The last few months have not been great ones for me physically.  I was shocked when at a recent doctor’s appointment my weigh-in showed me gaining only 2 pounds.  Of course that was just since my last visit in December-I had already gained weight since I quit working out regularly in late October.

Not working out was a double whammy for my arthritic knees.  No activity made them even stiffer in winter, and of course more weight meant more stress on each knee.  Ibuprofen did not help.  Relafen did not help.  Ice did not help.  Heat did not help. 

I know if I would lose enough weight, I would not have to take my actos, a very expensive diabetes medicine that is not out in generic yet.  A month’s supply of the tiny pills cost me $225, or $2,700 a year.  For the sake of my knees I have to lose weight.  For the sake of my wallet I have to lose weight.

And if I want to be a part of my grandchild’s life I have to lose weight.  Sometime around Labor Day Matt and Stephanie are going to have their first baby, my first grandchild.  Not only do I want to be around to be a part of my grandchild’s life, I want to play an active role too, and that means I have to lose weight.

So, one more time I am stepping up to the plate.  I don’t need to hit a home run every day.  It’s a long season, and I just need to rack up more victories than defeats.  Winning is not just losing weight; it has to be a life style change.  That starts with one small step, and my first step is to get active again.

Today I went to the Fremont YMCA Wellness Center and worked out for 30 minutes, all cardio.  I did 10 minutes on a treadmill, 10 minutes on a stationary bike, 5 minutes on the arm pedal bike, and 5 more minutes on a stationary bike.  Today is the start of a new month, and I did take my first small step in making a change.  It is up to me to make sure today’s effort is not an April Fool’s joke.

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Before I went to bed last night I told myself repeatedly that I was going to get up at 5:00 a.m.  That must have helped, because I had no problems getting up long before sun light today.  I started my work out with 15 minutes of walking on a treadmill to warm up.  I walked .79 miles at a 3.16 mile per hour pace, and burned 152.4 calories, just over 10 calories per minute. 

Following my warm up I did two leg routines on the Strive circuit and began my Paramount circuit routine.  Normally I have the Paramount circuit all to myself early in the morning, one of the reasons I like the circuit.  For some reason, shortly after I started my lifting, five women and an older gentleman (60 may be old to some people, it isn’t to me) joined me.  Seven people using 10 machines is too crowded for me, so I finished several routines and went back to do cardio.

I did 10 minutes on the arm pedal bike, covering 1.90 miles.  Before I finished my work out riding a stationary bike, I checked to see if the Paramount circuit was still crowded.  Only the older gentleman was still using it, so I finished my lifting.  One of the Paramount machines was out of order, so I only did 9 Paramount routines, plus the two Strive routines, lifting 28,100 pounds in 25 minutes. 

Today’s work out was 25 minutes cardio and 25 minutes lifting, with enough wasted time switching back and forth from cardio to lifting that I only had time for the 50 minute work out instead of a full hour.  Tomorrow my plan is for an entire hour of cardio.

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I walked 1.87 miles and burned 363.6 calories on the treadmill.  That was roughly a 3.2 mile per hour pace.

I covered 2.13 miles on the arm pedal bike, and rode 3.8 miles on the stationary bike.  My total for the hour was 7.8 miles, which beat my 60 minute cardio target of 7.5 miles.  Tomorrow will be a combination of cardio and lifting.  Tomorrow is also my weekly weigh in day, and will be the 10^th day in a row I have worked out.  Wednesday will be a day off for me.

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Today was a combination of cardio and lifting.  I started out with 15 minutes on a treadmill to warm up.  I walked .81 miles at a 3.24 mile an hour pace and burned 160.6 calories, or 10.71 per minute.  I followed up with lifting, doing two leg routines on the Strive circuit and all ten of the leg, arm, shoulder, and abdominal routines of the Paramount circuit.  I lifted 37,700 pounds this morning, and may have overdone it with my shoulders.  Thank goodness for ibuprofen.

The lifting took 40 minutes and I finished with 5 minutes on a stationary bike for a 60 minute work out.  Tomorrow is all cardio.

Tomorrow is also going to the Nebraska vs. Missouri football game with my son Matt. Normally where we park leads to a gate that requires climbing 65 steps to get to our seats-meaning it is also 65 steps back to street level.  Matt has a parking permit now that will allow us to enter on the east half of the north stadium, meaning we will only need to climb about 20 steps.  Even though I have been working out an hour a day, my knees are still a source of discomfort, so I am glad I won’t be climbing as many steps tomorrow.

