Just a little over one year ago, I published a three-part series about my 16-week, 30 lb. weight-loss challenge. See the links to the series at the very bottom. Yup, I successfully lost the 30 lbs. (from 214 lbs. down to 184 lbs.), however, as most dieters know, keeping the weight off is another story.
Well, I was actually pretty good about maintaining my new weight via healthy eating habits and regular exercise UNTIL the COVID-19 pandemic struck in mid-March along with the lockdown that followed. That’s when I slowly started reintroducing my favorite junk foods back into my diet, like crackers (Cheez-It, Chicken in a Biskit), cheeses, and ice cream (rum raisin, pistachio). I became so lax that my go-to lunch became a mini-Garbage Plate; i.e., a Zweigles white hot dog and macaroni salad (including plenty of mayonnaise), all smothered in Rochester meat hot sauce and chopped onions. We’re talkin’ 50 grams of fat just for lunch, folks. Each day. Every day. I rationalized to myself that I was “entitled” to some “comfort foods” during that challenging period with everything that was going on. I’m sure many other people thought the same thing. The good thing is that I never stopped my daily weigh-ins, so I could observe my weight gradually increasing over time. I was 182 lbs. on March 19th at the start of the pandemic, but by June 4th I had crept up to 194 lbs. Argh! I had regained 10 of the 30 lbs. I had lost last year! When I hit 194 lbs. I knew it was time to seriously put on the brakes!
I subsequently eliminated most of the junk food from my diet and cut back on my meal portions and 31-days later, on July 5th, I was officially back down to 184 lbs. I’ll be rewarding myself with a delicious Sal’s Birdland chicken dinner one of these days.
What about you? Did you pack on some pounds during the pandemic lockdown, also? You can lose that weight and more. Check out my fail-safe, Sal’s Birdland Diet via the three links below:
Endnote: In the grand scheme of things, taking care of one’s physical health is important, BUT spiritual health is of eternal importance! Have you repented of your sin and accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith alone? No one lives forever in this world. Health will eventually fail and we will all die. But Jesus Christ gives eternal life to those who trust in Him.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a short post that was originally published back on January 28, 2016 and has been revised.
My wife and I have a nice 20-minute drive to church on Sunday mornings, mostly on a straight stretch of road. Invariably, we pass many people jogging on the side of the road, all dressed in their sporty attire. The route takes us past a couple of large gyms and their parking lots are always full. It’s great to try to stay in shape, but it looks like the gym has become the new “church” in our increasingly secularized society. People don’t know the Lord so they have to fill the emptiness in their soul with something. Not having the Lord as the center of their lives, they put all of their faith and hope in themselves.
I’m currently reading “The Courage to Be Protestant” by David F. Wells and came across this very relevant passage last night:
“Health clubs have increased as churches have declined in the West. It is not just a case of people being more health-conscious. It is the recognition that signs of aging betray us as becoming useless in a modernized world. That has to be avoided at all costs. And, perhaps more deeply, it is a case of people searching for a kind of secularized eternal life.” – page 164.
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. – 1 Timothy 4:8
Addendum: Both Gold’s Gym and 24 Hour Fitness gym chains filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2020 due to adverse business conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
We have a HUGE health problem in the United States. National health statistics reveal that 40% of American adults are obese and another 32% are overweight. Hospitals are full of patients who have serious health issues directly linked to obesity. It’s reported that prior to every new year, about 45% of adult Americans resolve to lose weight, meaning that one month ago, about 114 million Americans resolved that 2020 was going to be THE YEAR that they lost that excess weight and got back into shape. Was that your resolution, too? Last month, the staff at gyms and fitness centers all across the country worked extra hours to accommodate the long lines of eager and committed applicants. Well, we’re rapidly approaching the end of January and the VAST majority of those folks have already thrown in the towel. It happens every year.
Does that describe you? Feeling defeated? I’ve been there, too. But last Spring I put together a simple weight-loss/fitness plan for myself that worked and I didn’t need an expensive gym membership or complicated diet regimens. After losing 30 lbs. in 16 weeks, going from 214 lbs. down to 184 lbs., I’ve been able to keep the weight off for seven months and have even lost an additional 5 lbs., dipping down to 179 lbs. just recently. The last time I weighed 179 lbs. was 30 years ago!
