Fear and Trembling: Health and wellness

No hills, but.....

Thu, 17 May 2007 16:38:08 GMT

My friend Kevin made comments that we do not have any hills to contend with when riding our bikes. What he neglected to remember about Illinois was the 45 mph winds that come raging across the open fields! When I was riding the bike back from Champaign I encountered winds that stopped me dead in my tracks! A trip from Wal-Mart to the house that usually takes just 10 minutes took over FORTY and when I got home I thought I was going to stroke out! I learned an important lesson that day and I drove into town today because of 30 mph winds from the north. It would have been a piece of cake to ride home, but getting there would have killed me! They really need to get some wind farms put up around here. I have no empirical evidence of the area's wind resources, but my aching thighs give some anecdotal evidence of great energy potential!

Steelcut Oats, dehydrated strawberries and powdered eggs.

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:48:34 GMT

Every snow storm, hurricane or other natural disaster reminds me that when something bad has already happened your time for planning ahead is over. For the past few months I have been buying extra food items to be ready for self sufficiency for 3 to 6 months. This article about the rapid production of a bird flu vaccine has several positive points but it also holds a few disturbing ones as well. The main point is that the world health systems are getting better at creating a bird flu vaccine, but it must still wait until the strain breaks out until they can begin to create the vaccine. After an outbreak it would take 3 months for the vaccine to be ready. This three month lead time is better than before, but I am quite sure that this does not include distribution and immunization time.

The second and most disturbing point of this article was that Indonesia recent stopped sharing the bird flu strains with the World Health Organization because of an "exclusive deal" made with the U.S. Pharmaceutical company, Baxter. When we have a serious outbreak of some sort of killer flu will the vaccine be caught up in an "intellectual property" fight? Indonesian has since started to share samples again, but I believe that this is a foreshadowing of things to come. Somebody is going to try and make a lot of money on a global flu pandemic.

I can do little against these global economic forces, but I can have some extra food on hand in case the family needs to stay out of the public a while. I just made an order to Honeyville Grains for some Steel Cut Oats, some dried fruits and powdered eggs. I have already start to use the incredibly good steel cut oats in my families normal diet so I got a whole case of oats in #10 cans (they can be stored indefinitely) for 36 Dollars. This is enough for about 250 bowls of breakfast porridge that cost just 15 cents each! That is a lot of inexpensive and nutritious meals. I am going to experiment with recipes and uses for the powdered eggs and the dried fruit so I just got one can each until I can decided whether or not I will actually use this stuff on a regular basis.

I have also purchased some food grade 5 gallon buckets for flour storage. Tracy is on board with the stocking up plan but she does not like the 10 bags of flour that we have sitting in the kitchen. 50lbs of flour might sound like a lot, but when you cook from scratch like we do, you can go through that much flour in just a few months. I can buy 6, 5 lbs of flour at Aldi for less than 6 dollars. This is a lot of pancakes, pizza crust, bread, waffles, cakes, and biscuits for little money. As you can see, there is also an immediate economic benefit from planning for a disaster. If nothing else, it makes you reconsider your basic home economics and increase the health of your family by not depending on overly processed foods

A new little something to drink of an evening

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:50:31 GMT

My parent went with Tracy and I out to dinner and a movie (the Departed, a very good film) and we stopped off at Espresso Royale for a cup of coffee after supper. I have been trying to cut back on the coffee and the only way that I have found that I can do that is to replace it with some other hot drink, like green tea.
I decided that I would try some of their "natural" Mayan cocoa that has cayenne pepper in it. Apparently this cocoa does not go through the "Dutch process" and retains a lot more anti-oxidants and flavnoids, etc. The fella whipped me up a cup of the stuff and WOW was it good. The cayenne and the chocolate were really made for each other. I bought a can of the stuff to bring home and I have been mixing it up with vanilla soy milk instead of milk or water. I read that milk sucks up all the good stuff out of green tea so I did not want to do that with the cocoa.
Here is the product if you would like to try it for yourself. It was a little expensive, but I am searching the Internet for the components to make up a mix for myself. It should not be too hard and comes down to getting the right proportions.

This Week's Logs and Weigh-In

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:54:42 GMT

Here are the numbers for this week. I lost another 4 lbs. This means that I am 20 lbs down from December 30th. Things are going well but I certainly hit the wall this evening at step class. I did not eat enough today and I felt it about half way through the class. My legs started to bonk. This is an important lesson. Gotta eat to lose weight.

