Exercise (238) Finding time to exercise

The difficult part of finding time to exercise in the beginning even for 20 minutes is that it actually takes more than 20 minutes to return back to normal life routines. I would say initially, the whole process will take about an hour. So for me mentally, I had to prepare an hour amount of time to exercise for 20 minutes. As time went on, I was able to streamline some of my steps to maybe 45 minutes.

To me, I plan it kind of like a flight. Although the air time is 2 hours, you have to schedule time to pack, travel to airport, and wait prior to the flight, then wait, travel to hotel/home, and unpack after you land. For exercise, I have to dress and warm-up before exercising, then cool-down, shower/freshen-up, and re-dress after exercising.

This takes longer initially because there are some factors that you don't initially prepare for like weather, temperature, gear, etc. But after a while, you can start preparing ahead of time.

Anyways the point is that I found it much easier to be more consistent with exercising when I plan to reserve more time than the actual exercising, otherwise, after preparing I find that I do not have enough time then eventually aborting the plan to do "more important" things (which ultimately really is not that important but because you already planned it; the appearance is that it is more important at that moment).

On a side note, I have been able to maintain a sub-240 weight on a consistent basis now (including my high ranges). This is not just from exercising, actually exercise had little impact to this round of weight loss because I just started this week. A big factor was my diet which I did know but was difficult to control. I would like to say it was my will-power, but actually is due to combination of many factors outside of my raw will-power.

Moved away from my parents who are very concerned for my weight but does not care to consider my views on weight-loss because clearly I do not have a good track record (which they are somewhat correct). Moved away from work because I would eat out with coworkers. This was more primarily in combination with my parents because they did not like the idea of me eating out. So I ate two meals because I also hate wasting food and too shameful to tell my parents that I went out to eat. I had to eat their food because I had to return the containers on my way home. The last factor is that I live with my wife. I seem to naturally cook for two people. Maybe I could have cooked less, but it was probably due to my laziness. I didn't like to just cut half of an object, so I would cut a whole onion, tomato, chicken breast, etc. So I would just end up eating the whole thing also because I did not like having leftovers. So even though I did cook quite healthy, the sheer amount of food was not good for weight loss. At least this would explain why I am still relatively healthy for my size. Naturally, my wife now eats half the food I cook. My wife cooks a little more as she likes more variety of dishes but that is still way less than what I was eating before.

Not sure how this will last because one other major factor is that I work from home majority of the time. I have "gained" so much time without my 2 hours commute per day, preparing for work, logging back on, doing more work at the office to avoid rush hour, etc. On top of that, I get more work done in less amount of time.

Sorry to those who are looking how to change your mentality, but do not give up on hope. Change still starts with you and that is important. I went through most of my life on my own, so I had a chance back then. But some times there are external factors that impact you, and those factors will feel very daunting even if they aren't in hindsight. I have argued with my parents a lot on stop making me food, and they continued to ignore me. I could have refused not to go pick up food, but to me it was not worth a lifetime's worth of disappointment (I would rather be fat and content than unhappy and fit).

Exercise (241) Taking fitness in my youth for granted

While I was starting to do sit-ups again today, I was thinking how difficult it was for me to do just 20. I was still able to do 20 without break and at a reasonable pace, but I was definitely near my limit. While I was at 10, I was just thinking how easy it was to do 100 before high school. I remember thinking how useless this exercise was, and never thought that it could be difficult for others. I thought people were just lazy and find excuses not to do them.

Now even doing a single push-up is a struggle for me. I have always been weaker with push-ups. In my  youth, push-ups were my weakest exercise where there was a limit on the number of push-ups, maybe 50.

7 minute mile was considered kind of slow, now I struggle with a 12 minute mile. I even now notice that my reflexes are slower.

But there is still hope because I still see people easily twice my age run faster and longer. My father can run marathons yearly. So I am slowly changing my lifestyle to be more fit. Life has made it a little difficult lately, but still on my mind.

