Comments Not Posting

Followers,
I have received several emails notifying me that you have made comments to my Day 80, or other days, posts. Today for some reason no comments are posting at all. I have checked with Blogspot and there are a bunch of entries on the help site asking for help with this, so it is not just me and my blog that seems to be affected. That said, I have no idea when it will get better. Hopefully soon!

One way or another I will see that your comments get posted even if I have to copy/paste from the emails to a new post here.

So, keep commenting, this issue can't go on for long;fingers crossed!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 80 - Fab Sugar Doll Award

Oh Yeah!- someone has blessed me with an award...

Michelle honored me with The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award yesterday - Thanks Michelle!

Now I have been called many things in my days, yes - including Sugar and I think even Doll once. But, I don't believe I have ever been thought of as a Sugar Doll. I am not sure I know what a Sugar Doll is. As they say, there is a first time for everything.

This is my third blog award and I am grateful to have received it. Blogging is something I find quite enjoyable and sharing the ups & downs of our missions to get healthy, learning from each other and helping each other, I not only find all of it enjoyable but I consider an important indredient of my recipe to getting healthier. It is the people that I blog with that keep me coming back each day.

This award has some rules to follow so follow them I shall...

Rule #1… I have to link back to the giver, which I have done above, thanks again Michelle.

Rule #2... You have to list 10 little known things about me. OK, I can do that. I may have to give a bit of thought to come up with 10. With the Beautiful Blogger award I had to come up with 7 so I don't want to give you any duplicates. Here are my 10 for this award...
1... My first job was as a dishwasher at the Golden Bear restaurant; this was back in 1981 when I was 16. I would later be promoted to cook and then demoted to bus-boy.

2... I once ate 52 ribs in a single all-u-can-eat sitting at Sizzler, 1982 with my friend Mo who ate even more than I did.

3… I had the game winning rbi in the final game of the season to clinch our little league team a spot in the playoffs, 1978. I got to second base looked back to the bench and saw the entire team rushing out to me in celebration; I had no idea what I had done until I saw them coming at me.

4... My first day of kindergarten was not good, 1969. First I cried and cried when mom dropped me off and I realized she was leaving me there. And then some kid took the toy car I was playing with and wouldn't give it back! Jerk - I wonder how his life has turned out?

5… As I young teenager I had a crush on Kristy McNichol of the TV show 'Family'.

6... I prefer black licorice over red.

7... I can't dance, not even a bit. Saying I could dance even a little bit would be an over statement and an insult to people that actually can dance a little bit.

8... Harold Ramis once had the honor of relieving himself in the urinal next to the one I was using. No, I didn't ask him for his autograph.

9... I don't get neck ties, I mean I don't understand the concept behind why it ever became fashionable for men to drape a strip of cloth from their neck and down their chest & abdomen.

10... Boxers

Rule #3… When you receive/accept this award you must then pass the award on to 5 other blogs. Just 5; well I can do that but which 5 is tough, so many here deserve recognition for their blogging. In no particular order...
Here are three lady-bloggers I am honoring...
Karen
Patsy
Anne

Here are two gentlemen-bloggers I am honoring...
Kyle
Clyde

I don't think any of them have received this award, I didn't see it posted on their blogs. But if I was wrong and you have it already let me know and I will award to another.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 79 - Water Rules

Good Morning everybody. I hope your 4th of July festivities were not so grand that you find yourself hungover and flat today. Myself I only drank a couple beers so no hangover but I am a bit flat. Just a day of lower quality food overall has me feeling heavy and slow today. No regrets, holiday fun, family good times.

I need to go out and get a walk in, that should fix this my mood and set me on track for the week ahead. But before I do so I have one discussion item I'd like to share. Olena over at Weight loss-victory program, check out her site if you haven't as she has some fun & cool photos of what she does with food; the photo here on my blog is from her latest post.

Last week she shared this thought with me in an exchange over at Weight Loss Bloggers recently, "Consider this rule: if you want to lose weight, drink water 30-40 min before the meal. If you want to gain, drink water with your meal; drinking within 30 min after eating, your weight will remain the same."

Hmm, what do you think, is this an accurate expectation of using water in your diet? On one hand it does seem to make some sense. On the other hand I do drink water with my meals and so hope that part is not quite right. Myself I try and drink 2 liters a day throughout the day and don't usually try and drink a  full glass before meals but as I said I do drink during meals and likely get a glass or two down as I eat dinner.

My guess it the facts have more to do with how much water you drink and when. Drinking too much water must have something to do with retaining water, thus weight. And I've heard that if your food intake is overly salty then you can expect to retain water even more. True or not, I am not sure, but I perhaps it all goes along with the general rule that anything in excess is not good.