Don’t wait until next December to start thinking again about losing weight and getting back into shape. I started my simple program in mid-March, 2019 and by July 2nd I had reached my goal.
Below are my three posts from last July that go into detail about how I successfully lost 30 lbs. in only 16 weeks. I hope they inspire and help someone else who wants to lose weight and get healthier.
Yup, fitness and good health are worthy pursuits, but let’s also keep first things first:
“For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:8
As stewards of all of the Lord’s gifts, we need to take care of our physical bodies. A good diet, exercise, and rest are essential. But all things in their proper proportion. Our relationship with the Lord takes precedence over everything else. Many people these days, even some believers, make exercise their religion.
Back in early-July, I submitted some posts at the conclusion of my 16-week, 30-pound weight-loss campaign. Three months later, I’m happy to report that I haven’t gained back any of the weight. One of the keys to keeping at bay the almost-inevitable yo-yo effect was by continuing my exercise regimen. Exercise revs up your metabolism and burns those calories. Losing weight obviously requires eating right and cutting back on calories, but if your program doesn’t include an exercise regimen you will only have one oar in the water.
People spend a ton of money on gym memberships, but you can put together an effective exercise regimen with only a small investment.
Aerobic exercise is the best calorie burner. Examples include cycling, swimming, rowing, sessions on a step or elliptical machine, and brisk walking. I don’t recommend running or jogging because they’re VERY hard on the joints. I try to walk every day with a goal of 10,000 steps or 4-5 miles. See my previous post about my walking regimen here.
I haven’t mentioned the anaerobic portion of my exercise regimen to this point, so here goes…
Anaerobic (resistance) training can also be a good part of a weight loss and maintenance program. Lifting weights keeps your muscles toned and burning calories. After a month or two, you’ll notice increased strength and endurance for all kinds of tasks around the house and at the job. Again, you don’t need an expensive gym membership to have a decent weight lifting program. I used to have an extensive amount of free weights and equipment in the basement of our previous house, and from that experience I was able to cull together a condensed program using only 5, 10, 15, and 20 lb. dumbbells and one resistance band. I do my anaerobic workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and each session lasts only about 15 minutes. That’s right! Only 15 minutes per session! I don’t use heavy weights and I make sure I keep proper form. Don’t rush through each rep. Do them methodically. Feel the burn. Rest and stretch between sets. Start out with light weights and increase resistance very gradually as your strength increases. Lift smart with the long-term in mind and avoid short-term injury or burnout. Your goal is to effectively fatigue the muscle group you’re working on, NOT to swing around heavier and heavier weights to satisfy an ego trip. Caution: It’s easy to injure your joints and/or muscles by using weights that are too heavy.
Below is my current weekly routine. I’ve provided videos for each exercise, but if you’ve never lifted weights before, you’ll want to at least read a good book on the topic from the library or Amazon. The weight that you lift doesn’t need to match mine. Everyone is different. Start out with very light weights. Lifting weights that are too heavy and lifting weights improperly can and will cause injury.
Monday – Back and Biceps.
Standing alternating dumbbell curls. I start with 10 lb. dumbbells in each hand, alternating curls x 10 reps. See video here.
Alternating dumbbell rows. 10 lb. x 10 reps. See video here.
Standing alternating dumbbell curls. 15 lb. x 10 reps.
Alternating dumbbell rows. 15 lb. x 10 reps.
I then wrap my 8′ resistance band up high around one of our basement poles, sit in a chair about 8′ feet away, and pull the band handles towards me, using my back muscles, x 10 reps.
I then wrap my resistance band low around the same basement pole, sit in a chair about 6′ feet away with a pad on my lap (i.e., our dog’s padded bed 🙂 ) to rest my elbows on and do arm curls until muscle failure (usually about 20 reps).
