Week 55- 235 Plateau? Say it ain't so!

Starting weight: 264.2
Weight last week: 234.6
Current weight: 235.0
Lost this week: +.4
Total lost to date: 29.2

Goal for this week: 4 pounds

Goal Weight: 180

Weight remaining to lose: 55

Yeah, 4 pounds is a little radical, but I feel like I might be plateau-ing* a bit so I’m going to step it up some. If I lose the four I'll be impressed and be closet to my goal of 40 pounds by my birthday.

40 by 39. Sounds like pants for a tall, fat guy.

Someone else said “You didn’t gain any weight, it’s just humid.” I like that one!





*I know that’s spelled oddly, but spellcheck is giving me grief.

Thank goodness this isn't the "Nifty by Fifty" blog!

Both Michael Jackson and Billy Mays died at Fifty this past week. What the hell?

I mean, it’s not old. Especially coming from a dude 12 years out of it, I’ll tell you that. It’s scary!

I’m going to walk to Guatemala.

In related news: Happy Burfday to my lovely assistant, Melaina. I love you!

I am now up to 4 people I know with this Birthday!

With an Alli like this, who needs enemies?

Inspired by a headline I saw that people are reporting more side effects than ever with Alli.

If I told you they made a product that would almost guarantee a weight loss, but there was a better than reasonable chance you’d shart, would you still take it?

A lot of people do. Alli is that product. I see pallet-loads of it in Wal-Mart, which is pretty much ground zero for the Chubb Wars. I mean, where else are you going to see an obese woman driving a cart with one hand, pulling her two kids and a loaded shopping cart with the other, with an open pack of Hostess cakes on her lap? That’s right, Sad Town, population: WalMart shoppers.

Years ago you probably remember the chips and other snack foods that came out with Olestra. My mom bought them and was happily munching away on them when I came into the room and the following conversation took place:

Me: "Mom! Seriously? Olestra chips?"
Mom: "Yes, they are fat free!"
Me: "yeah but did you read the side-effects?"
Mom: "what? There’s no side effects!"
Me: "right here on the bag, May cause ‘anal leakage.' Ma! Anal leakage!"
My mom grabs the bag and reads it. She looks at me, completely aghast and says “But…the government wouldn’t let them sell something that was bad for you!”
I looked at her squarely and said: “Oh, you mean like cigarettes?”
Dad chuckled as Mom pushed the chips away.

Man, just eating more fiber gets me dangerously close to a first class ticket to the town of Brown Shorts Junction. I’m pretty dang sure I do not need a drug that takes the fat you don’t digest and basically lubricates your digestive system’s off-ramp. It’s what we here at the Sporty By Forty Compound call “overkill,” and I do not mean the band from NJ*.

What’s great is every one of these pills says the same thing “You will lose more weight using [wonderdrug] in conjunction with diet and exercise than you will with diet and exercise alone.”

Yeah, well, no shit, Sherlock. That’s like saying “You’ll die much faster shooting yourself in the face than you will by just waiting around for it to happen.”

Come on. No pill is going to allow Unlimited White Castles. Come to think of it, if you have enough White Castles, generally you’ll have no need for Alli after all.


*nor do I mean the one on SST records from LA either, just so we’re clear.

Week 54- 234.6

Starting weight: 264.2
Weight last week: 235.6
Current weight: 234.6
Lost this week: -1
Total lost to date: 29.6

Goal for this week: 2 pounds

Goal Weight: 180

Weight remaining to lose: 54.6

Hey, a pound is a pound, right? Not too much updating unless my sick charge decides to nap.

If I walked around with an Aqualung(tm)...

…I’d probably at least get my heart rate up a little more. You simply can’t walk outside in this weather, it’s like taking a stroll through an aquarium. I swear if it keeps up my next lawn ornament is gonna be one of those big plastic clams that’s eating a diver. I did get one of these though:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3312598

I’m still working on my uber-smug expression, but I assume that will come along with the six pack.

My wife said “I’m really sorry I didn’t get you a more fun gift for Father’s Day” and I said “Well I’ll be having a lot more fun when I have rockin’ abs.” Mind you, I gotta get rid of more flab first, but we’re making progress.

Oh, speaking of progress, the Missus reached her goal of losing a certain amount of weight by her birthday one week ahead of schedule, so congrats to you on that, honey!

Addendum:
Please note, when I originally typed out this entry the title was “If I wanked around with an Aqualung™…” which, I’d imagine, would be different article altogether I assure you.

