Five million steps

Yes, 5 million steps. That’s the number of steps–at least a rough estimate anyway–that stand between me and cutting my current body fat measurement in half.

Granted, it’s always dangerous to reduce human biology to a simplistic math equation, but the correlation between high percentages of body fat and health problems is pretty strong. It turns out that, when measured as simple calories, half my current body fat adds up to about 3.5 million steps worth of walking. Add in another 1.5 million steps that account for my current rate of walking, and you get 5 million.

At first, that number seems daunting. It is also, far less simplistically, a moving target influenced by all sorts of sometimes inscrutable variables. Yet, it’s also a concrete point; a goal to focus on that helps manage everything else.

If I were to somehow manage to walk that many steps in a year, that’s only about 13,700 a day. Granted, I’m only at 8,000ish a day now, but doubling the number doesn’t seem all that bad, though I’ll have to do more than double if I want that number to be my average.

The point is that we can’t do what we don’t know we’re trying to do. Now I know how many calories 5 million steps will burn. Now I understand what it will take for me to get to that number. I’m just at the beginning, but I can get there.

Now, to do it.

DLH

Breaking in new jeans

As I mentioned previously, one of the side effects of my illness was a dramatic loss of weight. I dropped more than thirty pounds in a month and a half, meaning that most of my clothes simply don’t fit anymore.

That inevitably led to one of my all time least favorite activities, emergency clothes shopping for jeans that don’t fit like clown pants. Much to my surprise, I’ve dropped from a 44 to a 40, and even more to my surprise, I discovered in these new pants that the shape of my body has changed from what it used to be.

Now I’m doing one of my other all time least favorite activities, breaking in new jeans. I hate the way new denim feels, the way it fits, and in the case of my new pants, the way it carries on me as a result of my thinner legs, less substantial buttocks, and slimmer waist.

Most people would be thrilled to be down so much weight, and don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I’m not as heavy, but can’t we find a better way to do new jeans?

DLH