Crunches x 25 (see video here) followed by lying leg raises x 25 (see video here)
Wednesday – Chest and Triceps
We have a long wooden bench at home that’s very helpful in doing dumbbell chest flies and dumbbell benchpresses. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laying flat on bench, do dumbbell chest flies. 5 lb. x 10 reps (see video here) and immediately transition to…
Dumbbell benchpress. 5 lb. x 10 reps. See video here.
Dumbbell one-arm triceps kickback. 5 lb. x 10 reps. See video here.
Dumbbell chest fly and benchpress. 10 lb. x 10 reps.
Dumbbell one-arm triceps kickback. 10 lb. x 10 reps.
Dumbbell chest fly and benchpress. 15 lb. x 10 reps.
I then wrap my resistance band low around the basement pole, lay down with my back flat on the floor with my head 6′ from the pole and do triceps pushdowns until muscle failure (usually about 20 reps). I can also do pushdowns kneeling on the floor with the band wrapped around the basement ceiling beam. See video here.
I then wrap my resistance band high around the same basement pole, stand about 6′ away, with my back to the pole and do standing chest flies until muscle failure (usually about 20 reps). See video here.
Crunches x 25 followed by lying leg raises x 25.
I usually end the routine with some modified push-ups (with knees on the floor) x 20 as the grand finale.
Friday – Legs and Shoulders
Squats holding onto 5 lb. dumbbells x 10 reps. See video here.
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift. 5 lb. x 10 reps. See video here.
Calf raises on first step of basement stairway x 10 reps. See video here.
Combo dumbbell lateral raise (video), dumbbell front raise (video), and dumbbell shoulder press (video). 5 lb. x 10 reps each.
Squats holding onto 10 lb. dumbbells x 10 reps.
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift. 10 lb. x 10 reps.
Calf raises on first step of basement stairway x 10 reps.
Combo dumbbell lateral raise, dumbbell front raise, and dumbbell shoulder press. 10 lb. x 10 reps each.
Crunches x 25 followed by lying leg raises x 25.
There you have it, folks, a very thorough resistance training regimen that hits all of the major muscle groups, takes only 45-minutes total each week, and requires only a set of adjustable dumbbells (see here for a $40 dumbbell starter set from Amazon) and a resistance band.
That word has some negative connotations as well as some positive ones. Here’s a few negative examples:
After a failed relationship, an “emotionally needy” person who immediately jumps into another relationship without much, if any, careful consideration is said to be “on the rebound.” Also, after dropping some pounds, many dieters “rebound” and put all the weight back on, plus more!
A couple of months ago, I completed a 16-week-long diet campaign in which I lost 30 lbs. I was pretty happy about that and tooted my horn a bit with three posts about the experience as a potential motivator for others. But, from past diet experiences, I also knew exactly what was coming down the road. It’s a given. The body, a wondrous, God-designed and God-created “biomachine” is always seeking equilibrium. Lose thirty pounds and the body will fight “tooth and nail” to get those highly desirable, fuel-source fat cells right back on.
Losing all that weight took some discipline and effort. During my diet, I avoided many of my favorite high-calorie snacks and meals. But once I reached my goal, I rationalized that I could relax the discipline, treat myself “here and there,” and still maintain my new weight. Well, you know the story. A little ice cream and a few chips “here and there” was slowly morphing back again into a regular habit. Thankfully, I continued to weigh myself daily after I had achieved my goal and a trend showing the consequences of my relaxed eating habits began to emerge on my iPhone’s health app’s weight graph (see photo above). Fluctuating a few pounds up and down around a target/maintenance weight is fine, but I was on a steep trajectory to Yo-Yo Diet Land. OK. No need to panic. I caught it early. I ramped up my exercise regimen and ramped down my increasingly careless and undisciplined eating habits.
Spiritual application
Christians are spiritually reborn in Jesus Christ and we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, BUT we also still have our old sin natures and still live in a fallen world. There’s a spiritual battle going on around us every day and we can easily become neutralized and sidelined by the enemy. We’re always being tempted to “rebound” back to sin.
