Welcome to Running A Fever, Michael Davis here. This is a show about fitness, diet, and medicine. My goal is to live a long, healthy, happy, active life right up to the very end, all about living long and loving life, and that’s what I’m trying to do today. Starting off at the marina at Lake Fayetteville, I’m going to get a couple of beautiful winter shots of the lake. It’s a rather brisk little wind, so the water’s kind of choppy.

It’s very cold. The car said 25 degrees. However, the car has to equalize its temperature after being in the garage, because I keep it there. The garage was about 52 degrees today.

I can put on my gloves. Oh man, I can’t believe it. I’m not sure exactly how those touchscreens work, but it can’t have anything to do with heat because there was no heat in my hands. They’re like ice.

I got some nice gloves on made by Master Knitter, Henrietta Davis. Thank you very much. And might as well continue the fashion report. needed probably a couple more layers today, I don’t know. I’ve got the hoodie on and two layers of t-shirts, a long sleeve and a short sleeve. I’ve got a beanie on, it’s a hat but it’s kind of not a big hat and I’ve got the hood up on the hoodie And I’m wearing these nice, I don’t know if it’s blue or purple. I have some color vision issues. And I’m walking at a pretty good pace today, mainly because I’m just cold. I don’t want to get warmed up.

So anyway, I was saying the car said 25 degrees. Coming back from church this morning, about let’s see 9 10 about 10 30 i guess it was 17 degrees 17 degrees and here we are it’s the 14th of December and temperature has been all over the place but today it’s 17. I’m gonna go with that. Imagine when I get back to the car, it’s going to be something less than 25, even though the sun’s out. So that’s good.

I have a creek over here that I never noticed. So am I crazy? Am I crazy to be out here in 17 degrees walking around? Well, if that’s true, I’m not the only one.

There were several cars in the parking lot of the Lake Fayetteville Marina. It’s a beautiful day here, Lake Fayetteville. It’s just cold as cold as ice cold is something very cold. It’s actually colder than ice man, so gotta keep a good pace going. So, I mean, this is colder than my usual threshold for coming out here. You know, usually when it’s below freezing, I don’t venture out, but back in the old days I used to, and I’m really trying to get back to that mentality. And that’s kind of what I want to talk about today.

That is a new attitude. Coming up on, you know, I guess what I like to call a spillway. This thing is a kind of a dam. And there’s plenty of water coming over.

And of course, ice. I don’t want to stop too long, but it looks like to me there’s some ice there in the middle. Let’s keep on going. Keep the pace up.

So I gotta be willing to come out here in any kind of weather, except maybe ice on the trail. If it’s dangerous enough, I won’t come out here; I may go somewhere else, because it wouldn’t be as dangerous on a hiking trail. So I could do that. Here comes an exit off the e-bike superhighway. Not sure which exit this would be. Maybe to some businesses.

along the trail. Razorback Greenway, shopping, dining, downtown Fayetteville. But it’s 6.3 miles to downtown Fayetteville. Interesting.

Maybe that goes that way. Back to the topic at hand, the new attitude. What’s going on? You know, this whole show is about my fitness journey, among other things, but it certainly started out that way.

When I get out here walking, I’m talking about my fitness journey. It’s not just a journey around the lake. It’s a metaphorical journey from a sedentary lifestyle to a healthier one. And that’s my goal, and it always has been.

But we’ve had some snags along the way, some struggles, some challenges, some opportunities. The positive way to look at a challenge or a struggle is to call it an opportunity. And we’re in one of those times. Veterans Park.

I suppose I could walk on the grass without crossing the road. I’m just going to cross the road. Cross it here and cross back on the other side. There’s a crosswalk, and not much traffic.

Usual couple of cars here. I wonder if I’ve ever started. There’s also another thing that goes around the back. walk here one time.

The struggle is that I’ve been gaining weight. So after losing 70 pounds since July 6th of 2024 and keeping it off for a really long time, and kind of losing it in a healthy way, I think. I made sure I got plenty of protein. But I have regained 20 pounds in the last few weeks.

And I’m very concerned about that. And I should be concerned. I remember back in the good times. Toward the end of the good times, early, I guess, spring 2019, that’s when I started gaining back all the weight that I’d lost back that last time.

