Coffee Spilled And The Evolution Of A Day Off

So we have all had it happen. Especially us coffee drinkers, but just about all of us overweight people have had it happen with food too. The spill, the drip, the stain. And of course, that spill, that drip, that stain winds up where? On your shirt, right? Well now, the answer is WRONG! It now ends up on my pants!! I know it is silly to get excited over spilling coffee, but hey, it wound up on my pants!! Not my shirt, my pants! How cool is that?? I doubt that it is, but just in case the points in hidden here, my belly is no longer in the way of my lap, thus, my pants wind up the target in a spill. I find that to be pretty darn neat!

I will tell you the other thing I find fascinating, the evolution of what a day off with no work and no plans means to me now from what it used to mean to me. Previous to the weight loss, when I saw a day with no plans on for it coming down the pike, I would immediately think " ok, good sports watching day, get some movies lined up, spend the morning on the internet, big breakfast, fast food lunch, and prolly some pizza that night". Now, "ok, garage cleaned, weed eat the yard, get some more dog ears to replace the old ones on the privacy fence, see if I can get some more pansies to replace the drowned ones, detail Kathy's car, organize the back deck, clean out the pipe that lets water drain during rain through my drive way ditch, etc." and I get all giddy with anticipation to have work to do all day! I love it. I am also going to go for a distance jog today. I am going to get 4 miles in. I have an iPod now, with plenty of music and much more easy to operate that my old mp3 player. I think it is doable.

What are ya'lls plans for this weekend?

An Epidemic and That Damn Switch!!

It seems there has been somewhat of an epidemic here lately in the bloggers I follow. It seems we are all struggling a bit to "stay on course". I know I have not been the guy I was for 8 months. I kinda had life get in the way, had stresses galore, and thought I have only put on 3 pounds from my low, I just haven't been moving forward and eating well like I should. Not eating bad per se, but not eating well and getting on with my 190 goal. It seems many of us have kinda stalled and I was thinking about why. I think a lot of it has to do with how much energy is expended when you are being serious about getting leaner and healthier. I made it my life's goal 7 days a week for 8-9 months. It was my primary focus. I lived weight loss and healthy eating, to the extreme even. so with that being said, I guess I had a break in me. I would say that I have successfully implemented better eating habits. Even when eating more than I would like, the quality of the food was better for the most part. I am much more active now than I used to be which helped keep me from bloating back up when I was not doing so well. But the reality is that i need to push forward in my quest. I need to get to my next goal of 190 pounds.

So, I decided, it is time to "flip the switch" again. I did it on July 17,2010, with the help of the Almighty and some blogging friends, and I can do it again. So, here it is, the symbolic flipping of that switch. It is back on. I am back to me. I have a day already under my belt to build on. I had the most excellent eating day yesterday and it was even more fulfilling because I asked for it. I prayed yesterday that God be with me for both the morning, which I never really have issues with and the evening after work, which is where my eating issues crop up. and He, as always, answered by giving me some phenomenal resolve last night! So I am asking Him again today, to be with me, to guide my choices and help me edge toward my new goal of 190 pounds! I bet it works!!

Why Didn't I Think Of This Before?

Sometimes, you need to plan. It is hard to go through life and just "play it by ear" all the time. Sometimes you have to say "I am going to do this then" and then go do it and make it stick. That is how I got started on getting up early and exercising. I got up at 4 got my caffeine fix and then "just did it" Nike style. Well, lately, the getting up early has not been working for me in various areas of my life. I won't get into it, but it just hasn't made for good times. So I decided that I was going to make it a point to find a way to get my exercise in but maybe break it up into two sessions. One in the morning and one in the evening. I am out of school now and don't have that obligation at night. But even if I did, just a little commitment would take care of it. But anyway, on to the point. I decided that I was going to start getting some cardio or weight lifting at night. I want to get up a little later and stay up a little later than I have been. So yesterday morning, I lifted weights and committed myself to doing some cardio when I got home last night. I had Quorum Court, but it wrapped up fairly early last night and it was still daylight when I got home, so I grabbed my jump rope and headed to the back deck. Lauren followed me and for the next twenty minutes, we took turns seeing who could jump rope the longest and do the best trick jump roping. I won the first hands down, but the second Lauren ran away with. Then she asked to go for a jog around the block with me. I of course obliged and we took off. I taught her a lesson on pacing herself and we had a good time! I am hoping to rope Kathy into some sessions like that, so we can make getting more active a family activity and we all benefit from it. Again, why didn't I think of this before? And the unexpected benefit from the change. Not one urge to snack last night! I didn't sit down until after 8 and it was a great feeling to not once sit and think about getting up to snack! I can see the advantage to this change!

