get in shape

is that you can start with a new slate. The numbers last year were not great. They weren’t terrible and I am happy with progress, but especially the last 5 months were a bit of a let down as I only averaged exercising one week per month. I’m looking forward to making more progress this year!

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

• #Times = aerobic exercising
• S = Stairs
• SM = Stair machine
• J = Jog, Jx = # stops
• j = Jog (shorter distance)
• B = Bicycle (machine)
• T = Treadmill
• E = Elliptical
• w = Walking (non-aerobic)

Website where I am supposed to enter my exercise log.

You may wonder what looking at cute kitten photos may have to do with this goal.

A study has shown that people who spent time looking at cute pictures beforehand were able to score 16% better on puzzles. They also took longer on the puzzles (ie, indicating that they were spending more time) which the researchers correlate to better concentration.

Why may this be important? The researchers were studying behavioral patterns for achieving better results in specific situations, such as driving and office work. Something to keep in mind the next time you have to work on a difficult problem.

Warning: Looking at pictures of cute kittens while driving is not recommended.

Reference:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/cute-cat-photos-article-scientifically-proven-improve-concentration-180910500.html

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

• #Times = aerobic exercising
• S = Stairs
• SM = Stair machine
• J = Jog, Jx = # stops
• j = Jog (shorter distance)
• B = Bicycle (machine)
• T = Treadmill
• E = Elliptical
• w = Walking (non-aerobic)

Note: Just to be clear, the higher the number for “Lowest weight” is not good. This is the weight from my target goal. Not shown, though, a few weeks prior to this year, my highest weight was a +19.8!

Website where I’m supposed to log my exercise.

A co-worker mentioned he and his wife used the program from the book Body for Life about 10 years ago with remarkable results. However, over the years, they stopped doing what it took to keep the results, but now, he’s starting up again. Given the time, I’d be interested in seeing if the program is worthwhile for me.

But good news about chocolate from the British Medical Journal who has just published an article with good findings regarding chocolate consumption.

From the article:
The highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease (relative risk 0.63 (95% confidence interval 0.44 to 0.90)) and a 29% reduction in stroke compared with the lowest levels.

• http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4488.full

If up means weight, then mainly up. It seems that while I’m traveling, I’ve managed to gain weight. I’m not as into regular exercising as I was last year and I am probably eating too much at the breakfast buffets at the hotel. I’m haven’t quite figured out the correlation between eating too much at the breakfast buffets and gaining weight, but I’ll probably figure it out.

At any rate, based on the previous post that sitting is probably one of the worst things you can do all day from a health perspective, I have been using the counter as my new home office desk so that I stand while working. And it is a lot of work!

Unfortunately I haven’t had any time to exercise ever since coming back from my previous business trip, and I don’t know if it is just my body trying to get back to its earlier weight, but so far, I’m getting much closer to weight I was earlier this year.

I have a new admiration for people who have to be on their feet for their jobs.

Also, I have an additional strategy for losing weight. It is to chew my food 30 times before swallowing. I tried looking up some info about this, but most of the pages which refer to chewing well in relation to weight loss mention the fact that it takes time for the brain to register you are full. However, there was some show where someone lost weight simply by chewing his food 30 times (not more, not less). Of course, it has to do with the fact that by chewing thoroughly, it will take longer so your brain has a chance to register you are full, but this show also indicated that the act of chewing helped signal to your brain that it is getting satisfied from a hunger point of view. Therefore, in theory, this means chewing well in itself also allows your brain to feel it is full. And finally, this person chewed his food exactly 30 times, not more. My theory with that is if it takes you more than 30 chews to swallow, you’ve probably taken more than you need in one mouthful. By learning how to chew exactly 30 times, you learn the right proportion for each mouthful making it, which per above, helps prevent overeating.

Of course, counting 30 times is quite monotonous, but I break it into 3×10 segments… That is, whenever I remember to count at all.

I know there are benefits to a “standing desk” where you work while standing up. I’ve been thinking of setting up something at home.

Now this article says that sitting is so bad, it can even offset the exercise you do. Since I’m in the hi-tech industry, I am sitting most of the day.

