Because I'm Still Stupid...

[LongSlowBurn]

Hey! Where'd the Hive go?
...
Oh, there it is.

So I used to post a Check In Log here a while back, but I started getting really hit and miss on whether or not I'd complete a program. Well, after putting weight back on, missing workout after workout (for multiple reasons), then getting COVID, I decided that it's time to get back in the game. Gonna have to undo some of the damage that the plague did to my lungs, plus my shirts are getting tighter (and not in a good way). So... off I go.

My overall plan worked okay last time, so here I go again. The basic idea is Calories In vs Calories Out. That doesn't work for some people, but it appeals to my ruthless attention to detail and background in physical sciences. I track Calories Out with a Fitbit, linked to the app on my smartphone. I track Calories In on the same app in order to simplify recordkeeping. I use a Fitbit Aria Scale to track weight and body fat percentage, which the scale supposedly can do. I know that bioelectric impedance machines can be spotty when it comes to accuracy, so I might not know if I'm actually at 25.5% BF, but the important thing is change over time. So if I'm off by a percentage point or three, that's not important as long as I'm consistantly off by that percentage. And I'll certainly know it's working if my shirts get less tight.

To the Workouts!

Day 1, April 1st: Was a little confused on my actual plan, but this is what I went with.

Cardio Step. I wanted a cardio workout at Level 2 that didn't involve jumping jacks, since I live in an apartment. Completed the workout at Level 3, so I guess my cardio isn't in that bad of shape.
Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 1. Surprised this didn't give me too much trouble. I have bad knees.
60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 1. I was going to wait until Sunday to do this so that the 90 minute walks fell on a Saturday, but I conviently found myself near a 2.5 mile walking path. I also realized that I'd be fairly close to this path every Friday when I get off work. So... guess I'm starting it today. Distance 3.43 miles (most of the way there, then back), duration 61 minutes. Not 100% non-stop, but none of my stops really counted as rests (was that a sea lion I heard?).

Calories Burned: 1138. Crap. I recommend that Cardio Step workout!

April 2nd: Okay, now we're on.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 2. Pretty straight forward walk around the neighborhood. 2.38 miles, 46 minutes duration. The ending took some turns to get extra time, so I'll have to plan that out better.
Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 2. Easy. I used a calf extension machine in a weight lifting class years ago and had to ask if I was doing it right, as I had 500 lbs on my shoulders and still doing 20 reps. Guess I got strong calfs...
Unbound Program. Completed Day 1. Building tendons and flexibility sounds like a positive to me.

Calories Burned: 727. Definitely a lighter day without the cardio workout. Still, this seems like a good pattern for now.

Well... I guess I'm back!

 

[Fremen]

Welcome back

 

[aku-chan]

 

[BetaCorvi]

Welcome back to the hive!

 

[Tileenah]

 

[Nihopaloa]

Ah, another returnee to the fold
Welcome back, good luck getting back into the swing of things!

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Hi @Fremen , @aku-chan , @BetaCorvi , @Tileenah , and @Nihopaloa ! It's great to be back! Provided my body survives it.

April 3rd

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 3. Took a different path around the neighborhood and wound up fiddling around to fill out the full 45 minutes. Still, I managed not to get rained on, so that's a bonus. Yesterday, I got hit with a light sprinkle. The day before that, a light sprinkle... and a touch of hail. Distance: 2.54 miles, Duration: 47 minutes. Completed Part 2 at Level 3, mostly by pacing around my apartment. If the weather clears up properly, I might do this part at a nearby park.
Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 3. Less easy. After the 45 minute walk and the squats, lunges were not a whole ton of fun.
Unbound Program. Completed Day 2. Man, I'm glad that was upper body. Still, 2 minutes of arm circles is a lot more than I was banking on.

I feel like I should add in some push-ups and sit ups for general fitness. I'll look in to that.

Calories Out: 3734
Calories In: 2845
Deficit: 889

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 4th

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 4. "Well, it's another 45 minute walk day, so let's go around my basic path with this first part taken off to cut the time!" <walk, walk, walk> "Hmm, 25 minutes in, maybe I should grab my phone and see what the second half of the workout is!" <tap, tap, tap> "Oh.... oh. It's a 60 minute walk. Well. That's what I get."
Duration: 1 hr, 6 minutes, minus whatever I spent when I stopped to tie my shoelace.
Distance: 3.46 miles, right past some graffiti on National Park Service information signs. Doesn't matter how righteous your cause, that's going to annoy me into not listening to you.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 4. Calf raises, no problem. Considering puting some dumbbells on my shoulders for this.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 3. Not going to lie, some of the stretches are a little difficult for me to figure out what I'm supposed to do. Number 3 today, sme as number 5 on Day 1, had that. Squat with one leg extended?

Calories Out: 4,004
Calories In: 2,897
Deficit: 1,107
Not really sure how I managed that. I was sure my calorie target was dead in the water when those chocolate chunk cookies showed up in the break room at work...

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 5th

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 5. Basic circut around the neighborhood. 1 lap is half a mile, so around 5 laps should do the trick.
Duration: 46 minutes. Shoelace tying doesn't count.
Distance: 2.59 miles. Yup, 5 laps, plus a bit of extra.
Part 2 completed at Level 3. No problems.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 5. Huh. There's a die rolling button I didn't notice! Let's try that... Okay, lunges are only 30 seconds. My knees are happy with that.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 4. Feels like I definitely need more flexibility in my lower back, thighs, and calfs. Well, it will come eventually.

Calories Out: 3,954
Calories In: 3,281
Deficit: 673.
Not good, but I cleared my target deficit of 750 by a wide margin yesterday, so I'm still okay. And as long as I'm still at a deficit, the fat will still come off.

April 6th

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 6. I should stay close to home today, so I'll stick to the neighborhood circut. Maybe I should check the length... yep, good move. 60 minutes.... <step outside> ...in the rain. Love the PNW!
Duration: 1 hr, 1 minute. I should find new routes, I've got the timing down on these pat.
Distance: 3.42 miles. 6 and a half laps, plus a bit.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 6. Calf raises. Really need those dumbbells.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 5. Hey, core stretches! Also, it only did a single round instead of two. Good for a semi-relaxing night.

Calories Out: 3,484
Calories In: 2,752
Deficit: 732
Not perfect, but better than yesterday.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 7th

Ow... Ow... Ow... I actually have a fairly active job. Duties are really pretty random, but might include rearranging a conference room, checking a whole office building's worth of fire extinguishers, mucking out horse stalls (only done that once in five years, tho), or shovelling fecal matter off of concrete (let's just say... more than once). Today, it was fire extinguishers. Fitbit seemed to think that involved 80 minutes of walking, but that wasn't entirely true. Just a lot of walking, then driving a short distance to a new building, and repeat. So I was doing okay on calories burned and leg exercise before getting off work. That was when the real walking began.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 7. Here we go. 90 minutes. Okay... With a few brief pauses along the way, I completed the walk. Maybe I was stumbling a bit by the end, with a lovely cramp forming in one thigh, but it's done. But at least the view wasn't too bad.





