Sprung forward

Y'all (at least, those in the US) remembered to change your clocks this morning, right?

... The part I hate most about consulting is waiting for people to pay me.  For the consistent jobs, it's just a matter of getting through the first billing-to-payment gap; after that, things start going fairly regularly.  When you're only invoicing every months, though, that ends up being a pretty big gap.  I'm very glad I have the day job and that this is mostly "fun money".

Didn't do yoga today.  I got in to lotus, which is how the dvd starts, and immediately started feeling my back muscles vibrating.  They've been a little sore/stiff the last few days, but this was "more than a little", so I took it as a hint and instead walked a few miles (I still did my rowing; that's before yoga).  It's all working, though.  I'm up to 38% muscle, down to 18% body fat.  Not all that amazing numbers, I know, but better than I was: targets to adult men are 42-50% and 14-17%, theoretically, and I started off at 36% and 21%.  So, basically, in 2 months I've converted 6 lbs of fat into 4 lbs of muscle.  If I can keep this up (and I certainly plan to), I ought to be in the ideal range within another couple of months.  Also, the scale is only approximate - I *think* I'm actually a little better than it's reporting, but it's at least a useful guideline to measure progress if not exact details.

I'm also noticing *some* changes to clothes: shirts are a little tighter, pants a little looser.  I can also see some changes physically, which is one of the big payoffs of course :)  Another big payoff, though, is that I can also feel the phsyiological changes when I try to do various things.  For example, even after only a week, some of the yoga exercises that I collapsed out of early on the first few days I can hold (albeit barely) for the whole duration now.

I also got a nifty (and free, so even better) media server set up on my computer so I can share my dvds and mp3s on whatever device I'm using, at home or out and about.  The dvds, I use so that I can run my yoga stuff from my Android tablet (which doesn't have an optical drive); today, on a whim, I used my cell phone (Windows 8) to stream music (The Beach soundtrack, if you must know - trust me, it's paradise) on my walk rather than grabbing my old ipod from the car.  There's a little bit of "ooh! new toy!" here, but I can really see this being useful.  I may actually get around to building that full-fledged home server that I wanted to make now.

15 weeks until Hawai'i.  Haven't decided if I want to do something for Memorial Day yet - might be something quick, unlike last year's 1400 mile drive (which was fun, don't get me wrong).  Also thought about hitting the white party, though I don't think I'll quite be in shape yet for that (it's at the end of March).

3 comments:

A Wandering Pom said...

Hi there, Austin

It sounds as if life is going well, if not necessarily very excitingly. Well done on your fitness campaign - you have a lot more willpower than me for that sort of thing!

I hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend, whatever you do - I will certainly remember last year's!

Meanwhile, I am continuing my travels: I'm just back from a six-day journey through the former Yugoslavia (very interesting) and I'm about to set off for a week in Morocco (my first visit to Africa).

Take care

Mark

Austin said...

Good luck in Morocco! My parents loved it, IIRC.

A Wandering Pom said...

Hi there, Austin

I enjoyed Morocco too: a lot of history, a very different culture, and some nice countryside. Oh, and sunshine and shirt-sleeve temperatures for a whole week - a very nice contrast to the cold, grey winter that we've had in Britain :-(

My next trip is a week in May, touring Lithuania, probably with a day or two on either end to see a bit more of Poland and the other Baltic states.

How's life in sunny California?

Take care

Mark

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