I need to change this… Somehow.

Reference:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/?em

And unlike the photo above, I would never, ever, ever use my zero gravity chair to sleep while working… And when I do, it would only be because my eyelids are too heavy.

Since I decided to make health a priority, I decided that I needed to dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to exercise. I already was eating fairly healthily when in Dallas for a long time.

And while the goal was to dedicate 30 minutes a day, every day, it was more like 4-6 times a week. My main form of exercise was to just walk up and down the stairs at home. It requires minimal prep time and I can do it any time day or night. In fact, most of the time, I would start around 11:30 pm.

Something else I did to support my weight loss is to weigh myself daily. Actually, twice daily – once in the morning and once at night. In theory, when I gained weight instead of lose weight, I should document the reason why I gained weight, like the second third serving of dessert or not exercising. I suppose the logic is that you see your trends and can then address the reasons why you are not losing weight. I also found though that knowing that I weigh myself daily makes me aware of every decision I make which can affect my weight. For example, do I really need that second third serving… As mentioned above, while at home, I already feel I eat healthily, such as lots of vegetables. I also don’t believe in depriving oneself, but I found that I can get by with eating less.

In order for weighing oneself daily to work, you need an accurate scale. I found this one at Amazon which works out great. With free shipping and no tax, it had minimal impact on my budget. By accurate, I mean it gives you consistent results so that when you weigh yourself day-by-day, you know it is giving you a good reading and not that the scale may be off. Also, it needs to provide more precise results than per pound. Going from 0.6 to 0.4 doesn’t mean you lost one pound (if it rounds to the nearest pound), it means you lost 0.2 pounds. This scale is accurate to 0.2 pounds.

At any rate, the progress is that since I started (middle March, so around 10 months), I’ve lost around 12 pounds. I didn’t take measurements from the beginning, but since the summer timeframe, I’ve lost about 1” from my waist and 2” from my stomach. If I can continue at this rate, then I’ll reach my goal in a year. So the slow but steady approach seems to be working.

One thing I’ve learned though is that “getting in shape” means much more than losing weight, it’s an overall goal to be healthy both physically and mentally. From a physical view point, I have to take care of aspects including regular checkups and ensuring my blood pressure, cholesterol count, etc, are under control. From a mental point of view, it’s to keep improving on my goal to be more patient, etc.

So the Clean Sweep assessment is a good way to get an overall view… Perhaps not surprisingly, a 54 when I took it originally. Should perhaps be in the 60s now. I still have a long way to go but I am glad I am making progress.

Last year, I managed to gain around 10 pounds (if not more) when I’m trying to get back in shape. I can make all the excuses in the world, but early this Spring, I finally decided… My health is worth at least 30 minutes a day.

Since work is very busy, often I found myself exercising around 11:30 pm. And my form of exercise was simply going up and down the stairs.

While I would like to be able to honor the commitment of 30 minutes per day, I realize I can’t always do this. However, when I keep reminding myself about my priorities, I somehow motivate myself to get off my arse and do it.

I’m happy to say that since March 14, all except two weeks, I’ve exercised at least 3 times a week and in fact, all except three weeks, I’ve exercised at least 4 times a week. I feel like 4 times a week is a minimize to make progress in getting in better shape.

As part of keeping track of my progress from a weight point of view, I’ve also adapted another technique which is to weigh myself twice a day. It’s important to have an accurate scale, so I managed to find one on Amazon for about $30 which is accurate to 0.2 pounds… and when I say accurate, I don’t just mean that it shows the weight to 0.2 pounds but the scale is actually accurate. In the Amazon reviews, people raved about its accuracy, so that convinced me.

While I was a bit disappointed only to see an approximate average weight loss of 1 pound per month, that means I’ve been able to lose approximately 5 pounds so far, so if it takes me 2 or even 3 years to reach my goal, 2 or 3 years is actually a short period of time to reach one’s goal…

Since the number of business trips I take remains high, one thing which has helped me is staying at hotels whose exercise rooms are open 24 hrs.