Duration: 94 minutes. My stops may have wiped out the extra 4 minutes, though.
Distance: 4.89 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 7. Almost didn't do this one because "ow", but gotta stay on the challenge. 60 seconds split into two 30 second sets with 30 seconds rest.

Unbound Program. Skipped, because "ow".

Calories Out: 4568 (holy cow!)
Calories In: 3072
Deficit: 1496.
Even with hitting fast food for lunch, the bag of chips in the morning, and a big bowl of ice cream for dinner, still blew my target (750 deficit, btw) out of the water.

April 8th

Okay, takin' it easy today. Couple chores to do, but nothing heavy. Plenty of time to nap, do laundry, then work out.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 8. Basic three mile walk around the local large park and neighborhood. There are a number of inclines on this route, plus a stretch on gravel rather than concrete. So, it's a nice walk in the out of doors. I have a tendancy to slow my pace during the second half, mostly because it leads through an orchard and around a historical site. My body may be in the here and now, but my mind is 200 years away...
Duration: 1 hr, 1 minute.
Distance: 3.44 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 8. Calf raises. This time, I grabbed my 20 lb dumbbells and held them on my shoulders.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 6. Glad for the upper body work.

Edits: Man, I was tired last night. Total fail on editing everything after the word "duration".

Calories Out: 3,246
Calories In: 2,872
Deficit: 374
Normally, that'd be an "Urk!", but with yesterday's total, I'm still good.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 26,194
Total Calories In: 20,023
Total Deficit: 6,171. Good range is 3500 to 7000 calories in order to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, supposedly, with my target at 5250 to lose 1.5 pounds. This total hits at about 1.76 pounds, so I'm doing good!

Total Steps: 127,373. How accurate are these step trackers, anyway? Still... that's a lot of walking.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 9th

Happy Easter! Unless you're not Christian, in which case... Happy Sunday!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 9. Got this done earlier in the day today than normal, because Easter dinner is coming. Hammered it out during a rise period on the bread I baked for the family get together. Part 2: Upper Body waited until after dinner, as I was short on time, but it got done. Level III.

Duration: 46 minutes.
Distance: 2.71 miles. Walking faster, cause I gotta knead that dough!

Dinner time! ... Okay, forgot my kitchen scale, so I don't really know how many calories I ate. Gonna have to wing this a bit...

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 9. Lunges. These really are tough after a walk.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 7. Lower body. And that didn't help.

Calories Out: 3,370
Calories In: 2,580. Winged it and somehow hit my target? Sus.
Deficit: 790.

April 10th

Monday, monday...

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 10. Rain. Like, solid showers the whole walk. I love the look and cut of Columbia Sportswear, but when I really want to stay warm and dry, there's no substitute for a good Carhartt jacket. Completed Part 2 at Level II. My legs just weren't in it.
Duration: 47 minutes.
Distance: 2.56 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 10. Calf raises, with 20 lb dumbbells. No problem.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 8. Finally, upper body!

Calories Out: 3,771
Calories In: 2,482. I think I managed to skip my post-lunch snack here, since I was tied up with work.
Deficit: 1,289. ...I'm gonna fudge my numbers here when the week's up and use the extra deficit here to wipe out whatever extra food I ate on Easter. Seems reasonable.

April 11th

Finally completed a work project I've been fighting for a month! Huzzah!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 11. 60 minute walk, so I took the long route. Nice and dry the whole walk, save for some sprinkles right at the end.
Duration: 1 hr, 5 minutes.
Distance: 3.5 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 11. Lunges. Hurg... I might be overdoing it on the lower body.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 9. Speaking of which... The stretches aren't that bad. Just maybe the lunges after walking so long.

Calories Out: 3,886
Calories In: 3,025
Deficit: 861

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 12th

It's been a couple of days. Barely even remember this Wednesday... I got distracted by a work problem, so tension was running high.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 12. Short walk around, I think I stuck to the neighborhood. Nothing big happened at least. Completed Part 2 at level II. I think I was running late.
Duration: 46 minutes.
Distance: 2.62 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 12. Calf Raises. No sweat. Used 20 pound dumbbells on my shoulders.

Unbound Program. I think I'm going to take a break from this one. I'll start up again on the weekend, then do two a day (at wildly different times), in order to catch back up a ways.

Calories Out: 3,661
Calories In: 2,684
Deficit: 977. Nice... Nice...

April 13th

Alright! Paycheck's here, hit the bank, awesome! Hit the grocery store. Awesome! Back my car out of the parking stall and hear a pop. By the time I reach the gas station, some kind of fluid is cooking off my exhaust manifold and my steering barely works. Well... I'm gonna be distracted now.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day...14. After working out an approach on my car problems, I needed to go back to the store and get some chemicals for the job. So... I'm walking and taking the long route. By the time I was done and back home, 90 minutes had gone by, not counting the brief stops for the toilet and the self checkout machine. That's a day in advance! Plus, I don't think I'm going to have time for a 90 minute walk tomorrow.
Duration: 90 minutes.
Distance: 4.7 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 13. Lunges. Got them done, even with the pain after walking.

Calories Out: 3,932.
Calories In: 2,698.
Deficit: 1,234. With that Calories In, I wouldn't think I'd be hitting my goals. But here we are.

April 14th

Clean the engine bay out a bit, fill the power steering fluid, and test... Yep, power steering has a hose that's blown. Well, at least it's not the pump.

Bicycling: Well, I have to get to and from work somehow. Duration 17 minutes.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 13. Had to go get an Amazon package, so off I go by the long route. Finished up with ten minutes to go, so I added a neighborhood lap. No problems.
Duration: 61 minutes.
Distance: 3.25 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 14. Calf Raises. No weight because I still hurt from walking, plus I was in the middle of cooking dinner.

Calories Out: 3,714.
Calories In: 3,289. Whoops.
Deficit: 425. Still on the good side, plus I think I scored a cheat day with the extra calories burned this week.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 15th

Saturday, and it's the only completely dry day for a while, so here we go. Pull the power steering hoses, drain them out, and get set to replace them whenever the parts get here.
Auto scan on the Fitbit didn't pick it up for some reason, but I biked down to the grocery store and back with goodies for tomorrow's dinner.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 15. Looks like a 60 minute walk, so I run a test of the local neighborhood. Expanding the walk through another local historical sight gives me half an hour, so up that by circling the neighborhood about three times, and I'm good.
Duration: 1 hour, 1 minutes.
Distance: 3.3 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 15. Lunges, which I managed with little difficulty. Knees still aren't happy, but they might not be for a long time with this much walking.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 10. I said I was going to do two a day on the weekends, but it just didn't happen. Too wiped out after the first one.

Calories Out: 3,509.
Calories In: 2,285. Did I miss logging a meal in there?
Deficit: 1,224. Ooo... I get another cheat day!

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 25,943
Total Calories In: 19,043
Total Deficit: 6,900.
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. Still good!

