Last Saturday afternoon I had this great idea. The great idea, in theory went like this: My wife would drop off my two sons, Eric and Ryan, and me near Payson Lakes and we would ride our bikes over the hills and through the vales and get picked up at the cute little white church in Birdseye. The great idea in reality went like this:
Shortly down the descent from the trailhead we met up with a walking lady and two very large dogs. The lady was barking sharp commands that sounded a lot like “Be nice Rover, don’t bite this guy or his two sons”. It was just my slick and ever-so-predictable luck that we met up with ‘dog lady’ in a spot on the trail that I had to actually get off my bike and carry it across a little creed by balancing on a fallen aspen tree. I tried to avoid direct eye contact with either of the two dogs, but in the back of my mind I had planned out how to apply a firm guillotine choke on whichever dog decided to strike first. I must say that in that sort of strange way I was slightly disappointed that there was no guillotine choke. I did notice, however, that the larger of the two dogs seemed to be saying to me that he was letting me off the hook because I was about to experience some self-inflicted hardships that would pale in comparison to a vicious dog bite. I hate when stupid dogs are right.
Shortly after we got by ‘dog lady’ and her two mutts, we found ourselves at the front end of the only real ascent of our trek. It could be described (by an in shape person) as a mild incline for about a mile or so. I was describing it as “holy crap, what is the deal with this hill, we are supposed to be riding downhill to Birdseye, not uphill”. About half way up this enormous incline, I was churning away on the pedals – I’m sure my huffing and puffing, and ooooing and aaaawing sounded exactly like “ol’ number nine” coming down the track. Do you remember me mentioning that I just so happen to be diabetic? In an instant I was experiencing a hypo-glycemic state. I can recall a few things with foggy recollection – I was on my back looking into the sky, my heart was pounding, repetitive yawning, nausea, and oh yes, Eric was unraveling a protein bar and jamming it into my face saying “eat this – it has a lot of carbs”. I think the Boy Scouts of America should grant him the Lifesaving Merit Badge for his efforts. Soon I was on my feet, then back in the saddle and I found myself at the fork in the trail.
The initial portion of the right fork (that actually heads toward Birdseye) is a lot like hopping into a barrel and going off Niagara Falls. Soon my brakes were screaming “please…no more…you are killing us” and the wheel hubs were chanting “let’s roll, baby”. As I got used to being on the bike on a surface other than a paved road, I felt compelled to appeased both the brakes and the hubs by extending my fingers and allowing the bike to pick up some pretty good steam. This is the part where I must say that it was a beautiful location to ride a bike. It had been raining earlier that day, so everything had a sheen of dampness on it. The vegetation was tall and green; the air was cool and refreshing. I managed to survive being barkbusted by several tree branches, I even found that I could tolerate all the bushes bushwhacking my bare shins. However, I found out that I was no match for the 8-inch stump that was on the edge of the trail hidden in the grass. Hitting this stump was kind of like those rumble strips on the side of the road that are there to wake you up if you drift into them, but on a much larger, and more painful, scale. Like my glycemic episode, I don’t remember everything with precision. I remember wondering what the back tire of my bike was doing above my head. I remember the seemingly slow motion episode of my forehead having direct contact with the very hard ground – I think this bang caused the local Richter-scale to register a four-point-nine (yes, I was wearing a helmet – thankfully). As I laid face-down in the dirt, I remember trying to figure out how to breathe – I had the breath knocked out of me when I landed on my gut with a camera draped around my neck. When I finally made it to my feet and was assessing the damages, I was pleased to see that my bike was relatively unscathed. I came out of the ordeal with road rash on both knee caps, a nice painful bruise on my inner thigh, a slight headache, two smashed fingers, a bruise on my belly and most importantly; I came out of it with confidence that I can survive an end-over-end bike crash and live to tell about it – bring it on, brother.
The rest of our adventure passed without incident. We even stopped at a couple of beaver ponds and caught a few little fish. We made it to the church in Birdseye shortly after dark and within one minute my wife showed up to haul our tired, wet, sore, and muddy butts back home. I would describe the whole adventure as “TREMENDOUS!”
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
How's my breath?
So…how am I supposed to explain the last three months I spent in absentia? Well…I have had a cough coupled with a stuffed-up face. Ummm…I’ve been pretty busy? How about a nasty computer virus that wolfed down my hard drive? Broken fingers?
You’ve got to admit that these are all good excuses; however, I am sensing that nobody is buying into any of them. If I am forced to present a bona fide reason for skipping out on my blogging activities I would have to say this:
I am finding that I can come up with, or even be inspired to present sound and compelling methodology for losing weight and being healthy, but in practice I am finding that the gusto I have doesn’t quite match the gusto I need. I feel almost like I am saying to the entire world “look at me, Mr. Fatguy, I know everything there is to know about losing weight and inspiring people to be healthy, yessiree I do. Can you even notice that all this knowledge is getting me nowhere – I’ve gone all the way from fat to…fat. Nothing has changed.”
To summarize the hiatus – Too much talk and not enough action has put me in an uncomfortable spot. I don’t much like pretending I am something that I am not.
Have I given up?...Not even close. I continue as a regular patron to Gold’s Gym, I haven’t partaken of carbonated beverages since the great day of abstention, my food choices have improved, and although I haven’t completely refrained from partaking of chocolaty substances, I have made significant reductions in the frequency of such partakings. So what gives? Why am I finding such struggle with shedding these extra pounds? I think I have found the answer to my own question…stay tuned.
The other day while talking with my wonderful wife, Julie, an interesting principle came to my mind. I am going to call it the ‘bad breath principle’ or BBP, for short. Have you ever been face to face with a person that has horrific, disgusting, and offensive stench escaping from his or her mouth? If you have ever been faced with this unfortunate situation – you have undoubtedly asked this question to yourself “doesn’t this dude know that his own pie hole reeks like a freaking outhouse?” The reality of the situation is that the dude doesn’t know that his breath resembles the fetor of a cesspool. For some odd reason he can’t smell his own breath. So, how does this relate to a healthy lifestyle? The other day, as Julie and I were talking, I humbled myself and asked her the question “take a deep look into my life and tell me what you think my problem with losing weight is. Without expounding the details of what followed, I will summarize her answers to that question. I am a stress eater, I am snacking myself to fatness, I find a tremendous amount of comfort from any and all of life’s situations when by belly is full or being filled. Are you following the correlation to the BBP? I basically asked “how’s my breath?” She frankly replied “mighty stinky”. I doubt that I would have ever discovered on my own these underlying, but legitimate, reasons for me being overweight.
The last thing that I want to mention today is that it is very difficult to pursue a healthy lifestyle without first having a proper definition of what a healthy lifestyle is. It works best to ponder the different desired elements of a healthy lifestyle: a morning bike ride, hitting the gym, eating healthy fruits, veggies, & grains, frequent romps to the mountains. Then jot them down on a paper and set goals and come up with a plan to achieve them. For me, the next step in this grand quest is to gain a better understanding of the triggers in my life that cause me to seek comfort in eating and counter them or find a better way to deal with them.
