White Devils

I detailed my eight month treadmill desk experiment here and also my water drinking, and noted that neither of them caused any net weight loss. I'm sure I must have swapped some muscle for fat in those eight months, but as the water drinking was accompanied with a reduction in my soda drinking habits, I was expecting some sort of net weight loss. But no dice.

Of course, I started doing the Reams program in solidarity with The Boy and, much to my dismay, it worked. So, now I'm eating a largely vegetable diet, with meat two, three (okay, sometimes four) times a week. And there are things I am not eating.

No white flour. No white sugar. No white potatoes. Also, no corn syrup, and really, I'm not supposed to be eating corn (unless it's white corn on the cob). I do have popcorn and soda at the movies.

Well, I guess it's not mystery where my extra pounds were coming from. I've lost 20 pounds in two months. Without any exercise at all. I'm not supposed to exercise too much yet though I am finally back on that a little bit.

My interpretation of the various food prohibitions fall into two categories: Some foods are bad because they are actually harmful while others are bad because they take up the space you'd normally have for nutritious food. Shellfish, pork, protein bars are examples of food in the actually harmful category--something about the high protein content. (Again, this is my casual impression. I'm not claiming to understand this.)

Sure has made weight loss simple, though. If you call this living....

All Clear

OK, so tests came back and everything's fine.

Phew.

Everyone's happy with the results. No need for further tests. And my dietary numbers look good, too. Well, not good, but better.

I'm still not allowed to exercise. Exercise may have contributed to the situation, actually. (Though my money's still on the antibiotics.)

In any event, I'm good to go. I live...again.

UPDATE: And pardon my manners. Thank you all for being so supportive here. Means a lot, even though I wasn't all that communicative about it.

Treadmill Desk, Week 12

It would actually make more sense, in a sort of OCD way, to rest on the 13th week. That way there'd be four rest periods in a year.

I don't even know if I'm going to repeat this. But my mind immediately went there. Don't even know if I'm going to make it through a whole week without the treadmill. We'll see. So far, zero.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I did an hour on Sunday while finishing my taxes and an hour-and-a-half on Tuesday while working. I'm walking better, though, in general, which makes me wonder if I have to strike some sort of balance-thingy.

I'm more an extremist. Well, so far, so good, anyway. We'll see how it plays out.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Well, that was interesting. I moved a lot better this week without the treadmill.

I may have to resort to some sort of moderation.

Treadmill Desk, Week 11

Friday: 140 minutes.

I was lucky to get this much in, given the time at work.

Monday: 404 minutes

Tuesday: 431 minutes

I didn't think I was going to do well this week time-wise but it's looking pretty good now. I might crack 30 hours.

Wednesday: 300 minutes

Well, maybe not....

Thursday: 455 minutes

I did most of my taxes on the treadmill today. That way, at least something productive was going on.

Not quite 29 hours. I may take week 12 off. Maybe every 12th week.... Not sure why. Maybe just to break things up a bit. I might not be able to do it, actually. I do get a little antsy.

On Eating Less and Exercising More

Last year I decided to lose ten pounds. I'm not sure how I did it, specifically. I just...decided, and in the space of a couple of months lost the weight. This is something I've done in the past, as well. Yes, I probably just exercised a little more and ate a little less, but I didn't follow a plan or anything.

I mention this only because, since last summer, I've been exercising a lot more. And for the past couple of months, my diet has been rather dramatically changed. I'm drinking a lot more water and eating a lot more vegetables.

And I haven't lost a pound.

This is sort of amusing. The point, of course, wasn't to lose weight but to improve my health in other ways, so I'm not complaining. I just think it's funny. To some degree, the weight gain may be from water and muscle growth--some of my clothes seem to be fitting differently--but still, I must be eating to compensate for both the increase and activity and replacement of my #1 vice--carbonated sugary beverages--with water.

On a lark, I may actually try losing weight again, to see if I can drop another ten.

Bodies are interesting things.

Treadmill Desk, Week 10

Friday: 390 minutes

Good start. I'm finding my walking shoes inadequate to the task, however. I walked yesterday and today in some stiff soled sandals.

Saturday: 130 minutes

Sunday: 75 minutes

Monday: 300 minutes so far....360 in toto.

Tomorrow is a day at the doctor's so there won't be as much time to tread, but if I can get another six hours on Wednesday and Thursday, that'll be pretty good for the week.

Tuesday: 130 minutes

Wednesday: 240 minutes

It was hard to get these four hours in today. Too many things pulling me away from my desk....

Thursday: 430 minutes.

Hey, that's 27 and 3/4 an hour. Not too shabby. Tomorrow's an in-the-office day, so light on the treadmill. But that's okay; my feet are recuperating very quickly these days.

