Day 363 - Turkeys & Sequins For Friday

Very glad to hear from so many of you bloggers, tweeters, emailers that my hospital fashion sense is at best trend setting, and at worst lacking sequins. Sequins? As if I'd ever consider such a thing. Thanks again for all of the well wishes; very much appreciated!!

The healing goes well. Sure there is pain and I have meds for that. I've tried to hold off on the meds as long as I can to avoid being loopy anymore than I have too. My knee & hip pain jumped up a bit late yesterday. That perhaps is more frustrating than any post surgery pain.

Enough talk about me today. Lets do some Friday Follows, Shout Outs, shall we...

Jody is in the running to become the Face Of Fitness over at Fitness Magazine. You can vote for her HERE. You can vote daily! Voting ends 04/17/2011... As Jody says, "Let's show them older people rock too!"

Tish over at Incremental Improvements continues her recovery from surgery for herniated discs in her back. She continues to do well and continues her posts packed with amazing nature pictures.

Lynda over at Taking Less Space has written, is in the process of writing, a Dear Blogger post that is worthy of your time & comment.

Ewa over at Trail To Wellness is a blogger I have very recently connected with. She goes on some amazing hikes and has some amazing nature & wildlife pictures. One of them that caught my eye, and I must say got my mouth watering, can be seen up above. Many more like it are on her blog for your enjoyment.

Oh and I could go on and on as I follow so many fine people with interests in health, weight loss, fitness and much much more.

How about you, who do you have a urge to give a Friday Follow, Shout Out?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 315-319: Here Is March

Good Morning Folks, Welcome to March!

Thank You to those of you whom have sent me emails or Twitter DM's the past day or so inquiring about my absence. I am alive and staying healthy; all is well. Over the past couple of weeks my morning schedule has become increasingly compressed and the bit of time I usually write up a post & hit the blogs has been narrowing. It bothers me more that I have not been able to get to your blogs more so than I've not had time to write a post.

So I will need to get more creative with wringing out some blogging time it seems. That in itself may be my main goal for March. Yes, it is March. Spring is oh-so near, or so says the calendar. Hopefully the weather will equal the calendar's expectations. I am hungry to get out there for some outdoor cardio. Last December I was toughing out the frigid temps for some outdoor cardio and I was rewarded by catching a cold twice. So since then I have limited my cardio to the elliptical.

March, what do I have planned for March...

• A weigh-in, been about a month since I did that, thinking next week I'll give the scale a visit.
• I'll be attending the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show this coming weekend. That'll pose some dietary challenge which I will handle just fine. As well I'll be golfing a couple of rounds for exercise.
• My son has advanced to state regionals in Wrestling, not something we expected. I will miss regionals as they are this weekend but fingers crossed he advances on to the state finals the following weekend in Champaign; or are they in Springfield? We'll figure that out when he advances.
• I am going back to the plastic surgeon to get more of my face sliced off. Recall my recent brush with melanoma, I have another spot on my forehead I've been advised to kick to the curb as a precaution so kick it I shall. Damn!, I just this minute remembered last September I was told to park the weight lifting for a week or two while the incision healed; $#&T!!!!!.
• Spring Break is the last week of March, I'll take a day or two off that week for yet to be determined fun.

So what do you have planned for March?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 291 - January GTD Challenge Fades to FebGTD

Snow, all around the Chicagoland area are bracing for the storm being called Snowmaggedon. I am calling it Snowmagator, because I like alligators. What, do I need a better reason than that? As I said on Twitter this morning, "Hello snow, I've been working out so I'm ready for u."

January Go The Distance is now complete and February Go The Distance has begun. For January I only got in 30 of my 40 goal miles. So 75% is not immediately anything to be proud about. Consideration could be given to the fact that my elliptical does not display miles. Early in the month I tried to calculate it but there were too many variables for me to do so accurately. So I defaulted to simple math, 20 minutes equals a mile; although I'd bet money I am moving more than a mile in 20 minutes. But I chose to error on a conservative calculation.