If anyone can ‘smell my breath’ from where you sit – let me know.
Happy brushing!
You’ve got to admit that these are all good excuses; however, I am sensing that nobody is buying into any of them. If I am forced to present a bona fide reason for skipping out on my blogging activities I would have to say this:
I am finding that I can come up with, or even be inspired to present sound and compelling methodology for losing weight and being healthy, but in practice I am finding that the gusto I have doesn’t quite match the gusto I need. I feel almost like I am saying to the entire world “look at me, Mr. Fatguy, I know everything there is to know about losing weight and inspiring people to be healthy, yessiree I do. Can you even notice that all this knowledge is getting me nowhere – I’ve gone all the way from fat to…fat. Nothing has changed.”
To summarize the hiatus – Too much talk and not enough action has put me in an uncomfortable spot. I don’t much like pretending I am something that I am not.
Have I given up?...Not even close. I continue as a regular patron to Gold’s Gym, I haven’t partaken of carbonated beverages since the great day of abstention, my food choices have improved, and although I haven’t completely refrained from partaking of chocolaty substances, I have made significant reductions in the frequency of such partakings. So what gives? Why am I finding such struggle with shedding these extra pounds? I think I have found the answer to my own question…stay tuned.
The other day while talking with my wonderful wife, Julie, an interesting principle came to my mind. I am going to call it the ‘bad breath principle’ or BBP, for short. Have you ever been face to face with a person that has horrific, disgusting, and offensive stench escaping from his or her mouth? If you have ever been faced with this unfortunate situation – you have undoubtedly asked this question to yourself “doesn’t this dude know that his own pie hole reeks like a freaking outhouse?” The reality of the situation is that the dude doesn’t know that his breath resembles the fetor of a cesspool. For some odd reason he can’t smell his own breath. So, how does this relate to a healthy lifestyle? The other day, as Julie and I were talking, I humbled myself and asked her the question “take a deep look into my life and tell me what you think my problem with losing weight is. Without expounding the details of what followed, I will summarize her answers to that question. I am a stress eater, I am snacking myself to fatness, I find a tremendous amount of comfort from any and all of life’s situations when by belly is full or being filled. Are you following the correlation to the BBP? I basically asked “how’s my breath?” She frankly replied “mighty stinky”. I doubt that I would have ever discovered on my own these underlying, but legitimate, reasons for me being overweight.
The last thing that I want to mention today is that it is very difficult to pursue a healthy lifestyle without first having a proper definition of what a healthy lifestyle is. It works best to ponder the different desired elements of a healthy lifestyle: a morning bike ride, hitting the gym, eating healthy fruits, veggies, & grains, frequent romps to the mountains. Then jot them down on a paper and set goals and come up with a plan to achieve them. For me, the next step in this grand quest is to gain a better understanding of the triggers in my life that cause me to seek comfort in eating and counter them or find a better way to deal with them.
If anyone can ‘smell my breath’ from where you sit – let me know.
Happy brushing!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Join a Fitness Club...Gain Eight Pounds!
I believe that I have reached the milestone of being able to declare, without reservation, that the sun has finally set on the strange and random episodes of uncontrollable bodily functions associated with caffeine and sugar withdrawals. I am also confident that my brain processes are functioning as normal again. I really believe that along with turning my back on my old friend Mr. Pepper and abstaining from malicious foods, for some strange reason my mind was tricked into believing that I had to abstain from blog-writing, as well.
Two weeks ago I read through all of the previous posts to this blog and realized something that bothered me a bit. Every week I would forecast the things that I would need to do in order to improve my health. I found that many of the forecastings would simply not come to complete fruition. It kind of opened the door to a teensy weensy bit of frustration, a 'failure to perform', if you will. Therefore, following my recent pause in blogging , I have decided to actually do something first and blog about what I have done. This new approach actually increases my motivation and inspires me to have something to report.
So, what have I been doing for the past two weeks? Probably the most significant thing, with respect to health and fitness, is my new affiliation with Gold’s Gym (as of Feb 25th). I thought that merely joining a health club would automatically make a huge difference by instantly transforming me into an extraordinary specimen of good health, but I soon learned that I would have to actually attend the gym and ante up my sweat and pain as an offering to the fitness gods. Have you ever been in one of these places? The first thing I noticed is that the slim ratio of fat people to non-fats is a bit unnerving. My attention was soon affixed on the four or five dudes in the back corner working out together. Each of there bodies strongly resemble a 55 gallon drum, having a hat placed on the top, with two large railroad ties protruding from the side, and a couple of wobbly pool cues poking out from the bottom. As I watched these fellers cranking out bicep curls, using an atrocious amount of weight, my mind kept repeating the phrase; “Easy with all that weight, bro, you are going to snap those sticks you call legs!”
Well, my workouts have been going fine, all nine of them so far. The first two days kind of took my upper-body by storm. It took me twelve minutes to button my shirt in the dressing room; I had to actually lean against the lockers in order to push my right arm up high enough to reach my top button. Driving away from the gym was interesting, I couldn’t quite reach the ten-and-two positions and had to settle with the 5:58 and 6:02 spots. If I waned to turn right – I had to lean left, and vice versa. I also made an amazing anatomical discovery. There is some type of a robust connection between the lower abdomen and something in the back of the eye socket. This connection was manifested as I positioned myself in the ab-compressing contraption. With each crunch, I attest that my eyeballs expanded threefold and protruded from my head to the point that I thought I was going to have to gather them up from the floor, very, very, weird.
Here is an interesting question; Have I lost any weight as a result of my somewhat intense training (30 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of strength – 9 times in the past 12 days)? Not only have I not lost any weight, I have actually gained 8 lbs. Whoever is playing this joke on me – hardy har har, knock it off, it ain't funny any more. Shortly after I stepped on the odious scale (298 lbs), in a rage of frustration, I was headed out the door with my sights set on the closest gas station. Can you say ‘Twix 4 to go’? How about ‘choc-o-late do-nut’. Then a voice came to my mind, as if it were sent from above “compare your current measurements with the December measurements’. Oh yeah...the December measurements! The measurements are posted, check them out. Muscle really does weigh more than fat!
The weight loss will come, I’m sure of it. I went in to this adventure looking for some long term health rewards, not necessarily a quick fix. I truly feel better already and my energy levels and general overall happiness has increased. Now let’s start shedding some freaking pounds, gosh dang it!
Two weeks ago I read through all of the previous posts to this blog and realized something that bothered me a bit. Every week I would forecast the things that I would need to do in order to improve my health. I found that many of the forecastings would simply not come to complete fruition. It kind of opened the door to a teensy weensy bit of frustration, a 'failure to perform', if you will. Therefore, following my recent pause in blogging , I have decided to actually do something first and blog about what I have done. This new approach actually increases my motivation and inspires me to have something to report.
