I’ve been having a hard time getting in the groove the last few months. Some parts of my work are much more interesting than others, and I’ve had a hard time staying engaged with the less interesting parts. I’ve also been feeling generally lethargic, so I decided the best solution was a little good old body rockin’. So, I started this week.
First step: the Hacker’s Diet. No, it’s not pizza and Mountain Dew; instead, it applies time-tested hacker principles (including a fetish for data analysis) to weight loss. Basic upshot: eat fewer calories than you burn, and you’ll lose weight. Keep doing it over time and you’ll reach your target weight without deprivation or undue cost. My target daily calorie intake should be around 2520 (the average of the range for my height and build, 2240-2800); thus if I take in around 1800-2000 calories per day, I can potentially lose up to a pound a week.
Second step: getting off my lazy butt. I’m trying to run every other day and hit the Crossbow on the alternate days. This will be easiest when the weather’s good, but if I establish the habit I should be able to stick with it. I’ve been running a simple two-mile stretch to and from the boys’ school.
Third step: goal setting. I’d like to get down to around 180 lbs, +/- 10%. More importantly, my goal is to be able to run a first-class Marine Corps PFT— something I never did when I was actually in the Corps– by May 1. I got this handy PFT score calculator for my Treo and now I’m set. Minimums: 3 pull-ups, 45 crunches in 2 min, and 29:00 or less for the 3-mile run. If you hit those three minimums, though, you’ll still fail! As a baseline, I did 53 crunches in 2 min this morning, and if I ran a 3-mile course I’d expect to come in about 32:00, so I definitely have some work to do. I think I can hit 24:00 for the run, 70+ crunches, and 10 pullups– that would give me 65 + 70 + 64 = 199 points. I’ll post progress updates here.
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