Just as a dieter (and former dieter) needs to hop on the scale each morning to gauge the stark truth about their physical weight, we need to get into God’s Word daily, which the Holy Spirit will use as a mirror to show us our true spiritual condition. Then there’s communing with the Lord throughout the day in prayer. There’s also worship with fellow believers at church on Sunday and admonition and exhortation from God’s Word from the pastor. I’m also grateful for my fellow believers here at WordPress for their exhortations and encouragement. In addition, my wife and I have a daily devotion time and we also provide “loving” (well, most of the time) feedback to each other about the reality of our spiritual condition.
Argh! Just like the unflattering data from the scale, that’s not always information that I enjoy, but I do need honesty regarding my walk with the Lord. Is there a fellow Christian in your life who encourages you and provides honest feedback? I could not stay on track with my health regimen without the honest feedback of our bathroom scale and I could not follow the Lord faithfully without daily Bible reading and communing with the Lord in prayer, and fellowshipping with other believers.
Postscript: Having discipline in our Christian walk is a good and necessary thing, but always keep in mind that our walk with the Lord is a relationship rather than a check-list.
“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:11-13
Are you thinking about trying to lose some weight, but consider dieting and exercise to be pure torture? This is the last installment about my recent weight-loss experience and I’m going to show how shedding some pounds can be, yes, even enjoyable! One of the keys to losing weight for me was by making it fun! What? Fun?!?!?! How could something tortuous like dieting be fun? Well, I made my dieting experience enjoyably challenging by coming up with a fun and slightly-frivolous dieting concept that actually worked for me. I didn’t need a fancy commercial diet plan or an expensive gym membership either. I called my weight-loss program the “Sal’s Birdland 30 lb. Challenge.” Why Sal’s Birdland? I’ll get to that fun part at the end, but first things first.
Doctors define “obesity” as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over. Calculate your own BMI here. Researchers tell us 36% of Americans are obese, so this is a real problem in our country. We eat way too much bad food and get way too little exercise. When I visited my doctor last November, my BMI for my height (5’11”) and weight (214 lbs.) was 29.8, right on the border of obese. Because of my weight, I was at a seriously increased risk for many illnesses. Heading into the stretch before retirement, I knew I needed to be at a healthier weight, so around mid-March, with my yearly physical coming up, I decided it was time for me to get serious about losing some pounds.
My goal was to lose 30 lbs. and get down to 184 lbs. and a BMI of 25.7. That’s still classified as slightly “overweight,” but it would be a huge improvement. Health experts say shedding 1 to 2 lbs. a week is a healthy rate of weight loss, so I was aiming at losing 30 lbs. in 15 weeks. Well, it actually took me a little over 16 weeks to lose the weight, but close enough. Take note: Losing more than 2 lbs./week by “binge dieting” can be dangerous to your health.
Losing weight is not rocket science although companies make billions off of overweight people every year with complicated and expensive diet and fitness plans. The simple equation is (exercise)+(eat less)+(monitor)+(rewards) = weight-loss goal. Let’s take it step by step.
Exercise
Our miraculous bodies like to hang onto those undesirable fat cells as preferred fuel for a “rainy day,” so we have to “trick” them into releasing those fat cells as fuel by revving up our metabolism with aerobic exercise. I chose brisk walking as my aerobic exercise of choice, which I elaborated about yesterday. See here.
Eat less and better
No need to get too complicated. Some dieters like to count every calorie, but “simple” worked just fine for me. I cut back on the size of my portions and tried to eat more healthy stuff (fresh vegetables and fruits) and generally stayed away from fat, sugar, salt, and carbs. No junk food. Limited processed foods. Small meals spread throughout the day. I also drank lots of water daily. My doctor gave me a great tip: little changes add up over time. Forgo the teaspoon of sugar and learn to take your coffee black. Eat a 110 calories-per-serving cereal in the morning (like Whole Grain Cheerios) instead of the 212 calories variety, etc. Drink unsweetened ice tea instead of sweetened. I normally visit our local grocery store 3-4 times a week and I had a very bad habit of stopping at the prepared foods buffet each time and grabbing three chicken wings as a “snack” for the drive home. That’s a total 270 calories and 18 grams of fat for each “small snack.” I changed my go-to shopping snack to a couple of handfuls of fresh cherries from the produce section; delicious and only about 40 calories and 0.25 grams of fat.
