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!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
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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