I was watching a video on youtube earlier today that provided a supposed secret to success. It was a computer science lecture from the University of New South Wales in Australia. Lecturer Richard Buckland was saying that the way to get really good at something that requires discipline and years of practice is to make sure that you make the activity something you want to do. He had talked with a successful music teacher who had shared the secret of getting students to stick with practicing an instrument for years. You have to make it fun.

So, I figure I need to find a way to make exercise fun or I won’t stick with it. I’m going to start taking my mp3 player with me and listen to podcasts while I run. That should help a little. I’ll have to give it some more thought to find other ways to make exercise fun.

Weight: I forgot to weigh

Exercise: Week 2, Day 3 of the couch-to-5k running plan. There was a bitter wind blowing this morning. My hands and face were painfully numb by the time I was done running. I’m going to have to switch to the treadmill for days that are this cold and windy.

Yesterday’s breakfast: 6 Weight Watchers points. 1 cup All-Bran Strawberry Medley cereal, Half-cup skim milk, 1 banana.

Yesterday’s water:I drank two 1-liter bottles of tap water.

Weight: 280 pounds

Exercise: Week 2, Day 2 of hundredpushups.com plan. 5 sets of push-ups (5,6,4,4,7). The last push-up in the last set was a struggle, but the rest was a cakewalk. I’m hoping that I’m improving enough that I won’t have to repeat any weeks.

Yesterday’s breakfast: 6 Weight Watchers points. 1 cup All-Bran Strawberry Medley cereal, Half-cup skim milk, 1 banana.

So, I did the healthy breakfast thing yesterday. Today, I’m going to add the drinking 2 liters of water.

Weight: 282 pounds

Exercise: Week 2, Day 2 of the couch-to-5k plan. It was easier than the last run. On Sunday, I was about to fall out, but today I was just breathing heavy.

I’m still doing terrible on the diet portion of this. Maybe I need to phase it in bit-by-bit. First things, I’m going to do are eat a healthy breakfast every day and to drink a half-gallon of water every day. Then maybe I’ll stretch that into a salad for lunch or no eating after 8 p.m. or something like that.

Weight: 281 pounds

Exercise: Week 2, Day 1 of hundredpushups.com plan. I did five sets of push-ups (4, 6, 4, 4, 6). The last set wasn’t done with very good form.

Hi, everybody. Well, it’s Monday. I only have a four-day work-week because I’m using another vacation day on Friday. Time to get my butt to work.

Weight: 282 pounds

Exercise: Week 2, Day 1 of Couch-to-5K plan. Five minute warm-up walk, followed by 20 minutes of alternating 90 seconds of running with 2 minutes of walking. (Obviously, that doesn’t come out even, so the last walking section only lasts 1 minute.)

Jake and I went to the Bridger track together today. I barely made it through the last 90-second running interval. I really am horribly out of shape.

I didn’t even attempt to follow my diet yesterday. I ended up eating half of a Pizza Hut stuffed-crust supreme pizza for dinner last night. I might have better luck with the exercise half of this fitness plan if I paid more attention to the diet half.

Apparently I tried too hard on the initial test I did on the hundred pushups program. I ended up in the second category, but I’m not able to do all the sets called for in the plan for people who are in the second category. Today, I was supposed to do five sets of 6, 8, 6, 6, and 7. I only managed to do 6, 8, 5, 2, and 1. And I was still hurting from Monday’s sets. On Friday, I think I’ll fall back to the first category to see if I can actually finish a workout.

As for my diet, I weighed 282 pounds on the scales this morning, and I ate like a pig last night. I always seem to do fine for breakfast and lunch but I fall off the wagon in the evening. Maybe I should stop eating the same evening meal that my family eats. They aren’t particularly focused on weight loss and I completely pooch the portion control. I always seem to go back for seconds, and sometimes even thirds. So, I need to plan my own meals and provide my own snacks, and I need to make sure I only prepare enough so that I can’t go back for seconds.