Today, I had a sudden drop in my weight, 3 pounds. I am not exactly sure why as I had been maintaining 243-244 pounds for the last couple weeks. I think eating less/healthier and evening walks every other night have lowered my weight a little bit, but then I was adding weight by drinking more water at night so I didn't notice my weight loss. Last night, I didn't drink any water. Anyways, I hope this is good news and not something else. I feel physically normal.

Exercise (246) Sodium vs (table) Salt

Completely random, I was reading an article about the difference between sodium and salt. I think it a good short read on how salt or sodium reacts in our body. Nothing ground breaking, just a pleasant read for those who enjoys a near-layman's explanation of physics.

I have not been exercising per se for a long, long while (except for an hour of volleyball). I have been also eating a bit unhealthy lately. Fortunately, my weight has not gone up. I have been moving around a lot (moving boxes and things) which I do not count as exercising. I hope once I finish, I will be able to get back to exercising more regularly.

Reference

https://www.thoughtco.com/difference-between-sodium-and-salt-608498

Exercise (247) Sometimes life happens

My father was in a serious accident. I was heart-broken to hear the news. I couldn't help to feel extremely saddened when I saw his condition. Fortunately, he is recovering although it did take some time for him be out of ICU.

During these times, I sometimes feel a bit jealous of others. And I have to remind myself that there are things much more important than money or success. Although there are people that experience even more tragic situations, I do not believe that should justify a different decision even. Because the logic would not hold for whoever has the most tragic experience.

What made me second guess myself was that I did not have a good relationship with my father. I did quickly decide to drop everything and fly to the hospital. I have no regrets in the decisions made. Sometimes I feel disappointed in myself that I had to think about it or remind myself, and not just instinctively decide.

Even though it put a long pause in my professional and other personal life progress, taking that time off to care was totally worth it. It also did add a lot of life perspectives. What good is all that wealth if you do not take care of yourself? Sometimes things just happen, are you prepared if one day you realize you cannot move or talk? Most if not near all parents have sacrificed a lot for their children. Isn't it a little counter-intuitive that we sacrifice the rest of our lives to care for them? Sounds wrong when you say it out loud, but still makes logical sense in my head.

Best of luck, and do what you believe is right for you and your family/friend. Some decisions will not be easy and there will be some that even seem impossible. In those cases, don't dwell on "what ifs" later; just constantly remind yourself that you did the best you can in the situation you were in and the information you had. And remember to also take care of your own health.

I had a lot of trouble posting this message because it was very personal to me and wasn't sure how much detail to share, but I hope the message is detailed enough to help someone (maybe even reminding my future self) else in a similar situation.

For someone who is not but knows someone in that situation but not in any capacity to help, simply say that the person is in your prayers or thoughts. Even if I thought the person may not really do so, the statement is still powerful besides that it typically fills any awkward silence. At the very least, it allows me to respond or transition to another topic. In all honesty, the support was actually very helpful even if I cannot explain how that is. Thank you to everyone who supported me and my family (whether it was said out loud or within your hearts).

Exercise (247) Flu?

The muscle aches haven't gone away and now I have a slight sore throat, I am starting to this I am starting to have the flu. The aches aren't as bad as it initially was though. Sore throat could just be because it was the morning.

I did have a guest that had a fever the week prior, so I am going to be a little more cautious to be healthier.

The weight loss is probably due more to this more than the little exercising I've been doing the last couple days. I also had an all-you-can eat meal the other day, so I really shouldn't be losing weight that fast.

Exercise (249) First jog

Yesterday, I jogged for the first time in a long while. I jogged for two minutes, 3 times. I have also sped up my walk from 2mph to 2.5mph to 3mph for about 30 minutes. When I have time, I also walked (slow, probably around 2mph) during lunch for about 20 minutes.

I am not sure the cause, but today I my upper leg feels like they are restless like I cannot sit still for a minute without feeling like getting up and walk it off except that it does not go away. I do not get these often. Maybe a handful of times a year.

