Showing posts with label gravity. Show all posts

Friday, December 11, 2015

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN...SOMETIMES

I begin today by revisiting a blog post of my from January, earlier this year:

Monday, January 5, 2015

ISAAC NEWTON - LAW OF GRAVITY

Isaac Newton (1642-1726) is credited with this quote: "What goes up, must come down." Who knows if he really did say this or not. We know that it is not inevitable that when one's weight goes up, that it will likely go down. In fact, it is highly unlikely without a massive intervention on oneself. In recent years, gasoline prices have gone up. It was only a few summers ago when it appeared that the gas price was destined to cross the $5.00/gallon barrier. In the past, every time I gassed up, there was an additional expense of at least $3.00 for junk food. Sometimes things do change. I filled my tank yesterday on the way to Cincinnati. I paid the stunning price of $1.659/gallon. My total transaction at the gas station was only $18.00. In recent days, and I expect in the weeks to come, both gas prices and my weight will continue to fall. It is inevitable that gas prices will rise again. It is not inevitable that my weight will rise again. I have already seen that movie and I don't like the ending. This time, I am determined to lose the weight, and learn how to keep it off. Yesterday, I consumed less than 800 calories, and after my dinner I felt full. My stomach is no longer stretched to the limit 24 hours per day. After seven years of eating like a moron, it now seems so easy to have a healthy diet.

As I re-read this post from nearly one year ago, which was written when my new lifestyle had started only one dozen days earlier, I found it amusing that some of my prognostications proved true. For example, at the time of this January 4 blog post, I was a still a whopping 294.5 lbs. (I had lost a grand total of 14.5 lbs - AND I WAS ECSTATIC ABOUT THAT PROGRESS!) I correctly predicted that I would continue to lose weight. My current weight loss as of last Saturday was 94.5 lbs. On the other hand, my prediction that gas prices would continue to fall was a bit optimistic. I do not think that I ever paid as little for gasoline as I did on January 4, 2014. The thing that made me want to revisit this blog post of nearly one year ago is that yesterday, December 10, 2014, I filled my tank at a price of $1.699 per gallon (just a fraction higher than the lowest low that I enjoyed last January) It made me think that it might be time for new predictions. It appears that gas prices again are preparing to find new lows and it appears that my weight is preparing to find new lows. In the course of the year, there was one weigh-in where my scale reported 213.9 lbs on April 25. However, I never approached that low number again all year until right about now. Last Saturday, my weight was 214.5lbs and there remains the possibility that I might record a new low tomorrow. However, weight is a funny thing - it is impossible to gauge where one's weight will be as it can fluctuate 2 or 3 lbs just overnight.

True about many things...but not true about he price of gasoline and certainly not true of one's weight.

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Welcome to Chillicothe, Ohio. I visited a favorite shop in this town today, and I made time afterwards to enjoy a trail. It was the first time in nearly one week that I walked. It was also the first time in a while that I stopped at a Subway and ordered my healthy lunch of choice, as I had for so many weeks earlier this year - Double Chicken Chopped Salad (220 calories)

The entire walk was along a paved bicycle/foot path. I more or less parked in the middle and walked about 2. 5 miles south and then returned to the starting point and then more or less walked another 2.5 miles north and back. When it was all over - I had logged 10 miles. (I am trying to wean myself away from the 'need' to walk 10 miles every day. I expect to mix it up a bit in the coming weeks, with visits to the elliptical machine, and perhaps walks of 'only' five miles as well. I enjoyed another day when I consumed reduced calories, and managed to eat fairly well.
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Your Food Diary For:

