Today we are taking a break from data driven topics and things in the news. Over the last 4-5 months I have lost about 10 pounds or perhaps a bit more (5kg). I am tall, about 6’5” (1.95m) and weighed perhaps 206-210 pounds (93-95kg) before I started to lose weight. With just a few exceptions I have exercised daily for the last 38-40 years. I am now about 196-198 pounds (88-90 kgs). How did this happen? Here are the reasons I can come up with:
- I continued to exercise 30-60 minutes per day during the week and a bit more on weekend days. Except on vacation, almost all of this was indoors cycling on a trainer, running on the treadmill, or swimming. It has been a very, very long winter in Minnesota.
- As I have noted in earlier blog posts on interval training and what to do during the winter, a lot of this has been relatively high intensity training.
- I added circuit training with body weight exercises like burpees to go with the weight training, ab work and push-ups I had been doing for a long time.
- The first three factors are not much different than what I have done for years except for the circuit training. The other big thing has been that my wife and I made a conscious decision to get the chips, ice cream, cookies, and (most) of the soda out of the house. I also encouraged people to stop bringing “treats” to the lab. When I have been hungry during the day I have tried to “reach for an apple” or protein bar.
What is interesting is that after a few months of avoiding junk food I don’t miss the chips, and when I occasionally have more than a few I feel really full and sort of uncomfortable. The ice is finally off the street and I am riding my bike to work again and the days are longer. It will be interesting to see what happens over the summer when my physical activity picks up. Will my weight go down a bit more? In terms of diet my recent observations suggest that limiting the availability of junk food can have a big effect on body weight.