But if I had to hazard a guess, I feel like I get it more often after I workout but lagging a day or two. The last time I had this problem was when I started doing kickboxing. I did find that putting my legs up (against a wall) did help in the past, although it does not seem directly impactful. So, I will have to start doing that again and see if that helps. It is hard to do once I have the problem though because the restlessness just builds.

Although one pound is still within a normal weight range, at least my weight stop going up. Hopefully, I will eventually get into some rhythm of this. It will be tough as I am also trying to clear out my place.

Reference

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a20866611/5-things-i-learned-from-throwing-my-legs-up-a-wall-every-day/

Exercise (250) Another restart

Sadly, I have reached my all-time heaviest weight to date at 250 pounds. I have been swinging between 235 and 240 for a long time since my last attempt, and lately it has just been downhill. But hopefully this was due to my busy life.

Lately

The main cause is that I have been busy with personal life activities mostly important guests visiting. I haven't slept in my room for about a month now. There was also a lot of cleaning prior and in between different groups of people.

Looking forward

As of this morning, I am at 248. I have not been exercising at all the last several months, except for the weekly volleyball (which I skipped last week for more important reasons). I do not think I will have much problems getting back to workout mode. I also need to start training to hike Grand Canyon (which I really hope I can get out of still :P).

I am hoping I can get as close to 200 as possible by end of next year. That is my goal. There will be a few obstacles like moving and getting a new job. From past experience, those will be tough to overcome workout-wise. But I will try to push through them this time around.

Back to Running - 2018 - Day 1

I haven't ran on a treadmill since I sprained my ankle. I've "ran" while playing volleyball with no problems. I also did a lot of hiking over two weeks. I also haven't had any soreness in my ankle or foot.

So I was a little disappointed that I could still feel my ankle when I ran. It wasn't a pain or a sore, but I didn't want to push it so kept at a slow pace. On the bright side, the run felt a little easier than the last time. One reason may be that I lost about 10 pounds over my vacation (about how much I weight at the beginning of 2017).

My foot was a little sore the next morning only for a few minutes. It was a little sore when I tried running again the following night but was able to run it off.

A week later, I can still feel my ankle but less than the first day. I was also able to run a little faster and longer (from 5 minutes at 5 mph to 10 minutes at 5.5 mph). 

Sprained ankle - Day 13

Sprained my ankle almost 2 weeks ago while playing volleyball. I was in enough pain to not be able to move my foot, but eventually dragged myself to the side. Our team had a double-header so fortunately I had some time to rest. After 30 minutes of icing and lying on the ground with my foot on a medicine ball, I was able to stand up but could barely put any weight on the foot. Another 30 minutes and I was able to drive. I was able to waddle the next day, using the wall to climb up or down the stairs. A week later and I was able to hide my limp with slight pain. I broke in my new bike yesterday with a discomfort in my foot only when climbing the stairs. I didn't feel any discomfort while biking for a couple hours (with several breaks). The next day, my foot was sore even when walking so maybe biking may not have been wise.

Workout-wise, I have been pretty bad with my regular workouts for the last month. I did at least one a week. My diet was slightly better than usual. Overall, I've lost about 1-2 pounds over two weeks but probably my muscle weight as I have not done any workouts the last couple weeks.

Real Appeal Day 1 (Workout)

There was some time off from my DVD workouts primarily because my laptop could no longer play videos without shutting down from overheating. I finally pulled the trigger and bought a blue-ray player.

The first thing I ran was the Real Appeal workout DVD. The workout is of course much easier than Insanity but was a good workout to do during lunch so that I'm not too sweaty for work. It was way less impact on the joints. I do not know if this picks up later.

I joined Real Appeal about 5-6 weeks ago. This is covered by the company I work for when you miss the biometrics. The program is pretty good. The coach is very motivating. It is geared more towards people who are more inexperienced with exercising and dieting. It does have a wealth of information. For me, I knew most of it. I just need to practice it.

My struggles with overeating

For those who is reading my blog for the first time, I do exercise quite regularly but still cannot lose weight or yo-yo when I lose significant amount. I am not fond of sharing my personal health experiences, but I do wish to help others and I found it helpful to know that other people have struggled and overcame their struggles.

