Month: January 2016

Change…

2016 is certainly becoming a year of change. First this challenge to myself and all the steps I am taking and now also changing jobs.

Before I get into some thought though I want to acknowledge my first official followers on WordPress. So Thank you to Tony and Joelle for following me. I ask people that read my posts from Facebook or Twitter to also check out some of their great posts.

http://www.tonyscoastalwalk.co.uk               www.walkwithjoelle.com

I think this quote that is in the first picture is probably the way that I felt when I initially decided to do this challenge. 6 weeks ago I was at the point in my life where my depressive demons were certainly pushing me. Also the depression over what I had gone through with surgery and now not loosing weight was very heavy on my mind. I might not be seeing the weight loss but I am certainly seeing the change in my overall activity level. If you told me 4 months ago that I would be walking nearly 4 miles every day as exercise I might have told you that you were crazy and thinking of the wrong man.

I might have also thought you were crazy if you said that I would be leaving a job that I have been at for 13 + years. But I am….After 13 + years 33 % of my entire life to date I have worked for the same mental health agency in West Seneca NY. Now I only have 5 days left before starting over fresh in another area of Occupational Therapy. This area I have not been involved in since my first professional job as an Occupational Therapist back in 2000-2001. Needless to say the butterflies and thoughts race through my head daily. But as they say change is inevitable……

02-12-15-embrace-change

 

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19 Lbs of Fat??

I have recently been a little down. Despite all my walking I have seemed to have no recent change in my weight. Actually I have had a slight increase. I was down 7 lbs. then back up 3. Last week when my wife had her surgery and I was talking to him he suggested to come in to see if my fat% had changed. Well according to their scales I have actually had a 5.2% decrease in my fat %.  So here are the numbers.

On 12-15-15  – I weighed 369.9 and had a body fat % of 53.6%

On 1-25-16 – I weighed 366.9 and had a body fat % of 48.4%

So by my math then (366.9 x 53.6= 196.7 / 366.9 x 48.4= 177.6) So if you minus the numbers 196.7-177.6=19.1 lbs of fat that I have converted to lean muscle. So despite only a 3 lb weight loss over these two dates I have lost 19 lbs of fat and converted it to muscle…. Although it does not feel as good as loosing lbs I should be happy.

Thanks for reading… Rob

 

Weekly update / Followers..

Well looking back over the last couple of weeks I would say I am doing about 50% with my challenge. Some of you whom are reading might say that is very low considering all the steps I have taken. But part of what I set out to do with this challenge and blog was to… “blog and gain some followers and possibly help other people”. So far I am failing on the regular blogging and getting followers. My posts have been erratic and some might say lack quality.

So coming up on the final week of January, I have three goals this week. #1 is to end the month strong to ensure I get my average step count up closer to 11,000 per day. (I am only at 9,700 average) #2 is to try and spend more time trying to gain followers. #3 is to do at least 3 quality posts during the week.

So for those whom like numbers here are my step counts..

Total Steps to date – 233,552    Average steps 9,731        3.89% of Challenge complete

1/1/2016 9,821
1/2/2016 12,875
1/3/2016 9,201
1/4/2016 12,574
1/5/2016 10,354
1/6/2016 8,898
1/7/2016 12,029
1/8/2016 7,650
1/9/2016 8,862
1/10/2016 2,704
1/11/2016 6,067
1/12/2016 13,934
1/13/2016 12,574
1/14/2016 13,046
1/15/2016 11,245
1/16/2016 11,290
1/17/2016 3,962
1/18/2016 3,151
1/19/2016 12,601
1/20/2016 11,405
1/21/2016 10,277
1/22/2016 11,338
1/23/2016 7,694
1/24/2016  10,000+… day not over yet..

As always thanks for reading… Rob

Determination..

Despite having a bad weekend of walking, I have had DETERMINATION. This picture was determination yesterday when I walked 2 miles in lake effect snow. I actually walked in the snow earlier in the day for a mile then this picture later at 8pm.

