Weston's February Fitness and Health Review - 2014

So I have this expensive watch that gives me all sorts of terrific data. I'm going to begin doing monthly summaries and self analysis so I can determine how best to fine tune my workouts. My stats. 48 years old male with military service related disabilities. Doesn't smoke. Drinks wine. Lives life well.

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February was a tough month. I had to travel for my job and I'm behind in my current SEAL Team 666 novel and a novella due to another publisher. Add to that a lot of personal and professional challenges, finding the time and motivation to exercise was the hardest since I returned from Afghanistan in October 2013. As it turned out, I only exercised 16 out of 28 days.

My Suunto Ambit 2S watch recorded and posted 17 total moves to Movescount.com for a total duration of 7:44 hours, total distance of 33.55 kilometers, and total caloric burn of 4443 cals.

The break down is:

• Running Outside 4:14.22 hours
• DDP Yoga 2:12 hours
• Running on Treadmill 43.42 minutes
• Circuit Training 33.09 minutes

Pathetic.

It looks like I ran a lot more than anything else, which is much different than my previous months. My Average HR was 134. Since 137 is 80% of my heart rate max, this is pretty good, but I could make it better. My average speed is 7.5 km per hour. I need to improve that.

Yoga absolutely suffered. I think with all the challenges to my time, I didn't want to commit the time, which is a terrific mistake. Those 2:12 hours were only two Yoga sessions the entire month. One on Feb 1 and one on Feb 26. The latter I did outside and it was grand. But the muscles that aren't worked by anything else are screaming at me, something that hadn't happened since July last year.

I also wasn't able to do a single spin class this month. Grrrr.

I need to recommit to yoga.

I was thinking I could just dash off a run because it's a quick burn of 400 calories and spikes my metabolism, but that's not good enough. I need Yoga. I need circuit training. It's a balance.

I also see where there were several three and one four day period where I didn't exercise at all. Shoot, I was

in Virginia Beach and ran along the Atlantic Ocean when it was 40 degrees. If I can do that, there's no excuse not to exercise more.

One highlight his month was my second ever 5K. Yvonne signed us up for the Run or Dye 5K and it was a terrific blast!!!

About weight and body composition. I've gained about 5 pounds since I returned 5 months ago, but I feel that most of that is muscle. I didn't do any weight training in Afghanistan, but I've been incorporating that into my circuit training and can see the difference.

Weight Watch:

• March 2013    275 Pounds
• October 2013  217 Pounds
• March 2014     222 Pounds
• Next Month Goal - 219 Pounds
• Ultimate Goal - 190 Pounds

My exercise goals for next month:

• Exercise 25 days, even if it's nothing more than a five minute Tabata
• Balance running with Yoga and use circuit training to shock the muscles.
• Do at least 4 Spin Classes
• Improve running speed to 8 km per hour
• Learn and Do the DDP Black Crow

What's the DDP Black Crow you ask?

Here's some guy doing it real cool.

Here's Diamond Dallas Page's instruction:

Finally let's talk about food.

Bacon Leek Pasta

Most of you who follow me on Facebook see me cooking fantastic dishes. And they are. But many of these are super bowls with kale and ferro, or have fish or chicken as the main ingredient, or are totally meatless. I think I had one steak last month and one plate of spare ribs. I ate no sausage of any kind except for a few pieces in the Paella I made. Eating healthy isn't hard. It's math and surprise. Math, meaning, a male my age and size burns about 2400 calories a day before exercise. I do the math and drink and eat less than that, then I can lose weight. There's a few more twists and turns, but that's really the magic. But just as you have to jumpstart your workouts by doing different things, you also need to jumpstart your eating. You need to surprise your tummy.

So I cook. I try new things all the time, but try and make them a little more healthy. The must decadent thing I made all month was Bacon Leek Pasta (Thanks Food Network Magazine). But I used a low glycemic index gluten free pasta instead of regular pasta and I also didn't use any cream at all, but instead reserved pasta water and folded it in. I also used bacon bits instead of slab bacon. How many calories a serving? 600 cals. Go back to the previous paragraph and do the math. Yep. Fun eating can be done.

I need to watch what I eat when I go out, but I've been pretty good about that. I drink a lot of water too. If it's not wine, it's water. That's it. No sugar drinks, no tea, and a coffee every morning.

So that's it, I guess.

Let me review my goals:

• Exercise 25 days, even if it's nothing more than a five minute Tabata
• Balance running with Yoga and use circuit training to shock the muscles.
• Do at least 4 Spin Classes
• Improve running speed to 8 km per hour
• Learn and Do the DDP Black Crow
• Lose 3 pounds

March here I come!