Stoned! or Man, you're giving the rest of us fatties a bad name!

Before you get on my case about this post, let me say this. I am a fat bastard. I know this. I know why I’m fat as well. Partially genetics, yeah. Mostly it’s a glandular problem. I have a very overactive mouth gland.

tee-hee!

Anyway, here’s a news story from our friends in the UK that will cause you to shoot blood from your eyes.

(Quotes from the original article are in bold. )

Say hello to the Chawner family: Samantha, 21 (18 stone), mother Audrey, 57 (24 stone), father
Philip, 53 (ditto), and baby Emma, 19 (17 stone, the same as a newborn elephant). Total: 83 big 'uns.

Now, if I do my conversions correctly (and I do) and 1 stone=14 pounds…

Sweet guinea pig of Winnipeg!

Combined, the Chawner family weighs in at ELEVEN HUNDRED SIXTY-TWO F**KING POUNDS!

Yup, they’re fat. Disgustingly fat. But that’s not the only reason we were encouraged to laugh and point at the Chawners last week. This fatty family is also on supersize benefits: housing, unemployment, disability – you name it, they get it. The Chawners are all permanently latched on to the teat of the state and guzzling to the tune of £22,508 a year.


11 hundred pounds and not 1 neck amongst the four of ‘em.

And yeah, if all they are getting is 40K a year for four people, I can see how it'd be hard to buy enough food to cram down their vast, Sarlaac-like gullets.





Philip developed weight-related diabetes and gave up his job as a lorry driver. Like Audrey, he hasn’t worked for 11 years. “We love TV,” he said. “It’s on from the moment we get up. Often I’m so tired from watching TV, I have to have a nap.”

Holy shit, I think I just felt part of my brain just give up and die, right there in my head. Let me repeat that for everyone who’s brains didn’t give them instant aneurisms to spare them the stupidity:

Philip is sometimes so tired from watching TV that he has to take a nap. You’re so fat you’ve become diabetic, and can no longer drive a truck, because it’s what, too strenuous?

Audrey disclosed her weekly shop, as if to prove how birdlike they were, although the first item was 18 bags of crisps. “We all love nibbling on biscuits. I once bought some pears, but they tasted funny.”

Yes, you imbecile, they tasted like food. What kind of birds are they? Northern Big-Bellied Sap Suckers? East London Broad Bottomed Buffet-Sparrows? Fat-arsed Budgies?

Although they refuse to diet, the Tele-tubby family still feels hard done by. It’s not their fault they’re so fat, they say; someone else should do something.

“What we get barely covers the bills and puts food on the table,” said Philip, who joins 2,000 other Brits in receiving £84.50 a week because they are too fat to work. “We deserve more.”

Yes, well I imagine getting near 40 thousand dollars to sit on your corpulent backsides and get paid for it is very difficult. I imagine it’s tough to gather enough food in one spot to satiate your Sarlacc-like appetites. I imagine it’s tough to put food on the tale when you’re jamming in your craw so fast it never sees the formica.

Audrey put it best. “It’s not my fault I’m this size. I’d work if I wasn’t disabled,” she said. She didn’t say “hugely fat”. She said “disabled”. And if Audrey is disabled from a recognized medical condition, then who are sizeists like me to judge? People like Audrey know there’s something wrong, that they do not conform to society’s accepted standards.

Yes, it is your fault, Mrs. 18 bags of chips. You did this to yourself. It’s not like some Gene Hunt like tough-guy came round with a tin of shortening and a spoon and forced you to overeat by gunpoint. You did it. Now, there may be psychological reasons you overeat, there usually are. Going on television and claiming it’s not your fault and then expecting a handout however, is repulsive.

Like I said before, I am fat and dangerously so. If this family was asking for help and the UK equivalent of Richard Simmons came swanning in and offered to save their lives, I’d be all for it. However, it seems to me, that the Chawner family does not come across as someone looking for change, unless it’s to have their benefits upped.

Who’s paying for Philip’s diabetes medicines? You can bet it’s not Philip. According to another article the wife gets somewhere along the lines of $600 a month for asthma and epilepsy, caused by her weight. Did I mention the family has been on the dole for ELEVEN YEARS?!?!

From another article:
The family claim to spend £50 a week on food and consume 3,000 calories each a day. The recommended maximum intake is 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men.
"We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner," Mrs Chawner told Closer magazine.
"All that healthy food, like fruit and veg, is too expensive. We're fat because it's in our genes. Our whole family is overweight," she added.