Total Steps: 128,963. I'm up by over a grand!

April 16th

Sunday, it's raining off and on. Make another trip to a seperate grocery store for goodies to last over the next week at work. That meant riding the bus and walking around with three 6 packs of soda in my tote. Basically a farmer's bucket carry!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 16. Walked the historical route, with a little expansion, and hit the mark almost exactly! I got to jump over a broken bottle on the sidewalk three times, so I circled back with a broom and dustpan and took care of that little problem for the next person. Part 2: Upper Body. After the first set, I decided to up the effort and grabbed some 2.5 lb dumbbells. Completed at Level III.
Duration: 46 minutes.
Distance: 2.57 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 16. Calf Raises, with 20 lb dumbbells.

Unbound Program. Completed Days 11 and 12. This is a lot easier if I do one before 60 Days of Walking and one after. Lots of stretching done.

Calories Out: 3,467.
Calories In: 3,118.
Deficit: 349. And there went my cheat day.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 17th

Welcome to United States' Pacific Northwest, where you know the rain is bad when it's going sideways in sheets and mixed with hail... and no, there's no hurricane.

60 Days of Walking. Had to run an errand in the rain, by walking, bus (two of which never showed up), and bicycle. After that, I just wasn't up for another walk. For some additional workout, I did the Part 2 of Day 17 at Level 1. I'll pick up again tomorrow.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 17. Lunges. This is definitely easier if I do it without doing the walk first. I'll give that a try on day 19.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 13. Lower Body Stretches. Not too bad, again probably due to the lack of walking first.

Calories Out: 3,595
Calories In: 3,041
Deficit: 554.
Edited: broke down and had a snack. <sad face>

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Alright, speed run before I forget again.

April 18th

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 17. 45 minute walk, plus Part 2 at Level 1. Think my legs were hurting.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 18. Calf raises, last day of 16 reps. Done.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 14. Core Stretches. One leg is stronger and more stable than the other. Done.

Calories Out: 3,999
Calories In: 3,113
Deficit: 886. Nice!

April 19th

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 19. Lunges. Yep, that was a lot less painful when I do these before the walk. Done.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 18. Don't know why I wasn't expecting 60 minutes here, but I wasn't.
Duration: 1 hr, 7 minutes.
Distance: 3.53 miles.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 15. Lower Body Stretches. A bit easier as I get an idea about what stretch two is supposed to be.

Calories Out: 4,409. Neat!
Calories In: 3,168.
Deficit: 1,241. That gives me some breathing room.

April 20th

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 19. Walked to the grocery store and back. Only break was in the checkout line and packing my backpack. Part 2 completed at level III.
Duration: 46 minutes
Distance: 2.4 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 20. Calf raises. First day at 18 reps, still using 20 lb dumbbells. Maybe if I throw two ten pounders in a backpack...

Unbound Program. Completed Day 16. Upper Body Stretches. Not bad.

Calories Out: 4,083
Calories In: 3,168
Deficit: 915. We'll see if I break down and have another snack.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 21st

Friday's here, and I finally got my bike shifter and brake cables changed! I suppose it's time to have that done, considering I'm pretty sure those are the original cables from 1991. Looks like my shifters are about done, though, so those are next.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 21. Lunges, again done before the walk. Not bad, I may have to try not splitting this into two 30 second sets.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 20. Looks like a basic 60 minute walk. I took the route around the full park, but data shows that I never once hit Cardio level in my heart rate. Gonna have to find some heavier hills soon.
Duration: 1 hour, 3 minutes.
Distance: 3.32 miles.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 17. Having trouble remembering now, but I may have done this before the walk as well. Lunges were involved, so that would have been smart.

Calories Out: 3,602.
Calories In: 3,385. I was doing so well until I noticed those mashed potato leftovers that would probably go bad soon...
Deficit: 217. Still burned more than I ate, but that's really close to the margin of error. I should probably avoid that tomorrow. (That's called foreshadowing...)

April 22nd

There was a Native American ceremoy held at my walking park that I wanted to see today. But when the time came, I just stayed home. I'm not so much worried about not seeing it, since they'll be back next year. I more disappointed in myself for once again not going out and doing something.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 21. Well, I went out and got this done.





I should have been up by that foreground tree on that one. This open parade field is just covered in dandelions.

90 minute walk, so I took the super long route to the grocery store again and got myself some comfort food that I'd been thinking about since yesterday's walk. Then it's back home and great.
Duration: 1 hour, 34 minutes.
Distance: 4.85 miles. Actually not sure here. My GPS is showing that I magically transported over part of the walk, so... huh.

Well, time to enjoy my comfort food... And a bit more I got after a second trip to another grocery store... Well, it's getting on time for dinner. Maybe I should plug my food in to the counter and see where I'm sitting. Oh... oh. Oh. Well... off we go.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 22. From 10:50 to 11:50 pm. In the rain. I love the look and cut of Columbia Sportswear coats, but if I decide halfway through my walk that I'd actually like to stay dry, it's time to take a stop and grab my nine year old Carhartt J140. But hey, I'm back on my monthly schedule!
Duration: 1 hour, 4 minutes.
Distance: 3.57 miles. Getting soaked makes you pick up the pace. Still no Cardio or Peak...

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 22. Calf raises with 20 lb weights, no problems.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 18. I'll have to double up every other day for the next week to finish the program on the 30th. Poo.

Calories Out: 3,586
Calories In: 3,381. A pound of saltine crackers and an Reese's Peanut Butter XL bar really rack those calories up.
Deficit: 205.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 26,744
Total Calories In: 22,328
Total Deficit: 4,416
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. Still good, but on the bad end of my target. About 1.25 pounds lost.

Total Steps: 141,694. Whatever went down on Wednesday, I should see about doing it again.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

April 23th

The day went fine, until I realized that I needed yet another trip to the grocery store. Side effect of not having a personal vehicle is that you have to make more trips to the store because you're limited in what you can carry back each time. But there's a nice big slab of top round roast waiting at the end of this trip, so let's go!

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 23. Lunges, no split sets. Oddly easier than usual, even with doing them for 60 seconds straight.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 23. Once around the park and then back home makes just barely shy of half an hour. Grab my backpack and head to the store, and that brings me to 46 minutes. Nicely timed! Then, buy my stuff and Uber back up the hill (the goodies were heavy, and needed cold storage). Afterwards, I did Day 19 of Unbound, then completed 60 Days Part 2 at Level III. Since it was punches, for added fun, I used 3 pound dumbbells for added force.
Duration: 46.5 minutes
Distance: 2.61 miles.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 19 (before Part 2) and 20 (after Part 2). Upper Body Stretches on both days, no problems. Especially since 60 Days Part 2 was punches, it was nice to get the extra stretch session in. Catching up...

Calories Out: 3,207
Calories In: 2,457
Deficit: 732
Edited for small snack

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Whoops. At least the exercise is still running.

