Day 215 - Getting Goofy Questions

Having lost some weight I get the joy of chatting about weight loss with people. Some want to know what I am doing, I am always willing to share; eating smarter and moving smarter. Others want to know my thoughts on what they themselves are doing; lord help them for asking my opinion. And some want to just argue, as long as they can take what they dish out; bring it on.

Along the way I have been asked some really goofy questions. Goofy meaning some are just silly, some are just asked in poor context they almost make no sense, and some are a blending of obvious and obnoxious. I thought you may enjoy pondering them just as I have. You may even choose to answer them, I can't say I always dignified each one with an answer when I was asked; but since I am tossing these out to all of you I shall at least comment on each if not answer just for you.

Q: How fast can you lose weight?
A: Um, honestly, instantly if need be; a quarter-pound drop is usually a trip to the bathroom away.

Q: How do you lose weight after pregnancy?
A: I have lost weight, not given birth; the difference should be fairly easy to see on a male I think.

Q: How are you going to lose your final 10 pounds?
A: A legitimate question, but I was asked after I made it known I have another 60 pounds I want to lose. I am just focused on the next 2 pounds, the next 10 at most has my attention. Those last 10 pounds, I don't know; Ex-lax muffins and coffee maybe?

Q: What would you estimate your current weight to be?
A: OK, seriously, I do work with allot of very smart people; so I can't explain how this actually rolled off someones lips. I replied, "The same as I did tomorrow". 

Q: How can you look thinner faster than you actually lose weight?
A: Oh lord, that's an easy one. But we all have to learn it from the master himself, Thornton Melon. If you don't know what I mean, rent Back To School, watch and you will be enlightened.

Q: Can you share some weight loss success stories?
A: Well, if you don't like my story currently in progress, sure. Go to http://responsibility199.blogspot.com/ and scan my blog roll.
I answered this question with that answer twice. Just last week the last person to ask was too impatient to do as suggested and asked for links to some of the better ones. Being the nice guy that I am, I shared these five. I don't like to pick favorites, I don't mean to because I am grateful for each and everyone of you I interact with. But in trying to help with this slightly goofy request I chose these five. They are currently in various stages of their own journeys to shed obesity once and for all and they intensely grab my attention...

• http://www.phoenixrevolution.net/
• http://almostgastricbypass.blogspot.com/
• http://annssmalljourney.blogspot.com/
• http://bbubblyb.blogspot.com/
• http://drfattyfindsfitness.blogspot.com/

Have you been asked any really goofy questions?

 

 
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 214 - Feeling Great Because

From R2D2's wife to a variety of lamp switches, as always no shortage of creative guesses at our picture riddle. Ann of Ann Is Livin' Large No More gave us two guesses, Her first was a "chrome-plated under-desk-mounted bourbon dispenser", which falls into the category of 'how cool would that be to have'. Her second was a "Liquid Soap Dispenser" which was correct. Well done!

There you see it, a Liquid Soap Dispenser. I took that picture last week while at my annual visit with my oncologist. It has been a bit more than nine years since I kicked the beast off me, or out of me if you prefer. This annual is an extension of my annual physical with my primary care doc with the added bonus of extra blood work up and extra poking & prodding. All in all very routine from year to year. However this visit comes after this summers brief dance with melanoma. He was surprised to hear that the spot on my my cheek he labeled 'nothing to worry about' a year ago was later diagnosed as as melanoma in situ. I could tell he was bothered by this, and maybe he should be. I chose not to make much hay out of it as the good news is it has been removed and I am feeling great.

How about you, are you feeling GREAT today?

If YES, why?

If NOT, why?

I am feeling great because I am healthier today than I was yesterday.
Because I am way more healthier than I was on April 17th of this year.
Because I have a gorgeous wife who I love dearly and kids that haven't worn me out yet.
Because I know how to be healthy and know I can do it.
Because I believe the Chicago Blackhawks are going to break out of their funk soon.
Because I look forward to exercising which is something I never thought would happen.
Because I get to go deer hunting this weekend.
Because I have come to know so many cool people through blogging my way to a healthier me.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 213 - Guess, Sweat n Bacon

Guess if you dare, or not. But today is picture riddle day. Some riddles are easy, some not so much, what about this one? Have fun! I'll get you the answer tomorrow, or maybe earlier.