Date	Weight	Height	Body Fat %	Lean Mass	Fat Mass
12/30/06	252	5'10"	33.3	168	84
01/08/07	247	5'10"	32	168	79
01/15/07	240	5'10"	30.5	167	73.2
01/22/07	237	5'10"	29	168.27	68.74
01/29/07	233	5"10"	28	167.76	65.24

01/22/07	Upper Body	8.5	8:30	Good Workout, tried some new exercises to change up and confuse the muscles. Abe the FC was showing people some new exercises.
1/22/07	Step Class	8	4:30	Hard time with the routine, don’t know why, but it was still a good solid workout
1/23/07	Treadmill	9	8:30	Great run, I am starting to tell a big difference in my cardio capacity. 30:00 minutes 2.52 miles, 440 calories burned. I have also noticed that my weight loss has affected the amount of calories that I burn
01/24/07	The Challenge	10	4:00	A fill in teacher today, Thom, it was a very different class but very good. Thom really breathed some life into Step moves that have been getting kind of stale lately. The stretching portion was great and long overdue.
01/25/07	Off	Off	Off	Off
01/26/07	Off	Off	Off	I did not plan this but I had too many school and church deadlines. I needed every single minute. I hope that I can get one more upper body and one more run into the weekend at some time
01/27/07	Off	Off	Off	Horribly busy week and I just could not leave the office. I will make up for it this week on the exercise

01/22/07

3 Eggs Scrambled and 2 pieces of bacon

320 kcal

Zone Bar

H2O

210 Kcal

Turkey on Whole Wheat with Miracle whip and half a plate of raw vegetables, no dressing

350 kcal

Zone Bar

H2O

210 Kcal

1 Small Bean and Beef Burrito

With a little guacamole and Green Tea

250 kcal

Meatloaf Sandwich on whole wheat

And some banana bread

650 kcal

1990 kcals

01/23/07

Zone Bar and a Glass of soy milk

330 kcal

Club Sandwich

Ham, Beef and turkey on Whole Wheat with lettuce tomato and provolone

Assorted vegetables on the side and H2O

450 kcal

Zone Bar H20

210 kcal

Beef Stew and 2 pieces of Rye Bread with real butter

H20

550 kcal

Protein enhanced sugar free pudding made with 1/2 milk and 1/2 soy milk

And fat free cool whip

225 kcal

1765 kcal

01/24/07

2 Eggs and 2 Pieces of Ham

300 kcal

Protein enhanced Pudding

225 kcal

Beef stew

2 pieces of rye bread

550 kcal

Protein Pudding

175 kcal

Butterfly Pork chop, potato, and steamed broccoli

550 kcal

1800 kcal

01/25/07

1 Egg, 1 ham, 1 slice of American cheese on 2 pieces grilled rye

370 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Pork chop with BBQ sauce

300 kcal

Local Summer Sausage (4 this slices on 4 Ritz Crackers

250 kcal

Pizza and Coke

1100 kcal

Green Tea

O kcal

2230 kcal

01/26/07

Bowl of Raisin Bran with 2% milk

250 kcal

3 Eggs and 2 pieces of ham

350 kcal

1 piece of pizza

300 kcal

Roast Beef and Provolone on Whole wheat with smart balance Mayo with cashews

400 kcal

Chicken Quesadilla (with cheese, onions and tomatoes)

375 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

1885 kcal

01/27/07

Steel Cut Oat meal with honey and soy milk and 3 eggs

410 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Turkey and Provolone on whole wheat with smart balance mayo, celery and carrot sticks

325 kcals

Carrot and celery sticks and cashews and cottage cheese

275 kcal

Chicken and mushrooms /carrots on a bed of barley. Green Salad and that new pump dressing

450 kcals

Bowl of Raisin Bran with 2% milk

310 kcal

1980 kcal

01/28/07

3 eggs scrambled with steel cut oats/honey and vanilla soy milk

410 kcal

Roast Beef, Tomato, Lettuce, avocado, on whole wheat

H20

375 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Spaghetti and 1 Italian Sausage with a green salad and light dressing

450 kcal

1445 kcal

This week's weigh in

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:12:05 GMT

I weighed in yesterday and I have lost an additional 3 lbs of scale weight. As you can see however, I have put on muscle and taken off fat at the same time. If I can stay in this sweet spot, I should meet my goals ahead of schedule.

Date	Weight	Height	Body Fat %	Lean Mass	Fat Mass
12/30/06	252	5'10"	33.3	168	84
01/08/07	247	5'10"	32	168	79
01/15/07	240	5'10"	30.5	167	73.2
01/22/07	237	5'10"	29	168.27	68.74

Week Three Nutrition and Exercise Logs

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:42:02 GMT

I have decided to take a Hard Week/Light Week Approach so that my body can recover from the intense exercise. Last time I did an extended stretch of hard exercise, I blew out my knee. I don't want that to happen again so week two was lighter than week one and this week I will take it back up u notch in diet and exercise.

01/15/07	Step Class	8.5	4:30	2 risers, Marsha's class, legs felt heavy
01/16/07	Off	Off	Off	Off because of other responsibilities
01/17/07	Upper Body workout	8.5	8:30	Gym is really busy. Cannot wait until the New Year resolution people bug out in March. Hopefully I will not be one of them!
01/17/07	The Challenge	10	4:00	Brutal workout! She changed it up this week so it looks like there will be a lot of variety. I tried to substitute exercises that I just could not do. Like the jump rope, I just jumped without the rope. This class is also 90 minutes long instead of 60.
1/18/07	OFF	Off	Off	I am really sore from the Challenge Class so I took another day off and I will run an extra time on Saturday before the Fitness center party
01/19/07	Step Class	8.5	4;30	Still sore from that challenge class! Yikes step was good though and I am starting to get back my legs and lose some of the ballast that I feel like I am carrying. My knees feel particularly sore, but it is not the kind of ache that means that I have hurt them per se.
01/20/07	Off	Off	Off	Off
01/21/07	Off	Off	Off	A Really Long afternoon nap that I count towards physical improvement. Muscle growth takes place while you are sleeping, not when you are working out. It also decreases stress and the harmful hormones

01/15/07

Granola Bar at Fitness Center

120 kcal

2 Eggs 1 Piece of ham and an 8 0z glass of Ovaltine

400 kcals

Corn and Potato soup, salad and corned beef on whole wheat

500 kcals

Filet mignon, asparagus, wild rice and sautéed mushroom

500 kcals

Glass of Ovaltine

200 kcal

1720kcal

01/16/07

Bowl of Raisin Bran with 2% milk

270 kcal

3 eggs

2 pieces of ham

350 kcal

Popcorn and Pepsi at the Movies

600 kcal

1/2 of Aroma Wrap and chips with a hot green tea

325 kcal

Beef Jerky

100 kcal

1645 kcal

01/17/07

Soy Pancake, no butter and sugar free syrup

220 kcal

1 Orange and

Cottage Cheese

250 kcal

Bowl of Chili

500 kcal

Breaded Fish and steamed asparagus with sweet potato fries

350 kcal

Cottage Cheese and an Apple

175 kcal

Cashews

200 kcal

1700 kcal

01/18/07

Steel Cut Oatmeal with Honey and Cinnamon

2 eggs scrambled

350 kcal

Zone Bar with a 8oz glass of soy milk

320 kcal

Roast Beef on whole wheat with tom, lettuce, mayo

H20

300 kcal

Pizza

Coca-Cola

1100 kcal

Late night pizza

200 kcal

2270 kcals

01/19/07

Steel Cut Oatmeal with Honey and Cinnamon

2 eggs scrambled

350 kcal

Zone Bar and 1 Quart of H20

210 kcal

Turkey on whole wheat with mayo and provolone

Carrot sticks

375 kcal

Cottage cheese and a small orange

180kcal

2 Bean and Beef Burritos

450 kcal

Big Pretzel at the Harlem Globetrotters and a soda

800 kcal

2365 kcal

01/20/07

Steel Cut Oatmeal with Honey and Cinnamon

2 eggs scrambled

350 kcal

Grapes and a Banana with cashews

250 kcal

Roast Beef and Turkey on Whole Wheat with raw vegetables

400 kcal

Vegetable sticks and low fat dip

200 kcal

Eggs and homemade sausage hmmmm

550 kcal

Finger foods at Fitness Center party

300 kcal

2050 kcal

01/21/07

Cinnamon Roll

250 kcal

Green Salad with Croutons, grape tomatos and light amount of Italian (Paul Newman)

200 kcal

Buffalo hot wings with raw vegetables an low fat ranch dip

600 kcals

Turkey Sandwich on Whole Wheat and Miracle Whip

Small glass of milk

360 kcals

1500 kcals

A friend was asking about my nutrition plan.

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:58:50 GMT

My friend Dave Wisher was asking me about my nutrition plan last night and wanted to know what I eat. I told him that eat just about anything I want as long as they meet the principles that I state below. I believe that this list values moderation and variety and it has been very easy to follow and still feed the rest of my family. In a family of 6 we all have to be on the same page with meals or it gets out of control.

