Exercise while you surf the net!

So I’m wondering how much exercise is too much exercise. For whatever reason, I’ve gotten motivated to loose a lot of weight. I think I’ve noticed my girlfriend starting to look chunky, so it scared the shit out of me. I don’t want us to be those fat people riding around on scooters at Walt Disney World.

I’m 5 foot 9 inches tall and I weight 225 pounds. According to the Weight Watchers website, that puts me at about 75 pounds overweight. That’s scary. I’ve always considered myself a “husky fellow” – not 75 pounds overweight. So I’ve decided to do something about it. I’m always brainstorming new ideas, so my current crazy one is that I bought a stairmaster and fixed it up so that I have a little table on top where I can put my keyboard and mouse, and I can surf the net or blog while I’m exercising. In fact, I’m riding the thing right now as I write this.

I started getting very motivated about a week ago, and I’ve been riding the damned thing for about two hours a day at a low intensity level. So far I feel a little thinner although I haven’t weighed myself.

The question I’m wondering is when I’m going to burn out. I’ve heard it said that too much exercise can lead to injury or burnout. So I’m interested to see how long I can go on this kick.

One of the risks of overtraining is a loss in muscle mass because one the muscle naturally deteriorates a little every time you exercise and if you don’t give it adequate time to recuperate there is a risk of injury.

So I guess I’ll gauge how my muscles are feeling. So far I’m totally gung-ho about my diet.

I figure if I burn 15 calories a minute for two hours a night, that’s 1800 calories a day!

Not to mention the fact that my heart rate will be up throughout the day, and it takes energy for my body to repair itself. I think mild exercise like this will beat the hell out of dieting. I can’t stand eating bland, flavorless foods!

So, 1800 calories X 30 days is 54,000 calories.

Since there are supposed to be 3500 calories in a pound of fat, that would be the equivalent of 15 pounds.

As soon as I see this number, I’m a little depressed. I bet I can stay motivated for 30 days, but to loose 75 pounds, I would have to do this exercise program for five months!

I suppose I could add calorie restriction into the mix, but I’m not ready to do that yet. I think it’s unhealthy physically and psychologically to deprive oneself. I think the real key is to have a Stairmaster in front of the computer like this and exercise at a moderate level for several hours a day.