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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> > to make any changes in diet, just add non-cardio exercise (to the 
> > homestead routine and the biking) which will improve my
> > strength(build muscle) and flexibility....
>
> And lose fifty pounds? Forget it. Calories in, calories out. If you
>  really want to reduce your weight by fifty pounds you must eat less
>  and work your body more.

A pound is 3500 calories.
50 pounds is 1.04 pounds a week, or 3640 pounds a week extra that need
to be burned...
That is an extra 520 pounds a day.  When we ride bikes(outside) we
regularly burn 600+ on a ride.  Canoing and walking also burn a lot of
calories.  I don't think it is impossible to add some stretching and
strength exercises to the routine to round myself out and meet the goal.
 Little steps, one day at a day....Exercising an additional 500 calories
a day over normal activities should be easy enough.
Eating less sounds good, but I found in the summer than I need to eat
differently.  I need the energy for the additional exercise, but I can't
add too many calories.  I did have to diet AND exercise to lose the 30
pounds in 3+ months, because I was losing 2.5 pounds a week, but what I
want now is a more "sustainable"(LOL) exercise plan, and obviously, I
will have to develop one!
I'm working on one of the sites that Cathy sent...has good exercise
instruction...

> My body is happiest when my mind is happiest. When at Heartwood I am
>  doing those things that I am passionate about and that is my focus,
> so I focus much less on food. Discipline for me is drinking no more
> than three beers a day.

Since I live here year around, I work year around.  And my last job,
while I worked as a chemist, was in an industrial setting, and I was in
charge of recycling material(rework) so I had to push and pull and
maneuver heavy(up to 300#) drums around.  I got plenty of exercise.
There were stairs to run up and down, and while the warehouses were
cold, up on the deck was like a sauna at over 100 degrees, even in the
winter.  I borrowed a pedometer from a friend and wore it to work and
registered over 10K strides.  At home, I register 9K in summer and over
7K in winter.  So, I don't have that much of a difference in winter vs.
summer activities...IMO, I think I just sweat more in the summer because
it is so hot.  In winter, since we heat with wood, I am picking up
armloads of wood and bringing it in the house several times a day.  Once
 or twice a week, I am loading the wood on the porch, which involves
moving wood in a wheelbarrow up steps. In the winter, I rake, make and
fill raised beds, move lumber around(dh often builds stuff in the
winter); fencing(try dragging 4 or 5 cattle panels 1000+ feet across
uneven terrain); walk the ridges looking for deer sign; plant trees(my
shoulders are still hurting from the post hole diggers last week)

So, the point is, I get exercise, but obviously, I am either not being
consistent enough in what muscles I work (to build and tone them) or I
just don't have good flexibility, because do pull a lot of muscles it
seems.

B


--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda