Anti-Belly Protaganist

I know that it gets annoying to hear about the same stuff, especially if it isn't something that you are into or currently participating in.  I have to say though, I am tired of weighing 190lbs.  Let me rephrase that, I am tired of being Fatty McFatterson.  I could care less about my weight as weight is something that doesn't matter to me.  I care about my form.  I don't want to have to buy larger pants, larger shirts, bigger underwear...nope.  So, point being that I want to return my shape to something more akin to my athletic form.

When I used to ski more often and climb mountains and partake in soccer, I always felt good about myself and my form.  Even when I was out of breath when doing these things, I didn't have a belly that stuck out past my pants.  It does now.  It kills me.  I want to get rid of that, not lose weight.

As you know, I am starting to return myself to a lightly active regimen.  It turns out that over the course of a week, I lost a couple of inches off my stomach.  I haven't lost any weight at all, just those inches.  Turns out the my original goal of dropping a couple pounds was really to lose all of my beer belly.  It is taking quite a bit of exercise to do that though. 

I read that it takes 3,500 calories to equal one pound of fat burned off.  Of course that is a generic number, but a goal to hit never the less.  I have been pushing pretty steady and have managed to burn about 4,300 calories in two weeks.  Pair that with good diet and you have yourself a stomach burning program that should rid me of my evil midsection. 

Walking, running, jogging, and doing other activities are great.  Including some in home exercise also increases success.  I have been attempting to throw some kind of core strength training after my walk/run.  Turns out, it helps to pull the belly in, giving a slimming look.  Works for me!

More progress as it comes.

Exercising yes?

As I mentioned, I am trying to lose a couple of pounds and get into shape.  But round is a shape you say!  Well, I am tired of not having the energy that I was used to and also I have had a rather inactive year, which just needed to stop.  Time to leave the couch and see what the sun looks like in my neighborhood. 

With much consultation from my sister, I found a little program for my phone that tracks my progress and got my butt moving.  I went out on a walk, threw a jog or two in there and came back into the house where I collapsed and had a handful of Aleve.  My back hurt, my knees hurt, my ankles hurt.  What the hell was I thinking.

After pushing forward for the next week I found out that a strong walk was really all that I needed.  I threw a couple of walks in a week and realized that I could do more.  I talked to the girlfriend to join me and started doing two walks a day, one alone and one with her.  This evolved into an attempt to add something else in there.

Let's throw some indoor rock climbing just for good measure.

I mean, who goes from a couch to this within a week and a half?

Indoor rock climbing burns a tremendous amount of calories, but that isn't why I did it.  I have enjoyed it in the past and it is a very dynamic type of exercise.  You aren't just on a hamster wheel.  You use your mind, body and it engages you.  It also challenges your muscles in a crazy fierce way.

I couldn't move my arms the next three days.

That was Wednesday night and this is Monday.  I am finally thinking of heading back to it this week.  But back to the walking.

Since April 14th, I have put in a bunch of miles.  The numbers are from what I tracked with the program for my phone.  The first week was half a mile and then nothing the next week.  Then I went five miles the third week, followed again by nothing.  That was when I figured that I needed to either do this or not.  So week five was one and a half, week six was three and then the impossible...11 miles week seven!

Talk about motivation!  That week seven showed that I could actually put some distance in.  Sure, it was all walking, but that is pretty good.  So this morning I tried to run.  Nothing too over the top, only two miles.  You know, a tester.  Turns out it wasn't half bad.  I didn't run the entire time, there was a little walking in there, and I was pretty heavily winded when I got home.  All that didn't matter though as I actually was able to accomplish the run without any serious pains afterwards.

Then I took another with the girlfriend this evening before eating dinner.  So another four miles today.  I will catch up to you there sis!

Garden 2012

So with the garden in, irrigation going and everything getting heat and sunshine, we have growth. Happy to say that there aren't any problems yet and some amazing growth with some plants. The tomato below showcases how big things are getting with a dollar for scale (6" right?).

MCA and Coldplay

I figure that this is a fitting tribute.  A great song and a very good performance as well.

Hair Lume Tomatoes

Just went to Kendall Jackson and picked up a couple of tomaters. A white, a pink and a red tomato. Never seen a white tomato!

A barrel making we will go

Hot fires, almost burnt my butt off

Yesterday I took a trip to the local barrel cooperage in order to watch a craftsman at work producing a barrel.  Or rather, many craftsmen.  It is amazing to see this machine milled and hand produced process up close and personal.  We walked around from the beginning pile of planks, through milling, assembling, toasting, bending and through to final assembly and pressure testing.  Pretty amazing. 

Making a change

After a couple of sedentary months, I have decided to start moving again. Nothing extreme like getting into races next month, but rather start getting into a routine of taking a short walk or run every week. Today I began with something small, 2.5mi. Just around my neighborhood. It feels pretty nice though and was easy enough that I could throw one of those in a few times a week.

Anyways, here's to just doing something different and not just staying the same.

Blending wine

This week we are cold stabilizing our wine to aid in the removal of sediment. Then we rack all of the wine out of the barrel and into the tank, remove the sediment in the barrel and clean it up before putting the wine back into the barrels.

Spring beer

So the apple blossom is blooming and my beer has carbonated. Finally I feel that spring is in the air. Now when is the rain coming?

65*f in January!

California, you have to love the weather.  This is one of those things that you enjoy until it is over.  Walking in the vineyard today to check out a couple of things and I was greeted by sunshine, clear skies and a whole lot of scenery.