So, what have I been doing for the past two weeks? Probably the most significant thing, with respect to health and fitness, is my new affiliation with Gold’s Gym (as of Feb 25th). I thought that merely joining a health club would automatically make a huge difference by instantly transforming me into an extraordinary specimen of good health, but I soon learned that I would have to actually attend the gym and ante up my sweat and pain as an offering to the fitness gods. Have you ever been in one of these places? The first thing I noticed is that the slim ratio of fat people to non-fats is a bit unnerving. My attention was soon affixed on the four or five dudes in the back corner working out together. Each of there bodies strongly resemble a 55 gallon drum, having a hat placed on the top, with two large railroad ties protruding from the side, and a couple of wobbly pool cues poking out from the bottom. As I watched these fellers cranking out bicep curls, using an atrocious amount of weight, my mind kept repeating the phrase; “Easy with all that weight, bro, you are going to snap those sticks you call legs!”
Well, my workouts have been going fine, all nine of them so far. The first two days kind of took my upper-body by storm. It took me twelve minutes to button my shirt in the dressing room; I had to actually lean against the lockers in order to push my right arm up high enough to reach my top button. Driving away from the gym was interesting, I couldn’t quite reach the ten-and-two positions and had to settle with the 5:58 and 6:02 spots. If I waned to turn right – I had to lean left, and vice versa. I also made an amazing anatomical discovery. There is some type of a robust connection between the lower abdomen and something in the back of the eye socket. This connection was manifested as I positioned myself in the ab-compressing contraption. With each crunch, I attest that my eyeballs expanded threefold and protruded from my head to the point that I thought I was going to have to gather them up from the floor, very, very, weird.
Here is an interesting question; Have I lost any weight as a result of my somewhat intense training (30 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of strength – 9 times in the past 12 days)? Not only have I not lost any weight, I have actually gained 8 lbs. Whoever is playing this joke on me – hardy har har, knock it off, it ain't funny any more. Shortly after I stepped on the odious scale (298 lbs), in a rage of frustration, I was headed out the door with my sights set on the closest gas station. Can you say ‘Twix 4 to go’? How about ‘choc-o-late do-nut’. Then a voice came to my mind, as if it were sent from above “compare your current measurements with the December measurements’. Oh yeah...the December measurements! The measurements are posted, check them out. Muscle really does weigh more than fat!
The weight loss will come, I’m sure of it. I went in to this adventure looking for some long term health rewards, not necessarily a quick fix. I truly feel better already and my energy levels and general overall happiness has increased. Now let’s start shedding some freaking pounds, gosh dang it!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Wants vs. Needs...
It seems like my latest post has created some division amongst those who read this blog on a regular basis. Fighting out of the red corner we have the “all-or-nothing” group supporting the idea that abstinence from malicious foods is the true method. And fighting out of the blue corner we have the “moderation” club backing the premise of moderation in all things. I’ve recently had some interactive discussions with several people regarding this mini clash and have deduced the following:
Some people are programmed to be self-regulating of what they take into their body, and;
Some people ain’t.
Let me illustrate…Let’s say you take a brand new package of Oreo Cookies (or your most favorite malicious food), open up the package and place it on the counter in your kitchen, how long does it take for the entire package to become devoured? If you have to yell aloud the phrase “ready, set, go!” and use a stop watch to time how long it takes – chances are you are not the self-regulating type. If that package sits on your counter for an extended period of time and eventually has to be tossed into the trash because the contents became stale, you guessed it – self-monitoring.
As for me and my house…the package of Oreos will be fully consumed before the package hits the counter (from what I understand there are many people who have this same problem with ice cream).
Here’s how I have decided to break this big discussion down – Categorize potential food choices into one of the following groups; Do I want this, or do I need this? I believe that we all know what our body needs – water, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. Of those things, freely partake. If the food is strictly categorized as a want – the self-regulators probably have no worries, however, those who aren’t self-regulators need some type of regulatory mechanism. For the next 51 weeks abstinence will be my mechanism, after that (or maybe even sometime before it) I will only partake of unnecessary foods (i.e. delicious sweets) one day per week, probably Sunday. This seems to be a reasonable compromise between the all-or-nothings and the moderationists.
How has the past week gone for me? Well, let me tell you about it. Monday was great because I polished off a copious amount of Diet Dr. Pepper and for good measure indulged on a 4-to-go pack of the new chocolate peanut butter Twix bars. Tuesday, the first day of abstinence, I continually rehearsed in my mind “I can do this, yes I can, this ain’t so bad”. Wednesday, the second day of abstinence, brought more of the same. Some time between Wednesday night and Thursday morning someone or something brought me a six gallon headache and shoved the whole entire thing into my one gallon head. Friday came – I didn’t need to exercise because the 24-hour body fibrillations were extremely exhausting, but not as exhausting as Saturday’s episodes of flopping around like a fish out of water. I think all of Saturday’s flopping pounded the six gallon headache into a 3½ gallon headache. Sunday was borderline pleasant, but the one or two nerves that I have left were easily irritated and a couple of times I felt like I was going to pull some type of Tasmanian Devil maneuver, but didn’t. Today, this morning, the seventh day of abstinence, other than high-spirited bowels, I think that I am almost on the other side. I don’t know what day it was but somewhere amidst all the mayhem I lost another two pounds. That’s twelve pounds total and the scale settled in at 290 pounds. I wish it were faster, but I’ll take it.
Better days are coming.
Some people are programmed to be self-regulating of what they take into their body, and;
Some people ain’t.
Let me illustrate…Let’s say you take a brand new package of Oreo Cookies (or your most favorite malicious food), open up the package and place it on the counter in your kitchen, how long does it take for the entire package to become devoured? If you have to yell aloud the phrase “ready, set, go!” and use a stop watch to time how long it takes – chances are you are not the self-regulating type. If that package sits on your counter for an extended period of time and eventually has to be tossed into the trash because the contents became stale, you guessed it – self-monitoring.
As for me and my house…the package of Oreos will be fully consumed before the package hits the counter (from what I understand there are many people who have this same problem with ice cream).
Here’s how I have decided to break this big discussion down – Categorize potential food choices into one of the following groups; Do I want this, or do I need this? I believe that we all know what our body needs – water, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. Of those things, freely partake. If the food is strictly categorized as a want – the self-regulators probably have no worries, however, those who aren’t self-regulators need some type of regulatory mechanism. For the next 51 weeks abstinence will be my mechanism, after that (or maybe even sometime before it) I will only partake of unnecessary foods (i.e. delicious sweets) one day per week, probably Sunday. This seems to be a reasonable compromise between the all-or-nothings and the moderationists.
