Day 118 - We Win When

Yesterday Christine asked me this; "So, um....what are you doing this week to ensure that when you step on the scale on Sunday that you'll see a loss? Because you came out even last week, right?"

Now that is what I call great; friends holding friends accountable. Thanks Christine. And to answer your question, here is what I have been doing…

Exercised on Tuesday & Thursday. Tuesday was the mosquito walk I blogged about and yesterday was a lunch time walk. Both about 2 miles. Accountability consideration; not enough. Argh, it is true, just that plain too; not enough. More cardio will be had today & tomorrow and a stint with the dumbbells will be had too - promise!

Food has been good this week, not great and not bad. I have found that I am being tempted more and pondering giving into to temptation more as of late. Not sure why, perhaps all of the change influences I blogged about yesterday. Really I don't want to ponder that too much as it feels like I am searching for excuses.

Certainly I have no excuse for any giving in to temptation of which I can cite two instances this week. Our team at work went out earlier this week to welcome a new hire to the team, and beer & pizza was everywhere which I did dabble in. I didn't dive into it as I would have in the days of old, but, if honest I dabbled more than one who is looking to drop pounds ought to have. The other was whipping up some homemade Mac N Cheese for the wife & kids for dinner, I think it was Monday, and then having that as my dinner too. Lately when doing something like that for them I've usually whipped up a salad for myself. That night we had no salad fixings in the house, so I had a small bowl of that sinful nonsense. Weak, that was just weak of me!!

Yesterday, thanks to Christine's poking me accountability nerve early in the day, I decided to make it a two'fer. I had two salads yesterday, one for lunch and dinner each. Would have been bad if I had two for lunch or two for dinner, no? The picture up above there, that is lunch. The one below here, that was dinner. I love mozzarella & tomatoes, a near perfect pairing if I ever tasted one.

Today will be just as good as yesterday I am certain. Um, no, it will be better; why not?

It is reflection like this that makes the difference in the success of a mission. It is people like Christine asking one simple & direct question that make the difference. It is that which will make the difference this time around which we all seek, I know I seek it.

This reflection has inspired me to title today's post, "We Win When"

We Win When - We blog, when we share our successes & struggles. We all need help, knowledge, accountability & an avenue to vent. Blogging gives us that and we get more of what we need when we give & take with those we follow.

We Win When - We say immediately say No to temptation & then say Yes to a better choice. Saying No should not be negative, it should not leave you feeling left out or punished. It should in fact feel good & empower you further. Following each No with a Yes enables that.

We Win When - We have fun with the changes we are making to our eating and exercise habits. Forcing ourselves to eat food we despise or perform exercises we dread or are not yet capable of doing, there is no fun there. Find the healthy choices that you can call fun, and have at them.

We Win When - _____________________________

You fill in the blank, We Win When ?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 117 - Back To Why

Source

Change is on the doorstep. Actually it is challenge that is here. Likely these or similar are appearing on your doorstep too...

• School starts next week for the kids; the one year all four will be in high school. The kids sports schedules are already picking up with try outs & practices and soon enough games.
• As noted yesterday the daylight hours are shortening noticeably now too.
• My plate at work has never been fuller; many new and more complex systems to usher from ideas to reality than ever.
• And there are other challenges dawning here as the summer inches closer to autumn.

In past years, these would be the paramount excuses I'd lean on for continuing onward with an obese lifestyle. They are the things that take time, drain the mental tanks, and zap the will make time to attend to yourself.

This however, is 2010. And there are other changes, challenges, I've introduced on my own...

• Exercise
• Blog
• Eat healthy
• Blog
• Plan ahead
• Blog
• Reward myself
• And I Blog 

These are the reasons I will not return to accepting being obese no matter what challenges appear.

When I started this blog I took to though and scribbled out a short list of reasons for accepting this mission. I documented them here, take a peak if you like...
What I Dislike and Don't Want…

Today, in realizing that challenges are appearing, I believe it wise to revisit that list and perhaps even add to it. In doing so, it is my hope that I am shining up the armour I wear that will protect me from the assault upon my will that these challenges will bring. And as well sharpen the paring knife I use to slice my fruit because i really like my fruit sliced neat & clean.

