Some good news some bad.

More people are hitting the trail with warmer weather.

This is for a couple of days since I have been pretty busy. The good news of the start is that even though I have not been posting daily I have still been doing my walking. So far this week I have walked more than 57 miles. This puts me over the 20 percent mark for reaching my goal of 1750 miles. I have walked 364.61 miles since December 28^th. This also means I only have 1385.39 miles left to go.

Some more good news is that I have lost more than 40 pounds since I began. I hit 256.4 yesterday and that is 40.6 off my beginning weight. The bad news is that I got a new scale to replace the old spring one that I had and I found out that the old scale was off [light] by about 7 pounds. Because of this I have adjusted my starting weight from 290 to 297. It may be more because there isn't a direct linear comparison. But that seems to be fair. More than likely I was over 300 pounds. SO that is the bad news part.

The trail has really seen the number of people go up with the warmer weather. Seems that Ground Hog may have been onto something after all. I always had faith in him. Never wavered a bit. Over the past three days we have 151, 147 and yesterday there was 197 people. It is odd to see them out there. Some of the people I have seen many times and some I have only seen one time. But there are only about four or five I have seen even in the coldest weather. I am so glad I started when it was cold because I have a feeling the heat is going to wipe me out. I am already in shorts and t-shirts. This is with the temperature being in the 40's and 50's.

Let's see what this look like in a couple weeks.

I am going back to Chicago for a few days to see Cheryl and will do some more walking from there. Though it has only been a couple of days since the snow has melted, there is green grass and some leaves beginning to grow on the trail. Get ready for pollen if you have allergies.

While my stomach is still pretty huge it is at least much softer than is has been in a long time. Not long ago when one would poke my belly it was hard and you could poke it in. Now it is soft and I giggle when that happens. Like the Pillsbury dough boy.Too bad I can't lose weight like how the snow melts. Or can I?

More birds and squirrels are around the trail now too. Dang squirrels.

Keep on Track,

Thomas

People are Getting on my Trail.

Yesterday there was a record number of people on the trail during my walk with 51. Today there were 37 people. This of course doesn't count the dogs and babies which have no say in the matter. One of the funniest ones was a woman that brought her bike with her to the Tesson parking area and just rode her bike to Gravois. That was only a two mile bike ride. I guess it is better than nothing at all but it seems really minor to me. I walked 10.63 miles and I thought I should have gone further.

There seems to be an issue with the livestrong.com website. I have tried several times to get on it to

track my walking and food but the pages keep going blank. I wonder if it will be fixed soon. That is a bit inconvenient.

The ducks were out Today, so were the people.

I saw some ducks in the creek near Grant's Trail near the headend at The Lodge end of the trail. They were all swimming together in their little ducky formation and quacking just as ducks tend to do. It will be interesting to see what sort of facility that is going to be built there and how that will relate to the park and fitness. I should look into what is available at the Clydesdale Park. But I think just walking up the hill is about enough activity for anyone.

It is very quiet in here in the morning.

I went to Grant's National Park for my turn around point. I was joust going to Gravois but I had to use their bathroom. When I was in there I sneezed. I guess it was a bit loud and the Park Ranger stuck his head in the bathroom to see what was going on.

I think I am going to get a scale that works Today. That will help measure my actual weight without having to guess. However, when I was up visiting Cheryl one time we went to Zannie's comedy club and the guy there was selling t-shirts that benefit dog rescues and I got one, The thing is the only size they had was large so I had to got that. I wore that shirt Today. Of course I am fat in it but I can at least wear it somewhat without it being over stretched.

According to my fitness tracker I have walked 331 miles and I am at almost 19 percent of my goal to walk 1750 miles. Just think, almost 20 percent done. Looking back it looks so easy, but looking forward it looks really hard.

I also had a large number of hits on my blog yesterday. I want to say thank you for reading and I hope that you will be returning to see me become successful on my journey to a better me. I couldn't do it without you. Well I could and I am.

Keep on track,

Thomas

More Than One Million Steps!

Interstate 44 is at the north end of Grant's Trail in Kirkwood.

Well that alone should be good enough for Today but I also walked all the way to the end of Grant's Trail. I also walked 12.5 miles Today too. That is 283 miles since December 28^th, 2010. Thew one million steps is from all of last year though. So it is from a much longer period of time. I was also surprised to find out that it got colder as the day went on. It was about 26ºF when I started and it was down to 12ºF when I got back home. I thought it was getting colder but I thought it was from the wind chill and not real temperature.

The number of steps I have taken since I began walking again is 567,066. So that is more than a half million in about six weeks. So at this rate I should reach my goal of 1750 miles in November. That has moved up due to the fact that I am walking more than my original goal. I think once I reach the goal I might go back to the 4 miles per day to maintain my weight.

My Starting place is Musick and Gravois.