How has the past week gone for me? Well, let me tell you about it. Monday was great because I polished off a copious amount of Diet Dr. Pepper and for good measure indulged on a 4-to-go pack of the new chocolate peanut butter Twix bars. Tuesday, the first day of abstinence, I continually rehearsed in my mind “I can do this, yes I can, this ain’t so bad”. Wednesday, the second day of abstinence, brought more of the same. Some time between Wednesday night and Thursday morning someone or something brought me a six gallon headache and shoved the whole entire thing into my one gallon head. Friday came – I didn’t need to exercise because the 24-hour body fibrillations were extremely exhausting, but not as exhausting as Saturday’s episodes of flopping around like a fish out of water. I think all of Saturday’s flopping pounded the six gallon headache into a 3½ gallon headache. Sunday was borderline pleasant, but the one or two nerves that I have left were easily irritated and a couple of times I felt like I was going to pull some type of Tasmanian Devil maneuver, but didn’t. Today, this morning, the seventh day of abstinence, other than high-spirited bowels, I think that I am almost on the other side. I don’t know what day it was but somewhere amidst all the mayhem I lost another two pounds. That’s twelve pounds total and the scale settled in at 290 pounds. I wish it were faster, but I’ll take it.
Better days are coming.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Plan Boss, the Plan...
This week I have been doing something that I do not recommend for everyone, unless you want to change what you habitually stuff into your gullet. I have been reading labels - not just the calorie, fat, protein, and carb data on them but actually reading the labels with a particular emphasis on the ingredients. Can anyone honestly tell me what sodium benzoate is? Propyl gallate? Thiamine mononitrate? How about acesulfame disodium EDTA? I didn't think so. Don't worry - we are not going to delve into deep dark chemistry today. I just want to simply point out that there are some mighty strange constituents in some of the stuff I consume on a regular basis.
We've all heard the old adage "you are what you eat". This makes me extremely nervous because I don't even know what acesulfame disodium looks like. I don't even know how to pronounce acesulfame disodium. Ok, here comes a stunning confession: a major portion of my current diet consists of foods that can be obtained at a gas station, most of which has packaging labels chuck full of Greek-looking words that nobody knows what they are or what they do to you. Today, as I perused through one of my regular gas stations, I noticed only a few things that do not have a ton of weird ingredients in them. What are they? Well...water, an apple, some juices, and a banana. Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the chocolate milk jug and noticed all the goop they put in there?
Let me shift gears for a bit and explore the art of goal setting...I've always known that in order to execute any successful undertaking a notable plan needs to be established and followed. Let's say that your son or daughter comes to you and says "I really want to be an astronaut". Unless you have phenomenal connections with staffers from NASA, you simply can't drive you child to NASA headquarters and sign a waiver and toss him or her into the space shuttle and say "see you in a day or two - astronaut". Obviously, there needs to be some type of a plan. The better the plan, the more probable the intended results. Most successful plans consist of proper research (what does it take to be an astronaut?) coupled with an achievable path toward the end goal (college education, internships, etc.). Even if you want it 'real bad' plenty of significant effort needs to be put forth to accomplish the goal.
I've wanted to go from fatness to fitness for quite some time now; I'd even say that I've even wanted it real bad. I haven't had a very decent plan. In fact, I've pretty much had no plan. By the end of this post, I intend to layout the foundation of a good plan.
So what is the big plan? Before I lay out the big plan I'd like to express my appreciation to all of the comments or replies that have been left on this blog. I read each of them multiple times and strongly consider the recommendations that are expressed (that's how I lost my kneecaps). The support that I feel from your comments is tremendous. I'm going to integrate much of the great advice into my big plan.
The plan? Let me first reveal another interesting discovery. How long does it take to wolf down a Big Mac? A couple minutes? Not including fries, a Big Mac has about 560 calories. How long does it take to burn off 560 calories? Well, if I got on my mountain bike and peddled vigorously, non-stop, for at least 45 minutes I could burn off one Big Mac. If I throw in a bucket of fries, I'd have to huff it on that bike for twice as long. Whew, my heart rate is increasing just thinking about it.
What about the plan? I'm going to take a mulligan this week on reporting my weight.
Here is the plan (for real) - some of this is more-or-less philosophy to adopt and some are actually action-type items:
1. Follow the example of Mr. Cleaver. I think it is best to pack a lunch from home, include snacks and beverages (stay out of the gas station). Make sure that the food is as natural as possible, devoid of all of the weird ingredients described above.
2. Look at exercise as an activity to condition your heart, lungs, muscles, and spirit (have I mentioned how good exercise makes you feel?). Exercise shouldn't be viewed as a means to burn off the malicious intake of food - malicious food shouldn't be taken in.
3. Exercise 3-5 times per week; make sure that the heart rate gets in the 'zone' for an extended time (20-30 minutes minimum).
4. Weight training is a must; incorporate it into the cardio days, as well. It is not only the best way to exchange fat for muscle, it is the only way.
5. OK...Lastly...this one may be a challenge for me, but I was inspired by Devin and his year-long hiatus from candy. I am going to extend a challenge to myself and accept the challenge at the same time. The challenge is this - refrain from eating anything that resembles candy, cakes, cookies, or other malicious treats for one year, starting today (have you ever eaten a Chocodile?). Also, I'm going to refrain from drinking soda pop for the same year, starting immediately after I finish the Diet Dr. Pepper on my desk. When the year-long stint is finished, it is not my intent to throw a big party and go on an extended bender of eating crappy food and swigging down carbonated beverages. At that time, it will be prudent to establish proper limits, maybe a treat per week or something like that. (I'll cross that bridge when I get there.)
Again, I appreciate you support. Wish me luck enduring pounding headaches and the twitches associated with jonesing for a snack or pop. They should only last a few days.
Can anyone loan me a bottle of advil and a straitjacket?
We've all heard the old adage "you are what you eat". This makes me extremely nervous because I don't even know what acesulfame disodium looks like. I don't even know how to pronounce acesulfame disodium. Ok, here comes a stunning confession: a major portion of my current diet consists of foods that can be obtained at a gas station, most of which has packaging labels chuck full of Greek-looking words that nobody knows what they are or what they do to you. Today, as I perused through one of my regular gas stations, I noticed only a few things that do not have a ton of weird ingredients in them. What are they? Well...water, an apple, some juices, and a banana. Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the chocolate milk jug and noticed all the goop they put in there?
Let me shift gears for a bit and explore the art of goal setting...I've always known that in order to execute any successful undertaking a notable plan needs to be established and followed. Let's say that your son or daughter comes to you and says "I really want to be an astronaut". Unless you have phenomenal connections with staffers from NASA, you simply can't drive you child to NASA headquarters and sign a waiver and toss him or her into the space shuttle and say "see you in a day or two - astronaut". Obviously, there needs to be some type of a plan. The better the plan, the more probable the intended results. Most successful plans consist of proper research (what does it take to be an astronaut?) coupled with an achievable path toward the end goal (college education, internships, etc.). Even if you want it 'real bad' plenty of significant effort needs to be put forth to accomplish the goal.
I've wanted to go from fatness to fitness for quite some time now; I'd even say that I've even wanted it real bad. I haven't had a very decent plan. In fact, I've pretty much had no plan. By the end of this post, I intend to layout the foundation of a good plan.
So what is the big plan? Before I lay out the big plan I'd like to express my appreciation to all of the comments or replies that have been left on this blog. I read each of them multiple times and strongly consider the recommendations that are expressed (that's how I lost my kneecaps). The support that I feel from your comments is tremendous. I'm going to integrate much of the great advice into my big plan.
