Getting fit is like watching a Glacier Melt…


Stay with me…the metaphor makes sense!

If you’ve not been hiding under a rock, then you’re aware that scientists are concerned about the high number of melting glaciers. When you’re standing next to one, you think it isn’t changing that much, but when you video over time and then speed it up…BAM, it becomes obvious that it is changing and shrinking!

Think of when you dump some ice into your sink.  If you stand there and watch it…nothing much seems to be happening, but if you go away and come back in an hour, then the ice is either completely gone or mostly gone.

Getting fit, healthy, and in better shape is a lot like that. Seeing the day to day changes is a lot like watching an ice cube melt.  It is hard to see, but if you keep at it, keep doing a little bit at a time and take teeny tiny steps, eventually you’ll see progress.  Eventually you’ll see the fat shrink away, kinda like those melting glaciers.

My “Results” for last week / My “Goals” for this week:

Here were my very modest goals for last week:

  • Mixed Bag - Some good Some not so goodDo the morning numbers at least 5 days – seven would be better
    — I did.  Exactly 5.  I missed two days.

    • Goal for this week: do all morning measurements for all 7 days!
  • Take my daily meds both am & pm all seven days
    — I missed 2 pm doses and 1 am does

    • Goal for this week: do ALL AM & PM does – no misses.  This a big deal because I’m a diabetic and I have high blood pressure!
  • Lift 3 days
    — Yeah right!  Didn’t do a single day. Ugh.

    • Goal for this week: Lift for 3 days
  • Move 2 days
    — YAY!!!!  I actually met my goal and more.  I “moved” FOUR DAYS!!!

    • Goal for this week: Move 3 days
  • Stretch 6 days
    — Uhmmm…. failed horribly on this one… only ONE day did I do any stretching

    • Goal for this week: Stretch 6 days
  • Use Slim-Fast for breakfast & lunch at least 5 days – seven would be better.
    — I did this, I think, kinda, sorta, mostly, more than not…I started off tracking this and then stopped, but my somewhat faulty memory of the week tells me that even if I didn’t do this exactly as planned, I did it MOST of the time! 

    • Goal for this week: Use Slim-Fast for breakfast & lunch at least 5 days 

It’s always going to be a mixed bag

That last goal up above pretty much sums things up.  The best laid plans of mice and men and all that.  Life gets complicated very fast and plans go astray.  But as long as you’re doing SOMETHING, you will make progress.

Glaciers are built up one snow flake at a time.  They melt one drop of water at a time.

Getting fit is like that, it requires dedication and quite a bit of patience.

Now for the numbers:

Slow Progress is still ProgressI started my newest “fitness effort”  about two weeks ago when I got on the scale and freaked out at how much I had gained during the Pandemic.

I started recording my weight on Nov 28th — on that date my numbers were:

  • Weight 299.8 lbs
  • Body Fat: 42.65%
  • Muscle: 25%
  • Visceral Fat: 30%

Now, as of yesterday, Dec 7th, my numbers are:

  • Weight 292 lbs — Loss of 7.8 lbs
  • Body Fat: 42.25% — Loss of .4 %
  • Muscle: 23.6% — Loss of 1.4% — Not good!  I need to loose Fat, not muscle
  • Visceral Fat: 30% — same.  No change

See ya on the dance floor! 🙂

 

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Quick update…


Holy Tilt-a-scale Batman!

I weighed in for the first time this morning.  And the number is NOT good.

I know from past experience that for me to stay on track I have to weigh in daily.  Twice a day actually and average the two sets of numbers.

I haven’t “tracked” my fitness numbers in quite some time:

  • Morning Blood Glucose Level
  • Morning Blood Pressure Level and Heart Rate
  • Weight
  • Body Fat, Muscle Fat, Visceral Fat

Last week, last post, I “guesstimated” my weight and boy was I off.  During Covid Shutdown/Slowdown, from March 1st to now, I’ve gained almost THIRTY FRIGGING POUNDS!

No wonder going up and down stairs seems harder…because it IS harder!

Looking on the bright side…

Start small but start

I’ve started. Bit by bit I’m RE-starting all the things that I used to do when I was loosing weight.

Also, way back in 2012 when I lost my job, was stuck at home and eventually ballooned up to 335 lbs, I was in HORRIBLE shape from a fitness standpoint.  Comparing my “mental memory” of my “muscle memory” I’m moving better now than I did then even though my weight has shot up.

Another way to say it is that even though my weight has shot up since March, my fitness level has not dropped into the sub-basement. I still have some of the fitness gains that I worked so hard to make.

So, bit by bit, I’m throwing another sandbag on the dike.

How I did last week & Plans for this week…

I didn’t do all the “exercising” that I had planned last week, but I did do MORE exercise last week than I did the week before which was pretty much ZERO!  Not to hard to do more than zero!

So, this week (week #2), I plan on actually meeting my very LOW level goals.

  • Do the morning numbers at least 5 days – seven would be better
  • Take my daily meds both am & pm all seven days
  • Lift 3 days
  • Move 2 days
  • Stretch 6 days
  • Use Slim-Fast for breakfast & lunch at least 5 days – seven would be better.

Wish me luck — scratch that!  Wish me success!

Want to help?

During this pandemic, my dance business has been drastically affected.  And the unemployment benefits I’ve been getting are about to expire in two weeks.  So if you want to lend a hand to help me meet my fitness goals here is how:

See ya on the dance floor!

Small steps to start? LOL! We’re talking MICRO-Steps!


3 Months from now you will Thank YourselfI’m starting… …again.

I’m not going to lie, I’m not “into this” or “excited” about working out.  I’m depressed.  I’m pissed off at myself for letting my body get out of shape and gaining back 20 lbs of the 70 lbs that I had lost.

Back in March when Covid-19 hit and the whole country shut down I was at my half-way point: 70 lbs gone / 70 lbs left to loose.

Now that number is 50 lbs lost / 90 lbs left to loose.

Now,  just walking to the kitchen to get coffee feels like I’m working out.  SIGH

But, the first dance competition of 2021 is in 107 days, in mid-March, and that is a little over three months, assuming that the Covid Pandemic is on the wane and the event is ACTUALLY HELD!

Which means that if I want to dance with my students in a weekend competition, then I have to get moving NOW!  Because frankly if the event were this weekend instead of three and a half months from now, I would not be able to physically do it.  No way, no how.

The sucky part of this is that getting OUT OF SHAPE is so frigging easy.  That is what the body wants to do!  Getting into shape and staying in shape is hard. Just doing that first teeny tiny step, then taking the next teeny tiny step…SIGH

But both mentally and physically I feel AWFUL right now.  I want to feel better.  So…today  I will do some “easy wall pushups”  I will do one lap of the “stairs” (I’ll explain what I mean by that in my next post) and I will do some stretching.

And it will be a start…again.

Heads up…

For those of you who are still on the mailing list, or see this on Facebook and/or Twitter etc, I am going to keep posts short, VERY SHORT.   For the most part.  LOL  We’ll see how that plan works…  I’m not known among my friends for my ability to “keep things short.”  I do tend to ramble on…  Tell the long tale…  oh!  Ooops!  LOL

Wish me luck.

OMG! He lives!


Yes, I know that I have not posted anything to my blog in ages.

Well I’m back. And I’ll be brief…more detail later.

The short version:  if I don’t actually make some changes in my lifestyle to improve my fitness and health levels, I’m headed toward an early grave and the remaining years of my life will not be pleasant.

It is now or never.

This morning I actually walked around the block.  It was WAY harder than it should have been.

Here we go again folks.

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