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 171 - Fueled Up Simple

Let's give Tuesday a little love shall we.

Do you consider this to be the second or the third day of the week?

On Monday my eating was good and I did get in some cardio. While waiting for my sons soccer game to start I switched into my walking shoes and did three laps around the high school campus. Three laps in 45-50 minutes covering 3 miles.

Today I offer a simple picture of the simple foods I bring to work each day. Today it is a plum (huge one at that), a gala apple and a banana. Also my daily can of V8 and a bottle of water which I'll refill 2-4 times on any given day.

Simpler foods provide us with better fuel; is that a true statement? Oh I am sure there are some great articles out there that debate this into oblivion. Honestly I am not certain, but, if forced to pick true or false; my gut would have me say true.

As a hobby of sorts I love to get busy in the kitchen. Actually calling it a hobby is incorrect, instead it comes from a desire to eat food that tastes good. I didn't get to be obese eating food that tastes like the rubber end of a plunger.

Many of you know my joy for cooking from my occasional spread of photos of my work on the grill, the smoker or the stove. And believe me, I share only a small smattering of this pleasure here on the blog.

Whether I'm working on a meal that is an all day affair or a quick grab and go, I do try and keep the recipe as simple as can be and the ingredients even simpler. That paella recipe on the 'stove' link is about as complex as I like to take it. Oh I am not daunted by the complex, hardly. Rather my years have brought me to believe that food tastes better when approached & prepared simply. As well my recent mission to get healthy has me believing that the simpler the food itself, the better it is for you.

Agree, disagree? Huh, you want me to pass the Cheetos, now cut it out!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 141 - 43% Progress & Five-Oh'Yeah

A good morning to you all...

This morning was weigh-in day, and a it was great validation of all the hard work, mental & physical, I've put in over the past 4-1/2 months. The milestone hit today is just a number, but if you asked me 4-1/2 months ago if I'd have been able to hit it by the end of year, let alone in 141 days; I'd have said nope, not likely.

This morning I have lost 43% of the weight I have set out to lose.

That's 51.5 pounds lost over NINETEEN weeks; 2 of them this past week.

Today I weighed in at 268.5 pounds. Oh Yeah!

Yes, 50 is just a number. It represents what? Well, let's see...

• 50 less pounds to threaten my cardio-vascular health
• 50 more pounds of confidence to believe I can accomplish this mission
• 50 less pounds to inhibit my ability to do the exercise I need
• 50 more pounds of motivation to try things I thought myself incapable of 4-1/2 months prior
• 50 less pounds to have to explain when I get my annual physical
• 50 more pounds of energy to keep me off the couch and on task
• 50 less pounds to prevent me from getting on a roller coaster
• 50 more pounds of knowledge to put to use in getting healthier and healthier
• 50 less pounds to toss around as excuses for not living life as I wish I could
• 50 more pounds of blog followers who fuel me with the wisdom & respect of their own stories
• and I could go on...

So 50 is just number; and today it is my favorite number.

What is your favorite number today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 95 - Attitude Maturation (Food)

I've chatted up my recent exercise a good deal & I feel real good about it. The new PR's are nice, but those are just numbers really. The importance of them is not having set new PR's but rather the fact that I have gotten out there and not only exercised but pushed myself. That's the real PR, the fact that I have moved my butt one more time than I had before. Hey, I steal nothing; that attitude about PR's is one I learned from someone who has been with me my entire journey here & whom I respect; Kyle.

Oh I do talk about PR's like they mean the world to me perhaps, but know that I do so only to motivate myself. No matter how much I may talk of PR's understand I know that what matters is the exercise getting done - period!

Food, food is really what I want to talk about today. Others have done reviews of their changes in eating habits comparing their before meals to their after starting to get healthy meals. I think of this as more than just changing how you eat, but adopting a new attitude towards how you approach food as a whole. So now it is my turn, a reflection of my old attitude of food vs. my new attitude.

Breakfast @ 615 a.m...
OLD ATTITUDE: Apple Fritter & Sausage Biscuit
(Oh how I love apple fritters! Someday I will treat myself to one but no longer are they typical breakfast fare for me)

NEW ATTITUDE: Greek Yogurt w/ Fruit & dash of Granola
(I thought of this post idea right after breakfast, so I had to surf for a similar dish; this is quite close)

Snack @ 845 a.m...
OLD ATTITUDE: Snickers Bar
(I miss these; the best candy bar ever!)

NEW ATTITUDE: Carton of Skim Milk (Moo...)

Lunch @ 1145 a.m...
OLD ATTITUDE: Burrito, Rice & Refried Beans
(I like my refried beans triple refried, and I wondered for so long why I am obese)

NEW ATTITUDE: Garden Salad (salad bar) w/ Tuna (canned) & Sesame Oil

Snack @ 245 p.m...
OLD ATTITUDE: Rice Krispie Treat
(Perhaps the best 'tasting' energy bar sold in our cafeteria for a mid-afternoon boost to the finish line)

NEW ATTITUDE: Apple

Dinner @ 645 p.m...
OLD ATTITUDE: Steak & Potatoes

NEW ATTITUDE: Grilled Chicken Breast, Fried Rice w/ Veggies & Fruit Salad
(I forgot to take a picture of my actual dinner so I had to surf and whack a similar dish together)

Dessert @ 745 p.m...
OLD ATTITUDE: Ice Cream Cone

NEW ATTITUDE: Grapes
(When I have a dessert which is now rare) 

Tale of the Scale
OLD ATTITUDE: 4,200 calories (40% fat, 40% carbs, 20% protein)
NEW ATTITUDE: 1,700 calories (30% fat, 40% carbs, 30% protein)
(calculated using a FitDay account I use for reference when needed)

Huh? Would you look at that. I've said it a few times since starting my blog that I do not count calories and certainly not the energy breakdown. I did it just for this one post, and I am somewhat surprised at what I see there.

I would have thought my diet change would have seen my fat & carb intake drop and protein rise. I didn't expect to see carbs stay the same. Perspective, let me keep perspective. This is just one days eating, so I wont analyze this too much. I am eating more fruit than ever before so maybe that is why my carb intake is the same. Hopefully the carbs I am taking in are better than before. And I am eating better proteins so that should account for the rise in protein and drop in fat intake.

You can analyze the numbers until you have a brain freeze. The part of this comparison that takes just seconds to tag as cause for my losing weight is the calories themselves. Roughly 40% the caloric intake of the old gluttonous me, that is the core of my overall new food attitude which has me on my way here.

How is your attitude today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!