February’s Goal

After January’s experiment I have recognized a couple of new things that are not working the way I need them too.

• My exercise regimen is not working for weight loss.  Walking for 1 – 2 hours a day and yoga a couple times a week is great but it is not giving me weight loss.

• I need to compress my workout to a shorter amount of time.  I don’t have a lot of time but need a higher return on my investment.  I have worked out for up to two hours per day several days per week

• I still need to take the time to walk with Blaze, he will be 12 yrs old in April.  In January he had his annual check up and got a good bill of health.  I believe walking a mile every day has helped him avoid problems that a lot of older dogs have.

• I feel less effective than I could be at work.  I think some of this is caused by habits established when I was tired most of the time.

• My work / life balance seems a little out of balance at the current time.  Right now it feels like I have a lot of personal stuff on my to do list that is neglected.  My work to do list seems very lightweight right now; I need to plan out my work better so that I can get focus better on both issues.

• I have made great progress but need to get the next level of benefit. In 2007 I weighed 229lbs with 32% body fat. This means I had about 156lbs of lean muscle; I have increased my lean muscle to 168lbs in the last year.

To address the issues I identified above I will need to work on creating a few new habits and routines.

• I will start interval training to increase my metabolism. Interval training is a different way to workout. I will increase the intensity of my workout to the maximum I can output for a few minutes, continue with my workout at a much lower intensity.   I will repeat this for 4 – 10 reps to start with and see what feels right.  Several studies have shown interval training creates more muscle mass and improves metabolic function.  Since this workout will have a much higher intensity I will be able to work out less and achieve more.

• I will continue to monitor my weight and body fat and food intake.  I will also continue to take a snack everyday to work.

• I will need focus on getting my work tasks flushed out and getting into balance.  Looking for the best way to execute all my tasks.  My work will be changing a lot over the next few weeks.   So there will be new challenges in this area.