The plan? Let me first reveal another interesting discovery. How long does it take to wolf down a Big Mac? A couple minutes? Not including fries, a Big Mac has about 560 calories. How long does it take to burn off 560 calories? Well, if I got on my mountain bike and peddled vigorously, non-stop, for at least 45 minutes I could burn off one Big Mac. If I throw in a bucket of fries, I'd have to huff it on that bike for twice as long. Whew, my heart rate is increasing just thinking about it.
What about the plan? I'm going to take a mulligan this week on reporting my weight.
Here is the plan (for real) - some of this is more-or-less philosophy to adopt and some are actually action-type items:
1. Follow the example of Mr. Cleaver. I think it is best to pack a lunch from home, include snacks and beverages (stay out of the gas station). Make sure that the food is as natural as possible, devoid of all of the weird ingredients described above.
2. Look at exercise as an activity to condition your heart, lungs, muscles, and spirit (have I mentioned how good exercise makes you feel?). Exercise shouldn't be viewed as a means to burn off the malicious intake of food - malicious food shouldn't be taken in.
3. Exercise 3-5 times per week; make sure that the heart rate gets in the 'zone' for an extended time (20-30 minutes minimum).
4. Weight training is a must; incorporate it into the cardio days, as well. It is not only the best way to exchange fat for muscle, it is the only way.
5. OK...Lastly...this one may be a challenge for me, but I was inspired by Devin and his year-long hiatus from candy. I am going to extend a challenge to myself and accept the challenge at the same time. The challenge is this - refrain from eating anything that resembles candy, cakes, cookies, or other malicious treats for one year, starting today (have you ever eaten a Chocodile?). Also, I'm going to refrain from drinking soda pop for the same year, starting immediately after I finish the Diet Dr. Pepper on my desk. When the year-long stint is finished, it is not my intent to throw a big party and go on an extended bender of eating crappy food and swigging down carbonated beverages. At that time, it will be prudent to establish proper limits, maybe a treat per week or something like that. (I'll cross that bridge when I get there.)
Again, I appreciate you support. Wish me luck enduring pounding headaches and the twitches associated with jonesing for a snack or pop. They should only last a few days.
Can anyone loan me a bottle of advil and a straitjacket?
Monday, February 4, 2008
...But Not Yet
Last night I had a dream...I was dreaming that there was some type of a mob outside my house chanting for me to add a post to my blog. As I peeked out the window I saw Gary holding a torch, initiating the chant - he seemed to be the ring leader. Adrien and Mary were assembling some type of gasoline bomb. Sarah, Liz, and Emily each had a pitch fork - with edges that were ground to a perfect and shiny point. Lori was dangling a pair of track shoes and had many exercise charts depicting the proper way to perform lunges and other painful exercise maneuvers. In my dream, I scrambled to the computer and started my new post. The noise outside subsided and the angry crowd dispersed. As I woke up, heart racing, forehead drenched with sweat, and teeth clinched, I knew what I must do and I knew that I could not wait one more day.
Why did I skip a week? Well, busyness grabbed a hold of me tightly and wouldn't let me loose. I did manage to get our house plans finished and I squeezed in a couple of workouts. One thing I should note - If you are going to try Lori's Lunges, I strongly recommend they be performed indoors so that when your kneecaps pop off like a champagne cork you can find them - both of mine were on the church gym floor spinning around like quarter that has been flipped on the kitchen table. Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to bring the proper tools and hardware to reattach your patella’s after they stop spinning. I failed to perform this step and had to wait until I got home - a pneumatic staple gun works great.
I weighed in at 292 lbs - that is a total of 10 lbs lost. From my recent weight loss we can deduce one of the following two items: either the slow and steady weight loss process is manifesting itself or each of my kneecaps weighs about a pound apiece.
Apparently, my last post was a little tiny bit hard to understand. I'll try to hold the desire to relate life to physics at bay. Today I will bring up a pretty cool principle that I believe can help us all and it falls more along the lines of historical.
Back in the 4th century A.D. a child was born to a much revered woman named Monica, who was a devout catholic, and a pagan father named Patricius. The child was given the name Augustine. Augustine was raised primarily catholic; however, in his youth he didn't allow himself to become fully affiliated. In fact he left the Catholic Church and followed the controversial Manichaean religion, obviously to the chagrin of his mother. He spent the next several years living a hedonistic lifestyle that included thievery and practices based on lust; in fact he developed a relationship with a woman who would be his concubine for fifteen years. Having a very bright mind he engaged in the study of philosophy and rhetoric. Between 373 A.D. and 384 A.D. he had different career endeavors from teaching grammar to establishing schools of rhetoric, and of course, he continued being influenced by his Manichaean friends and engaged in sinful practices, particularly of a sexual nature. It was in the year 384 when a man named Symmachus, a roman politician, was charged to find a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan. Augustine, at age 30, won the job, the most visible academic chair in the Latin world. It was at Milan where his life changed. Partly because of the influence of his mother, partly due to his falling away from the Manichaean religion, partly because he took up the study of Neo-Platonism, but, most of his transformation was due to his association with Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, and fellow master of rhetoric. In the summer of 386, Augustine had an intense personal crisis and decided to convert to, and fully embrace, Catholicism. He abandoned his concubine, he quit his teaching position in Milan, he relinquished the practice of rhetoric, he gave up any ideas of being married, and devoted himself entirely to serving God and the practices of priesthood, which included celibacy. During his transformation, as he faced the daunting task of removing himself from sexual wantonism to become a pure and clean practician of Catholicism, he uttered his famous prayer which included "God, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet." To make a long story short (this story is getting pretty long)...Augustine was ordained a priest, became a famous preacher, served as the bishop of Hippo Regius, and was later canonized as a saint.
I'd like to talk briefly about the three words "but not yet". How often do we want to change, and even want it badly, but there is something that is alluring us to continue in our practice and even resist change. Case and point - Smokers! I don't know many smokers that do not want to quit, but there is a strong 'fix' they receive from the cigarette that they 'just can not live without'. I, being a fat guy, would love to be a fine specimen of good health and fitness, however, I love the taste of chocolate and I am a bit afraid of the costs associated with change, I mean...when will I find time to exercise 200 hours per week?, can I live on rice cakes and nutrition shakes?, will a 'structured' lifesyle kill me off?, will life still be enjoyable? (exaggerations added). The strange thing is...I know that the end result (lean & mean) is very much worth whatever the price, but for some strange reason, I have such a hard time shutting the door on the past and puting forth the necessary means to accomplish the very desirable end. Can anyone relate?
I think the answer is as follows: Anything in life that is worthwhile comes at a price and even considering the complexity or magnitude of the price it still becomes worthwhile.