So in January I did 600 minutes on the elliptical which I am scoring as 30 miles, 75% of my goal for 40 miles. In the spirit of building upon past performance I am keeping my goal at 40 miles in February. I'll calculate the miles the same way which means I am aiming for 800 minutes on that creaky old elliptical in my bedroom.

JanGTD also had goals for strength training. I set a goal of 12 sessions, I did 7... hhhmmm, I have to wonder if I failed to record a session or two early in the month. I started the month targeting twice a week with a  stretch goal of three times a week; hence the 12 mark was set. Looking back I thought I at least had the twice a week nailed and I know last couple weeks I have hit three... you know what. I am claiming victory as I know January saw my best strength training month in 15 years. February will be better than January, I promise!

JanGTD also had goals for water, fruit & veg consumption, I knocked all of those out of the park!

FebGTD has dropped the fruit & veg tracking and added a stretching goal to go alongside the cardio & strength goals. CHECK IT OUR HERE!

I am stoked for February, the last full month of winter. No more hibernating going to be had by this healthy-fitness-wanna-be-blogger-dude. NONE! I am awake, and I am moving!...

You awake?

You need help getting up & getting moving?? 

HEY, are you involved in February Go The Distance? If not & in need of a challenge, join us!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 275-276 Weekend Man Mode

Good Morning Bloggers, Happy MLK Day & welcome to a new week of whatever it is you want life to be. Hopefully a great weekend was had by all.

This weekend I was very much in man-mode. The NFL playoffs had allot of my attention especially since my team, the Chicago Bears, were playing. Of the four games I was very pleased with the results in three of them; only the win by Green Bay wrinkled an otherwise perfect weekend.

Yesterday twitter was alive and a few of us regular blogger types mixed it up for a bit; Francis @hipcop, Simon @Cyclingsi, the uber Jet fan of Jet fans Kelly @kellyespitia, and a few others. Good time, especially since the Bears won! Then when the games were over and the tweets turned to whatever awards show was on, I faded into the back ground and bed was my destiny.

The picture up top there is from our cafeteria at work last week. Yes those are cupcakes decorated with Chicago Bears helmets. There were also cookies shaped like helmets & footballs tempting the fans. I abstained and instead chose cottage cheese to quell my hunger that morning...

This weekend I found time to tackle the elliptical each day before the football games grabbed my attention, see...

And I ate fairly well too. I say fairly as i did eat too much of good things at times. Here is a great Grilled Chicken Salad my wife whipped up just in time for the Bears game...

Ready or not it is Monday, have a great day, great week!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 266 - Some Friday Follows

source

Wazzzup? Hey There! Yo... or just plain Good Morning...

Yep, it is Friday and I have no desire to talk about me. I am good, real good, I just haven't an interesting thought re: ME at the moment.


SOooo, since it is Friday and my next stop is Twitter to pump out some "Friday Follows" ( For you tweeters hashtag #FF ), why not put up a couple of them here and shout-out some fellow bloggers/tweeters whose own interesting-ness recently grabbed my attention.


Maybe you are already following on with them, if so you are as lucky as I am. If not, then this is your lucky day!

Vinny over at The Fat To Fit Diary - he tweets at @VinnySlavin

His blog link there is to his post yesterday. He shared some good news in first post of the new year; a nice number summing up his 2010 success and a grand announcement to kick off 2011. Check him out, comment & #FF him up.

Cindy Lou over at jillian inspired journey - she tweets at @jillianinspired

We've shared a tweets for a few months. Cindy's got great focus; her 2010 saw her lose a mess of weight, go on a cool cruise with Jillian Michaels, fight through some challenges and run a bunch. Why she doesn't have more blog followers is a mystery to me, I certainly need to enjoy her journey there as much as I enjoy her tweets. Oh, and I recommend that you do so also!

