getfit

the getfit program at MIT is a team-based 12 week fitness challenge that aims to get people into shape purely through the drive of peer motivation. it's reminiscent of when i used to document things dealing with my fitness, ie calorie intake. of course that ended less than one week into it because it truly is a pain to estimate the impact of every banana and handful of fruit snacks. but for an exercise junkie and a excel spreadsheet obsessor, getfit is a great combination of obsession with records and obsession with results. just think of all the cool graphs you can make at the end of every week!

our team, "just tae kwon do it", currently consists of karolina, becca, eric and gordo, suzanne, snix, alicia and me. we're pretty much all gym rats or taekwondo regulars so it's no big challenge to meet the recommended amount of 150 - 300 minutes per week. my last week, during which i really slacked and didn't work out at the gym, and taught at MIT more than i trained, counted 570 minutes. with alicia's salsa schedule i feel like she'll log more than 1000 per week - tuesdays and fridays have salsa following taekwondo, sometimes late into the night.

interestingly enough there's an extension of getfit at Lincoln Labs called who's the lab's biggest loser, which mimics reality tv's The Biggest Loser in monitoring the weight loss efforts of two platoons of high BMI participants. i think that the TV show was always pretty inspiring, and despite having the obligatory drama that accompanies any successful reality tv show, does give watchers a better reason to watch than to see who's sleeping with who. the getfit biggest loser program is being blogged, so we'll get to see personal insights of people that i might actually know, who are actually in the same workplace as i am.

of course this morning i finally started going to the gym at lunch again, and the scale registered a 156.6 lbs. i realized that unlike some people (chris) who have been gaining weight but staying the same size, i have been gaining weight and volume at the same time. thanks to delicious home cooked meals! but with a looming 20 lb weight cut to consider (though i might make it just 9 lbs to get to featherweight) i will be starting my own biggest loser program in my head...starting tomorrow. tonight is butternut squash ravioli.