1. I eat mostly whole foods instead of processed items.

I make a lot of stuff from scratch so I know exactly what is going into the food and can control the ingredients. I do almost all my shopping on the outside ring of the store and rarely buy things that are in a box or pre-made. This is cheaper and more healthy. Two birds with one stone. For those of you who worry about time, it takes about 60 seconds more to make the Soy Pancakes in the previous post instead of using Bisquick, etc. Whole foods also have more fiber and are fresher, in general. I still buy some cereal for the kids to keep them from revolting, but they only have it a few times a weeks. I usually do not eat cereal anymore because of the cost and the affect on my blood sugar.

2. I balance calories in my carbs, protein and fat. 40% 30% 30%

This keeps the blood sugar level and helps you feel satiated all day long. The protein and fat also slows the uptake of carbs so that they have less impact on insulin. I think the 80% carb diet that the Diabetes association recommends should be criminalized. The human body is not made to run off of the pure sugar that those 80% carb calories turn into. There are good carbs (whole foods), good fats (unsaturated) and good proteins (lean meats and soy). But even at that, I do not avoid anything other than the TRANS FATS which are a failed attempt to make our food more healthy.

3. I use organics when possible.

These items are becoming more and more prevelant at a decent price. I will pay a little more knowing that there are no chemicals used in the production of the food. Does this help me loose weight? Maybe, maybe not, but if given the choice to eat pesticides or not, I will pick not.

4. I eat 6 times a day

When I eat 3 times a day I have a tendency to overeat at those meals. The 6 times a day (300 calories per meal) keeps my blood sugar level and keeps my body from sending the I'm starving" signal. I noticed that the feeling I get when my blood sugar drops (from too much insulin produced in my body because I just had 2 bowls of Captain Crunch that hits my blood stream as if I shot it into my veins), that it feels almost exactly like it did when I smoked and had not smoked in several hours.

5. I said goodbye to McDonald's

80% of the food there does not meet the above principals and this saves me money as well. Eating out is necessary sometimes, but planning ahead saves you money and allows better control over what you eat. I have a little cooler that I took with me to class (that is ALL day on Saturday). I had not eaten at McDonald's for a bout a year after seeing SUPER SIZE ME, but I fell off the wagon about 6 months ago and I paid the price. You really start feeling addicted like Morgan Spurlock did in his film.

6. I count calories

I realize that this is not popular, but if you get a good calorie book or computer program, you quickly learn what is in foods and can do it in your head after a while. Losing weight comes down to CALORIC DEFICIT. If you burn more than you eat, you will lose weight. Like I said before, I do not avoid things like mayonnaise, but if I know how many calories are in a tablespoon of mayo, it will inform my sandwich making decision. I usually just go light on the mayo instead of skipping it. Once you figure out what a 300 to 400 calorie meal looks like, it will become second nature to seek out that amount. It might be a small amount of food, but you know that you will be eating just 2.5 hours from that meal.

Soy Pancakes. Better tasting than regular pancakes!

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:28:41 GMT

These pancakes have a rich, nutty flavor and are much higher in protein and fiber than normal pancakes. If you leave out the high calorie syrup it become a much more balanced food with less impact on the blood sugar.

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of soy flour

5 tsp of Baking Soda (more if your baking soda is old and stale)

1 tsp of Kosher salt

2 tbsp of brown sugar

Mix up dry ingredients very well with a whisk (the soy flour gets clumpy)

2 eggs ( I use the high Omega-3 eggs)

4 Tbsp of oil (I use the Smart Balance high Omega-3 oil)

2 Cups of Vanilla Soy Milk

Mix the wet stuff well and then mix it into the dry ingredients. Do not mix too much or you will beat out the air caused by the baking soda reaction. My wife likes crepe like pancakes so she adds water to get the consistency she wants, but I like mine fluffy so I keep it thicker.

Ladle into a preheated skillet sprayed liberally (yes, I do some thing liberally!) with a PAM like substance and cook until bubbles form all over the pancake surface (the may or may not break open) and I like the edges to be slightly crispy. Flip and cook a few more minutes.

Serve with real butter (none of that trans fat margarine stuff ) and sugar free syrup . There is also the jelly option that some people like and this morning K Elizabeth tried her pancakes with real Amish apple butter.

Today's weigh-in

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:29:50 GMT

I have had a request from many readers to tone down the fitness stuff and get on with the other things that I write about. Be patient, this stuff is really on my mind right now! I am going to try and limit my fitness post to Sunday afternoons (the food and exerices logs) and Monday evening with my weigh-ins. So here is todays weigh in.