My total distance Today was 12.5 miles and I think that is the longest I have gone in a long time with out a break somewhere a long the line. I am also feeling better and think I can see some differences in my waist. But it is so big it is going to take a long time. I know when I come in after a long walk like this I want to go in the bathroom and look in the mirror and see it ALL GONE. But it doesn't work that way.

But it sure feels good using the livestrong website for the food tracking and activity tracker. It helps a lot with keeping your totals on your food and calories on track. I know I have mentioned it before but if you have not used it yet or even looked at it it has so much good information that you cannot help but to gain some sort of useful information from it. And donate blood.

9109 Watson Rd, Home of Almon Chiropractic Therapy?

Grant's Trail passes near my niece's new office I am sure it is in the 9109 Watson Rd Building near Applebee's. It looks mighty fancy to me. I think she said she is going to name it Almon Chiropractic Center or Clinic I would name is Almon Chiropractic Therapy so the initials can be ACT. Then she could answer the phone, “Hello, ACT Center. What acting up with you?” Plus I think the name sounds better too.

She still needs Missouri car tags. Oklahoma is OK, Missouri is awesome!

Anyway, I hit 260 pounds Today. So that is more than 10 percent of my weight goal. WHAT? All that work and only 10 percent. I must be one fat tub of lard. Oh yes, I am. Back on track. That is really good news since I was going to stop Today if I wasn't any lighter. [not really] That is 30 pounds since the end of December. I am after all trying to reach a 30 percent goal so I am already one third there. To be honest the 30 percent is just a starting point. Then at that time I have to decide what I am going to do. Either working on weight training or more jogging. After I get under 250 pounds I might start jogging again. I might wait until 240 pounds. I am just concerned about my knees and the extra weight. SO far I have not had any noticeable issue with my feet or knees. However, my back hurts a bit but that has got to be from the 60 to 70 pounds of extra fat I am carrying.

Waiting For That Warmer Weather

This horse ate some freshly tossed alfalfa on the ground.

Someone told me that some animal saw its shadow and it is suppose to be warm now. By the way Groundhog day was my Grandmother's 110^th birthday. Happy birthday Granny Tanner.

With the Super Bowl over and winter still much in effect for much of the country the only thing to do is to walk to entertain each other until some real sports begin. Like say, baseball. All you cricket and soccer and tennis people may say that your sport is worthy to be enjoyed but that is just because you have never enjoyed a good baseball season. But through the magic of time and some other magic, the gr4eenskeepers are transforming the white snow into green grass all across the country. So that on March 31^st real sports can begin again.

OK enough about that. I walked more than 11 miles Today which is the furthers I have gone on Grant's Trail. I went all the way to Watson Road. I think Tomorrow I will try to make it all the way to I-44. That would be the whole length of the trail. That would mark the first time I had done that, even on a bike. Plus it would be a good path to get on. That would make my walk about 13 miles. I just hope it warms up soon.

I have almost walked the distance from St. Louis to the Oklahoma State line following I-44. I should reach the total distance by the end of the week. I hope by Wednesday. I am at 271 miles as of right now. I figured the number of steps that is about 3.5 million to reach my goal distance of 1750 miles. It is odd to think that there are so many steps to that distance when we can drive it in just a few days or fly it in just a few hours.

It takes a lot of feed to feed these big bodies.

I wonder how long it would take me if I was using a Clydesdale to reach the distance. Maybe I should ask the people at Grant's Farm to see if they would let me ride one of their horses.

Oh this was a interesting tidbit. My Army uniform top is much closer to fitting that it has been in a long time. I still can't get it on but I am glad that I kept it all these years because when I can fir into that I know that I am on my way to my weight when I was in the service. I haven't tried the pants yet. I figure the shirt would fit before the pants will.

I found a tape measure and found out my chest is 48 inches and my fat waist is 52 inches and my neck is 18 ½ inches. Being that I have no prior measurements to compare this with I will have to use this as a comparison moving forward.

That's all for Today, Folks.

Thomas

Another Snow Story

Clydesdale in the snow.

When I woke up this morning and looked outside there was about 6 to 7 inches of snow and it was still coming down. I was pretty sure I was going to have to walk from home since the snow was so deep. I went a different path Today and went down to Grant's Trail through one of the neighborhoods that border it. Then I headed to Grant's Farm and then back the regular path. I was surprised how many people were out this morning. Before I even left I saw someone out jogging in the snow in front of the house.

I also saw several bike riders and even a cross country skier near Clydesdale Park. Actually I saw his tracks but when I began he wasn't there and they were there on the way back. So he must have been pretty fast. But they only went for about a mile so even going back and forth it was two miles. I did ten miles Today.

An abandoned rail track near Grant's trail showing the snow.

Due to the snow it was incredibly hard to walk. It took much longer than normal, plus I fell one time near the Affton Athletic Center. It seemed that at the AAC they had some event because there was a lot of traffic this morning. Some of the other areas that were hard to walk on was the intersections where the trail and a road met and all the streets. At least the snow was wet enough for me to get a good footing but still if I was to fall the road was right there.

