Over Two Miles Before 6 AM

Last night I did my Wednesday night tutoring at Reality Changers and I was inspired by the efforts of some of the kids I know. One guy picked up "The Dialogues of Plato" for pleasure reading! Another student has decided to take a trip with People to People's Student Ambassadors and it's exciting to see them expand their horizons. I guess my inspiration carried over to my sleep time and my brain woke up a little after 4:30 thinking about the same stuff. If you are in San Diego or the North Coast portion of San Diego County and you would like that to tutor/mentor senior high students, give me a shout.

After laying in bed for 15 minutes or so I decided to take Mellow for a walk and he was one enthusiastic retriever. We live in a pretty safe neighborhood but it's nice to have a dog with you walking that early. We walked just over two miles while I counted in my head to double check the landmarks every quarter mile. I know from walking the track at Palomar College that just under 500 of my steps is approximately a quarter mile. I got back before 5:45 and surprised my wife with mushrooms and scrambled eggs with Trader Joe's green salsa.

Last time I mentioned "that's another post" and late in the day my wife and I walked two miles at Solana Beach again. This was the same day that I had done the four miles plus earlier in the day and I was a little tired near the end. I didn't quite lift my foot high enough as we were exiting the beach and I ran into the hardest lump of seaweed I ever remember encountering. Almost broke my fourth toe on my left foot and it's a nice rainbow of purple now. That incident on what should have been the easiest walk of the day has me sort of resting my foot. I walked over a mile yesterday and it's not quite as bad today, but it's much more painful when I walk barefooted as I was on the beach. Wear shoes or watch out!

Secret Message Under This Message

I got back from Dr. Tarighati's office a few hours ago. The second phase of my root canal went so well that I don't feel any pain right now. This guy's good - great, even. He even noticed how much weight I lost. What a guy. And my neighbor, Kim, said that I inspired her to exercise more. Guess I'll really and truly have to get back on the horse and stop with these sub-five mile days. I got a good start today. More tomorrow.

Walk For More Than CardioVascular Health

Yesterday I got a call from a good friend I've known since high school. He was enthusiastic about the walking I've done in 2008. He also wondered where I could fit it in.

If you don't worry about the cardiovascular benefits and simply concentrate on walking whenever you can, you can get a lot of steps in. Literally right before I sat down here I took the 419th step of a very short walk with the dog which took about four minutes. In fact, I started this post and left to pick up my son. Now I'm back and finishing the post and using a few minutes wisely.

How many times do we decide that "I've only got a few minutes" and so we decide to "kill" those few minutes. If you take short walks of 4-8 minutes 10 times a day, that could be between 4000 and 8000 steps or more per day. You still burn calories even without much cardiovascular benefit. You still gradually build bone when you walk. Even if you only did the really short 400 step walk five times a day above whatever you're currently doing, that would be 2000 steps and that's about 10 pounds a year. Just remember to NOT eat more than you're currently eating. And remember the pedometer.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

45 And Lowest Weight In Years

Today is my 45th birthday. My weight has not been this low for a couple years and if the trend continues, tomorrow or the next day I will be at a weight I haven't seen for a dozen years! Rest assured I am still walking. I will get up after this post and see if I can get my 8 am to 4 pm mini-day to 10,000 steps. If you view the right column on this page and click on "Walk Out!" under Walking Links, you'll see that I post my minutes/miles 3 times a day.

Yesterday I was swamped preparing for a 40 minute presentation last night to a group of college bound high schoolers at Reality Changers. I was so adrenalized after I got home that I couldn't get to sleep until around 3! So, I'm a little tired right now. I'm going to walk and get back to you after my birthday and the Toastmasters speech contest tomorrow.

Please keep in mind that you walk a little EVERY day and some days you get inspired to do more and some of those inspired days you do A LOT more. That's the way it's working for me. I believe it's because I'm simply not stopping. If you don't see a post, which happens about 10% of the time, you can know I'm still walking. Remember to check my "Walk Out!" for my current numbers.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

Celebrating In Line At Panera

While waiting for bagels at Panera I started talking with the tall, slender lady with the big "rock" on her left hand and I got around to mentioning how far I've walked since the turn of the new year. Are you ready? I have now walked 250 miles!