On January 8 2007 I was 247 lbs and 32 % body fat
Today I am 240 lbs and 30.5% body fat. 7 lbs and 1.5% in a week! If only this could last..
My max weight was 252 right after Christmas, so I have lost 12 lbs all together.

Exercise and Nutrition Journal for Week 2

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 11:52:11 GMT

I really upped the ante on the exercise this week. I got 8 workout sessions in 5 days and I took the entire weekend off to recover. I like the extended rest period (48 hours) and in those times I try to get extra sleep to help in my physical recovery. The nutrition side went very well this week as well. The Body for Life system suggest having a "free day" in which you eat freely, but not out of control. I have decided that it is better suited to my life to have "free meals" instead. For example the pizza that I eat on Thursday with my family (although I had only one piece this week, I usually have more)

Tracy and I went to McDonald's while we were on the road this week and before we ordered I grabbed a calorie list. I was shocked to find that the "snack" that I would eat between lunch and dinner on many occasions amounted to 1600 calories! Considering that I am eating about 1800 calories right now this means that I was eating almost a days worth of food in between meals. This should clear any mystery about why I gained so much weight. Tracy and I ended up getting the supreme salads and went light on the dressing.

I had one of my all day classes yesterday and I could feel the benefits of eating right and exercising all week. I was not sleepy and as a matter of fact my brain was hitting on all cylinders all day. I cut back on the calories for the non-workout days, but not consciously. I just was not as hungry as I usually am on a high stress weekend. I think my blood sugar is finally coming under control.

01/08/07	Upper Body	8.5	9:30	Full Body for Life upper body workout. Felt pretty spunky today and should have been more intense
01/08/07	Step Class	8.5	4:30	Great workout, 1 riser, plan on going to 2 risers next class.
01/09/07	Treadmill Running	9.0	8:30	Intense workout, improved on times. 2.42 miles, 30:00 minutes, 443 calories burned.
01/10/07	Lower Body	8.0	8:30	Moderately intense for the first lower body workout. The squats made me nauseated so I am on the right track.
01/10/07	"The Challenge"	10	4:00	The instructor is EVIL. I will be going back next week. Super intensity and full body workout
01/11/07	Treadmill Running	6	9:30 am	Really torched after that challenge class last night so I took it easy and will finish strong tomorrow with upper body in morning and Step in the evening
01/12/07	Upper Body	8	3:30	Good workout, had to cut it short because step was starting. Missed out on Biceps
01/12/07	Step Aerobics	9	4:30	Kris filled in for Marsha and I picked the wrong day to go to 2 risers. Kris has little in the way of slow downs in her routines and they seem more large muscle related. Intense today and a good capstone to an intense week
01/13/07	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF
01/14/07	OFF	OFF	OFF	OFF

01/08/07

2 Eggs and 1 Sausage Patty

240 kcals

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Turkey, lettuce,

Mayo, on Whole Wheat

Cashews

360 kcal

1/2 Bagel with light spread of cream cheese

150 kcal

Baked Salmon

Small Baked

Potato, steamed broccoli

400 kcal

Zone Bar

w/ 8 oz of soy milk

290 kcal

1650 kcal

01/09/07

Soy and Whole Wheat Pancake with sugar free syrup

2 pieces of Bacon

275 kcals

Apple and Cottage Cheese

180 kcal

BLT sandwich

And

Cashews

450 kcals

Beef Jerky

And H20

80 kcals

Bowl of Chili (meat and beans, no cheese or crackers)

400 kcal

none

1385 kcals

01/10/07

Bowl of Steel Cut Meal with 2 tbls of sugar and cinnamon

200 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

3 Eggs and 1 piece of lean ham

300 kcal

Berry Protein Smoothie

350 kcal

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce (small portion) and green salad

450 kcal

Zone Bar

And Soy Milk

320 kcal

1830 Kcal

01/11/07

Bowl of Steel Cut Oatmeal

Sugar, cinnamon and skim milk

230 kcals

Zone Bar

H20

210 kcal

Roast Beef, Tomato, lettuce, avocado, provolone on Whole Wheat with Cashews

450 kcal

McDonalds

Premium salad with grilled chicken and light on the dressing

330 kcal

1 Piece of Pizza

And H20

400 kcal

Small Piece of frozen type pizza at the Howell's house

200 kcal

1820 kcal

01/12/07

Steel cut Oatmeal, little bit of honey and cinnamon with soy Milk

210 kcal

1/2 of Aroma Turkey Wrap with a Salad

275 kcal

1/2 of an

Aroma Turkey Wrap

225 kcal

Cinnamon Roll from Pekara

400 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Roast Beast, tom, provolone, mayo, lettuce on whole Wheat and cashews