The temperature was rather warm considering that it has been in the 20s for the past month or lower. It was in the 30s during Today's walk so the roads were clearing of snow fast. As of the writing of this the temperature was 37ºF and it looked like the snow on the street was melting.

I am also at 260 miles so far and that puts me near 15 percent of my 1750 mile goal. I am still averaging more than 1000kcal per day used and more than seven miles per day walked.

Two For One Monday

A place to see some rising stars.

Due to the busy weekend and stuff I am doing the duel blog of Monday and Saturday. Saturday Cheryl and I walked up north to the Apple store and a little bit north of that to the historic Stephenwolf Theater. It is a place where many of a fine dramatic actor has honed their craft. This walk we did was more then seven miles. And later one we went to the movies so all together we walked thirteen miles. That was by far the longest walk I have done since I began. But with the cold the walk doesn't seem to bother me near as much as it does when it is hot.

At the Apple store we were going to get the pedometer sensor that didn't come with her iPod touch and when we did we were told by the Apple rep that you have to have the sensor in an Nike shoe for it to work right. And that it had to have significant impact on the sensor in order for it to count your steps. So between the additional requirement of a Nike brand shoe which costs around $160 a pair their was no way to use this feature provided at the Apple store. While we were walking back we passed a shoe store and went in and talked to a girl there and she showed us some “pockets” we could use to hold the sensor on Cheryl's existing shoes.

Looks like Dorothy needs a coat.

The walk was long and we did stop a few times but Cheryl was getting a bit walked out so I told her she could rest and I would make some lunch for us. Later on we went to the movies and walked there so that is what gave us such a long total for the day.

Sunday I didn't do any particular walking but we went out to Barrington to visit some friends of Cheryl’s and with the walk from the and to the train station and several other things we got more then four miles in.

Today I walked down State street with is the east west divider street in Chicago. In St. Louis we use the Mississippi to divide east from west. So anyway I walked south ion State to IIT and crossed Interstate 90 at 31^st street. And could see the downtown skyline really good. The bridge covers the red line CTA and I-90 was merging into I-55.

Now that I know that area of town is “Chinatown” I understand why I see so many Asian looking people there. The circuit Today was about 8 miles. It wasn't so cold but the wind was bad. Well it was cold it was 22ºF. But I have walked in much colder. It is the wind that really gets me going.

Looking north from I-90 at downtown Chicago.

The best news is my weight is at 264.5 pounds which is 25 pounds lost since I began all this mess. I don't even miss it. This is also the end of my “second” month. Remember I started in the last few days of December. It is also going to be my last walk in Chicago for a while. It has been really fun getting to see and learn about the place. Maybe I will show it to Cheryl someday.

I already have a new path set up for when I get back to St. Louis and on Grant's Trail. I have reached 233 miles and 13.36 percent of my 1750 mile goal. That equals more then 10 pounds of walking at an average of 1100 kcal per day. This also means I am walking nearly 8 miles per day too. And the best part is the health part of my blood pressure coming more in line with medical recommendations.

Snow Storms, Power Failures and Walking with Cheryl

Snow on yet another of Grant's parks.

Today is my first day to walk somewhere else other than Grant's Trail. I walked with Cheryl to her work and then did some extra walking after that. It was nice really not too many people out. Of course I didn't count the people I saw on the trail but I may do that tomorrow. But there were a few out. It is odd walking in a new place because I haven't got the rhythm of the place yet. But I think I did good for my first Chicago walk.

After I got started there were a few snow flurries. Nothing bad but they did hit me in the eyes a few times. On the way to Cheryl's work we went by the basilica of Oprah where she has several buildings and her Harpo studios. Nothing really outstanding about them from the outside but I am sure they were a anchor to help revitalize the area around there. There is nothing wrong with that.

Stepping out in Chicago.

So we went to Cheryl's office and I got to see that. They have lots of natural lighting and space. Makes you feel like you are in a warehouse of sorts. But it was nice to see. I may try to take a picture Tomorrow when I go there. After all a picture is worth 100,000 words.

So after I left Cheryl's office I came back down and across downtown to the Lake Shore Trail. The trail itself was good and was relativity clear of snow. That is better then Grant's Trail in St. Louis County. Near Monroe Marina the water was frozen but as you went further out into the harbor the water was not and a bunch of flocking birds were sitting in the cold water. What can you say, they have bird brains.

On down the Lake Shore trail I made my way up near the Natural History Museum and close to Adler Planetarium. But that was about the time my iPod decided it didn't want to work without power so none of my steps from there to back to the apartment were counted. So what I have counted for my steps Today is 10106. That is when it decided to turn off. I was hoping that the pedometer would keep track even with the screen off but it didn't and there was no way I could have checked either. So when I walk Tomorrow and go the same path I will be able to update my steps for Today.

