It's Friday! Be Weird.

So...What About It?

As noted previously, I had received a couple of sample packets of a nutrition shake called Full Strength.  It's a meal replacement designed for men, specifically for mid-aged men.  I was impressed with the ingredients and the nutritional value of the stuff but...man, oh man....it's not cheap.  It also isn't for sale in stores so I was a bit leery about shelling out a buncha money without even knowing what it tastes like.  Most instant shakes that I've tried have an extremely funky taste to them.  Oh...the advertisements all claim how delicious they are but they all seem to smell and taste like sweaty socks and dirt.  At around $5 a packet, I didn't want to be stuck with a box of nutrition drinks that I would never use.

Shawn Phillips, the guy that sells this stuff, solved my dilemma by offering a couple of free samples.  You can go to the Full Strength website and get one yourself.  This was great.  Now I could find out how it tastes and also see how it made me feel after drinking it as a meal.

I made the first packet for a breakfast.  Blended easily.  Nice consistency.  Good smell.  Great taste!  I'm not kidding, this is the first nutrition shake that I've ever had that actually tasted good.  Not just tolerable...but yummy good.  It's very satisfying, giving a feeling of being full without feeling bloated.  I felt pretty good for the entire morning so I'm thinking that my body had some quality fuel that it liked.

My next packet was at work.  This is what I'm primarily looking for in a meal replacement.  My schedule is usually extremely hectic and my lunch choices are almost always either gobble down fast junk food at my desk or skip lunch entirely...which invariably leads to snacking on chips and candy during the afternoon.  I needed something that was fast and easy which would also make me feel like I actually had a meal so that I could get through the next few hours without wanting to munch on something.  The Full Strength fit the bill pretty well.  I was able to mix it easily in a shaker bottle and down the whole thing in a few minutes.  I had absolutely no hunger for the rest of the workday and felt pretty good...no sluggishness or bloated out feeling.

So...I think I found something that will help me tremendously in managing my diet.  It does cost more than stuff you could pick up at a store, but the quality is definitely reflected in that price.  Besides, I can easily spend more on a bag of slop from a fast food joint.  I may as well put the good stuff in my body.  I'm worth it.

Full Strength Taste Test Part 2

Full Strength Test Taste

It's Friday! Be Weird.

Yes...I'm a Dinosaur

This is probably the attitude most have toward blogging.  Lots of web pages out there trying to sell you something but not many of the personal journal types these days.  I get the same attitude with all things of the internet.  I don't twitter; just never saw the point in it.  I do hang around on Facebook but I don't "live" there like several people I know.  I have Netflix and Hulu because I was tired of paying over a hundred dollars every month for over a hundred channels that I never watched anyway.  My cell phone is not smart; all it does is send and receive calls..no text, no surf, no camera, no 3 or 4G whatever the hell that means.  I have a desktop that meets my needs.  I have a big old laptop for travel.

All this doesn't mean that I'm some kind of Luddite.  I love gadgets and gizmos but I'm also a cheapskate.  I'm very particular about spending.  I think folks who shell out a ton of money every month for their phone service are morons.  I also think that those same folks who spend all day on their smart phones must have very little going on in their daily lives.

Anyway....what does this have to do with the price of rice?  Just that I'm going to keep this blog going whether anybody ever actually reads it or not.  I'll keep pecking away on my grandpa box even when I don't have anything particularly interesting to write about.

Like today.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Inner Strength

It's been a while.  Three months, actually.  Consistent blogging is a great deal like exercise or diet....easy to let it get away from you and, the longer it's away, the harder to go back.

But I'm back.  I have spent the last few months concentrating on getting my weight down and under control.  I've managed to keep it steady at just under 195 lbs.  Not ideal and not my goal; but this is a long way from 260 lbs when I started my 50's.  I still have a gut though it doesn't hang over my belt anymore.  Now, my focus is on obtaining strength during the next three months.