Oh I have a bunch more #FF love to give... whether you tweet or not is irrelevant; on your blog or however you can, follow someone up with some friendly thoughts today!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 262 - Thinking A Bit Deeper

Do you Tweet? If so, connect with me there; I am Rspnsblty199 and love it for quick in & out health chat from my blackberry, itouch, etc. through out the day whenever hitting the blogs is not in the cards.

Monday! So happy it is Monday, the holiday break is over and days that include work are here again. Uh Huh I am, probably not a notion shared by many, but I am at my best when it comes to ME when not in holiday mode.

This is day-three of the new year, not that I am really counting. But I'll use the neatness of the new calendar for a mini-reflection of my most recent healthy living performance...

Saturday Jan 1, Consuming 1,900+ calories is more than I should consume when leading my life in a healthy manner. Even on days where I bust out some meaningful exercise 1,900+ is not likely to result in a day of weight loss. I performed no exercise this day however. I'd like to keep it closer to a range between 1,500 & 1,800 daily. Looking at the nutrient breakdown my days intake was 50% carbs and 25% each fat & protein. Ideally I will cut the carbs in half and replace those calories primarily with lean proteins.

Sunday Jan 2, I did exercise today giving the elliptical a furious thrashing after finally fixing the thing. Ok, it thrashed me; I just didn't feel like walking out in the cold today. A better eating day than yesterday... At 1,800 calories and carbs closer to 40%, just a bit better not allot. We'll take it though and onward we go to the next day where the opportunity exists to be even better.

Monday Jan 3, TBD...

Yesterday I received many great comments on my weigh-in post; Thank You all who chimed in with encouraging words and thoughts. I would like to give a shout out to contributor who set my mind to thinking a bit deeper about all of this than I was.

Christine played this role of mentor for me this day and if you did not read her comments then today is your lucky day as I am copy/pasting them here for you to ponder too...

Okay Patrick. Remember the weight loss fundamentals that I think maybe you lost track of:
1.) Exercise does not equal weight loss. You can't exercise your way down the scale. Exercise is good and you should keep doing it, but it won't make you skinny.
2.) Watch your "empty carbs." If you are going to eat carbs, make sure they are from a real plant, such as a baked potato. Bread is not a plant.
3.) Watch your sugar intake.
4.) Eat lots of protein. If you get hungry, EAT! But eat protein.
5.) Don't shy away from "healthy fats" like nuts, avocado, fish, cheese. Just eat them in small portions (after all, they are high in calories). Just supplement these items with high-protein foods.
6.) EAT! Don't starve yourself because the scale is being mean to you. Eat regularly, just eat small meals.
I know that sounds like a lot, but it's all basic, fundamental stuff that you already know. Just re-evaluate what you're doing and get back on track! You can do this!!

All good stuff there, all I've heard before and agree with; Thanks Christine! I admit to not always keeping the basics in the forefront of my mind and adhering to them, obviously I have not over the holidays.

Hmm, what would happen if I did? I KNOW, I would get to create a post like THIS ONE and share it with all of you!

If you didn't 'watch' that post I linked in the last paragraph you are doing yourself an injustice; please watch it. And when you have and come back here and tell me...

Where are the basics at in your mind today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 243-249 Enjoying These Holidays

Hello Bloggers, Hope all have been doing well this December & Holiday season.

Myself I am having a blast thanks in very large part to being fitter and friskier than I have been in years. I've been having so much fun wrapping up things at work for the year, connecting with family & friends as the holidays near, and continuing to exercise and eat well. While I have gained a bunch of energy it seems I have struggled a bit with time management. But not in a bad way, simply I'm enjoying being active having fun so much that I've struggled to make time to sit down and do things like get my blogg'n on.

Twitter has seen allot more of my time the past few weeks that the blogs; so much easier to connect with folks when time is tight from the cell browser than blogs. For those of you that don't tweet I'm sorry to have been absent from you for a while. So what do I have to say today? Who knows, making this up as I go which is my norm. Let me share a few thoughts via photos...