I have rebounded nicely from the weekend low step counts to put up three 12,000+ step days. Determination is something that at times might waver but true determination will conquer. Although I am only 14 days into this challenge I believe in my determination and believe I can succeed. Determination has also helped me loose 7 lbs in the first 13 days of the year.

What do you need more DETERMINATION to do?? Think about it, I would love to hear your comments..

Rob

Weekly Update…

Well I haven’t posted the last couple of days as I have been very preoccupied with thought. I hope people have been doing well with keeping their new years resolutions. I have been preoccupied because after 14 years at the same place of employment I was offered a job somewhere else. I am seriously thinking of changing jobs as this is an amazing offer. It has been VERY stressful trying to think of all the PROS and CONS to make a decision. This has been coupled with some increased foot pain, worry about my wife whom is having surgery in a little more then a week, and all the other things life throws at us. As such, my step count will has completely sucked the last few days and put me farther behind my goal. Today has been a rest day that has been under 5,000 steps.  Now the weather is getting bad this week too… ugh.

So for those of you who like number and wanting to know where I am, here is all the info for the fist 9 days of this challenge.

  • Jan 1 – 9,821
  • Jan 2 – 12,875
  • Jan 3 – 9,201
  • Jan 4 – 12,574
  • Jan 5 – 10,354
  • Jan 6 – 8,898
  • Jan 7 – 12,029
  • Jan 8 – 7,650
  • Jan 9 – 8,862
  • Total – 92,264 / Average 10,252
  • % of 6 Million Goal 1.54%

I truly hope that this slowdown of this weekend I can recover from during the week. To all my Munzee friends remember about the special double points next weekend. I hope everyone has a good week!!!

Thanks for reading.

Rob

Happy Thursday…

OOPS.. Forgot to post the other day.Overall have been good. With being back to work and trying to get in steps I have forgot about posting. As you can see from the picture I have been doing OK with getting in steps and trying to get my daily average to about 11,000 steps during the month of January.

One thing that is becoming more and more apparent is that I will have to really work on getting my steps up into the 20,000 step range for the summer so that I can make up the ground I am loosing right now and next fall into winter. Currently it is taking walking during my lunch and at least an hour at night to get to the 9-10,000 step range. This means that by summer I will need to be walking about 2-3 hrs out of my day!!!

Nothing else interesting really to say today… Hope everyone is having a good first week of 2016… 7 days in 359 days to go.

Thanks for reading Rob.

 

Yesterday’s steps…Pain..

image

Well the hour at the gym on the treadmill helped me get a 12,000 step day. Hooray!! My boss asked me ” if I have any pain with all the walking?” Yes,  I do have some pain but haven’t wanted to blog about it. But for those wondering I have had two small blisters, and right ankle and foot pain. I view it this way, any physical challenge will have pain and if you start focusing on the pain you have more potential to fail. So I am pushing through…and of course medicating as needed.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Baby it’s Cold Outside

First day back to work…Ugh. Hey it is also freezing outside!! Yesterday’s step count wasn’t bad at 9,201. Today though with this cold and being back to work getting steps means going to the gym. With work and even a quick lunchtime walk my step count is only 4,000 steps. World Gym here I come…One treadmill, 60 min, 3 to 3.5 mph please.

Step Counts Jan 1-2

Well the first two days of this challenge has been cold but I braved it and did some walking around town vs going to the gym. The picture is of the one walking path by my home that will be getting lots of use with this challenge. I was the first person to walk on it in the snow today.  I put up some pretty good step numbers by going for a walk to get a few Geocaches that I have not gotten before.

  • Jan 1st – 9,821 steps – Geocaches GC67AD3, GC62A2C
  • Jan 2nd – 12,875 steps – Geocaches GC50PYK, GC3XH8G

I haven’t done much Geocaching the last couple of years but think that getting back into the habit a little more will be extremely helpful at keeping my walks varied.

Hope everyone has a good first weekend of the new year and has done something fun.

Thanks for reading.

Rob