No More Mr. Fat Guy!

Well, I only walked an hour and 15 minutes tonight.  And then I ate a big meal, although, except for a quart of goat milk, that’s all I’ve eaten today.  I was planning on walking the full two hours or more, but the gym was very crowded today.  The walking track surrounds a weight room on the second floor, and it was pretty packed.  The weight area only takes up half the room; the other half is empty, and that end of the track looks over a basketball court.  Normally there will be one or two people in there from time to time when I walk.  But today, after about 45 minutes, about 10 kids showed up, and each one had his own ball.  With the acoustics of the place, the noise was deafening, despite my earmuffs.  So I got out of there.

Did 2 hours and 15 minutes of walking today. Plus, I chased one of the kid goats who got out of the pasture and into the yard for about twenty minutes, which was not fun. But one day he’ll be my supper, so it all evens out. Speaking of supper, I didn’t do too well on that front. Stopped at Hardees. They’re having a Buy One Thickburger Get One Free campaign, so I got two of their third pound mushroom burgers. And fries. And a Pepsi. I know, I know…

The Mayo clinic has come up with a solution for the sedentary lifestyles of office workers. White collar workers don’t burn many calories sitting around all day, no matter how much mental energy they expend. Well, the folks at the Mayo think they have the solution - the treadmill desk. It’s not a joke. They claim that walking very slowly (1 mph) all day instead of sitting would enable a person to drop 66 pounds in a year. It will probably be a while before this trend takes off, but as our obesity epidemic only worsens, it wouldn’t surprise me to eventually see treadmill desks in offices all over America.

That’s what this former runner says. He racked up thousands of miles running, but now advises against it. He says our bodies are designed for long periods of low intensity aerobic activity, such as walking, and for short bursts of extremely high intensity activity, such as sprinting. But they’re not designed for long periods of high intensity aerobic workouts, such as running or jogging. It’s a very well written article, and I highly recommend that you read it.

Back on the horse. I just finished milking the goats after I got back from a 2 hour walk at the gym. And I think I solved the noise problem. As regular readers know, I’d started walking at the gym instead of outside in my rural area on account of two things: the heat, and a couple of unpleasant interactions with dogs. But a few days after signing up for the gym, they began playing the radio so loud that it was difficult to hear my mp3 player. This was after they had assured me before I plunked my money down that they didn’t play the radio very loud at all. I’ve complained a couple of times, but was told that most people like it that loud so there was nothing they could do. I thought about calling the director or manager of the place, but past experience tells me that that might bring a couple days of respite, and then things would go back to normal. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to quit going to the gym because that would mean quitting walking unless I buy a treadmill. But I simply can’t put up with that kind of noise level. I was looking at some noise canceling headphones on Amazon, but from what I’ve read, they don’t work very well when it comes to blocking noise such as music. They’re good at blocking steady, constant noises such as bus or airplane engines, but not noise that’s constantly changing. Then I remembered what a friend of mine used to wear when he mowed his lawn - shooter’s earmuffs. So I stopped by Wal-Mart and got a pair of them for $14. And they worked great. I slip the earbuds from my mp3 player into my ear, and then put the muffs on. I could hardly tell the radio was on, and I was able to turn the volume on my player way down. It’s not the most comfortable solution in the world; the earpieces are very tight to keep noise out, and after a while it’s slightly uncomfortable. And because of the pressure on your ear, if you adjust the ear pieces, the earbuds tend to fall out. It can be tricky to get the buds in just right, and then get the earmuffs on without dislodging them. But these are minor problems, and they’re not that big of a deal. Ideally, the gym wouldn’t play the radio at all, and everyone would just listen to whatever they wanted with their own players. But I don’t see that happening for a long, long time. Until it does, I can live with this arrangement.

I work weekends, so no walking til Monday. Check back then.

Same Fat Time!

Same Fat Channel!

Well, today didn’t get off to a great start.  I was going to blow off heading for town to walk, but I talked myself out of it and got in the truck.  Went to the gym, popped my earplugs in to listen to George Noory, and took the first few steps.  And before I knew it, an hour was gone.  By this time they’d turned the radio up again, and so I left.  Sorta felt like a quitter, since I usually walk at least two hours a day, but then, that’s the nice thing about walking two hours a day - even when you only do half your normal workout, you still walked for an hour, and that’s a pretty good walk.  Then about 8 pm it had cooled off quite a bit, so when my friend John went out for a walk on the back roads, I went with him.  Got another hour in, and some good conversation.  So I made my quota after all.

Gotta work part time tomorrow.  Not sure if I’ll have time to walk or not.  Tune in to find out!