Yeah, you spend only 100 bucks to feed a family of four every week. Maybe it the BACON SANDWICHES and the FRIES and MICROWAVE PIES! Your diet is so bad I’m going to have a stroke!

Emma says she’s a student so there’s no time for exercise. Perhaps shut off the TV, and go out for a walk? She claims they want to lose weight but don’t know how.

Stand up, go outside and walk. Do it again tomorrow. Keep doing it. Yeah, it sucks and you’ll miss bacon, but Jesus, have some pride, people!

Original article below

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rachel_johnson/article5949800.ece
Say hello to the Chawner family: Samantha, 21 (18 stone), mother Audrey, 57 (24 stone), father Philip, 53 (ditto), and baby Emma, 19 (17 stone, the same as a newborn elephant). Total: 83 big ’uns.
Yup, they’re fat. Disgustingly fat. But that’s not the only reason we were encouraged to laugh and point at the Chawners last week. This fatty family is also on supersize benefits: housing, unemployment, disability – you name it, they get it. The Chawners are all permanently latched on to the teat of the state and guzzling to the tune of £22,508 a year.
They made sorry reading. Philip developed weight-related diabetes and gave up his job as a lorry driver. Like Audrey, he hasn’t worked for 11 years. “We love TV,” he said. “It’s on from the moment we get up. Often I’m so tired from watching TV, I have to have a nap.” Audrey disclosed her weekly shop, as if to prove how birdlike they were, although the first item was 18 bags of crisps. “We all love nibbling on biscuits. I once bought some pears, but they tasted funny.”
Although they refuse to diet, the Tele-tubby family still feels hard done by. It’s not their fault they’re so fat, they say; someone else should do something.
“What we get barely covers the bills and puts food on the table,” said Philip, who joins 2,000 other Brits in receiving £84.50 a week because they are too fat to work. “We deserve more.”
I admit that when my appalled gaze rested on the Chawner family, I almost had a heart attack myself. In a week when The Lancet published the findings of the biggest survey on obesity, which showed that being quite fat (up to the size of the BBC DJ Chris Moyles) shortens your life by three years, and being vastly fat (the size of a hippo) takes 10 years off your life, the Chawners really did seem to be the poster family for everything that we didn’t want to be as a nation.
Putting the fattist prejudices to a side for a moment, before you rush to “fatty-bait” – the practice of shaming fatsos into losing weight – consider, please, the Chawners’ case from the other side of the elasticated waistband.
Audrey put it best. “It’s not my fault I’m this size. I’d work if I wasn’t disabled,” she said. She didn’t say “hugely fat”. She said “disabled”. And if Audrey is disabled from a recognised medical condition, then who are sizeists like me to judge? People like Audrey know there’s something wrong, that they do not conform to society’s accepted standards.
And, as it turns out, the Chawners and their ilk do have a case to make, and here it is. Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beat, the eating disorders charity, says those who overeat are, in many cases, as worthy of concern as those who undereat, but for obvious reasons don’t get as much attention as skeletal teenage girls who look almost like size-zero models.
“Overeaters know they are unhealthy. They know about their five a day but it’s no easier for them to make the long-term lifestyle changes to their diet than it is for anorexics,” she says. She also points out that when it comes to the spectrum of eating disorders, those who don’t eat, the anorexics, constitute only 10% – the tip of the iceberg. Most eat too much.
In the US they are way ahead of us. There, obesity has achieved the status of a “disease” even though it is caused by a combination of voluntary and involuntary factors: genes, sedentary lifestyles in the suburbs, the McDiet and an inability for various reasons to lose weight through exercise.
Stateside, the long-term effects and costs of what is regarded as the – sorry – ballooning obesity “epidemic” is the hottest issue in public health. Here, too, where two-thirds of us are carrying too many pounds of adipose tissue, we are beginning to wake up; the word “pandemic” has been applied to the nation’s thickening waistline by Brio, the Bristol University Research Into Obesity.
Dr James Le Fanu, the medical historian and GP, is one clinician who challenges the orthodoxy that chubsters have only themselves to blame. He thinks the cause of obesity is “not known”. He’s seen women on restricted diets failing to lose a single pound. His guess is that we all have thermostats, which govern our “energy balance” – how much weight we lose or gain relative to what we put in our mouths. He also believes that fatness runs in families, from observing this in his surgery.
This is the essence of the Chawner case, too. “We’re fat because it’s in our genes. Our whole family is overweight. Even when Philip went into hospital with septicaemia in 2006 he didn’t lose any weight. And he was eating tiny portions.”
Right, then. Fair enough. I am prepared to concede that being fat or being thin is partly in our DNA. But come on – it’s also a matter of choice, habit, lifestyle. It’s like smoking, drinking, sun-bathing – you can choose to gorge. Only, unlike smoking, which is in decline, more and more of us are “choosing” to be fat, or allowing our children to get fat, and that’s not good for any of us.
According to some estimates, obesity could cost the NHS in England £6.3 billion by 2015 unless the flab is fought. Some councils are having to shell out thousands of pounds on fat-friendly services, such as wider crematorium furnaces and bigger school chairs.
Whatever obesity’s cause, and however sympathetic we may or may not be, it doesn’t matter. Obesity is a national emergency. It is, yes, the new smoking. Rather than see them like animals in the zoo, we should commend the Chawner family freak show for displaying their bulk. They have drawn our horrified eyes to a health crisis that concerns us all.

