Walking Program Report, Week 1

Start: Wed, 4-1-2009 - weight 240 lbs*.

Wednesday - 1.0 miles walked, 20 min.
Thursday - 1.0 miles walked, 20 min.
Friday - 1.6 miles walked, 30 min.
Saturday - 1.2 miles walked**, 20 min.
Sunday - 0.5 miles walked***, 10 min.
Monday - 1.2 miles walked****, 25 min.
Monday weight- 236 lbs*.

* Weight taken on bathroom scale in kitchen, wearing underwear and sweat pants.

** Went to cemetery homecoming, walked different course.

*** Severe leg cramps all day; tried to push it, turned around at our property line and went back.

**** Cut slightly short due to dogs, for the first time. I quit walking last time partly due to heat setting in, partly due to neighborhood dogs. Definitely need/want a good treadmill. Technically I have one, but it's weighted for a permanent uphill and has deafening loud castors.

Four pounds is within the realm of fluctuation; too early to tell if things are working. Tomorrow no walking, as Tuesday is shopping day. Tomorrow, in addition to many other errands, I'm going to pick up a week's supply of Hydroxycut and see if my system will tolerate it.

Walking Program Report, Week 1

Start: Wed, 4-1-2009 - weight 240 lbs*.

Wednesday - 1.0 miles walked, 20 min.
Thursday - 1.0 miles walked, 20 min.
Friday - 1.6 miles walked, 30 min.
Saturday - 1.2 miles walked**, 20 min.
Sunday - 0.5 miles walked***, 10 min.
Monday - 1.2 miles walked****, 25 min.
Monday weight- 236 lbs*.

* Weight taken on bathroom scale in kitchen, wearing underwear and sweat pants.

** Went to cemetery homecoming, walked different course.

*** Severe leg cramps all day; tried to push it, turned around at our property line and went back.

**** Cut slightly short due to dogs, for the first time. I quit walking last time partly due to heat setting in, partly due to neighborhood dogs. Definitely need/want a good treadmill. Technically I have one, but it's weighted for a permanent uphill and has deafening loud castors.

Four pounds is within the realm of fluctuation; too early to tell if things are working. Tomorrow no walking, as Tuesday is shopping day. Tomorrow, in addition to many other errands, I'm going to pick up a week's supply of Hydroxycut and see if my system will tolerate it.

A note about myself and athletics...

There are two reasons why I never amounted to much in athletics.

First... you know how people talk about the endorphins, the warm glow of physical exertion, all the good feeling that comes from a good workout?

I've never felt that. Ever.

Ever since I was a very little kid, I've had a dislike for intense physical activity. My interest in sports was solely in the opportunity to play with other kids- which, away from school, I didn't have much at all, usually. Running left my lungs feeling like I'd inhaled a bushel of sewing needles straight from the forge. My knees, now and again, would either lock rigid or decide, without pain or warning, to cease holding my weight up. At the end of any prolonged effort, I'd be covered with sweat, muscles burning, gasping for breath that just wouldn't return...

... and never, never did it ever feel good to do any of it.

Oh, it felt good to win- on the rare, rare occasions it happened, since I was awful at such things. But it wasn't the exertion that brought the good feeling... and there was no connection whatever between my putting out maximum effort and winning. I could practice, learn, try hard... and fail just as miserably as if I'd done nothing.

And besides that- this is the second point- winning just wasn't that important to me. Still isn't.

Now, losing I hated, a bit. (A lot, really. Until I got into high school, and academic competitions finally became an option, losing was pretty much all I did, to the point that I regarded myself as a loser by nature.) But winning... it was nice, but it wasn't all that important. Competition was, for me, an idle pastime. I had no motivation whatever to continue putting in effort to train up for the eventual promise of winning.

For other players, football/basketball/etc. were an end unto themselves, a path to glory, an opportunity for scholarships, perhaps even a route out of the soul-destroying back woods. For me... well... it was an opportunity to interact with others, and that's all it was. And, the older I got, the less I liked most of the people I'd be interacting with in that setting.