Treadmill Desk, Week 9

Friday: 400 minutes

Monday: 75 minutes

Tuesday: 340 minutes

Wednesday: 240 minutes

Thursday: 300 minutes (so far)....355 in total.

To round it out to 1400 minutes or...23 hours and 20 minutes. Close to what I did back on Feb 5th.

Lubed the 'mill today. Weird thing happened: I couldn't find the lube in the stores, and the lube from Sole hadn't arrived. Since I was starting to hearing--probably imaginary--noises come from the 'mill, I decided to get some overnighted from Amazon.

This morning, the package arrives and it's not at all what I ordered. It doesn't look like the right brand, there's no applicator want, and the "instructions" consist of a folded up paper that don't look like they apply to my machine.

So I call Sole, give 'em my sob story, they say, it's okay, just use the tube, it'll be fine. (There's some scary stuff about warranty voiding in the manual.) And, by the way, I should've got the shipment yesterday by FedEx. But they'll send out another.

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to fire off a nasty review on Amazon, but first I lube the 'mill up and...a package from Amazon arrives. It contains the exact thing I ordered.

Light bulb goes on.

Oh, right. The "crappy lube" must've come from the company. (I didn't receive the package and it wasn't in a FedEx envelope.)

Called Sole back, apologized for being an idiot. Life goes on.

Treadmill Desk, Week 8

Friday: 190 minutes

I suspect we'll have a big week. The water is helping.

Monday: 300 minutes

Got a warning to lubricate the belt. Apparently, you're supposed to do that every 180 hours. But I'm already up to 540 and this is the first time the warning came up. Called Sole and they said if it wasn't making any noise (it's not) there should be no problem. Probably the fact that I've used it at very low speeds helps. They've sent out the lube that should've been in the original packaging.

Tuesday: 210 minutes

Another trip to the doc for The Boy, but she seemed pleased with his progress. We're not scheduled again for two weeks.

Wednesday: 150 minutes

Well, maybe not such a big week after all.

Thursday: 390 minutes

Not quite 21 hours. I was a bit derailed by The Boy's illness. Fortunately, he's mostly through it now.

Treadmill Desk, Week 7

Friday: 210 minutes

Gonna be a light week, I suspect. Three-day weekend, more diabetic stuff on Tuesday, but I'll see if I can't do eight hours on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday: 200 minutes

Wednesday: 310 minutes

Gonna take 8 hours on Thursday to get to 20 hours this week....

Thursday: 370 minutes

Not quite. 1090 minutes which is...18 hours? Not too bad for the 3-day weekend. Been a productive work week, too.

Treadmill Desk, Week 6

Friday: 260 minutes

I've ended up taking the weekends off lately due to various paternal responsibilities. This, and the fact that I have more such responsibilities this week likely to cut into treadmill time will probably lead to a lower overall hour count, unless I can get in some eight-hour days.

Monday: 315 minutes

Tuesday: 18 minutes

Wednesday: 195 minutes so far....

Thursday: 180 minutes

968 minutes. Only about 16 hours this week, due to Tuesday. And probably the less next week, with the three-day weekend and more diabetes stuff on Tuesday.

Treadmill Desk, Week 5

Friday: Unknown minutes. I'm blanking on Friday for some reason.

UPDATE: Friday: 360 minutes. (I remember now that I made a point of going six hours, up from five on Thursday.)

Took the weekend off.

Monday: 140 minutes

It was a work day but I put in a couple hours afterward.

Tuesday: 330 minutes

Wednesday: 320 minutes

Thursday: 260 minutes

Total: 1410 minutes

23 1/2 hours, a bit shy of my 25 hour goal. Next week's looking busy, away from the treadmill, but we'll see how it goes.

Treadmill Desk, Week 4

Friday: 280 minutes

Saturday: 60 minutes

Tuesday: 360 minutes

This morning I was feeling pretty agile, just minor foot pain. I decided to put it to the test by going for six hours straight, which went pretty well, though I'm a bit stiff now. Still, it's good to make progress.

Wednesday: 210 minutes

Thursday: 300 minutes

So...lesseee....1210 minutes. 20 hours. Not quite double last week, but respectable. Let's see if I can't get to 25 next week.

Treadmill Desk, Week 3

Taking care of the ill this week so not much time on the ol' treadmill.

Tuesday: 200 minutes
Wednesday: 200 minutes
Thursday: 320 minutes

So...12 hours, which isn't that bad for only three days. I think I can probably double that this week barring ... barriers.

Treadmill Desk, Redux

Darcy asked what benefits I've gained from doing the treadmill.

It's a little hard to describe without explaining where I was (which in turn leads to how I got there, where I've been--my whole life story!), and it's not very dramatic, but here goes:

• Stronger legs. Sort of in the "duh" category, but, yeah, lots of leg strength, speed, endurance, etc. The eight hours at Knott's last Halloween went by really easy, for example.
  
