Welcome to February. I am quite certain the ground hog will see its shadow tomorrow given how cold and snowy it has been thus far … but one can hope.
Yesterday (1/31) I took a rest day. Years ago when I started to exercise I never took a rest day. I took pride in running vigorously EVERY single day. I’m 53 now. I have generally kept the weight off for nearly 12 years.
I have learned to take rest days. These rest days are usually once a week but at least every other week. So Saturday was a rest day. Cold here in the Northeast. I took my son’s car for an oil change and other than that, stayed inside, relaxed and did some school work.
Today though, I went at it. Knocked out a decent paced 6.6 miles in an hour at the gym and then walked 2.4 miles uphill on the treadmill and did the grocery shopping.
As you age, take a rest day. Please. It reinvigorates you physically, and that next day, you RUN!
“Preventative care is cheaper than reactive care, but it requires intention.” I read that on Hebba Youssef’s email blast yesterday.
Hebba (I say that like I know her, I don’t) is the owner of “I Hate it Here” (https://hateithere.co). She is a blunt and funny Human Resources expert who tells it like it is and gives HR professionals comfort knowing we aren’t alone in this world.
Yesterday’s email from Hebba wrote about the hidden cost of healthcare in overall employee costs. Maybe because I was reading it waiting for my doctor to come in, but the above quoted language hit me. It’s both obvious and mandatory.
Good health requires INTENTION! So does good HR. Now some people, despite their very best efforts will not be able to be as healthy as they deserve to be. SOME PEOPLE, despite knowing what HR and workplace policies must be followed, ignore them out of ego or other reasons. However, as someone who was once morbidly obese and who has since run 59 marathons … and as the same person who has honestly been really disgusted with life for the past couple of years and is now in therapy trying to move forward, good acts require INTENTION.
If you want to improve your physical or mental health, be intentional about it. Changes from the negative WILL NOT come by accident.
And if you want straight talk about work and work trends, I definitely recommend signing up for Hebba’s blog.
I am heading back to the 150’s. I am not there yet but I am on my way. Couldn’t be happier. My biggest diet change has been to not have cereal in the office in the morning. I shifted to low fat Greek yogurt and carrots for the morning instead of cereal. Also, dessert about 3 times a week instead of every night. My step count is up, my weight is down. I have ongoing misery at work but fight hard ti do all I can to let “me be me” and people who are out to demoralize me not own me.
Weight plateaus, I know that. But if I keep moving in the right direction I will find things to be satisfied about.
If you are out there alone on your weight loss journey or whatever challenge you are facing, reach out for help. I was always someone who fought through my own problems. These past couple of years overwhelmed me and I took good advice to reach out and am so happy I did.
My typical morning goal is to have 10,000 steps in by the time I set foot in the office. This morning, I was happier to have a bit over that. Started the treadmill with .8 mile walk followed by a 6.2 mile run. Seeing the results on the scale last week, along with fitting into a smaller size pant comfortably this week, really helps one’s mental health as much as physical health. While I have significant drama at work, I find that vigorous exercise in the morning is truly the best antidepressant to start what will likely be a rough day. I check my scale weekly on Thursday mornings. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Like much of the country, the Hudson Valley in NY was slammed with snow Sunday and Monday. I went out twice on Sunday and cleared the driveway and shoveled the walk but by Monday morning it was filled to the brim again with snow.
I have a snow thrower and used it on the driveway but there is still a lot to shovel. Snow throwers only clean up so much and then it’s time to use the back and arms. I also shoveled off our back porch as I didn’t want the snow to sit on the porch for the next couple of weeks until a potential thaw.
Last week my wife and I assembled our new Nordic Track. Our Sole treadmill we got during COVID died a couple of months ago. I usually run at the gym in the mornings, but tonight I took the new treadmill out for a leisurely run. I was quite happy with it. My wife usually runs at home as she is not a gym person. Once the weather breaks she and I run or walk outside each night, but the weather in January in NY is just not made for outdoor running in my book.
I hope you did well in clearing the snow and staying safe… I’m going to have some tea and head to bed.
An enjoyable 5.1 before bed.
This picture was taken around 9:30 pm. Amazing what an iPhone and a lot of bright white snow can do to create light.
