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!
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8 comments:
Thanks for bringing us all together for a great cause in all of us. Change is a difficult thing but very rewarding. I think of the greatest change that occured in my life came because of a sacrifice and change of routine. I liked how you said a while back that you could see yourself at the weight you want to be. Keep it up and keep to your goals. I can see you as the thinner Richard and it kind of scares me because you've always been fast, tough and you've always put me into submission when we wrestle around. Slimming down is going to make you that much tougher and I'll never have a chance. Picture yourself the way you want to be and maybe it'll help you see your potential. Maybe you can put up a picture of when you were bone crushing linebacker in High School. Give me a ring as soon as the registration is open for ride the divide. I'm in and very excited.
Update: The mileage to Aba Nigeria has started and since we have others on board let's keep a running total for all of us. Adrien and I have been riding Adrien's bike trainer in our basement and we have 16 miles to contribute. (We need to have 76 miles per week so get on it and tally up at the end of each week).
Thanks Rich you rock and motivate us all to do better. See ya slim Jim.
Gary
Richard,
Sorry I haven't posted yet, but I have been reading yours. It is great that someone has the motivation for themselves and to share it with others, because what are we really all saying? I mean small are the percent of people in the universe who couldn't do with more exercise, a healthier diet and a bit more gumption. I for one could use all three right now. Being pregnant it is somehow easy to fine excuses not to exercise and to eat crap - eventhough I know what would make me feel best is just the opposite. I even said over and over again that I was going to be in shape and stay in shape for the next time I got pregnant, but here I am. So now we have a bike in the basement and some music to go in our ears and a little motivation by watching you and off we go! If I wasn't going to have a baby in May - I would actually love to go on the bike trip (not that I could actually keep up with anyone, but it would be fun.) So I'll shoot for something like that on another baby offyear. Hawaii is pretty good motivation as you once mentioned. I also wanted to say that your whole friction philosophy is precisely what I think too (although in much more lay men terms.) Once you have a system and a routine of working out, you realize that that is just what makes your day great everyday. And it is something that you look forward to. But once you stop, it is like pulling teeth to get started again. It is funny that we can neglect the things that will make us the happiest sometimes. So anyway . . . kudos on the weight you have lost so far. Good job for being able to push yourself hard enough to get winded. And keep moving the ball and it will get rolling soon enough.
-Adrien
Good job Rich! You are doing great. Keep up the good work. Good luck to you in the coming week. That story of your co-workers kid is very inspiring. Sometimes we think negatively about the things we don't like to do when in reality we need to be greatful we are able.
Emily
Richy,
You are doing great. I am impressed that you could go to the church gym and push your self enough to get winded and get a good workout. I am really good, when I workout to talk myself out of pushing as hard as I can, that is why I like to teach aerobics. I have others counting on me and it helps push me to my max to help then get the best work out that they can get.
Anyway, good job on the sit ups, you can do crunches they work just as well if not better. What about the pushups????
Keep up the good work, that monkey that you have been carrying around will be gone in no time.
Just think only 10.5 months and we will be in sunny Hawaii, that gives me all the motivation that I need. I am looking into purchasing a treadmill and once I do I can start contributing to the Nigeria miles which I think will be awesome. Good Idea Gary.
Here is my challange this week. Walking lunges across the Church gym, down and back. (the long way) Watch your knee's make sure they are behind your toes.
Love ya
LOR
Richard.
that is awesome. You are doing great. i love the way you word things.
Best wishes in the weeks to come. Keep us updated. I never imagined either that weight loss is such a hard thing.
Liz
Hey thanks for the recipe. John and I tried it today at lunch. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I'll have to get you the one my grandma and grandpa tried last week. It sounded awful but was actually not too bad.
You've reminded me that it's good to make little changes, like parking farther away and stuff like that.
John may be interested in the bike ride, where could I find more info on it?
Good luck with everything!
Brinda
Mike and I want to jump on the band wagon to Nigeria. We will be starting to run as soon as our moving/unpacking has revealed our treadmill and there is room to hop on it without sending one of our boxes with the words fragile writen on it, flying across the room. I haven't calculated it out did gary say 76 miles per week for the whole family or per couple???? I am hoping 76 for everyone. This is going to be a blast. By the way do you know anyone that can develope and market a virtual reality set linked to your tredmill so that you can run on the beach or up the canyon or any place of your choosing all in the comfort of your own home??????
Keep up the good work!
-Sarah
Rich
Keep going man. You will get there. I have a lot of people come to me and ask me to help them lose weight. Most of the time they want the magic pill. I always have them say I need to lose a hundred pounds, or some odd ball number. YOU CAN NOT LOSE A HUNDRED POUNDS. You can only lose one at a time. I tell patients that a 3-5 pound weight lose in a month is great - it allows your body to adjust to that weight. It allows you to adjust to that lifestyle. Just keep going. It may take a year or two but that is ok.
I was talking to Mary the other day and discussing guts. She thinks hers is huge and just bought one of those ab machines that give you that miraculous body (never understood how biceps get that big with an ab machine). I then looked at myself and I think I am finally starting to get that middle age flab that everyone talks about (and I never thought I would have). Anyway - I need to start the same thing. I am going to keep reading your blog and use it for inspiration. I don't necessarily need to lose a lot of weight, but I do need to change that fat back into muscle again.
Hang in there and go Richy go.
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