Not an easy task.  I'm going to try and tweak out my diet to help, plus increasing the intensity of my exercise.     I still have folks that do all they can to convince me that I'm wasting my time.  Men my age just get fat and lose muscle.  It's biology.  Accept it.

I refuse to accept being fat.  I refuse to accept that I have to feel sluggish and be without energy.  My thoughts are that those who say it isn't possible is that they are right....for them.

So, I'll try to get back that consistency in several areas, including writing here about the struggles, the triumphs, the setbacks, complaints, praises, off the wall stuff, and cat photos.  Let's see what happens at the end of this year of 55.

One Thing After Another

Sometimes, life just doesn't always go according to plan.  I finally found the time to take a long postponed vacation and start off with getting sick.  Then, a superduper winter snowstorm comes in to bury me and derail plans of visiting family.

and....not much in the way of any exercise at all....stuck in the house...bored...and when I'm bored...I eat

Not one to give up though.  Just whip up some lemonade.  Sugar free of course.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Day 9

Great product.  A packet of vanilla flavored, toss in a few frozen strawberries, add water, blend the hell out of it for about thirty seconds....and you get a great tasting, super thick, shake.  No fat.  Lots of fiber and protein.  Loaded with vitamins.  Fills me up and gives me good energy.  I replace one or two meals everyday with this stuff.

Aim High

We all face challenges and we all face a choice....take it on or quit.  The thing about trying to tackle a challenge though is that you might possibly fail.  I think that's what keeps most from trying.  I mean, failing sucks, no doubt about that.  I think most people believe that it feels better to think of themselves as a quitter than a failure.  We can make excuses for quitting.  Failure is pretty much cut and dried.

It's an illusion though.  Quitting causes resentment and regret.  Whereas trying to accomplish something has the likelihood of at least obtaining partial goals, not trying at all gets you nothing.

Sounds like a safe bet to me.  Either stand and complain about obstacles in your life, or aim high and try to overcome them.  What have you got to lose?

Day 2

One of my biggest self imposed obstacles has been "doing it later". This is especially so with exercise.  It's always "I don't have time this morning" or "I feel kinda lousy" or "I have to prepare for a big meeting"....always something. Then I tell myself that I'll do it later, perhaps during lunch, maybe when I get home in the evening.

Of course I never get to it because the excuses I used in the morning sound just as good at the end of the day. So I miss a day. Then another. And another...well...you know. This morning I pushed aside the excuses and went out for a run (actually a fast walk, but that's the best I can do right now). It was cold. It was dark. It hurt.

 But feels so good.

Next 12 Weeks

I'm needing to get serious about this fitness stuff.  I have a difficult time staying focused by myself...I need a bit of a program to keep on track.  I've decided to do the 2013 Transformation Challenge for the next three months and see what happens.  I'm going to try my best to follow it to the letter every day.  Part of that is "homework" to be completed every week.  These are exercises to address the mental aspects of fitness...and believe me...they are sometimes harder than the weight lifting.  I'll post those and my responses here as I go along the next few weeks.

Heart and Soul

Having looked inward to do some soul-searching, three heartfelt reasons for making the decision to transform my health and life are:

1: I'm tired of being fat, tired of feeling bad, tired of being inactive...tired of being tired.
2: I see friends my age develop diabetes and heart disease.  I want to avoid these killers if it is possible.
3: I want to set an example to others around me.  I want to be known as somebody who can accomplish personal goals and inspire others to achieve theirs.

Emotions

In recent days and weeks, the three most predominant inner feelings I have been experiencing are:

1: Dread that I will have a heart attack.
2. Ashamed of my condition.
3. Frustrated and scared that I can't do it.

Mindset

Three patterns of thinking or beliefs which may have limited my ability to change in the past are:

1: I'm too busy.
2: I'm too old.
3: I've already damaged my body beyond repair.