April 24th

Monday! Of course I miss the bus going to work, which means an 11 minute bike ride is on the books for today. It definitely doesn't feel like I only burned 81 calories, but I guess that's that.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 24. Once around the park and then back home, and then around the neighborhood to complete the run. Completed Part 2, but only at Level I. My legs and knees were not going to handle the lunges more than that.
Duration: 45.5 minutes
Distance: 2.56 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 24. Calf Raises, with 20 lb dumbbells. No problems.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 21. Back to stretches for the lower body, which I barely made it through after the walk.

Calories Out: 3,491
Calories In: 2,737
Deficit: 754. Spot on!

April 25th

Tuesday! Missed the bus again. 12 minute bike ride added to the fun. I've been eating spaghetti leftovers for the past week or so. Something I've noticed is that my BF Percentage goes down while my weight remains the same whenever I eat spaghetti. I'm guessing that has something to do with the water and salt content. Anyway, I made a roast today, so hopefully I'll see my numbers start to change!

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 25. Lunges, but I went with the split set. It's been a lot of leg work this month.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 25. 60 minute walk today, so full around the park, over the bridge, and back. Great news, though. The weather is turning!



Duration: 61 minutes
Distance: 3.41 miles.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 22 (before the walk) and 23 (after the walk and Leg Challenge). Still on track to finish out the month!

Calories Out: 3,687
Calories In: 2,761
Deficit: 926. The build continues.

April 26th

Hey! I caught the bus this time!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 26. Around the park, with a small extension to cover the last bit. It finally struck me today, so I took a look. My walking pace has improved. I'm averaging somewhere in the 17 minute mile range now, where I used to be in the 18-19 minute mile range the last time I was actively walking. Nice! Part 2 was pretty easy, with core exercises completed at Level III.
Duration: 46.5 minutes
Distance: 2.55 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 26. Calf raises with 20 lb dumbbells. I should consider buying 25s.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 24. Lower body work. Almost there...

Calories Out: 3,562
Calories In: 2,549
Deficit: 1,013. That's a bit of a jump.

 

[Damer]

@LongSlowBurn good to see you back and love your consistency here! Bravo!!!

 

[Tileenah]

Nice picture! Thank you for sharing

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Thank you, @Damer ! It's good to be back!

Thank you, too, @Tileenah! The weather's been agreeing with me lately, which makes for good photography weather.

April 27th

Thursday... I don't even remember Thursday. That might have been the day I pressure washed graffiti off a wall, a job that had to wait through most of winter to get done (needs to be dry and warmer than 50 F / 10 C), so there's a little thing I got done!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 27. Nice thing about the walk is that even if I don't remember the day, I have a GPS track of the route I took: around two parks, over a bridge, then back through. Pace is a little slower at 18'23"/mile, but still good.
Duration: 1 hour, 3 minutes
Distance: 3.4 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 27. Lunges. Pretty sure I did these before the walk, but I'm not sure.

Unbound Program. Completed Days 25 and 26. Lower body (ouch, that warrior stance!), then core (defnitely weaker on my left than my right).

Calories Out: 3,676
Calories In: 2,940
Deficit: 736. Close enough.

April 28th

Friday's here, which I remember most because I finally got my bike's seat post to move for me after around 5 to 10 years!



Okay, so there was a little bit of rust in there. Nothing that a bench grinder can't take care of.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 28. It's a 90 minute walk and, as luck would have it, I have more bike stuff to handle. Once around the parks and the bridge (which the local skater/vaping gang is hanging out on), then across and up the hill to make my way to the local convienence store where my closest Amazon locker is. Sore, I have a new rear shifter! Then, it's back home.
Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes, almost 31.
Distance: 4.71 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 28. Calf Raises, with 20 lb dumbbells. No problems.

Unbound Program. Completed Day 27. Lower Body. I'm still unsure what stretch number 2 is, and how it differs from stretch number 1, but I did my best.

Calories Out: 3,831
Calories In: 2,536
Deficit: 1,295. I get this feeling I forgot to take something into account. Pretty sure I skipped dessert, as I was feeling pretty wiped after work and the walk. Oh well... Bonus!

April 29th

Saturday. Went out and saw the movie Sisu! Gosh, that was silly. Not sure I 100% agree with the definition of the concept of sisu they give in the beginning text scroll, and the action was unrealistic (unless the main character was loosely based on Simo Häyhä...) . But the effects and gore were top notch, as was the cinematography in the tundra regions. Were the Nazis even in Lapland during WWII? Decent Saturday afternoon movie, though.

Also...



My shrubs survived! I planted two evergreen huckleberry shrubs (native-ish in my region) in barrels on my apartment patio last fall maybe a month before the frosts started in, and they made it through!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 29. 60 minute walk today. I was going to stack that into a grocery store trip, but the way that trip worked out, I knew I'd be sitting at a bus stop for who knows how long. It's a pretty sharp climb back up that hill, especially carrying 20 lbs / 9.3 kg of soda in one hand. Though thinking about it, that might be good training if I ever want to try my legs at backpacking for real. Still, as is more than 17 minutes of extra walking on top of the main job. After sundown, it's around the parks and over the bridge.
Duration: 1 hour, 4 minutes
Distance: 3.43 miles.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 29. Lunges. Definitely did these before the walk. Actually, I think I did them before the walk to the grocery store.

Unbound Program. Completed Days 28 and 29. Lower body (Ouch! Lunge pose!), then arms. Not too bad, and I'm set to finish the program on the 30th. Nice!

Calories Out: 3,163.
Calories In: 2,210.
Deficit: 907. I guess the secret is to wait for dinner until you're about to fall asleep. That way you don't have the energy to dish out dessert. Also, movie theater popcorn is nasty high in calories.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 24,618
Total Calories In: 18,254
Total Deficit: 6,364
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. Kinda high on the deficit. Maybe I'll have an extra snack tomorrow.

Total Steps: 125,575. Lower than last week, but probabyl a little more normal.

 

[Nihopaloa]

The Finns really were something else during WWII.
And very pretty blossoms, wish I had at least a hint of a green thumb

 

[LongSlowBurn]

@Nihopaloa You should have seen the potatoes I tried to grow last year. Let's just say I won't be adding farming to my resume any time soon.

April 30th

Woot! One month down, and two workout programs finished!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 30. My GPS track of my walk is weirding me out a bit, but it looks like I made a trip to the grocery store with this one. Long route, and includes a stop while I use the self checkout machine, but otherwise uneventful. And I am now supplied with mixed nuts and oat-based cereal.
Duration: 48 minutes
Distance: 2.68 miles. GPS disagrees here with other Fitbit data, so... I guess that's that.

Leg Day Every Day Challenge. Completed Day 30. Calf raises with 20 lb weights. And now I've ordered up some 25 pound weights. Challenge Complete!


Unbound Program. Completed Day 30. Lower body, very little problems if I recall right. Program Complete!


Calories Out: 2,889. Seems crazy low, but its the weekend.
Calories In: 2,212.
Deficit: 677.
Not up to target, but still a good run.