Not much water flow Today at the Buckingham Fountain.

I am able to weigh myself more accurately now. Coming off this walk I was 270.5 pounds. That is 6.72 percent of the 30 percent I want to lose. Also I went over my 100 mile mark. I must have done that about the time I reached the Lake Shore trail. I have also reached 6 percent of my distance goal of 1750 miles. Even though my records show my percent just under that I know that due to the power failure of my iPod that I passed that goal.

Warmest Day, Started Late

These are the first two people I saw Today.

Today was the warmest day of the year so far for me to walk. This morning the temperature was an unbelievably warm 36ºF. I saw more people on Grant's Trail than I have ever before but there could be several reasons for that. One, Today is Saturday and more people are off so they have the opportunity to walk in the morning. Two, being as warm as it is more people may have been willing to come out to brave the “cold” weather. I saw one woman, jogging with a man, she was wrapped up with more clothing on than I ever have been. Plus it looked like she had no clue as to what she was about to do.

The third reason may have been I started an hour later then I normally do so maybe I just miss all these people because I am already done with that section of the trail. I doubt it. The footprints in the snow from the past few days doesn't bear that out. So with all that said there were 29 people on the trail Today and five dogs.

Tomorrow I am going to Chicago and will be spending a few days there. I am not going to be doing any fitness running but I may have some to add to the fitness tracker since everyone walks everywhere downtown. Just to get outside the building is almost a half mile. I wonder how the construction is going. I will show a few pictures of that as well.

Walking on the trail may be a good way to pass the time.

Also while in Chicago I will complete a few mile stones. The first one will be my first 100 miles. That will also lead to completion of six percent of my goal. I will also reach more than 200.000 steps total. Actually I may even do that before I leave since I am so close.

Another thing is since I am riding on Amtrak that I may see how many steps I can take on the train walking back and forth. That way I can have a work out ready to go when I sync up on Sunday.

As the Trail Clears

The trail is starting to clear off in spots. Should be good by Monday.

Today was the warmest day all week. It was a balmy 28ºF when I started the walk. With the sun being out yesterday more of the trail got cleared off from the greenhouse effect. Plus the number of footprints on the trail now has really increased. I have a feeling that the trail will be clear by this weekend. We only had four people on the Grant's Trail Today.

I was glad to see the warmer temperature. I didn't have to wear as many layers Today. If the morning temperature ever gets up to the 40ºF I might actually just wear my shorts and t-shirt. What does the “t” in t-shirt mean anyway?

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Not sure much grilling is done in Jan.

I got my first contact for a website review: http://www.become.com/ This one is a new shopping website that I haven't heard of before so I was surprised how nice it looked. It seems to be well organized with the categories listed on the left. They wanted me to look at three items and the first one is here: http://home-and-garden.become.com/bronze-burner-gas-grill. The grills look nice but a bit out of my price range. Price range is dependent on features and range, [get it range], from $300 to over $2000 in price.

Also this site: http://pets.become.com/polka-dot-dishes. If you have a thing for poka dotted dishes this is a good place to get your set.

I didn't find purple, so I made it.

And finally: http://food-and-drink.become.com/rubber-wine-stoppers. This is a great place to find useful and unique cork stoppers and other items for the wine connoisseur. 

Fancy wine stoppers

Another good thing is that they have free shipping for most of these places. I like that. But it requires a minimum purchase to get it. But the shipping information is easy to find and the shopping is easy to do on line. I would assume you could have it ship to another address if you wanted to send it as a gift too. Take a lot. You might be pleasantly surprised like I was. 

________________________________________

 

Well back to fun, I did 11,904 steps Today. I thought I would be over 12,000 since I walked through the parking lot at Union and Reavis BRKS. But that did put me over. But just walking around the house will get that extra number of steps to total over 6 miles. Plus I have some errands to do Today So I should easily beat that.

Cheryl and I near Buckingham Fountain last July.

On my Nike + tracker I finished with Rio and I am starting Sydney, AUS. When I finished Rio it said that I was number 14 on their leader board for my time through the city. No too shabby I think. It would be funny if one of the cities that they have on here is St. Louis. I wonder what path they would do for it. Plus I am going to be in Chicago for a few days visiting Cheryl so I will have the Lake Shore Trail to walk on next week. I am sure I will be near the Buckingham Fountain several times too. I wonder if the water will be on at that time? I am anxious to see how well I do on that. I will be sure to take some pictures from there so you can see what I see too.

I am happy to say that my blood pressure is slowly moving lower not to where I want it yet but at least it is going the right direction. My pulse is staying strong and moving down too. Since my scale is broke I don't know what my weight is. But when I go up to Chicago and visit Cheryl she will let me use hers, so I should get a more accurate reading. [Darn it]

The big highlight for Today is reaching 91.6 miles and that brings me to 5.23% of my goal of 1750 miles. I also feel my muscle getting tighter around my arms and legs. This morning my left shin was hurting a little bit but by the time I am writing this it feels fine now. I think part of it is just having to keep warm.