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
FARM FRESH EGG-LAND'S. BEST - GRADE A EGG LARGE, 1 egg	60	0	4	6	65	0
Quaker - Instant Original Flavor Oatmeal, 4 pack	400	76	8	16	300	0
Tropicana - Orange Juice - 100% Juice, 8 fl oz	110	27	0	2	15	22
Morningstar Farms - Sausage Patty, 1 patty	80	3	3	10	260	1
	650	106	15	34	640	23
L U N C H
Subway - Double Chicken Chop Salad, 425 g	220	10	5	36	490	4
	220	10	5	36	490	4
D I N N E R
Panera - TURKEY CHILI BOWL, 1 bowl	280	34	12	20	1,070	9
PANERA BREAD - SMOKED TURKEY SANDWICH, 1/2 SANDWICH	220	34	2	16	890	2
Panera - Apple, 1 apple	80	21	0	0	0	15
	580	89	14	36	1,960	26
S N A C K S
Lunchables - Turkey and Cheddar Fixed, 1 package	260	22	13	12	670	5
	260	22	13	12	670	5

Totals	1,710	227	47	118	3,760	58
Your Daily Goal	3,708	463	123	186	2,300	139
Remaining	1,998	236	76	68	-1,460	81
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 1,778 extra calories from exercise today

Your Exercise Diary for:

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	132	1,950
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-172


Daily Total / Goal	133 / 30	1,778 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	266 / 210	3,264 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 1710 calories

total calories burned (10 mile walk) 1950 calories

total net calories 240 calorie deficit

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fitbit day 99

26304 steps
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It took me all week to put together one day with a high step total. I stepped more yesterday, than I had on the three previous days combined!
steps Monday 5060
steps Tuesday 5043
steps Wednesday 15469
total steps Monday thru Wednesday 25572
Today, Friday, will be a travel day from Columbus, Ohio back home to Chicago - I am likely looking at another step-challenged day...

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

LEANING TOWER OF PISA

Yesterday, I did something that I have never done in my life. I rode my bicycle nearly 30 miles. I took my bike to an interesting YMCA in Niles, Illinois. (Chicago Suburb) I used the most direct route to get there which made it a 13 mile trip. After my two-hour workout I used a more indirect route to get home and that trip was 15.6 miles. My total bike ride was 28.6 miles. Considering how far I travelled and how long I was on my bike - it definitely serves to remind me just how amazing marathon runners are.

The reason that I went to Niles, Illinois to go to a YMCA so far from home was to record some photos of me in front of the replica of the LEANING TOWER OF PISA.

I have passed by this roadside attraction many time over the years that I have been living in Chicago.

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 Monday MENU

breakfast one apple 72 calories
lunch baby spinach w/baby corn on the cob, asparagus 186 calories
dinner Chabad Bar Mitzvah Meal
brisket, string beans, rice, Challah, zucchini,
Whiskey L'Chaims, Fruit Plate, cookies 1500 calories
SNACK GINGER CRYSTALLIZED DARK CHOCOLATE 480 calories

total calories consumed 2398 calories

calories burned

LEANING TOWER YMCA elliptical, PRECOR, level 20, 125 minutes 2013 calories

CALORIES BURNED 2013 CALORIES

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Tuesday net calories 385 calories

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from wikipedia....

The Leaning Tower of Niles is a half-size replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Located in Niles, Illinois, it was completed in 1934 by industrialist Robert Ilg as part of a recreation park for employees of the Ilg Hot Air Electric Ventilating Company of Chicago. It is situated at 6300 W. Touhy Avenue.

Some speculate that part of the motivation to construct the tower was to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A more likely explanation is its original functional purpose, to store water for outdoor recreational swimming pools. In 1960, the descendants of Robert Ilg donated part of the park for the construction of the Leaning Tower YMCA.

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from RoadsideAmerica.com

Leaning Tower of Niles

Niles, Illinois

The Leaning Tower is a perennial stop for travelers in the Chicago area, only 15 minutes northeast of O'Hare International Airport and 10 minutes from the World's First Franchised McDonald's in Des Plaines. The Leaning Tower of Niles is, naturally, a replica of Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is roughly half-sized, 94 feet vs. the authentic's 177 feet, and leans about 7'4" off plum (vs. Pisa's 13 foot tilt). But that hardly matters when you're standing across the street taking a picture. And the savings in overseas airfare and reduced risk of injury is worth considering.