OK, off I go for a walk and some healthy ways today; have a great day everyone.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 78 - 30% Progress & Happy 4th!!!!

I will be brief because today is not a day to talk about myself. But it just happens to also be weigh-in day so I must share the news. My goal for today's weigh-in was 286.

As of today, the 78th day of my mission, I've now lost 30% of the weight I want to lose. Which means I have dropped 36 pounds in the past ELEVEN weeks; 3.5 of them this past week. Today I weighed in at 284 pounds.

That deserves an Oh Yeah! It also deserves a Thank You to all of you, my blogger friends. I cannot say enough how much your words of wisdom have increased my knowledge and inspired my efforts. Long way to go, but I really don't think I'd have made this sort of progress in 78 days without you.

So again, Thank You!

Happy 4th of July- Click HERE for the rest of what I have to share with you this day :-)

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 77 - Getting Some

Weekend time everyone! A holiday weekend for us here in the USA...

What plans do you have?

This past week I picked up an NSV I've been meaning to share. Actually I did list it on the left hand side bar of my blog but didn't fit into a post until now. This past Tuesday morning I was walking through the hallways at work and came up on a colleague who said, "Hi Patrick, Hey, have you lost weight?" Being asked if you have lost weight, that is an NSV if I have ever heard one.

This past Thursday I got serious with this post, day-75-concentrate-on-this, where I suggested we can get greater performance via greater concentration.

Yesterday I put that to the test again when I went out for an early morning walk around the 2-mile loop in our neighborhood. Like the walk Wednesday, I concentrated today as I explained then. I hit the turn-around which is exactly 1 mile out from the house at 17:01, which was better than my previous best of 17:09, but I didn't know the time at the turn. I hit the button on my iPod which saved the first lap time and didn't take a moment to see the time itself. Why, I was concentrating on the walk. I had to break concentration to hit the button so I did, but that's it. Chug a lug I went on through the second lap back home. My previous best for this loop was 35:12, I finished in 33:51 today;smashing that PR. Also do the math, the 2nd mile was in 16:49...personal records for walking a mile and for that loop.

In the afternoon yesterday my son asked for a ride to a friends house. Sure, and off we went. I didn't know where we were going but we got there and dropped him off soon enough. Hmm, what do you know, it is right next to Stanton School which is where Stanton Hill is. I worked out on this hill once last weekend when Kyle challenged us and I spoke of that work out here; day-72-whos-got-two-thumbs. That was a tough workout, my heart rate really gets going on that hill. I hadn't expected to go back there so soon for another 30 minute go at how many times I could go up and down it. However after dropping of my son I realized had nothing better to, the hill was right there, and I was dressed in clothes suitable for a workout; I decided why not. Away I went; up - down and so on for 30 minutes. Concentrating on stride, walking straight and looking forward vs. down at the ground. Thirty minutes later I did 17 trips up and down, bettering the previous effort by one, personal record!

Oh Yeah, I was getting some yesterday! For dinner I celebrated with what you see there in the picture; Almond Crusted Trout, Green Beans & Wild Rice. Nope, I didn't cook it, It was from the Friday specials menu at Moretti's where I took the family for dinner.

Have a Great weekend everyone!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 76 - Low-Key Friday

The holiday weekend is upon us and a low-key Friday is on tap for me. So before I go for a walk I sit here pondering completely random oddities...

Will McDonald's ever sell hotdogs and if so what would the call it? Have to be careful with this one...Mc Frank? Big Dog?

Last time I went bowling the guy in the next lane would throw the ball & then sway his throwing arm back and forth like crazy. Did he really think this was going to help his bowling ball hit the mark? Or did up his cool factor considering he was wearing shocking purple and yellow bowling shoes?

I have two bottles of ketchup in our refrigerator; can someone please tell me the difference between normal ketchup and fancy ketchup?

As I kid I watched the Lone Ranger. Yet nobody could answer my question as to why he was 'Lone' when Tonto was always with him?

Weathermen think they are funny; partly cloudy and partly sunny are different how?

I ain't 'fraid of no ghosts - they walk through walls yet they don't fall through the floor and we're supposed to believe they are real?

How easily we are sold to; we go nuts for anything "new" AND "improved"? If it's new, how is it improved?

And just how fast do hotcakes sell anyhow?

Hawaii has interstate highways, I suppose that was government officials thinking ahead just in case a hurricane picks up the islands and slams them into California?

Do Chinese & Japanese people get English letters tattooed on their bodies? I'm thinking a letter 'Z' would be so rad!

And speaking of the Chinese, for a formal dinner what do people in China call the good dishes they set out?