• Overall improved mobility. For me, the negative effect of doing 5-8 hours a day several days in a row is that my lower back tends to tighten up. Despite this, my mobility has improved, but I've found it's really helpful to add some other exercises (the Wii Fit, e.g. or some ab exercises).
• I stay awake. Sounds odd, but it's not hard to get so comfortable and so ergonomic at your desk, that a bad night-before can turn into falling asleep at the desk. It definitely raises your alertness level.
  
• I have lost a little weight, though not much. In theory, if I get back to the 30-40 hours, I should start losing some weight--that's when I lost the 5-ish pounds I did lose--but that's not really the point.
• The main thing is feeling generally better. My theory (expounded upon in previous posts) is that bodies were meant to be moving.
  

I'm probably forgetting plenty of stuff, but this is the stuff that comes to mind.

Treadmill Desk, Year 1, Week 2

Friday: 60 minutes
Monday: 30 minutes
Tuesday: 210 minutes

Feet hurt today. I think because I'm cranking up the speed. Gonna crank it back down and try for more time....

Wednesday: 270 minutes

I never mention how much I actually walk not on the treadmill. Anyway, I put the speed back down to .5 and I think that helped.

Thursday: 270 minutes

So...840 minutes....14 hours. (And about 4-5 hours of non-treadmill walking.) Not bad. It's not leg weakness that stops me anymore, it's just weird aches, pains and numbness. That stuff all seems to be subsiding, though.

I'm not going to push it. That's how I got into trouble in the first place.

Treadmill Desk, Year 1, Week 1

I figure to keep doing my weekly logs (that vanished over the holiday season). Last year would be "year zero". And by resetting yearly, I never have to count over 53....

I can't really do a "treadmill desk blog" because, well, there's nothing to say. Maybe I'll post pictures of my knotty calf muscles.

Friday: 180 minutes

Monday: 270 minutes

Tuesday: 100 minutes.

We had some duct work going on today so not much time on the treadmill. There's now a vent on the ceiling about five feet behind me that should come in handy in the summer.

Wednesday: 240 minutes.

Thursday: 270 minutes.

Total: 1,060 minutes or 17 2/3rds hours, which is the most I've done since the holidays. I did boost up the speed to .7 mph, though. I'm weraing shoes all the time now, at least until I feel like my feet have fully recovered.

Not bad. I guess the odds are against me keeping this up for another six months. Heh.

Treadmill Desk, Week 18

Friday: 213 minutes

This whole "active lifestyle" thing is starting to take shape. A lot of people don't like exercise, but I do. I just get into bad habits and chained to my computers. For me the discipline isn't the working out, but the stopping working.

Treadmill Desk, Weeks 16 & 17

I haven't posted much on my treadmill desk lately because I've cut back over the past few weeks, first to curb foot pain and then just because of the holidays. I've probably only done in the 10-15 hour a week range.

For the most part this hasn't had any negative effects. I'm getting more agile. The recurring problem I have is that once I get on the treadmill it's easy to overdo. I wasn't home for most of today, yet I still ended up doing about three-and-a-half hours. I probably should have stopped an hour sooner.

I've been doing more of the Wii Fit, too. Although it works the legs heavily, it does so in an entirely different way, with subtle controlled movements. It reminds me of Callanetics. It does matter, though, if I do a long day on the treadmill. It's harder to do those subtle, controlled movements after seven hours on a treadmill.

The Boy and I are starting weightlifting this week, too. I've heard that's very good for blood sugar.

Treadmill Desk, weeks 14 & 15

I decided around week 13 to take it easy and see if my feet would recover from the previous several months of abuse. They did, but they were quick to remind me of their feelings on the whole 30+-hours-a-week of walking when I started up again, so I opted to get some shoes.

So, a couple hours later and a $117 (!) poorer, I'm now back in business.

As a side note, we've been doing a lot the Wii Fit around here, too, and it's interesting to me how little the walking helps as far as doing Wii Fit games and exercises. If anything, I'm weaker after doing 4-8 hours of walking. Presumably that will change. (Or I'll just continue deteriorating unto my untimely death.)

I think Jack LaLanne said that exercising was supposed to be a pain in the ass. He also says you're supposed to exercise them all, every day, but there's no agreement on how many there are, apparently--estimates range from the 600s to the 800s--so I don't know how you're supposed to do that. It's darkly amusing that you could miss exercising the 798th muscle and end up plummeting to your death or having a fatal fibrulomantosis because you missed one tiny muscle.

Treadmill Desk, Week 13

Friday: 123 minutes

Saturday: 170 minutes

Sunday: 83 minutes

Monday: 100 minutes

Tuesday: 157 minutes

Wednesday: 300 minutes

Thursday: 92 minutes

1025 minutes. I backed off a bit because of foot pain. I'm getting a lot fewer incidents like this, but I may break down and buy some real shoes...