Just do it! - Nike
Do it...now - Spencer W. Kimball
Hasta for now...I hear that chocolate donut calling! (ha ha)
Why did I skip a week? Well, busyness grabbed a hold of me tightly and wouldn't let me loose. I did manage to get our house plans finished and I squeezed in a couple of workouts. One thing I should note - If you are going to try Lori's Lunges, I strongly recommend they be performed indoors so that when your kneecaps pop off like a champagne cork you can find them - both of mine were on the church gym floor spinning around like quarter that has been flipped on the kitchen table. Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to bring the proper tools and hardware to reattach your patella’s after they stop spinning. I failed to perform this step and had to wait until I got home - a pneumatic staple gun works great.
I weighed in at 292 lbs - that is a total of 10 lbs lost. From my recent weight loss we can deduce one of the following two items: either the slow and steady weight loss process is manifesting itself or each of my kneecaps weighs about a pound apiece.
Apparently, my last post was a little tiny bit hard to understand. I'll try to hold the desire to relate life to physics at bay. Today I will bring up a pretty cool principle that I believe can help us all and it falls more along the lines of historical.
Back in the 4th century A.D. a child was born to a much revered woman named Monica, who was a devout catholic, and a pagan father named Patricius. The child was given the name Augustine. Augustine was raised primarily catholic; however, in his youth he didn't allow himself to become fully affiliated. In fact he left the Catholic Church and followed the controversial Manichaean religion, obviously to the chagrin of his mother. He spent the next several years living a hedonistic lifestyle that included thievery and practices based on lust; in fact he developed a relationship with a woman who would be his concubine for fifteen years. Having a very bright mind he engaged in the study of philosophy and rhetoric. Between 373 A.D. and 384 A.D. he had different career endeavors from teaching grammar to establishing schools of rhetoric, and of course, he continued being influenced by his Manichaean friends and engaged in sinful practices, particularly of a sexual nature. It was in the year 384 when a man named Symmachus, a roman politician, was charged to find a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan. Augustine, at age 30, won the job, the most visible academic chair in the Latin world. It was at Milan where his life changed. Partly because of the influence of his mother, partly due to his falling away from the Manichaean religion, partly because he took up the study of Neo-Platonism, but, most of his transformation was due to his association with Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, and fellow master of rhetoric. In the summer of 386, Augustine had an intense personal crisis and decided to convert to, and fully embrace, Catholicism. He abandoned his concubine, he quit his teaching position in Milan, he relinquished the practice of rhetoric, he gave up any ideas of being married, and devoted himself entirely to serving God and the practices of priesthood, which included celibacy. During his transformation, as he faced the daunting task of removing himself from sexual wantonism to become a pure and clean practician of Catholicism, he uttered his famous prayer which included "God, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet." To make a long story short (this story is getting pretty long)...Augustine was ordained a priest, became a famous preacher, served as the bishop of Hippo Regius, and was later canonized as a saint.
I'd like to talk briefly about the three words "but not yet". How often do we want to change, and even want it badly, but there is something that is alluring us to continue in our practice and even resist change. Case and point - Smokers! I don't know many smokers that do not want to quit, but there is a strong 'fix' they receive from the cigarette that they 'just can not live without'. I, being a fat guy, would love to be a fine specimen of good health and fitness, however, I love the taste of chocolate and I am a bit afraid of the costs associated with change, I mean...when will I find time to exercise 200 hours per week?, can I live on rice cakes and nutrition shakes?, will a 'structured' lifesyle kill me off?, will life still be enjoyable? (exaggerations added). The strange thing is...I know that the end result (lean & mean) is very much worth whatever the price, but for some strange reason, I have such a hard time shutting the door on the past and puting forth the necessary means to accomplish the very desirable end. Can anyone relate?
I think the answer is as follows: Anything in life that is worthwhile comes at a price and even considering the complexity or magnitude of the price it still becomes worthwhile.
Just do it! - Nike
Do it...now - Spencer W. Kimball
Hasta for now...I hear that chocolate donut calling! (ha ha)
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Static Friction vs. Kinetic Friction...
Today we are going to delve into some light-to-medium duty physics and discuss friction. Friction is generally defined as the resisting force of two surfaces that are in contact one with another. As the value of the friction increases, the ability for the one surface to slide against the other becomes more difficult. The reverse is true for a decreased value of friction. Take two surfaces that have a relatively low friction value, say hard packed snow and a super sled. When the super sled interacts with the snow, it slides easily. Two surfaces, like that of Velcro, having a high friction value, will not slide very easily. OK...OK...everyone is thinking "teach me something that I didn't know". There are generally two types of friction (on a broad scale) static friction and kinetic friction. Static friction is the resisting force when both surfaces are at rest. Kinetic friction is the resisting force when one surface is moving along another. Wake up...here is the important part: Static friction between two surfaces is greater than kinetic friction for the same two surfaces, in fact kinetic friction tends to decrease as the momentum of the moving surface increases. Let me boil this down to something palatable: when an object is at rest, or stagnant, it takes extra force to get it moving. When that object is moving it takes less force to keep it moving than it does to get it moving. If you have ever had to open a sliding glass door, or tried to push a car you will know what I am talking about. What does this have to do with a fat guy trying to get into shape? I believe that there is a certain amount of friction, or resistance, that occurs when one tries to 'get the ball rolling' on a weight loss program. I am currently experiencing resistance of a static nature, but I strongly believe that once I overcome this static resistance the ball will begin to roll and roll it way - stay tuned, over the next several weeks and months I'll show you how it works.
With that said, the static friction monster has held me to another one pound loss for the week, that brings the total to 8 pounds. Roughly the same weight of a gallon jug of water, not so bad when you pick one up and heft it. I remain encouraged and hopeful that I can bust through this current set point and exhibit some more substantial results.
Due to popular demand the following is a green smoothie recipe. I will only share one today, because so far there is only one that I can get down and keep down.
Gather up:
1/2 bunch of spinach
4 apples (peeled)
1/2 whole lime (leave the peel on)
1 banana
2 cups of water
Chuck it all in you blender and blend it up good, real good, good enough so that the lime peels are smaller that BB's. Try not to look at, muster up your courage, then chug it down. You should end up with about a quart of this green concoction. Yum, yum, eat it up!
There is a guy (Merril) at work, in fact, he happens to be the department head over the department that I work in. The other day he and I were waiting for a meeting to begin and we found ourselves waiting for some people to show up. I had heard that Merril had a son that was recently experiencing some health related difficulties, so I took the opportunity to ask him about how his son was doing. During his response I found some very, very inspiring words. Merril's son had picked up some strange disease and, in a matter of a few days, was debilitated to a wheelchair and wondered if he would ever be able to walk again. Apparently, the doctors figured out what was going on and started him on some treatment. The doctors say that 70% of the people who contract this disease will fully recover. Merril's son appears to be on that trail. Anyway, as Merril was giving me the scoop on his son, he had mentioned that his son had recovered to the point that he could now walk with some difficulty and pain. In fact, the other day his son was able to go a church gym and attempt to workout. As he labored across the gym and back a few times he became winded and very out of breath. Rather than feeling defeated and out of hope, he proclaimed how great it was to be able to work out to the point of becoming winded. Wow! I thought to myself how I try to do everything I can to not become winded and how I look at that sort of thing with a certain amount of disdain. That night ,all by myself, I went to my church gym and engaged in a self motivated workout. There was no one there to push me, and I worked out to the point of exhaustion. It was great...It felt great to become winded...I was awesome to have the ability to run and jump and sweat and breathe hard. I think I am going to look at exercising in a different light from now on.
