I’ve been reading that a nightly glass of red wine can help with your cholesterol, lower your risk of prostate cancer and is good for your heart. Plus, it’s loaded with delicious alcohol.

But how good is it for you? I plan on having a glass every night, after 3 months visiting my doctor for a yearly check up, and see if any of the claims have any affect on me.

So yes, I’ll be drinking for science.

Highlights:

• Drink more alcohol
• Eat pork rinds
• Eat some chocolate

I might be getting a little obsessed with this whole workout thing. I went to Vegas this weekend for a guy’s weekend and seriously considered bringing my work out gear with me.

Like more and more of corporate America, I work on a computer and don’t move that far from my desk on a daily basis. But I couldn’t quantify how sedentary my current job might be, so I bought a pedometer, which measures the amount of steps you take. I figured that walking and/or number of steps that I take, should give me some idea and a data point on how sedentary my daily life might be.

I wore the pedometer for two weeks, the results were eye opening.

I was taking approx 2500 or 1/4, of the recommended 10,000 steps a day. A number of health organizations recommend at least an hour of activity each day, which works out to about 10,000 steps.

A normal occasional 20 min walk with the dogs: 2500 steps. So basically, a short 20 min walk with my dogs was more movement than I was getting all day at work. Damn, no wonder I gained all that weight, I was barely moving at all.

But I’m not alone, according to a 1997 CDC study, 40% of Americans lead completely sedentary lifestyles meaning they NEVER engage activity during their leisure hours and little, if any, at work. It also doesn’t help that we’ve built most of our cities around cars and that work is typically typing on a keyboard.

So, here is some advice:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park in a parking space farther away from the entrance
• If you use public transportation get off a stop earlier & walk the rest.
• If you don’t have time for an exercise, go for a walk on your lunch hour.

I had every intention of Saturday being my one and only ‘cheat day‘ but what I didn’t count in was the intense cravings you get when you have a mild hangover and this hangover wanted junk food.

So, I not only ate horrible this Saturday but this Sunday as well. I guess I’ll be doing some extra cardio in order to work that off and stay on my goals. Thankfully, we’ve removed the scale at my house so I wasn’t tempted to weight myself this morning.

The results weren’t encouraging. I was heavy, out of shape and nearly 30% of my body mass was fat.

I had them remeasured this morning and what a difference 2 months make. The numbers speak for themselves.
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Now, it’s not just numbers, I’ve dropped from a 36 inch waist to 34 inch waist and I no longer fit into most of my clothes without them feeling baggy on me. I have more energy, I’ve been feeling better and don’t feel as stressed out any longer.

When I tell people that I have a personal trainer, they always say, “Isn’t that expensive?” I always answer, “Yup, but my body is worth it.”

You spend your youth accumulating wealth and later your wealth trying to get health. I’d rather just have it now.

For me having a personal trainer is a necessity, not a luxury, to stay on my fitness goals. I find that staying motivated, working consistently at the right intensity, and monitoring my progress is time consuming and difficult. A personal trainer solves this by keeping me motivated, monitoring my progress and making changes as needed.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t tried everything else, like: working out on my own, buying a treadmill, working out in classes, and working out with friends/family. None of them worked. I get bored, start slacking and quit going all together. The only thing that’s worked for me, so far, is having someone design my workouts, design my diet, tell me what to do and keep me motivated.

I go to my personal trainer 3x a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) in the morning before work for an hour. I’m one of those people who needs to work out in the morning, it just works for me and it’s a great start to my day.

But it’s not cheap; having a personal trainer ranges anywhere from $30 to $80 a hour.

I’ve been working out with my previous trainer, Christy, since January and wish her a speedy recovery before her wedding next month.

Anyway, I now am working out with Antoine. He ran me through a workout this morning and I think he’s going to be a great replacement. He commented after the workout that, “You’re in better shape than I thought, so now I gotta push you.”

That really made me feel good.

Does anyone else need that sort of feedback to keep you going?