Surgery

There’s a lot to talk about in this post, but I thought I’d kick things off with a quickie update: It’s been one week since my beginning-of-the-month weigh-in, and yesterday I stepped on the scale and was down 2 pounds. Woo-hoo!

Moving on…

If you’ve been a diligent Keep It Up, David reader (and I know each and every one of you has been, right?), than you’ll remember that, about a month ago, I fell off the wagon (and directly onto a pile a junk food) and stayed off the wagon for a couple weeks after a health concern unexpectedly threw me for a major loop. As the aforementioned two pounds shows, I’m back on the wagon and making progress on losing the weight I gained, but I left you in the dark about what else is going on. Well, you won’t be in the dark for much longer. Here’s what’s going on:

The Double-D Workout Challenge!

Greetings!

A great big hello to any new readers out there. I got a ton of traffic yesterday because the Everyday Health column about me was featured on the AOL Homepage – what a wonderful surprise to wake up to! So… I welcome any new readers that are sticking around (and I hope you do!) – and don’t forgot to follow me on Facebook and Twitter!

Last week, during my weigh-in post, I mentioned that I’ve been communicating with my two sisters in an ongoing text message stream as a way to stay accountable and check in about how we’re doing. I find it very helpful and fun, but it’s just one of two things that I’ve started in the past couple weeks to help with accountability. The other is…

…The Double-D Workout Challenge!

A Tight Squeeze

Things are still going pretty well, ladies and gentlemen. I’m now on Day 5 of getting back on track, which means 5 days of making good food choices and 5 days of exercise (I haven’t worked out yet today, but I will).  On Sunday, I made a big crockpot of chicken and veggie soup, so I’ve been enjoying that for my lunches. I’ve brought workout clothes to work, so I can get my exercise in after I’m done in the office.

While it’s a big improvement from how I was eating last week, I haven’t been perfect.

Q: How Did Day One Go? A: It Was A Success!

Hey folks, I have a quick little update.

First, I don’t need more reasons to get back on track – a 15-pound weight gain is enough, thankyouverymuch – but another one presented itself midway through my Friday when I popped a button on my pants. Ugh.

I’m handy enough with a needle and thread to reattach this, but it does not feel good to literally break an article of clothing. I’m thankful those pants also had a decorative drawstring that lasted me throughout the rest of my day!

As I mentioned in my last post (read it here if you missed it), I set two healthy living goals for Friday, and

My Motivation Has Left Me.

Sometimes I’m really excited to share what’s going on in my little corner of the world. Other times, I’m not. This is one of those times.

I don’t want to beat around the bush, so I’ll just say it: I’ve let myself go, and I’m struggling to find any motivation to make healthy choices whatsoever. A big part of the reason why is thanks to a health concern that’s arisen in the past couple weeks. I’m going to be cryptic here, because I’m still processing what’s going on, and I’m not ready to share it yet. I’m sure I probably will, at some point, but not yet. It first reared its ugly head a few days after my wonderfully successful stair climb, and as a result, I decided to take a few days off from working out.

It’s now been over two weeks since my last workout. I’m not out of the woods in regards to that health concern, but I’m physically able to exercise, and I haven’t been. There’s a packed gym bag in my home, but I’m walking by it every morning.

In addition to that,

1,393 Steps From the Sidewalk TO THE ROOF!

It’s been a rather triumphant weekend, and I’m so proud to share it here. On Saturday, I competed in my second stair climb race, up the stairwell of the Aon Center in downtown Los Angeles, and it was a fantastically excruciating, wonderfully brutal morning. Grab your favorite hot beverage… and I’ll tell you all about it!

The event was the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Stair Climb 2013. I did the same event last year (read about it here), and while I was nervous, I wasn’t nervous for the same reasons. Last year, I didn’t really know what to expect when I made my way up that stairwell, but now that I’ve done it before, I wasn’t so nervous about that. I was more nervous about how I’d do.

I was significantly less prepared than I was last year. Last year, I spent months and months training for this thing, and this time around, I only really started training in earnest a few weeks ago. Plus, I’d been battling a cold that kept me home from work one day last week and messed up my exercise regimen. Prior to the event on Saturday, the last time I had worked out was way back on Monday.