And I tried not to worry about it, you know? I tried to keep it, you know, I didn’t want to be extreme. I did not want to be extreme because I’d had bad experiences before where I basically starved myself. So it’s trying not to take it too, I don’t want to say seriously, but try not to be so worried about it.

That was five pounds turned into ten pounds and so forth pretty soon I’m back in the high 200s So And that’s when I started getting alarmed and do something even if it’s the wrong thing So That was the last experience and i have been determined since then to take action quicker not to be worried about one or two pounds but five five is when i start to get concerned and i have been but i haven’t been able to reverse the trend but all that is going to stop right. You know, every time I get in situations like this, I think back to my Naval Academy roommate, who, like 80% of Naval Academy students, was an engineering major. And he was having trouble with his grades.

I came back from class and found him sitting by the window. with his portable music player, boombox blasting a song from the Beverly Hills Cops soundtrack by the Pointer Sisters, “New Attitude.” Just looking out the window, pondering. 14 minutes, 0.71 miles.

I think that’s pretty good. a pretty good pace going we’re starting to warm up headed toward the south side of the lake fayetteville trail so of course i asked him what you know what was going on and You know, he just said, you know, he’s gotta get serious and he’s gonna survive this thing. And we all survived it, survived it together.

I certainly had my struggles there, for sure. I became an English major, which is rare at the Naval Academy. And I did it just to survive. I didn’t really, you know, that was the reason.

In the first year, I felt it really badly. And you know, with all the extra military and engineering courses, we have to take engineering even if you’re an English major. 20 semester hours on average. And additional military duties beyond that.

So the pressure, the time pressure, is considerable. And I just wasn’t used to that. Wasn’t used to even having to study very much, really. But I just found out that I’m a pretty good writer. It comes easily to me, so it didn’t take much of my time, and I could spend the rest on electrical engineering, thermodynamics, and other courses that English majors don’t usually take in a regular university setting. Anyway, it was tough and I could relate, but he had taken a stand and he was going to get a new attitude and have a new application of himself and a new determination to do well and that’s what I need right now 20 pounds up after being stuck in that 10 pound range rut for many months I’ve started to gain and I can’t have that. I’ve got to put a stop to it.

And so I’m going to come out here even when it’s 17 degrees. I’m going to be out here. And I need to get back into the gym. You know, the thing about, I was thinking about that today and thinking about not doing it because, well, When you work out in the gym, do resistance training, you put on weight because you’re putting on muscle.

Even if you’re losing fat, muscle weighs more than fat. It’s denser. And so you can stay the same, or you can gain weight even while you’re losing fat because you’re gaining muscle. But that’s not really a good mindset.

And I remember saying this back when I was doing some sort of health, I don’t know, I was involved in a sort of thing to help people do better on their biometrics. And there was a Biggest Loser contest, which I won, by the way, by starving myself. Don’t recommend that; I didn’t do it the next year either. But the Biggest Loser contest, and people were just concerned about losing weight, and I said, you know, it’s really body composition, you know, and nobody was into that.

Gotta lose weight, you know. And when you lose weight, you lose muscle. So we got a good heart rate going. I don’t know what I’m calling.

I guess I can call her Sammy because it’s a Samsung watch. I don’t know. What do you think? Leave a comment.

So it’s a 20-minute mile. I’ve gone a mile. It’s been 20 minutes. But the speed on my watch says three miles an hour.

Which is 20 minutes, what am I thinking? Anyway, we’re going three miles an hour. So that’s good, that’s a good pace. Better than I’ve had in a long time.

And you know, that’s a good thing about being out in the cold. It kind of motivates me to go faster. And then we’ll get farther on the trail this way. Got a nice open field here.

Private property beyond this sign. So I don’t, you know, I mean, as I said, it’s a bad attitude to just not want to work out because I’m going to lose weight, and to actually have the scale, that number on the scale lower, even though it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m healthier. So I thought about it, and you know, what makes you put on muscle mass is progressive increases in weight. So if I don’t increase the weight, I can still do resistance exercises.

without putting on lots of mass. Now, I’m not against muscle mass, because the more mass you have, the easier it is to burn fat, even though my cardiologist does not like it, because to him, the heavier I am, the worse it is on my heart, even if it’s muscle. But in this case, I don’t know that I need to concentrate on that. Maybe the middle ground is to focus on strength rather than mass.

