Two nights this week have been hampered by great Football games, but terrible outcomes. I wish the Horns and Frogs had pulled it off, but hopefully the Cowboys can give me something to cheer for on Saturday night.
The next thing I wanted to discuss is my decision to finally add exercise to my lifestyle change. The detail is much easier on this and doesn't require near as much history. In college, I worked out somewhere b/w 4 and 7 hours a days 6 days a week. The program was set, if I didn't do it I would lose my scholarship. Pretty easy decision for me, plus I had 50 other guys that would call and ask me where the hell I was.
When I got through with football, I made my mind up that I would never enter a weight room again and nobody would ever tell me I needed to exercise again. What a childish response to the end of a chapter in someone's life. I would occassionally play pick up football games and Australian Rules Football, but I was so big and out of shape that I would pull a muscle or be so tired that it was never that much fun.
When I moved to Austin and had the heart scare, I made up my mind I would exercise again for the rest of my life, and only injuries would prevent me from doing this. I didn't start out like a crazy man, and I sure didn't do this on my own. I paid for a trainer and I literally walked my way back into some sort of shape. Once I gained some stamina, I was able to start jogging and doing other exercises. I will start from the beginning, but tonight I will hold off on the crazy triathlon training and the hours spent playing Australian Rules football last year.
October/November 2007 - This is the time frame that I hired my trainer. I had actually signed up with another trainer, but had never met with her. I met Renee while I was walking in the pool (I was doing this b/c it hurt my knees and ankles to walk for exercise on the sidewalks) and she was working with a client doing laps in the pool. This was perfect, someone who knew pool workouts as well as gym workouts. We started talking and she seemed like the perfect fit for me and my situation. Renee was fairly new to training, but she was a good fit for me. She was eager to learn new workouts and I was willing to do whatever it took. When we first started, I could barely walk a mile much less run a mile, and swimming was extremely challenging for me.
Renee talked me into the Body Bugg from 24hr fitness, and that was one of the key tools in the weight loss. This gave me the ability to track my calories burned during the day and a website to input my calories consumed. I was able to see a big chart at the end of each day that compared the two. If I needed to burn more calories, I would take my dogs for a 2nd walk.
After 6 months of twice a day, 7 day a week workouts and 3 of those days a week with Renee, I decided it was time to go to work on my own. I maintained the 2 daily workouts, but the 2nd was typically a short walk with the family. At this point, I was able to run anywhere from 3 - 7 miles without thinking and I was able to swim for more than 1hr without having to stop. This is what gave me the idea to start training for triathlons, but I will get into the true detail of those workouts later.
My uncle (a man that used to weigh 300lbs and lost over 100 and has mainted for more than 20 years) once told me that he didn't think I had any chance at keeping my weight off just by exercising, and I agree to some extent, but exercise sure makes you feel better and gives you the ability to enjoy some of the foods my uncle has given up. I still try to exercise 5 days a week and would love to say I never miss any days, but that isn't true anymore. I miss days all the time, but I have learned how to balance and maintain on the days that I do miss.
I look forward to giving some more of the small details like parking as far away from stores as possible and learning to snack 5 times a day, but it's late and weekends are long with 2 little ones so I have to sign off for now.
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