Monitor
Throughout this weight-loss experience, I viewed the scale as my bluntly honest friend. To stay on track, I weighed myself daily and recorded my weight and walking steps on my iPhone health app. Some people advise not to weigh-in daily because of the inevitable ups and downs, but it worked for me. I also plotted my weekly weight, taken every Sunday morning, on an Excel spreadsheet graph (see far above), which I posted on my refrigerator. Goofy? Nope. Few things reinforce positive eating and exercise behaviors like a very visible downward trend line on a pounds/week graph.
Support
Our oldest son also happened to be dieting at the same time and we gave each other tons of mutual support via smartphone texts (he lost a total of 60 lbs. in 18 months). Losing weight together with a family member or friend can be very encouraging, but it’s not required. Speaking of support, allow me to prepare you a little bit. Your family and friends may NOT be as encouraging about your weight-loss endeavor as you might expect. Two reasons: 1) they may need to lose some weight themselves and resent your success and 2) they may not appreciate the changeover to healthier meals. On the flip side, constantly expounding on the details of your diet to your family and friends gets old pretty quickly for them. But your weight-loss may have solid side benefits for your family. Your example may inspire them to shed some pounds, also. My wife was supportive throughout my diet and she’s lost about ten pounds herself in the last two months. Going forward, our son and I have agreed to a monthly “weigh-in” as a motivator to keep the weight off. We’ve yet to decide the penalty for putting lbs. back on.
Rewards
Losing thirty pounds was a substantial goal, so I needed to to motivate myself over the long haul. Here comes the fun part. I broke the diet up into doable increments of 10 lbs. Each time I dropped 10 lbs., I treated myself to a very unhealthy chicken dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants in town called Sal’s Birdland. The dinner is comprised of a small half-chicken, coated in a thin batter and fried in oil until crispy, served on sliced white bread, and smothered in Sal’s signature “Sassy Sauce” with a choice of two sides. My choices? Mac salad and a side of collard greens, of course, and some blue cheese dressing for dipping. Hence the name, “Sal’s Birdland 30 lb. Challenge.” What could be more fun than that? If a Sal’s chicken dinner doesn’t get you motivated, NOTHING will! What’s that you say? You live too far from the two Sal’s Birdlands locations here in Rochester, N.Y.? That’s a real shame, but it’s not an insurmountable problem. Just substitute your favorite guilt-laden fun meal every time you hit a 10-lbs. increment. Worried about the calories? Do what I did and eat half of the dinner one night and the rest the following night. It may set your diet back a few days, but it’s GREAT motivation over the long haul.
As another motivator in reaching my goal, I also bought a Sal’s t-shirt and cap and posted a photo of them on my fridge to keep me focused. Corny? Sure, but the key for me was having a little fun with this diet and that was an excellent motivator. Achievement has its rewards. I thoroughly enjoyed my Sal’s Birdland victory dinner Tuesday and Wednesday after reaching my goal of 184 lbs.!
Reality check: While losing weight can be turned into a “fun” challenge as I did, we needn’t be completely pollyannish about it. There’s times during your diet when you’re going to have some uncomfortable hunger pains and not have a lot of energy as your body reacts to the weight-loss. Frequent, small meals will minimize some of that, but I also learned to embrace those hunger pains as a positive reinforcement, a sign that I was making real progress. If you’re feeling washed-out on a particular day during your diet, it would probably be a good idea to reschedule digging holes for the new fence posts to another day. Bottom line: cut yourself some slack while on a weight-loss campaign. And if you don’t succeed the first time, do like me and try again! One more important note: Everyone shouldcheck in with their doctor before attempting an ambitious weight-loss plan.
If you’re considering losing some weight, I hope you found some inspiration in these posts. You can do it!