How about you, what are you pondering today?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 75 - Concentrate On This

Warning, I may be getting in over my skis here with this post, but my mind is here so here it goes. In pondering my performance (not progress) the past few days I have asked myself some questions which I'd like to share with you. Perhaps you'd like to consider them as well, your choice.

 1. Assuming I do have the capacity to perform at GREATER levels, how can I?

Operative word; GREATER. We all have bad days. Myself, yep I have them but on average during the past 75 days I've had mostly good days and some very good. On good days I eat well, I exercise, and I end they day feeling successful. But, was I really successful? Could I have eaten even greater? Could I have walked faster or longer, or lifted weights with greater form or weight? It would seem the obvious answer is YES. OK, if YES, then why don't I? Why do we settle for good and not something greater?

The real question there was "...how can I? I'll short cut my own self analysis and jump to a potential answer; my degree of concentration. What do I mean? For example when I am walking and finish 2 miles in 40 minutes that is good. But why not 39? What did I concentrate on during the walk? Was it the pain, or how much further I have to go or some other distraction that isn't key to walking with greater result? What if I had concentrated on my stride mechanics, or my breathing, or where my head & eyes are set? Would I have had a faster walk and / or one that may have been greater in quality e.g. burned more calories or strengthened my muscles more?

Another example for eating this time; it is lunch time at the office cafeteria and I know I need to eat. I choose a reasonably healthy salad and put a bit of dressing and other toppings on it, it was 500 calories and 45% fat thanks to the add-ons. Why didn't I make a 500 / 30 salad, or a 400 / 25; something with greater balance being my point? Was I concentrating on what I wanted to eat vs. what I ought to be eating? Perhaps I chose the salad bar because it simply was the shortest line compared to the fish line which was 10 deep. What if I had concentrated on each ingredient and its impact to overall portion & balance of the meal, or pre-thought about what lunch should be considering the breakfast & snacks I ate earlier today? Would I have eaten a meal that was greater in quality for fueling my mind & body?

Again, I warned you, this post is more serious or deeper than my usual...

There is a 'mental' aspect to being healthy, many here have acknowledged getting our mind set as a key to health success. A better attitude, a new confidence, greater knowledge; just some characteristics of a healthy mental approach.

Yet those seem obvious for transforming the old me into the new, for taking those first steps, for tasting some success. Which makes me ask, does the obvious gets us just so far? Perhaps the obvious is good for getting us to that first dreaded plateau where we flounder wondering what is wrong; why did the progress slow or stop?

Could GREATER concentration be the answer to GREATER performance? Again, that sounds too obvious, too simple; right? It probably does, but what is wrong with simple revelations? OK, I didn't just keyboard hunt & peck all those words to end by telling you, or myself, the obvious. Nope, I'm not convinced it is simple especially for the beginner to getting healthy from a non-healthy state.

Yesterday I put concentration to the test. My son & I walked my favorite 2.25 Mile Lake Andrea Loop. We walked it a week ago too and I posted my results and thoughts on how could we possibly ever walk it any faster, that post is here: day-68-acronym-love

Last week we walked that loop in 40:11 minutes and when we finished I had doubts we could do much better if at all. This week I wanted to challenge myself as to why I couldn't post an even greater number. Not just a second or two, but shave 10 or 15 seconds off that time.

I had come to the theory this week that if I concentrated more on what I was doing while walking that I could. So off we went. Form, I concentrated on picking up my knees and setting them down fluidly; not my usual slinging of legs forward one after the other. Rhythm, I got my arms into the act as synchronized pendulums setting cadence; not my usual hanging and flailing alongside for the ride. Vision, I held my chin up and looked straight ahead picking a target and walking directly towards it; not my usual zig zag of the paths width. 

Don't get me wrong, my concentration was not 100% dialed in for this entire walk. There was the good looking girl that jogged passed whom my son had to tug on my shirt for to be sure I didn't miss her. There was the fisherman who caught a fish just as we were abreast of him, oh it was a nice one. I'm not a robot, my concentration was not absolute; but it was far greater than any effort previous on this loop.

And for that we completed the journey in 38:10 minutes, shattering my desired 10 or 15 seconds improvement goal. Needless to say I was elated, proud, and inspired to wonder just what else can I do even greater if I were to just concentrate?

OK, I know I said I had 'some' questions but I'll stop here with just that one for now otherwise this post will grow much much longer and it is already way longer than the length I like to keep my posts at.

Final thought, that is my son Andrew in the picture. Before we started I told him I wanted us to concentrate on beating our previous time. Being the smart wonder that he is, he struck the pose you see there which I had him hold long enough to take the picture.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!