She asked me how I knew and I told her that I used a pedometer to keep track and that I record my progress online at my Big Man Walking blog. I want to take a moment to remind you how important it is to keep track if you want to stay motivated. Because I can visit this blog and my "mileage" on my Lime.com Walkout page, I can check back if I ever have doubts like "Did I really do it?" or "Did I really walk that much?" Because I'm using a pedometer I know I am about as close to completely accurate as I can get. I find the milestones like 250 miles are very motivating. Some might say that it's only a number, but I know I'm a quarter of the way to ONE THOUSAND MILES! If I simply keep up the current pace (and I expect to pick up the pace), I will cross the THOUSAND mile mark sometime in late June. Unless you're quite an athlete, these numbers are at least a little bit exciting.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

(Use a pedometer. Record your results.)


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Starting today I'll include motivational, inspirational and encouraging quotes in this space...

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote from ThinkExist.com


Feed the hungry by increasing your vocabulary at FreeRice.com

Brain Fitness

Amazing what you can find through Google. I was checking on fitness sites and found one on Brain Fitness called SharpBrains.com. Experts are finding that walking helps your brain. Below are the first bits of a couple articles and the links to those articles. Walking is good for your brain. I guess there's hope for me yet!

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Guess what?! There is this amazing therapy that is free for everyone. All you need is two feet (and many very accomplished practitioners don't even have that!). ... It's called exercise!
Two Feet Of Free Therapy

In people age 65 and older, simply walking regularly or engaging in other moderate exercise can reduce dementia risk, a new Italian study finds.
Regular Walking Protects The Aging Brain

Another mile before you know it

Here I am a couple hours later after running a couple errands and walking across the Palomar College campus and I've added another mile to my total. I took some extra steps to get into the shaded area because it has started to warm up. I'm reminded how nice it is to live in Southern Cal and I'm just shy of four miles today.

I Walked The Whole Thing!

Several years ago we noticed that a grade school friend of my son's lived waaayy down Unicornio street. I held on to that concept of their house being far away and never really measured it. If the distance to their house was a long way, then the distance all the way to the end of Unicornio MUST be a really long walk and the round trip, by extension, must be in the neighborhood of 4-6 miles, or so I thought. Their house is near the bottom of the hill and the walk is pleasant enough, but the walk back is not as fun uphill. When you add the steep uphill grade past their house, you've got a real walk.

When I started out a few weeks ago I drove to the area near their house and walked to the end of the street and back to the area near my car, proud of myself for overshooting and having to circle back to the Buick. I mentally declared my intention that day to walk from our house to the end of Unicornio and back "a couple months from now". I figured that I could come back every Sunday or so and park a little closer to our house and gradually make the walk longer. I thought I would do the whole walk sometime between late February and early April. Since then I have walked up to 4 miles or so in a single "walk" and my perception of what's possible has changed.

First, I realized that the walk down Unicornio might not be as long as I thought because of several walks I took in the area. I wasn't exactly sure how long it was, but I was confident I could do it. Second, I have done some of my walking up and down hills instead of just walking in relatively flat areas. After walking Mellow about half a mile for his daily constitutional, I decided to drop my jacket off at home along with the dog and went right back out alone in the cool air and bright sunshine. The first part was the easiest as I went from flat to downhill and then it changed pretty quickly to the steep uphill grade and that was taxing. I tend to walk at a pretty steady pace, so the uphill walk really made me work and I remember thinking "I'm not even halfway there yet!" My son was at church and my honey was in Florida. I had no cell phone. My car was at home. I knew as I kept walking that I was creating more work for my body as long as I had not yet reached the end of the street. I want to be clear that I was confident I could do this because of my experience walking over the past weeks. I know some people urge you to really go for it and that does work in many contexts, but knowing what you have been achieving recently or previously is a big help in deciding how big a bite you can chew.