375 kcal

1695 kcal

01/13/07

3 eggs and 2 slices of ham

350 kcals

Zone Bar

H20

210 kcals

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

With carrot and celery sticks

320 kcals

Cottage Cheese and an apple

200 kcal

Baked herb Chicken, steamed broccoli, and sweet potato fries, 1 piece of bread and butter

400 kcals

1500 kcal

The hardest exercise class I have ever taken

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:43:18 GMT

I went to the gym twice yesterday. In the morning I did a leg work out and in the afternoon I went to the newly formed "Challenge" class taught by someone named Missi. One might think that a class taught by a "Missi" would be a pushover and I can tell you that you would be very very wrong. This class is 90 minutes long and I have not had that sort of workout since I was in South Carolina, wearing all green and getting yelled at by a pudgy Jewish Drill Sgt. named Siegel. I was the only man in the class and I was amazed at some of the women in this class. They were really tough. I am going to get Tracy to take the class if only to see her face turn that shade of lavender it does when she is being overworked.

I will go back next week and will continue until I get that class conquered. Besides, it is really good training for Survivor. And yes, if reach my goals I am going to apply for the show. We middle aged guys do pretty well on that show.

I did my official INFERNO II weigh in yesterday

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:43:20 GMT

The Inferno starts on January 15th but we had a meeting yesterday to kick it off and did our weigh-ins and body fat analysis. I tipped the scales at 247, which is actually 5 lbs down from my tops weight of 252 2 weeks ago at the doctor's office. My prediction in the previous post about body fat was pretty close. The electric impendence tester at the Fitness Center put me at 32% body fat and I had guessed 30%. Those numbers mean that I have 79 lbs of fat on my body! No wonder my blood pressure is averaging 160 over 85.

My goals for this recent attempt at fitness are exactly as they were on my last attempt this previous summer. My goals then and now are to be 185 lbs and 11% body fat. This means that I need to lose 59 lbs of fat and maintain my muscle mass at present levels. The only difference is that I am at a different starting point than I was then! I look back at my before pictures in July and think "hmmm, that is not so bad compared to now." It is all about the perspective.

Crunching the numbers on this one puts my goal date at August 6th. This date is 30 weeks from January 15 and it is assuming that I lose about 2lbs of fat per week. I may put on more muscle mass than I anticipate (I grow muscle very well) so my end weight my change, but not my fat loss goal of 60 lbs of fat.

Inferno II at the Fitness Center

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:47:00 GMT

Last year the fitness club that belong to had a contest called Inferno that was for losing weight and body fat percentage over a certain period of time. You entered the contest and received a certain amount of points for participation in group fitness classes, personal training (could not afford that one), reading fitness articles and bringing in healthy recipes. I did not go very far in the contest last year and got quickly discouraged at how many points one guy was racking up. This guy was a machine!

This year Rene, the administrator of the contest, has changed up the contest a bit to make it more equitable and I am going to take another shot at doing this contest. The timing is perfect for my own fitness program and maybe it will add some always needed encouragement. I am also trying to encourage the other participants to start their own fitness blogs. I think that blogging is perfect for tracking fitness goals and dietary changes for many different reasons.

1. Blogging holds you accountable to an audience of readers

2. Blogging is a way to express emotions that you might be dealing with while trying to get into shape. Proper nutrition and exercise is much more than just putting down the fork and taking a step aerobics class, there are always other issues that affect the likelihood of success.

3. Blogging is a great way to track your progress

4. Blogging can create communities of people that provide mutual support and encouragement

5. Blogging is a great way to share recipes and fitness tips that you have found useful

To start a blog on MSN spaces, just click in the right hand corner of the screen where it says "Create my space." It is absolutely free and also a great place to post pictures for your friends and family to download after the holidays. If you create a space, email me and I will put you in my friends section. If we could get 5 to 10 people in the fitness center with Blogs, it would be fantastic.

This week's food and exericise journal

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:19:10 GMT

Back on the diet and I tried and hit the 1750 to 1900 calorie per day mark and that puts me at a caloric deficit of about 7000 calories per week. This should equal out to 2 lbs of fat lost per week if I maintain this pace. Monday is my weigh-in for the Inferno II competition at my health club. I also get a body fat analysis done as well. I expect it to be around the 30% mark.

