Tuesday, May 20, 2008

10 pounds lost after six seasons

The end of season 6 proved to be a landmark - 10 pounds lost on the walk. In some respects this is far from impressive. It's taken an incredible 107 hours on the treadmill spread over nearly five months, walking 377 miles to lose this weight. There are certainly faster, less time consuming ways to lose 10 pounds. But I doubt there are many that are more enjoyable.

My daily 45 minute walks are anything but a chore. I'm walking at a brisk pace (3.5 mph) up a fairly steep incline (6%) which is enough to get me sweating, but not really enough to get uncomfortably out of breath. And its a darn sight easier than jogging -- which I used to do in front of the TV -- where I'd be counting down every minute until it was over. Surprisingly in 5 months I've never woken up and thought "oh no, I've got to get on that treadmill again" because at this pace watching the X-Files episodes is the primary activity, and the walking is something that happens in the background.

Oh, and I should also reiterate that this 10 pound loss can in no way be attributed to a change in diet. I still eat as badly as ever. Yesterday I munched through a large packet of M&Ms, a chocolate bar, and drank two glasses of wine. Burgers, pizza, cheese sandwiches, ice cream -- all the bad habits remain exactly as they have been before.

Watch X-Files. Lose weight. Who knew?!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Movie time

And so finally, in between seasons 5 and 6, I got to walk The X-Files movie Fight The Future. This marked my longest time on a treadmill -- 2 hours and 4 minutes, where I covered over 7 miles and burned 1,200 calories. Not bad work for a movie watcher. I did take two breaks: one for a water top up, and the second when, after 100 minutes, the threadmill decided I couldn't possibly still be using it, so switched itself off. I nearly flew backwards into the wall behind me.. quite a shock I can tell you.


Speaking of movies, the second X-Files movie (which I'm walking towards) now has a name: I Want To Believe. This is of course a tag line from the famous UFO poster in Mulder's office. I'm trying to avoid all the juicy details about the film, I want my first viewing of it to be a complete surprise. But it sure is tempting to search the internet for the latest movie news!