Finance and Fat

I created a new page with charts tracking my weight, BMI, and body fat percentage. The charts make a nice way to track my progress over the long term and I actually find the chart view to be a little extra inspiration- it feels really good to see the lines trend down (and it hurts more to see them climb). Visit the page to see how I’m doing and maybe find a little inspiration for your own health and fitness efforts.

I also added comments at certain points on the charts where significant events occurred that may affect my fitness progress. For example, my weight seemed to start trending down nicely when I quit playing World of Warcraft in October ‘07.  Sadly, my fitness seemed to level off and start moving in the other direction after I started playing again in January ‘08 (I knew that would be a mistake).

Of course I’m (mostly) joking about World of Warcraft being evil. It is entirely possible to play the game and still make time for fitness. The only problem is, the game demands huge amounts of time to make any decent progress and it can be highly addictive. Quitting again would likely be a wise move. I have a pre-paid subscription until October, so I’ll have the game on my computer, but I need to do my best to avoid it and make sure I never play before I have done some exercise.

Anyway, take a look at the charts and let me know what you think. At the very least, I think this will be a nice long term view of my fitness progress and the comments will make for some interesting analysis as I look back at how I’m doing.

It has been two weeks since I hit the scale and I’m happy to see I have lost 1.2 pounds, though I know I could have worked much harder  so I can’t get too excited about the weight lost.

The week before my vacation was a good one, I met my goal of 3 days of 30 minutes of cardio exercise and I started day 1 of the 100 push ups challenge. However, the week after my vacation turned into a lazy one as I didn’t do any more exercise. I had some good excuses and some lame ones, but that is in the past now and I need to focus on working harder this week.

This week’s exercise goals: 4 days of 30 minutes of cardio exercise; 3 days of the 100 push ups challenge week 1.

*Note about this weight loss chart. When I started this blog I weighed 266 pounds and I was only tracking my pounds lost each week. On November 28, 2007 I started using a new scale that tracks body fat and more (the numbers you see above). I report the figures from that scale in these weekly posts and I still track my total pounds lost in the Weight Loss Goals section in the sidebar on my site.

Interesting and useful links from the past week or two.

Drop Upload Does Quick Drag-and-Drop FTP - from Lifehacker.  Very nice little FTP application, perfect for quick uploads. I set up a connection to the images directory on this site and now I can quickly and easily upload images for posts without having to open any heavy programs.

Everyday Expenses & Housing Costs Ate Stimulus Checks - from The Frugal Duchess. Interesting statistics on how stimulus checks are really being spent. Many people are using the money for regular expenses and some even needed the check to avoid foreclosure- “29.4% used funds from their tax stimulus check to pay for everyday expenses, such as food and gasoline, while 20% said they paid down their credit card debt“.

Fuel Efficient Cars In Your Future? Watch for the MPG Illusion - from The Digerati Life. You can’t just look at miles per gallon to figure out how much money you might save. The percentage saved goes down drastically as you switch from moderately efficient vehicles to those higher up the scale.

The Dirty Secrets of Debt Reduction - from Get Rich Slowly. Everything you need to know if you are getting started on your journey to get out of debt.

15 Baby Steps Towards Voluntary Consumerism - from Early Retirement Extreme. Entertaining read on how to become a great consumer! In case you don’t notice, this is a what-NOT-to-do list. 

I’m skipping the  scale this week because my wife and I took a long weekend vacation to Northern Arizona.  Here is a picture from the center of town in Sedona.

Sedona is probably best known for its ‘red rocks’ but I didn’t get any good pictures of those. I guess we’ve been there too many times to take notice.  :)  You can see some more pictures at the Visit Sedona website.

Last week was a good one for me and my exercise goals. I did 3 days of cardio, 30 minutes per day and I started day 1 of the 100 pushups challenge. I didn’t make the best food choices on vacation, but I did do a decent amount of walking so I hope that made up for it. I need to get back on track now and get some cardio and pushups done with only about half a week left, but I think I can make it. I will be back on the scale next Monday.

This challenge has really been catching on lately and I am finally going to jump in. Check out the initial test and how to get started if you think you might be interested.

I took the test and completed 10 proper-form push ups. I was very careful to use proper form- so be sure you don’t cheat, go slowly and nearly touch the floor with your face on the way down. You want to start off with good form to get the most out of the exercise.

The idea of the program is to get fit of course and I really like the small time commitment required, yet with good results (hopefully). After the initial test, you only have to commit to 3 days a week for about 15 minutes or less. The total program is 6 weeks, but there is no need to feel like you need to rush through it. You may even want to repeat a week if you feel like you couldn’t quite keep up. I’m a little worried, since I could only do 10 and the first day of the workout will have me doing a total of 28. I’ll see how that goes and update you on my progress.

You should give it a try too! Visit one hundred push ups to get started.