I say that I exercise regularly, but I do go in slumps. In the big picture, I typically do the worst when I am at a new job because I overwork, eat poorly, eat more frequently, don't exercise, and sleep less. I get too tunnel-visioned in learning as much as I can in as short period of time. I do this rather successfully at the expense of my health.

I also do very, very well when I do not work. I lost 30 pounds in a summer when I was volunteering. I lose a lot of weight when I am between jobs. Basically, I do well when I just focus my attention at one particular lifestyle.

Lately, I have been doing better at balancing these two. Unfortunately, I still have a lot of bad habits. Eat a lot and frequently. I know it, but it is still hard to avoid it. No matter how much I tell myself... I could be telling myself the entire day that I should stop late night eating, I will still waver hard and indulge..... even when I wasn't even hungry.

I do not know why. But once it is late, I just want to eat. By this point, I have already eaten the usual 3 meals. I am even worse when I actually feel hungry. This has a multi-part problem. First, I don't cook frequently so I cook an entire week's worth of food over the weekend. Second, I do not like to waste food (in a broader view, I do not like wasting in general). Third, when I do something I go all the way. Fourth through to infinite, I am pretty bad to almost all bad eating habits except for sweets. 

I have never been much for candy, cakes, ice cream... unless they are the only available edible foods which I practice eat them more like a meal than a snack. I also do not have a problem with snacking, but I like snack foods. So if I am hungry, I can down a bag of potato chips. In between meals, I have no problems avoiding it. Once I am hungry and I eat one chip... the bag will basically be consumed within minutes.

So if there is food around, I will want to "finish" it even if I am full. I don't like leftovers, so I will eat it all. Even if I am stuffed, I will finish off the food. Because I don't buy candy or snacks, I am at least able to avoid very unhealthy foods. When I host parties and have leftover snacks... sadly I will eat them. To avoid this, I have been giving them away as guests leave or bring them to the office.

But easily my one biggest issue is late night eating...

I eat an extra late night meal. This is so hard and no amount of logic can explain why I still want to eat... except out of habit. I will look into every nook and cranny for some resemblance of food that needs to be consumed and make-up some excuse that it needs to be done before it expires. Even to this day, I am staring at the food and practically yelling at myself (or the food) that I should not eat... I will not eat it.... over and over.

I do not know what triggered the change, but in the last week, I have actually been able to put the food back into the fridge and just not eat it. And like that, I have been able to lose 1-2 pounds a day. It does not even matter if I ate unhealthy (fried chicken, fries, etc.). I am not saying that I should be eating it, but this just shows how unhealthy late night eating has been for me. I am already down 8 pounds in the last week. (Just for some reference to those who is trying to lose weight, I should weigh around 170 and currently 250 at the start of losing... so don't be thinking you'll lose a pound if you are already at average weight.)

Even now as I write this post, I still have the urge. It has become literally to the point of my left arm pulling my right arm away. So, I really hope anyone who is trying to lose weight that you are not alone in your struggle. It is hard... and sometimes there really is no good explanation except purely will-power to make a change in one's life. So, keep fighting even if you fail. 

Failed 4 mile race

How does one fail a race? By being late to the race. The weather was terrible so traffic was slower than normal, fortunately the weather did not reach the race destination. Then I couldn't find parking, spent 30+ minutes. I ended up 10 minutes late.

I ended up cutting across the park and finish the race without an official time. Although I felt lighter on my feet, I felt that my endurance was actually worse. I have not trained much in long distance, usually running at most 20 minutes. The only extended exercise is the Insanity workouts which is around 40 minutes. I guess that is not a good substitute... also does not help that I cannot keep up the entire time either.

With all that said, I played volleyball today and did surprisingly well. I wonder if I am now able to jump higher which is helping me hit better.

So although I feel better, I think my endurance has dropped a bit. I'll have to experiment this further.