Monthly Goals (April)
Weight Lost: 6.2 lbs. That makes 1.55 lbs a week, nearly spot on target!
BF% Lost: 2%
BMI Lost: 0.9

Well! This seems to work! Maybe it's time to try amping it up a small amount.

May 1st

Car parts still haven't shipped. Getting annoyed now....

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 31. My GPS track of my walk is weirding me out a bit, but it looks like I made a trip to the grocery store with this one. Long route, and includes a stop while I use the self checkout machine, but otherwise uneventful. And I am now supplied with mixed nuts and oat-based cereal.
Duration: 48 minutes
Distance: 2.68 miles. GPS disagrees here with other Fitbit data, so... I guess that's that.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 1. May Challenge is on! Let's go! So far, I feel like my quads are being activated more than my lower abs, but I can try changing my form.

Express Tone. Completed Day 1. Weight loss is great, but a bit of muscle definition would be nice, too. So, it's on to a strength building add-on! 25 pound dumbbells haven't arrived yet, but I doubt I'm up to them anyway. Upper body work... nope, my muscle strength has definitely dropped in my time off. Hopefully it comes back quick.

Calories Out: 3,745.
Calories In: 2,802.
Deficit: 943.
Good start to the work week.

May 2nd

"Hey, do you smell something rotten up here?" Man, that's not a good way to start the day. Upshot, this looks like my first day with no soda at home. I still have some at work, but this is the next step to going 100% soda free.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 32. 60 minute walk, basic park route. I might have got out a little earlier than usual, because there were a lot more people than normal.
Duration: 1 hr, 3 minutes
Distance: 3.37 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 2. Yep, targeting those lower abs is a lot harder than it sounds.

Express Tone. Completed Day 2. Lower body: lunges, squats and deadlifts. Discomfort and poor balance more than fatigue kept me from really going all out with this, but I did what I could.

Calories Out: 3,878.
Calories In: 2,636
Deficit: 1,242.
Air-popped pocorn is really filling and keeps the need to graze at a minimum. Maybe I can cheat tomorrow, though, that was a pretty big overshoot.

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[Tileenah]

Congrats on leg day everyday, unbound and lost weight!

 

[Nihopaloa]

Congratulations on Leg Day Everyday and Unbound!

I know that feel of feelign the quads more during leg raises and circles. But I still do feel my lower abs, too. I attribute it to tight hips, because it's kinda the same with high knees, for example, that it feels very quad-y during that movement, too. So, how are your hips doing?

 

[Julian4077]

Congratulations on completing the Unbound program and Leg Day Everyday challenge!

 

[HellYeah]

Happy Badge Day

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Thank you @Fremen, @Tileenah, @Nihopaloa, @Julian4077, and @HellYeah ! @Nihopaloa, I haven't paid too much attention to my hips, I've just really been noticing that my pelvis doesn't really come off the floor at all, almost like the core is barely engaging at all. I'll try engaging my hips a little more and see if that helps. Thanks!

-------

This is why I shouldn't wait three days to do these. I have no idea what happened on Wednesday or Thursday. Couldn't have been that bad, I guess. I bought a cheap car part to get me through until my usual store decided to ship the good version, but I also griped to Usual Company's customer service department to light a fire under them. The day my cheap part arrived, the good part shipped and will arrive next Monday. Guess what, Amazon? You're getting your part back.

Then Friday came and I left work late pretty angry. The usual workplace stuff, but you better believe I'm getting paid OT for what I had to do.

May 3rd

Now I remember. Wednesday. This whole week has been about griping. I'm a laid back, you-do-you kind of guy and really don't like having to complain to get things done, but some days, it's time to flip tables. Car Part Store: Complain to customer service (already described). Another Online Store: Very politiely complain to customer service: get my account set up properly, but now the thing I wanted is on backorder. Workplace Payroll Department: Complain kinda politely about situation: get paid time off from a month and a half ago put on upcoming paycheck (we'll see). Man, I could use some endorphins right now.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 33. 45 minute walk around the parks. No problems, looks like this is the day I walked down and circled through the historical garden they've recently cleaned up for this year's planting. Part 2 completed at probably level III. Can't remember specifically, but leg lifts seem like a Level III thing.
Duration: 47 minutes
Distance: 2.54 miles

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 3. Leg circles, easy-peasey. Does peasey have the second e?

Express Tone. Completed Day 3. Upper body, not too bad. Feels like I'm settling on 15 pounds for the multiple muscle movements, and 10 for the targeted moves. Probably not going to be up to using my new 25 pounders for a while.

Calories Out: 3,653.
Calories In: 2,866.
Deficit: 787.

May 4th

May the Fourth be with you.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 34. 60 minute walk around the parks and across the bridge. Looks like I knew I was going to run over, so I cut through the neighborhood to save a crosswalk down the road.
Duration: 64 minutes
Distance: 3.46 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 4. Leg raises and holds. This is tougher than it looks.

Express Tone. Completed Day 4. Leg tendon work. Even with no weights, this is tiring by the end.

Calories Out: 3,498.
Calories In: 2,942.
Deficit: 556. All figured in, I probably should have skipped that Hershey chocolate bar.


May 5th

It's Cinco de Mayo! I'm not of Mexican heritage, and I don't drink, but who doesn't love a good underdog victory, so... you do you, everyone! And yeah... that last job is getting racked up as overtime.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day... 36. I just wasn't in the mood for a full 90 minute walk, so I did tomorrow's walk today. I also needed some instant gravy packets for dinner, so it's off to the grocery store. Pace around a little extra inside the store and I made it a full 60 minutes without any significant stops. Then, I tack on an extra 18 minutes walking back home. ...I probably should have just done the 90 minutes.

Duration: 60 minutes (or 78 minutes, depending)
Distance: 4.03 miles. That includes the walk home.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 5. Leg circles. Tried changing up my form to include my hips a little more, with a bit of a twist to sort of make sure the turn is coming from the hip rather than the legs. Seems to work, though it might be a while before I see real improvement.

Express Tone. Skipped. I was done for the day by this point. I'll double up on Day 8, the active rest\tendon day, to catch up.

Bicycling. Auto-detect says I rode for 10 minutes today, so I must have missed the bus on the way to work. But that burns an extra 71 calories, and every bit helps.

Calories Out: 3,745.
Calories In: 3,065.
Deficit: 680. Even with the comfort food I ate, I still came close. Plus with the lean early days this week, I'm probably still to the good.

 

[Tileenah]

Wow that seems like a tough beginning of week... I can't help with the endorphines, but I can do this :

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Actually, @Tileenah , that does help with the endorphins.

May 6th

Saturday! Well, looks like I'm not going to see Guardians of the Galaxy 3 this weekend. That just means a week of dodging online spoilers. In the meantime, the weather looks nice. I should be able to do the walk without any unpleasantness! (spoiler: there were... we'll just call the challenges).

