Slacking

I have been slacking on my exercise and fitness in 2013. That ends today. I will start adding a daily challenge on here and tell you how I did on the previous day's challenge, too. Again, I'm using Lent as an excuse to start this. It has nothing to do with Ashes, full moons or anything like that. It's just a good reminder from everyone around me to do more. It's kinda like a second New Year.

Challenge #1: Complete a total of at least 10 minutes of planks before the end of the day.

It doesn't have to be 10 minutes at a stretch. It can be 120 planks for 5 seconds each. I hope you'll try it, too. Check back tomorrow to see who completed the most time in the plank position.

Heart Attack--Take II

I wrote about the Heart Attack Grill back in February and how they lived up to their name. Unfortunately, they did it again this week. I don't blame the restaurant for this. They aren't forcing people to eat there. They're not forcing the people who do eat there to already be unhealthy and to eat the entire burger that is about 10,000 calories.

Although I don't blame the owner, I don't like his PR spin on this event at all. "We attract an avant-garde clientele -- thrill seekers, risk takers," he told the Los Angeles Times, adding that his restaurant is a "bad for you but fun" restaurant that "attracts people who don't really take good care of their health." When he went on, he even seemed to counter his initial statements. "She was eating, drinking, smoking, laughing, dancing, having fun," he said of the most recent heart attack victim. "But when you treat your body like that day in and day out, eventually your body is going to give out." He then goes back and forth a bit. "So what is it about someone who sees that sign and sees that this burger has 9,993 calories in it, and that person says 'I want one of those.'" "I tell you, we attract that very bleeding edge, that avant-garde of risk takers."

I guess you can look at mistreating your body for years as 'thrill seeking' and 'risk-taking,' but to me it seems like self-abuse. Unlike with other activities that risk-takers enjoy, mistreating your body WILL eventually harm your health. You can skydive your entire life without any adverse effects. There are people who have raced cars and done other adrenaline inducing behaviors only to die of old age. Risk is the possibility of loss or injury. Since ignoring your health and abusing your body will shorten your life, that's not really risk, that's inevitability.

I know many people who abuse their bodies. They smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much, sit too much or do other unhealthy things to their body too much. I've been one of them; smoking a pack a day, eating bad food and not getting any exercise. Many of these people claim that they're just living life to its fullest and enjoying themselves. I don't believe them. Can that really be considered a full life and enjoyable when their lifestyle makes simple daily activities difficult because of a lack of health? I think the truth behind their life of excess is much sadder and more complex. Everyone has their own issues for slowly but surely shortening their lives, but I don't think it's to enjoy the remainder more.

I am not suggesting that everyone abstain from all vices for the rest of their lives. That, too, would make life less than enjoyable. We should all do some unhealthy things on occasion. Everyone should eat cheese covered food, or whatever empty calorie snack they prefer. These should be treats, though, not the core of our diet. Making them rare and special will only increase the enjoyment they provide. We should all spend some time being lazy and doing nothing on occasion, but not as the majority of our non-work time. As I mentioned yesterday: moderation is key.

Day 1B--starting over

It's been a long, long time since I've updated this blog. Sadly, my exercise regimen died off completely shortly after my last post in August. I started feeling tired and thought I just had been overdoing it, so I took a week off, but I only got worse. I thought I might be low on iron, so I started taking some iron pills to fix that, but still got worse. I eventually went to the doctor and, after many blood tests, was diagnosed with pernicious anemia. I was placed on B-12 supplements, but by that point I was so deficient that it took several weeks to get my energy back to a level where even mental exertion was possible. There was no way I was able to run or bike.
That forced inertia until the temperatures cooled led easily into pure laziness. I don't like the cold and am not a huge fan of running on the treadmill. Basically, I got a ton of knitting done over winter. If you want to see my creations, please check out my etsy shop. That laziness, coupled with no decrease in the amount I was eating, led to weight gain. I'm back at the same weight I was a year ago. I'm starting back on the road to fitness, but won't be doing any measurements for a few months. I hope to keep myself accountable to stay motivated. My first motivating tool is my daily step log. It's publicly available, so people will see if I'm slacking. When I used this chart in 2009, I had over 2.5 million steps in 12 weeks. That was summer and I was biking, so I don't think I'll hit that this time. I just hope to increase my activity level each week so I can lose some of this weight and get back to my 2010 starting point again.