Well thanks to everyone that is reading again, I appreciate your support.

Thomas

Cold and Continuing

Follow a well marked path.

Today marks the day of doing just another day in the sub-freezing cold on the path to my goal. This is were the journey begins to get a bit harder because the initial “big” loss of weight has happen now I have to work harder to make the rest of the weight go down. Not that it actually requires anymore work physically it is just that the routine starts to get hard. But the good thing is that when I am dropped off in the morning I have no other option but to walk home to get warm, or to get home period.

My steps were a palindrome Today. I reached 12021 steps, which is the same number forward as it is backwards. Some other stats for Today are the 85.65 miles in total I have done. This total represents 4.89% of my goal of 1750 miles. The six miles I have walked Today is a best daily distance for the program. It seems I take more steps when I am walking on snow. I cannot make as big of strides when I have to watch where I am walking.

I saw four people on Grant's Trail Today. Two woman and they were jogging, but not together, and a man walking his dog.

I have notice some change in my face especially under my chin. I can “pull” my neck muscles out again. I haven't done that in quite a long time. It looks silly but it is what the weight lifters do when they are trying to lift a heavy load. I certainly have a heavy enough load to carry.

Save your money for a goal reached.

It is funny how some of these commercials for weight loss make outrageous claims as to what their products can do. Since I am doing a fitness tracker I have all the numbers to figure out what they are saying in other terms. One that really stands out is the Hydroxy Cut ads. A woman or man comes on an ad and says they lost 42 pounds in 18 weeks. That very well may be true but lets look a little closer at the statement. If that person was to do that only by jogging or walking they would have to cover a distance of 919 miles in about 3.5 months. That comes to 7.3 miles a day. I am doing extreme walking to be sure. The distance that I am covering is well beyond typical. If one covers about a mile walking that is more than sufficient for keeping your body fit and your weight under control.

Looking at the Hydroxy Cut website you see the “fine” print as to what these results actually mean. They make the claims that their active ingredients provided a 12.3 times more reduction in weight loss than using a placebo. However the only control that is mentioned in the “study” is that the two groups were on a reduced calorie diet. It says nothing about the amount of physical activity.

They also make the claim that the studies were a, “12-week third party, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study” yet they do not provide who did the test or a link to review the results of the tests. From normal weight loss guidelines the loss of 1.7 pounds that they represent that happened in the placebo seems to be nothing more than a slight calorie reduction. If not a reduced calories diet it would represent walking over the 12 week period of about 3 miles a WEEK. Not really much of a weight loss plan if you have several tens of pounds to lose like I do and the people they show in their commercials.

Needless to say most over the counter diet solutions are nothing more than a placebo for you to motivate yourself to do exercise and to eat a lower calorie diet. I am not pointing out Hyroxy Cut over any other claim of a so called diet aid. Feel free to look at their website if you want to see their own information.

The bottom line if you want to lose weight you have to do some sort of combination of reducing calories or increasing activity. Short of a gastric bypass or some other medical procedure you have to follow these principles. Then you will be successful in your journey to less of you.

Colder Than Hell.

Weather from Hell.

Yes that's right. Today was colder than Hell, Norway in St. Louis. According to Meteorologisk Institutt of Norway it is -3ºC which converts to 26.6ºF. That is a balmy 16.6ºF warmer than our 10ºF this morning. So you can say with full confidence that it is colder then Hell Today without any fear of strange looks from anyone.

Not many on the trail, but footprints show their evidence.

I did walk the entire path Today but I put on some additional layers before I began. I had on four layers on my torso and four layers on my legs as well and two pair of socks. This is good because it was the coldest day so far to walk. This combine with the snow on Grant's Trail made for a challenging walk. But even with these factors, I was warm after about a mile of walking. After I got off Grant's Trail there were some snow flurries. So the last half mile I had a few flakes blowing in my face.

It is quite good to have this day over with. I would be interested to find out what the forecast is for the next few weeks. I sure wouldn't want to see the temperature drop much more. But the price you pay for warmer weather is storms. So there is that trade off. I am certainly not thrilled about walking in the rain; or any sort of precipitation.

Blowing snow covers covers tracks on Grant's Trail.

Today saw an increase of people. I was quite surprised by this. The trail has been used as is evidenced by the footprints on the trail. I guess some people are keeping to the diet and fitness goals despite the weather. There was a total of five people Today.

I was reading yesterday about the benefits of walking verses jogging. The bottom line seems to be that if you are going the same distance that there is no real benefit to weight loss. Of course there are some factors that can change that such as if you are going up and down hills and if you are wearing ankle weights and things of that sort but the main thing is to have a plan that you can do safely and stick to it.