As I have said I continue to get in the exercise and am eating well. Let me not mislead you though, while my eating has been well, but not phenonemal. Thus my weight loss has slowed to a crawl, but the scale still leans a bit more downward each time I step on which has only been about once every 10 days since the holiday season has started.

Exercise, still loving it even though the winter is here and messing around with my outdoor cardio. We have to find fun even in the cold and here is a bit of fun I saw along my walk the other day...

This snowman came complete with mini-guitar and it seems he had a band mate at one time who didn't cut it and was knocked over so this guy could go solo.

In recent years I have felt older than my actual age at times, these days I feel younger than my years...

And I choose to not get old anymore.

Last week my truck hit a milestone turning 140,000 miles...

Averaging about 20,000 a year and I'd like to get another 140,000 out of it if I can. Wishful thinking I am sure but with one kid entering college each of the next 4 years, I will do all I can to get as much life out of my truck as I can my own body.

This is just a reminder to myself to stretch more than I do...

Why I still don't respect the need to stretch as much as I should I do not know. If these ladies can do it, so can I!

While I have not always been healthy in my approach to my weight I have always been on my game in my approach to my dental health...

Here are my x-rays from yesterday's semi-annual exam & cleaning. Yep, those are fillings you see there. I think I have had 6 or 7 in my life. I didn't have any until I was 20 and that year I had 4!

And just because I like to have fun, you get to look at this...

Are you really surprised?

Have fun everyone; Have FUN!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 196 - OctGTD to NovGTD

Look at those geese. They are totally fearless, nothing disturbed them. Not even my presence. Do you think they somehow know I hunt deer and not birds? Yet, that is.

Big day today, party day for the six in the family (three that live under our roof) whom have birthdays in October. We'll have about twenty people in all grazing and drinking this afternoon. Good times, and, an afternoon of temptations.

October is all but done and that means the October Go The Distance challenge is winding down. For myself this challenge was to Walk/Jog 25 miles in October. I accomplished that with a weekend to spare. However, I feel I should've hit that goal at least a week ago. Having shared that thought with Robby (Fit Girl Vs World) she had a great counter thought, "I think it's an eye opener for a lot of people to see how much it takes to be consistent, to find the motivation, to do the work. I mean, try not to think of it as a finish line, but a launching point for other challenges."

She has an excellent attitude, even more excellent perspective. Fit Girl Vs World organized this challenge and her post HERE yesterday ask us participants to consider a few things as we wrap up. In appreciation for her fine challenge I've decided to dedicate those considerations to this post. Here are my thoughts...
How do you think you did over the course of the month?

• How do you think you did over the course of the month?
In a word; inconsistent. I accomplished roughly 1/2 my goal in the 1st week. From there I struggled to make the time to do the other 1/2 by month end.

• Did you overestimate or underestimate your capabilities? Why is this? Is this representative of a larger trend in your life?
Under; even though I got my mileage in by month end I know I had more miles in me. Why? I simply poorly planned for exercise time. Challenges, & anything goal worth attaining, deserve better planning rigor.

• Did you learn anything about yourself while doing this?
I learned, or validated, that I am capable of much more when I CHOOSE to go for it. I come away here believing that I need to either come up with a valid reason to not go for it, or, GO FOR IT.

• Can you apply what you've learned in #OctGTD somewhere else in your life?
Sure, we all have other aspects of our lives which need marked improvement. One such area for me is career planning. I've attained allot in my career, but, so much more is attainable and can be achieved soon if I put more rigor to going for it.

• Did you make any new friends through #OctGTD -- were you able to support each other?
Oh yes, especially through twitter & using the #OctGTD hashtag. I would not have met as many new fitness blog/tweeps had it not been for this.

• What was the hardest part of the challenge? (physical? mental/psychological?)
Hhmmm... I am going to say mental. It was purely my own mental 'greased-albatross-wrangling' which saw me barely achieve my goal versus exceed it. Physically, to walk/jog 25 miles for the month was not too difficult. Although when I set the goal I did think it would be more difficult as I was just starting to add jogging to my cardio mix.

