I admit it: I have started to do a little exercise.
I wrote about me doing kettle bell swings. I had to stop when I hurt my back a few days after starting (completely unrelated to the swings, btw). This past week, however, my back finally felt good enough to allow me to start something. Anything. So I did.
After reading a Reddit article, I decided to start with doing a bunch of push-ups every day. It’s not a lot, and to most people who are gym rats, it’s laughable. But remember this: I haven’t done any serious exercise since leaving the Marines in 1997. I’m not going to jump in and hit the ground running and injure myself. I’m going to gradually get back into it and take it slowly.
As it stands, I still have daily soreness from just these few push-ups I do every day. I do the few that I do and I feel like I did when I was at my physical peak after I’d run a mile and a half. Yes, I’m horribly out of shape. I know that.
I will start increasing my number of push-ups later this week. I’ll also try to make some time to possibly get back to walking every day, or at least every other day. I’ll also re-start the kettle bell regimen. I want to strengthen and tone what’s under all my excess skin so that as the skin shrinks (which it has been doing so nicely, I might add), there will be something nice to see.
This is the hardest part of the entire journey: sweating for some results. I can’t say I enjoy it, nor do I like it, but I am tolerating it. I’ll be doing my best to keep it up. I just hope I don’t injure myself anytime soon.
It’s begun. Although I try to get as much walking in every day as I can, I’ve added kettlebell swings to my routine on the suggestion of an old high school friend, Sean. He’s quite the fit man, and he’s always been in great shape. I figure listening to advice from someone like him would be a smart thing to do, so here I am.
I started easy: 50 swings on my first day, 70 on the second, and I’m adding 15 more each day. It’s a small start, but I’m starting from scratch, and I’ve gotten comically unfit in the past 18 years. I’m trying to change that, now.
I’m nowhere near fit right now, but I’ve started. Between the walking after work and now the kettlebell routine, I should start seeing some results within the next month or two. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.
I don’t expect to make any great progress or to experience any huge transformations anytime soon, but this is all a long-term process. I’m in this for the rest of my life, not for some arbitrary date goal. I’m also not going to quit once I reach a certain weight or size. This is the new reality for me. Of course, there will be an upper limit to the number of kettlebell swings I will do, but I’m not even far enough to contemplate what that limit will be.
How do I feel? Surprisingly good. Starting with the low numbers has kept me from experiencing the excruciating pain that goes along with getting into a workout routine too hard, too fast. Every time I’ve ever tried doing weight training, I went in too fast and ended up not following up due to the pain and inability to do things like wash my hair or lift a fork to my mouth the day after.
There are all kinds of workouts that you can do to get yourself back into shape after being out of it for so long. Some of the favorites out there include:
Walking/running/jogging. All this requires is your two working feet and legs and some good running shoes.
Calisthenics. This one is pretty easy to do and requires no extra equipment.
Weight training: requires access to free weights or weight machines. The kettlebells I use are included in this category.
Swimming. This is considered the best all-around exercise but requires access to a pool, ocean, river, etc.
Bicycling/spinning. This is pretty easy, providing you either have a bike or access to a stationary bike.
Rowing machine/stair stepping machine/machines. These are typically available at your local gym. Some of you may have these at home.
Pokemon Go! Many people have gotten out of the house and have begun exercising through catching Pokemon on the Pokemon Go! app. Don’t knock it until you try it.
The list is huge; I didn’t include things like rowing, archery, or golf because… well, you get the idea. There are so many things you can do that go hand-in-hand with your interests, physical ability, and financial situation. The point is find something you can enjoy, that you can afford, and that you have the ability to do, and make time for it in your schedule. Make it a priority.
I read an article recently by an entrepreneur who says that his workouts come before everything else. His reasoning was that he can always reschedule a client meeting, but if he starts rescheduling his workouts, it sets a precedent in his mind that the workouts aren’t important, and then he can start missing them, and eventually get out of the habit. I agree with this. Make exercise a priority and schedule around it. Give exercise the value it deserves.
I’m not telling you to like exercise. I’m not a fan of it myself, but I see its importance and its value to my overall health. If I can do it, you can do it, because I really don’t like to exercise. Don’t let me, the laziest person in the world when it comes to exercise, beat you to it.
It’s not even the big toe, thankfully, but the amount of pain from this middle toe is big-toe worthy. I know what a lot of you are thinking: “Suck it up, buttercup!” You’re right. That’s what I’m doing, mostly. The problem is that when it comes to injuries to your feet, you have to be careful. On the one hand, you’re told by all smart people to sit down, elevate the foot, and do the right thing and let it heal. Then, there’s that voice in your head that says, “Don’t be a weak sister! Get to it and push through the pain!” The only problem with this line of thinking is that you can actually make things worse and lengthen the healing time which would then preclude you from getting a good workout.
Saturday afternoon, while opening a package, I failed to look where I was walking and I kicked into our doggy stairs. I heard a snap and I hoped it was a cracked knuckle in my toes. The first step afterward confirmed my worst fear: it was definitely broken. The pain was the same as if a nail were being driven into my toe through the bone, and the bruising immediately appeared. Within an hour, the toe was a dark purple and spreading up into my foot. After some ice and Motrin, it felt better, but anytime I would accidentally flex my foot, the pain would shoot up my leg.
