Day 195 - Depend On Me

Continuing on the fashion show here, today I bring you this marvelous blue checkered short with tan'ish trousers. I have no idea if they are tan, or beige or whatever. Sort of like when you buy paint, it looks tan on on the paint chip card but the real name is Grand Bagel Delight - WTH is with that? Why do I have to be tempted with hunger while shopping for paint?! Oops, sorry, I got off topic. So anyhow, there is another new clothes picture for you.

Yesterday after work my wife & I decided to meet at Target to do some grocery & party shopping for the weekend. I arrived a good 30 minutes before she did so I decided to wander the store for a bit and saw a few items that I haven't purchased in years but brought back memories...

Silly Putty, this stiff was in my Christmas stocking every year. And like most stocking stuffers it was played with for 10 minutes at most before joining the rest of the small toys in the bottom of the large toy box. But for those 10 minutes my favorite thing to do with silly putty was rip off small chunks, pat my sister on the head leaving them in her hair...

Baseball cards, I owned thousands of these. I recall they cost about 25-cents for a pack of 12 or 15 cards. My mom wall papered a wall in my bedroom with several hundred, that was cool! This pack is $2.99 for 4 cards, yikes; not cool!...

Allow me to day how much I really do believe in today's word; Dependability. What does this word mean to you? Performing as required, that is what it means to me. Yes, a bit of Marine is coming though in me in that meaning...

When we think of dependability we usually think of it in the context of others we rely on being dependable. How often do we have those same thoughts focused back on ourselves?

Who is the primary person we have to depend on to get healthy? Simple question, right? It is ourselves. Your success is dependent upon your ability to perform as required.

Believing that as I do, is very comforting to me. I am most at ease when I am in control of myself. When my fate is not in my control, not only am I not at ease but I am not at my best.

Please don't get me wrong, we need help, we need others to stand arm-in-arm with in our mission. But if we can't depend first on ourselves then we ought not expect others to make being-healthy happen for us. It just doesn't work that way in personal health & fitness.

Responsibility 199, Gotta Do It!!

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!!

Day 193 - Rewards Rock, But

GO, that is my word for the day. I am not at work this morning, so no fancy white board. Just cheap ball point pen to scrap paper. No picture of new clothes today either. I just got back from a 2 mile walk/jog combo where I posted a new PR at 29:03 minutes. So you see me in my cheap workout shirt trying to get this post put together so I get on to eating some breakfast and a take a shower...

Where do you want to GO today?

Rewards rock! And they certainly can help motivate, they do for me. But those of us that use rewards for attaining milestones must keep rewards in perspective. The rewards are not meant to be the primary, or even secondary, reason we strive to get healthy.

Rewards are simply carrots we dangle to help us alongside the real reasons we do this. For everyone our real reasons are different and most of us have shared them from time to time with each other. If I were to hazard a guess, and I shall; a guess at the commonality amongst all of our real reasons I would say longevity & happiness may be the big two. Fitting into smaller stuff may be a close third :-)

For my 40% to goal weight reward it took me a couple months to cash in that reward. Simply I debated whether I really needed the hitch-haul I had originally set out for that goal. Mixed into that self-argument was the looming reality that I needed a whole new set of work clothes. As I shared last week my wife ended my internal argument for me and took me shopping, so new clothes it was. I Love My Wife!

For my 50% to goal weight reward it took me a couple days to cash in. There it is below, my new hunting rifle. Bought it on Sunday, the day I verified I had eclipsed the 50% mark. Illinois has a 1-day waiting period before you can pick up purchased rifles yet it took me two days to get back to the store to bring it home. For any fellow hunting or shooting enthusiasts out there I picked out a Savage Arms 7MM Rem Mag Rifle w/3-9x40MM Scope.

Now on towards the 60% milestone which I hope to attain by end of year at the latest. 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 192 - Bacon & Belts

Yesterday was a good day, woke up early and hit the weights for an hour before work. Salads for both lunch (with tofu & egg) & dinner (with venison medallions). Looking for some even more good today.