America's Leaning Tower was built in 1934 (600 years after the original) by businessman Bob Ilg, who anchored it in concrete so that its lean would stay consistent. Originally it was a utility tower, made from steel, concrete, and precast stone, designed to hide water filtration tanks. A plaque at its base says it was built to honor the outstanding scientist Galileo Galilei, who dropped various objects from the top of the Pisa tower to prove his theory of gravity.

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FITBIT
DAY 4
30,179 STEPS
A two hour workout sandwiched in between a 28.6 mile bike ride set the steps at around 25,000. The entire rest of the day was a mere 5000 steps more. And the last 1000 of those were simply 'stepping in place' to get me over 30,000 for the day.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

M.C. ESCHER

Some staircases are harder to climb than others.

It is clear that that there might be unique challenges if one lived in M.C. Escher's world of RELATIVITY. from Wikipedia:

Relativity is a lithographprint by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher, first printed in December 1953. It depicts a world in which the normal laws ofgravity do not apply. The architectural structure seems to be the centre of an idyllic community, with most of its inhabitants casually going about their ordinary business, such as dining. There are windows and doorways leading to park-like outdoor settings. All of the figures are dressed in identical attire and have featureless bulb-shaped heads. Identical characters such as these can be found in many other Escher works

The stairwell in the building in which I live thankfully is much more straightforward, the distance from the ground floor to the top floor, which is home to the fitness room is 25 floors. Yesterday, Monday, 25 May...25 floors were traversed by me. This is a personal achievement which makes me extremely happy.

There have been a few occasions when I had previously tried to simply go from the ground floor up to the 12th floor where I live. Religiously observant Jews do not use electricity on Shabbat (Sabbath) and although I am not a traditional religiously observant Jew who follows this custom, yet there were a few times when I wondered what it would be like if I was. How would I manage to get home without the elevator? It was likely more than one year ago when I climbed the twelve flights a two or three times. It was not easy, I had to stop multiple times along the way to catch my breath and by the time I entered my apartment I was completely weak-kneed, out-of-breath and practically ready to collapse. That experiment was not completely successful.

I have been a Shabbat dinner guest at the home of friends of mine that are religiously observant Jews who do follow the laws of Judaism much as they are prescribed in the Torah (First Five Books of Moses, Old Testament) and when I walked with them back to their apartments after a Friday evening service, it was embarrassing how challenging walking up just 4 flights of stairs to their homes could be for me.

Since these experiences were my frame of reference for STAIR CLIMBING before this weekend began - it is easy to see why I was concerned, actually somewhat petrified that I was going to have a very tough time hiking HALF DOME in October.

As I wrote yesterday, I still expect this hike to be very challenging. Now I have confidence that I will be able to rise to the challenge. (In fact, I need to be able to rise 4800 feet for this challenge!) This blogger, who clearly is a bit daft, could not wait to attempt the 25 floor walk-up on Monday after successfully walking up and down 13 floors on Sunday. My workout for Monday took place at 1:00AM - particularly early on Monday morning.

I entered the elevator and in order to get to the 25th floor - I rode down to the ground floor. I exited the elevator and WALKED UP 25 FLOORS. I was a bit winded when I arrived. I rested for about two minutes and proceeded to the ELLIPTICAL MACHINE for my 32 minute workout. After finishing on the elliptical machine, I WALKED DOWN 25 flights of stairs back to the ground floor. Then I took the elevator back up to 12.

TIME WALKING UP 25 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS, GROUND FLOOR TO 25: 4 MIN, 6 SEC

TIME WALKING DOWN 23 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS, 25 TO GROUND FLOOR: 3 MIN, 21 SEC

It will be interesting for me to see how much I can imrove on these times as I progress. Perhaps at some point I will attemept to walk up, walk down and REPEAT. We'll see... There is no sense in overdoing it. For the time being, I will be satisfied with one round trip periodically.