I wont re-write those I wrote before, hence the link back, but let me add a few new ones.
I don't want have to just walk for exercise, I want to be able to jog, skip, run, sprint, etc.
I dislike sweating in air conditioned rooms
I don't want to ever have to use a Gopher Pickup Tool for anything
I dislike waking up, getting up, and feeling ready for a nap 5 minutes later

So, what are some of the reasons you chose to start your mission way back when?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 116 - Powered By Mosquitoes

Source

Awesome chat on yesterdays post & topic feeding kids, fast food, etc... hope it didn't make anyone relapse and drive thru and grab a happy meal on the way home. After a heavy topic like that I need to lighten up today's post. And I have a few chuckles to share thanks to a conversation yesterday where some bad jokes were told, lets hope I got them close to right...

For every minute we exercise we add minute our lives which allows us to live as long as another 5 months in our elder years, which will cost us $25,000 figuring $5000 per month in a nursing home.


Some studies conclude that those who pick up exercise in the golden years do so in order to enjoy the sounds of heavy breathing again.

When listing out Pros & Cons for taking up exercise, which one would you list this under; Exercising every day allows you to die healthier.

Ok, not the greatest set of jokes, but if you even grinned a little, then I am satisfied :-)

Exercise - I went for a walk, the 2-mile neighborhood loop, yesterday evening. It was quite warm, but not hot. It was sticky, but not unbearable. What was a pain in the neck were the mosquitoes. It didn't take long for me to get going before I realized I was a walking banquet. I figured the best response was to just walk fast. That and I also walked in the street, farther from the bushes and brush along the way. It helped, but I was still a moving snack for the most determined mosquitoes.

As I was walking I tried to use the mosquitoes as motivation and thought of setting a new PR for that walk. It almost worked, 33:53, just seven seconds slower than my current PR there. Maybe if the mosquitoes had been even more determined? Just kidding, determination is all on me, not the bugs around me.

Personal Records were bound to hit a plateau of some sort and they seem to have done just that. I had been ringing them up fairly regular there for a period but knew their frequency would wane. The fact that I've hit a groove on some of my exercise times doesn't mean that PR's will disappear, unless I choose to disregard them. I think that what it really means is that I need to get leaner & stronger if want to produce better PR's on these same exercises. That and I may need to find new challenges to keep things fresh and as well keep me progressing.

Understanding that PR's themselves are of minor importance compared to getting the exercise in and moving forward on my mission to achieve Responsibility 199.

Dusk, starting to feel the squeeze from the summer season moving towards fall. Getting darker earlier. Not that I am afraid to walk in the dusk or darkness. But I do certainly prefer the day light. If it is dark out, my mind says get to bed. Obviously I am going to have to get over that silliness and walk in the dark as it will just get darker earlier and earlier especially when daylight savings time ends; when is that, November?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 115 - Happy Meal Hornets

Is feeding kids fast food child abuse? Is over feeding kids abuse?

Good morning everyone, some heavy questions huh. I suppose you could say my day started out heavy, at least mentally. On the drive into work I heard a radio commentary where consideration ought to be given to legislating that smoking around kids is a form of child abuse. Now, let's hit the brakes for a moment. It is not my intent to debate smoking as a topic. Certainly if you'd like we can dabble in that direction, go for it. However hearing this commentary gave me cause to wonder similarly about how we feed our kids.

Let me spit ball some thoughts at this blog page, I used to be the champion spit-baller in the 3rd grade, you've been warned.

Parents/Guardians are responsible for feeding their kids...

Not everyone is in an economic situation which allows them to feed their kids perfectly balanced/portioned meals daily...

So is it ok for those with less economic means to feed their kids lesser food while holding those with greater economic means to a different standard of care for feeding their kids?...

Not everyone accepts the notion that fast food is as absolutely unhealthy as many would have us think...

Fast food is unhealthy, my opinion, there just is no way to consider the core menus of the most popular fast food joints as healthy; but some do try...

Leave Ronald McDonald's clown alone, he is not a pusher akin to the dope dealer, is he?...

Abuse is to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way according to the dictionary...

But legally, what constitutes abuse?...

How can feeding your kids be considered abuse?...

Feeding your kids is smart, feeding them well balanced/portioned meals is preferred...

Feeding your kids fast food is certainly choosing to feed them lesser quality of food, but isn't it just that, a lesser choice made?...

Over feeding kids into obesity, say 6,781 calories a day diet; is that abuse?...

If not that amount, what amount of over-feeding is where it becomes abuse?...

Addicting, by feeding our kids fast food are we providing them with an addiction that they will have to live with or break someday?...

If exposing kids to over feeding, or fast food, is equal to pushing them into addictions; then what about video games, violence on screens, and sunshine?...

And I can go on...

