So it is the end of August. A lot of folks seemed to have a good month as far as keeping up with goals set for themselves. This was really not about one month only, it was about using the month to try and develop a pattern to follow. Check out the Twitter search for #ActiveAugust to find those blogging about it, or check out my first post with some of those who participdated listed.

How was #ActiveAugust for me?

Final weight – 204.5lbs from 209/210 (and I was actually closer to 211/212 in July but by weigh in day I was trying to eat a bit better in many ways). So counting just the weight in August, I dropped about 5 pounds.

That is not as good as seeing 2lbs/wk going but one of the weeks was a bad week for me and my pants are fitting better (waist is getting smaller), I am feeling better, eating and drinking better and I am being active.

So my grade for myself? B-

What I did well and will continue to do (and blog monthly about at least this year):

• Activity – Swimming and walking extra where/when I can, more active fun time with the kids.
• No Coke – I allowed a couple Coke Zeros during the month but by and large I stuck with water and milk (calcium helps the body to burn fat, helps recovery and is generally good for you)
• Less garbage – Plenty of tasty food that isn’t processed 5 times before it gets to you.

What I should work on in the coming months:

• Goal #1 was a distance swim in open water. I looked around and saw a couple shorter ones (around a mile). I will train for those and hope to compete.
• Triathlon – I want to participate in one next year. I am going to have to get to a doctor for a problem with my right foot and maybe get some PT so I can not deal with the foot pain (plantar fasciitis?) when running.
• Fish/Vegetarian Meals – I enjoy eating either but I didn’t do enough. Probably out of laziness, we have beef/chicken in the freezer and that is what the in-laws (who we eat with often) enjoy. Need to start getting more healthy fish and vegetable into my meals.
• More Activity – I slacked off in the weights, let other things get in the way. Some of those should get in the way, but some of them were just time wasters.

I hope to end the year around 185-190, in size 34s or smaller and feeling much healthier. I also really want to be ready to start doing more swimming competitively so I am going to focus on that as well.

Congrats to everyone who had fun this #ActiveAugust and hopefully it all sticks with us as we move on to the fall.

Well two weeks of August have flown by. Too fast. That means I did my second weigh in today and have a quick update on how #ActiveAugust has been treating me.

Before I talk about me, it’s great to see all the progress by everyone with their ActiveAugust updates. Click the search above and hit the twitter search for it. Lots of active people impressing the heck out of me. See the inagural ActiveAugust post to learn more about it’s genesis.

How did week 2 go?

The Good

• I thought I paid attention to what I was eating and I am pretty sure I ate a lot less than I would have had I not been “celebrating” active august.
• Activity was definitely up:
  • Pool Each week day for a min of 30 minutes and one day of probably 75 mins or so. This included some fast (for me) interval swims that had me breathless and at a max heart rate of 160-180 (probably a bit high but I was doing interval training so would do 50 yards high, 25 yards slower, etc.).
  • Walked when I wasn’t at the pool, even tried to work more walking into normal daily events where possible.
  • Did a full body strength workout on Thursday hoping to kick off a 3 days a week routine. Doing compound movements that work multiple muscles and the core at the same time (Deadlift, Squat, Incline Bench Press, Overhead/Military Press, Barbell Row, Chinups – eventually -  and a warm-up of some sort with a cool down walk to follow.. Hoping to do my second day of that today…
  • Walked to lunch when the schedule allowed (it’s close but normally would have driven someplace with less healthy choices/fast food)
  • Stuck pretty much to water and Milk for the drink department.
• I feel better and I feel like some fatty areas are starting to slowly become less so.

The Bad

• Last week I lost a pound. This week I gained 2. Now based on the comments from last weeks post, I can see a certain rockstar out their saying it’s because of swimming . I actually think that the couple times I made poor choices were both on Friday (day before the weigh in) and I didn’t drink as much water (or any beverage) yesterday. I bet that 210 will be down tomorrow to 208 or even a bit less. Normally through swimming (when not overeating after a swim as the urge often is) I lose weight. I actually think that you will find the same as long as you watch what you eat. Any studies I have seen where calories were not watched, swimmers gained more fat than runners/bikers. When the diet was controlled swimmers were often among the higher fat burners. After running/biking I can’t think of food. After swimming I could eat a horse (or at least a side of beef
• Even though I am eating better than I would normally have, I still made some stupid choices due to being lazy/tired/bored. No big deal, this isn’t a diet it’s an attempt to change the lifestyle but I really want to make a decision on a food based on what is naturally good in it. I want to cut down the processed/packaged food and eat foods that are closer to where they started with the original nutrients God packed into them.

Goals for Week 3:

• 5 days at the pool, 45 minutes minimum each time. Get at least 1500 yards in each time and shoot for some specific goals for some of the days:
  • Do more kick/flip turns… They are fun and stop those 5 seconds of cheating rest I get. I want to increase my endurance, be better with my breathing in the pool and see my resting pulse decrease over time.
  • Do at least one workout really focused on intervals/speed (at least 10x50yds on a minute or better and some all out 25 yard sprints)
  • Do at least one workout focused on distance. No more rests after 200/100/50. I want to try and see how far I can go without resting at a moderate pace. Over time I would like this to increase, I really want to someday do an open water distance swim to prove to myself that I can.
• All 3 days of the strength workout. Thursday’s were lower weight to get back into it and get the form (bodyweight (210lbs ) for the 60 squats). I will keep that lower initial weight and if I feel good ramp the weight up on day 3.
• Do some fast walks. Once I lose 10/15lbs, I would like to try for a couple runs/run walks this fall. I want to help get the knees and my right foot (plantar fasciitis last year when running) feeling good on the walks.
• More raw or less processed foods. Less simple carbs and more high fiber/complex carbs with nutritional value. Cut down on the fake stuff.
• While I am not going for weight loss only

Last week I posted my kickoff of my ActiveAugust (Twitter Search) routine and a weigh in in “And So It Begins…”. I said I would come back and post weekly throughout ActiveAugust. I also think I will continue posting at least monthly just to keep this in my mind.

How did week 1 go?

The Good

• At least 30 minutes of activity? Good. Some examples below:
  • Walked during the beginning of the week each day
  • Alternated doing routines for the 100 pushup or 200 squat challenges (not at 100/200 yet, first week) sat-tuesday
  • Weds, Thur and Fri I actually used my gym membership that I have been paying for and hit the lap pool for the first time in 6 months + Did between 40-60 minutes of swimming. Out of breath most of the time, heart pumping away. Drained me but it felt good. The most laps I did was on Thursday, about 1350 yards (54 lengths or 27 laps)
• I lost weight… Not much. Today’s weigh in? 208 lbs That is only 0.5 lbs lost. Have a lot of ground to make up. While I have an ideal weight (180/185), I also am more concerned with a healthier life so with the working out and other good list items, I feel good about progress.
• Water –> I drank plenty of it
• No Coke –> I had some Coke Zero a few times since we have it but I stayed away from the high test. Once the CZ is gone, it will be water and milk only with maybe some juice occasionally.
• Healthy Eating –> The bad has more but I was cognizant of what I was eating and even though it was not a great week it was not as bad as it would have been.

The Bad

• This was a vacation week so my schedule on workout time didn’t allow me to get both pool and some of the strength work done, didn’t touch free weights.
• Still too much junk food out of convenience with us travelling all around on long day trips with the kids. (again much less than I would have on vacation but still too much)

Swimming Thoughts

Tom LaRock (twitter, blog) blogged about swimming when he posted his Active August Tips and I have to say I agree with his tips whole heartedly about swimming. It is a great workout. The best shape I have been in in my married adult life (which has practically been my whole adult life being 30 now and celebrating our 7th anniversary in a couple weeks) was about 1.5 years ago when I was swimming practically daily an doing some free weight work as well but mainly swimming. My weight was on the fast track down, I had to switch out my wardrobe to sized 34 pants (and even some of them were too big) and I felt good. Last fall I fell off the wagon for some reason and missed some pool days (my shoulders were a bit sore from not resting and overdoing it) and let it go on and on until finally I stopped hitting the gym altogether. I stopped eating the healthy lunches when I got a new job with more stress (work politics stress more than job difficulty stress) and poof, before I knew it I had put on the 15-20 pounds I lost and I am back in the 36s and even 38s in some dress pants.

When I swam I would always do a variety. Some crawl stroke, some back and breast. I would also spend a lot of time doing kicks (with a board doing crawl kicks, the dolphin kicks from the butterfly stroke, underwater butterfly kicks, back flutter kicks and dolphin kicks on the side and on the back). Those workouts transformed my body. The kick workouts improved my core strength and posture and were great abdominal and back workouts. The net effect was not just weight loss but a reduction in body fat and especially the spare tire around my waist.

If you haven’t tried adding swimming to your plan, give it a shot. You get really hungry afterwards so if you can handle that temptation with healthy snacks or nothing I really think swimming could do wonders for you. I am looking forward to trying to keep 3-5 days of swimming a week. Just need to get a schedule that will protect my shoulders and maximize effects.