Ruh Oh 2: the Sequeling

So, my buddy Gilbert reminded me to make sure I put both sides of the Zicam thing up!
From Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/zicam.asp

Thanks, Gilbert!

Ruh-oh!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/16/zicam.fda.warning/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday warned consumers to stop using certain Zicam nasal cold remedy products, saying they can cause users to lose their sense of smell permanently.


Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and two other products are the subject of a new FDA warning to consumers.

The agency says that since 1999, it has received more than 130 reports of loss of smell associated with Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel; Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs; and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, kids size. The products have been linked to long-lasting or permanent loss of smell called anosmia. In some cases, the loss of smell occurred after the first dose.

"Loss of sense of smell is a serious risk for people who use these products for relief from cold symptoms," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "We are concerned that consumers may unknowingly use a product that could cause serious harm, and therefore we are advising them not to use these products for any reason."

The popular homeopathic medications are sold over the counter and aimed at reducing the severity and duration of cold symptoms.

The FDA says consumers should stop using the products immediately. The agency has sent Matrixx Initiatives, which makes Zicam, a warning letter telling it the products can no longer be marketed without FDA approval.

A number of lawsuits have already been filed against Matrixx over the products. On its Web site, however, Matrixx says the allegations are "unfounded and misleading."

The company contends that "there is no known causal link between the use of Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and impairment of smell. No well-controlled scientific study has demonstrated a potential cause-and-effect relationship between the use of Zicam and diminished smell function. No court cases have revealed any reliable evidence of any causal relationship."

The FDA says consumers experiencing any loss of smell or taste after using nasal products that contain zinc should contact their physician.


Well, crap. I use Zicam, as does my Lovely Assistant. I am a firm believer that this works, but now I’m concerned. Who wants to lose their sense of smell? Not me! Please, when you’re eating a high fiber diet, you need to be acutely aware of the air quality around you, you know? This is also important when you have a toddler, although my kid managed to crank out a couple “Stealth Poops” on me recently. You know, where there’s no indication that there’s anything amiss and you open that diaper up to the foulest, most God-awful stink imaginable.

So, yeah, gotta have the schnozz working.

Week 53- 235.6 slightly up, but not so much as you'd notice...

Starting weight: 264.2
Weight last week: 235.1
Current weight: 235.6
Lost this week: +.5
Total lost to date: 28.6

Goal for this week: 2 pounds

Goal Weight: 180

Weight remaining to lose: 55.6

Well, slightly disappointing to be sure, but I thought it was going to actually be a whole lot worse for some reason. Let’s be honest, a half a pound is not really a terrible step back. I mean, it’s almost a lean back, really. Perhaps I need to step up the aerobic exercise, or up my water intake, it’s always fairly bad on the weekend.

So that’s really that today.

Coming up this week:
I’m going to talk about Healthy Choice Steamers, and a pretty belligerent post about a family in the UK who claim they are too fat to work, and think they deserve more money for staying home and watching TV! I'm already seething!

Look, it's sunny!

And it’s Monday. Sheesh.

This reminds me of the summer of about three years ago where 90% of the whole damned season it rained every weekend and then was sunny and warm Monday through about three PM on Friday when it would start raining just in time to remind you that the weekend was going to be crappy again. By August you just basically accepted it and went about your business.


I did manage to salvage the afternoon for action at the park yesterday, though. I managed to completely forget the sale at the Holmdel fire station that my wife saw Saturday and described as “insane.” Not that I need a lot of other people’s crap, I have a lot of my own crap to get rid of still.