Today's word is STRIVE. Striving for a day that is as near perfection as I can deliver. Perfection is impossible in my mind, we are human and not capable of it. But we can come very close and when we do, we succeed.

In yesterdays post I failed to mention a cool NSV. Last May, about 1 month after I started this mission, my wife & I went to game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. We also went this past weekend. In the nearly 5 months between the two events I've accomplished the ability to sit in that seat without smushing my hips against the armrest & I can cross my legs comfortably. I am giving that an Oh yeah!


Deb over at Deb Shrinks (who I also gave a shout out to this past Sunday) was first to guess yesterdays picture riddle correctly; a safe. I wasn't sure if I gave away too much of the safe door in the photo, but, then I never know how much is too much in so many aspects of life. Several others later guessed similar. Hmmm, I need to find a real doozy for the next time. Um, is doozy a real word? 

From our 2 deer we harvested the backstraps & tenderloins, the rest is being made into 48 lbs of sausage-stix (like slim-jims) & 97 lbs of bacon. My wife thinks I am nuts (out right ROFLAO nuts)  for having so much of it made that way. Then last night the garage door repairman came by to do his job. Thirty minutes of manly hunting talk later he took a check to cover the cost of parts & 10 pounds of bacon as payment for his labor. Nuts huh :-)

When was the last time you bartered for something?

New clothing that was made possible when I notched 40% of my goal.

Yes, long-sleeve shirt weather is here.

Belt, new belt - but how long before I have to take a punch to this one?

It came with 7 holes, and I am using hole 5, so just 2 more to shrink into.

The belt a size smaller would have had me using hole 1 but the tip wouldn't reach under the loop, odd.

I sound like a fashion driven socialite and I am so the opposite, too funny.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 189 - Got New Clothes

Enough is enough, a phrase that applies in oh so many ways to life. Certainly being obese itself has that day dawn where we stand up, or stay seated, and say enough is enough! And those of us who are parents can agree we regularly take a child aside and demand, enough is enough!

Well yesterday was an enough is enough moment for me, enacted by my wife (pictured to left) and fueled by my own lack of action to get new clothes that fit my lessor sized me better. Yep, she took me clothes shopping after work.

Now I've never cashed in my reward for achieving 40% of my weight loss goal. A combination of never finding the hitch-haul I wanted on sale and a realization I may not actually need one. So this enough is enough event was also made possible by allowing myself to accept it by making it my long-ago earned 40% reward. Oh who am I kidding, she would have taken me shopping irregardless of my delay to reward myself.

My work wardrobe used to consist of trousers with tightly fitting 46" waistlines and 3XL shirts which fit as needed in the gut but tended to be baggyish in the chest. Being apple shaped its always been hard to find shirts which were cut well for me in both gut & chest. Well no, finding such a shirt was a dream and rare find to be honest.

Now that wardrobe has been replaced with comfortably fitting trousers that are 42" in the waist and 2XL shirts that fit well and have me less conscious about that gut to chest differential. There you see me checking out one such shirt. Like?

Have you rewarded yourself lately for your accomplishments?


Have a wondrously awesome weekend!



Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 186 - NSV's in October

October is just flying by here, isn't it? Before you know it Halloween will be here. My wife already has candy at the ready. Last year I would have eaten a bag of it by now and forced her to have to buy more. not this year, no way!

My boy Andrew turns 17 this week; Happy Birthday son!


Our immediate & extended family has six birthday's in all in October. My brother-in-law Scott turned 49 earlier this month. And both of my wife's parents had birthday's earlier this month as well. Two more of our kids have them later in the month. So more happy birthday posts to come.
This week I have NSV's to share, well look to the picture for a pair of them...

First, that shirt there has been in my closet for 2 if not 3 years. A month or so back it was still too snug for my liking. Today I am wearing it with a new pair of slacks my wife bought me. She bought me 3 new pairs of 42's this past weekend. This pair of slacks is 'olive' in color and I couldn't find a shirt to go with it, that is what prompted me to try this one on and see if I were ready for it. How about that, this morning it fit just fine; maybe still a wee-bit snug. It felt good so today is it's maiden voyage.