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 36. No putting it off now, it's the 90 minute walk. With my food for the day, I figure I'll do the walk, end at a burger joint, have some late lunch, then grab the bus home. Walk complete, burger complete, and the bus... has done it's last run for the day. And so has the other one. That just leaves one route and will include a transfer and will take about 45 minutes. And it's only a 19 minute walk, so I guess I'm walking... for about one minute before it starts dumping rain. <sigh> Guess I'm waiting on the bus now.
Duration: 90 minutes
Distance: 4.82 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 6. Leg raises and holds. I checked the video exercise library for Leg Raises and found what I was doing wrong. Putting my hands under my hips boosted the angle of my pelvis and made engaging the lower abs a whole lot easier. Now we're headed in the right direction!

Express Tone. Completed Day 5. Upper body work. Again, working with 15s and 10s, and still leaves me sore at the end.

Calories Out: 3,081.
Calories In: 2,563.
Deficit: 518. Still good for a pound loss.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 24,492
Total Calories In: 19,086
Total Deficit: 5,404
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. Not bad, that's somewhere in the middle.

Total Steps: 123,594.

May 7th

Sunday.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 37. 45 minute walk, so a walk around the parks while ending at the grocery store. Plus an extra 16 minutes hiking back up the hill wil a pile of groceries in my backpack. Completed Part 2 at Level III. Those punches really add to the calories burned!
Duration: 50 minutes, plus 16 minutes
Distance: 2.74 miles, plus 0.81 miles

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 7. Leg Circles. Trying to keep those hips engaged, but it's tougher than it sounds.

Express Tone. Completed Day 6. Lower body. It says Until Fatigue, but Until Pain works for me. Also, my balance isn't what it once was. I'll have to try digging up that balance week challenge some time.

Calories Out: 3,563.
Calories In: 2,224. I made hashbrowns!
Deficit: 1,339.

May 8th

Well, this will be an easy day. Car parts are here, so I get home from work, fight to put them in, get rained on, nap, fight to put them in again... <vroom!> I'm in business! That calls for a celebratory fast food dinner with treats, especially since I think my chicken breast is still frozen. Also, with the car work eating most of the night, it's gonna be an active rest day. The challenge is still on, though!

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 8. Leg Raises and Holds. Getting easier... but next time is the boost to 12 reps.

Calories Out: 3,552.
Calories In: 3,987.
Deficit: -435. ...Well, that's gonna skew my numbers at the end of the week.

 

[Nihopaloa]

Great that your car's running again!

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Thanks @Nihopaloa ! Now to get my bike set and I'll be good to go!

May 9th

Tuesday. I'm sure something happened. I don't remember what now, so I'll put that down as a neutral day.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 38. Rode my bike to work today, but dropped it off at the bike shop for a big hardware swap. That means I'm on my own to get home, which I can neatly stack with today's 45 minute walk. Trundle through the city, stop off at the ATM (turned into walking in circles and some march steps, so I didn't stop), then through the historical portion of town. Got home, but needed an extra 2 minutes of walking down the street to finish up at 45 min. Completed Part 2 and Level III. Love those knee to elbows!
Duration: 45 minutes
Distance: 2.33 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 9. Leg circles. Yeah, this is getting better.

Express Tone. Completed Day 7. Upper body work, mostly delts and biceps. Started with 10s and 15s, but was down to 10s and 5s by the end.

Calories Out: 3,862. Wish I remember what happened, cause that's a lot of burned calories.
Calories In: 2,690. Funny how seeing my food record reminds of things I did. Like, yeah, that's the day the barbeque people gave me some mini candies and a bag of Fritos!
Deficit: 1,172. On my way to making up my cheat day!

May 10th

Alright! Normal day at work, get a call to come back to work literally five seconds after walking out the door to handle something that takes about 20 minutes (2.5 hours of OT right there, love that work contract!). Then it's on the way home. Nothing can stop me now!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 39. 60 minute walk, that turned into an 75 minute walk. About 12 to 15 minutes in, I had to stop and give someone time and directions. So... I guess that means I'm going to have to start over. 75 minutes later, I make it home.
Duration: 60 minutes, plus some.
Distance: Unclear. 3.88 miles, all told.

Lower Abs Challenge and Express Tone. Sat down for a minute after finishing the walk, so that I could power through the next two portions. And... <ring, ring> <muffled conversation> ...looks like I'm getting called back to work instead. Four hours and tens of thousands of dollars in damage later, caused by something too nasty to talk about here, I stumble back home. It's about 2 or 3 in the morning and normal work's at 8 am, so it's McDonald's for dinner and I'm crashing to bed.

Calories Out: 4,304.
Calories In: 3,490.
Deficit: 814. If only I hadn't gone to McDs. But this is still fine.

May 11th

<ring, ring> <muffled conversation> Okay... this time, it's someone else's turn in the barrel.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 40. 45 minute walk around the parks. No unusual events, which seems unusual by itself. Completed Part 2 at Level II. It's been a long couple of days, so I called it at set 5.
Duration: 46 minutes
Distance: 2.35 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 10. Sort of. Leg raises and holds. I actually just did the raises until the last set. Then I remembered the holds. Finished the raises, then did 10 count holds with 15 second rest. Close enough.

Express Tone. Completed Day 8. I thought this was actuve rest, but missed that it was 3 sets. So, no catch up today. Maybe on Saturday...

Calories Out: 4,021
Calories In: 2,549
Deficit: 1,472. Quick number crunch says that I'm at an average deficit of 872. Fixed that!

 

[Tileenah]

Congrats on fixing your car ! And for nasty work stuff

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Thanks @Tileenah ! I know I'm just griping and that it really isn't that bad. As gross as one can imagine, but it could be a lot worse.

May 12th

Friday! Hurray! Work was mild, my replacement MicroSD card came in the mail, as did my new 5 pound dumbbells.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 41. Weird, no GPS track on that walk. Oh well... It's a 60 minute day, so I probably went around the parks and over the bridge.
Duration: 1 hr.
Distance: Unclear. At least 2.5 miles, but it should be longer.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day... 11? Looks like my records are all screwy, and I think I repeated a day. Leg Circles, but it got done.

Express Tone. Completed Day 9. Upper Body and core. Seems easy enough, plus I think I'm ready to up the weight.

Calories Out: 3,415.
Calories In: 2,514.
Deficit: 901.

May 13th

Saturday. All told, I'm sitting at I think 56 hours at work this week, thanks to things going wrong. My paycheck should look pretty great! Also went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I approve. A solid ending to a trilogy, so long as you watch Rocket's arc in the film.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 42. 90 minutes today, so I switched things up by doing a few laps around the historical site, rather than trying to go to the grocery store or something. And while that worked, I also managed to scare an innocent group of walkers in the dark area of the walk. Twice. Oops. Maybe I should wear a bell when walking after dark. Finished up with a lap around the neighborhood.
Duration: 90 minutes
Distance: 4.6 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 11, probably. More leg circles, no idea how this happened.

Express Tone. Completed Day 10. Lower body, and I should have learned my lesson after last month's Challenge: do the lunges before the walk.