My first priority is minimizing the possibility for injuring my body. That doesn't mean I can take all the risk out of the exercise. I am large and living that way is a risk in itself. The reason I want to minimize the possibility of injury is simple:
I want to keep walking and walking and walking. I don't want to put my body out of commission for a couple days or even a week or more. I'm not saying that my way is the only way. I value the ability to keep going and going and going day after day.

So now you know that this walk was a realistic goal on this day and not completely beyond what I had done previously. My biggest victory besides being able to honestly say that I had done it was the mental challenges I overcame. After I made it past the halfway point I knew that every step was literally bringing me closer to home, closer to my goal. Once I was past the steepest portion, the way home was uphill but at a more gradual pace. Along the way I had peeked at my pedometer and realized that the whole trek was not as long as my most conservative estimate. Upon reaching home I saw the this trip down Unicornio and the little streets to get there was only 2.6 miles! This had been a LONG street in my mind for years. Even starting out weeks ago when I realized my intention was to conquer it, I had no idea that I would do it before the end of January! I slayed the dragon. You can slay your dragons, too. Now I need to find bigger dragons to slay.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

Four Mile Walk!

I had walked about a mile through the normal routine of life earlier today and decided to go for a good walk with the dog. I went down Cacatua St. I like the neighborhood and was daydreaming about moving a few blocks to this semi-hidden group of homes. I had a jacket and walked about a mile and started to get hot, so I headed for home and as I did so, I took off my jacket and carried it.

The thought occurred to me that I could simply open the door and put my jacket on the stairs and continue on my way instead of calling it quits. By the time I reached home I had walked about a mile and a half and as I left the doorstep without a jacket in the cool January air for round two, my stamina kicked in. I walked out to the main drag in our neighborhood and then down to the school my son attended through 2nd grade and all the way back around to the main drag again, further west than I had been 20 minutes earlier and then back home for an additional 2 1/2 miles. I walked four miles during a single walk [!] and now have walked over 5 miles on the day with probably a mile or two more between now and 9:30.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

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Almost forgot...use a pedometer!

Click on the title of this post for Dr. Positano's advice - Don't Self-Diagnose Colds And Flus.

Gee, You're A Positive Lady

Sometimes people can't believe motivational or inspirational speakers because they seem to be positive 100% of the time and that seems unrealistic to most people. Nothing wrong with being positive. It sure beats the opposite. (Though I know a guy who would argue against that.) I am basically a positive person, but I can see how some people could get annoyed with that at times. Plus, you might want to ask a person's family how they are at home...But, I'm not going to go there right now!

Thinking about this idea I thought of the Bill Murray movie quote in the title of this post. I love that movie. Bill Murray is a weatherman and Andie McDowell plays his producer, who tries to be a glass half-full remedy to the shallow, egotistical, negative weatherman. When she hears about his same day over and over again plight, she tells him that maybe this isn't a curse, but an opportunity and that's when he says with false - thanks for the support - enthusiasm, "Gee, you're a positive lady."

Right now it's 6:30 and it's cold and I'm not going outside to walk. I will later, but right now, on this day, I'm going to get a little more rest in my nice warm bed by myself while my honey's in Florida. Please keep in mind that I will walk later this morning, so if it's too cold where you are when you read this, you have permission to wait a couple hours until it gets warmer.

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Here are more quotes from Groundhog Day, one of my favorite movies. Click on the title of this post to see more.

First D.J.: Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
Second D.J.: It's coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?
First D.J.: Not hardly. And you know, you can expect hazardous travel later today with that, you know, that, uh, that blizzard thing.
Second D.J.: [mockingly] That blizzard - thing. That blizzard - thing. Oh, well, here's the report! The National Weather Service is calling for a "big blizzard thing!"
First D.J.: Yessss, they are. But you know, there's another reason why today is especially exciting.
Second D.J.: Especially cold!
First D.J.: Especially cold, okay, but the big question on everybody's lips...
Second D.J.: - On their chapped lips...
First D.J.: - On their chapped lips, right: Do ya think Phil is gonna come out and see his shadow?
Second D.J.: Punxsutawney Phil!
First D.J.: Thats right, woodchuck-chuckers - it's
[in unison]
First D.J.: GROUNDHOG DAY!
Second D.J.: GROUNDHOG DAY!