So- rote exercise like situps, jumping jacks, etc. is mind-numbingly tedious and painful; sports are frustrating, painful, and provide minimal pleasure when successful; and I had no real motivation to stick with either, because I didn't really care about it.

These days my sole physical sport is golf, on those rare occasions when I can spare the cash and time. The local courses all require that non-members rent an electric cart, so there's very little physical exercise involved- basically, swing a one-pound stick around about 140 times (I'm a rotten golfer), plus the walking involved on the green and in the rough looking for the damn ball.

Golf's fun. For me it's less physical effort and more skill. I don't have much of that either, but when I find some and hit a good shot- clearing a hundred yards of water, sinking a twelve-foot putt, getting a tee shot in the air and down the center of the fairway- that provides a sense of satisfaction straight down to the soles of my feet. I don't get that with other sports, where the focus is less on achieving a personal goal and more about being stronger, faster, etc. than someone else.

Unfortunately, golf costs about $25 per round, plus gas- the closest course is about 25 miles one way. Memberships, where available, cost about $500 per year and only knock about half off the cost of each round. If I lived closer to a course, it might be worth the investment... but I don't.

So... for exercise, walking is about it.

And when I run out of audiobooks (or weather cool enough to walk in), that'll be out, too.

A note about myself and athletics...

There are two reasons why I never amounted to much in athletics.

First... you know how people talk about the endorphins, the warm glow of physical exertion, all the good feeling that comes from a good workout?

I've never felt that. Ever.

Ever since I was a very little kid, I've had a dislike for intense physical activity. My interest in sports was solely in the opportunity to play with other kids- which, away from school, I didn't have much at all, usually. Running left my lungs feeling like I'd inhaled a bushel of sewing needles straight from the forge. My knees, now and again, would either lock rigid or decide, without pain or warning, to cease holding my weight up. At the end of any prolonged effort, I'd be covered with sweat, muscles burning, gasping for breath that just wouldn't return...

... and never, never did it ever feel good to do any of it.

Oh, it felt good to win- on the rare, rare occasions it happened, since I was awful at such things. But it wasn't the exertion that brought the good feeling... and there was no connection whatever between my putting out maximum effort and winning. I could practice, learn, try hard... and fail just as miserably as if I'd done nothing.

And besides that- this is the second point- winning just wasn't that important to me. Still isn't.

Now, losing I hated, a bit. (A lot, really. Until I got into high school, and academic competitions finally became an option, losing was pretty much all I did, to the point that I regarded myself as a loser by nature.) But winning... it was nice, but it wasn't all that important. Competition was, for me, an idle pastime. I had no motivation whatever to continue putting in effort to train up for the eventual promise of winning.

For other players, football/basketball/etc. were an end unto themselves, a path to glory, an opportunity for scholarships, perhaps even a route out of the soul-destroying back woods. For me... well... it was an opportunity to interact with others, and that's all it was. And, the older I got, the less I liked most of the people I'd be interacting with in that setting.

So- rote exercise like situps, jumping jacks, etc. is mind-numbingly tedious and painful; sports are frustrating, painful, and provide minimal pleasure when successful; and I had no real motivation to stick with either, because I didn't really care about it.

These days my sole physical sport is golf, on those rare occasions when I can spare the cash and time. The local courses all require that non-members rent an electric cart, so there's very little physical exercise involved- basically, swing a one-pound stick around about 140 times (I'm a rotten golfer), plus the walking involved on the green and in the rough looking for the damn ball.

Golf's fun. For me it's less physical effort and more skill. I don't have much of that either, but when I find some and hit a good shot- clearing a hundred yards of water, sinking a twelve-foot putt, getting a tee shot in the air and down the center of the fairway- that provides a sense of satisfaction straight down to the soles of my feet. I don't get that with other sports, where the focus is less on achieving a personal goal and more about being stronger, faster, etc. than someone else.

Unfortunately, golf costs about $25 per round, plus gas- the closest course is about 25 miles one way. Memberships, where available, cost about $500 per year and only knock about half off the cost of each round. If I lived closer to a course, it might be worth the investment... but I don't.

So... for exercise, walking is about it.

And when I run out of audiobooks (or weather cool enough to walk in), that'll be out, too.