UPDATES!!! PROGRESS!!!

Sorry, but I found our lack of updates rather alarming...and this will probably be concise because, well, I'm at work :-)  What's the real point of this??  Find out after the jump! (Just kidding, there is no jump.)

I just finished writing this, and it's a lame post.  Beware!! (And I messed up some math...)

Lent has been interesting so far.  I thought life without ranch dressing, chocolate, and ice cream (among other less delicious things) wouldn't be fun at all.  But...I've been living.  And I mean I've been living.  First, a little back-story:

At 6am on February 15th, I woke up to my 23rd birthday.  I lumbered toward the bathroom and did something different: I got on a scale for the first time in a while.  The scale promptly screamed "260.7" and .  There was something vaguely unsettling about that moment, but, in and of itself, that moment would not have changed my life.  What did change my life was a gift.  For my birthday, I received a bodybugg from my wife, in-laws, and brother- and sister-in-law.  It didn't turn my world upside down.  Maybe a little sideways though.

Alright.  Back to real time.  This isn't a bodybugg review, so I'll just say that I started the bodybugg program on February 16th.  As they're apt to do, the pounds started coming off, but it felt a little different than before.  My eating habits didn't drastically change, and I was only exercising about five hours each week with my wife.  After a month of use, I've dropped eleven pounds of fat.  Jonna and I started running, and we've registered for our first race in two weeks: a five miler!

All that to say, just changing your lifestyle can make a huge difference in your health and wellness.  But...where to go with this?  What is my GOAL??  HOW WILL I CHALLENGE MYSELF???!?!?

After realizing I would be sitting in an empty office most of the day, I pulled out some blank paper, a couple of fancy pens, and armed myself with the power of calculus and the US Navy Body Fat Calculation Formula.

(Okay, simple calculus.  Look hard enough and you will see the integral in there.)

Okay, honestly, I didn't want to write any of the stuff before this.  Here's my extended joke:

Since I've decided that I enjoy being not-as-fat, I figure that I'll enjoy being less-than-not-as-fat.  I decided that 250 is kind of a "fat point" for me.  Weighing more than that really makes me feel gross, and edging my way under that is when I start to feel healthy again.

I really had no idea what a good first goal weight would be, so I found my lean mass and calculated my body fat percentage from 0% at 180lbs to around 30% at 250 lbs.  I decided to graph my body fat percentage as a function of weight, then I found the "balance" point.  If you drew a vertical line straight up from that weight, half of the area under that curve would be on the left, and the other half would be on the right.  It's my balance weight!


So...if you don't feel like looking at my math, my goal is to get down to about 226lbs and 23% body fat by June 18th.  And this is Bryan.  (lol.)

(p.s. - If you look on the x-axis, I labeled the weight ranges for athletic, fit, acceptable, and obese.  It just so happens that 226 is on the acceptable/obese border.  Important goal!  And what a joke of a way to find it!)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

EDIT: First order balance point is at 228lbs.  I am ashamed...works out as f(x) = 0.2*x^2 - 71.4 * x + 5881.

- B

Book Review

 I finished reading this book last night and highly recommend it for any woman who is not really serious about running, but wants a good read/laugh.  In fact, my husband stole this book from me after the first night because I couldn't get through the first couple of chapters without laughing out loud (he wanted to see what he was missing).   

 

Dawn does a great job of being real about marathon training.  She complains, is sarcastic, and has comments about every aspect of running.  She goes from not exercising to completing a marathon, and comes in first!  Ok, just kidding.  She definitely does not come in first which is why I liked this book.  It definitely isn't one of those crazy motivational books that you read and feel the need to go run immediately after.  Maybe I should read one of those too...   

I'll leave you with two of my favorite quotes from the book:

• I will wonder if it is physically possible for my breasts to bounce off my body...
• I'll tell you one thing: I was on about Mile 4 when that guy offered me the Bible.  Had he offered me his bike, I would have become a Mormon on the spot.
  

Let me know what you think!!
-J

March 2010 Goals

We're 'goal-setting' type of  people.  Every month, new short term goals are set, medium goals are evaluated, and long term goals are in progress.  Goals range anywhere from financial, fitness, spiritual, intellectual, etc.  No limits.  The only requirements are that the goals must be measurable and achievable.       

More importantly than setting a goal is definitely achieving a goal.  When we sit down to set our goals, normally a plan of action shortly follows.  It's definitely different setting goals as a couple now and not having school goals, so we're adjusting accordingly.  
 

I thought it would be neat to blog some of our short term goals for this month...

Jonna's goals:

-Run 50 miles by March 31st.
-Drink 64 oz of straight H20 everyday.

Yes...both of my short term goals right now are fitness/health related, but I definitely needed to start challenging myself more. 

Bryan is currently working on some fitness goals as well, and we have a few financial goals that we would like to meet by April 15th.       

What are your goals right now?

-J