It is August First. The opening day of #active august (twitter search, my initial post on it). There are several others participating which makes it good for encouragement and accountability.

I am going to weigh in every Saturday and try and keep the daily progress notes on twitter. I have not done a SQL blog post in awhile and I don’t want to get too far off track and bore the folks looking for SQL information so tune in to #activeaugust on twitter to see the daily progress..

I will be following the original plan I noted with the addition of shooting for pushups and various core exercises (flutter kicks, planks, side planks, back exercises, etc) each day. First week will be Vacation Bible School and family day trips each afternoon/evening so it is going to be a little tougher to hit the pool. I will still try the walking and pushups/core workout each day. Going for at least 30 minutes (above and beyond whatever activity the days activity call for) of dedicated time. I am also going to try to make opportunity for adding extra wherever I can.

Starting Weight: 209Lbs (Down a bit from before the trip I just took to visit a client in Mexico and I thought I was eating way too much down there )

Shopping List for snacks and the week? Fruit, Veggies, Water, Joseph’s Lavash Flat Bread, raw materials to make meals (beans, kale/tomatoes/cukes/squash/zucchini from our garden, lentils, and some of the chicken we raised ourselves and beef we bought locally from the freezer.. though more veg/chicken than beef, I hope… Also going to try and work some salmon/tuna/etc into the diet.. I imagine my cholesterol is a bit high with the way my eating has gone for 2009)

Others Blogging about this (There were a couple other I forgot, add a comment and I’ll update the post):

@SQLChicken: Active August

@UncleBiguns: Active August Getting More Fit

@KbrianKelley: Active August: Are you onboard?

@AndyLeonard: Peer Pressure got to him

@SQLRockStar: His Initial Post

@ChuckBoyceJr: Video Update

Plenty more are tweeting about it..

Alright so the other day I was congratulating SQL Server Extraordinare Chuck Boyce on twitter. He has lost some weight following a low carb diet and he is doing great with it. In the process I joked about how I fell off the wagon for “Fit February” and thought aloud of starting to have an ActiveAugust.

Well one thing led to another and Jorge Segarra sent me a tweet saying, “I’m in!” then the tweets started coming in with the #ActiveAugust tag and I figured I should blog something with the goals and the plan.

If you are interested in joining, blog about, tweet about it and leave comments indicating so.

The Plan–> I will talk about my plan, it doesn’t have to dictate your plan. The only requirements for #activeagust? Get more active than you were in July.  My hope is for us all to start something that we continue into September, October and then poof! We have a habit. I will blog occasional about my results but part of the #activeaugust plan  for me is going to include:

• Eating “Cleaner” –> I will try to get some links in a follow up post though it may be a week before I get that.. Basically eating more raw foods, eating less of those foods, drinking more water, maybe some more milk. Getting away from the sugars and processed foods.
• Doing Something Every Day –> I sit on my butt at work all day, I come home and play with the kids on most days but then I sit on my butt and work at night when the house is sleeping. For my health (physical and emotional), I am going to commit to doing at least 30 minutes of activity on each day. It could be a walk at lunch, it could be getting back to my swimming early mornings, getting into some weight training (building more lean muscle means I am burning more calories when sitting on my butt) or a combination.
• Blog and tweet about it –> I am going to tweet every time I hit the the minimum 30 minutes of activity, if I do more, maybe I’ll tweet that also. If I drag you along with me I am going to be more likely to do it. Why don’t you drag us along with you and stick to it.
• Weigh In –> This isn’t only about weight but I will admit the starting weight, throw it on the blog/twitter and then do so either weekly or at least at the end. I care more about how I feel and you should also.

My Personal Goals –> I will not dictate your goals but I hope they can be along the same lines.

• Lose Some of my weight –> I need to lose 30-40lbs, a lot of that is the unhealthy fat around my lower abdomen… Do you have that? That’s the weight that is a risk factor of many diseases and problems later in life.
• Feel Better/Have More Energy –> I want to have more energy when I wake up, I want to be more alive when Friday kicks around and it’s time to get yard work done and have fun with my family.
• Stick with it –> I want to make changes that are not drastic but livable. Not looking to diet because I like a variety, just reducing and eating healthier to get to more basic foods. Not looking for a workout program that I get bored with or becomes a pain to stick with. Just want to stay conditioned.

If #ActiveAugust goes well maybe we can have some check ins and #stickwithitseptember =)

Want to Join? Weights and Commitment by 8/1 with tweets/blogs starting on 8/1 and continuing for the month. I’ll tweet my failures too.