It has been a long time since I posted here at Get Fit Slowly. Mac, my understanding friend and co-author, has been carrying the load for the past few weeks while I’ve been doing some soul-searching.
I have not given up on fitness. I haven’t even been gaining weight. I’m exercising (though not as much as [...]

Continue reading → Charting a Course for Tomorrow: Finding a Long-Term Goal

The warm autumn days have faded into the cool wetness to which we Portlanders are accustomed. Blue skies are gone, replaced by a constant thin greyness. And with the passing of the sun something else has gone away: my high spirits.
I’m generally a happy fellow. I like to believe I have a positive outlook on [...]

Continue reading → Seasonal Affective Disorder: 10 Ways to Fight It

I ate broccoli last night for dinner.
I did not hate it, and I did not die.
Afterward, Kris sang with glee. (I am not joking.)

Continue reading → The Earth Moves, the Heavens Shake

Last week I wrote about my problems with vegetables. Via comments and e-mail, readers shared several tips for coming to terms with the foods I dislike. One common refrain was, “I didn’t like X vegetable until I tasted it prepared in Y fashion.” I’ll have to start trying veggies prepared in different ways. (After all, [...]

Continue reading → Turning Over a New Leaf

It seems odd to me that of all the components to my fitness regimen, it’s my weight-lifting that’s going best. When I started this several months ago, I did so with a grudging heart.
Make no mistake: I do not love lifting weights. Sometimes it’s a chore. But it’s a chore I perform dutifully and [...]

Continue reading → Uplifting: Learning from the Things I Do Right

Vegetables are the big reason I’m not a vegetarian.
Don’t get me wrong — I do like some vegetables. Corn is great, and so are carrots. I like both peas and asparagus (which are basically the same taste in different packages). I like onions and garlic and potatoes and lettuce and spinach. And…
Well, that’s about [...]

Continue reading → Picking on Vegetables

I’ve struggled with my weight for nearly thirty years. In grade school, I was an average-sized boy, but by the time I started junior high, I had already become chunky. My soccer coach used to make me run an extra lap at practice because he said I needed the exercise.
Puberty slimmed my figure for [...]

Continue reading → Diet Balancer: Learning from the Past

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has released its physical activity guidelines for adults and children. The official web site offers a number of different ways to access this information:

2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
Be Active Your Way: A Guide for Adults
An activities toolkit for communities and organizations
The advisory committee report for [...]

Continue reading → 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans

Today was a great day.
As many of you know, the Portland Marathon was held this morning. I spent most of the spring and summer training for the race, suffering a series of injuries, and learning how real runners run. My goal was to run 26.2 miles this morning.
I didn’t do it.
I didn’t walk the race, [...]

Continue reading → Marathon Day

My neighbor, John, arrived home from Alaska over the weekend. John spends his summers on a 38-foot boat, fishing for fun in the waters around Sitka. He hosts friends and family a few weeks each year, but otherwise his time is his own.
During our winters, he spends a few months in New Zealand, helping friends [...]

Continue reading → 72 and Active: Staying Healthy by Working

I don’t eat much fast food, even when I’m not trying to be healthy. When I do indulge, it’s usually at the Northwest-only Burgerville or at the ubiquitous McDonald’s. The former has many redeeming qualities (including good food), but the latter? Ugh. Maybe I need to reconsider.
Karen at Best of Mother Earth has posted about [...]

Continue reading → A 12-Year-Old Burger

I’m the kind of guy who likes numbers. In fact, I’m a little anal-retentive about them. In the past, I’ve found that tracking aspects of my life with stats helps me to make better decisions about where to go and what to do.
When I decided to take control of my finances, I began to track [...]

Continue reading → Using PhysicsDiet to Track Your Weight

We all know that food affects our body. In many ways, we really are what we eat. But did you know that your diet also affects your mind? The Economist recently profiled the work of Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, “a fish-loving professor of neurosurgery and physiological science” at UCLA who has recently reviewed the research on this [...]

Continue reading → Brain Food: How Diet Affects Your Mind

One of my more esoteric collections consists of hundred-year-old self-help books. I’m particularly fond of Orison Swett Marden, one of the first big names in success literature. Last week, I picked up a modern reprint of his 1901 pamphlet, “An Iron Will”. Here are a couple of paragraphs:

The athlete trains for his race; and the [...]

Continue reading → Weekend Roundup: Mental Discipline Edition

In a recent e-mail exchange with Lauren, I mentioned that I believe part of my physical woes this summer were a result of my deskbound existence. Except for when I’m exercising (or eating), I’m usually sitting here, in my chair, in front of my computer.
“I’ve thought many times that I ought to erect a [...]

Continue reading → Treadmill Desks: Could a Walkstation Help Me Lose Weight?

Saturday was my “free day” on the Body for Life program; I could eat what I wanted. What I wanted — what I’ve been craving for weeks — was blueberry pancakes. I went to a local diner and enjoyed two enormous pancakes topped with blueberries — not the blueberry compote found in most places (comprising [...]