Second, two more holes have been punched in my belt this week. Yes, I still have not purchased a new belt. Likely a new belt is in my near future as my wife is getting tired of seeing me 'play' with this one. The good news for this old belt, in addition to having punched 7 holes in it since April; it now wraps far enough around on my left side for the tip to go under the belt loop over there. There you see me holding the belt at its tip; thus the good news is that I don't need to use the double-sided tape anymore to keep it from flapping about.

What is your latest NSV? Come on, I know you've had one or more you may have neglected to share with the class...

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 136 - Tagged I Am

Excellent day yesterday at the eating and at the exercise. Balance, portion and yum all accounted for well. The dumbbell routine thrashed my upper body quite well as did the push ups. Sit ups too, it was just over a week ago I re-discovered my ability to even do sit ups once again. Now five sets of them are part of my exercise routine. So good day yesterday on the getting healthy front. How about you, was yesterday a good health day for you?

Before I forget, the answer to yesterday's picture riddle; a Strawberry Smoothie!

Jo was the first to guess a smoothie, Lori followed her up with the exact flavor of strawberry. I was afraid that was going to be too easy yet when guesses like cheese, meats, tile and a baseball bat started rolling in I backed off of that fear. And LEGS, a bunch of guesses it was a leg, this I didn't expect and got a great chuckle from, fun! Ok, whose ready for a smoothie?

Let's keep the fun a rollin here; Rapunzel has tagged me which requires me to answer 8 questions about myself then make up 8 new questions to tag 8 of you with! Without further delay here are the 8 she gave to me...

1. What is the biggest change you've made that's helped you succeed in your weight loss efforts?
A: On my blog I have listed 8 changes which I have committed myself to, it is hard to say which is the biggest impacting change. If pressed to choose one, #4 Reward Myself For Success. For me I've come to embrace that being healthy has to be fun, you have to enjoy it if you expect to be healthy for a life time. Rewarding myself when I attain goals I've set, now that is FUN!

2. What's your toughest temptation?
A: BACON!!! I love it, I would wrap myself in it if I didn't think I'd be tossed in a straight-jacket. I still enjoy bacon, but a slice or two a week is all. Not 1/2 pound in a single sitting.

3. What program are you following? (WW, South Beach, etc)
A: None. Eating healthy & exercising, it is just that simple. I do try and keep bad carbs in check, but it would be wrong to say I am on a low carb diet. I've come to learn when you have a food addiction living healthy in spite of it is all about being mentally strong. The program, or non-program, you choose is irrelevant until you have set your mind straight that you are going to get healthy. Not just try & do it, nope, that you ARE going to DO IT. Once your mind is set, then figure how how you want to do it and it will happen.

4. Who has been your biggest fan and supporter?
A: My wife. She knows how important this is to me, to us. Even though she knows that my getting healthy means I will be around allot longer, she still wants me to do it :-)

5. Any naysayers who've attempted to sabotage your efforts?
A: Not really. I read that some bloggers get emails from other bloggers criticizing them for this or that. I have had none of that. I may be my biggest naysayer. Even though I am more confident & positive than I ever have been about being healthy, I still have a daily episode where I tempt myself to have just one trip through the drive thru or order the 20 ounce rib eye just this once. While one of anything may really be ok, luckily I have not listened to the argument because I fear one will turn to two, then three, and then I may as well forget it. Me, only I can sabotage this mission.

6. Do you have a favorite "legal" food that helps keep you on track?
A: Fruit. I have never eaten so much fruit. Fruit has replaced most of my snacks. And I believe you have to have between meal snacks; at least I do. So apples now replace potato chips. Peaches replace candy bars. Grapes & Cherries replace donuts & fritters (OMG I miss fritters). You get the picture - eat your fruit people!

7. How do you see your life changing once you reach goal?
A: See my bucket list on my blog under the page titled: "MYSELF". I will actually be able to do all of that. ALL of it. At 320 pounds (where I started this mission) it was a pipe-dream list. When I get to 199 or below it will be a list of stuff that will be done; whether that stuff wants me doing it or not - I am doing it!