While getting muscle tone and even bigger muscles sounds like a great plan. In my current state I need to focus on my heart and lung health first and getting the weight down. For that the plan is diet and exercise. But even more important and the most difficult is consistency. The best plan in the world is useless if you do not apply it in a consistent plan. Granted my plan is a bit more then what it typical but I have a lot of fat to lose and it isn't going to go away by wishing it away. Though I wish it would.

My blood pressure has been moving slowly down over the past two weeks which is my main goal.

Getting the blood pressure down helps reduce risk of stoke, heart disease, type II diabetes and other health concerns. Losing the weight just makes me look better. But I can't have one without the other.

According to stltoday.com the forecast for the next few days should be getting warmer. Today could be the coldest day for about a week. January 20 and 21 look to be very cold. But with that being more than a week out that can easily change. But for most of the next week it looks to be in the lower 30º for the highs. I can live with that.

With that in mind I wish everyone the best of luck on their goals and keep on trudging on.

Thomas

Snow Day, Lone Way

This is the snow covered Grant's trail Today. The area in blue are my tracks.

Today due to the snow I had to do a different course for my walking. This is from my house down to Grant's trail then turn around at the halfway point and come on back. This really had a lot more hill walking than normal because I had to walk down the hills from the house to the trail then on the way back I went up Union Rd which has a big hill from the trail to Reavis BRKS Rd. Then of course the hill back to the house so that was quite a bit more hill climbing than normal all together about 200 feet climbing up and down.

Two cold birds this morning.

The trail had some indications of people having been on it. Mostly from the foot prints in the snow. There were some kids playing near the trail in the snow with sleds but that was just having fun on a snow day. I really don't think that it was necessary to have a snow day because the roads were clear and the snow is dry and packs well. But the big news was failure to see anyone else on the trail. So Today is the first day I was the only one on the trail.

Since I had to modify my walking plan Today I had to guess where to turn around and come back but I did pretty well. I an more likely to go further then cut it short if I am to guess on my own. I was close my steps Today were 11, 610 so that was withing a quarter miles of the same distance. I did see many birds on the trail Today and got a few pictures of them. However one of a Cardinal that I wanted to take failed due to me holding the camera upside down and pressing the wrong button on the camera phone.

A cardinal

Not much new fitness wise to report other than progress is still being made. I am over 4% or my distance goal of 1750 now. Of course when you are more than 80 pounds over weight it takes a while to get that gone. It would be nice if I could get it down as fast as my buddy Rob Fahn who has lost a lot of weight at his doctors urging. I just knew I had too. I was having some odd feelings in my body that I decided were indications of being too fat. Not that I really needed any other indication than my clothes and mirror. With Today's walk I am at 73.69 miles for my journey.

Not endorsed by Mayo

I did shovel the drive way this morning too. According to the Mayo Clinic that is a good aerobic exercise too. But it only took about 20 minuets to do. By the time I got back home the wind had blown a couple of drifts back onto the driveway. I will have to try some of my clothes on again to see if any more have mysteriously grown lately.

I did a new style of the cover.

With the snow shoveling in mind and having done my snowy walk Today I must say, in the words of James Brown, “I feel good.”

Keep on the trail,

Thomas

Cold Day and Low Turn Out.

After Sunday is was a bit hard to get back into the swing of walking again. But I made it fine. There were fewer people this time than in anytime I have seen since I began going to Reavis BRKS RD last week. There were only eight people Today and one of them I saw after I made my turn to go on up Reavis toward home. As a policy I don't count people I see walking on the road unless they are dressed as if they are doing exercise.

I think the reason that it was a bit harder Today walking and getting in the grove was because I had ate more than I had Sunday than I had most of the past two weeks. I made waffles for Cheryl and I then my Mom made us a nice dinner from Macaroni Grill. Then I went to Emily's birthday party and had chili and sour cream and cheese plus cake. However I did take the icing off the cake so that was a few calories I saved. Then late night I made some stew from the noodles of the meal from dinner. So that was quite a bit more food than I have ate calorie wise in a long time.

Happy sixth birthday, Emily.

But with Today's walk I used up almost 900 calories so that should take care of a lot of the food I ate Sunday. Plus I didn't walk Sunday so I think that has something to do with me not getting off to a good start Today too.

Along Grant's Trail, Gravois Creek is getting more and more frozen. I haven't ever seen it totally solid but a couple of weeks ago when we had the snow was still out it seemed a lot more frozen that it does now even though the temperature has been colder.

Some of the milestones I have reached Today include 10,861 calories used, almost 68 miles, My trend for my blood pressure is moving the systolic lower and my pulse has been getting lower too. That means my pulse is getting stronger.