01/02/07

Bowl of Steel cut oats and 2 scrambled eggs

230 kcal

Zone Bar

1 quart of water

210 kcal

Roast Beast on a Kaiser roll and cashews

450 kcal

Lowfat no sugar Yogurt

80 kcal

Chicken and cheese Quesadilla

And water

600 kcal

Zone bar and vanilla soymilk

310 kcal

1880 kcal

01/03/07

2 egg whites/1 egg yolk

2 pieces of bacon

4 oz of Orange juice

350 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Zone bar

210 kcal

Italian beef sandwich

Potato Chips

Water

650 kcal

Mediterranean Chicken on Cous Cous with a green salad

And Paul Newman Tuscan Dressing

450 kcal

1870 kcal

01/04/07

3 eggs scrambled

210 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Green Salad with 1/4 chicken breast and dressing

200 kcal

Zone Bar

210 kcal

Pizza and Ice water

1000 kcal

1830 kcal

01/05/07

1/4 steel cut oatmeal (Irish oatmeal)

With 2 tsp of sugar and skim milk

200 kcal

3 eggs scrambled

(whole)

210 kcal

Green Salad with 2/3 of chicken Breast and croutons

275 kcal

Nature Valley Granola Bar

180 kcal

Parsley Pesto with Grilled Herb Chicken and Italian Bread with butter

550 kcal

Zone Bar and Soy Milk

300 kcal

1715 kcal

01/06/07

1/4 cup of Irish Oatmeal, skim milk and sugar

2 eggs scrambled

340 kcal

Protein

Berry Smoothie

300 kcal

Green Salad w bits of fake chicken patties

H20

275 kcal

Cinnamon roll from Pekara bakery

400 kcal

2 Beef Burritos with chedder cheese and H20

750 kcal

Fat Free Protein Pudding with fat free whipped topping

120 kcal

2185 kcal

01/06/07

3 Eggs Scrambled and 1 piece of Ham

And Black Coffee

300 kcal

Zone Bar

H20

210 kcal

Roast Beef , tomato, lettuce, avocado, and provolone on whole wheat (1/2 of a sandwich

And a handful of cashews

325 kcal

Protein fat free pudding and fat free whip cream

120 kcal

Polish Sausage with

Mashed Potatoes and sauerkraut and Horseradish

800kcal

Apple and Cottage Cheese

180 kcal

1935 kcal

01/02/07	Step Class	7.5	8:15	Tracy and I both went to step. I only had 1 riser however. Good workout.
01/03/07	Weights	6.5	9:00	WARM UP ROUTINE
01/04/07	Treadmill	8.0	9:00	30 minutes, 2.16 miles, 403 kcals burned. Variable intensity running. Felt pretty good. Tracy ran with me and we were far from our previous marks
01/05/07	Step Class	8.5	4:30	Hard routine, only 1 riser though. My legs felt like bags of lead after yesterdays run and the "squat and lunge section" of the step class.
01/06/07	Off Day	Off	Off	Off
01/07/07	OFF DAY	OFF DAY	OFF DAY	I needed the extra recovery day for my knees and feet

I hate to be cliche, but....

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:21:42 GMT

Here it is the 30th of December and I am contemplating what I am going to do about my weight. A congregation member said to me that "You don't seem to be comfortable with your body.." (It was a women who made the comment) My response to this was that, no, when I keep going up and up in weight, my knees and feet ache all the time, I cannot tie my shoes without holding my breathe, I am in a "pre-diabetic" state and now, as of yesterday, my doctor told me to track my blood pressure because it was high enough to treat with medicine. Comfortable? No, I am not comfortable. I went to see the doctor yesterday about my face breaking out in weird red patches and when they weighed me I was 252. I am now officially closer to 300 lbs than I am 200 lbs and I need to be at 180 to 185 lbs. That is about 70 lbs that I need to lose now and when I started this blog (for the purpose of, ironically enough, tracking my weight loss) in July I had got down to about 211.

it really seems that once you go over a "point of no return" the weight gain starts to accelerate. You are less likely to exercise (because heaving 252 lbs of me up and down a step class step is not an easy task) and your blood sugar is so out of whack that you overeat, eat the wrong foods and then can handle those types of food less than if you were not so insulin resistant.

I have the knowledge of what it takes to lose weight, I understand nutrition, exercise and the right levels of both to be healthy. I even have a free health club membership because my wife works at the best gym in town (shout out to my peeps at the Fitness Center). All that I need to do now is start making time to go back to the gym. I used to work out with Tracy, but when the baby came we both stopped. I felt better, looked better and performed better as a theologian when I was more active. Why I stopped, I will never know. I have blogged about wanting to store food for an emergency, but I did not mean under my belt!

My first run in 2 months...

