ChrisComedy's Journal, 07 July 2014

I've been losing muscle mass, partly due to aging, partly due to a sedentary lifestyle: too much time spent behind a desk and in front of a TV. The first clue was when it got harder and harder to carry my bike upstairs. For years, the only real exercise I got was several bike rides a week. I got serious about fitness four months ago. I switched to a standing desk, which had the unforeseen effect of aggravating my plantar fasciitis/flat feet. It doesn't help that I have a bunion. I bought a stepper machine and a stationary bike. I started doing Pilates and lifting dumbbells. That seems to stem the tide for a while.

However, around the same time, I stopped biking to open mics as much as I used to because my last bike rusted out from riding in the rain and/or getting rained on at my destination. I decided to go only when there wasn't any chance of rain. Unfortunately, that coincided with the rainy season. I thought I could get by with an hour or two a day on a stationary bike while watching tv. Truth to tell, the cheap stationary bike didn't give me as much of a workout as regular biking - not as much resistance.

I had been using the stepper but I stopped doing that because it was pretty boring and it really was a workout, as opposed to the stationary bike, which was tiring. However, I doubt I hit the heart rate required to get a cardio benefit with the stationary bike. I don't like green eggs and ham and I don't like the stepper.

The good news is that I now have a standing desk set up where that I can drag the stepper in front of it and watch Netflix while stepping. I plan to ease back into it with ten minutes a day and eventually work my way up to 30 to 60 minutes a day (Livestrong's recommendation). The goal is high intensity training where I reach 80 percent of my heart rate. I have a fitness watch that measures heart rate.

After four months of Pilates where I gradually increased my exercise time from a half hour to an hour, I'm more toned, although that could also be attributed to weight loss, and more flexible. However, I've still lost some strength in my legs. I also wonder if I'm plateauing because I'm doing the same exercises over and over again or I'm doing them incorrectly. A lot of this version of Pilates is leg lifts.

I've decided to change over to a Harvard Medical booklet program on gentle core exercises, partly because there's more variety involved, partly because Pilates is a 90-year-old tradition whereas the Harvard booklet incorporates the latest research in exercise, and partly because the program has measurable benchmarks. The only benchmark with Pilates on the Mat is physical measurements. I'm still going to stick to an hour a day.

I'm in the first week of the second month of my three-month whole body dumbbell program. I'm going to finish that up and then I may switch to a program derived from a book on weight lifting for 50+. The program I'm doing now is more for straight-up body builders.

I don't want to change too many things at once but I really want to get the strength in my legs back. Some other possibilities are moving the tv to the standing desk so that I watch the tv while standing. Another possibility would be to step up my biking outdoors but I feel the stepper machine offers more resistance and targets the areas I want to strengthen: glutes, quads, thighs, and calves.

Part of this is throwing stuff against the wall to see if it sticks. Sooner or later, I hope to come up with the combination that works. I just got some ankle weights but opinion in the fitness community is divided on whether they're beneficial. Negatives include throwing off your balance (don't need that) and wear and tear on your ankles. I may try them with the stationary cycle where balance isn't issue. I want to remind myself that I didn't get out-of-shape overnight and I won't get back into shape overnight.

The good news is that I've lost 20 pounds of visceral fat, down from my high of 172, and I'm holding. The bad news is that I've got a least 10 pounds more to go.

This longer than my usual entry, sort of a summing up. Thanks for everyone's support.

156.5 lb Lost so far: 7.7 lb.    Still to go: 26.5 lb.    Diet followed reasonably well.