Continue reading → The Gastronomical Me

It was a great week for me, both mentally and physically. After coming clean with Kris last Sunday, I’ve been alcohol- and videogame-free for six days now. I’ve got a lot done, including exercise. I’ve done six days of Body for Life!
This morning, before I went for my twenty minute run, Kris convinced me [...]

Continue reading → Weekend Roundup: Happy Trails Edition

It feels good to be back in the gym. I’m taking things slow, staying within myself, and simply focusing on following my daily agenda. Four days down, eighty more to go. (Well, eighty more on the Body for Life program, and then a lifetime beyond that.)
On Monday, as I talked about correcting my course, Greenman [...]

Continue reading → Five Lessons Learned During My Adventures in Fitness

I like to eat. I like to eat well. I particularly like to eat well in restaurants.
I try to limit meals out, but especially since I’ve started working from home, it’s difficult. Now a cheap lunch at the local Chinese or Mexican place has become a way for me to actually see people.
When I’m [...]

Continue reading → Dissecting Lunch: How Many Calories Are in That?

J.D.’s weight over the past two weeks

Number of hours spent exercising over the past two weeks: 2
Number of hours playing World of Warcraft over the past two weeks: 40
Gym memberships lapsed: 1
Weight on July 30th: 186.0
Weight on September 7th: 193.5

On Friday, Mac explained why he is fat. For him, it’s because it’s easier to be [...]

Continue reading → By the Numbers

I ate at Claim Jumper for the first recently. “Be careful,” Kris warned me. “The portions are huge.” I didn’t think much of her warning until my food began to come. The portions were huge! I ended up taking home enough food for two additional meals.
Get in my belly
By one measure, eating at [...]

Continue reading → Are Increased Portion Sizes Changing How Much We Eat?

Clive Thompson at Wired says that a fun way to lose weight is to turn dieting into a game. After watching one of his friends slim down with the Weight Watchers program, Thompson realized it was basically a type of role-playing game (RPG). He writes:

As with an RPG, you roll a virtual character, manage your [...]

Continue reading → Turning Fitness into a Game

I’ve been negligent about the one hundred pushups challenge, both here and in Real Life. I stopped doing my pushups for a week, and it’s been a while since I updated my progress here.
As part of getting “back on the bus”, I’m remedying that situation today. I performed a one-time exhaustion test as a [...]

Continue reading → Weekend Update: Doing the Right Thing

Yesterday was a good day. Finally.
The last month has been difficult for me, both mentally and physically. My mother has been in the hospital, I’ve been injured, and I’ve done a poor job of prioritizing fitness. If you think I’ve been whiney here, you should try living in my head!
“You need to go to the [...]

Continue reading → A Much-Needed Attitude Adjustment

I’ve always loved the Olympics. Despite NBC’s uncanny ability to squeeze all the joy out of the games, I leave my self-imposed “no TV zone” every couple of years to watch the world’s top athletes compete. When I was a boy, I actually wanted to be one of those top athletes. (Though I had no [...]

Continue reading → Average Athlete vs. Olympic Athlete

In personal finance, the Holy Grail of money seems to be “passive income”. When most people talk about passive income, they mean money that you earn without any active involvement in the process. There are actually very few true sources of passive income (despite the promises of hucksters), and even those that do exist (rental [...]

Continue reading → The Joys of Passive Exercise

I had another physical therapy appointment yesterday. I wasn’t subjected to the intense pain of deep tissue massage this week, but my therapist did show me several new exercises she’d like me to focus on.
“The real question is, can I run yet or not?” I asked. It’s been two weeks since my last run. [...]

Continue reading → Getting Fit Slowly

The last few weeks have been some of the toughest in my life.
I’ve powered through, though, on adrenaline and because there’s no other option. My mother is in the hospital and must be cared for. I’ve elected to become a “professional” blogger, and I must write to eat. My in-laws, who were in town [...]

Continue reading → Handling Stress: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This is a guest post by Brigid. It originally appeared in Public Safety Communications, the magazine of The Association of Public-Safety Communication Officials.

When we were growing up, we learned a lot about life through stories. Some of these stories, although full of good intentions, didn’t convey the best message. Cinderella and Snow White gave hope [...]

Continue reading → Once Upon a Cheesecake

This is a guest post by Weight Ladder, who writes about fitness and weight loss at Weight Ladder.
With the news that Japan will now begin measuring waist lines, in an attempt to force their citizens to lose weight, it has never been more important to compare the cost of being heavy or healthy. Part of [...]

Continue reading → Expanding Waistlines, Shrinking Wallets

This is a guest post from Lazy Man. He writes about fitness at Lazy Man and Health and writes about money at Lazy Man and Money.

If you’re working on strength training, traveling can be a bit hard, particularly if you are not able to find a gym or your hotel does not offer any lifting [...]

Continue reading → How to Stay Fit When on the Road

From now until I complete the one hundred pushups project, I’ll be posting weekend updates about my progress. (I finished weekly updates ten days ago.)
As you may recall, I managed to complete week four and was moving on to week five. I didn’t do very well. Here are my results:

Day one: 30 - 16 [...]

