Maybe I was a little ambitious
I underestimated just how much the pain of my injuries would take out of me. In addition to the ankle, I have road-rash on both knees and elbows, both elbows are swollen, and my ribs are bruised. All that from one fall, if you can believe it.
Being forty years old sucks.
I just couldn’t do any exercise. Physically, I’m a wreck. Obviously, I need to take a few more days to recover. Last night, my ribs hurt so much I couldn’t fall asleep.
However, I did keep my diet goal in check - 1,699 calories. I can do better, but 1800 is a prime fat-burning zone for me. I lose weight at that level, without feeling hungry and cheating. When I add the exercise and walking back in the mix, I should begin to drop weight steadily. For now, though, I’m sticking with the diet challenge. When I’m capable of more, I’ll do more.
Diet Challenge: Day 1/100
Tags: diet, exerciseWhere do I go from here?
Now that the walking is out for the next 3 to 6 weeks, I need to come up with other hundred day head start challenges. Because that’s the POINT of all this, isn’t it? Not waiting until after some event or date to get started improving my health?
There are still things I can do. For one, I can pay MUCH closer attention to what goes into my mouth. I popped over to myfitnesspal.com, a website I wrote about on myother diet blog a few weeks ago. After plugging in my height, weight, goals, etc, it gave a recommendation of 1890 calories/day to reach my weight loss goal of 2 lbs/week, along with exercising every day for at least 20 minutes.
So, here are the new challenges:
1. For the next 100 days, I will not eat more than 2,000 calories/day, and will average below 1,890 by the 100th day.
2. I will exercise every day for 20 minutes, minimum, for the next 100 days.
How will I exercise? Obviously, for the first couple of weeks I will be limited to exercises that don’t require me to bear weight on my right foot. That leaves a whole bunch of upper body and core strength exercises. Here’s a starter list, to which I will be adding:
- Chick-pushups (on my knees - I know it’s a sexist name, but my gym teacher used a much more graphic term, so live with it)
- Crunches - a whole variety of standard and raised-leg crunches.
- Block-hauling - tie a rope to a cinder block, then sit down and drag it in to you. I can also spin around and pull it over my shoulders.
- Supermans
- Leg lifts - variety of 6-inch and scissors
- Leg extensions - on back and on all fours
- Bridge form knees
- Chair March
- Balanced twist - site on but with legs in the air and back at 45 degree angle, then swing arms from side to side slowly.
Alot of stuff comes from my past experience, but some of it also comes from Ron Jones bodyweight exercise site. If you are a beginner, or have physical modifications, this is a great resource. Tons of exercises, and many can be modified around limitations.
I’m going to try to keep track of what I do and how long I do it and post the results here for accountability.
Tags: ankle brace, diet, exercise, fitness, InjuryY’all ain’t gonna believe this…
Out walking Saturday evening, ’round about twilight, and stepped on a rock, in a hole, on the gravel road to my house. Rolled the ankle. Severe sprain, much pain and swelling.
This ankle has been a problem for me since I was 18 yrs old, and in fact was a direct contributor to the end of my competitive running. I first rolled it while home from Vanderbilt for Thanksgiving, where I had a NROTC scholarship while running as a walk-on for the cross country team. So, that was over.
I suspect that was actually a broken ankle that went undiagnosed since I just went to a chiropractor for treatment. Anyway, I wound up with 3 more severe sprains and one diagnosed break of the same ankle over the next 10 yrs. I’ve been relatively un-clumsy for the last 15 yrs or so, until Saturday night.
Gloom, despair, and agony on me,
Deep dark depression, excessive misery,
If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all,
Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
Later today, I expect to be back with a few idea I have for some different hundred day head starts that will hopefully achieve the same goal. weight loss and fitness.
Tags: fitnessComing up for air
I’m still around.
My wife’s surgery went well, better than expected really. Still, I had some moments of concern.
The surgeon told us it would take an hour and fifteen minutes if it went well, to three hours if it went badly. They called me in right at 3 hours. I’d seen the parade of people going out of the waiting room to recovery and was silently freaking out as the clock moved forward. I was called in thinking I was going to the recovery room to see her, but instead I was directed to a small “consult room”. I looked at the nurse, but she didn’t make eye contact and turned away.
I sat down and located the wastebasket in case I needed to throw up.
The surgeon came in and told me everything was fine. I sighed audibly and told him he had me worried (understatement of the year). He apologized for not sending out word sooner, but he’d run into a little trouble and it took time to work through it.
So, she’s home now, thankfully, and we can begin the process of returning to normalcy.
——
Of course, I didn’t get in my walks. I got in a lot of walking, burned calories and worked my legs, but no sweating or breathing hard. So, no, I don’t count it. I’m ok with it. I did really well during the prior weeks, and will be able to start right back into it tonight.
Oh yeah, for core strength tonight: Crunches.
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My cousin has joined the ranks of bloggers. Here’s her blog: Just My Drama Life
Check it out.
No tag for this post.Starting over, again!
I made it 13 days in a row, and missed yesterday. I spent the afternoon mowing and dehydrated myself. I suppose I could count the mowing as my exercise, but it was a riding mower. ;-(
How did I dehydrate myself? I mowed the whole lawn in first gear. Super-slow. I was ticked off at the world and wanted to be alone. Mowing gives me time to work it out.
But, the beauty of the hundred day head start is that I don’t have to wait for some event in my life to pass before starting again. Those 13 days just make it easier to restart, in a little better shape. It would be easy to wait this week. My wife goes in for surgery on Tuesday. But, I’m going for it anyway. Started today, Day 1/100.