So, there is a big hairy dose of fried fury for thought.

Myself, I don't think there are easily definable boundaries for abuse when it comes to feeding our kids. Beating our kids, surely that is more easily definable as to what is abuse.

Feed your kids, start with that; get them fed any way you can. Then if you can feed them healthier choices you should. But mandating via legislation that you have to feed them as healthy as you can or else you are abusive; I am not ready to go there.

It is a blurry set of lines that separates what we as parents/guardians of kids have to do and what we should do. In general where it is blurry, I tend to want to leave it up to the parent to make the decision, not a legislative body whose purpose is too often blurred by interests that are far from the point of the matter being legislated.

Ok, enough from me. If I go any further this will become all too political and I try to not get into political debates here. Why I deviated on that guideline today I do not know.

Feed your kids, love your kids, laugh with your kids, and buy them Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship t-shirts for crying out loud!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 114 - Blog With Substance

Welcome to a new week everyone.

What do you have planned for your success this week?

Myself, EXERCISE, 4x this week minimum. EATING, balanced & sensibly portioned meals & snacks daily. FUN, if it aint fun I don't want to do it this week; sorry non-fun-stuff not this week. BLOG, The past week with all that has gone on at home I have not been as attentive to your blogs as I like, that changes today!

Thank you to my friend Marie at And then the refreshments come... for honoring me with this Blog With Substance Award!

Rules, the rules for the award are as follows:

1. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience in 5 words:
Hmm, sum up three things in five words; Ok, I like a challenge. Boisterous, Forthright, Tenacious, Enumerating, and Quintessential.

2. Pass it on to 10 other Amazing blogs:
I could honor so many many bloggers here. But I'll put up just 10 here somehow, enjoy the award folks, my pleasure to honor you!
Allan @ ALMOST GASTRIC BYPASS
Julie @ Julie Lost And Found
Suzi @spunkysuzi working towards a healthier me
Clyde @ The Clydesdale Project
Tish @ Incremental Improvements
Vickie @ Vickie's Voice
Bobbie @ Anonymous Fat Girl
Manda Panda @ Candyland to Bandland
Trina @ Dropping the pounds, Picking up my life!!
Rapunzel @ In Pursuit of my Inner Pin-up

There, TEN... 10 of nearly 100 I follow and am so grateful to share my days with.

As noted yesterday my son & I went to the Cubs game. They lost, 11-4, typical for me attending a game. I had trouble uploading pics from the stands yesterday, all I got off was the sunflower seed shot; so I didn't take many pics as it were. But here are a few from the game...

The famous Wrigley Field manually operated scoreboard. This was before the game started and they put up all of the zeros the Cubs were producing...











This embarrassingly I must share was my seat at the game; look at the damn I-Beam pole in front of me? When I got the tickets from Stub-Hub there was no reference at all to Limited View seating. None. Argh...

Last but not least, there is Andrew on the 'L' train texting who knows which of a handful of bff's... Notice his shirt if you can, "Failure Is Not An Option"; Amen to that...











Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

No peanuts for me, Jalapeno seeds please...

MMMMmmmm

Day 113 - 38% Progress Again

Well, I shared yesterday I had a bad day this week. And I did get out there and exercise yesterday and I did eat well. But the bad day must have been worse than I thought as far as the scale is concerned, as the number this morning was exactly the same as a week ago. So I have a no loss/no gain week to report to you.

All things considered, I suppose I shouldn't let it bother me. But I would be lying to you if I told you that it didn't. That said, I shall maintain perspective. Life is good. My wife is on the mend, I have lost 45.5 pounds in 16 weeks which is way more than I ever would have hoped for when I started this mission, my kids are happy & healthy (one of them got their drivers license amidst the anxiety of last week too), heck even our four cats are smiling. Smiling cats is kind of a freaky thing to see.

Onward we march towards the next good choice and into another new week of opportunity to get healthier.

The new week started today with this weigh in, and then a chug-a-lug of some tomato juice before hitting the pavement for a 2 mile walk. As soon as I post this, it is off to the shower. Then as soon as Grandma arrives to hang out with my wife, her daughter; my son & I are off to Wrigley Field to watch the Chicago Cubs dismantle without mercy the Cincinnati Reds. You should be laughing right now. I mean,your side should be splitting. Not because I predicted a Cubs win, nope. Because I did so in a game which I will be in attendance. They always lose when I go, and lose bad usually at that. Hey, they could win; it could happen! :-)

Go Cubs!!!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!