I am beginning to take serious verity in the following words by M. Russell Ballard:
"The Lord's purposes in our lives are generally accomplished by the small and simple things not the momentous and spectacular." We also read in the scriptures that great things come about by small and simple things.
Lori has inspired me to do some push ups and crunches (because sit ups are the equivalent of a 100-foot snorkel dive for me) every night before I go to bed, my wife has inspired me to park in one of the farthest parking stalls - rather than insisting on one close to the building, and I receive a great amount of hope when I receive encouragement to carry on.
Taking one step is indeed a small thing, but when you put enough of those small things together to account for a thousand miles, you truly have accomplished something great.
My journey continues as the accumulation of many small things...
See ya around the bend!
With that said, the static friction monster has held me to another one pound loss for the week, that brings the total to 8 pounds. Roughly the same weight of a gallon jug of water, not so bad when you pick one up and heft it. I remain encouraged and hopeful that I can bust through this current set point and exhibit some more substantial results.
Due to popular demand the following is a green smoothie recipe. I will only share one today, because so far there is only one that I can get down and keep down.
Gather up:
1/2 bunch of spinach
4 apples (peeled)
1/2 whole lime (leave the peel on)
1 banana
2 cups of water
Chuck it all in you blender and blend it up good, real good, good enough so that the lime peels are smaller that BB's. Try not to look at, muster up your courage, then chug it down. You should end up with about a quart of this green concoction. Yum, yum, eat it up!
There is a guy (Merril) at work, in fact, he happens to be the department head over the department that I work in. The other day he and I were waiting for a meeting to begin and we found ourselves waiting for some people to show up. I had heard that Merril had a son that was recently experiencing some health related difficulties, so I took the opportunity to ask him about how his son was doing. During his response I found some very, very inspiring words. Merril's son had picked up some strange disease and, in a matter of a few days, was debilitated to a wheelchair and wondered if he would ever be able to walk again. Apparently, the doctors figured out what was going on and started him on some treatment. The doctors say that 70% of the people who contract this disease will fully recover. Merril's son appears to be on that trail. Anyway, as Merril was giving me the scoop on his son, he had mentioned that his son had recovered to the point that he could now walk with some difficulty and pain. In fact, the other day his son was able to go a church gym and attempt to workout. As he labored across the gym and back a few times he became winded and very out of breath. Rather than feeling defeated and out of hope, he proclaimed how great it was to be able to work out to the point of becoming winded. Wow! I thought to myself how I try to do everything I can to not become winded and how I look at that sort of thing with a certain amount of disdain. That night ,all by myself, I went to my church gym and engaged in a self motivated workout. There was no one there to push me, and I worked out to the point of exhaustion. It was great...It felt great to become winded...I was awesome to have the ability to run and jump and sweat and breathe hard. I think I am going to look at exercising in a different light from now on.
I am beginning to take serious verity in the following words by M. Russell Ballard:
"The Lord's purposes in our lives are generally accomplished by the small and simple things not the momentous and spectacular." We also read in the scriptures that great things come about by small and simple things.
Lori has inspired me to do some push ups and crunches (because sit ups are the equivalent of a 100-foot snorkel dive for me) every night before I go to bed, my wife has inspired me to park in one of the farthest parking stalls - rather than insisting on one close to the building, and I receive a great amount of hope when I receive encouragement to carry on.
Taking one step is indeed a small thing, but when you put enough of those small things together to account for a thousand miles, you truly have accomplished something great.
My journey continues as the accumulation of many small things...
See ya around the bend!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Slow and Steady Wins the Race!
A one pound weight loss for the week is definitely slow, it could probably even be considered as steady, however, I sure doesn't feel like I will be winning any races. I'm getting a bit concerned about the downward trend of my weight loss results i.e. the first week 4lbs, second week 2 lbs, and the third week (last week) 1 lb. I am looking into purchasing a scale that will weigh down to the ounce so next week I can continue to report a loss and stay encouraged by it. Picture this: "Dear Blog, I am proud to report that last week my weight loss efforts remained steady - I lost 3.5 ounces! Can you believe it?"
I've got a better idea - How about I ramp up my efforts to burn calories and increase my efforts to reduce my caloric intake? Immediately after I finish this post - I will hammer out a specific eating and exercise plan for this week and do my best to follow it (I won't bore you with posting that plan). I would also like to make a weight loss goal for this week - my goal is to break the 290 lb barrier, I am 5 lbs and 1 ounce away from making that happen, I truly believe that I can do it. Rah Rah Shish-boom ba!
Rather that just make a boring post each week that chronicles my weight loss results, I'd like to add something that will keep you wanting to come back to read (and reply to) my posts. I am thinking of something that may be helpful to other fatsters out there, something that may inspire / encourage fellow diabetics (did I mention that I am an insulin dependent diabetic?), something that is informative for people who do not have to continually struggle with the weight game, or something along those lines.
Today I want to mention a few things that really stink about being a fat guy.
1. The word 'obese' means extremely fat or very overweight. Although there are many many obese people in the world I often find myself the fattest person in a given group of people. It's something that I subconsciously do everywhere I go, a restaurant, a church or work meeting, standing in line - I look around and check to see if I am the "El Grande" and most of the time I am. That stinks.
2. Bending down to tie my shoes is kind of like snorkeling: There is only so much time to get the job done before you run out of oxygen and die. I can't really explain this phenomenon, but for some reason bending down to tie my shoes chokes of all the blood circulation to my head. That stinks too.
3. My wife and I went to a "One Man Band" restaurant a month ago. We sat down at a booth that I literally had to get out the Vaseline and grease up my gut and the stall so I could fit in it. Often times I have to 'shoehorn' myself into a given chair and I greatly fear that when I stand up I am going to need a trio of strong men to pull the chair off my behinder. And - have you noticed that they make a lot of cheap chairs this day and age? I don't dare to put my full weight on these chairs because I am afraid of being the guy that breaks the chair and in effort to prevent an embarrassing fall, I bring the whole Thanksgiving feast down with me. That stinks as well.
4. Lastly, (there are many many more) I don't like living with the fear that, because I am greatly overweight, my health is in grave jeopardy. According to medical doctors, my ticker could give up any day, my blood pressure could go sky high, heart disease, stroke, premature death, cancer, breathing problems, whew.....It's a good thing that I am doing something about it. Stinky.
I don't want to sound depressing and I am definitely not looking for sympathy. I am just preparing for the time when I am fit as a fiddle and I can look back on these words and remember how bad it stinks to be in this condition.