With a quick break in between, I ended up doing a 15k Saturday. Was going to run 6.2 miles but had to take a quick break after 4. So I decided to make the next segment 5.3 miles to get to an even 15k. Steady pace at 6.3 MPH. Now off to the office. I live in NY’s Hudson Valley. We are expecting a fair bit of snow tomorrow so I will go and stock up on exactly one frozen pizza and a bit of chicken. The panic buying thing is a bit hilarious to me, but it’s interesting to watch. Stay safe everyone. Stay off the roads if you possibly can to mitigate risk to yourself and let our DPW folks and EMS/Police do their job with the least interruption possible.
I love getting a full 6.2 in in the morning. Most weekdays I don’t but more and more I do. Not today. Today it was a 5.25 mile run preceded by a .75 mile walk.
On those days when I do “just” a 3.1 mile run I smile. Those are the days when I say to myself “you just exercised today more than you did in all your 30’s!”. Sadly, I mean that. I don’t recall exercising at all in my 30’s.
You will have days when you exercise more and you exercise less. But by making exercise a habit, you are doing more than you did in the past.
So today, a 5.25 mile run at 9:06 minute miles. It wasn’t 6.2, but it WAS 5.25 … and I’m OK with that.
It’s not fast but it’s not slow. I try to get to the gym every morning before work (and weekends). It clears my mind, gets me acclimated for the day, burns some stress.
Often times it’s 5 miles. Sometimes it’s just a walk plus the stairmaster. If I am feeling some pain, sometimes it’s the elliptical.
But going everyday is a habit. Years ago I was embarrassed to go to the gym because of how I looked. But I’ve learned: people in the gym want you to succeed. I’m not the first person to say it, but if you are getting up, getting it done, putting yourself out there on your fitness journey … I’m rooting for you.
If this is your first day on your fitness journey, NEVER be embarrassed about how you look. You started. Now make it a habit!
For reasons I never would have believed, my work life faced serious challenges for just over the past two years. I learned who my “friends” sure were and were NOT!
As a lifelong stress eater, these work challenges caused me to eat … a lot. You can say it is an excuse that these work issues added massive stress to me, and people want to blame someone else for their problems. Go ahead. Feel free, I’m used to being critiqued. I know this though: for a decade I was on the right path. Work changes happened which were outrageous (and illegal) and spiraled me downward.
I didn’t lose my job, and there are other forums to describe what was done to me so I won’t get into it here, but workplace retaliation is real. And the impact of that can be profoundly hurtful mentally and physically.
But the comeback can be greater than the setback. I’m on my way towards my comeback.
Thanks to help I’ve found and my family, my mindset has shifted. I’m on the right path and have been for a few months now. One of the ways I show that I’m on the right path is to focus on physical changes and one way to show that is on the scale.
Thankfully it’s 120 lbs away from that horrible day in June of 2013 when I started this adventure and 18 lbs down from where I was in the summer of 2025. By June my goal is to be back in the 150-154 range. I’m on my way.
It’s diet and exercise. Not just one of those. My message to readers is simple: you are going to have setbacks. They may not be your fault but they are your problem. Get the help you need and get back at it. Looking forward to posting these numbers weekly till I get back to where I need to be.
Don’t give up on yourself. And I won’t give up on me either! And if you have a crisis, get help. As much as you may think you can handle it all, and maybe you can, we are all occupying space on this giant sphere called Earth. Let’s try to be nice to each other.
One week post Disney Marathon after a couple of semi easy runs since, I decided to do my version of “speed work”. This is not Olympic speed work. Heck, it’s not high school speed work. It’s 53 year old 5’6” man speed work.
I started at 6.3 and ran steady for nearly 20 minutes, gradually cranking it up to a consistent 7.2 – 7.5 MPH. I was playing my “Running Hard” playlist which is laden with Beastie Boys, AC/DC and GNR. It was worth it.
7.5 MPH has special meaning to me. When I was just starting to lose weight I was on a treadmill at Disney’s Grand California Hotel. I was plodding along about 3 MPH. This young, fit guy jumped on the treadmill and seemed to be FLYING. I snuck a look over and saw the speed was 7.5 MPH. I was awestruck.
He was a tall athletic young man in his 20’s. It seemed impossible to ever do that for me. Now for most runs I try to go 7.5 MPH for a little bit, but not long. Today though I was over 7 MPH for most of the hour. So twelve and a half years later, to do 7.05 miles in under an hour … for a short middle age man in my 50’s, I’m OK with that.
Morbidly Obese to MARATHON Runner 