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Exercise
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Traveling Fit
I’ve been
Big scary plane
traveling while trying to get in shape, and I’m not convinced this was the best plan. On the one hand, it’s good to keep the body active and moving while traveling, right? On the other hand, starting up a fitness regimen the same week that I go to a work conference is probably not going to work out well for me.
Today was the last day of the conference. In fact, I’m sitting around, killing time and waiting to catch a flight that’s already been delayed once. It’s as good a time as any to check in and report on my progress.
I’m pleased to report that I did make it to the gym. I’m less pleased to report that I made it to the gym exactly once. I felt weird going down to the gym in my workout gear. Also, people gave me some very odd looks as I got onto the workout bike with my Texas-sized self.
This is a large part of the reason I stopped going to the gym at home, actually. People didn’t want to use workout equipment near a fat person, and they let me know it. I don’t know if they thought I was contagious or what, but I guess that’s a post for another day.
Anyway, I still packed gym clothes for the trip, and I used them, so I’ll count that as a win. I also made a concerted effort to eat better while I was traveling. Those results were more mixed.
I didn’t have a car, or a kitchen. Control over my dining options was limited. The hotel did have a pub, and that pub did have a salad I enjoyed. I ate that salad, sometimes accompanied by a beer cheese soup, for at least one meal per day. Sometimes I ate it for two meals per day. And I didn’t feel particularly hungry, either, which is good.
At home, though, I eat a mostly vegetarian diet. Here, that would have eliminated almost all of my protein options. I also don’t cope with dairy well, but ate the beer cheese soup every day to get some protein.
At home, I drink my coffee blacker than a Goth girl’s wardrobe. Here, the only coffee option was Starbucks. They do offer plain coffee, but I’m pretty sure they filter their coffee through used gym socks. A person pretty much has to get a Froofy Coffee Drink ™, which means I wound up consuming a lot more sugar than I’m used to. Fortunately, they offer almond milk as an alternative to dairy in most of their Froofy Coffee Drinks ™.
Sleep was a little bit of an issue here, although I think I got more sleep here than I do at home. I needed more sleep here than I do at home. Being around so many people, and being part of the attraction instead of being a guest, was difficult for someone with my level of anxiety. That took a lot out of me. Still, I was able to make sure I got more than six hours of sleep every night.
Of course, the whole sleep schedule didn’t take into account traveling here, or traveling home. I didn’t sleep the night before I got here, and I’m not likely to sleep on the way home. I think Monday’s going to be pretty useless, but we’ll see.
Either way, I love traveling. I’m looking forward to my next trip, when my fitness routine will be more established. I’m going to try very hard not to judge myself too harshly no matter what my results are from this week, and I’ll look forward to being better able to focus next week.
On The Bike
I’m not a big fan of the exercise bike.
I’ve had one for years. I’ve spent hours on it, and I’ve let it sit in the corner collecting dust for months at a time. I used to like riding a bike around my hometown, or in my old town where I had a relatively safe bike path. Riding indoors, and staying in one place, just feels like a sad metaphor for suburban life.
Bikes, without dust
I could probably ride around here, but to say it’s a little risky would be like calling a giant pool of gas a little flammable. I’m not quite ready to lie down in the cold cold ground yet, so my options are limited. As we lurch toward winter, they get even more limited, and so the bike becomes a necessity.
It smirks smugly at me from the corner of my workspace right now, just over my left shoulder.
The good thing about my exercise bike is that I can set limits. I can set the machine to run for half an hour, and after half an hour it will stop doing its thing.
The bike has been in dust collection mode for a while. This is probably not the best time for me to dust it off. I’m heading off to a conference later this week, which is going to wreak havoc on my schedule (and my resolutions.)
The thing is, something always comes up during the week. I’ve usually got three to four different projects going on at the same time. At least one of them is usually dangerously close to deadline. There is always something more important, something that needs more attention.
Let’s ignore the scare tactics around cardiovascular effects for a minute. There are other factors that play into cardiovascular disease, like your genes, and plenty of very active people wind up with heart attacks and strokes.
I have ADD. According to every piece of research I’ve managed to find, exercise is crucial to managing attention deficit disorder. It helps to even out the hormones and neurochemicals that keep us from focusing.
Because of the endorphins released by exercise, a workout can also help to alleviate depression and anxiety. These are both issues that I deal with. These are both issues that affect my work.
And finally, exercise at the right time of day can help people with chronic insomnia alleviate their symptoms. Insomnia is an issue I’ve lived with for most of my adult life. Disrupted or absent sleep has been present every time my weight has shot up.
Sure there’s always some pressing issue that’s screaming for my attention. Sure, it feels almost selfish or self-absorbed to block out half an hour to do something that focuses entirely on me, and not on work or family or something profitable.
Can I really afford to skip that bike ride?