Update June 9, 2012: I only updated this post because I noticed the image was no longer available, so I put up a new image. But… since I am updating this post anyway, since this post, I managed to let work get in the way and stopped exercising. I have started again late last year, and have had some interruptions, but am focused again to not let work get in the way. Unfortunately, progress is slow, but slow progress is better than none.

Getting in shape is a combination of a good diet and a good exercise routine… Neither of which I’ve been doing very well. Now, I’m trying to exercise at least 30 minutes every day. Yes, I’ve not succeeded yet, but hopefully I will get there or at least get close.

Next on the diet side, I’ve never been one to believe in self-deprivation. On a recent Japanese TV show, where they often talk about science-related topics (which means they usually thorough research the topic and/or have respected experts providing information), they covered the topic of diet.

The concept is that you do not want your body think it’s being deprived of food. If your body feels like it is being deprived of food, it goes into a self-preservation mode to convert as much to fat. This is a natural reaction for the body in particular after man survived the famine. As an example, if you do not have enough carbs, although your body will start burning fat, your body will also start creating much more fat for the same amount of food you eat. In addition, as part of the self-preservation, your body will actually lower its temperature to reduce the amount of calories you burn.

This corresponds to concepts I’ve heard in the past including losing weight by not eating just results in slowing down of your metabolism so that when you start eating normal again, you’ll actually gain weight… Another article I read recently was about the phenomenon that people who are working out a lot are finding that they are gaining fat. However, after only a quick glance at the article, I was getting the impression from the article that you shouldn’t work out so hard. Hmph.

Anyway, based on the Japanese TV show, You should have the proper proportion and balance of foods to satisfy your body’s needs and to satisfy your hunger. They suggested the following for EACH meal:

• Two servings of protein
• An unlimited number of servings of vegetables
• A serving of carbs
• A serving of starch/sugars
• And at most a half tablespoon of oils/fat in preparation for the food

• 120 ml of milk or yogurt (approximately 1/2 cup)
• One slice of cheese
• One egg
• 50 g (approximately 2 oz) of meat
• 1 cut (approximately 3 oz) of fish
• 1/4 serving of tofu

• A small bowl of rice
• A half serving of noodles
• A slice of bread

• A portion of a potato, pumpkin, or similar food (about the size of an egg, so about 1/2 of a baked potato)
• A half of a fruit

I believe the purpose of the above was to come up with a way to reduce the intake of calories but in a simplified manner. It’s very easy to remember the portions per category. They estimate a meal based on the above is approximately 400 calories.

Anyway, some of the things you’ll notice are:

• Fruits and vegetables are not treated the same. Unlimited vegetables but only 1/2 fruit.
• You are allowed to eat unlimited vegetables. Of course, how they are prepared is key, too, but the concept here is that you do not want to feel deprived or hungry. The worst part about feeling hungry is then you snack… and then you start eating things you shouldn’t.
• The smallness in proportion of some of the other foods… For example, I’ll only be able to have an open face sandwich for lunch (and not a regular sandwich with two slices of bread). I’ll only be able to have a small bowl of rice for dinner. 2 oz of meat is not very much but on the other hand, if you convert that to lunch meat, that’s actually could be more than a couple of slices.
• They did not suggest eating big breakfasts and small dinners.
• No doughnuts, cakes, or chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to the show, you should feel your clothes fit differently after 2 weeks. They estimate that a diet like this puts you on pace to lose 1 kg (2.2 pounds) per month.

The above food proportions are for losing weight. Once you get closer to your goal, then you would be able to increase the proportion.

Disclaimer: I am not fluent in Japanese. For anyone who’s up to speed with their Japanese, the web site for this particular episode is here:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/gatten/archive/2009q1/20090121.html

Last year was a bad year for exercising… I really need to do something about it.

Based on the fact that some people using Wii’s are able to lose weight, the catch is not that you need a Wii, but you need something which will get you exercising every day. I could get a Wii but considering (1) I travel quite a bit and (2) I would rather spend my money on other gadgets, then I need to find something else to do.

So I’ve decided to at least use the stairs in the house for 30 minutes as a form of exercise if I don’t do anything else.

January 2009

S = Stairs
SM = Stair machine
J = Jog
B = Bicycle (machine)
TR = Treadmill

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

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