Rita: I like to see a man of advancing years throwing caution to the wind. It's inspiring in a way.
Phil: My years are not advancing as fast as you might think.

Ned: Phil? Phil Connors? Phil Connors, I thought that was you!
Phil: Hi, thanks for watching.

Phil: You wanna throw up here, or you wanna throw up in the car?
Ralph: I think... both.

Phil: Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.

Elderly Lady whose flat tire Phil fixed: He's the fastest jack in Jefferson County!

Mrs. Lancaster: Did you sleep well, Mr. Connors?
Phil: I slept alone, Mrs. Lancaster.

Phil Connors: Excuse me, where is everyone going?
Fan on Street: To Gobbler's Knob. It's Groundhog Day.
Phil Connors: It's still just once a year, right?

[Driving down the railroad tracks toward an approaching train]
Phil: I'm betting he's going to swerve first.

Phil: You want a prediction about the weather, you're asking the wrong Phil. I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.


Phil: I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster and drank pina coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. *That* was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over...

Phil: It's the same things your whole life. "Clean up your room.", "Stand up straight.", "Pick up your feet.", "Take it like a man.", "Be nice to your sister.", "Don't mix beer and wine, ever.". Oh yeah, "Don't drive on the railroad track."
Gus: Eh, Phil. That's one I happen to agree with.

Rita: [as Phil kisses Rita over and over discovering that he has finally passed Groundhog Day] Phil, why weren't you like this last night? You just fell asleep.
Phil: It was the end of a VERY long day.

Six miles before dinner

After talking with Christine Burke from Fitness Together early today I got inspired and walked with my dog, Mellow, almost 2 1/2 miles this morning. With that and incidental walking and another 2 mile walk a little while ago, I am at six miles before dinner and there's probably more to come!

I got new shoes at Movin Shoes in Encinitas and my feet definitely feel better. I haven't talked about it before now, but my feet do get a little sore with all this walking. I asked Matt at Movin Shoes if that was due to my body size or my shoes and he said that my shoes can make a big difference. They do. This is more walking than I've done for a while [ever?] and I expect some soreness. My new pair of Brooks have lessened the intensity of that soreness. I was impressed with the knowledge of guys at this shoe store. Matt watched me walk and noticed that I was overpronating and then suggested appropriate shoes. I don't recall ever dealing with people who understand shoes, feet, running, and walking like these guys do. In fact, I don't remember any shoe store employees ever mentioning anything like overpronating. I recommend them highly. The guy from Yelp.com was right about their excellent service.

Another new thing I'm doing to feel better is stretching after walking, which Christine mentioned to me today. She taught me to do what I call a bendover and hang down and then the stretch that makes you look like you're pushing/holding up the wall. She said this helps alleviate tightness and I remembered that a chiropractor once told me I was one of tightest people she had ever met. (I assumed she wasn't making a comment about my wallet.)

I told you my weight at Fitness Together was 276 this morning. What I got at home before I left was 122.6 kilos which is around 270 pounds. I have lost .3 kilos in two weeks, but I DO think I gained weight the first week because I didn't pay attention to my increased appetite and as a result, I gained weight the first week. I'll keep reporting both as I assume the discrepancy will remain constant, so it will be no big deal in the end. Also, I definitely had more clothing on at Christine Burke's establishment.

Lastly, other measurements were chest - 48.5, waist - 50, bicep - 16, thigh - 23 (6 inches up from kneecap). My resting heart rate was 79 and blood pressure was 136/88. Incorporating my lose 50 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle goals, my goal weight by December 31, 2008 is 236 with 18% body fat, which puts me right at the upper end of optimum. I am walking! You can walk! Please walk today!