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 14:27:00 GMT

I have been hit by the 20 lb baby curse once again. I did really well until the baby was born and then BOOM, 20 lbs. I weighed in at 245 yesterday. I might be having some blood sugar problems that are contributing to my weight gain. I had it tested the other day and it was 150 after a 12 hour fast. Too high.

So back to the treadmill I go. The first time is always the hardest and I stalled the run for several days, stalled in the Gym lobby talking to people, and even took my time in the locker room changing! I finally got to it by sheer force of will and had a really good run that lasted 40 minutes. I walked the first and last 10 minutes and ran a fairly even pace in the middle 20 minutes.

2.71 miles, 471 calories, 170 max heart rate, 40:00 minutes. No stretching before or after however. I need to add that in along with some core exercies.

I can't believe that I now have 65lbs to lose. Suprisingly I have only gone up 1 pant size even with the extra 20 lbs.

Health Concerns

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:40:50 GMT

Ironically, I started this blog to track my fitness progression and, in fact, I have taken a giant leap backwards in the past few months. After vacation bible school I did not return to my diet and I started to put weight back on. Somewhere along the way I hit the point in which my blood sugar got out of whack and I started to pack on even more weight because of the borderline diabetes. I went to the doctor and took all the test and it did confirm that I am boarder line diabetic and I hit a record weight of 245. I feel terrible.

It is really amazing how quickly my weight can go south.

Exercise log for the week.

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:27:25 GMT

07/10/06	Legs/Step Class	8.5	4:30 pm	Particularly tough class, lots of squats and lunges and I moved to 2 risers instead of 1. Skipped leg weightlifting because of the good intensity of class.
07/11/06	Treadmill running	8.5	2:30 pm	Made my time! 26 minutes, 411 kcals, 2.33 miles Next run gets INCREASED by . 1 all around
07/12/06	Upper Body Weightlifting	8.5	9:45 am	Tracy went back to the gym with me and it helped my pacing in the weight room.
7/13/06	Treadmill Running	9	2:30 pm	26 Minutes, 419 kcals, 2.35 Miles. Went up in intensity today. Pushed through a bit of apathy. I think the Irish Soda Bread from last night was making me sluggish
7/14/06	Step Class/legs	8.5	4:30 pm	Chris taught class instead of Marsha and it was a much different workout. Little Cardio effect but my legs were burning. Perfect, considering I was doing step in lieu of doing lower body weights. Need to start staying for the AB workouts at the end of class.
7/15/06	Treadmill	8.5	12:30 pm	I made time again. 26:00 minutes, 425 kcal spent, 2.36 miles. Need to go up again for next Tuesday. Legs feel pretty beat up after this week, but tomorrow is an off day and Monday Is Upper Body Weightlifting.
7/16/06	Off Day	Off Day	Off Day	Off Day

Next Week I will post a typical Body for Life Upper and Lower body workout that I use.

This week's results...5 lbs more...40 more to go

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:02:41 GMT

Week	Calories Consumed	Calories Burned	Deficit	Projected Weight loss	Actual Weight loss	Notes
2	13,740	20,500	6760	1.95 lbs	5lbs	2 more weeks will show me if I am losing too fast. I attribute this second week to the same phenomena as last week.

225 lbs at Saturday's weigh in....

The second week of my program is over and I am beginning to see results. A small but important goal is that I can fit into my 38 waist pants again. I never thought I would be overjoyed to fit into 38's. Another benefit is that the towel I use in the men's locker room will fit around my waist without holding on to it!

I have lot another 5 lbs, which seems pretty incredible, but I will wait for another 2 weeks to up my calories if necessary. The first 10 is said to be the easiest. I do not want to send my body into "starvation mode" in which it starts to grab onto excess fat and drop my metabolism as a defense mechanism. I think that the "free meals" here and there help with that.

As far as physical fitness is concerned, I am progressing nicely with my workouts, but I feel as if I have not broke through any physical barriers, just mental ones. In a few more weeks I will be in exercise territory that I have not been in recently. I have decided to run a 5k at the Arcola Broomcorn Festival as a little something to shoot for other than just treadmill runs. It should be fun and I hope to do it in less than 25:00 minutes.

Naked Juice, man that is good...

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:16:35 GMT

I have developed a taste for the Naked Juice (http://www.nakedjuice.com/main.html) that they sell at the Coffee house that I frequent. I always get Green Machine which is an apple, Kiwi, Banana, BROCCOLI, and wheat grass mulch! Yes, I know this sounds gross, but the nice thing about this stuff is that the rest of the family treats it like toxic waste when they see it in the fridge. Green Machine, I covet thee...