My Committment

You may recall in the past I've talked about my reasons for wanting to get into shape.

My primary reason was so that I wanted to be able to set a good example for my daughter after she was worn. I made a promise to myself and to her that she would not be born with a "fat dad".

You may have also noticed I've been abscent from posting for a while...

My daughter was born on April 14th 2005.
It was on that same day I was to learn a loss like no other.
My precious baby girl passed away 7 hour later.

Please visit my wife's blog to read the letter and see the pictures.

I'd like to think I was able to keep my promise to my daughter and my committment to my physical health is strengthened even more because I still have the responsibility to my baby girl even though I can no longer hold her in my arms.

Daddy's gonna make you so proud of him baby Ava!

Bowflex, not coffee for breakfast

I've talked about it several times. I do love my Bowflex!!

I don't think there's anything inherently special about it really. It's a workout machine like so many other workout machines.

If there's a difference, to me, it's their advertising. I find it helps keep me motivated!! You can buy a lot of exercise equipment and it's up to you to keep using it (like my treadmill which although I continue to use faithfully i'm not nearly as enthusiastic about it as I am about the Bowflex).

Normally I don't like advertising that gets in your head. However, this is probably the one exception to that rule because it helps me keep using it.

My routine, by the way, takes me about an hour every other day. I do arms, chest, back, legs all pretty thoroughly doing 2 to 3 sets of 15 reps on each (for 4 weeks) then 2 to 3 sets of 12 reps for 4 weeks.

I know everyone has a different routine but I got my "startup" routine from the Men's Health web site. I found it to be quite good at getting me going. I still use variations of it but I've added a lot more exercises to it to keep me going.

Anyway, Bowflex for Breakfast is a great way to not need morning coffee too.

Oh, by the way, I've saved over 40 dollars so far by riding my bike instead of taking my car to the train station. And, as an added bonus, "demand" on gas has gone down (since I'm not using it). Maybe if a just a few more people rode their bike gas prices could start to get down to more reasonable levels again.

And, finally, I can feel like I'm doing some good in fighting air pollution (yeah...pretty cheeze but I'll take it).

My pants are too big

It's really surprising to me how quickly my body has begun changing shape. It's only been about 12 weeks since I started using the bowflex and, low and behold, I need a belt for every pair of pants I own!

It wasn't that long ago, I recall, these same pants were getting tighter.

So far, almost 3 inches on my wasteline have fallen off. Which is astonishing to me. I really didn't expect that to happen!!

Trouble spot is still my mid section...spare tire syndrome (hence why I don't show pictures of that general area).

If anybody is interested I'll post my actual routine.

Oh, I'm thinking of building some workout software. If anybody has any suggestions on what should go in it I'd be happy to listen.

New Schedules

Last night I did 40 minutes on the treadmill why? Because today is the first day Karla (my lovely wife) did not go into Toronto with me to work. She has started her maternity leave at work and we are about 2.5 to 3 weeks away from baby's arrival.

So, this meant I needed to re-arrange my workout schedule slightly.

Last night I did treadmill so I could do half of my Bowflex this morning. This allowed me to leave about 15 minutes early so I could ride my bike to the train station.

Tonight, I rode my bike home, and will finish my bowflex routine. Tomorrow morning is back to treadmill.

WOW. A year ago I don't think I could have handled this much physical activity.

Weekend

Friday:

Friday morning I ate a bagel for breakfast but then, when I got to work, my boss asked me to go out with him for breakfast. I can't really say "No, I ate a bagel already."

So, I ended up having bacon and eggs with him but skipped lunch to try and make up for it.

Then, for dinner Little Ceasars had a deal on. 1 pizza for 5 bucks! I can't buy a frozen Kraft pizza for less thank 7. DONE

Bacon: bad
2 Breakfasts: bad
Pizza for dinner: BAD

Saturday

Saturday for breakfast and lunch was ok and I did my long Bowflex routine and rode my bike home from Canadian Tire.

Then, Karla and I went out for dinner at Boston Pizza. I had chicken Parmigan and french fries.

We made banana muffins. I ate 2. But they are super low fat (1 gram of fat per muffin and a good source of fibre) and so tasty. I think these things should be considered FRUIT.

Breakfast & Lunch: Good
Dinner: BAD
Excercise: A+
Snack: B-

Hail from Hell

I picked up my bike yesterday from Crappy Tire. Of course I knew it wouldn't fit in the car (especially now that we've got a baby car seat so the back seat can't go down).

Anyway, to make a long story short, since the weather had been nice for almost 2 weeks straight I figured yesterday would be an OK day to drive my bike home from the store.

Let me begin by saying I haven't ridden a bike since about the 8th Grade so I was a little bit apprehensive about it but I trusted the saying about never forgetting how to ride a bike.

I look out the window yesterday morning and what do I see? Wet snow! I flip on the Weather Channel. What are they calling for? Rain all weekend. Might as well get it now I figure.

I head out with my wife, get the bike and start riding home (yes the saying is true. I took me less than one second to remember how to ride) and then the hail starts. A chunk of hail in the face doesn't tickle!!

Maid it home in record time though. Only about 10 minutes slower than my wife who was driving. Pretty amazing!!

Considering that gas was up to .90/litre I think I'll be taking my bike more places than ever. The thing will pay for itself in no time.