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.
Monday, February 18, 2008
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)
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