Calories Out: 3,694
Calories In: 2,530.
Deficit: 1,164.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 26,411.
Total Calories In: 19,984
Total Deficit: 6,427
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. High end of the goal, but I also saw the scale start to move again after plateauing for a while. Still, I could eat a bit more.

Total Steps: 135,412

May 14th

Sunday. At least I didn't have to go to work today. It's been abysmally hot and I put the walk off until after dark, but since I had most of the rest of the day free, I also pushed myself to catch up on some workouts. Also...



I've already shown off the blossoms on my shrubs that managed to survive, but a lot more popped up in the last couple of days. I took some photos today just for fun and, not 5 seconds after I put my phone away, a honeybee flew up and shoved her face into these little flowers. Yay, pollination! I couldn't get my phone ready before she scooted off, but that's no worry. Hopefully, she goes back to all her worker bee buddies and lets them know that native pollen is back on the menu!

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 43. A 60 minute walk around the parks after dark, but I managed not to scare anyone this time.
Duration: 65 minutes. Went a bit over there.
Distance: 3.4 miles. Yet this is average.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Days 12 and 13. Leg raises and holds came first, before the walk. Leg circles came after the walk and after dinner. But both are done, which puts me one more double day to catch up for the month.

Express Tone. Completed Days 11 and 12. Upper body for day 11 before the walk, and then I figured doing day 12 while dinner was cooking wouldn't be that tough, since it looks like a single set of tendon exercises. Yeah, that's tougher than it looks.

Calories Out: 3,317.
Calories In: 2,298.
Deficit: 1,019.

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Alright, need to get this logged, so maybe a little less description, unless I remember something special.

May 15th

Monday. I don't remember Monday, so I'm going to assume it was all good.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 44. 45 minute walk. Completed Part 2 at Level 7.
Duration: 46 minutes
Distance: 2.43 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Days 13 and 14. I'm a dirty liar. Day 13 was done today, I was just too wiped out by the end. But both are are done now.

Express Tone. Completed Day 13. Upper body, worked mostly with 15s and 10s.

Calories Out: 3,329
Calories In: 2,789
Deficit: 540

May 16th

Tuesday. I think this was the day I discovered a minor issue at work and realized that I can't wait for the heated pressure washer anymore. Time to get the less big toys...

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 45. 45 minute walk. Completed Part 2 at Level I. Lunges just ache way too much.
Duration: 47.5 minutes
Distance: 2.56 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 15. Leg Circles. No problems.

Express Tone. Completed Day... actually, I think I skipped this day. Another set of lunges was just too much.

Calories Out: 3,624
Calories In: 2,841
Deficit: 783

May 17th

Wednesday. Still need that pressure washer, but other matters needed looking into first. Otherwise, all good.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 46. 60 minute walk. I went a bit over, I'm guessing because of a slower pace. I haven't been pushing as hard lately.
Duration: 65 minutes
Distance: 3.54 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 16. Leg Raises and Holds. I actually managed to do the holds after the raises this time.

Express Tone. Completed Day 14. There's the lunges.

Calories Out: 3,966
Calories In: 2,323
Deficit: 1,643. I really, really feel like I missed a recorded meal in there, but everything looks right.

May 18th

Felt like today was just chasing one disaster after another, but I work building maintenance. If nothing went wrong, I wouldn't have a job.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 47. 45 minute walk, made extra special by an exceptionally angry, possibly homeless, and possibly meth-addicted man shouting about how people from Oregon need to go back to their own state and not threaten him with puppy mill Dobermans and a gun. Fun fact: my Fitbit recorded the points where that happened because my heartbeat spiked to peak levels for five minutes. Part 2 completed at Level III. Core work. I remember a circut fitness instructer who came to the twist machine and just told us to skip it. In the long the run, I do not appreciate that.
Duration: 46 minutes
Distance: 1.94 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 17. Leg Circles, easy. Felt the abs by the end, but not as much at the start.

Express Tone. Completed Day 15. Upper body work, includng delts. I used mostly 10 pound weights, eventually dropping to 5s. Started with the fifteens, but muscles gave out quick.

Calories Out: 3,914
Calories In: 2,906
Deficit: 1,008. I even went to McDonald's for lunch, since I thought I'd be able to "cheat" after the huge defict yesterday. Oh well...

 

[LongSlowBurn]

May 19th

Friday. Just an easy day at work, but my sleep schedule has been all over the place. Just glad to get home where I can... apparently take a long nap before waking up almost too late to do anything.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 48. 60 minute walk. My record went weird, as I accidentally hit the wrong button while checking my time. Now that that walk has been split into two, time to do some math.
Duration: 66 minutes
Distance: 3.46 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Skipped. I'm just too wiped out. I'm not too far behind, though. Just need a bit of extra work.

Express Tone. Skipped. This is an add-on program, so I'm going to continue to push forward with it. But I'm not going to work to catch back up to match the end of the month. For anyone reading this: 60 Days of Walking is just too time intensive to really allow for an add-on program, unless you have two or three hours a day to work out.

Calories Out: 3,397
Calories In: 2,714
Deficit: 683. You know, maybe I'm really developing some new habits, because its difficult to gorge myself, even when I know I should catch up on my calorie count.

May 20th

Saturday. Some basic chores. Plus I basically wrecked a 1/4 pound slice of salmon. It turns out that the cook temperature for salmon is around 120 F, not 170 F like I went for. Still, it was edible, so all is well I guess.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 49. 90 minute walk. I did the extended walk around the riverfront, eventually leading to the department store, where I stopped to pick up some new earbuds after my old ones have been getting worse and worse over the past several days. Then it was back up the hill.
Duration: 93 minutes
Distance: 5 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 18 and 19. Leg Raises and Holds, then Express Tone, then Leg Circles. I figure I can catch up over the weekend, so here we go.

Express Tone. Completed Day 16. Lower body tendon work. As I finished up each set, I did an extra 20 calf raises just for funsies.

Calories Out: 3,201
Calories In: 2,492
Deficit: 709.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 24,752
Total Calories In: 18,363.
Total Deficit: 6,389
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. High end of the goal. Maybe I should exercise a bit less?

Total Steps: 133,462

May 21st

Sunday. Mostly spent the day lounging around before crashing into a three hour nap, but I did get out and get the oil changed in my car.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 50. 60 minute walk. A smattering of clouds... cool "hoodie" temperatures... a waxing moon and Mars hanging in the early evening sky... and not a soul to be found. A lovely walk!
Duration: 61 minutes
Distance: 3.51 miles.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Days 20 and 21. Leg Raises and Holds, then Express Tone, then Leg Circles. Those Leg Circles were a killer after the core work in Express Tone. But done is done, and now I'm caught up.

Express Tone. Completed Day 17. Upper body and core. Went through the whole thing with 15s. Nice!

Calories Out: 3,226
Calories In: 2,452
Deficit: 774. Not bad!

