EXERCISE

The dreaded E word!

For more than two years now, I've got out of bed at least five mornings a week and headed straight to the gym. Do I enjoy it? - Not particularly! Yet I do miss it if I don't go for a few days.

All of my working out has been aerobic, which for the uninitiated means walking, running, or using the elyptical in my case. I'm pretty happy today because I achieved a personal best, running six miles in under 50 minutes for the first time - 49 minutes 28 seconds to be exact. While I was trying to stay focused on the treadmill this morning, I was waxing philosophical about the importance of working out.

Here's my accumulated wisdom on the subject -

1. If you push yourself too hard at the start, you probably won't keep it up.

2. You musn't be intimidated by the muscle-bound misfits around you.

3. Start by doing just what you can do.
When I was over 330lb, I walked one mile at 3mph - that was all I could do!!!

4. Keep pushing yourself a little more - at decent intervals.
I increased distance first, working up to walking for 60 minutes at 3.2mph. Then I started gradually increasing the pace and the incline until I was doing 4mph for an hour. I am talking about one year after I first started - that's how gradual it was.

5. You don't have to kill yourself to make it happen, you just have to be consistent.

6. Be sure to have something that distracts you from watching the time.
I love my IPOD, especially at the gym when I can spend 70-80 minutes listening to good music and sermons I've downloaded.

7. You need to have decent sneakers if you're going to work out seriously.
I hear that for runners, sneakers are dead after 300 miles. They may still look good, but the bounce has definitely gone. So splurge - you're worth it!

Exercise is an essential part of getting fit and staying healthy, but a sensible approach to it is necessary too.

SCAREY

Last night I caught a bit of a scarey program on The Learning Channel about a father and son surgeon duo who are doing gastric bypass operations.

I saw another episode of this a few weeks ago and was staggered at how huge some of the people featured were, yet they rolled out some even bigger patients for the show this week.

I thought about a gastric bypass operation myself a couple of years ago, until I heard a surgeon say this -

There are two ways to lose weight - diet and exercise or surgery, diet and exercise.

Up to then I thought surgery was a magical cure-all, but I came to realize it was still only one part of the equation. Since diet and exercise are componenets whatever way you go, I decided to let the surgeon keep his knife in its sheath and bypassed the operating theater.

Surgery is always risky and while I know those for whom a gastric bypass has been positively lifechanging, I know others who have experienced horrendous side-effects.

Diet and exercise do work!

BETTER WEEK

It has been a more focused week, probably helped by the fact that we were in Montauk for three days, spending much of it at the beach. I must confess I had a tough time several afternoons when I went for coffee at the Baker's Shop and saw his amazing display of cakes - but I survived.

I planned my exercise in advance as well as my diet. On arrival I set my odometer and discovered that it was exactly 3.1 miles from Hither Hills National Park to where we were staying. So that gave me a 6.2 miles (10K) course for my morning runs. There were a lot of hills and running on the road is tougher than on a treadmill, so I worked out pretty well - before relaxing on the sand with a book.

Planning is important - but I said that before ... and before ... and before!

PLANNING

I've said this before, but it bears repetition - planning ahead is the key to survival.

We're heading out for a few days and a good deal of thought has gone into what we'll eat while we're out in sunny Montauk. It's important to have the right things at hand, so we've thought through virtually every meal during those four days (considering Montauk prices, we're only allowing ourselves the indulgence of eating dinner out one night).

Not only will preparation time be minimal, but the food will be healthy too.

Being away from home is often an excuse to binge, but since I binge whilst at home far more often than is good for me, I'm planning to stay on program as we enjoy a brief break.

If you're going to succeed, you gotta plan - otherwise you'll just eat whatever junk is within reach.

DIET PILLS

Today a new light dawned for the hopes of our quick-fix society, 60% of which are obese, as the first ever over the counter diet drug went on sale. The pharmaceutical company responsible for ALLI, as it is known, will be laughing all the way to the bank.

The stuff flew off shelves as people rushed to scoop up the latest miracle drug, following a long tradition of snake oils and other remedies too good to be true.

If I get it right, ALLI blocks the body absorbing 25% of the fat a person consumes. Of course the fat then has to do something else, so it exits the body in the form of loose stools and other potentially embarassing bowel events.

So the bottom line is, you pay a small fortune to swallow something that plays havoc with your insides. Wow, that's smart!

Here's a better idea. Hold on to your money and reduce your fat intake by 25% all by yourself.

That way you'll save cash, lose weight and need less changes of underwear in the process.

CUTTING MYSELF SOME SLACK

The blunt facts are these -

My goal weight is 200lb

The maximum weight WW wants me is 202lb

My lowest weight is 199lb

My current weight is 200.6lb

There isn't a lot of flexibility there, so here's what I've decided, I'm going to go back into weight loss mode rather than maintenance, with a view to making 195lb my bottom line. That gives me a little more room for movement, which may not be a bad thing.

So thats's the plan!

THE GAP

I've had to totally replace my wardrobe several times over the past two years, but although I once loathed it, I like clothes shopping nowadays so it has been no great hardship.

I used to go into a store and embark on an often fruitless search to see if they had anything whatever in my size. When 3X tends to be tight on you, there's generally not a lot on the racks that you could wear. Thankfully things have changed.

It's no secret that I like wandering around Kohls now. You can get some great bargains there - but although they don't have an outstanding selection overall, I like to buy jeans in the GAP. They do something few other stores have picked up on - they sell pants in odd sizes.

Since I've about finished losing weight, I thought I was stuck in an awkward situation where 36 was too big and 34 was generally tight. Enter the GAP and their 35-inch waists.

I love the GAP!