Quick re-shout out for Kelly with this post which shows pictures of some of those who participated in her 5k this past Sunday. Lotsa sweatn going on there, take a look.

After I got back home from my 5k on Sunday I spent a few minutes catching my breath. Then it was off to get breakfast in as I was starving. My wife & daughter jumped in and whipped up some french toast for everyone...

And not just any french toast but creme brulee french toast. Stuff is awesome, but oh so not good for you. I ate a slice and felt guilty about it for most of the day. I was in the kitchen cooking too. With my sons help we got busy cooking up the venison bacon...

before cooking



after cooking

On Saturday my son & I went & picked up the venison we had processed from our October hunts. Here is what 97 pounds of venison bacon and 48 pounds of venison snack stix looks like...

Ok, now that I am all hungry for venison, I am going to eat my apple now. No venison on the menu today. I have the days eats planned out. Something I figured I needed to do a better job at to shore up my efforts here. So simple breakfast planned, fruit for snacks, lunch shall be a visit to the office cafe salad bar and tonight is pasta night w/ veggies. Will have to be careful at dinner, more veggies than pasta.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Responsibility 199, Gotta Do It!!

Day 212 - Judging My SEE

Today is day-1 of today's mission to be healthier, tomorrow will be day-1 of tomorrow's mission. That is what I posted to twitter this morning. It is true as cheese tastes better than chalk. Success yesterday doesn't bring with it a guarantee of success today. Yesterday's success does provide reason to believe you can succeed today, but not a guarantee.

In kicking off today's mission I am looking to the word judgement. This morning I sit here reflecting and judging myself, specifically my success over the past few weeks. Yes, I have made progress; but not at the pace I desire. In my reflection I believe that I can and should expect to achieve at my desired pace. The reasons I have not come from honest judgement of my actions.

In weighing the facts of my actions I honestly cannot find issue with exercise, I am getting that done. The bottom line is that my eating remain inconsistent. I write this at the risk of sounding like a broken KC and the Sunshine Band record; awful broken or not but terribly annoying to listen to broken as it skips the same line over and over.

It does no good to judge through the facts, and then not decide on a solution. And I have that, I stated it two weeks ago when the month started and I scripted how I will SEE November. In judging myself here I struck-through the lines on my plan where I have not executed consistently. I need to look no further than them for reason and solution. Here is that plan...

Set for November if a goal to Weigh-In on Nov. 30th (a special Tuesday w/i for me) at 249.5 or less. My scale reads in tenths, but I record in 1/2 pound increments and I round the tenths up to the next 1/2, so 249.6 will not cut it, 249.5 it must be.

Establish a plan could be as easy as just doing what I have been, here is my plan...

1. No Fast Food, Candy, or similar food as poor in quality
2. Exercise 5x week; 2x Cardio & 2x Strength & 1 Flexibility Workout (that will be new for me)
3. Drink 2 liters, or more, of water a day
4. Participate in #NovGTD, log my miles and tweet it up each day
5. Calorie intake will be no more that 2000 calories and carb controlled
6. Avoid inducing fasting response, eat 6x a day; 3meals and 3 snacks
7. Eat breakfast at home to avoid skipping it
8. Take fruit to work for snacks to avoid grabbing poor quality snacks at the office coffee shop
9. Every other lunch at work will be a visit to the salad bar which is a treat since it is a good one
10. Plan out evening meals to avoid creating last minute high-calorie dinners of convenience

Execute the plan.


I do not need a new plan.
I do not need to reinvent how to get healthy.
I do need to execute the plan I have.
I do need to remember that I know how to do this and I believe that I can achieve my goals at I desire pace.

Today is day-1 of today's mission to be healthier...

 

What is your plan for today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 211 - 53% Progress & 5K

Today's challenge was inspired by Kelly who I shouted out yesterday and invited others to join in as well. Her cause is a fine one, Kelly is running in a local 5K today to benefit and raise awareness for prostate cancer; which her father is battling.