In unrelated news, my car passed inspection! Woo!

With apologies to Billy Bragg

I don't want to change the world, but that whole "New England" thing would be swell, especially if we could ship it BACK across the pond.

Summer lasted like 9 hours.

So this is must be what it's like to live in England...

Man, enough already with the rain!

It's damper than a bobbysoxer's theater seat during a Sinatra show*

I didn't even go out last night for my walk, rain and fog, and I was just plum tuckered out**. The Missus passed out at like 10:30 and I managed to struggle through to 11:15 with the assistance of the awesome Ultraman box set I got.

It finally brightened up, but the humidity is obscenely oppressive. It’s quite something, really. It's like breathing syrup.

Well, the weekend looks good, so hopefully you can all get out and get moving. I know I will be out and about!


* according to reports, the gals would ruin many a seat by either getting worked up, or by not wanting to use the bathroom lest another girl take thier seat so they'd just pee there. True story!

** Yep. You know, after a long day of herding cattle and fending off rustlers. Hoping to get a more secure gig as a barber/dentist eventually! Yee haw.

Man, I love Aldi. If you're not familiar with them, they are a chain of grocery stores from Europe (I know they are big in Germany) that's making some headway in the states. It's much less expensive, and while you may not get the variety of brands that the other grocers have, I have yet to be disappointed in the quality of the products purchased there, aside from some apples. As apples are a fruit, and it's more than likely that they went wonky after I bought them, I'm giving them a pass on that.

Anyway, their Fit & Active line is very similar to the Weight Watchers brand in may respects. Package design, size, and most importantly, taste. Where the difference is, is the price. They are a lot cheaper then the WW brand.

I'm going to mention an awful lot of Fit & Active food here in the blog, because I'm eating a lot of it.

Anyway, today's is the Fit & Active Sesame Chicken frozen meal. If you're watching your WW points like me, it is a kind of steep 8 pointer, but there's noodles in in so you can't really argue. It's pretty filing, and the sauce is quite tasty.

The chicken is breaded and are pretty much nuggets, if we're going to call it like it is. I couldn't tell if they were baked or fried, although my guess is probably fried. There were five or six pretty good sized pieces in there.

All in all I gotta give it a solid B+

Week 52- 235.1 A somewhat heavy post.

Starting weight: 264.2
Weight last week: 236.9
Current weight: 235.1
Lost this week: 1.8
Total lost to date: 29.1

Goal for this week: 2 pounds

Goal Weight: 180

Weight remaining to lose: 55.1

Happy Birthday!

Not to me, but to the Sporty By Forty Initiative! Almost thirty pounds. Considering it wasn't until very recently that I got very serious about this, that's not too shabby. It's hard to belive it's been a mere 12 months since I started this blog and an even shorter time since I really decided that enough was enough, thanks to my wife convincing me to rejoin Weight Watchers. Week 52, and while I had much larger aspirations than to have lost only 29.1 pounds by now, lets face it I had a hell of a year.* Let's see, cancer scare in the family, awaiting MRI results (both of which turned out to not be life threatening, thank God), my Mother's dying and my Father-In-Law having a stroke. Oh, I neglected to mention that he also broke his heel recently.

If I were you, I wouldn't stand too close. I hear we're having thunderstorms later. :)

I take long walks in the evening, and on occasions where I am not listening to my MP3 player, I let my mind wander. This can be pleasant as I am sometimes reminded of a friend I haven't spoken to in a long time, or maybe I just try and organize my addled brain. Sometimes I think about what I'll have for lunch tomorrow, or maybe about the blog. Yes, I think about this seemingly ramshackle collection of thoughts and words, believe it or not.

Not all of the posts, mind you...

Yes, sometimes it's best to let one's mind loose and just run with things. Gave me a nice line to a song the other day, not that I do a lot of songwriting these days, but it's nice to have some material in the bank.

Frequently, as of late, I am faced with thoughts of mortality. Not in the sense that I'm looking to punch my own ticket or anything, far from it. In fact, I am trying to figure out how to stay on the ride for as long as possible, and to have the highst quality time as well. Now, it may be beacuse I am actively trying to do something to get myself in shape that this comes up. I frequently find myself thinking "I should have started earlier. I should have listened to people who told me what I was doing to myself." The one question that my mind keeps turning back to is "Am I doing it in time to make a difference?"

