Walk Walk Walk ... Walk Walk Walk

The fitness portion of my weight loss effort and campaign to live a healthier life thus far has been a bit slow in coming together. As I made mention in a prior blog post, I am going to be working with a personal trainer as well as a yoga instructor. The personal trainer I am engaging is opening up a new studio in Denver and we had a scheduling glitch. Thus, I actually begin this part of the process on Tuesday of this coming week.

In the interim, I have focused heavily on my diet and have made some significant progress in this regard. In addition, I have enhanced my own level of physical activity while awaiting a more formalized fitness regimen.

At the heart of my interim exercise and fitness regimen is walking. I’ve set a daily goal of walking five miles. A good deal of that mileage is incorporated within my day to day activities associated with work and other aspects of daily living. For example, when heading to my first meeting of the day, I combined the light rail trail with walking and have put in over a mile first thing this morning.

In addition to providing at least some boost to my overall physical wellbeing, and aiding to some degree in my efforts to lose weight, I also enjoy other tangible benefits from walking. Walking proves to be a stress reliever. I am best able to enjoy stress relief through walking when I block out half an hour to an hour for walking.

As a writer by profession, an important component of my job is thinking. I find that I do not effectively think when I am sitting at a desk in front of my computer. Walking provides me an opportunity to think through a writing project I am working on. Moreover, time and again I find that new ideas pop into my head while I am walking.

Even when I begin a more coordinated and comprehensive fitness regimen with a personal trainer, I intend to continue walking on a daily basis. Indeed, because my fitness regimen will be comprehensive, walking will be a coordinated element of that effort.

I can report that I have knocked five pounds off my weight to date. I have 45 pounds more to go to reach my goal.

Stay tuned.

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                                                   Mike Broemmel - Walking

It’s All About the Binge: Life as an Emotional Eater

The primary reason I pack on the pounds is rather simple: I’m a binge eater … and I’m a binge eater who chows down in response to my emotional state.

One of the first tasks at hand in my effort to shed 40 to 50 pounds is getting my hands around eating in response to my emotional state. In working towards this objective, I understand that this is not something that I will be able to resolve instantly. I have spent a lifetime becoming an emotional eater and I will not be able to abandon this problem overnight. I’m taking a very practical approach to addressing the issue of binge eating. I’m not making pie in the sky (hmm … pie) proclamations that I simply will not be able to keep.

I know individuals who binge on food when they are happy, I know individuals who do so when they are upset or sad. I know some individuals who binge on food when in any type of elevated emotional state.

I find my binge eating occurs more often than not when something (or someone) has upset me or “stressed me out.” In that I tend to be stressed with considerable regularity, I find myself shoving unnecessary amounts of food into my mouth with surprising frequency.

Of course, I would be remiss if I did not note that the ultimate way to end binge eating is to address the underlying reasons for the emotional state that results in this type of consumption. For most people, this can prove to be a complicated and time consuming task. I actually have a bit better stress management regimen today than I did a decade ago. However, advances in that arena have been incremental.

I am still in the process of developing effective strategies to stop myself from binging on food when I am upset or stressed. The primary step I have taken at this time is removing high calorie, unhealthy food items from my home. (Of course, I’ve been known to venture to the nearest market when out of junk food while in a stressed state. However, making access to this type of food inconvenient is helpful in preventing a food binge.) I believe this is proving to be a practical and useful initial step in combating binge emotional eating.

I have substitute items in my home available in the event of a binge episode. I keep low fat yogurt and protein shakes on hand for the inevitable binge. My theory is binging on healthier food items is a step towards a healthier lifestyle, albeit a small one. In the end, it is healthier to eat three containers of low fat Key Lime yogurt than an entire Key Lime pie slathered in whipped cream.

My next big step in my pathway to a healthier life is working with a personal trainer. I have my first session with a personal trainer in a few days. I looking forward to that and apprehensive about it at the same time.

Stay tuned.

 

Mike Broemmel Having a Burger Binge

Dancing with the Scale

Over the course of the past 25 years, I’ve had a wicked time maintaining a healthy weight, diet and lifestyle. My weight range runs from 150 to 210 pounds. 150 pounds does seem to be the ideal weight. Clearly, 210 pounds is not. On the bright side, I begin this program aimed at healthy living at a weight that is lower than the all-time high I referenced.

My efforts commencing today represent my third major campaign to restore an ideal weight, beneficial diet and healthy lifestyle. My primary objective this time is to develop a regimen that will permit me the ability to not only take weight off, but to keep it off and truly develop healthy lifestyle practices well into the future.

I’ve decided to share my experiences in addressing my weight, diet and overall lifestyle through this blog and some other outlets. I rather think that other people, particularly middle-aged men with weight and diet issues, may appreciate a sense of commonality – may appreciate the reality that they are not alone.

I think a good place to begin is sharing a tiny story of my first major slimming and dieting effort.

In 2004, I’d reached my highest weight ever. But, I thought I weighed “only” 180 pounds. I had the opportunity to participate in a weight loss research program being conducted through the University of Colorado Medical Center.

During a telephone interview about joining the project, I was asked how much I weighed. I advised: “180.” The representative from the University stated I did not weigh enough to become a program participant. But, she also said I should double check by getting on a scale. (In fact, I actually had not weighed myself … in years.)

I went to the bathroom scale, stepped on board. The register on the scale flickered to 210 pounds. I immediately shouted out: “This damn scale isn’t working.” When I shouted out, I was holding a half-eaten donut in one hand and a regular Pepsi in the other.

Stay tuned.

Mike Broemmel
www.mikebroemmel.com