2006 started out as a resolve to take off the remaining pounds, but ended up adding 32 pounds to my body. One of the reasons for this gain was a school schedule that caused me to spend 10 weeks on my butt working for A’s. After I finished these 4 classes, David and I joined the local Cardinal Fitness and I started going several times a week. A really bad cold sidelined me for a number of weeks and the holidays were another reason to eat (aren’t they always?).
I really do not want to give up on this quest. While I don’t suffer any health issues due to my weight, I don’t like the way I look nor do I like the hip pain that is not going away.
I am well aware that successful weight management involves burning more calories than you ingest. However, once you reach a certain point the lifestyle changes have to be put on steroids – at least temporarily – if you plan to lose the weight in your lifetime.
I have started keeping track of my activity with a little calculator called a Caltrac. How this little thing works is that you program your age, weight, height, and gender into its little computer, then clip it to your waist and wear it for a week. After the week you divide the daily activity calories by 7 and get an average daily activity level. From that baseline you can determine how much activity you need to add to your day to burn more calories than you ingest – thus creating weight loss.