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Fitness and activity thoughts
Mar. 11th, 2013 12:24 pmWith the local rain-filled weather beginning to melt the heaping mounds of snow that rise up on each side of streets and sidewalks, I'm eagerly anticipating bicycling again. After most of a month of riding to school every day last year, a combination of dropping temperatures and a need to be in the library well past sunset ended that practice for me.
I think it should be doable most days this semester. I work late on Tuesday and Wednesday so I'll likely drive, but my schedule should allow bicycling the rest of the week. And while I may have a lot of books to bring with me, I still have the panniers I bought last year. I also don't have to worry about how much weight I add to the bicycle because I've lightened myself enough to more than make up for however much material I might have to carry. In fact, I'm very interested in finding out if riding feels significantly different now that I'm forty pounds lighter.
Yes, I noted yesterday that I am down forty pounds since July of last year at this point. I credit quantitative feedback in the form of my Fitbit with the ability to set and reach that goal. I'm planning to lose another ten-to-twenty pounds, as I still have notable visceral fat. But I feel a real difference in my knees, which was one of my major motivations. The frequent crackling noises they made going up or down stairs are pretty much gone, as is some tendon-popping and pain I had occasionally.
Beyond that, it's been oddly fascinating to note the changing shape of my physical self. Various bones and tendons have become more visible under my skin as I move. My skin slides and ripples across the ribs on each side of my body when I raise my arms. (I've noticed for the first time that my rib cage is not quite symmetrical.) When I lie in bed before going to sleep, I sometimes slide my hand up and down the side of my pelvis, distinctly feeling and seeing the way the foundation of bone creates my form. I'd been within fifteen pounds or so of the same weight since I was in high school, so this is entirely new to my adult self. It's kind of like discovering that I have a new body and not being used to it yet.
I've played with the idea of strength training or more systematic exercise to supplement my food and activity monitoring, but I don't know that I will. It would involve actively dedicating exclusive time, as well as have to specifically go somewhere (a gym) to engage in it, and I don't see myself doing that right now. That's why bicycling works; it's multi-purpose. It's transportation that happens to be enjoyable exercise at the same time. Plus, with the wrist problem I have, I worry that strength-training would aggravate my chronic injury there. (I may talk to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
foreignlegion about that and get his opinion.) Parkside does have a gym that students can use, but I've only been in it once. I wanted to use the elliptical during the winter, but they limit sessions to half an hour and I was hoping to stop in a few times a week for an hour of work to kind of replace the bicycling (which was an hour and a half a day).
I'm also a little worried about having lost muscle mass via all the weight loss. Another reason I'm looking forward to riding and being more active. And of course, with my dad just having gone through heart surgery, it's good to think that as a more fit, less sedentary person, I am reducing the chance of facing something like that myself, or at least putting it off.
I think it should be doable most days this semester. I work late on Tuesday and Wednesday so I'll likely drive, but my schedule should allow bicycling the rest of the week. And while I may have a lot of books to bring with me, I still have the panniers I bought last year. I also don't have to worry about how much weight I add to the bicycle because I've lightened myself enough to more than make up for however much material I might have to carry. In fact, I'm very interested in finding out if riding feels significantly different now that I'm forty pounds lighter.
Yes, I noted yesterday that I am down forty pounds since July of last year at this point. I credit quantitative feedback in the form of my Fitbit with the ability to set and reach that goal. I'm planning to lose another ten-to-twenty pounds, as I still have notable visceral fat. But I feel a real difference in my knees, which was one of my major motivations. The frequent crackling noises they made going up or down stairs are pretty much gone, as is some tendon-popping and pain I had occasionally.
Beyond that, it's been oddly fascinating to note the changing shape of my physical self. Various bones and tendons have become more visible under my skin as I move. My skin slides and ripples across the ribs on each side of my body when I raise my arms. (I've noticed for the first time that my rib cage is not quite symmetrical.) When I lie in bed before going to sleep, I sometimes slide my hand up and down the side of my pelvis, distinctly feeling and seeing the way the foundation of bone creates my form. I'd been within fifteen pounds or so of the same weight since I was in high school, so this is entirely new to my adult self. It's kind of like discovering that I have a new body and not being used to it yet.
I've played with the idea of strength training or more systematic exercise to supplement my food and activity monitoring, but I don't know that I will. It would involve actively dedicating exclusive time, as well as have to specifically go somewhere (a gym) to engage in it, and I don't see myself doing that right now. That's why bicycling works; it's multi-purpose. It's transportation that happens to be enjoyable exercise at the same time. Plus, with the wrist problem I have, I worry that strength-training would aggravate my chronic injury there. (I may talk to
foreignlegion about that and get his opinion.) Parkside does have a gym that students can use, but I've only been in it once. I wanted to use the elliptical during the winter, but they limit sessions to half an hour and I was hoping to stop in a few times a week for an hour of work to kind of replace the bicycling (which was an hour and a half a day). I'm also a little worried about having lost muscle mass via all the weight loss. Another reason I'm looking forward to riding and being more active. And of course, with my dad just having gone through heart surgery, it's good to think that as a more fit, less sedentary person, I am reducing the chance of facing something like that myself, or at least putting it off.
