Nearly three miles walked before 10 am

During the last few days I haven't taken walks in the two mile and up range. So I decided to get this week off to a more powerful start. Even though I've got to watch my time more closely today, I was still able to get in a two mile walk and my total is close to three miles already and it's only 9:45 in the morning. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. Gotta go.

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

Money Reward For Walking

Money as a reward gets the attention of a lot of people. I'm not offering you money for walking, but maybe I can help you see the reward part differently. I realize that for those of you who have been fairly inactive, walking or exercising more is more physical work than you've done in a while.

Unfortunately, one BIG reason to get your walking in is to avoid health problems. Or at least to lessen the possibility or intensity of those problems. I mentioned my brother had pancreatitis when I started this blog in January. Since then I found out that a friend of my son's dad had a heart attack and I think he's around 51 like my brother. He will recover, but it's still a big deal. Today I visited a friend from church in the hospital (who is also 51, coincidentally) and he was initially admitted for pancreatitis and then had a problem with a burst blood vessel. I can't promise that if you walk that these health problems won't happen to you, but I know being in better shape lessens the probability that you'll have certain problems. Plus, being in better shape can lessen the severity of what you're going through. I still remember how well my sister-in-law came through her pregnancy some years back when she was working out at the gym regularly. Being in such good shape helped with a smooth delivery and got her back on her feet much quicker.

How much does it cost to get sick? You can lose work days as my brother did. Most of us have to pay something when we go to the doctor or the hospital, even if we are insured. Those are real costs when they happen to you. (Come to think of it, they're real costs even when it's not you paying for them.) NOT having to pay those potential costs is itself a financial reward. Not missing work and pay is a reward. Maybe you prefer to think of those scenarios as punishments. If that's the case, you're increasing your chances of NOT being punished by walking. I realize that this point of view isn't sexy or exciting or wow, but it's a real and legitimate way to view one of the rewards of walking or otherwise exercising and getting/staying in shape. Maybe I'll be more exciting next time. I know I'll be walking.

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

Crunched My Back

No cause for alarm, but, apparently 15 crunches two days in a row is too much for me right now. I walked over 200 miles in a little over a month and no problem. After 30 crunches in two days I walked a little funny. So I'll lay off crunches and I'll keep walking. I still believe it's better to not push quite as hard and keep yourself healthy so that there is no recovery time. I simply didn't pay as close attention as I should have. Maybe there's a lesson here?

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

Change Your Idea And Change You

Last week I was talking with my friend and mentor, Fran Cannon of Cannon Business Institute (formerly Cannon Training & Development), about my resolution to walk and lose weight this year. He encouraged me in my journey and we talked about how he started running in the late 60s. He had run track in high school, but running five miles or more at a time was not part of his universe of ideas. I'm pretty sure he said that he went to work for General Atomic and saw a guy who ran five miles at lunch. After Fran saw him do it, he realized that it was possible. He went on to run with some people from work at lunch time even up to eight miles or so in Torrey Pines and the surrounding areas. He saw some great scenery while running and picked up the "bug". He's in his 60s and still runs on a regular basis.

A few months ago I wouldn't have guessed that I would be walking as much as I am every week or that I would pass through the 200 mile mark in early February, but I did. I changed my idea, my conception of what's doable or possible. I decided that if I'm going to have a chance to live to be 80, let alone 100 or more, I better get started taking better care of myself. I made my New Year's resolution and my idea universe expanded.

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

200 Miles Since January 1

This afternoon in Escondido, California I passed through the 200 mile mark for 2008!


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

Christine Burke On The Radio

After some walking at Palomar College when I picked up my son, I found that Christine Burke had asked through email if I could be a backup speaker tomorrow at Toastmasters. Of course I said yes and then we emailed further about getting together at her Fitness Together in La Costa to measure my fitness progress. Here's our brief exchange:

> Is Tuesday 7:30 am ok?


I am on the Radio next Tuesday! KCEO AM 1000 9AM.



She's not available next Tuesday morning because she's on the radio! Listen Tuesday morning at 9 Pacific Time. Then come by and see Christine's Fitness Together.

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Click on the title of this post to see Christine Burke.

Don't Quit

In politics, I guess sometimes you have to know when to quit. I am surprised that Romney did.

As for walking and exercise in general, never quit. Keep it up everyday. Know your physical limits or your limit on a single day or outing, but don't quit regular exercise.

I KEEP walking. You KEEP walking. Please walk today. No matter what.

