In one of the introductory posts on the site, I mentioned how - after being generally disturbed by the gelatinous quality some parts of my body had acquired - I decided to get serious about getting back into shape. The journey began sometime in November, and since then I have gone from nearly 200 pounds down to 180. I still have another 10 or so of the jiggly stuff to drop, but I’m well on the way.

So, naturally, I thought you might be curious how I have been going about losing weight and gaining muscle mass. If you’re not, hey, you just spent 30 seconds you’re never going to get back, might as well cut your losses now (or, since you’re invested this far, read on).

Either way, we’ll still be friends and - yes - we’ll always have Paris.

(musical interlude)

OK, so what did I do to lose weight?

The simple explanation is that I got my butt in gear. My workout schedule is weight-lifting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with cardio on Tuesday and Thursday. I take the weekend off, allowing myself some tasty beers and potential cardiac arrest incidents on a bun.

I don’t bother with hours upon hours of sweat-drenched physical activity. I’m not the person who ignores the “please limit yourself to 30 minutes on a machine” sign guy. No, my routine to date has consisted of 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer, followed by 10 minutes on a treadmill.

My elliptical routine came right out of the Body for Life playbook. It’s 20 minutes of interval training, ranging from a comfortable pace to an all-out, fast-as-I-can-move-my-feet motion extravaganza. I absolutely hate it, especially the one minute called the “high point,” at least until it’s over.

From there, a quick side trip to the water cooler for a drink and then right on the treadmill.

As my colleague and I want to do a 14er or three this summer, I set the incline at 15%, the pace at 2.5 - 3 MPH, and start walking. Ten minutes later, I’ve climbed a few hundred vertical feet and another 120 calories or so have been burned up.

Step off the treadmill with wobbly legs, grab a drink of water, and I’m done.

That’s it. Thirty minutes. Easy (at least to describe).

Today, for the first time, I tried something new for my elliptical routine. I downloaded an interval training podcast from Podrunner by DJ Steve Boyett. The speed was a bit slow for the elliptical, so I just ramped up the difficulty level and got a good workout too (also followed by 10 minutes on the treadmill).

It runs a few minutes longer than the Body for Life routine, but burned nearly as many calories (if the calorie counter can be believed, and I’m sure it’s not accurate to any significant digits). I will probably alternate routines just for variety, doing one on Tuesday and the other on Thursday.

Check it out, let them know what you think.

And if you find any of the above helps you shed some unwanted poundage, pass it along.

Tomorrow is lower body weights day - I’ll write about the weights routine soon too.