Thursday, March 19, 2009

Update

Ann's been hounding me to post on our blog for a while; she's been keeping this blog alive. Figure today's as good a day as any to make a contribution to this site. And the only thing I'm really doing now is trying to get in shape, so thought I'd update everyone on how that's going.

Since Christmas Day, I've been using WiiFit every day -- haven't missed even one day since then. (This is much easier to do when you don't make out of town trips.) My WiiFit usage waned -- I started off doing the full Body Test (calculating BMI, weight, and WiiFit Age) and some exercises as well. Now, I just do the BMI & weight and call it a day. The WiiFit Age just didn't show a real correlation to how I felt I was performing and seemed to be largely based on luck.

Instead of doing WiiFit exercises, I've been using the Push-Up Pro, the Iron Gym, and running. I've been pleased with both my As Seen on TV purchases -- both work exactly as described. The Push-Up Pro really embarassed me; it makes pushups noticeably more difficult. And I'm just thankful that the Iron Gym hasn't damaged the door or paint in our apartment. In the past couple months, neither has been relegated to the stack of unused fitness equipment which currently consists of my exercise ball, a tennis racket, and a softball glove.

My big personal fitness accomplishment is that I've started running again. After going out way too hard on my first run (and getting the predictable shin splints in both legs requiring 2 weeks off), I've been more gradually building up my distances. Already met my first goal -- running 5k nonstop -- and now on to running a 5k in less than 30 minutes. (I've got about 4 weeks to shave 3 minutes off.)

Coupled with my new diet (no pop, limited fast food, lots of water, fruit, veggies, and enough carbs to keep me happy), I've been losing weight at a fairly decent pace, 10% of my starting weight. It's not Biggest Loser-worthy, but I'm proud of it.

And that's what I've been doing for the past three months. Not the only thing, but sometimes it feels like it.

P.S. On a completely different subject, I just discovered "Hell is for Heroes," a Steve McQueen war movie. Honestly one of the best ones I've ever seen and I'd never even heard of it before seeing it on Turner Classic Movies recently. I don't think many of our readers are fans of the genre, but if you are you must check it out.