MONDAY MENU
breakfast Steel Cut Oat Meal w/prune, two poached eggs, two slices turkey bacon 505 calories
lunch spinach salad w/mushroom, tomato, hearts of palm, beets 28 almonds 589 calories
dinner spinach salad w/mushroom, tomato, hearts of palm, beets, slice bacon
chicken broth, 4 ounces Black Angus, honey nut & banana granola 829 calories

total calories consumed 1923 calories

CALORIES BURNED

ASCENDING 25 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS 4 MINUTES 60 calories
ELLIPTICAL MACHINE 32 MINUTES 496 calories
DESCENDING 25 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS 3 MINUTES 20 calories

total calories burned 576 CALORIES

MONDAY NET CALORIES 1347 calories

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My list of favorite artists is likely a list of just one entry. Ever since I was a Junior in high school, M.C. Escher's artistic interpretations have captured my imagination.

The art world can be a funny place....
Here is a New York Times story from 2006

A Pollock Is Sold, Possibly for a Record Price by Carol Vogel

Published: November 2, 2006

The Hollywood entertainment magnate David Geffen has sold a classic drip painting by Jackson Pollock for about $140 million, art experts with knowledge of the transaction said yesterday.

This so-called painting, "No. 5, 1948" measures approximately 4 feet by 8 feet. in 2006 it sold for $140,000,000? Really?

Friday, January 23, 2015

ROLLING STONES (POUNDS & KILOGRAMS)

I am a reader of various international articles and blogs on diet and weight loss. I know that my readers come from all over the world. Some of my readers probably don't understand exactly how much a pound is, and conversely, until this morning, I had no idea what a 'stone' was. So today, I provide a public service:

1 STONE = 14 POUNDS
1 KILOGRAM = 2.2 POUNDS

I weighed 309 lbs on December 24, 2014
Last Saturday, January 18, 2015 I weighed 284.7 lbs

Therefore, on December 24, I weighed approximately 22 Stone, 140.5 Kilograms
Last Saturday, January 18, I weighed approximately 20.3 Stone, 129.4 Kilograms.

As of last Saturday I had lost nearly 2 STONE, or 11 Kilograms.

I plan on ROLLING away quite a few more STONES in the coming weeks.

Now if you want to weigh less, without dieting.
The solution is simple.
Weigh yourself on the Moon. Due to the lower gravity there, you would weigh less.
Approximately 1/6th less.
Unfortunately, your mass would be the same, so you might weigh less, but if are wearing a 48" waist pair of Levi' or wearing a size 20 Chanel dress, you would be wearing the same clothing on the Moon. So the best plan to lose weight remains diet and exercise no matter whether you are measuring your success in pounds, kilograms or stone.

Moon Weight measured in 'Newtons' (N) is 1/6th the weight on Earth. Unfortunately the mass is the same.

THURSDAY MENU

BREAKFAST three poached eggs, 2 slices turkey 'bacon' 280 CALORIES
LUNCH 5oz. Mahi Mahi, 1 cup Sweet Potato Bisque Soup 290 CALORIES
DINNER 1 cup Sweet Potato Bisque Soup, Polish Sausage
two tablespoons Trader Joe's Sauerkraut 365 CALORIES

TOTAL CALORIC INTAKE 935 CALORIES

EXERCISE

5:00AM 60 minutes @ 4mph - 4 miles 600 CALORIES
6:00PM 60 minutes @ 4mph - 4 miles 600 CALORIES

THURSDAY CALORIC DEFICIT 265 CALORIES

My January 3rd post, 'RALPH LAUREN SAYS THAT I AM BIG' spoke of my excitement to fit back into a pair of 48" waist Ralph Lauren pants. Yesterday, January 22, was the day that those pants have been retired and put in a pile to be donated. My waist size in now 46" I purchased an inexpensive pair of black pants yesterday, size 46" waist and they fit perfectly. I have lost 4" from my waist in 30 days. Thursday January 22 was DAY 30 of my new program, which I have dubbed the 'Rabbi Hillel Diet.'

It is Friday morning as I post this.
I don't know precisely what time I am going to wake up on Saturday to step onto my scale - but I am guessing it is going to be early. See you tomorrow!

I have consistently been having the same breakfast every day that I am home. Three poached eggs and two slices of turkey 'bacon' (Note: no pigs were harmed in the production of this 'bacon' - but some turkeys were) 280 CALORIES