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There are several motivational slogans painted on Wellness Center walls.  One that I look at everyday is “Determination today leads to success tomorrow.”  Determination has been getting me out of bed at 5:00 a.m.  Determination has been keeping me on a treadmill for 35 minutes, even when my tired old knees don’t want to.  Determination keeps me peddling a stationary bike for 15 minutes, when my mind is telling me 10 minutes will do.  Determination yesterday led me to do an extra 5 repetitions on each piece of equipment in the Paramount Circuit.  Determination is going to lead to my ultimate success.

Today was an all cardio day.  I started with 35 minutes on a treadmill, walking 1.83 miles at 3.14 miles per hour pace, and burning 350.6 calories.  I followed with 10 minutes on the arm pedal bike, covering 1.91 miles, a pace of 11.46 miles per hour.  I ended with 15 minutes on a stationary bike, riding 3.7 miles, averaging 14.8 miles per hour.  Overall I covered 7.44 miles. I have had better days, I have had worse work outs, the important thing was doing the work out, and coming home with a sweat soaked t-shirt under my Nebraska sweat shirt.

Tomorrow will be a combination day, roughly 25 minutes of cardio and 35 minutes of lifting.  Thanks for stopping by.

This morning was a mix of cardio and lifting for me.  I started my work out with 15 minutes on a tread mill to warm up.  I followed with lifting, doing all the routines on the Paramount circuit, and 2 leg routines from the Strive circuit.  I finished with 6 minutes on a stationary bike and 5 minutes on the arm pedal bike, for a total of 26 minutes cardio and 40 minutes lifting. I covered about 3 miles on the cardio equipment, and lifted 35,800 pounds.  I didn’t add weight to any of the routines; I just added the two Strive routines, plus an additional five repetitions on each of the Paramount routines.

Tomorrow will be an all cardio day.  Thanks for stopping by.

This was not a particularly up day for my physical activity bio-rhythms.  In fact my entire work out was a grind.  It would have been easy to succumb to the real desire to cut my work out short. I did not.  I remained determined and finished an hour of cardio as I had planned.  Was it my best work out ever?  No.  Was it a good work out?  Yes.  Victory #2.

Today’s work out was entirely cardio.  I started with 35 minutes on a treadmill, walking 1.79 miles and burning 334 calories.  I followed up with 10 minutes on the arm pedal bike, covering 1.81 miles.  I finished with 15 minutes on a stationary bike, covering 3.7 miles.  That totals to 7.30 miles for the hour, and today I will take it.

Victory #3 came on my weekly weigh-in this morning.  I had lost 3.2 pounds from a week ago.  A series of smaller wins contributed to this victory-no candy or pop at work, drinking more water, less fast food for lunch, and of course, the hard work-outs.

The plan for tomorrow is to divide my work-out between cardio and lifting and to work out early in the morning, trying to reinforce this as a habit.  Thank you for stopping by.

I did all 10 routines on the Paramount circuit, lifting 25,300 pounds in 29 minutes.  My plan for tomorrow is another 5:30 a.m. work out, but all cardio.  I will alternate full cardio days with days that include cardio and lifting.  I have set up a schedule that will have me working out approximately 10 days in a row, and then taking a day off, though I will work around holidays and when the Fremont Y Wellness Center is closed.

Is my goal still to play in an over 60 baseball game?  Yes.  To do so I need to take responsibility for making changes in all the habits that have led me to be the obese person I am, one suffering from Diabetes 2, sleep apnea, and who needs pills to control his blood pressure.  Being over weight costs me at least $4,000 a year in prescription drugs, and it is doing a number on my knees too. 

I don’t feel like I have bailed on the thinking I started with in Stepping up To the Plate.  Maybe I was derailed, but I am back on track.  I don’t care if only a handful of people a day read this blog, I am going to publish it everyday for me, to reinforce positives, and to hold me accountable to what I plan to accomplish.

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I spent 35 minutes on a treadmill, 10 minutes on the arm bike, and 15 minutes on a stationary bike.  I covered 1.93 miles on the treadmill and burned 384.8 calories, or just under 11 calories per minute.  Between the three pieces of equipment I covered 7.7 miles.

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Hopefully I won’t have any hassle from Southwest Airlines tomorrow about my size. Just kidding, though fingers crossed.

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