some good ways for physical conditioning ...

1. walk a lot of miles. walking is still one of the finest exercises ever invented. surprisingly few people do it. to increase calorie demands, walk quickly (Power Walking), put on a light backpack with 10-20 pounds, or walk up steep hills.

2. swimming .. also excellent. a lot of people reject this because they are not good swimmers. but you can put on some swim fins and use a floatation aid - you will still burn a lot of energy if you do laps. swimming is great to avoid injuries and recover from the.

3. elliptical machines. ive always found these machines to be particularly good for burning calories while avoiding injuries from repetitive impacts.

cheers, Pete

My next goal: figure out all the stuff you can do with this new Suunto Ambit 2 GPS watch the wife got me for Christmas. Loving this thing so far.

Lose 15 pounds or 2" off my gut, whichever comes first. I'm doing yoga and fat-burning exercises on the treadmill three times a week but I fear that isn't enough. :-(
-Blast

"Lose 15 pounds or 2" off my gut"

with you on that one, Blast-man.
I've really gotta' shed some weight. I am going to make a very serious effort to get 20 pounds off, starting in Jan.

Pete

Weight training builds muscle, muscle burns fat. Combining cardio (walking = approx 100 calories per mile IIRC) and weight training is the way to go IMO, but I'm just a layman at this, no fitness/health expert.

From what I've read, Roman Centurions typically ate only dinner and therefore went all day on their stored energy. Typically, I eat breakfast so my work-outs burn energy I just ate. I'm thinking on that Centurion lifestyle as a possible way to drop some pounds.

As an infantryman and in Special Forces, we often ate in such a way due to the inability to carry enough rations for the entire mission. One meal a day is typical on many missions. I do not recommend it as a diet plan. You are training your body to store up calories more rapidly, as fat, for those times when you have no food. Yes you will lose weight, at least in the short term, but it does damage to the body. A healthy diet with everything in moderation, along with exercise, is the only healthy way to lose weight. Burn more than you take in, and eat a healthy, balanced diet.

oatmeal for breakfast.....

Montenero - well balanced advice.
Part of the trick in our society is to maintain more control over the food content in our meals. A lot of prepared meals, even simple salads, contain surprisingly high numbers of calories. Restaurants just cannot help themselves from piling extra additives into the menu..

Pete

My goal for 2014 is to actuate the phrase "One of these days we've got to get organized." I've got too much stuff that I can't find quickly enough to be of any real value in an emergency. This would please my darling DW, as well.