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Getting Fit

Ok, since there’s so little going in Canada, I though a more personal entry would be interesting.  Last summer my weight ballooned (literally) to 143kg (don’t even want to think what that was in pounds).  Anyway, I took a decision that this time I would get serious about the weight loss!

On August 1, 2010 my objective was to loose 44kg (96.5 lb).  For those serious about permanent weight loss, the maximum you can lose (as a man) is about 2kg per week, beyond that you run risk of major health issues.  You also have to be realistic.  Some weeks you will loose more and some less.  My doctor, yeah I know its sounds lame but when you target this kind of weight loss you really need a third party involved, says that the trick is to not think of the deviation as anything as something that happened (don’t make a mountain out of a molehill).  As of last week my blood pressure is around 110/78 and my heart rate at rest is 59.

As of November 15, 2010 I’m down to 125.8kg, or 17kg, my actual weigh loss has been lower than optimal but its difficult to stay on track, there are special events that get in the way, and the occasional relapse.  


Another part of the process is training.  Several of my colleagues are sports nuts, bicycles feature heavily in these conversations (costing upward of $7,000), but generally they follow very regimented exercise programs.  When I started running (treadmill and running tracks only for me) I could do about 2km, at a 7.5km/h pace.  Last Thursday I hit 5km in 30 minutes or a pace of 10km/h.  That’s a huge improvement (clearly loosing 17kg makes it easier).  I was really impressed with myself, although I have no pretensions:  the winner of the New York marathon averaged a speed of 20km/h – or twice as fast and kept it for 2 hours 9 minutes.  I can now run at 10km/h almost indefinitely (although I’ve not tried to run more than 9km in one go).

So this is my personal Mount Everest, will I succeed I reach my 99kg target?  I have no idea.  One thing for sure that my target date of February 1, 2011 is out the window.  I think that a more realistic end date is March 31, 2011.  So basically 5 months to go.


Yeah!

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