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.

Oregon Scientific Pedometer Disappoints

Earlier today I picked up an Oregon Scientific Pedometer and after taking over half an hour to figure it out, I set out with 12000 set on the counter which then counted backwards, presumably until I reach zero. Well, a friend of mine warned me about his wildly innaccurate $100 talking pedometer and I told him that mine was pretty simple and seemed to be pretty accurate for around 12 bucks. But my Sportline broke today and I thought it would be a chance for me to find one with a more resilient hinge. Really, the counter on the Sportline was still working except that you need it to STAY on your belt for the counter to work. I really didn't like the hinge breaking, which reminded me how cheap this device was and I thought about getting what you pay for. So I bought one that looked sturdier and even had a panic alarm, just in case.

My guess is that Oregon Scientific might have too many people on their design team who miss the forest for the trees or who don't keep their eye on the ball or something like that. I should have seen the handwriting on the wall when it took me so long to get through the instructions. And there is a section titled IMPORTANT FOR ACCURACY which says this:

The following conditions may cause incorrect reading of steps taken:

1) Uneven walking pace, such as walking in crowded areas or on uneven floor.

2) Frequent up and down movements, such as standing up and/or sitting down; running, jumping or ascending/descending stairs or steep slopes.

Give me a break! Human beings are going to use these devices, not robots. I am looking for a SOLUTION to the challenge of counting my steps. I can go around a track and figure out how many of my steps add up to a quarter mile (approximately - I know I'm not adjusting for metric). But what I want is the solution to my challenge or problem. If a guy followed me around with a camera and worked out through math (maybe trig?) how far I'm walking, that would be a solution. If someone used global positioning to figure it out, that would work. I doubt if I could get people to do that for free and wouldn't it be simpler to just attach something to my body to keep track of my steps which I can convert to miles? OK. But there is a catch. The device has to WORK! I don't really care about the bells and whistles. I want something that works, first and foremost. I think the Oregon Scientific people have lost sight of this with this model. That has been my experience so far. I don't know how many they sell. Maybe people don't care about accuracy. Maybe their doctor tells them to go get exercise and they can give a number to their spouse, family, and medical professional and get them off their back. Well, not me. I want to know that this pedometer or step counter is in the ballpark and as good looking as this device is, so far it's not even close. So I'll have an asterisk on today's walking distance when I record it. I don't want them to replace it with another one that works the same way, I want it to work after I spend half an hour learning how to press all the buttons correctly. I simply want it to work the first time and every time until it wears out 5000 miles from now. I'll be generous and give it a D.

Now, don't give up. Hang in there. I'll get a better device and even keep trying a bit to see if I have done something wrong to the PE828, but I don't think I have done anything wrong to cause it to be wildly innaccurate. I want the thingamajig to sit on my belt and work, just like the Sportline did before it broke.

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

(Even if your pedometer breaks and you don't keep track accurately.)

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Click on the title of this post to visit FreeRice.com and help the hungry while you learn something and maybe entertain yourself.

Rainy Super Bowl Sunday

There was so much going on today and at this hour I'm really quite tired and need to get up early tomorrow. We had rain and wind together today and that's unusual for Southern California. We had the sister-in-law visiting and the son coming back from winter camp. It just never stopped after we left the house this morning. We had fun at our Super Bowl party, but we didn't get a lot of walking in. This is the first time in about a month that my total is under an hour's worth of walking. I will simply get back on the horse tomorrow. Go Giants! You read it here first:

The Giants Are Giant-Killers.

I am walking. (More tomorrow!) You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

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Click on the title of this post to see the actual numbers that I'm logging at Lime.com.

Walking With My Honey On The Beach

We parked near Heritage Hall and walked to my newfound stairs down to the beach in Carlsbad and I took off my shoes. Marianne and I walked on the beach together in February(!). I realized this was the first time I've walked on sand in a while and it is incredibly gentle compared to concrete and asphalt. We walked with waves alongside. She said the waves in Florida were bigger when she was there recently for the Avatar seminar. She had a great time and I'm glad she's back.

Soon we walked up the ramp to street level and continued on to Fresco Trattoria. Unfortunately, the restaurant doesn't open until 4:30 on Saturday. So we walked a little further to Las Olas and shared a carnitas burrito plate. There was an antique luxury car parked outside ten feet or so from where we were eating on the patio. I thought it might be a Pierce Arrow, but I can't find a picture that matches the hood ornament I saw today. We enjoyed lunch on the sidewalk (almost) and then walked back past the Episcopal Church to our car. The whole walk was less than two miles. We had a nice time together because it was Saturday and I wanted to share with my honey a place I like to take a walk.

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

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Click on the title of this post to visit Fresco Trattoria and remember FreeRice.com.