 

[LongSlowBurn]

It's tough to get these check-ins done when I'm finishing up working out at 11 pm, then still have dinner to tend to. And it'll get worse since I'm heading on a camping trip starting on Saturday. For those who see this, Monday the 29th is Memorial Day in the USA, a holiday to remember our military servicepeople who died in the service of their country. It also serves as the unofficial beginning of summer, so many people will be having gatherings, cookouts, and vacations this weekend. People like me.

Okay, Check-in time: Speed Run

May 22nd - 26th

Monday through Friday.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Days 51 through 56. Three days of 45 minute walks and two days of 60 minute walks. On the three 45 days, Part II was completed at Level III. Even the Lower Body ones.
Duration: 47 minutes, 48 minutes, 62 minutes, 47 minutes, and x minutes.
Distance: 2.01 miles, 2.06 miles, 3.41 miles, 2.61 miles, and

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Days 22 through 26. Skipped one day, then doubled up on the 26th. Every time I get close to figuring out what's wrong with my leg raises, I find something else it could be. Right now, I'm leaning towards my lower abs not being strong enough to lift my pelvis off the floor.

Express Tone. Completed Days 18, 19, and 20. The lower body day, the 18th, was just worrying. Eventually, I bit the bullet and did it. All is well now.

Calories Out: 17,292
Calories In: 13,939
Deficit: 3,353, or an average of 670.6 per day. Not my best, not my worst.

And... it's off to the woods! Let's see how doing the programs works in a campground...

 

[Nihopaloa]

Enjoy your camping trip!

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Thank you, @Nihopaloa ! It should be fun!

May 27th

The most relaxing part of any drive through the countryside is not having people try to drive up your tailpipe. I did not have a relaxing drive. Fortunately, the relaxation begins at the destination. Camping! But...



The workouts don't stop. Except when I'm lazy, but this time I wasn't. Mostly.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 57... kinda. 60 minute walk. I arrived at the campsite and waited for my family to show up. I did the Express Tone workout while waiting, but they still didn't come back from the hike they were on. Eventually, I just started walking around the loop while waiting and then thought this so-called Nature Trail might be worth looking at.



It was. My sister and her family showed up while I was out, but I spotted them at about the 40 minute mark. Cue what is technically a rest period while catching up, but I finished the last 20 minutes afterward.
Duration: 62 minutes, not counting the break
Distance: 3.26 miles

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 27. Leg circles... under the stars. I wound up leaving this until right before bedtime, but that gave me the opportunity to stretch out on the picnic table bench and look up at the night sky while doing the challenge.

Express Tone. Completed Day 21. Upper body. I bet the neighbors were thinking I was a lunatic. Still, done.

Calories Out: 3,988
Calories In: 2,721.
Deficit: 1,267. Weirdly, I eat less when I'm on camping trips. Even when I eat garbage, my calorie intake is less.

Weekly Goals:
Total Calories Out: 24,511
Total Calories In: 19,112
Total Deficit: 5,399
Target Deficit Range: 3500 to 7000 calories. Right on target!

Total Steps: 124,655

May 28th

Ah, the Pacific Northwest. Though it feels like a fairy tale, all of this is true...











Should you find yourself in Oregon, USA, take a day or two to see Silver Falls State Park and the Trail of the Ten Falls. I also recommend brown, waterproof shoes. They'll help you impress eveyone when you tromp through the puddle everyone else tries to skip across on the slick rocks.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 5...6? Okay, last update was wrong, I did days 51 through 55. This was the 90 minute day I saved for doing a big trail at the park. NGL, stops were made. Photos needed to be taken. But in the end, the whole trip was worth it, and covered more than my 90 minutes.
Duration: 2 hrs, 46 minutes, all together.
Distance: 5.78 miles. I should have taken the whole trail out to North Falls. This means I only say nine of the ten waterfalls along the way.

Lower Abs Challenge. Skipped. I left this for the end of the day again, but was too wiped when the time came. I'll double up later.

Express Tone. Completed Day 22. Lower body, so I did this before the hike. I'm pretty sure this actually helped warm me up and stretch before the longer run. As a result, I was sore the next day, but I didn't get shin splints like my sister did.

Calories Out: 4,334
Calories In: 2,787
Deficit: 1,547. Yay, I get a cheat day at some point!

May 29th

Memorial Day proper. I decided to cut my trip short a bit, as I couldn't get to sleep last night. The rest is actually fairly close to home, so I can pick some other weekend to do that. Also it involves off-roading in a vehicle, so not really exercise related.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 58. 45 mnute walk. Got this done after getting home. Basic Around-the-Park run. Part 2 completed at Level III. Upper body, not bad... yet.
Duration: 45 minutes
Distance: 1.92 miles. Stiff and slow.

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Days 28 and 29. Split the two days between the start of the workout and the end. Not too tough.

Express Tone. Completed Day 23. And here's where it got tough. The upper body here matched shoulder work I did on 60 Days, plus the lateral raises are just tough for me. I might regret this tomorrow...

Calories Out: 3,651
Calories In: 3,938
Deficit: -287. And there's my cheat day. What can I say, I can't let the left over camp junk food go to waste, can I?

May 30th

Since the sky has cleared up over the last three weeks or so, I've been watching the moon wax from a sliver just about the horizon after sunset to past the half moon, speeding past Mars in the sky. It's different and nice to track the passage of time that way, rather than by a calendar.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 59. 45 minute walk. Around the local park, no problems. Completed Part 2 at Level III. Squats aren't as hard on the knees as lunges, so I'm grateful for that.
Duration: 47 minutes
Distance: 2.04 miles. Not stiff... just slow?

Lower Abs Challenge. Completed Day 30. Leg Raises and Holds. Challege Complete!



Express Tone. Completed Day 24. Leg Raises, 3 sets of 100. I'm glad it wasn't a full lower body workout, after those squats.

Calories Out: 2,999
Calories In: 2,221
Deficit: 778. On target!

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[Tileenah]

Congrats on lower abs and thanks for the beautiful pictures

 

[Nihopaloa]

Congratulations on Lower Abs!

 

[LongSlowBurn]

Thank you, everybody! It's nice to be completing these again!

May 31st

Wednesday. Last day of vacation.

60 Days of Walking. Completed Day 60. Whoot! And in the end, all it cost me was a pair of shoes.

A moment of silence for my poor shoes...
Duration: 60 minutes
Distance: 3.61 miles.


Express Tone. Completed Day 25. Started with 15s, but decided I could probably bump it up to 20s now. Finished out without cutting the weight!

Calories Out: 3,141
Calories In: 2,101
Deficit: 1,040. I'd eat something, but it's bed time. Bad idea.

Edit: Corrected the date

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[Froud]

Bravo!

And bravo to your brave shoes!

 

[HellYeah]

Well done, and may your shoes rest in peace.

 

[Tileenah]

Congrats on 60 days of walking !

 

[TheLibrarian]

Congrats.
&
May your new boots serve you as well as the old ones. A moment of silence ...

 

[BetaCorvi]

Congrats on 60 days of walking!