Exercise Break - 20170602

Took a break from any heavy workouts yesterday and today in preparation for a 4-mile race tomorrow. I'm targeting to complete under an hour. Given my 3k of 35 minutes, I think I should be around 51 minutes.

Shaun T Insanity Day 9 - Personal Experience

I think I may have messed up the day numbers. At this point, I'm just going to number the days to be incremental by the days I work out instead of the DVD as I have noticed that I may mix around the exercises depending on how I feel. For example, last night I worked on the second DVD, Plyometric Cardio Circuit.

Since I have completed the whole box set (minus the one DVD that didn't work for me), it is time to start over again. I skipped the first DVD (Dig Deeper & Fit Test) as I just didn't feel to be in the mood to count as it was late.

This time around with Plyometric Cardio Circuit, I definitely noticed that I am do a little more and more flexible on the stretches.My weight is around or maybe slightly lighter than the prior time. (I really should record these things).

I still struggled with the pushups and running pushups, but I was able to do a couple sets (which I believe I skipped completely last time). Again I just went into the half-plank (plan from my knees instead of my feet). My arms are still not strong enough to maintain proper position. They were still tired just from the planks. Mountain climbing is still a struggle but did these much slower and without the hop.

Still sweated a ton, felt good prior and after... this is probably my favorite workout of the whole set.

Reference

http://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2017/05/shaun-t-insanity-day-1-and-day-2.html

Shaun T Insanity Days 6-8 - Personal Experience

Day 6 - Max Interval Circuit & Fit Test DVD was broken so I was unable to play this, so it was skipped.

Day 7 - Max Interval Plyo
This was by far the most insane workout. I tried to keep up as best as I can but made sure I was doing something when I couldn't. Laptop overheated in the last 10 minutes so didn't even get to that part. I did some jogging then cool down.

Day 8 - Max Cardio Conditioning
This was intense. I was able to do most of the workouts except the pushups where you kick your feet from side to side. By "do" I mean in some shape or form on the border of cheating but keeping my heart rate up.

Summary
I still feel exhausted and always end raining sweat. No injuries yet, but still some pain in the middle of my right foot when I do certain exercises too long which I just then pace or jog in place. I did some jogging earlier in the day and my foot is feeling much better in general, so I'm guessing that it is just weak from my weight. As for weight, I am now a pound under (on the low range) of when I started and around the same weight on the high end.

Just two more exercises before restarting for week 2.

Shaun T Insanity Day 5 (Pure Cardio) - Personal Experience

I skipped a day mostly due to not having time, and I was definitely up for it if I was home. Instead I played volleyball then did a lot of walking (totaling 24467 steps for the day according to my FitBit). And that was including the time where I sat most of the night hanging out with my cousins.

Anyways, I got to it today and is by far the most grueling in terms of keeping up. I have a lot of catching up for this video. I was unable to do any of the burpees. There were quite a few that I could not keep up but kept some resemblance of motion. 

Otherwise, the workout felt great. I was exhausted and can feel my muscles still burning. I can even feel my triceps as I type. My recovery is still improving.

Weight-wise... I am net +1 pound. I was a net +3 pounds a couple days ago. Not too discouraging as I usually gain weight as I start a new intensive workout. A little sad that I passed 250 pounds. But, I think I am starting to veer in the right track.

Shaun T Insanity Day 4 - Personal Experience

Cardio Recovery - sounds easy but I still got a good sweat. I was able to complete the holds but unable to complete the pulses. The parts where we lift the knees a couple inches above the ground, I was unable to do. I would start lifting my knee high as I pulsed. I ended up just keeping my knee on the ground which was still a good workout. I have a lot of catching up for this part in the future.

Overall, my body is starting to feel a bit better since I started with Day 1 about 9 days ago. I have done other activities during this timeframe like walking, volleyball, and the driving range. I have not been following the nutrition guide but am eating healthier. I still need to watch the quantity of food that I eat even though it may be healthier. I still struggle avoiding eating late night, but have been doing better lately.

