The Soldaten are Marching

Back from a 7 kl walk; takes about 75 minutes; I began these series of walks in September when my son-in-law's contract was not renewed and he wanted to get some exercise; except for 3 or 4 days we have been walking every day, drizzle or heat wave; I weigh in at the beginning of a walk, with everything I will be wearing and carrying in the walk; today I weighed 236.8 lbs and when I came home I weighed 235.3; that doesn't mean I have lost that much weight, but the water weight I have lost; one memorable day, I lost over 5 lbs or 2 kilos in water weight, as much as a Formula 1 driver in the Singapore Grand Prix ;)

I started walking seriously, last January, when I began meeting my grandson at his after school daycare; that and later I was walking around the town, to the shops and the doctor's office; over the summer when it got too hot and humid for outdoor exercise, I tried to keep active indoors, but it isn't the same without the weights in my Backpack;

Now that is an interesting point; why the weights; well, it is a well known fact that heavier people loose weight and become better conditioned in a shorter span of time that those who are lighter; the reason is their bodies have to work against that excess weight; by adding the weight in the backpack, I am simulating that extra weight; realistically, I could go to 25 lbs, but I have to work at increasing my body strength before that happens; in January, I started with 10 lbs and slowly worked up to 30 lbs by the end of June; but with the lack of exercise over the summer months, July and August, I had to start at a lower weight; but I am up to 20 lbs now and can see hitting 25 by the end of November;

As I have said elsewhere, the conditioning is the prime reason for the weights and exercise; it conditions not only my legs, the knees and shins, but also the heart, lungs. back muscles and hips; however it does nothing for the stomach and the thighs; for that I need the exercise machine I am working on; more on that next month;

Just as an Army marches on it's stomach, so does weight loss; today, I have begun an attempt to reduce the amount of food I take in, while still maintaining the quality and quantity that I need to remain fit; with weight loss and exercise, I have been told that protein and carbohydrates are important for muscle development and energy; without either, my exercise plan will peter out like a stream in the desert;

To that end I have started a food diary; that's right, a book in which I write down each time I eat or drink something; don't wait until the end of the day to remember; that is not going to work, because I won't remember ;) not that I have a memory problem, but because throughout the day, it is hard to keep track of everything we do;

I keep the diary on the fridge door; just a sheet actually, 3 hole punch, so that at the end of the day it goes into a binder that is kept nearby; this way, I know when I have been cheating ;) but as I said, the quality and quantity is important; so today, I have started with breakfast as a 500 ml of water, a slice of cheap bread, with margarine and a slice of tomato; later I had a large mug of green tea; now as I came in, I have had another slice of store bought bread, tomato, with a slice of cheese, and another bottle of water; that should see me to dinner, which will be a bowl of home made chicken soup, a bun, and apple, with some more water or tea; later before bed I will have another slice of home made bread (will make that now) and tomato (btw that is from the garden), with green tea (have some ideas for making my own ;-)

Tomorrow I will vary it somehow, but again, limited food, but quality; and we will see how I am in a weeks time; originally I was planning on waiting until 20 days had passed, before weighing myself, think that is rather optimistic of me LOL, I'll do the daily weigh ins and weigh outs for walking and then again in 7 days do a post shower morning weigh in for Sundays ;) no peeking BWG; ok, perhaps I will post a picture; ooooooooooooo la la ;)

cheers, until next time