Things that Robert is thinking about that keep him from accomplishing anything.

 
Everything You Always Wanted in a Post...and Less
I know visiting here recently is like spending time in a desert. Between travel, research publications, freelance opportunities, and movie production, my cart has been kind of full. In the coming weeks, I may also be looking at a move and job change, so there's no shortage of life stressors. I'll try to be better about posting though, giving at least a quickie every couple days.

On the bright side, I have been able to keep up my exercise and nutrition regimen. After two weeks plateauing at about 217 lbs., I'm now down to 212, for a total loss of over 40 lbs. since the beginning of March. Pause for applause. Hold it. Hold it. And release.

In the past two weeks, I've cut back a day or so a week on the treadmill, but added about two days a week of weight lifting and...swimming. As a former college and age-group swimmer, you'd think getting back in the water would be something natural to do for weight loss/maintenance. In fact, the opposite is the case. While I miss things about competitive swimming (including my old body, but mostly the team atmosphere), I don't miss smelling like chlorine or the dry, scaly skin. And getting back in the water when you're still overweight is just hard on the shoulders, which, when you have lingering rotator cuff problems, can be a significant drawback.

Nevertheless, I've been able to overcome the other main problem former swimmers face, "clock shock," that is, the disbelief at how slow you have become and how much time it is taking you to cover what used to be relatively short distances and recover from them. A few things have helped: 1.) swimming odd distances (e.g., 125m per rep in a set) where you don't have as good of a sense of what a good time is anyway; 2.) focusing more on stroke counts and rest time rather than hitting specific times; 3.) not wearing my contacts so I can't see the clock to obsess over it. I like to think it's 1, but it's probably more 3.

Now I just need to turn this into a diet book, sell it, and make it on Oprah!
posted by RSaunders at 10:55 AM ⇒