Then, of course, there was the realization that the Aon Center is still a big ass tall fucking building. I was reminded of that when I saw it looming in the distance as I drove downtown.

It only gets taller as you get closer.

Oh, Crap… Fifteen Days Away?

It turns out that this post is months and months in the making. Way back in 2012, I decided I would sign up for the American Lung Association 2013 Fight For Air Climb. It’s a charity event that involves racing up the stairwell of the 63-story Aon Center in downtown Los Angeles. If this rings a bell, it’s because I participated last year (read all about it here), so when I heard there was an early bird discounted registration for this year’s event, I bit the bullet and signed up. I honestly didn’t know if I would participate or not, but I figured I could sort that minor detail out later, and, in the meantime, I saved $10 or $15 dollars. Of course, I never got around to figuring out if I would actually participate… because I kinda forgot all about it.  

A Change of Plans at the Gym

I had an experience at the gym recently that I’m trying to hold on to as a teaching experience. Basically, things weren’t gong my way, but I turned things around, and I’m proud of myself for doing so. Here’s what went down:

I got a guest pass at a new (to me) gym a few weeks ago. I’m not really in the market to switch gyms, but it’s fun to try new facilities and switch things up a bit. The first time I went to the gym, I had a good, if not standard, workout. But I noticed the gym had a pool, which was very exciting news. I like swimming, but I’ve never had a gym with a pool, so I swim in public pools in various parks. I like the outdoor public pools I’ve discovered around town (including my favorite pool EVER), but the hours are crappy (they’re only open 3 hours each day on the weekend), so having an indoor pool available on an expanded schedule was very enticing. I made plans to bring my swimsuit next time I visited that gym, three days later.

Those three days couldn’t come fast enough. I started hyping up this workout in my head: “I can’t wait to get in the water. It’s been MONTHS since I went swimming. It’s gonna feel great, and I’m gonna feel great. Maybe I’ll start swimming every week! Maybe even EVERY DAY!”

Finally, the day arrived, and I went to the gym after work, changed into my swimsuit, grabbed my goggles, and headed to the pool deck. I was ready to go. And then, I started noticing things…

St. Andrews Stairway (x4) PLUS Weigh-In Update

My legs are still sore from last night’s workout. It was the best workout I’ve had in a while, partly because I pushed myself, and partly because it happened in a very cool new location. That location is called the St. Andrews Stairway, and it’s actually not very new at all.

Back in the 1920s, a public stairway was built up the side of the Hollywood Hills, to allow residents on higher streets an easy way to come down to catch the streetcars that used to zip around Los Angeles (hard to believe, but back in the day LA used to have one of the largest public transportation networks in the country). The stairway is cleverly called the St. Andrews Stairway, as it starts at the end of St. Andrews road. Despite it being there for nearly 100 years, I didn’t know it existed, even though last fall, I ran right past it during an evening run. It didn’t catch my eye during that run because it wasn’t lit at night, but that changed last month.

I read online a few weeks ago that some 8 or 9 decades after initial construction, the city of Los Angeles finally made good on their promise to install streetlights on the St. Andrews Stairway, and I realized that it was relatively close to my office. So last night, I laced up my running shoes and went for a run. And even though I’ve only been twice (once last night, and again today to take some photos to share here), I’ll come out and say it: I love the St. Andrews Stairway!

There are 153 stairs (I counted myself). That’s basically a 10-story building! Here’s what they look like from the bottom. The arrow is pointing to the wall at the very top of the stairs, all the way up on Tryon Drive.

2012 Year-End Progress Report

We’re already halfway through January? 2013 is just flying by! At the moment, I feel like I’m finally free and clear of the cold that I’ve been fighting for about 2 weeks now, but I won’t feel that way in the morning. Every morning I wake up stuffed up and snotty, and by the end of the day, I feel much better. Then, I wake up the next day feeling stuffed up and snotty again, and the cycle resumes. I’m tired of it.

I haven’t been letting my cold affect my routine too much. I’ve still been working out 3-4 times a week, which has become my norm, including a workout today, and another one yesterday, too. And I’m still logging all my workouts in my calendar (8 so far in January), and brings me to the focus of today’s post:

My 2012 Year-End Progress Report! Even though I haven’t posted a monthly report since July, I’ve still been tracking everything, and it’s time to summarize my year in exercise.