Dear James, Daniel and Emily,
Saturday I did my customary 5K at the Y. The kids like that time at the Youth Center, and 30-40 minutes on the treadmill is manageable from a mental perspective. In fact those workouts are good for training my legs to maintain a regular consistent pace.
I decided to try a different route on Sunday, and also left Spotty at home. One, because I was getting a little tired of her antics with other dogs, and wanted to scout a route with fewer other runners and dogs to contend with. Two, this route starts and ends at the house so I wouldn't have to drive somewhere first.
Here's my Sunday workout results
As you can see, not my best run. I mean I averaged a decent pace, but I definitely had a hard time and ended up walking a lot more than I ever do. Part of that was the route, which was definitely mostly uphill, even if it was a low grade. But I still felt good about the run, and liked the route enough that I can do it again next week, with Spotty, as I pretty much had the trails to myself.
Regarding my thoughts on Friday, I did discover the Body-Fat ratio. And after doing the simple self measurement determined I was not where I want to be. I am within the 'Acceptable' range, but still not where I want to be. Which gives me a better idea of a goal than just simple weight loss.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wondering just how much muscle gain is impacting weight loss
Dear James, Daniel and Emily,
Here's the thing, I made a plan at the beginning of the year to lose some more weight. I chose to do this by doing 2 things. First, reset my Lose It application on my phone, and set up a goal weight with daily calories intake etc. Second, set up a pretty ambitious new training schedule: running 4 days a week, with 3 days of strength training (push ups, sit ups, knee bends).
Initially that worked well, a couple of pounds washed off. Then the cold snap hit and I wasn't able to stick to my running program, and subsequently had a harder time hitting my net calories. Not a problem I though, once I can resume my training as a regular habit I should be able to get back on track with the weight loss.
Well that has not been the case, I have had 2 good weeks in a row now, with net calories coming in below my goal for the most part. Especially this week, I was really good since my running distance increased. And I have even found a decent balance as far as the cursed evening snacks. And yet the weight is stuck in a plateau.
Now I now these plateaus happen, and that the best strategy is to just hang in there, be patient, keep up with what I have been doing, and the weight comes off. But the question that is nagging in the back of my head is this: I now I have been building muscle all this time, I can see and feel this. And I know I can do more physically then I would have even thought a year ago when I was at roughly the same weight. What if everything I have built up is actually resulting in some of that increased weight (since muscle is denser than fat)? What is the best way to find this out? Because I don't want to start beating myself up every week over my weight not going down, when by all measurements it should have decreased.
This is just what is going through my head today. I am not going to let it really get to me, I will keep counting the calories and burning whenever I can. This is just something I will be looking into, and if anyone reading this cares to comment feel free.
Here's the thing, I made a plan at the beginning of the year to lose some more weight. I chose to do this by doing 2 things. First, reset my Lose It application on my phone, and set up a goal weight with daily calories intake etc. Second, set up a pretty ambitious new training schedule: running 4 days a week, with 3 days of strength training (push ups, sit ups, knee bends).
Initially that worked well, a couple of pounds washed off. Then the cold snap hit and I wasn't able to stick to my running program, and subsequently had a harder time hitting my net calories. Not a problem I though, once I can resume my training as a regular habit I should be able to get back on track with the weight loss.
Well that has not been the case, I have had 2 good weeks in a row now, with net calories coming in below my goal for the most part. Especially this week, I was really good since my running distance increased. And I have even found a decent balance as far as the cursed evening snacks. And yet the weight is stuck in a plateau.
Now I now these plateaus happen, and that the best strategy is to just hang in there, be patient, keep up with what I have been doing, and the weight comes off. But the question that is nagging in the back of my head is this: I now I have been building muscle all this time, I can see and feel this. And I know I can do more physically then I would have even thought a year ago when I was at roughly the same weight. What if everything I have built up is actually resulting in some of that increased weight (since muscle is denser than fat)? What is the best way to find this out? Because I don't want to start beating myself up every week over my weight not going down, when by all measurements it should have decreased.
This is just what is going through my head today. I am not going to let it really get to me, I will keep counting the calories and burning whenever I can. This is just something I will be looking into, and if anyone reading this cares to comment feel free.
I change the focus of my web presence (again)
So I am changing my web presence (again, what can I say, I embrace the change thing). Here is what is going to happen:
"Society is like a stew, if you don't stir it up all the scum rises to the top." Edward Abbey
Mike Ruch
- I will change the focus of this page (again). This page will focus on my development: training, health, etc. but it will no longer have family updates, pictures, etc. That will be found at
- Our new Family Web site This will be where you can go for family news, updates, pictures. In addition I will have a shared calendar there if you want to find out where we are.
- My Tumblr site will continue to focus on my hobbies and interesting links I find.
- My Twitter feed will post links to all 3 sites as will Facebook, but I will try to make clear where the link is going so those who do not care about family updates (or my hobbies, or about my running-training thoughts) won't always be directed there.
"Society is like a stew, if you don't stir it up all the scum rises to the top." Edward Abbey
Mike Ruch
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Reaching out feels good on it's own
Dear James, Daniel and Emily,
As the youngest child in a family of 7 (well 8 if you count the younger foster brother but he came later so he doesn't count) I developed a habit of making sure that when I did something good I had to almost demand notice. It's not easy to get noticed in a family that large. So when you did something, especially as the youngest, the way to get acknowledgement was to figuratively jump up and down and yell: 'Hey I did something, notice me!' And unfortunately that is a habit that became somewhat ingrained in my life. And along with it a tendency to let what I didn't do just fade into the background.
What this has resulted in is that often when I do something good, something altruistic, I still feel I have to jump up and down. And since the accompanying humility of being the youngest meant that the effort to jump & down was hard I tended to not do that many good things just for the sake of it.
Well last week I mentioned that I had decided to make it a point to 'pay it forward' regarding my efforts to lose weight and put myself out there with some friends who are trying to do the same thing. The funny thing is that I have discovered how easy it is to type in the advice and atta-boys on Facebook. And how good it feels to do so, even though there is no expectation of quid pro quo. I guess this whole post is a way of my jumping up & down for that attention. But that's not the point, it's more to share that I have crossed that point where I have learned to do something good just for the sake of doing it.
As the youngest child in a family of 7 (well 8 if you count the younger foster brother but he came later so he doesn't count) I developed a habit of making sure that when I did something good I had to almost demand notice. It's not easy to get noticed in a family that large. So when you did something, especially as the youngest, the way to get acknowledgement was to figuratively jump up and down and yell: 'Hey I did something, notice me!' And unfortunately that is a habit that became somewhat ingrained in my life. And along with it a tendency to let what I didn't do just fade into the background.
What this has resulted in is that often when I do something good, something altruistic, I still feel I have to jump up and down. And since the accompanying humility of being the youngest meant that the effort to jump & down was hard I tended to not do that many good things just for the sake of it.
Well last week I mentioned that I had decided to make it a point to 'pay it forward' regarding my efforts to lose weight and put myself out there with some friends who are trying to do the same thing. The funny thing is that I have discovered how easy it is to type in the advice and atta-boys on Facebook. And how good it feels to do so, even though there is no expectation of quid pro quo. I guess this whole post is a way of my jumping up & down for that attention. But that's not the point, it's more to share that I have crossed that point where I have learned to do something good just for the sake of doing it.
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