The Den

A few known facts, realizations, admissions, and observations have lately come together and prompted me to make what might to some be an unexpected purchase. Firstly, since moving to the Bay Area, I don't get enough exersize. Over the 5 years I've been here I've put on too many pounds. Well, most of them were put on in the first 2 years - I've been pretty stable since then. But still, I'm heavier now than I've been since I came back from NZ in 1985, and least healthy, and I can feel it, and I don't like it.

Secondly, I'm facing up to the fact that I'm just NOT going to regularly use the gym at work. I've had access to free gyms most of my adult life, and I've never been a frequent user. That's partly due to the extra 'going-out-of-my-way' hassle of doing so, carrying extra clothes around, fitting it into a schedule, etc. Its also partly self-consciousness about being big, hairy, and sweaty (even when I'm in shape) :-/ While I don't dislike the activity of working out on a machine, I don't particularly enjoy it the way I enjoy biking outdoors, so there's no motivation to overcome those roadblocks. Such is reality, time to accept it and work with it.

Thirdly, I don't cycle as much here as I did in Portland, and I probably won't. Or at least, I  shouldn't count on doing so as a way to get back in shape - that's just a way to procrastinate.  I still cycle to work most days, but thats only 15 minutes each way, which isn't enough. I still do go out on longer rides on the weekends when the weather's nice, but not as often as I used to. And, I don't enjoy it as much - the east bay is too crowded and the traffic is too unpleasant. More pleasant rides require either biking over the Berkeley Hills first, before starting, or taking BART, or *shudder* driving somewhere with my bike to get to open roads. I do all those things, but I recognize that they're a factor in my decreased cycling.

Forth, while the dietary changes I've made in the last year have been good, and sustainable, they just aren't enough. As I'm getting older, my always slow and conservative metabolism is getting even slower! The dietary changes I'm referring to are basically trying to almost eliminate starches and sugars. While this may be "low carb" thats not how I'm thinking about it, nor am I being uber-strict about it. It basically means that the percentage of my intake made of veggies is higher than before, and the overall calorie count is the same or lower. I'm also cooking for myself a lot more than I had been.  I'm still allowing myself to drink micro & homebrewed beer, which is the only large source of carbs. And, when there are special occasions, I'll eat whatever I feel like.  (The key is to ensure that such occasions are just that; occasional)

I started this tactic last summer and it was very successful. I felt better, had more energy, and started slowly losing some weight. Most importantly it was sustainable and I had no problems staying with it for months. Then the holidays came around, as they tend to every winter. The "festive period" combined with winter darkness, and various depressions, the disney trip,  etc, all came together and I pretty much ate freely for over 2 months. The way that made me feel physically worse was another indicator of how well it  had been working.

One scarey thing is that, even when I'm eating "unhealthily", I'm still eating healthier foods than most Americans. Or at least so I'm led to believe by such books as "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (highly recommended.. go read it soon if you haven't). I could be better about buying more organic and local, but I buy nearly zero pre-processsed foods or junk foods, I've always bought lots of fresh veggies, I often cook. Most everything I eat would be recognizable as food to my great-grandmother. I don't drink sodas or other sweet drinks.  But, in order to take off weight without spending 6 hrs a day doing physical activity, I need to eat *very* little, and thats tough.

And of course, being out of shape is a self-compounding situation. Less in-shape means slower metabolism, which means less energy, which means less inspiration and motivation,  which means less activity, which means more depressive moods, which means more unhealthy eating, etc. etc. etc.  Talk about vicious cycles.

Fifthly, last year my sister got an elliptical trainer at home and started using it regularly. And its been working, the results have been obvious and she's been getting into better shape than she's been in for years.

So, adding all that together and taking inspiration from Sarah, I decided to get myself an elliptical trainer also. Having something like that in my house, I'll be much more likely to use it than I would going to the gym - no self-conciousness, no out-of-the-way hassle.. its right there, I can hop on it anytime, and even fifteen minutes at a time on the thing is useful. Plus, spending the money on a decent one is yet another motivation to use it - the thought of dropping that kind of cash and then NOT using it just feels unacceptable and horribly wasteful.

Shopping around for one isn't easy - they range in price from about $300 to $5000! It quickly became obvious that in order to get something capable of holding my weight, (and not falling apart in a few months) I'd have to spend over $1000.  Also, my house isn't huge and figuring out where to put one took some thinking. Most ellipticals are pretty long, between 6 and 8 feet, but there are some compact ones that are made with smaller dwellings in mind. I ended up getting the one in the picture above - it's the "CE" model from Smooth Fitness. It's just under five feet long, can hold someone up to 330lbs (fortunately I'm nowhere near that yet!) and has a 48lb flywheel which gives it a very smooth ride.

It arrived two days ago, and once I got it assembled, I started using it right away. I very quickly noticed that the primary muscles worked by this thing are NOT the muscles used in cycling!  Man, I felt the burn immediately. Since then I've done 5 short sessions on it, only 10-25 minutes.  For the next week or three, I'll keep it to a couple of short rides like that a day - I need to let those muscles adjust to being worked regularly, and just get used to the thing. Once I'm there, I'll probably try to stay at 2 shorter sessions of 20-30min  a day if possible, or at least one med. length if I can't do two. I'm not gonna stress if I miss a day here and there, but I think having it right there, and in the privacy of home, it'll be pretty easy to get into a routine with it.

So, now that nicer spring weather is here, and summer weather is coming, I'll be outdoors more again, biking and hiking, and combined with regular rides on the elliptical, I should be able to fit more comfortably into some of my older clothes once again. That'll be a good feeling.