Although I couldn't complete some of the workouts, I don't feel terribly exhausted. I think I may go for an easy jog later today.

Shaun T Insanity Day 3 - My personal experience

Took a day off from Day 2... my body was quite sore.

Day 3 seemed a bit easier except it had more pushup-like exercises which I do not have any arm strength to do the plank for that period of time much less to do pushups or running pushups. Instead I just did the simpler pushups (using my knees) and waddled side-to-side for the running pushups. This kept me tired and heart rate up.

I still had to rest a bit by the second half, mainly due to pain in the middle of my right foot. This typically occurs when I put too much stress on the foot. I have also noticed that there are a few exercises where I cannot put my foot flat on the ground but balanced on the balls of my feet. I'm not sure if this partial cause.

At the end, I was still exhausted. My recovery seems a bit better today. I can still feel that my arm muscles are sore.

Shaun T Insanity Day 1 and Day 2 - My personal exerperience

I am an extremely-overweight, athletic person... meaning I am about 80 pounds overweight but can still a wide range of sports on a competitive level with average citizens minus the endurance.

I did Day 1 almost a week ago. If it weren't for my laptop overheating ten minutes of the twenty minute video, I probably would have died. I was so out of breath. They were doing about 90-100 reps while I was struggling to do 1 properly and managed maybe started at 20 which soon dropped to 5-10. But at the end of the day, my body felt good. My glutes were so tight, I had trouble sitting and getting up for the next 3 days.

I just finished Day 2. I managed to complete the whole 40 some minutes. I was able to manage a reasonable pace for about 15-20 minutes which felt like an hour. Near the end with the push ups and plank-position exercises, I had trouble following as I had to face down which then I couldn't look up to see what I was supposed to do... but who am I kidding... I was surprised I wasn't lying on the ground. Occasionally, I just did some of the run-in-place exercises to watch what they were doing while keeping my heart-rate up. Although my muscles weren't too sore, after a few minutes of rest, I started to feel some of the workout sores. We'll see how I'll manage any non-horizontal positions tomorrow.

For a run down of the exercises, this blog (last update in Dec 2014) does a great job with a fun-style read. https://optforinsanity.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/day-2-plyometric-cardio-circuit/

Exercise 20170101

I didn't reach my goal last year to run a 10k, but I think I could have at least finished one under 80 minutes. I feel confident that I can reach it this year.

As of this morning, I have lost 10 pounds since a year ago. Yesterday, I attempted my fastest pace on a treadmill for 5k which I ended up finishing in 30.5 minutes. It was not a straight run, I did have to take a couple breaks (~30 seconds each).

Since I've gotten my fitbit in June, I started around 20k steps and slowly decreased to 10k steps by end of the year. This was mostly due to the increased workload due to everyone being out for the holidays so I was unable to take a lunch break to walk (mostly ate at my desk which also meant I ate unhealthier foods).

Also, I did less running and more strength training primarily with chest presses. I started around 25-30 pounds of about 3 sets of 20 reps, and ended up doing around 40-45 pounds of about 3 sets of 12-15. I still cannot do a pullup, but pushups are a little easier now.

On the treadmill, I oddly feel like I get "tired" but found if I increase the speed, I have renewed energy. I have started wondering if I am getting "bored" or maybe somehow that increases my adrenaline due to my personal competitiveness? I kind of doubt the latter since I can be lazy especially about myself. I find it easier to be "competitive" when I think it'll help someone else.

I've also started eating a little healthier in mixing in more greens into my diet. Broccoli, zucchini, and spinach has been a good portion of my default vegetables for my lunches. I am still not consistent with the cooking them as they always seem to come out differently each time. I also drank more home-made fruit smoothies, primarily pineapple, banana, strawberry, and blueberries. Sometimes watermelon, apple, and peaches.

I really need to work on getting more sleep. I was doing ok mid-year but recently, I have been averaging around 4-5 hours of sleep. I am not sure why but it has been getting harder for me to fall asleep even though I am in bed at a reasonable time.

Reference

http://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2016/01/exercise-20160109.html