So, here I am, dealing with a busted toe and waiting for it to heal. Of course, it happened just as I was getting back into my walks/jogging and kettle bell routine. Now it’ll all have to wait at least another week before I can start the walking. I tried to do some kettle bell swings last night and found I was able to do them without causing any pain in my toe, so I will start doing these later today. Here comes the sweat (and the pain the next morning!).
At least the pain has subsided a bit since it happened. Sherry has been adamant about me staying off my feet, and she’s been super sweet and supportive while I get the “Sick Bay Commando” treatment.
For those wondering: I do have a photo of the broken toe, but it’s pretty gnarly, and I don’t want my readers to freak out over it. The picture isn’t pretty. Especially if you’ve recently eaten.
I’ve recently started a new job to which I need to commute daily. This means leaving at 6:45 a.m. and not getting home until 5:30 p.m. or so. I hear often that people complain about not having the time to eat well when they commute. Well, I don’t know how elaborate some people make their meals, but I’ve been finding that eating well hasn’t taken any extra effort at all.
It doesn’t get any better than this for breakfast; I still can’t believe I get to eat this every morning and still lose weight and be healthy.
My breakfast every morning with few exceptions is the standard two eggs, sunny-side up with two slices of cooked bacon and a cup of French vanilla coffee; black. This takes me about 3-4 minutes to make. I pre-cook bacon on Sundays as Sherry as talked about many times. Sundays are our weekly food prep days. The eggs cook up rather quickly in my cast iron frying pan, and the coffee is made while I am cooking the eggs. With another 2-3 minutes to eat, I’m in and out of the kitchen easily within 10 minutes. Oh, and since I’ve been eating this way for over seven months now, I’m actually well sated and not hungry again until lunchtime.
Yesterday, Stevie and I went to lunch at Liberty Kitchen in The Heights here in Houston. They had a daily fresh seafood special of grilled flounder served with a side salad that had a light vinaigrette dressing. Stevie had never had grilled flounder before; he loved it! Since he’s also on a Paleo diet now, he was very pleased to know our entire lunch was part of the plan. While not the least expensive lunch I’ve had recently, it was definitely one of the most delicious. Oh, and we were in and out of the restaurant within 30 minutes. Can’t beat that time!
Dinner was a mix of left-overs and fresh-prep food by my wife, Sherry. She detailed the process for making it on her blog, but I’ll sum it up: sweet potato with pulled pork served with grilled asparagus. Delicious, and very effortless. Total prep: 3 minutes. Cooking time: 40 minutes (sweet potato takes a long time to cook).
Today, I will be eating leftover Paleo lasagna that Sherry made on Sunday. I’m looking forward to it, as much like the chili she makes, the lasagna only seems to taste better with some time in the refrigerator.
All recipes are on her blog, and well worth taking a look at. They are delicious, and while some of the dishes do, in fact, take some time and effort to make, they can be made on the weekends or on days when you have a little time to spare and then you can enjoy the fruit of your labor during the week when time is at a premium.
As for my weight, it’s holding steady at around my low, but I’m noticing the size-loss again, namely in my stomach area. Large-sized shirts are fitting well, and some even feel a bit big. 36″ trousers feel right while 38″ trousers are now too big to be worn without a belt sinching it, making it appear as if I were wearing a potato sack for pants. 40’s are out of the question now.
I started walking last night after work. It felt good to get out and stretch my legs a bit, be outside, and to get some sun after being indoors all day. I also took the dog with me which was nice for him. He needs the outlet for his puppy energy, and he was less crazy for the rest of the evening afterward. I think I might pick this up as a daily activity.
As always, if you have questions, you can email me or ask in a comment. Also, head over to Sherry’s blog! It’s really well-written and has some great recipes and insight. Don’t let her know I said this, but I think her blog is better than mine!
Today is the day that I finally began doing some exercise. My weight loss has slowed considerably, and it’s at this point that I feel I need to do more physically to burn more calories, to start building up some muscle, and to hopefully kick-start some metabolism.
I think my route looks like a stick-figure superman. Kind-of.
I was a Marine for 12 years, so I’m no stranger to exercise, or what we call “PT (Physical Training).” I was just never a big fan of it. I get bored easily, and while running or riding a bicycle, I was always thinking that there are better, more intellectual things I could be doing. And then there’s the physical exertion part of it that I was never a fan of.
The irony of it all is that I do enjoy how I feel after exercise. That part is great! But the actual exercise? It’s more like mental torture.
So, today I rode my bicycle for 20 minutes. I know it’s not a lot, but it’s a start, and it was all I could do today. When I hit the 15 minute mark, my butt was hurting and my hands were numb. I told myself I had to do a minimum of 20 minutes, which I did. I did find that it was easier than the last time I rode my bike (when I was at least 75 lbs heavier) even with tires that weren’t inflated properly (I’ll fix that tomorrow), but I still have a lot of work to do to get better strength and stamina. I hope to be able to actually go on trails someday.
I weighed myself after the ride: not much change since my last weigh-in yesterday morning, but I chalk that up to eating a bit too much last night (some amazing Paleo Primal CannelloniSherry made for dinner!) Otherwise, the muscles feel good (I didn’t over-exert myself and I stretched before the ride and did some cool-down riding afterward), I feel good, and I think I’ll be ready for more tomorrow morning.
Wish me luck. Sticking with exercise has never been a strong suit of mine.
I admit it: I have started to do a little exercise.
Paleo Marine 