Continue reading → Weekend Roundup: Family Crisis Edition

About ten days ago, I had a rather depressing marathon training run. I had intended to run sixteen miles, but I could only make it three before pain in my knee forced me to quit. I then walked three miles back to the car — in physical and mental agony the entire way. This chronic [...]

Continue reading → J.D. Goes to Physical Therapy

I was nervous when I joined the local gym last March. I was worried that I wouldn’t use the facilities enough to justify the cost. But I was also worried that I wouldn’t fit in. I visualized a crowd of preening lunkheads boasting about how much they could drink and which chick they scored with [...]

Continue reading → Mr. Muscle

This is it — the final daily update for the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. This is the end of the sixth week, but I’m not sure anyone has actually made it this far. (If you have, and if you do the 100 consecutive pushups in a day or two, please let us [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Six, Day Three

On Tuesday’s discussion about defining fitness, I mentioned that my own pursuit of that ideal had been derailed. “I’ve been eating poorly and taking no exercise,” I wrote. “Tell us more,” said a couple of readers.
After Saturday morning’s aborted attempt at a sixteen mile run, I was feeling miserable. It wasn’t just that my physical [...]

Continue reading → Losing My Way, and Finding It

It’s the penultimate day of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge — at least on the blog. I’m not aware of anyone doing the sixth week of this program, and that’s fine. After Friday, I’ll continue to post weekend updates until I’ve hit my 100th pushup. (I’m in week four right now.)
If [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Six, Day Two

Earlier this month, I shared my thoughts on what it means to be fit.
“I have no clearer definition in my mind of what it means to be ‘fit’ than I do of what it means to be ‘rich’,” I wrote. “In some ways, I believe fitness is more about the journey than any destination.”
Reader [...]

Continue reading → What Is Fit? More Thoughts on the Definition of Fitness

This is the beginning of the final week of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. Actually, I suspect very few (if any) of you have reached week six, but I will continue to post the schedule. Some of you are beginning week five. But many of us — myself included — are still [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Six, Day One

I feel pretty defeated today.
For the second Saturday in a row, I had to cut my marathon training run short. The pain in my knee was too intense to continue. Today’s three-mile walk back to the car was excruciating. I had a lot of time to think about my progress, my current physical state, and [...]

Continue reading → Back to the Drawing Board

For some of you, it’s the end of week five of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. You’ve come a long way! Others are just finishing up week four or, like me, week three (or earlier). Whatever the case, I’m proud of you. I’m amazed at my own progress. Assuming successful completion of [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Five, Day Three

For me, the best part about getting fit is my improved self-confidence. As I lose weight, perform amazing feats of speed and strength, and generally improve my fitness, I become much more comfortable with my body image.
And really, that’s what a lot of this is about — not just for me, but for everyone. We [...]

Continue reading → Positive Body Image: My Favorite Part of Getting Fit

Holy cats! I forgot to post day fourteen of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. Somebody should have said something. You’ve probably already done your pushups, but if you haven’t, here’s the schedule for week five:

Note that you have more sets than previously! For those of you on week four, use this schedule:

I [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Five, Day Two

It’s been a while since I posted about the current state of my physical fitness. Though I don’t mind rambling on about how I’m doing, I know that it gets old listening to other people talk about their physical woes and successes. Still, it’s time for an update.
Have a heart
I’ve been especially pleased with the [...]

Continue reading → State of the Body

We’re heading into the home stretch of the , it sounds as if a couple of people are, indeed, moving to week four of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. Some of you will begin week five today. Others will be on week four. (And some, like me, will be starting or repeating [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Five, Day One

Nickel at Fit 36 recently tagged us with an internet meme of his own devising. He wonders, “What is your biggest health or fitness vice? Nickel says that his biggest vice is eating out at lunch. He also likes tequila.
Generally I ignore blog games, but this one is interesting. I’ve shared many of my [...]

Continue reading → Weekend Roundup: Biggest Vice Edition

For some of you, it’s the end of week four of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. You’ve come a long way! I would love to know how many are ready to move on to week five. If the number is small, I wont move the schedule forward next week.
For today, however, here’s [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Four, Day Three

“After I do my pushups this morning,” I wrote on Wednesday, “I’m going to ride my bike twenty miles, lift weights, and maybe go for a run.”
A couple readers were taken aback. “Do you have a full time job? How can you afford a whole lot of exercise?” Juan wrote. And Mike said, “How do [...]

Continue reading → Change Your Habits, Change Your Life

It’s day eleven of the Get Fit Slowly one hundred pushup challenge. After struggling with the end of Monday’s exercises, I’m curious to see how today will go. I find it likely that I’ll need to repeat this week, just as repeated week one. I don’t mind, though — it’s obvious that my upper body [...]

Continue reading → 100 Pushups: Week Four, Day Two

Last week I began a month-long experiment during which I’m trying to drink only water. In response, Greenman2001 wrote:
This post, like many others I read here, makes me wonder how exactly you’re defining the word “fit.” I’d love to see a blog post on that topic.
This seems like an innocuous question. In reality, it cuts [...]

Continue reading → What Does It Mean to Be Fit?