Christine Burke fitness

I Googled Christine Burke and found that there are a number of Christine Burkes, including one who was in a Twilight Zone episode in 1963. MY Christine Burke can be more easily found by Googling "Christine Burke fitness". So, if for some reason you can't Google right now and you have no pen, pencil, stone tablet, etc..., you can keep thinking "Christine Burke fitness, Christine Burke fitness, Christine Burke fitness" over and over until you get somewhere to write it down or key it in. Of course, that's really aimed at those of you who live within whatever distance you consider reasonable from Carlsbad. (Though I'm sure if you want to fly in or take the train, Christine would be ok with that.) I did see the first two entries for FTNorthCounty.com when I Googled, but I was surprised to find my blog entry from last Friday in third place for that search! The heading looked like this:

Big Man Walking: Christine Burke on goals

Sometimes I really love the coolness of the internet.

This morning I visited MY Christine Burke at Fitness Together in La Costa, which is a community in the city of Carlsbad, California. Fitness Together's motto is emblazoned on the Body Fat Analysis form Christine filled out for me and that motto is:
1 Client 1 Trainer 1 Goal

She weighed me and on her scale I weigh 276 pounds.

My body fat percentage is 33.9 and that's pretty high. 33.9% body fat puts me into the obese category, which starts at just over 25% body fat. Average body fat is from 18-25% and Optimal Fitness is 13-18% body fat. My BMI or Body Mass Index is 35.4 and the obesity category of the BMI starts at 30. Overweight BMI is 25-29.9 and Normal Weight is 18.5-24.9. Whether you're looking at body fat or BMI, I'm in the obese category and that is a wake up call. If you are in similar shape, one reason I'm blogging is to encourage you that you can get to a more desirable size and weight. If you're better off than I am right now, that's great. I encourage all of you who can walk to walk and walk more frequently.

I'll go over more in the next post. Right now I'm going down to Movin Shoes, which is one of the stores recommended by Christine Burke. I Googled and found a review of Movin Shoes. Their website is MovinShoes.com.

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Click on the title of this post and automatically be transported to the Google search "Christine Burke fitness".

Walking at Lindbergh Field

Marianne and I got up this morning a little after five and went to the San Diego International Airport/Lindbergh Field. Yes, the blogger from Big Man Walking drove. But I walked over a mile before seven, mostly at the airport. I helped Marianne with her bags and after she checked in with Continental, we got in line together for the security screening. I watched as Marianne reached the point where I could not continue with her and very soon she was through the portal and waved before she walked out of sight. So she's gone for two weeks to Florida. I passed back through the walkway/overpass and down the escalator and into my Buick, which Stuart and I refer to as the "stodgemobile". I made sure to keep my ticket and I was glad to pay the minimum. We didn't dawdle, so being able to be with Marianne as long as I could in getting her to the plane and then finding it fit right into their fee schedule just seemed fair to me.

Earlier, when Marianne and I arrived, we remembered almost 20 years ago when we returned to San Diego from a couple days in Las Vegas and we turned in our ticket and paid A LOT. After we turned it in the clerk said that it would have been cheaper if we had lost out ticket. We asked if we could just do that - say that we lost our ticket. She said we could have if we hadn't already turned it in! Live and learn as my dad used to say. Of course, he also used to say, "Too soon old and too late smart." Hopefully that second saying doesn't have to be true.

On my way back through Del Mar I decided I had a taste for breakfast and stopped in Cardiff-by-the-Sea at Pipes for a burrito, or so I thought. I was still pretty tired and ordered, but maybe I forgot to add "burrito" to what I ordered. So I got a plate full of really yummy food anyway (English muffins instead of tortillas...) and I drove a few miles to Moonlight beach in Encinitas and enjoyed breakfast watching the waves and listening to the Puzzle Guy on NPR. Now, there's another reason to visit San Diego County. Come for the waves, whether you're watching or listening or riding them, and check out Pipes while you're here. I was born and raised here and I love being near the ocean. I feel better knowing it's close. When Marianne gets back, we'll walk on the beach together right next to the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

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Click on the title of this post to see a photo of Pipes. Click here to see a couple short reviews by visitors. Click San.org to see the San Diego International Airport/Lindbergh Field link.

Keep walking even a little

Here it is Saturday, but there has been so much going on that I haven't quite walked a mile and it's almost noon. My honey is going to Florida tomorrow early and we spent a little time in one of our couple rituals this morning and I have assignments still to do to help her on her way. She just took our son to get his ankle checked after last night's soccer game and I'm about to take his two buddies to the movies because this outing was put in motion before he and his mother decided that he should get the ankle checked today rather than Monday.