Tags: exercise, family, surgeryDay 10 is in the books; Day 11 still up in the air
So, last night, my walk was around downtown, still dressed in my work clothes, at around 8 p.m. after it had cooled a bit from the 92 degrees F we’d had a few hours earlier.
But, I did it. I’ll probably do it again tonight, if it isn’t raining. If it is, I’ll have to wait until I get home and change. Yeah, another recital tonight.
No exercises other than walking tonight. Walking alone will be a big enough challenge for me with the schedule today.
Now, to a few commenters:
Great to see cuzin7 jumping on the bandwagon! Feel free to drop by and leave a comment each day and tell us how you’re doing in your own personal hundred day head start.
Tags: exerciseSometimes, you just have to suck it up and go
Man, did I feel bad last night! I was sick, nauseous, really, and changed the routine I was planning. Instead, I did two core exercises: Air Squats, and Forward Lunges. Then walked a slooooow mile, although i did pick it up towards the end when I started feeling a little better.
So, Day 9/100 is in the books. Days 10 and 11 are going to be a challenge. The girls have dance recitals tonight and tomorrow night, which means late nights for everyone. I’ll be going out in the dark, something I really don’t like doing since we’re back in the woods a bit, and even when I get out to the road there’s no streetlights. Not that I’m afraid of the boys from deliverance or anything; it’s just that I have neighbors that let their kids (children, really) ride dirtbikes and ATVs anytime and all the time. I’m not real keen on being run down. I usually take a flashlight, but still…
So, these two days will test my commitment to the hundred day head start!
Tags: children, exercise, kidsDay 8/100 was a great success
Cuzin7 is in:
- cuzin7 said…
- ok i’m in! todays the day! i’m commited .. i think. i will get up and move my sorry butt, even a walk around the block!
That’s all it takes!
Anyone else?
So, I’ve completed Day 8/100, day 9 is tonight. Did my stretching, and last night’s 3-mile walk felt AWESOME! I could really tell the difference in my core strength - my back felt great and my shoulders stayed back, no rolling forward with exhaustion or anything like that.
Tonight’s strength workout will start to incorporate some upper body movements on top of some core movements. I’ll be doing my own fat-guy pull-ups. A lot of gyms these days use a machine that counterbalances weight so you don’t have to pull-up your entire body weight, allowing you to work up to it gradually. Since I don’t have a machine like this, I do a jumping pull-up, so the momentum from my jump takes some of the weight off my pull-up. The goal is to work up to “real” pull-ups, and in this way you’re working the exact muscles you need in the exact motion you need them.
Fat-guy pull-ups. Know ‘em, love ‘em.
My core strength exercise tonight will be crunches. We talked about those last week. So, I’ll be going from one exercise daily to 2 exercises daily, along with some post-workout stretching.
Tags: core, exercise, stretchingDay 5, Gitter’ done!
Day 5/100, yesterday. My wife and oldest daughter tried to go for a walk in a park near the house. As they were walking across a footbridge over a swampy area, they were attacked by yellow flies. Recent rains has caused them to hatch.
My youngest daughter and I humped a bit further than we’d planned. She got 1/4 mile down the road and had to go to the bathroom, so we turned around and retraced our steps. She was holding both her front and back while she walked, as if she could hold it in! After she took care of business, it was back out for the walk, so we went 1.5 miles. Not bad for a 5-yr old.
I also did my Mountain Climbers, which turned out to be a little harder than I expected. I definitely felt the workout in my lower back, with a little additional benefit in my abs from bringing the knee up to my chest. I can easily see it get more strenuous by increasing the angle of the body lean.
This week’s final core exercise is one I’m going back to Crossfit for: Overhead Squat. Start off with a broomstick. Keep your arms extended above your head with the broomstick, and squat so your butt goes below your knees, like Monday’s Air Squat. You can increase the load you press above your head as your fitness level and strength improve. I managed to get to the point where I was using a cinder block, last year. Today, though, it’s back to the broomstick.
I’m not sure if I’ll be posting or not over the weekend because I’ll be back on the road visiting my father (yes, I remember I owe you a post about his condition!). In case I don’t make it back here while I’m gone, the exercises for Saturday and Sunday will be stretching exercises. Just some simple one’s right now: Toe touches, and hurdler’s stretch. Remember, though, don’t stretch a cold muscle - it’s best to warm up for 5 minutes before stretching. I like to do my stretching at the end of the workout, when the muscle is nice and warm and limber so I get a good stretch and keep the muscles from getting tight.
Anyone with me on this thing? Anyone? 
Day 4 of 100: I’m moving, how about you?
Day 4/100: I did my 20 crunches and walked 1.5 miles very hard.
What did you do?
Today - I don’t know if the kids will join me today or not. They played at the beach all morning yesterday, so they weren’t “made” to exercise with me. My deal is that as long as they’re active and moving and playing during the day, like swimming at the beach, that’s good enough for me. Variety is the most important thing for kids, in my opinion. Plus, I get to use these days as days when I can really push myself, so it works out for all of us.
My core exercise of the day is Mountain Climber, taken from RonJones’ Bodyweight Exercise website. It’s not the mountain climber’s you remember from gym class. This version works the lower back and glutes a lot, and is scalable to your ability by increasing or decreasing the angle of your body. So there’s no excuse not to try.
Start YOUR hundred day head start today!
Tags: exercise, kids