Sad to say the death of my scale. It was a very old on to begin with but yesterday I got on it and it said I was at 240 pounds. I was so tempted to accept that but that wouldn't make me any thinner. So I looked at the “zero” and it was off and I tried to reset it and it wouldn't reset any more and since then my weight has been way off. In my favor but as I said a broke scale doesn't help me reach my mark. That is what a mirror is for.

Body Mass Index 

Another indicator of good weight is your body mass index. That is a guideline for the amount of fat your body should have according to your height. The standards range from less than 18.5 to 18.6 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is over weight. A body mass index of 30 or more is obese by medical definition. These guidelines come from the Department of Health and Humans Services website. The website also indicates the increase risk of other health problems that come along with the extra weight. I am sure many people already know that heart disease and type II diabetes and high blood pressure are three of the major additional conditions to be concerned about.

For me the on line scale says that my BMI is 37.7. This is 7.8 over just being overweight. The HHS BMI index is really strict and requires a lot of work to get within range if you are a person that is out of shape like me. For me to get within the normal range on the index I need to have my weight down to 170 pounds. That is 100 pounds from where I am Today. To be just in the normal range I would have to be about 155 pounds. That is a weight I have not been at since I was in high school.

Find out what your Body Mass Index is from the HHS.

My current goal is to reach 200 pounds with this current fitness plan. If I reach that goal then my BMI will be at 27.9 and mid-range of the overweight standard. But don't be discouraged, the websites says, "The good news is even a small weight loss (between 5 and 10 percent of your current weight) will help lower your risk of developing those diseases."

I am currently near 4% of my goal which is on the way to reaching a 30% reduction from my starting weight. The 5% to 10% standard is from 14.5 to 19 pounds to see improved health benefits. These numbers that I amusing and from the HHS website do not compare exactly but they are still guidelines. With my percentage I am looking at the total amount of weight I want to lose. The HHS numbers are difference in starting weight to goal weight.If I reach the 200 pound goal that would be a 31% reduction in my total weight. Far above the range of where the health benefits improve.

Body Mass Index Tool

Today’s Special Guest and Real Progress

Cheryl decided to walk with me Today in the cold.

Today with us we have a special guest all the way from Chicago, Cheryl Ninemire. Cheryl comes down to visit every now and then since we are dating and this time she got to join me on the walk this morning in the 14ºF. She got in about 2:15am this morning too so we didn't take a lot of sleep time before we got up to walk. Since it was so cold I wore an extra sweatshirt. I didn't wear long johns yet but if the temperature keeps this low for long I am going to have to get some.

Cheryl decided to come on the walk with me. Since it was so cold I gave her a fleece shirt to wear. She said by the time we had got to about 3 miles that she was really getting hot. That is what working out in the cold will do for you.

Walking down Grant's Trail this morning, Cheryl took this.

Some highlights from the walk include the distance at 11,140 steps which comes to 5.57 miles. I have totaled 62 miles so far in the past 12 days and I am at 270 pounds. Also the walk includes about 100 to 110 feet in elevation change over the course. Most of this is off Grant's Trail. That is an extra cardio workout. Like I was telling Cheryl, It may be good for the heart but I still got to get home.

The best news is the tangible results I have to reports. As many of us have in our closets, I have shirts that are just a bit too small for me. Somehow they shrank. Well I tried a few on and they are growing! Seems that about six or more shirts have magically grew bigger over the past couple of weeks. There are still a few that are tight but I can at least fir into them. It is like getting some new clothes. At least that is what Cheryl said.

Like magic, this shirt has grown since I last tried it on.

I am going to take Sunday off and spend it with Cheryl but Monday I will have some new milestones to look forward to like with total calories used and percentage pounds lost. I hope to have more good news then.

Fast and Simple

Today will be short and sweet. I have things to do, my girlfriend is coming to town and I need to clean up a bit.

With that said I did 5.56 mile which comes to 11295 steps. That puts me over 100,000 steps since I began and averaging more than 10,000 steps per day, not counting Sunday. This also means I have walked 54.45 miles and that is 3 percent of my goal of 1750 miles. Also my weight is at 270 so that is at 3 percent as well from where I began. It looks like I am right on track.

I saw 11 people out on the trail Today. It was snowing a little bit and the temperature was 37ºF. I am beginning to see some regular faces, not too mention dog feces, on the trail, I am sure as I continue I will get to recognized a lot more people. Especially after it warms up a bit.

Some good advise even if your not running.

I just hope by April I can be down by about 30 pounds. That would be really good. I have this idea in the back of my mind for doing a “run” here in St. Louis. I am not sure where and when but I might ask my brother since he does them.

Plus, my girlfriend suggested that if I am able to do it, I might want to do the Chicago half marathon. Well I think I still have a while to go before I will sign up for that. But it is nice to see the slow and steady improvement.

Cold Day, More People

Trail intersection at Gravois Rd. Near Grant's farm.

