From Couch to 5K
So, it's been almost exactly five months since we moved to Texas.
I weighed myself the other day and found I was about 35 pounds overweight. Since my ideal weight is about 205, an extra 35 pounds is like 20 pounds on a smaller man. But still, I consider myself as borderline fat right now. I was about the same weight two years ago and then I spent six months getting into shape. I got down to about 210 and was doing a regular routine of cardio-lifting. Exercising tended to make me want to eat right as well, so I was tracking calories and reading labels. I felt awesome.
But I faltered and gained just about everything back in less than the time it took me to lose it.
Then, as we were preparing to move to Texas, I did quite a bit of exercise for a couple months (painting, cleaning, packing), and was feeling fairly trim. However, Texas is all about lots and lots of really tasty meat and other fatty snacks, so it didn't take long to get back to a pretty uncomfortable heft.
Today I decided to gradually work into shape again. Unfortunately all of our workout gear is in storage in a POD in California and isn't scheduled to make the trip out here until April. So, for now, I'm just starting with some jogging.
I decided to try the Couch to 5 K program, which I'd heard good things about, so according to plan, today I walked 5 minutes, jogged 2 minutes and walked another 5 minutes. The symmetry is cool, because you can just walk 5 minutes away from your house, jog 1 minute, then turn around and come home.
I set off walking at a pretty brisk pace, and found myself breathing hard after about 2 minutes. I did not feel a great deal of exertion though, even after five minutes, but then came the jogging. Two minutes of jogging at a moderate pace and I was winded. It took the entire five minute walk home to recover. Then I did some stretching and took a shower.
But here's the thing that always baffles me about starting to exercise when I'm out of shape. Once my heart rate was back to normal, I started coughing and hacking like a pack-a-day smoker, but I don't smoke anything ever (at least not in the last ten years). Where is all this phlegm coming from? This condition definitely hammers home how out of shape I am. TWO MINUTES OF JOGGING and it takes me almost two hours to feel relatively calm and normal afterward.
It's not pleasant to be coughing and realizing how much work it will take to get in shape, but on the other hand, it sure feels good to have started to do something about it. Exercising has always been a love-hate relationship for me; I don't believe I've ever exercised consistently for more than a year consecutively, and over the course of my adult life, the periods of time that I haven't exercised probably outweigh the times I have by a factor of three or four to one.
There's something to be said for a job that forces you to exercise. When we flipped a couple houses in Tustin, I was working very hard every day for months, doing concrete, tile, drywall, framing, painting, cleaning, fencing, and landscaping, and I was definitely in as good a shape as I'd ever been. It didn't feel like exercise because it was my job at that time. I think computer programming is possibly the single job with the least exertion of any other on the face of the earth. A computer programmer sits very, very still for most of the day, moving only his fingers and eyes. A programmer's best work gets done when they exert the least amount of energy. Meetings, phone calls, going to lunch, anything that requires physical exertion detracts from writing code. And the worst part is, the more involved you get in the code you're writing, the harder it is to want to get up and do anything; you want to work until it's done. Today I worked 10 consecutive hours and spent about 9 hours and 45 minutes of that time sitting quietly at my desk.
According to plan, I should be doing the same 5 minute walk, 2 minute jog, 5 minute walk on Wednesday, but the forecast calls for rain, so we'll see what happens.
I weighed myself the other day and found I was about 35 pounds overweight. Since my ideal weight is about 205, an extra 35 pounds is like 20 pounds on a smaller man. But still, I consider myself as borderline fat right now. I was about the same weight two years ago and then I spent six months getting into shape. I got down to about 210 and was doing a regular routine of cardio-lifting. Exercising tended to make me want to eat right as well, so I was tracking calories and reading labels. I felt awesome.
But I faltered and gained just about everything back in less than the time it took me to lose it.
Then, as we were preparing to move to Texas, I did quite a bit of exercise for a couple months (painting, cleaning, packing), and was feeling fairly trim. However, Texas is all about lots and lots of really tasty meat and other fatty snacks, so it didn't take long to get back to a pretty uncomfortable heft.
Today I decided to gradually work into shape again. Unfortunately all of our workout gear is in storage in a POD in California and isn't scheduled to make the trip out here until April. So, for now, I'm just starting with some jogging.
I decided to try the Couch to 5 K program, which I'd heard good things about, so according to plan, today I walked 5 minutes, jogged 2 minutes and walked another 5 minutes. The symmetry is cool, because you can just walk 5 minutes away from your house, jog 1 minute, then turn around and come home.
I set off walking at a pretty brisk pace, and found myself breathing hard after about 2 minutes. I did not feel a great deal of exertion though, even after five minutes, but then came the jogging. Two minutes of jogging at a moderate pace and I was winded. It took the entire five minute walk home to recover. Then I did some stretching and took a shower.
But here's the thing that always baffles me about starting to exercise when I'm out of shape. Once my heart rate was back to normal, I started coughing and hacking like a pack-a-day smoker, but I don't smoke anything ever (at least not in the last ten years). Where is all this phlegm coming from? This condition definitely hammers home how out of shape I am. TWO MINUTES OF JOGGING and it takes me almost two hours to feel relatively calm and normal afterward.
It's not pleasant to be coughing and realizing how much work it will take to get in shape, but on the other hand, it sure feels good to have started to do something about it. Exercising has always been a love-hate relationship for me; I don't believe I've ever exercised consistently for more than a year consecutively, and over the course of my adult life, the periods of time that I haven't exercised probably outweigh the times I have by a factor of three or four to one.
There's something to be said for a job that forces you to exercise. When we flipped a couple houses in Tustin, I was working very hard every day for months, doing concrete, tile, drywall, framing, painting, cleaning, fencing, and landscaping, and I was definitely in as good a shape as I'd ever been. It didn't feel like exercise because it was my job at that time. I think computer programming is possibly the single job with the least exertion of any other on the face of the earth. A computer programmer sits very, very still for most of the day, moving only his fingers and eyes. A programmer's best work gets done when they exert the least amount of energy. Meetings, phone calls, going to lunch, anything that requires physical exertion detracts from writing code. And the worst part is, the more involved you get in the code you're writing, the harder it is to want to get up and do anything; you want to work until it's done. Today I worked 10 consecutive hours and spent about 9 hours and 45 minutes of that time sitting quietly at my desk.
According to plan, I should be doing the same 5 minute walk, 2 minute jog, 5 minute walk on Wednesday, but the forecast calls for rain, so we'll see what happens.
I am glad that you are trying to build up a decent physique by cutting down your fat with proper nutrition and exercise. It is very hard to find people like you who give importance to health the way it should be. I still remember the times when I used to exercise on a regular basis but I am very disappointed in myself for not having the same enthusiasm as I used to have before. I am hoping to reclaim myself someday!
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