Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Those last 10 pounds

Wow - the end of a large weight loss seems to be MUCH tougher than the beginning! Here's my original weight loss tracker, from the start of my journey. And below is the short term one for the final weight loss. Up and down, up and down. sheesh!

I have no explanation for the big drop and increase around August 15... 

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Handling the heat - weight loss benefit #6

I live in Baltimore, MD. Our typical summer weather reports are often "the three Hs: Hazy, hot and humid." In the last six weeks, we've had three days of 100+ temps, and 26 in the 90s!

When I was carrying around 70+ extra pounds, summer's heat was often unbearable. Without all that extra insulation, I am actually ENJOYING the summer weather.

Enjoying these temperatures may be extreme for some folks. But at least being able to tolerate months of very warm weather is a huge personal benefit of my weight loss.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

My weight loss "ticker"

I would be done with the weight loss phase and onto transition and life long maintenance if I hadn't cheated while on a couple vacations...


Monday, August 2, 2010

Who has time to exercise?!

Finding it difficult to fit “traditional” exercise into your busy life? By incorporating a handful of quick and simple “lifestyle exercises” into your daily routine, you will burn some additional calories without even thinking about it! To improve overall health, the current exercise/daily physical activity recommendations are at least 30 minutes a day of moderate-intensity exercise, most days of the week.

There's probably nothing new or surprising in this list. But -- how many of these principles do you regularly practice?

  • Park further away from you destination, so you walk a little bit more than you do when you nab the rock star parking space.
  • Use a rest room further away. Use a rest room on another floor instead of the one that is closest to your desk. And take the stairs. Both ways!
  • Take a power walk at lunch to fit a mini aerobic workout into the middle of the day.
  • Take the stairs instead of elevators and escalators to burn more calories.
  • Take the time to play games that include movement of the body. Not only can this become quality time spent with loved ones, but it teaches the importance of body movement to family members and helps everybody burn more calories. Games like tag, jump rope, computer/television-based fitness games, and sports such as baseball, basketball, and tennis are great activities to enjoy with family members.
  • Tidying up can burn more calories. Daily household activities such as sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, mowing the lawn with a push mower, gardening, and raking leaves all require caloric expenditure.