When I stood next to my Mom's bed in Hospice and I watched her sleep I was struck my the awful finality of it all. She'd never see or hold her only Grandson again. She'd never tell my wife amazing stories that after 30-odd years she never even told me. She'd never get mad again when she'd ask us what we wanted for Christmas and we couldn't come up with a boatload of stuff. She'd never go outside and see the stars again. That really set me off, I don't know why. She'd said she had a nice view from her hospital room, and I was grateful for it, but God, those nights I was in Florida, staringup into the night sky, those stars were just brilliant. Maybe it's a little selfish, but she'll never get a chance to see me reach my goal.

I said to my wife before she got really bad, when she fractured her hip, initially that "I'm very scared that I will never see my Mom healthy again." I never knew how prophetic I was being. The next (and indeed, last) time I saw her was in a hospital bed, hooked up to oxygen, bruises up and down her arms from IVs and blood samples. I can still see her like that.

She told me I looked good, I told her they were giving her good drugs aparently. She laughed. She had said to me "If I have cancer, well, I smoked for fifty years, so I can't be suprised." I thought that was a pretty astounding attitude. When I was at a loss for words, she actually said "I'll tell you what, this sucks." I never heard he use that word before.

When I left to catch my plane I said to her "Mom, I'm sorry, I have to go..." and kissed her goodbye. "I'll try and come back and see you again soon." She looked up at me and said "Don't worry. "I'll be here."

Needless to say, she died soon after that. She got robbed, we all did.

So, knowing full well what I have been doing to myself with years of laziness and a shitty diet, I have to ask myself "Am I making these changes in time? Is it enough?" I sure as hell hope so, because I want to be here for as long as I can, Lord willng and the creek don't rise, as they say.

Sorry if I bummed anyone out today, if I did, I'm really sorry. I am happy that I have lost what I have so far and I'll be damned if I am going to let food get the better of me again.

If you read this regulary, thanks. I appreciate the support.

If you're reading this and wondering how you can possibly go to a gym, or run a 5K or ever be rid of the extra weight, just trust me when I say you can. It's not quick, it sure as hell isn't easy, but you can do it. Baby steps. Maybe you can't walk a mile. Walk around the block, walk at the mall (just bring a bottle of water and no cash for the food court!) but you can do it.

This whole thing isn't about falling down, it's about how you get back up again.



Fluff Department:

Oh, so I had to drop my kid off to school today, so I walked him down to his classroom and we passed a gym class getting ready to play dodgeball. On the way back, I saw the class playing. There was the expected general mayhem of dodgeball sure. This was different, however. The kids were arching the balls in the air towards the other team instead of straight on trying to bean the others. It's possible they were trying to score baskets as well, although they may have been a byproduct of the attack being more trajectory based then straight on chucking at your opponents. There were three kids in the front of each team with a pole that looked like half of one of those American Gladiators joust-type thingamabobs. They were swatting the balls back at the throwers. It was a whole new wrinkle. Balls arcing into the air, kids running, the squeak of sneakers on the gym floor. Honestly, it looked a lot more hectic than your old-school game of dodgeball. I stood and watched for a moment, but not too long because who wants to be the creepy guy watching the 5th graders have gym, right? All I can say is it looked like a heck of a lot of fun.





* I know, excuses, excuses.

Hey, Monday! Go to hell, go directly to hell.

So last night the outlet in the bathroom goes out. I'm freaked out a little because, quite frankly, the though of electrical fires freak me the hell out. So I was nervous and up until about 2:30 this morning so keyed up I couldn't sleep. So I slept badly all night, because my subconcious of course believes we are going to all catch fire and that we're going to die a firely death.*

So, I go out to get paper towels and garbage bags this morning and my neighbor is in an expensive suit, rooting in the dumpster. He thinks he dropped his keys in it. I have no clue as to where my grabber is so I can't help him.

Traffic is rife with comoplete assholes the whole way down to work. It's like people are determined to get my goat, right?

Then, I get to work and go to make a cup of tea. Ah, tea, how I love you. I drink a lot of tea. I have nearly cut off coffee completely, except in the direst of cases!

My tea recipie is:
1 Red Rose tea bag
3 Splenda
1 dash of lime juice

Yep. Lime. You like lemon in your tea? Try lime, it's a kick!

Anyway, I go to the fridge and realize someone has thrown out or taken the whole goddamn bottle of lime juice.

Seriously? I don't know why people can't leave other people's stuff alone. Keep you fucking mitts off what's not yours.