And of course, I’ve always wanted to do something to improve my flexibility, because I know that’s important, too. I’m going to be 60 pretty soon. And the older you get, the more important flexibility is, the more important strength becomes. And that may not be intuitive, but, you know, we’ve seen it in studies.

I’ve seen it in the studies of older people. I want to say centenarians. Staying active has been a big part of that, certainly for Jean Calment, who’s held the crown of oldest person ever for the longest time. It’s a very long time.

Well, I think they’ve only been keeping track of this with documentation since the 50s, 1950s. But I could be wrong about that. So anyway, we know that strength training is important. And I know my friend Tom, who’s going to be with me in an upcoming episode.

I’m not sure when. He is working on strength training as well, and I look forward to talking to him about that in more detail, as to what he’s doing, what kind of strength training. Is he building muscle mass?

Is he working on strength? Is he using free weights, machines, whatever? I definitely want to get into that. And it’s something that I’m concerned about in my own health journey, so.

Relevant. So, you know, it’s ambitious, but on the bright side, I’m out here. I mean, I’m actually doing it in 17-degree weather, and I’m gonna continue to do it. This should have been a gym day.

I’d like to go early to the gym to avoid crowds as much as possible. There’s always a crowd there. The earlier I go, the better it is. All gyms, I think, are overcrowded. I’ve never seen one that wasn’t.

They all have competing programs. It’s all about the money. They have to be efficient, get as many people in there as possible, and spend as little on real estate and equipment as possible. I understand that.

It would be great to have my own home gym, but I don’t for several reasons. I do have dumbbells, which I’ll probably start using on the days I can’t get to the gym early. Because even though they’re not maybe as heavy as what I would usually be working out with, you know, it’s that whole thing of strength versus mass. I can, I believe, if I do more reps with a lower weight, then I will get that result. In any event, need to start doing that.

And if I’m working out at home, I could probably do episodes on that as well. There are a lot of exercises you can do with just dumbbells. You’d be surprised. It would be good to have a bench, since most furniture isn’t really designed for working out.

You need a longer, not necessarily longer, but narrower bench to do a lot of the exercises. So maybe I’ll look at picking up one of those at one of these used sporting goods places, like Play It Again Sports, I think, is one. That would help me to do more exercises at home. I don’t have to worry about finding a good time to go to the gym.

I like to get to work early, but if I go to the gym, it opens at five. I won’t get to work until seven. Now I realize that’s early for many of you, but I don’t know, I’m just a morning person. I like to get in there early and get out early.

And you know, maybe that will work. before the gym as well. Well, I don’t think I can get to the gym any earlier than around 2.30 to 3 in the afternoon. And it still won’t be peak time, but I don’t know.

We’ll have to see. We’ll have to see, but I’ve got to try. You gotta have a logbook if you’re working out. Keep track of the weights that you’re lifting, the reps that you’re doing, the sets that you’re doing, and the exercises that you’re doing, which ones on which day.

So I’m gonna actually get that book and use it for my home exercises. It’s all just coming to me now, you know? And that’s the amazing thing about these unscripted live episodes, I just start talking, and I start thinking. I’m not really a talkative guy, but I wind up talking for 45 minutes.

So, you know, deus ex machina. So those are my thoughts at the moment. I want to walk three days a week and do resistance training three days a week. So, back to the diet department.

Seriously considering making this a fast day. I had an herbal drink this morning, and right before I came out, I had the old BCAA drink. It is good when you haven’t had anything to eat; it helps you burn fat, has fewer calories, and makes your body work. It’s a, BCAAs are blockchain amino acids. They are precursors of protein, which your body uses to make it.

So I had one of those drinks on the way out here. And I had an herbal drink. Also had the remainder of my coffee from this morning. Because time got away from me, and I didn’t finish my second cup.

But uh… So that gave me a little caffeine. Which helps give me a little energy. And that guy is way ahead of me now, so I can really pick up the pace.

