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Other than bolting after my kids when they suddenly make a suicidal dash for the 4-lane highway bordering our local playground, most of my exercise throughout this diet has been walking, always at night after the kids are in bed. Sometimes it's just a brisk, 45-minute walk around suburbia, though most often it's a far more gratifying 2-hour march along undulating fire breaks, weaving through a nearby state forest, with a torch strapped to my head. It's quiet, peaceful, and mentally restorative. However, after nearly a year of merrily meandering through the bush at night, it's become all too clear that, as a form of exercise, it's not as beneficial as it once was now that I'm no longer hauling 45kg of excess baggage and my general cardiovascular health has improved.
I recently converted my treadmill from the place I dump clothes that aren't clean but aren't quite dirty enough to bother washing yet / cat bed back into a treadmill, then went for a 25-minute stationary stroll. Having gathered the irrefutable first-hand evidence of what I already knew to be true, I begrudgingly admitted to myself that 10 minutes on the treadmill is worth a hour wandering around the bush, at least in terms of an exercise time:value ratio. With both the treadmill elevation and speed jacked up to "8", my heart is pumping in under a minute and keeps on pumping until my legs start turning to jelly half a Pink Floyd album later. It's not quiet, it's not peaceful, and I don't enjoy it. But that's just how it goes, right? I've spent the last year eating crap I don't want to eat, so why should doing exercise I don't want to do be any different? Logically, it isn't, but that's not enough to convince me to trade the "joyous exercise" of bushwalking with the miserable chore of sweating profusely while staring at a blank wall and listening to progressive rock.
My next thought was that "jogging" may be the answer. Perhaps I could avoid the treadmill a while longer by increasing the intensity of my preferred activity, going from bushwalking to "bushjogging". I gave it a go... and... Nope! It turns out I'm not built for jogging, at least not currently, as is evidenced by the lingering pain in my shins and lower back. Running on remote, rocky terrain in the dark with patchy mobile reception is also none too smart.
I believe the solution here will be to split the difference - to continue enjoying my regular treks through the scrub while also sucking it up once a week to endure the dreaded treadmill. Perhaps I should drag the treadmill out into the back yard...
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93.7 kg
Lost so far: 44.6 kg.
Still to go: 3.7 kg.
Diet followed: Reasonably Well.
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1592 kcal
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Fat: 68.15g | Prot: 103.12g | Carbs: 104.40g.
Breakfast: Coles Peanut Oil, MTR Chana Masala, Rump Steak, Bombay Biryani. more...
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Losing 2.1 kg a Week
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