Leahey.org

So I’ve decided to conduct an experiment.Let me prefix all this with the fact that I am not a particularly fit guy. I am not in terrible shape, but I’m not in great shape either. My idea is for 14 days of physical self improvement, starting on Saturday the 16th of September 2006.

Friday, I will weigh-in and attempt to complete an array of short exercises throughout the day. Friday night, I will email all those who join this fitness experiment (by emailing 14days@leahey.org) exactly what I completed. Your goal is to weigh in, and duplicate exactly what I did on Saturday. So basically you will receive a fitness todo-list each night for the following day. This will go on for a period of 14 days, at which point you are welcome to email me your results, and they will be posted at the end of this entry.

The idea is you will all keep me motivated, I (along with the other participants) will keep you motivated, and so on.

I will keep all exercises relatively short, with the exception of maybe a walk or a bike ride, none of them will exceed 15 minutes. There will be no weights, barbells, jump ropes, or any other gear required. Each day I will cut out one item I would usually eat, and substitute it with something healthier.

In the mean time, I encourage any questions or comments to be posted below, and anyone wishing to sign up for this experiment please email 14days@leahey.org with the subject line “I’m in”.

If I see there is an interest in these experiments, I would love to make it a monthly thing.

Day 1 [183 lbs]: Okay, so today was supposed to be the first day of the experiment, and it was for the most part. However, my basement flooded with water, so I did quite a bit more exercising that I had initially expected to. Nonetheless, heres my day:

Early morning: 25 quick, simple jumping jacks. Layed down on the floor and did 15 crunches and about 4.5 pushups. Had breakfast. Glass of skim milk, coffee with half and half.

I usually have 2, maybe 3 cups of coffee with half and half in the morning. Today I had one and substituted my second/third with a cup of tea with skim milk. So todays food cut-out is a dairy product. If you usually have 2 cups of coffee, have 1. If you put cream in your coffee and can replace it with something less-fattening, do so.

Afternoon: In the afternoon, it was raining. Nevertheless I took a .75 mile walk around my neighborhood, while attempting to wrangle my not-yet-leash trained puppy. So if you are going puppyless, make it 1 mile. Had 3 glasses of water, a little bit past lunch time.
Evening: This evening I did the same thing I did this morning, 25 jumping jacks, 15 crunches, 4-5 pushups. Had 3 glasses of water spaced out between 5 and 10. End of day 1.

Day 2 [181 lbs]: So, as you can see, today I am 2 lbs lighter. I reckon this is due in part to my exercising, but also just due to regular fluctuations. I will admit success when I pass the 5 lbs mark.

Morning: Situps, 20 of them today. 30 jumping jacks, followed by 15 more situps.

Afternoon: This afternoon I walked about a half a mile, and jogged/walked 60 seconds/90 seconds, respectively, for another half mile. This all took no more than 10-15 minutes. For lunch, I substituted my usual sandwich with a light salad, with no dressing. 2 glasses of water throughout the afternoon.

Evening: 30 jumping jacks, 20 situps, abdominal muscles were on fire at this point. I decided today to carry over what I did yesterday, cutting back no the dairy/fat product. I had my 2 cups of coffee in the morning, but had none in the evening (I usually have another ~2 cups). I drank approximately 4 more glasses of water.

Day 3 [180 lbs]: So I’m down another pound, so I can’t see how this can be taken as anything other than a direct result of my changed routine.

Morning: Woke up, had my coffee and hit the situps. 25 this time, followed by 8-9 pushups, and 25 jumping jacks. I then got my act together and went for a 1 mile walk. Came back, had 2-3 glasses of water between morning and afternoon.

Afternoon: In the afternoon I had a small lunch, half a sandwich and a small salad. I had another 2 glasses of water.

Evening: While watching TV I completed 5 sets of 20 situps, and did some running in place for approximately 5-6 minutes.

Day 4 [177 lbs]:

Apologies for being delayed in posting this. As you see, I am down 3 lbs.

Morning: Woke up feeling especially energized. I did 30 situps, followed by 2 sets of 30 jumping jacks, and ran to get weighed. At which point I did 20 more jacks, as I was amazed at my loss thus far. I have to say, though, I attribute much of this loss to my improved diet and water intake. I skipped breakfast, which was probably a mistake.

Afternoon: And here is why it was a mistake, for lunch I had 3 eggs and a bowl of cereal. At which point I felt guilty, and drank 5 glasses of water throughout the rest of the afternoon.

Evening: It was a decent day, so I took my puppy to a local park and walked her approximately 2 miles, rather briskly. I returned home and had dinner, I replaced my usual coffee entirely with green tea. I then did 2 sets of 10 pushups, approximately 45 situps, and took myself a nap.

Day 5 [177 lbs]

Well, I would say we have our answer to whether or not eggs are particuliarly good for you. No loss, as you can see.
Morning:  Spurred on by the fact that I did not lose any weight, I did 20 pushups, 50 situps, 50 jumping jacks and headed for my coffee. When I went to pour the half and half, I couldn’t quite do it, so I used Coffee Mate low fat cream replacement. This tasted surprisingly….alright, and I will likely continue to use it.

Afternoon: I wasn’t hungry, so I skipped lunch. I went for a 1.5 mile walk, and had a headache so didn’t do much of anything for the remainder of the afternoon.

Evening: For dinner I had steak, and completely cut out any table salt, which I usually load my steak up with. I had 5 glasses of water throughout the evening, and didn’t feel up to any more exercising.