which actually means you’ll have to do it a little more to get the same results next time.

However, this is great news. It means starting a new exercise program isn’t the big deal you’ve probably been making it out to be. Most of us out of shape types tend to over do it our first time and then quit because of the pain. At some point you’ll exercise until it hurts and have it still be healthy, but that’s probably not day one. (If you are young it could be day one, I used to go out and over do it with decent results when I was more resilient–now that’s not an option.)

So their are two easy ways to start. The best is to take up a hobby or sport. Get into a dance class, finally learn to swim, buy a bike and hit the trails on a weekend, or join a softball league. If you’re having fun and others are expecting you to show up, you’re more likely to stick with it. The other way to do it, if you are really out of shape, is to get a fitness tracker and join a gym. Go work out and pay attention to your heart rate. Know your resting heart rate and if you can, use a machine to work out until your heart rate elevates to the fat burning zone. Subtract your age from 220 to get your maximum heart rate and then try to get your heart rate to about 70% of that number of beats per minute. In the beginning keep your heart their for as little as 8 to 12 minutes–less if your feeling short of breath. You should almost be able to hold a conversation while working out without grabbing for air.

Update

Woke at…well, at 11:50 PM, 3 AM, & 3:50 AM, but I got out of bed at 6:30 AM–90 minutes behind schedule. I’m not saying this to complain, just want to be accurate in showing how journey’s go. They are sometimes inglorious. Also I missed my consistent weigh-in time. (Consistent weigh-in is important because it fluctuates so much across the day. I try to weigh myself 1st thing in the morning every day–naked.) Today I weighed in after my shower, after breakfast, etc. so I have an inaccurate number, 302 lbs.

Today…

I have copy-writing to do, at least 4 items.
Then I will meet the concrete guy to get an estimate.
Then lunch with friends, get my mom and head back to meet the HVAC guy for an estimate.
Then take my mom to an appointment.
Then go back to the house with my wife to prep for painting the downstairs.
Then play with my daughter for a bit and finish the writing I didn’t get done this morning.

Don’t forget this blog isn’t spelled perfect, etc. not because I’m an idiot but because I’m just journaling my attempts to do all this without losing me in the process. God has big plans for me and I’m not going to get caught up in urgent stuff. I don’t have very long to blog this morning so I will keep it short. Hope your day is going more smoothly than mine.