There being no organized 5k's in my general area this day, I did it solo in the neighborhood on a course I have mapped out at 3.25 miles which is 5.23 K. I did mine as walk/jog combo, I jogged 1 of those miles in multiple segments from 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile. I did this in 46:25 minutes. Kelly asked for pictures of us sweating during our 5K's, well I sweat but not much. It was 37F out and windy, so wind chill below freezing. I sweat in nooks & crevices but will spare her & you those photos. Here is a trio of pics for her however; a before, during & after...

BEFORE taking off, brrr

DURING, right after the 1/2 way turn



AFTER, whew, outta my way - time to get inside!



Today I again register a mark of 53% pounds lost.

All totaled 64.5 pounds remains the amount I have lost in the past thirty weeks, 0 of those this past week.

Today I again weighed in at 255.5 pounds.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 210 - Quick Free Form

On the road this morning, busy day planned. Don't expect to be at PC until later this afternoon. I prefer to post my daily words in the early a.m. if I can. So I am typing this out on my blackberry while my son drives. I'll just free form some random thoughts here...

The picture there is one of my trio for my official 50% loss. I plan to get them up to my MY PROGRESS PICS page this weekend...

Exercised when I woke up this morning. Did my flexibility routine before knocking out 5 sets each of push & sit ups. I am hopeful to fit in a session on the home gym w/ my son later this afternoon or evening...

Tomorrow I plan to walk, maybe walk/jog combo, 3.1 miles for Kelly, http://www.kellyislosingweight.blogspot.com/ ... Hopefully a family member or two will join me too. A month or so back she put out a call for a 5K challenge to Jack Sh¤t for this Sunday. She also invited others to get in 5k where ever they can & the post pictures post-5K in all of our sweat covered glory. Visit her blog if you have never & join us if you can...

Eating yesterday was good, not great again, but good. Today it will be great!

Gotta run.

Responsibility 199, Gotta Do It!!

Day 209 - Simply, Got Purpose?

Back to health blogging after a two day break. These past two days I dedicated my thoughts to the USMC Birthday and Veterans Day respectively. While I am all about the "Me First" philosophy to being healthy and being our best in general, on days such as those I simply insist on placing less attention to me and more thought to them.

This week thus far has been a good one for exercise. Not great, but good. Have put in a couple of cardio sessions and one on the weights. For whatever reason I feel my weight sessions lately are lacking fire. The exception being the one at the YMCA this past Sunday. It simply could be I am bored with what I have been doing and need to shake it up not just a little but a good deal.

This week thus far has been another saga of inconsistency with the diet. Overall I have eaten good, but not great. My guard is not as high as it needs to be at present as I have been more open to temptation than I should. Saying that is simply frustrating because I am a simple guy, and discipline should be simple. Temptations are not good for you and thus should not be had; there for do just that and do not give in to them. A majority of the time I am A-Ok with that simplicity. But why not 99% of the time?

Note I purposely meant 99%, not 100%. No human can be 100% consistent with healthy eating day in and day out for a lifetime. And we ought not feel we need to be or try to be... 99% yes, 100% no; simply that's my opinion.

Therefore I repeat, why not 99% of the time? Something to ponder...

In quickly pondering this my mind quickly picks up on the word 'purpose'. Simply (I am 99% committed to over using that word today), simply what purpose does doing this serve? No, I am not asking what is the purpose behind my mission to get healthy. Rather, what is the purpose for doing what I am considering doing right now?

I believe in times of inconsistency that I am not asking myself that question, or any similar question, before I commit to action. Nope, just doing what is there to be done, whether it serves a purpose worth serving or not. So, the real challenge for me is not the act itself of eating something I shouldn't, or too much of a good thing, etc... rather the challenge is to simply check myself before I act. Simply before eating this or that ask myself "What purpose does eating this serve and is that purpose worthy to me."

Oh, the picture above. I have no picture at all that goes with the text of this post. Usually I do, today not at all. When such a predicament occurs, the only proper action is to simply post a cat picture.

I hope you enjoy this picture of Zinger as much as you enjoy your Friday!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!