Above: This sign beckons commuters to dine at the Sal’s Birdland located at 400 Airpark Dr. off of Scottsville Rd. near the Rochester airport. Passersby ignore the sign at their own loss.Above: Sal’s Birdland at 400 Airpark Dr., one of two Sal’s locations in Rochester.Above: The unpretentious interior of Sal’s Birdland at 400 Airpark Dr. in Rochester. Who needs ambiance when you serve the best food in town?Above: Bringing home the goods after 16 weeks of dieting! A Sal’s Birdland half-chicken dinner: a fried half-chicken served on white bread and smothered in Sal’s Sassy Sauce complemented by collard greens and mac salad.Above: Rochesterians are able to buy bottles of Sal’s Sassy Sauce ( a mustard-based hot and sweet sauce) at several local grocery outlets. You can also order Sal’s products via their website. Caution: Order the MILD version of Sal’s Sassy Sauce. I like spicy food but the HOT version is inedible.Above: An 8×10 photo of my Sal’s cap and t-shirt sitting atop an updated pounds/week graph guarding the fridge motivated me to reach my goal.
Last March, I embarked on a “mission” to lose thirty pounds, and after 16 weeks I finally hit my goal this past Tuesday. Tomorrow, I’ll be publishing a post about the overall experience, but for this particular post, I wanted to elaborate a bit on just one very important aspect of my weight-loss adventure – exercise.
As we all know, one of the main keys to losing weight, besides eating less and eating healthier, is burning calories. Some type of calorie-burning, aerobic exercise is essential for successfully losing weight. For myself, I chose to vigorously walk every day. The great thing about walking is you don’t need a lot of expensive sports equipment or a gym membership to begin, just a good, supportive pair of walking shoes or sneakers. It’s also VERY helpful to have some type of device to record your steps. My iPhone health app records my daily steps, but others use Fit Bits or other such accessories. Health experts recommend 10,000 steps (5 miles) per day as part of a comprehensive weight-loss program. That may sound like a lot, but you can build up to that goal gradually. My daily average when I started in March was 6389 steps per day (SPD) and I gradually increased my daily average to 10,025 SPD by June.
Where to walk? Walkers can get creative. I used to work in a building with very long hallways, which was ideal for power walking during inclement weather and hot spells. However, my company relocated to a new building last summer, which is much less conducive to walking. As an aside, our new building is located at Rochester Tech Park (RTP), which was originally the mammoth Kodak Elmgrove manufacturing plant where I started my career at Kodak forty-three years ago. What remains of Kodak now leases a few small areas at RTP. Unlike the old days when a person could walk the entire plant without going outdoors, some of the 11 huge buildings have been cordoned off, like our present building. We are located on the second floor of Bldg. 5 and I found I could walk outside to Bldg. 2, traverse through that very long building, and exit out of Bldg. 1 for the short walk outside back to Bldg. 5. If it’s raining, it’s only a short walk outside to Bldg. 1 and I can do most of my walking inside, down the long hallways of Bldgs. 1 and 2. If I take two walks at work, and walk the dog when I get home, I generally have the 10,000 steps I need by the end of the day.
You might be thinking that walking is pretty boring. It’s actually a peaceful time to clear my head and commune with the Lord in prayer. Initially, it was also very enjoyable to once again walk through Bldgs. 1 and 2. I worked in those two buildings from 1976 until 1988. Kodak Elmgrove started out with six massive buildings (the number would eventually climb to 12) and the other five buildings all supported Bldg. 2 (358,000 sq. ft.) where thousands of employees assembled various models of Kodak cameras and projectors day and night. The central aisle of Bldg. 2, coined “the strip,” was always FULL of people busily walking to and fro. It was so busy, that as a 19-year-old stock clerk, I was initially so afraid I was going to run over a pedestrian with my fork-truck. Now, the building is mostly empty and I usually walk that same aisle (240 steps/200 yards long from north to south) without seeing one soul. So many memories (see photos below).
A short time ago, it occurred to me that I could use the walking time even more productively by listening to podcasts. I began by holding my iPhone, but soon tired of that. I needed to join the 21st century and get some wireless earbuds! I took a drive to one of the local Best Buy stores and the clerk helped me pick out a pair of inexpensive wireless earbuds. Ah, the best! Now I can take my long walking jaunts every day while listening hands-free to sermons from John MacArthur, our church’s pastor, and others.
The checklist for setting up a daily walking regimen is pretty basic:
Good walking shoes
Some kind of device to record steps and progress over time, i.e., Fit-Bit or smart phone health app.
