The last post was about how I\u2019ve lost weight by tracking calories. I\u2019ve also been paying attention to how much I move each day. I have a tendency to jump into a routine and go too hard, which makes me really sore and provides a convenient excuse to stop doing the thing. It\u2019s a dumb cycle that took too long to identify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, these days I\u2019m walking the dog. Literally. I wake up at 5am and have a quick self-talk in the vein of Marcus: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: \u201cI have to go to work \u2014 as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I\u2019m going to do what I was born for \u2014 the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?\u201d<\/p>Marcus Aurelius, <\/strong>Meditations<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got a backpack1<\/a><\/sup> that I use for pretty much everything, and once I finally roll out of bed I dump out the iPad and keyboard and throw in a 45lb2<\/a><\/sup> plate. I take the dog for a 3 mile walk with the backpack. Takes about 55 minutes which, for me, equals about 6,500 steps. Since I\u2019m a sedentary office drone and I don\u2019t move much once I\u2019m at work, this is a great way to get some movement and steps. I usually end up with somewhere north of 9k steps each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Generally speaking, our human bodies seem to adapt well to whatever we throw at them. In my case, just walking the dog, even with a weighted backpack, eventually becomes the new normal. When that happens, or to delay that adaptation, I try to mix up my walking approach with changes to time, distance, and resistance. I\u2019ll try to walk the usual route a little faster, adding in some jogging. I\u2019ll try a longer route, but throw the weighted pack on my back. That kind of stuff. I don\u2019t plan it out, but I do try to get more time\/distance on the weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. I use a 26L GR1<\/a> from GoRuck. They are expensive, though I got mine on eBay for a decent discount. These bags are bombproof, so there should be no hesitation buying a used one. For the last 18 months or so, I\u2018ve used mine daily, with 45lbs in it, and it\u2019s in great shape. If it ever blows out can\u2019t be repaired, I\u2019ll get another one. GoRuck stands behind their gear, so if it ever does blow out I\u2019ll send it to them first to see if it can be repaired. \u21a9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. I got a 45lb plate<\/a> on Amazon instead of directly from GoRuck. GoRuck\u2019s manufacturing process is compelling though. For me, there wasn\u2019t enough of a distinction between the American-made plates and the plates from who-knows-where to justify the difference in price. They both just get shoved in the backpack. \u21a9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The last post was about how I\u2019ve lost weight by tracking calories. I\u2019ve also been paying attention to how much I move each day. I have a tendency to jump into a routine and go too hard, which makes me really sore and provides a convenient excuse to stop doing the thing. It\u2019s a dumb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[60,56],"tags":[62,63,57],"class_list":["post-840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness","category-health","tag-fitness","tag-walking","tag-weightloss"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ckgU-dy","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendonconnelly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}