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I noticed that the second line of the article has a "did" where an "if" should be. I guess I can relax a little about my blog's grammar and such. Click on the title of this post...

Dog Walk Just Over A Mile

Thursday morning. I've already had my 6:30 meeting and talked with my son about the academic programs being offered to him and I've walked the dog around the neighborhood almost a mile and a quarter. Yesterday my longest walk was just a little more than that and I had to guesstimate because my new Sportline pedometer has a cover over the battery compartment that can open accidentally just by handling it. When that happens, it goes blank until you put the cover back on. I prefer to have a pedometer that is absolutely a no-brainer. My original Sportline was like that except that the belt clip broke and that took me on the search for one with a better belt clip. I give this new one a B as long as nothing else funky happens. So I will keep my eye out for an A pedometer with a clip that doesn't break or wear out too easily. Maybe I'll design one.

I guess my thinking goes something like this:

I want as many of you to either

1) walk if you're NOT walking, even if it means 30 extra steps an hour

2) walk at least an extra 30 steps an hour if you ARE currently walking/exercising - hopefully more like an extra mile or two or three a day, but SOMETHING is better than nothing

3) move on to running or a more "calorie intense" exercise for a portion (even a majority) of your exercise IF that's what you want to do and you are ready for it

4) get/stay ENCOURAGED in meeting your goals (exercise or otherwise) whether you're exercising at the optimum level for your size, type, age, etc... or whether you're just reading this blog periodically and haven't dived in yet.

So, I want to reduce the potential blocks. I want to cut down on your potential excuses. I value the ability to see where you've been and where you're going. I see that keeping track of your progress is best done through measurement. The easier it is to measure your progress, the more likely you'll measure your progress. So, the search for the completely no-brainer pedometer or step counter goes on.

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

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Click on the title of this post to learn, help the hungry and maybe entertain yourself. The table below shows the millions of grains of rice donated each day so far this month. (The up arrow in row three is just there because I didn't do this in WORD or something like it.)

February 1, 2008 171,527,040
February 2, 2008 100,095,120
February 3, 2008 ^91,009,660
February 4, 2008 139,444,840
February 5, 2008 152,321,000
February 6, 2008 163,823,880

New Year's Resolution In February

We are over ten hours into this 6th day of February, 2008. We can start a New Year's Resolution right now if we choose. Or you can simply call it a resolution or a goal. Maybe you had a New Year's Resolution that you petered out on. Maybe you didn't make any resolutions as I did not do for several years. Whatever your situation, you can start over right now. For me, I'm going to add crunches to my daily walking and I'll add them to my count/history at Lime.com, so you can check my progress. Remember, you can do the same. You can even register using another name. I'm DrNetwork at Lime.com. I've told you mine so it's not anonymous, but you get the idea. You can share your online walking/exercise history or not. If you like, I can add your link to Big Man Walking so other people can be encouraged.

The thing is, you will find it helpful to track your progress whether you do keep track online or not. I definitely find it motivating to look back and see what I've done so far. During the next couple of days I will go through the 200 mile mark since the beginning of 2008! That's a motivating factor for me. So is the weight loss. I haven't lost weight every week, but I have most weeks. I see the numbers and I feel the difference. I feel better. I can see results in black and white and if they don't match up with what's happening physically, I can take action to change that. The very first week I noticed that in spite of my walking, I gained weight. There could be more than one reason, but I believe I got it right when I noticed that maybe I got hungrier and ate more than normal during that first week. During the next few weeks I paid closer attention to how much I was eating and it paid off. I even decided not to worry about it on Super Bowl Sunday and I saw the results on Tuesday on the scale. The lesson is that I had the information and was able to make informed choices that actually made a difference because of that information. If I had not kept track of my progress, I would have been less clear or specific in what steps to take to achieve the desired result.

So, set a resolution or a goal and keep track. It might be big or small, but be specific. Me? I will do 15 crunches every day. You might believe that is too easy or too hard. It's what I choose today. I believe it's within the range of exercise I can do that will NOT result in injury or a condition that could either cause or encourage me to do less. I want to keep on going everyday which means I want to lessen the possibility that I will have a recovery time which would mean less exercise overall. In addition, I personally find injuries a little demotivating. So set a goal or goals and if somehow you're reading Big Man Walking and you're not walking or running or exercising, make that part of your goals.