I'll finish this up by offering the following bits of inspiration:
I frequently play basketball with a group of guys at work during our lunch break. Most of us have never met a shot that we didn't like. One particular day, the shortest member of the group (who normally makes most of his three pointers) was having a bad day at the three-point-line. In jest, I was teasing him about being O-fer many (a term meaning zero for many - i.e. he has taken many shots and made zero) he quickly responded by draining a three pointer and declared "In the immortal words of Allen Iverson - one for eleven is better than zero for ten". How is this inspiring? Well, a one pound weight loss is better than zero, and 290 lbs is more desirable than 291 lbs.
Slow and steady really does win the race, just ask the tortoise.
Cecil later.
I've got a better idea - How about I ramp up my efforts to burn calories and increase my efforts to reduce my caloric intake? Immediately after I finish this post - I will hammer out a specific eating and exercise plan for this week and do my best to follow it (I won't bore you with posting that plan). I would also like to make a weight loss goal for this week - my goal is to break the 290 lb barrier, I am 5 lbs and 1 ounce away from making that happen, I truly believe that I can do it. Rah Rah Shish-boom ba!
Rather that just make a boring post each week that chronicles my weight loss results, I'd like to add something that will keep you wanting to come back to read (and reply to) my posts. I am thinking of something that may be helpful to other fatsters out there, something that may inspire / encourage fellow diabetics (did I mention that I am an insulin dependent diabetic?), something that is informative for people who do not have to continually struggle with the weight game, or something along those lines.
Today I want to mention a few things that really stink about being a fat guy.
1. The word 'obese' means extremely fat or very overweight. Although there are many many obese people in the world I often find myself the fattest person in a given group of people. It's something that I subconsciously do everywhere I go, a restaurant, a church or work meeting, standing in line - I look around and check to see if I am the "El Grande" and most of the time I am. That stinks.
2. Bending down to tie my shoes is kind of like snorkeling: There is only so much time to get the job done before you run out of oxygen and die. I can't really explain this phenomenon, but for some reason bending down to tie my shoes chokes of all the blood circulation to my head. That stinks too.
3. My wife and I went to a "One Man Band" restaurant a month ago. We sat down at a booth that I literally had to get out the Vaseline and grease up my gut and the stall so I could fit in it. Often times I have to 'shoehorn' myself into a given chair and I greatly fear that when I stand up I am going to need a trio of strong men to pull the chair off my behinder. And - have you noticed that they make a lot of cheap chairs this day and age? I don't dare to put my full weight on these chairs because I am afraid of being the guy that breaks the chair and in effort to prevent an embarrassing fall, I bring the whole Thanksgiving feast down with me. That stinks as well.
4. Lastly, (there are many many more) I don't like living with the fear that, because I am greatly overweight, my health is in grave jeopardy. According to medical doctors, my ticker could give up any day, my blood pressure could go sky high, heart disease, stroke, premature death, cancer, breathing problems, whew.....It's a good thing that I am doing something about it. Stinky.
I don't want to sound depressing and I am definitely not looking for sympathy. I am just preparing for the time when I am fit as a fiddle and I can look back on these words and remember how bad it stinks to be in this condition.
I'll finish this up by offering the following bits of inspiration:
I frequently play basketball with a group of guys at work during our lunch break. Most of us have never met a shot that we didn't like. One particular day, the shortest member of the group (who normally makes most of his three pointers) was having a bad day at the three-point-line. In jest, I was teasing him about being O-fer many (a term meaning zero for many - i.e. he has taken many shots and made zero) he quickly responded by draining a three pointer and declared "In the immortal words of Allen Iverson - one for eleven is better than zero for ten". How is this inspiring? Well, a one pound weight loss is better than zero, and 290 lbs is more desirable than 291 lbs.
Slow and steady really does win the race, just ask the tortoise.
Cecil later.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Slowly, but Surely!
I know, I know...I am supposed to create my new postings on Sunday, but yesterday was a very busy day for me so Monday will have to do for this week.
Once again I appreciate the support and encouragement...It really helps. Thanks goes out to my brother, Rob, for setting me up with some breathtaking "Green Smoothies" which are basically different combos of pureed vegetables - some are definitely better than others (I think I can still taste that one I worked over last Saturday - what is kale anyway?). I owe you one, bro.
OK, I'll quit stalling - I weighed in at 296 this week which means a 2 lb loss for the week and a 6 lb loss total. Not quite the numbers that I seen on "The biggest loser" last week but I'll take it. It feels great to be committed to this getting in shape thing.
Gary is trying hard to get me to participate in this year's 'Spudman' triathlon (in Idaho on July 26th). It is a 10k run, 40 k bike, and a 1.5 mile swim (with the current of the Snake River I'm told). I need to decide if I am in within the next 60 seconds. I have two issues - 1. I don't know if I can be ready for that type of brutal punishment by that date and 2. there is a potential conflict with this year's trip to Alaska.
The event I have decided to get involved in is the "Ride the Divide" mountain bike trek in Colorado. Registration is not yet open so if you have any interest in going along, let me know. The dates for this are Aug. 22-24. It should be fun an grueling at the same time.
Here is the paragraph where I share my current feelings - I feel great about being 'on board', I am excited about the prospect of doing many things that I have wanted to do but haven't been able to do. It's kinda like having a 100 lb chimpanzee wrapping his arms and legs around you and giving you a hug that won't stop. It's really not much fun packing him around 24/7, not to mention the sore lower back from all that weight cantilevered out in the front. I'm pretty excited to get the monkey off my front!
Carry on!
Once again I appreciate the support and encouragement...It really helps. Thanks goes out to my brother, Rob, for setting me up with some breathtaking "Green Smoothies" which are basically different combos of pureed vegetables - some are definitely better than others (I think I can still taste that one I worked over last Saturday - what is kale anyway?). I owe you one, bro.
OK, I'll quit stalling - I weighed in at 296 this week which means a 2 lb loss for the week and a 6 lb loss total. Not quite the numbers that I seen on "The biggest loser" last week but I'll take it. It feels great to be committed to this getting in shape thing.
Gary is trying hard to get me to participate in this year's 'Spudman' triathlon (in Idaho on July 26th). It is a 10k run, 40 k bike, and a 1.5 mile swim (with the current of the Snake River I'm told). I need to decide if I am in within the next 60 seconds. I have two issues - 1. I don't know if I can be ready for that type of brutal punishment by that date and 2. there is a potential conflict with this year's trip to Alaska.
The event I have decided to get involved in is the "Ride the Divide" mountain bike trek in Colorado. Registration is not yet open so if you have any interest in going along, let me know. The dates for this are Aug. 22-24. It should be fun an grueling at the same time.
Here is the paragraph where I share my current feelings - I feel great about being 'on board', I am excited about the prospect of doing many things that I have wanted to do but haven't been able to do. It's kinda like having a 100 lb chimpanzee wrapping his arms and legs around you and giving you a hug that won't stop. It's really not much fun packing him around 24/7, not to mention the sore lower back from all that weight cantilevered out in the front. I'm pretty excited to get the monkey off my front!
Carry on!
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