Today was a bit cold. On the first part of Grant's Trail there were not that many people. It didn't seem like many people were out until after 9:00am. But totally I saw eighteen people on the trail. This includes two little toddles that were in strollers so I wasn't sure if I was going to count them or not. I decided to in the end. So based upon that there was sixteen since the kids were just sitting for the ride.

The walk was a long one I am going to Reavis now. It doesn't seem to add that much more time. But I like having the additional distance. Plus I get to avoid the hill I was going up on Union. But it is good to have that option when I need it. The walk in Grant's Trail is so much more serene than when I am walking on the road. A swear most of the people driving are on their phones.

I decided that I like walking in the cold. I am hot normally so the cold helps me keep cool when I am sweating as I walk. I have sweated everyday through my shirts everyday no matter the temperature. Plus the cold means that I am using up more calories to keep myself warm. I think it was 29ºF this morning while I was on the trail.

Find a trail near you.

My blood pressure was 129/85 after the walk. That is pretty good. With this BP monitor reading high. It makes me feel like I am really making a positive change in my heart health. After all that is what it is really about. Well that plus losing all this weight.

Update on some of my stats: BP average; 136/86, pulse; 76.33, steps per day; 10787, miles per day 5.4, calories per day; 863kcal. I hope everyone is keeping up the work. I would love to put some of your stories here if you would want to share them with others. Or if you have a blog too I could put a link to your blog.

Amazing! I lost 2 pounds in just 1 week!

Learn how you can too. It may sound amazing but the results speak for themselves. Yes, In just one week I went from 278 pounds to 276 pounds. And you can too! Tired of diet pills and shakes that only leave you hungry? Tired of having to watch what you eat? Want to get that weight off and keep it off? Here is the secret to my fantastic results.

But before I let you in on the True Weight Loss secret, what would you pay to achieve the same amazing results? $300? $500? $1000, for these incredible results?

Less food, more move is the key.

No way! By taking advantage of this limited time offer you can get the secret to the True Weight Loss system for FREE. That's right absolutely no charge whatsoever.

Do you hate having to watch what you eat? Having to consider the fat and calories of everything you put in your mouth? Well too bad. That is how it works. You have to eat better and modify your bad eating habits, what ever they happen to be, for good ones. Do you think German chocolate cake makes for a good breakfast food? Maybe if your an Olympic athlete training for long distance running but for most of us try a bowl of cereal or oatmeal.

Do you think a candy bar once or twice a week is “OK” for you? It is OK if you are walking the calories off. For example a bag of plain M&Ms has 236.16 kcal. To work that off you need to walk about a mile and a half extra from your normal routine. If you eat a more healthy Snickers bar you have 273.03 kcal. This requires about two and a quarter miles to burn up that amount of energy. So how much is that candy bar worth? If you have a goal of getting your weight down it is “weigh” to much.

Will you walk 2.25 miles to burn this?

Calorie Counts

My line of reasoning goes something like this. If I eat a candy bar after I walk four miles I just wiped out the effectiveness of half the work I just did. Granted the four or five miles is more than I have been doing in the past when I was still eating candy bars and higher calorie foods but now that I am focused on getting the results I need I see no reason to add to the struggle of my goal. 

Beer Calories

A beer belly is built.

For anyone that drinks a beer the results are the same. A Bud Light has 110 calories so if you were to consume one you would need to walk more than a half mile just to work off the calories? If you have a six pack of Bud Light you are looking at more than four miles to work off those calories. Miller Lite is 96 calories and so with that one you have a slight advantage but the results for a six pack comes to just over3.5 miles to burn up those calories. Of course those are the more popular light beers if you drink any others it will only increase the distance plus shots and drinks will similarly increase your distance to burn those calories.

So the secret to my Amazing weight loss is simply this. Eat less and move more. Use up the number of calories that you want to lose. Granted this is not a one to one correlation because there is the baseline metabolic rate to consider and the additional benefits you get due to the work of your body becoming more active. Your bodies increased heart rate, the increase in respiration and the digestion processes and the healing of muscles that are damaged during such increase in activity also add to the over all burning of calories by the body.

This is Grant's home at Grant's Farm. The fence in front was made from the barrels of Civil War guns.

With that said, There were only nine people on Grant's Trail Today. I hope that people have not already gave up on only the third day of the year. It was a bit colder but that is fine. The only day I didn't go out was Sunday. But Today I went ahead and walked to the Grant's trail and Reavis intersection. It didn't take much more time and it did add about another mile so I think I might go ahead and keep doing that. I hope everyone is doing well that is following this blog. It has been good to see so many people reading it so far. It has been useful to me as well to make me keep focused on my goal. So for that I thank all of you that have took the time to read my journey.

I also began tracking a new statistic on my walks; miles per hour. This is done by recording the time I start and stop. I convert that into minutes and then divide my distance by that and then multiply that to produce a miles per hour total. So far I am averaging about 3.5 miles per hour.