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

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I'm including links and quotes by or related to or about three people who I believe set goals or resolutions at some point in their life. Those goals have had a big impact in their own life and in the lives of other people. Take a peek and remember that clicking on the title of this post will take you to FreeRice.com.

Ziglar.com

If you wait until all the lights are "green" before you leave home, you'll never get started on your trip to the top.

Zig Ziglar


LesPaulOnline.com


" ...we must all own
up that without Les
Paul, generations
of flash little punks
like us would be in
jail or cleaning toilets."

- Keith Richards

(Les Paul)


Joniandfriends.org

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears is not made perfect in love." — 1 John 4:18

(Joni Eareckson Tada)

Time To Vote

We're driving to the polls. My honey wants me to wait until she's done with dinner. She's not ready to walk in order to cast her vote. Maybe in four years. Remember to vote!

Super Bowl Party Price

My extra really good friend who I mentioned in my last post has a wife who can really cook. She made really yummy stuff for the Super Bowl Party at their house and I ate a lot of it. She made some pretty healthy fare like turkey meatball soup as well as chocolate cake. I ate a lot of both. I went into the situation with my eyes wide open. I knew there would be consequences on the scale at Tuesday morning weigh-in.

Good news. I still lost weight. I think my buddy was a little concerned about whether I would burst or something, but I never reached the "ouch" phase of overeating that some of you might be familiar with. (Probably best to stay away from all-you-can-eat buffets...) I admit that there have been occasional times in my life when I have eaten to the point that my stomach hurts from the volume of food that I put away. Those of you who have never done this might be recoiling in horror or something close to it right now. On this Super Bowl Sunday I did not do that and I haven't done that for quite a while. Why am I telling you this? For those of you who have done what I just described, I want you to know that someone else who has done that, someone like you, can walk to lose weight and to get on a more healthy path. It can be done and you can do it.

This morning I weighed 120.8 kilos. That means I lost .4 kilos this week, which is .88 pounds. So the price of the Super Bowl Party was about three quarters of a pound when I compare the last couple weeks with this one. I can live with that. Can you?

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

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Visit FreeRice.com and help the hungry by clicking on the title of this post. Click here to view Big Man Walking January posts. Scroll down to January 29th to see my previous weigh-in.

Return Here For Encouragement

Return here for encouragement in reaching your goals.

I'm adding that to the Big Man Walking description at the top of this page. Part of who I am is an encourager. I want you to be encouraged today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year by returning to this site. I know the vast majority of you can walk, but even if that's not part of your goals, you can check on my progress and know that I'm still "doing it" and I'll keep on doing it and I'll keep on keepin' on. Know that "it" can be done, whatever "it" is for you.

Now, whether or not you have walking as one of your goals, you can still use it to encourage yourself and remind you of your goals. Let's say you ride an exercise bike instead of walking. One of my oldest (longtime, bestest, etc...) friends rides an exercise bike while he watches TV. I guess it's sort of a reward system as well as an efficient use of time system. I know other people run instead of walk and I used to know a guy who swam nearly every day for about 30 years. So, no matter what exercises you're doing or what goals you're striving to reach, you can still use a tiny bit of walking to remind yourself and encourage yourself.

Walk 3 steps. Walk every hour. 3 steps. That's ridiculously easy. If that's too easy, then walk 30 steps. Just do it every hour. I KNOW you can do 3 steps without inconveniencing yourself. That's basically getting out of your chair and sitting back down. On purpose. With mindfulness or intention. Why? To remind yourself every waking hour that you are working on goals. When you do 30 or so, that has the added bonus of losing two to three pounds a year. Not much? Well, that's not much walking when you do it every hour. I'm getting up to do 30 steps right now. OK. I just got out of my recliner and walked down the stairs to the front door and back with my dog watching expectantly. How long did it take? Maybe 24 seconds. Maybe. So 3 steps would be ridiculously quick. And you could remind yourself of your goals whenever you hear a song like Three Steps To Heaven by Eddie Cochran (or Gimme Three Steps by Lynyrd Skynyrd or a post rock track like Submerged Universe by Three Steps To The Ocean) or if you see a presentation with three steps. These can be reminders for you IF you LET them be. 3 steps or 30 steps - your choice. You may have heard it said that the longest journey starts with but a single step and I say that this is also true:

The longest journey begins with three steps!

I am stepping. You can step. Please step today. No matter what.

(Or something like that.)

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Visit FreeRice.com and do some good by clicking on the title of this post.