But the dog really needed a walk, so I did get a little one in. I look forward to Monday when Christine will start "forcing" me to come in a couple times a week. When I was at Toastmasters yesterday I shared about walking and found out that at least a couple more people are walking in earnest in the new year. When you tell other people about what you're doing you can find those who are willing to support you in your goals. Conversely, if you don't share they don't know. So...walk. And tell somebody.

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Click on the title of this post to visit my Toastmasters Club blog - Expressions-Unlimited.blogspot.com.

Christine Burke on goals

If you've been reading Big Man Walking, you might remember that my two goals are to lose 50 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle by December 31, 2008. My first strategy is walking. An expert promised to help me. At my Toastmasters club today two members covered areas I'm really interested in. One spoke on Nonviolence and I will contact her for a future post. Christine Burke, the other speaker, is owner or part owner of two fitness clubs called Fitness Together. Christine spoke about goals and her example had to do with losing weight. I was definitely paying attention. She has a style of goal setting called S.M.A.R.T. goals and I promise to share more about it after talking with her further. I Googled S.M.A.R.T. goals and what I found sounds very close to what Christine shared earlier today. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Do you have goals? Are they S.M.A.R.T.?

Whether or not you have goals, you can still walk starting right now.

Whether or not you have a pedometer, you can still walk starting right now.

Whether or not you have the perfect gear, you can still walk starting right now.

If you're already walking, congratulations! If you're not walking yet, what are you waiting for?


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Click on the title of this post to see Christine and her Program Director, Mike Deibler, in one of her Fitness Together locations. You can also click here - FTNorthCounty.com to visit the site of the Fitness Together where I will see Christine on a regular basis starting Monday. I copied the following information about Christine Burke, Fitness Together owner, from one of her websites.

Christine hates exercise, and feels if she can keep up her fitness program, so can you. Christine weighed around 170 pounds at her heaviest, and her cholesterol level was at 240. Unlike her co-workers, Christine prefers to sit still while reading books, watching movies, and playing with digital photos. Despite this, she now maintains her weight under 135, her blood pressure is 110/70, and her last cholesterol reading was 160. Her athletic achievements include being the Slowest Kid on the Swim Team and accumulating many bruises while competing for the UCLA Fencing Team. Christine has a BSEE and MBA from UCLA, and she actually does enjoy roller blading and boogie boarding. She motivates herself to work out by hanging out with the best personal trainers in San Diego.

40 miles in ten days

Forty miles is a good start to the year. Here is just a little bit of trivia because I have played a fair amount of poker in my four and a half decades on this earth. Forty miles is short for the phrase "forty miles of railroad track" which means you have four tens. You hear the phrase "thirty miles" much more often because you make three tens much more often than four tens, which is a very nice hand. So when it's time to show your hand, you turn it over and say, "Forty miles," and the vast majority of the time you hear "very nice hand" in return. Once in a while when you have "forty miles of railroad track" you might hear, "Nice hand, but it's not a winner," because someone has a hand so "big" that it beats four tens.

When you have walked 40 miles in your first ten days of a resolution or on track to a goal, you have a "very nice hand". Now I'm in the middle of my forties and I have 40 miles, a very nice hand, and I would like 40 more and then maybe, 40 more again. Do you have a very nice hand? Would you like 40 more miles? Get a pedometer from wherever you like and get started. Whether it costs $20 delivered or $200 is up to you. Or you can go down to Target or your favorite sports oriented store and get one there. Just do it or something like that. Now. Today. Join me. Join us. OK?

The scale and the hospital

This morning I stepped on the scale and it read 123.9. Not pounds - kilos.

One challenge that you might face in being more active is eating more if you're not paying attention. I think that's what I did this week, because last week I weighed 123.2, so i gained .7 kilos. To convert to pounds, multiply by 2.2, so my .7 gain converts to 1.54 pounds. Is it possible that I have built one and a half pounds of extra muscle that I didn't have last week? That's probably not it, though I did walk over 25 miles. So be forewarned, don't eat extra food when you add more exercise.

