Responsibility 199, what is it?

Responsibility 199 is a belief; I believe that to be healthy and to increase my longevity I need to weigh 199 pounds or less...
Responsibility 199 is a need; I need to reduce my weight, reduce my percentage of body fat, and the elevated threat of disease my present condition presents...
Responsibility 199 is a mission; I recognize that achieving 199 will be a challenge, perhaps the hardest I have ever undertaken...
Responsibility 199 is a commitment; I acknowledge that I must commit to action, commit to change, commit to myself and those I love to achieve this mission, to increase my longevity...
Responsibility 199 is ME.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Day 194 - Courageously Burning Lettuce

To shed the darkness of obesity for something better is Courage necessary? If you consider embarking on a mission to get healthy to be very challenging, to be unknown in some respects if not many, or to be one where you success is at risk from the start; then you likley also consider courage to be a necessary attribute to embrace. If you disagree, please share with the class.


Good day yesterday, no great day. Had a follow up visit for my cheek scar and all is healing as it should at this point so says the doc, excellent. Got in the cardio I mentioned yesterday in the morning and followed that up with solid eating through to the end of the day. Let's see if I can follow that up with a repeat today.

For those that asked to see the new clothes, I am here to make your requests reality; feast your eyes to the right... clashes withe sea-foam'ish green walls doesn't it?

How many are a fan of the show Burn Notice? My kids love the show so I see it on from time to time, thus I am familiar with it. I win't go as far as to say I am a fan as if there aren't goals being scored or checkered flags being waved I have a hard time giving the television time.

That said, this not a post about a television show, rather it is sort of about calories. Each day we take in calories and burn off calories. Most if not all reading here understand how the math works. Knowing the math is important. No, it is critical for understanding the basics of health if I may dare say so.

Breathe easy, I am not going to bore you with a caloric math lesson. If you want that, there are a zillion websites, try this one. Or better yet, Allan over at Almost Gastric Bypass has written some great posts on the math, give his site a search.

Knowing the math, I am interested in how to make it a fun ride on the caloric teeter-totter? Why make it fun? Well, because I like it fun, and fun it will be. If that is not reason enough then consider my (or maybe your) dozens of previous missions to get healthy. Myself, many times I just plodded through focusing on the math, and just the math. Sadly, I quit each of those missions.

A common and key learning from all of those attempts; if you don't enjoy what you are doing, your chances of success are a skosh above zero. Accepting the mission to become healthy is hard enough, particarly mentally; why make it harder still by accepting that it has to be boring? Not me, not this time. Here is one way I try and keep it fun...

I wake up, and while attending to the 3-S's I ask, What will I burn off today?

Yesterday, I committed to burning off not exercising the day before, at least 400 calories.
Today, I committed to burning off a piece of birthday cake since I will be avoiding three birthday cakes this weekend. I do not plan on eating any, not one bite, but I am going to burn one off anyhow!
Recently, I committed to burning off 10 heads of lettuce. Figuring 75 calories per; 750 was my target that day.
Once, I committed to burning off all the carbs I ate the day before. Figured a target burn of 200 carbs or 800 calories; the biggest culprit in that number were the 150 carbs of spaghetti with bolognese from dinner.

Sound goofy? To some it will. To others it won't.
Getting healthy ought to be fun! So get busy having fun & fit.

What will you burn off today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

14 comments:

  1. Gabrielle Anwar is a reason to sit through Burn Notice...That is all...

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  2. Burn baby burn!!!! Got a great workout in already & I burned some major calories! Patrick, your posts, always fun to read!

    Courage is a great word!

    And yes, do the math.. all those little extra nibbles of this & that during the day.. well, they do have calories & add up! My words of wisdom for the day! ;-)

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  3. What a great way to think about it!! Sometimes that is all we need to get a boost and move forward. Thanks.

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  4. Oooohhhh...I like the way you're thinking here. I think I'm going to find stuff to burn off. I like the imagery behind it...burn off 1 piece of birthday cake. I like this a lot. Thanks for the idea!

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  5. Great post, Patrick - and so true! Who says we can't have fun while losing weight, right?!

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  6. You are definitely burning a trail :)

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  7. I LOVE Burn Notice! It's Awesome! I watch for Bruce Campbell. AKA SAM. He's hilarious. I am going to get back to burning. I am convinced it is key for me. And I agree, I have to enjoy it or at least be comfortable. You look great in those new clothes!

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  8. I *HAVE* to make exercise some kind of personal challenge for myself, otherwise I would not do it. I don't enjoy working out. I hate it, actually. I hate sweating. I hate the gym, feeling like everyone is staring at me. I hate the boredom. So in order to force myself to go, I have to create little mini-challenges. For instance, "Today I'm going to do 2 minute intervals for 45 minutes" or "Today I'm going to see if I can jog further than I have before" or "Today I'm going to try to break a personal best time on a 5k" or "I'm going to find a muscle group I haven't used in a long time (triceps, butt, abs) and work it out until I'm shaking and crying." Those mini, one-time challenges are the only things that motivate me to work out.

    I don't ever thing about "I am going to burn off XXX food I just ate or will eat" for several reasons. Firstly, I don't think that exercise works that way; I don't personally think that you can exercise-away food that you eat. Secondly, the calories on those machines lie, so you can't count on them to be accurate. Thirdly, it's a mentality of punishment of some kind; I shouldn't have eaten that cake, so I'm going to punish myself by exercising it off now. That punishment mentality just creates a negative, defeatist self-attitude. It turns into how weak-willed I am for eating badly in the first place, how ugly I am, how I am not worthy, etc. Defeatist, indeed, so I just don't go to that "burn off calories" mindset at all.

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  9. I'm burning off a big soba/slaw salad with peanut dressing. Yum.

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  10. I love this. Oh boy you are giving me ideas :D I honestly welcome any kinda new way of thinking. Cos I really wanna keep my spirits up, you know. Don't wanna get bored anymore.

    You, dear sir, look great! I like this color on you very much. I believe in miracles where you from you sexy thing ♪♫♪♪♫..

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  11. Fun... yep, I think you are right on the button. We need to find ways to make the journey enjoyable enough that we don't flake out. It really helps to invent little games along the way... mini-challenges.

    I think part of their appeal is that instant gratification it gives from accomplishing one... you know, that feeling we USED to get from food. Only this is a healthy substitute.

    Good food for thought here. :-)
    Loretta
    =^..^=

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  12. I had to read this post after seeing your tweet (yes indeed it took me THIS LONG to git back to the computer) LOVED THE TITLE and the TWEET!

    (oh and the concept :))

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  13. Since I'm using the directlife gadget I don't look at burning calories as anything other than my percentage for the day. I'm shooting for 1000 each day, some days are of course better than others so I also shoot for 100% for the week as a whole. I really do like challenging myself this way. You look terrific in maroon btw. Great post Patrick!

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  14. Allan, LOL, gotta agree with you about Gabrielle! The show is filmed not far from my hometown, keep hoping I'll run into the lovely lady on the streets.

    Patrick, today I'm going to burn off the glass of happy hour wine I intend to have..in advance! :)

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