Musings

Posts Tagged ‘Scale Day’

A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder – a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.
– Thomas Carlyle

Observations on the Week

• Sunday may be “free eating” day, but it’s not a lot of fun working to overcome the extra pounds from a day of binge eating.  It’s like filling in the hole after it’s dug, just to dig it out again – makes no sense. Read the rest of this entry »

Image Courtesy of Flickr

It’s been a rocky week.  Several very long days and a series of evening commitments conspired to pull me this way and that.  There were two key things that stalled progress this week:

1. Exercise.  Although I did the exercises every day, at 5 (now 6) weeks into the project, the body is starting to crave a bit more challenge.  I’m not looking for a marathon here, but it seems that stepping up the level of effort will help.
2. Diet.  Eat healthy, then add:
   • A Bavarian Inn Chicken Dinner, with all the trimmings.  Tasty, but probably enough in that one meal to undo several days worth of effort. (3 chicken breasts, scoop of potatoes, scoop of stuffing, bowl of peas (likely dripping in butter, I’m blocking it out at the moment).
   • A generous slice of chocolate layer cake for Bob’s birthday.  Not overly large, but containing enough sugar to manufacture a quart of vodka, I suspect.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – this isn’t rocket science.  This week was rocky, next week will be better.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”

– Vince Lombardi

A suitable quote for Superbowl Sunday, and one that highlights some of the key learnings on the project this week.  The ability to deny self (ie, deal with hunger) is critical to any project of self-improvement, and to a well-balanced life.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life; We are merely a strand in it. What we do with the web, we do to ourselves…
– Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle’s quote might sound like an environmental statement, but that’s not my point.  There’s a corollary:  What we do to ourselves, we do to the web – to those around us.  For anyone who has children this is intuitively obvious – especially after they repeat in public something we said in private, when they were at the other end of the house.  Kids hear everything, they see everything. This is true in a wider sense, though.  The choices we make have similar effects on those around us.

Applied to the 10×10 in 2010 project, I’m trying to be mindful that my decisions impact others.  If I die of a heart attack in the back yard, as my grandfather did when I was younger, I rob my family in a very real sense.  We are all examples, whether good or bad.  Changing my life with this big, hairy audacious goal helps me (I lose weight, get healthy), and hopefully those around me as well.

Day 28, 19 lbs total

The End of the First 4-Week Cycle

The 8 Minutes in the Morning program runs in 4-week cycles.  Jorge Cruise, the author, says to repeat the cycle if you have more weight to lose (I do).  In fact, since this is a year-long project, the cycle will repeat a total of 13 times.

Next week (tomorrow) begins the second cycle, where all of the exercises repeat.  The original 8 Minutes book is designed as a workbook, designed for you to write in each day’s progress and motivational notes, etc.  It’s already well-covered in graffitti from earlier cycles a few years ago, so I created my own packet in Microsoft Word with the exercises and journal entry slots.  Having it in an editable format is useful. I added a morning prayer to the front cover and am slowly changing the daily quotes to other, more personally-meaningful sayings.

Learnings This Week

Here are this weeks’ observations and learnings.  As always, if I did something stupid, it’s not a license for you to follow in my footsteps – let common sense apply.

• It is much easier to exercise in the early morning when the rest of the family is asleep. It’s hard to hear the body’s responses when the kids are swirling around like a desert tornado.
• Even the best recipes get boring if you eat them all the time.  Next time I make black bean burgers, it won’t be a quintuple batch…
• Weighing in on Thursday mornings after breakfast is a GREAT way to inspire the amount of panic necessary to hit 2 lbs by Sunday.
• Sharing your weight loss plans with a wide circle is a great way to get little motivational booster shots at random times.  Thanks to Terry, Dave, Brian and Vince this week for asking how it’s going, it helps keep me on track.
• Finding a smaller piece of clothing you can wear, something that used to fit, then didn’t, and now does again.  Pure Joy!

Have any learnings or comments?  Click the comments link below and let me know what you think! Words of wisdom, encouragement and correction always welcome. (All comments moderated to keep out the riffraff.)

Week 4 Results

• Starting Weight: 328 lbs.
• Last Week: 312 lbs.
• This Week: 309 lbs.
• Weight Lost: 3 lbs. (19 pounds overall)

Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.
–Henry Ford

January’s over half-over, and the project has been under way for a full three weeks now.  Carrying the eating cards is becoming more comfortable, and it’s an opportunity to start a conversation with those curious about the project. Mary at work helped the project along by denying me access to the magical Dove Chocolate dish on the counter.  The card system does provide for a small amount of treats and cravings so it’s not total privation.

The black bean burger recipe got a big workout early in the week – we mixed up a quintuple (5x) batch on Tuesday night; it yielded 27 burgers.  Bagged and frozen, the burgers have served all week as the lunch centerpiece.  They’re not quite as tasty reheated, but the cafeteria at work has Frank’s RedHot.  Poor drowned burgers.

Learnings This Week

Some random educational thoughts for week 3 of the project.  These are personal, anecdotal observations.  If I do something stupid and you follow my example, remember Mom asking “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you follow?”  Let common sense apply.

• Stretching in the morning after workouts is a great time to listen to your body.  If a stretch hurts, you’re probably pushing it too hard, back off a little.
• It’s better to have a lousy workout than no workout.  Even if you’re not feeling particularly well, do the exercise.  That way when you’re not feeling well later, you can look back at *this* success and remind yourself it can be done.
• The mirror is a poor gauge of weight loss, especially early on when you’re still the size of a beached whale.  A better gauge is the fit of your clothes (my poor wife needs a whole new wardrobe after running for a few months).
• This is going to sound strange, but hunger is your friend. Now, I’m not talking about ravenous starvation.  Walking around feeling stuffed (or even just full) probably means you ate too much.  Having a mild hungry feeling is your body’s way of saying, “Hey, I’m eating into some fat reserves here, just want you know.”

Have any learnings or comments?  Click the comments link below and let me know what you think! Words of wisdom, encouragement and correction always welcome. (All comments moderated to keep out the riffraff.)

Week 3 Results

• Starting Weight: 328 lbs.
• Last Week: 317 lbs.
• This Week: 312 lbs.
• Weight Lost: 5 lbs (16 lbs overall)