• What do you think you did really well this month? (doesn't have to be about #OctGTD)
Follwoing through to see the goal was achieved. The old me would have seen my inconsistency and given up or cared less if I got to mile 25 by the deadline or a week late. My new 'determined commitment' saw to it that I succeed just as it has fueled my overall transformation for nearly 200 days.

• What do you think you could improve on? (again, doesn't have to be about #OctGTD)
Other than the previously stated plan to exercise better, I'll go with eating consistency. I've had some struggles this month eating very good day in and day out. More fair or even poor eating days in October than the previous five months.

• No matter the numbers you already entered, are you going to finish strong, or taper off?
I took up this challenge for added inspiration, a reminder if you will, to do the work needed to get healthy. Just because I have hit my #OctGTD challenge goal does not mean I have achieved good health. The need to keep going strong remains and actually never will end in my 'new' belief.

• Did you go the distance? And no, I don't mean did you hit 100% of your goal... did you put yourself out there and really try for it? Is 80% still something you can be proud of?
This answer is entwined in all of my above answers. In short; I left gas in the tank. But I am proud of myself, very proud. I shall not allow a moments negativity in my reflection here.

I'm ready for #NovGTD; are you?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 167 - Fun, Need More

Our picture riddle yesterday was fun for some good guesses. The most popular guess was the tassel rope/cord on a on a graduation cap. And that certainly was close, but not quite right. My fave guess was it being "polypropolene rope to keep my black silk shorts up during runs", thanks Ann :-)

Becky over at First Steps did get it right with her guess of "the gold honor cord I got to wear around my neck at graduation". The difference being that this was the honor cord I wore when I graduated, finally, in 2007. Thanks to all for playing and congrats Becky on nailing the answer. Good times.

The picture there is me on that day. It is actually a photo of a photo, our scanner died; hence the cruddy quality. Look at the face! Easily I am 310 if not much closer to 320 in that photo. Cheeks, chin, even my ears are fat! Not sure what exercise to do to slim the ear lobes. And the gown, it was huge. They had three sizes if I recall; Small, Large & Tent. So glad I have left the tent sizes and a chin or two in my wake recently.

Thursday was fun for me in many ways...

• Blogging, fun; so many of you posting up good news I can't get enough. I need more time to comment and draw even more inspiration from you. Oh, read a good one today here at The Right Fit.
• Twitter, fun; some of you connected up with me after yesterdays post and we got busy chattin up being healthy and goofing off a bit too. I had to let it be know to FatGirlvsWorld that the Giants will fall to the Bears Sunday night. She'll get over it.
• Work, fun; yes it was fun too. Someone tried to ruin my day with a project delay & I disarmed them with humor and understanding. Once the chip was off his shoulder we got the schedule re-set in a way that satisfied all.
• Eating, fun; I kicked butt keeping temptation at bay and chomping down on good quality choices. Well, um, maybe I did have a few too many beans in my salad.
• Exercise, fun; knocked that ball so far out of the park that it filed a flight plan with Captain Kirk. Or do you prefer Captain Picard? Sit ups, Push ups and walking. Then round two was a one mile walk/jog combo for time, the first time I timed such a combo; 15:14 minutes. So we'll use that as a benchmark to improve on going forward. This and Lake Andrea will be my personal challenges for the near future same as Stanton Hill was over the summer. Thanks Jody for giving me the inspiration to have such a personal challenge to keep exercise fresh, fun and meaningful.
• Family, fun; my wife is gorgeous, sexy and I can't keep my eyes off of her when she gets home. My daughter was accepted to her first choice of colleges and raked in a good size scholarship to boot. So now I wont have to sell as much plasma as I feared. My boys, well they didn't get in trouble yesterday so a thumbs up to them too.

October is here, I am having fun, and I want more!

What do you want more of?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!