My health goals/resolutions are to lose 50 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle by December 31, 2008. I still have 51 weeks, but now I need to lose 51.54 pounds. Still, that's just a smidgen over 1 pound a week and totally doable.

I'm grateful I can get out and walk. I urge you to reflect on your ability to walk and get out and walk now. Today I found out that my brother went back to the hospital Saturday for 11 hours and then was sent home. He saw a doctor this week who told him to get back in the hospital and Marianne and I visited him there this afternoon. They are not 100% sure what's going on, though they suspect his pancreas is infected in addition to the pancreatitis. He seems in better spirits, but the pain is still there. I have the sense that if the CIA harnessed pancreatitis, they could use it as an "enhanced interrogation" technique. This is not fun stuff and we all make choices that could help us avoid this outcome. You can do what it takes to get healthier. We can do it together. We must.

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Click on the title of this post to see a device we started using at home to stop paying phone bills. We use OOMA to get phone service that actually sounds like a normal phone through the internet. We paid for the main hub, which looks like an answering machine, and a scout device which allows us to have two lines with one phone number. In my opinion, that's a lot better than just having call waiting. We got our last phone bill for December and now we call in the U.S. for free. What a great deal if you still use a non-mobile phone.

Pushing four miles before dinner

This is day seven of my walking new year. Nearly four miles walked and the sun hasn't gone down yet. Tomorrow I look at the scale and no matter the result, I still have 51 more weeks to go in 2008. How did I get started down this path?

I just decided that I really need to make health more of a priority and walking is something 99% of us can do. So, if I can do it, you can do it, too. I sit a lot and I can feel a huge difference because I'm getting up and walking at least a few times a day. Maybe that's my metabolism getting in gear...

I also know that I'm about 90 lbs. heavier than I was when I met my honey, Marianne, in the 80's. I thought of myself as "husky" from a fairly young age. I don't think you could call me slender after about second grade, but that husky label was a disservice. Even wrestling my freshman year in high school I thought of myself that way, but really, that wasn't close to where I'm at now and many people probably thought I was in fine shape. I kept thinking of myself as heavy until I made it really come true.

Our son, Stuart, will be in college in August or September of 2009 and it will be great to be in much better shape by the time he graduates from high school. We've talked about him being an old man and me being an old, old man in our rocking chairs someday and I would like to be there when that happens.

While I was thinking about New Year's resolutions, my brother was going to the hospital late New Year's Eve with pancreatitis and he was there for days. He's only 51, but he was in incredible pain. I know he can do better, but he'll have to restrict his diet and at least walk on a regular basis. No beer for a long time, if ever, if he wants to make sure that pain doesn't come back. I'm almost 45 and I want to be in a lot better shape when I get to 46, let alone 51.

My honey wants me to be around for a long time, too. And, as someone who enjoys public speaking, this journey will give me more to talk about. Last but not least, I do care about people having better lives, so if I can write about this and some of you find it encouraging enough to make positive changes in your lives, I'm doing more of what I'm supposed to do while I'm here.

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Starting with this post, I'll include a link that I find important or interesting "underneath" the title of the post. Take a peek or ignore it - your choice. Click today to find one of the most important designers in the world. William McDonough is helping us design a more living, livable and lasting world. He's also involved with the Make It Right Foundation, which is helping New Orleans build houses the right way for a healthier planet.

I can walk & You can walk

I feel better already. I decided to get moving in 2008 and from January 1-5 I've done over 12 miles total. I've been wearing a pedometer since last summer. If you've never worn a pedometer, you can get used to it. It's second nature to me now. I remember to put it on my belt 90% of the time or more.

I'm using Lime.com to record my progress on my Lime profile. I recommend recording your progress every day, which I started doing in 2008. If you look at previous entries, you'll see that I devolved into recording my progress for several days at a time. I find daily records help inspire me. You can click on the title of today's post to see my progress. Incidentally, Lime is adding all our miles together to show how much we can accomplish by pooling our efforts. I hope you'll join us today.