Fitness Update

A few months ago, I announced to the internet that I was overweight and wanted to do something about it. Then my son was born. The feeble fitness/diet plan I started died a quick death to baby fatigue. But now the kid’s schedule is a little more stable, and involves far less middle of the night wakings.

I’ve started anew and this time I intend to follow through. Granted, that’s what I said last time. So we’ll see. I am doing thing differently this time.

Instead of just deciding to lose weight, I have a plan. Yes, just like the Cylons. For starters, I’m going to be playing basketball with some friends every Thursday. This I think will be the best motivator. Most of us aren’t in really great shape, but I’m by far the worst. In order to keep up with them, I’m going to need to put in some effort. And because it’s a fun activity with friends, it’s a worthwhile effort.

Next, I’m going to try the “Couch to 5k” program. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this program. A friend of mine did it last year. In January he ran his first 5k and just this last month he ran 20miles in another event. I can’t even go a mile at the moment. But I want too.

Running is like my unobtainable treasure. I’ve never done it very well and have never really enjoyed it. But in my mind, the ability to run a good distance at a reasonable pace is the sign of good health and fitness. I could do a lot of things, but if I can get to a point where I can run a few miles and not feel like crap as a result, or just not keel over and die, I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something.

And lastly, I’ve started using MyFitnessPal to track my food intake. I have no specific goals for what I will and will not eat.  But the program has a great database of foods, so it’s easy to record stuff, there’s an easy to use app for my phone, and it tracks how much I should be eating to achieve my end game goal.

I’m hoping with this multi-pronged attack that starts out relatively light will allow me to ease into a sustainable program. We’ll see how it goes. I’m still hovering around 335lbs so I have a long way to go.