8. What's your dream outfit once you get to goal? You know we all have one! :)
A: Come on Rapunzel, you can't gather this on your own, you have to ask? The swim suit worn in the movie Borat of course! Seriously, I have never ever ever, no way have I ever, never have I felt comfortable in a suit. My hope is that by being fit, I can get a new tailored suit and feel good in it. Not that I'd wear it often, but when I need to, knowing I can feel good in it would be oh so nice.

Ok, here are the 8 Bloggers I would like to TAG next...

1. Dee
2. toosexy4thisfat
3. Blue
4. Keelie
5. River
6. Kyle
7. Michael
8. Luke

Here are your 8 questions, enjoy & be sure to tag other...

1. You can have one super power, what would it be?
2. Which do you see as more important, diet or exercise?
3. If we're forced to become vegetarians by law could you do so or would you frequent the black market for meat?
4. Do you consider the word 'Obese' to be a proper word to define those extremely over-weight, or do you consider it to be improper if not a hateful word?
5. Do you believe that Elvis died on August 16, 1977 or was his death a conspiracy cover up?
6. How much water do you drink a day and do you agree that water intake of 8 glasses a day or more is critical to a healthy body?
7. Aliens have invaded earth and landed a mile from your house, do you run for the hills, do you grab a weapon & charge, or do you try and communicate with them?
8. Is your current approach to getting healthy an approach you consider to be fun and can you do it for the rest of your life? 

Have Fun!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 134 - 41% Progress

Got in another cardio workout on Saturday. A return to the Junior High soccer field for some more 80 yard sprints. Last weekend my first attempt saw me do ten sprints before calling it a workout, this attempt I did a dozen. My fastest sprint was 20 seconds, a second better than my best spring a week ago. I may have pushed it a bit further than wise as my left thigh was not too happy with me afterwards. I stretched it out good afterwards and it felt better, no big deal; just need to stretch more beforehand is my guess.

Had a pair of cool NSV's yesterday...

We are going to a wedding this coming Friday. My wife asked if I was going to get a new pair of trousers since the ones I wear now are so baggy. I wasn't going to but she seemed to want me to so we did just that.

For the better part of a decade I've been wearing 46's. If honest with myself I should have been wearing 48's or 50's perhaps the past year or so as my 46's have been tight tight tight. I grabbed a pair of 44's to take to the dressing room and my wife suggested I try 42's. Not necessary I thought but I grabbed them any way and off I went to the dressing room.

The first thing I tried on was a 2XL t-shirt I grabbed before making my way over to the trousers. Before I started this mission I wore exclusively 3XL's which fit me. Not all would fit when I tried them on, just some. Had I been willing to buy 4XL's I'd have had more options in recent years, but, for whatever reason buying 4XL's was something I was not going to do until I needed to.

Huh? Can you believe that!? Attitude, that was my old attitude, that someday I would have to buy 4XL's and when that day came so be it, but not before. Thinking back at that attitude both boils my Irish blood and tickles my Irish bum.

The 2XL t-shirt fit great and the many old 2XL t-shirts I've had shoved to the back of my dresser drawers have been replaced the 3XL's for use now as I can wear any 2XL I touch comfortably now.

Back to the trousers, I started with trying on the 42's. Now I should have known my wife would be right, silly me. I never even tried on the 44's, just took the t-shirt & the 42's and checked out.

So chalk these up on the NSV list...
>Buying new trousers in size 42, down from 46's.
>Saying goodbye to having to buy 3XL shirts & hello to 2XL

The numbers for this weigh in areas follows: I weigh 41% less than the day I started this mission.

Thus, 49.5 pounds have been lost in the past EIGHTEEN weeks; 2 of them this past week.

Today I weighed in at 270.5 pounds. Oh Yeah!

Cool - the 40% mark has been achieved! The 50 pound mark, missed it by that much; holding thumb & fore finger a 1/2 inch apart representing that 1/2 pound shy I am of that mark. Needless to say, I am quite please with this past week.

Enjoy your Sunday, have fun & be healthy!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!