You Want A Challenge? Go To Branson To Jog!

As the title infers, we went to Branson, Missouri this weekend. My boss, the wonderful and awesome Cheryl Anderson, gave me and my family a free weekend in her condo up there. Cheryl is the greatest boss and one of the greatest people I have ever met in my ENTIRE lifetime. She is that person that you wish you could be. I am working on trying to follow her example, but seriously, she makes it difficult. I don't know if I can be as smart, benevolent, generous, compassionate, caring and talented as she is, but you know what, I have the example in front of me, I just need to learn from it.

So back to the jogging. Yeah. Branson I am pretty sure has ZERO flat spots. You are either jogging up a hill or down a hill. I got my butt kicked Saturday morning. It didn't help that Friday I also took on the hill that leads up to my office and was tired from that already. But I really got my behonkus handed to me Saturday morning. It is funny how you can DRIVE up hills and not really realize they are there. I never once realized that there were no flat spots until Saturday when I was praying for one to appear at some point about 20 minutes in!

I am thinking about retooling my workouts a little to combat some boredom I have been dealing with. I am thinking about throwing in some jump roping and some bicycling for my cardio. I am not abandoning jogging, I just have been struggling to find ways to make it work and not be boring and I am running out of realistic options to make it work in my time frame. plus I am tired of waking up so early in the morning. I am having a harder and harder time dragging my butt out of bed at 4 just to get caffeined up and ready to workout by 5.

So Kathy took a picture of me at the pool this weekend. I have over come my fear of shirtlessness in places I don't know people. it still isn't pretty, but hey, I don't know these people so who cares right? Then, she goes and puts it on Facebook! I had no idea that was where it was going when I let her take it. I just assumed it to be a me and her picture! Nope. It is out there for the world to see now! So you know what, I am going to own it. Here it is:

there you go. I did it. it was one of my goals in the beginning and it gives me something to build on. I need to improve so that I can have a shirtless picture without having a panic attack that Kathy may post it on Facebook! Challenge accepted!

Yes!! Now That Was a Good Day 1 of 1!

yeah, I knew I could do it, it was just a matter of doing it! So the second Day 1 of 1 rocked! Good food intake all day and no snacking except for one spoon of peanut butter right before bed! Suhweeet!

I have been working out with weights and doing crunches here lately. I think it is starting to show up, especially in my belly area. I can feel my abs starting to get even more strong. I added 10 more crunches than usual on the lower ab crunches, and I did two sets of the upper ab crunches and while my abs were feeling rough when I was done, I am not sore today! I am getting there! Slow but sure!

So now I am going to get all motivated and shoot for day 1 of 2!! Keep an eye out ya'll it could get interesting!

Aaaargh!!

So day 1 of 1 was phenomenal.... all the way till 9:30. I suck! I was at 1585, fell asleep in the chair, looked like a phenomenal day when snack monster hit me again. And here is the worst part. Probably would have survived, but there are hot dogs still in the fridge from the cookout we had on Saturday for my graduation. They got the best of me. I had two. So now, today is day 1 with a focus on the hours from 7 to 10. I will sit on my hands or something. I am good for most of the day, what is it about that last hour or two? dammit Jim!

So today is day 1 of 1 again. Only this time, I am gonna get the steel look on after supper. That point in time, I will pray harder, and harden my heart to the snacks. Period.

Day 1 of !

You read that right. Today is day 1 of 1. I have not been the best me I can be in the diet department. I am still good exercise wise, but I have taken to the habit of eating sweets, not eating good portions, and not being the me who got me to Onderland, but the me that has taken the train back out of Onerland. 201 is not acceptable to me. I am now taking a U-turn, and headed back. And rather than pledge some great turn around by the end of the month with some goal of weight, diet and exercise, I am pledging that TODAY, I will do the right thing in diet and exercise. My goal is to get through today doing the right thing. Not the week, not the month, TODAY! When I do that, we will see about some bigger goals, maybe like the next two days. But my goal is to get through TODAY and give myself some success to build on.