Obesity trends

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/obesity/obesity-epidemic

Intense!

New PR on stationary bike this morning.  After skiing 6 days in a row I decided to take a day off from the mountain.  That enabled me to go all-out on the bike this morning knowing I had all day to recover.  So, I blew my old record out of the water.  Today:  27 miles in 90 minutes,  722 calories burned.    This record will be tough break.   Ski tomorrow, rest today.

Fitness feels so great!

Nothing tastes as good as fitness feels.     An hour on my stationary bike and 4 hours of hard skiing.  I feel great!  Can't wait to work out tomorrow and head back to the mountain.

Chicken or the Egg

I've been thinking about the food choices we have when we're away from home.  I went Church St. to eat this week and today I was in the ski lodge at Smuggs'.   There are so few healthy choices for diners.  Is it because no one wants healthy food and so it goes unsold?  Or, does no one eat healthy food because none is offered?

In any case, nearly everyone is eating junk.  Small wonder most of the population is so FAT!   I saw a 16 year old at the mountain yesterday who was so out of shape he could barely get up off the snow by himself.  16 years old!  

You want to fix health care costs?  Quit fooling around with things won't make any difference until we fix the root cause:  Lifestyle choices.

I had a Greek Salad on Church Street (one of very few healthy choices) and I brought my lunch to the ski resort.
Sad isn't it.

Motivation rules - 10 miles this morning

We received notification that our relay team has been accepted for the Vt City Marathon relay!  That means renewed motivation to get into race shape.   This morning's weather was just warm enough and the roads were dry enough so I ventured out for a trial run (it has been several weeks of indoor biking) not knowing how my body would react.   The wind was gusty but mostly pretty tolerable.  Except for cold feet at the start and cold thumbs at the end I held up rather well.

One of the things I really love about running is the uninterrupted thinking time that it provides.  Thinking about the upcoming race not only got me out the door (the stationary bike & HDTV in the warm basement was tempting) but it helped keep me focused on the task at hand.  It also got me thinking about fitness motivation and why I run  and work out.   There are so many good reasons to stay fit.  The upcoming race is just one.  But it is a good one and it was all I needed today.

A Good Week for Calorie Burning

Lots of hard skiing this week.  MWF gave me some some solid resistance training.  STTh provided some sweat producing cardio.  All together very satisfying.   The continuity of training is good for mind and body.  Pizza will taste good tonight!

Time for a break?

Man, I was tired this morning.  I haven't taken a day off for a long time (early November).  Today I gave it some thought.  It could just be a short night Sunday night (due to the Superbowl) catching up to me.  However, I persevered and put in my 90 minutes.  I just went a bit slower.   We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  But hey, I still did 90 minutes!  That's way more than most of the fatties out there.   Pardon my hubris but I got up and did it!

Change is good

After trying Zumba on Saturday and enjoying the surge in enthusiasm I varied part of my resistance training this morning.   I change my pull-ups by placing a 10 lb. medicine ball between my legs.  Obviously, I couldn't do as many the the increased resistance should shock my muscles a bit.  That could be good.  I was certainly good for my psyche.   That went so well I elevated my feet (a rush cube) to increase the difficulty of my push-ups!  Same result.  This'll be fun for while!!!

Excuses

Excuses are:  
easy.
good for nothing.
the easy way out.
what keep us from improving.
the province of losers.
for the weak.


Getting up off our duffs and doing it
creates competitors.
builds character.
makes us fit.
separates us from the losers.
makes looking in the mirror a lot easier.


Do it.

Zumba!

I tried a Zumba class today for a break in my regular routine.   I felt a bit uncoordinated trying to figure out the all the moves.  I would have been funny to watch.  Just as soon as I figured it out it would change.   But it was good to use muscles in a different way.  I'm definitely going back.   All around fitness is best.

I love winter!

I get up early.  I eat a nice 'get my metabolism going' light breakfast of cereal, fruit, and yogurt.  I get a nice hard workout done by 6:45 am.  I eat a scrumptious high protein big breafast.  I go skiing all day.  I come home and chillax.   Why can't winter be 6 months instead of 4.    I guess that makes it special.  Anyway, I love winter.

Time magazine: Exercise benefits the brain as well as the body.

The evidence that exercise is good for you keeps piling up while Americans (including Vermonters) keep piling on the pounds as they avoid it.    You'd think that given a magic potion for warding off dementia, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and a plethora of other problems, not the least of which is high med bills, that people would clamor for it.  Not the case.  Evidently, the average American's aversion to exercise so strong that they would rather die than live.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1956619,00.html?xid=newsletter-weekly

Me?  I got my butt out of bed at 4:30 this morning and worked out for 90 minutes and then went skiing.  What did you do?