A safe route. Caution is important! My sister’s mother-in-law was a daily walker until the day she was struck by a USPS mail truck and suffered debilitating injuries.
Optional entertainment such as listening to podcasts, music, audiobooks, etc. via a smartphone and earbuds. Obviously, walking with earbuds requires great caution if you’re near traffic.
Get started with your daily walking or other aerobic exercise regimen today and get healthier!
Postscript: As part of my overall exercise plan, I also incorporated short, 15-minute weightlifting workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at home using dumbbells. I drew upon my knowledge and experience of lifting weights several decades ago to craft these short sessions for muscle toning rather than for bulking up. I would recommend that most people on a weight-loss campaign just stick with aerobic exercise like walking, cycling, stepping, or swimming (jogging is REAL hard on the joints). That’s where you’re going to get the most calorie-burn for your efforts. But a little anaerobic weight lifting (you’ll definitely need expert instruction if you’re new to the activity) will also have your muscles burning extra calories.
The mammoth parking lot in front of Bldg. 2 of the Rochester Technology Park (formerly Kodak Elmgrove Plant) is now largely empty.The long aisleway that runs down the center of Bldg. 2 was known as “the strip” forty-years ago, two-hundred yards long and once filled with Kodak employees. Mainline camera assembly departments were on the left and sub-assembly departments were on the right.Just a small portion of the former Kodak camera production area in Bldg. 2. Thousands of Kodak employees once churned out multiple models of cameras and projectors on numerous piecework assembly lines here. Administrative offices were on the right.Welcome to the 21st century, Tom!
For me, the iPhone Health App was indispensable for recording daily steps and weight.
Yesterday, I reached my weight-loss goal (Woo-hoo!) and I’ll be posting about the experience today and the next two days in the hopes of maybe providing a little motivation for someone else.
Way back on May 1, 2017, I announced to the WordPress virtual community with quite a bit of fanfare that I had embarked on a diet and exercise regimen, with the goal of shedding 33 lbs. and dropping from 213 lbs. to 180 lbs. I had already lost 7 lbs. at that point and was quite confident in my final success. After all, I bragged, my “Sal’s Birdland Diet Plan” was absolutely fool-proof (ahem!) and fail-safe!
Two months later, on June 28, 2017, I posted a diet update. At that point, I had dropped a total of 16 pounds in eleven weeks and I acknowledged that I had hit a bit of a plateau, but that I was pressing forward to victory!
[crickets]
Well, there were no more diet updates after that one. Like the vast majority of dieters, I had also fizzled out. I stopped the regimen and eventually put ALL of the weight back on, returning to the 213 lbs. and then some. I felt a bit defeated.
However, my wife and doctor kept nagging me to lose weight. I’m 5’11” tall and the ideal weight-range for a male my height is between 155 and 189 lbs. My family has a history of diabetes and heart trouble and my doctor kept warning me that I was probably headed for problems very soon at the rate I was going. The Lord wants us to be good stewards of all of the things He has gifted us with, and I knew I wasn’t being a good steward of my earthly tent.
This past winter, with my yearly physical approaching, I toyed with the idea of going on a diet and exercise regimen once again to lose weight. I was at a critical juncture. My 38-inch waist-size pants were getting uncomfortably tight. My XL t-shirts were also starting to feel a little snug. I was either going to have to go up to the next size or lose weight. So, on March 10, I began another diet and exercise marathon with a goal of losing 30 lbs., but this time there would be no WordPress posts blustering about my success while I was still twenty-miles from the finish line. I had eaten enough crow last time.
Well, folks, yesterday morning I finally hit my goal of losing 30 lbs. after 16 weeks of some serious dieting and exercise, while even having a little fun with the experience (more about the fun part on Friday). It wasn’t always easy. I had a few (minor) setbacks and plateaus. Of course, it’s essential that I now maintain my new weight by continuing with a good diet and regular exercise. I’ll be submitting additional posts tomorrow and Friday about some of the details of my weight-loss experience for anyone who might be considering a similar program for themselves.
excatholic4christ 