And the length of my strides here, and let’s see 36 minutes, 1.66 miles, that’s good, so maybe after an hour, we’ll get three miles in. I don’t know, he’s still walking slowly, but I’m, he’s like 30 yards ahead of me. Congratulations to the U.S. Naval Academy football team. As I said before, the Naval Academy is my alma mater. So it was good to see them beat Army yesterday, even though it was an excruciating game.

Fumbles, interceptions, sacks. Amazing, just nail biter. One by one point. I think Army kicked three field goals. They only got one touchdown, and so it was uh so they had 16 points, and then Navy got a touchdown 17 points after getting a field goal as well, so nail-biter, 17-16, but Navy won back-to-back years again, and more importantly, we’re 10 games ahead in the lifetime series against Army going back to 1890. So that’s the sports department for you. Some more stuff that could be ahead. Cycling.

I’m working on this series on Northwest Arkansas as a cycling mecca. It’s the mountain biking capital of the world. And interviewing some people who are still around who helped to make it that way. starting back in the 1990s 2026 2016 2006 96 30 years ago wow that is when that is when nwa trailblazers started and there goes the first e-bike i’ve seen today well i don’t know if it’s an e-bike it’s a bike the guy looked like he was pedaling pretty hard so could have been either or Anyway, the fact that I’m doing a series on Northwest Arkansas as the cycling Mecca, because it has the best trails for mountain biking in the world, theoretically, probably, according to some. So, in conjunction with that, I’ve been thinking about Another change of attitude and that is of Maybe going out and doing some cycling myself Now I don’t even have a bike and I haven’t been on one for many many years So It’s gonna be interesting Getting back into that but that’s the whole point right new experiences So I don’t necessarily have to immediately buy a bicycle. I can rent one.

And here’s the same guy again walking in front of me. I’ve looked up a rental company that actually delivers to the trailhead. Okay, so if I hadn’t stopped for the lady on the phone going by, and if I hadn’t gotten behind a slower person I didn’t want to pass because I’d passed him going the other way, I might have been at a 20-minute mile. I also stopped briefly at the spillway.

Get some pictures there. I’m pretty warm now. Face is still pretty cold. You can still see my breath.

So yeah, I figure I might bring the bike out here the first time just because I’m familiar with the trail, and then go do some of those famous trails up in Bentonville. You can hear the spillway. You can see it too. There’s a creek over there running.

Maybe I’ll get some of that next time. 49 minutes, 2.24 miles, 2.54 miles per hour. Try to speed up a little bit. I stopped, and so I was able to not only let the talkers by me, but let the slow guy move up ahead of me.

I’m not trying to diss anybody for being slow or talking. If somebody else were here, I’m talking, by the way. So I can’t diss anybody else for doing it. And sometimes I go slow.

In fact, most of the time I have been going slowly. A 30-minute mile is pretty slow. Today’s pace is more like what I should have been going. So, new attitude, new speed.

Pick up the pace. Three miles per hour, 3.1. Looking good, looking good. Get that pace going up.

Up and up and up. Such a beautiful day. And not too cold once I got warmed up. Don’t know what it’s going to look like or what the temperature will be when I get back to my car.

Yeah, I can feel the sun on my back now. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this beautiful day with me as we discussed new attitudes. trying to do a little turnaround here. And you are helping me do it as we walk and talk together.

If you’re listening again, if you have time, I know a lot of people listen while they’re working out or driving, doing things where you can’t look at the video. But a lot of you are actually listening on YouTube without watching the video. But, you know, maybe take a quick look at it. Fast forward through and see some of the beautiful sights today.

While you’re there, why not subscribe to the channel? Even if you don’t, use YouTube for the podcast. It will send you notifications when a new episode drops. or a new video.

I do more than one video a week, really, probably four or five at this point, and some in addition to the main episode. Might not have the full content, but it’s got snippets from each episode and some of the key points. So worth checking out, I think. And again, like the video if you like it.

Subscribe if you’re into that. I appreciate it. Helps me out. Helps me reach more people.

So, as always, If you’ve got the fever today, keep it burning on this cold day. If you don’t have the fever, well, just catch the fever. And we will see you next time on Running A Fever.