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Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
A sweet and Idaho Potato Snuggling
The information I’m going to post on this blog, is, by virtue of me posting it here, copyrighted. That means don’t try to repackage it and claim it’s yours and sell it. If you like the plan and it works for you, please point people here.
More movement is a good thing. Studies have shown that those overly active fidgeters tend to stay thinner throughout their lives than those of us that sit totally still. It makes sense. Really, it’s energy in minus energy out that matters. According to the Mayo clinic fidgeting accounts for the biggest difference in BMR so take a few extra steps, stand up frequently, move your feet and hands. They call it NEAT, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. The study shows that the calories burned by non-exercise activity varies between 15-60 percent in different individuals. This amount of energy burned includes the energy you use to do your job or keep up your home. Now, you probably can’t do much to change the physical activity involved with your job, I sure can’t. In the winter I have to sit for hour after hour studying, searching for papers to read, designing experiments. But you can move more. Everyone can.
You don’t have to make a big deal about it. I wiggle my feet almost constantly–when I’m alone of course you don’t want to drive your friends crazy! Tap my fingers, twirl my hair, wiggle my shoulders.. tighten those buttocks up while sitting in one place! Go on, you know you need to.
Of course that may not be enough on it’s own to lose weight but maybe that’s enough to break even in life. Even if it is.. our goal here is to lose weight. So let’s say we add a little bit to that without getting anywhere near the dreaded ‘exercise’ level. I started by standing up during each commercial break and if I didn’t need to do something else, I walked in place. I try to echo that when reading, or writing, or.. doing anything where I’m just sitting. It’s not long enough to become boring or tiring. It’s not so often that I can’t get things done.
After a while I started putting a bit more energy into it.. actually marching in place and moving my arms. Just for two minutes. Not so hard. You’ve heard all that stuff about parking further away and walking, taking the stairs (as if I COULD at 300 lbs). That’s all great, if you have the time. If you have the energy. If you physically can.
I want to be an ecologist, I have to be able to go into the field and get data. When I started I couldn’t walk two blocks. Three weeks ago when I had no car and no food I walked six miles round trip to the grocery in a blowing snowstorm and I was just a little tired. You too can feel like that again, if you want, if that’s your goal.
I don’t do anything exotic, I don’t hit the gym regularly, I don’t do anything aerobic. I just move more. Now that I’m back to trying to get more fit I put on music during the day and dance around while I do the dishes or vacuum the floor. Everyone should have their Risky Business moments!
In the spirit of complete honesty, I do have a treadmill now that I’ve started to use again because it’s winter. But I did not have one when I lost the weight the first time. It’s not necessary. It’s sitting right in my living room because I didn’t have anywhere else to put it (it does fold up when not in use). It faces a television, and it has a book stand on it. I try to walk a mile 5 days a week. The idea is not to ever let it get boring. So, I read a book for fun. Being a PhD student I don’t have time to read novels for fun so that’s my ‘treat’ for walking.
Now for the bad news… I consumed 1180 calories yesterday and managed to put on weight.. way back up to 230 lbs. but.. I took off fat, I’ve lost 5.4 lbs of fat now. I can only guess that I’m perhaps putting on a bit of muscle, might have a little water gain. For now, I’m sticking to my game plan. If it continues to be problematic I might have to set my calorie goal lower but there’s no way I should be gaining weight on 1180 calories a day. Maybe I’m walking to the fridge at night in my sleep but I didn’t find a half eaten turkey-leg with teeth marks in it! (Yes, I looked).
OK you spent enough time reading this blog, stand up and walk in place, or dance, or just jiggle like you’ve got St. Elmo’s fire, who cares what the neighbors think!
Tags: weight control, Weight Loss
