Diet and Exercise

In early January (2005) i started running on the treadmill. It wasn't a New Year's Resolution or anything. It was just there, and available. I started slow. I knew i was out of shape. At first it was just whatever distance that could be achieved in ten minutes. After a month, it was fifteen minutes. Then it was a mile. Feh. Fifteen minutes for a mile. Back in the day, it was only six minutes. Five if it was only one mile.

After a couple months the mile time came down to twelve and a half minutes. No faster. I pushed forward by increasing to fifteen minutes, then twenty, then twenty five. Two miles in twenty five minutes. And there it stood. The goal was to run three times a week for twenty five minutes.

Summer came and it got so hot in the house that i couldn't run on the treadmill at all. On one of my first days outside, a neighbor was just finishing his run. I told him i'd been on the treadmill for months. He said that it was easier to run on the treadmill than outside. I thought outside was easier.

We were both right. I ran two and a half miles in under nineteen minutes on the first day out. Sure, i was breathing harder, but i could do it. So when a cooler night came up, i tried the treadmill again. I was stuck at twelve and a half minute miles again. What was going on?

There's no breeze on a treadmill. Without cooling, i'm standing still. So i tried the treadmill again, but with a box fan pointed my way. Instant improvement!

So, its been eight months. And i feel much better. Running fixes my blood chemistry instantly. I have energy again. However, i've only lost two pounds. That's because i can't seem to get on my diet for any length of time. When i'm on it, i lose a pound a week for twenty five weeks, then half that for another twenty. At the end, i have a total loss of thirty five pounds.

Its not Atkins or South Beach. Its not the GM diet or some sort of weird strict diet. I just stop drinking Mt. Dew while sitting at work. I drink water instead. That's all there is to it. Originally it was to cut out caffeine from my diet. It was giving me arthritis. Once cured, however, i could not resist temptation.

It takes nearly no time at all to find thirty five pounds once you've lost it.

The only exercise that makes me loose weight is pushing away the plate.