I have very few simple pleasures in my life and a nice cup of tea is one I really enjoy.

I'm not having a good day, and this didn't help.

My day has barely started and I am ready to scream.




* I am aware I am being over dramatic. Sue me.

Kids say the darrndest things. Also, I went running again, holy crap!

The other day when I was walking an got caught in the rain, I walked by a bunch of parents and kids waiting for the bus stop. My neighbor’s kid sees me all wet and goes “Look at this guy workin’ up a sweat!”
Everybody’s a comedian! :)

I actually ran halfway to CVS last night. That’s pretty damn good. Mind you I was dying at the end of the run, but still it wasn’t too bad.


Someone pointed out to me today that I have lost 10% of my body weight! I hadn’t thought of that! I know I have a long way to go still but I tell you what, I already feel fantastic.

And *this* is why we're fat, America.

Janet comes through again, with some mighty ugly facts. Thanks, Janet! You’re a peach!*

Yeah, yeah, fast food is bad for you. We all know it, and we all still eat it from time to time. For some of us that means from when we get up, and when we go to bed. However, eating at a regular resturaunt, or as I like to call them “knife and fork joints” should be better for you overall, right.

Riiiiiight.

Take a gander, loyal readers.
Xtreme Eating Awards go to restaurants' diet saboteurs

Let’s look at just what I would eat, for example:

•Chili's Big Mouth Bites, four bacon cheeseburgers with sides of fries, onion strings and jalapeno ranch dipping sauce. The tally: 2,350 calories, 38 grams of saturated fat, 3,940 milligrams of sodium.
Ok, so I’d skip the cheese, and probably mayo as well. So what, maybe 2200 calories? Jesus, that absolutely criminal. I’m willing to make a bet that 4 White castles, fries and onion rings is better for you than this. I mean, not by a hell of a lot, but better!


•The Cheesecake Factory's Chicken and Biscuits, a chicken breast served over mashed potatoes with shortcake biscuits, mushrooms, peas and carrots and covered with country gravy. Total: 2,500 calories. It's almost equal to eating a KFC 8-piece Original Recipe bucket plus five biscuits, which has 2,380 calories and 56 grams of fat.
Really, I could do without the mushrooms, but this sounds pretty good. Chicken, potatoes, some veggies, how bad could it be, right? Sweet Fancy Moses, I think I’d rather have the KFC option and suffer the inevitable gastric distress for the next two days.


"It's as if restaurants are on a mission to make bad food even worse," says Jayne Hurley, a CSPI nutritionist. Fifteen years ago, restaurants entrees or appetizers might top out at 1,000 calories, and now we are finding in them in the 2,000 calories range."


This makes a lot of sense. If you keep the fat people eating there fat, they will come back for more of your Godzilla-sized portions. Both for “value” and because they are fat, they need to eat a lot more to feel satisfied. A win/win for Café Feedbag, a lose/lose**. You don’t need the healthy, picky customers. It’s nice to get them, but like everything else you serve, it’s mostly gravy.

Think about it. If John Q. Chubbington and Mrs. Chubbington take their round little brood out to eat, they want as much bang for their buck as possible, especially in this economy. So, you load up their plate with a pile of food, at least two sensible meals worth, and you feel stupefyingly full after you leave (because you had a 2,000 calorie meal, 700 calories of appetizer and like a thousand more calories of desert) so you think you got a good deal. Menwhile you have to roll out to the lot to get to the Minivan.

I like to eat out, but seldom do anymore. It’s one of the reasons I am in the shape I am today (bad/round, whatever, you pick, they both apply) and having cut that out I can see a difference.

I ate at Ruby Tuesday in Florida a couple months back. I like that place because I can have salad, and remain reasonably healthy with my choice***. I also got the lunch version of the Mini Burgers. That’s two little burger and some fries. There are times, kids, where I would go to lunch with a friend and she’d get two made like she likes ‘em and two made like I like ‘em and sure as a duck quacks, I’d end up eating six of the goddamn things!

But, hey, they are good, right? I’ll tell you what, though, they are salty as hell now that I am not eating stuff like them all the time. Urgh! It’s astounding how much food tastes different after your taste buds adjust to a healthier menu.

My favorite fact about the minis is that, sure enough the “healthier choice” of Turkey minis is actually worse for you. Only in America, right?


* I can almost guarantee this will prompt an email where she asks if I meant that she has a big ass by that crack. Hee hee. I said “crack.”

** Ok, more of a “gain/gain” or a "lose/gain" prospect, but you get my meaning.

**I mean, what’s a couple of bacon bits in the grand scheme, right?



Full story below. Reprinted without permission.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-06-02-extremeeating_N.htm


Xtreme Eating Awards go to restaurants' diet saboteurs



Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY Some oversized appetizers, entrees and desserts at chain restaurants are nutritional train wrecks, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C.-based consumer group announced its 2009 Xtreme Eating Awards. These are some of the dishes, with nutritional data attached, that the group identified as packed with calories and artery-clogging saturated fat:

•Applebee's Quesadilla Burger, a beef patty with cheddar cheese, pepper-Jack cheese, bacon, Mexi-ranch sauce, pico de gallo tucked into two white flour tortillas served with fries. It packs 1,820 calories, 46 grams of saturated fat and 4,410 milligrams of sodium. The chain suggests diners can top the dish with fries with chili and still more cheese.

•Chili's Big Mouth Bites, four bacon cheeseburgers with sides of fries, onion strings and jalapeno ranch dipping sauce. The tally: 2,350 calories, 38 grams of saturated fat, 3,940 milligrams of sodium.

•Uno Chicago Grill's Mega-Sized Deep Dish Sundae, a monster chocolate chip cookie topped with a large portion of ice cream and covered with whipped cream and chocolate sauce drizzle. It has 2,800 calories and 72 grams of saturated fat.

•Olive Garden's Tour of Italy with lasagna, lightly-breaded chicken Parmigiana and creamy chicken alfredo served in one entree for 1,450 calories, 33 grams of saturated fat and 3,830 milligrams of sodium. The tally goes up if diners add breadsticks for 150 calories each and a plate of garden fresh salad with dressing for 350 calories.

•The Cheesecake Factory's Chicken and Biscuits, a chicken breast served over mashed potatoes with shortcake biscuits, mushrooms, peas and carrots and covered with country gravy. Total: 2,500 calories. It's almost equal to eating a KFC 8-piece Original Recipe bucket plus five biscuits, which has 2,380 calories and 56 grams of fat.

•The Cheesecake Factory Fried Macaroni and Cheese, crispy crumb-coated macaroni and cheese balls with a creamy marinara sauce. It equals 1,570 calories, 69 grams of saturated fat and 1,860 milligrams of sodium. You might be better off eating an entire stick of butter with 57 grams of saturated fat and 800 calories, the group says.

"It's as if restaurants are on a mission to make bad food even worse," says Jayne Hurley, a CSPI nutritionist. Fifteen years ago, restaurants entrees or appetizers might top out at 1,000 calories, and now we are finding in them in the 2,000 calories range."

Mark Mears, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for The Cheesecake Factory, says, "With over 200 items on our menu, we have literally something for everyone. We have items that are very healthy, and we have some items that are more indulgent. The portions at The Cheesecake Factory have always been generous. They are perfect for sharing and/or taking home for a second meal, which dilutes the effects of the nutritional information."

Week 51- 236.9 I'm so excited I have wet pants! (not tinkle, though...)

Starting weight: 264.2
Weight last week: 238.8
Current weight: 236.9
Lost this week: 1.9
Total lost to date: 27.3
Goal for this week: 2 pounds

Goal Weight: 180

Weight remaining to lose: 56.9



When you see a number like 56.9 it seems pretty high, doesn’t it? it’s OK to admit it, it’s kind of imposing. Then I think about only a short time ago it was 84.2 pounds. Now that is an imposing number. I mean, that’s way closer to 100 than 56.9 is to 50*.

I took a nice walk this morning and on the way back I caught one of those breezes. You know the kind, where you think “Yeah, I better get a move on, it’s gonna pour any minute, now…”

Unfortunately, “any minute” was about eleven seconds later and the heavens opened up and gave me a good soaking. It was annoying for a second, but then it was kind of fun. At least it wasn’t a cold rain. I was more concerned with my phone getting wet than my shorts or shirt.

Now, of course it’s bright and sunny. It rained for maybe 10 minutes and then was great. I picked the wrong time window I guess. Ten minutes earlier I’d have arrived home dry. Ah well, you win some and then other times, you get wet pants.











* OK, Not really, I know. It’s a matter of perspective.

It's a nice day!

Go out and walk or run or play Frisbee Golf or something. Call out sick, get your best girl, go on a hike and go neck in the woods.

Whatever, just go outside and have fun!

Just get out there and enjoy it!