Body

Three objectively verifiable statements which reflect my physical condition right now are:

1: My weight this morning is 197.4 pounds.
2: My body fat is 34%
3: I've taken my before photos....bleah.  Looking at them clearly shows the work that needs to be done.

Butter vs Margarine

I'm of the belief that butter (or really, any dairy product) is not bad for you.  Overindulgence is...overdoing it on any food is bad for your body.  Eat a sack of bananas in one sitting and see how you feel.  Sure butter is full of fat, it is fat, but one of the goals I have is getting fit and healthy while still being able to enjoy food.  There are just some things I eat that scream for butter.  Taters, broccoli, carrots, peas, asparagus, etc., etc., etc.  Gotta have butter.

One of the things that a lot of folks do in trying to lose weight is to use margarine, especially the so-called heart healthy stuff because it has olive or canola oils or whatever way it's made to convince you that eating this is like eating health food.  It's bullshit.  Margarine has the same fat content as butter.  Sure, butter has cholesterol but guess what; there is no link of cholesterol to heart disease.  Butter is a natural product used for thousands of years.  Margarine is a manufactured product that is more closely related to plastic than any food item that has ever appeared on the planet.

It's all about moderation.  You are not going to lose any weight if you sit on the couch watching TV and eating a couple of sticks of butter every night.  I do think that it's okay to have a pat on your veggies.  Just like there is no one thing that will magically make a person healthy...there is no one thing that will make a person fat.

Eat what you want....but control what you eat.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Motivation

Motivation is that thing which compels you to do something regardless of your preference.  External motivation is the easiest.  Like the photo above; if a Tyrannosaurus is chasing you, it's a sure bet that you will give it your all in running like hell.  No decision making on your part.  You just do it.  One of the best motivators I ever had was waaaaaay back in boot camp.  All day long having a drill instructor screaming at me did wonders in motivating me to do whatever that insane man wanted.  External motivation works dandy.

But what do you do when there is nothing external....when that motivation must come from the inside...when you must motivate yourself?  Not so easy.

Yet...really....isn't all motivation external?  There is no motivation on my part to eat a rack of ribs or a honking big bowl of ice cream.  I can bravely conquer all obstacles in sitting on my ass and watching television.  To do things I may not want to do though, such as eat healthy and exercise...well...I need something to motivate, to push, to MAKE me do what needs to be done.  In my particular case, it's the unsettling knowledge that many guys I know around my age are having heart attacks or finding out that they have developed diabetes.  They all have plenty of new found motivation after the fact.  I just trying to attain that same level of motivation before it happens to me.

I wish I had that old drill instructor at my gym.

Transformation

What if it turns out the *Ultimate Transformation* is not changing into some other, "better" version of self but releasing the story that there's anything wrong with who you are now--and thus releasing the weight, guilt, burden and compulsive need to "change" which is depleting the life energy you could be enjoying and sharing?

That's not an original question from me.  It comes from a post on Facebook by Shawn Phillips.  Shawn is amazing.  Unlike most fitness gurus, Shawn actually speaks to the common person about health, diet, fitness, exercise....without all the hype and platitudes.  I especially love his comments on Facebook.  He just throws out these profound thoughts all the time.  The question above that he posed has had me thinking about it almost every day for the last month.My conclusion is that this transformation I have chased after all of these years is not to change into a different person with a different body....it's to develop what I already am. It's not me that needs to change, it's just some things that I am doing. I need to let go of this goal of trying to become a new and better me and shoot for becoming a better same old me.

I dunno. This is a concept that is really hard for me to put into words. I want to lose weight and be more healthy...not that there is anything wrong with me but simply because I want to feel better and be able to do more in my life. There is nothing "wrong" with who I am right now and I don't want to change who I am right now.

Though I do want to see less of me in the mirror.

Progress

I started off being fat on my 55th year.  Oh, I wasn't morbidly obese or anything, but I have a fairly slight frame and it really shows around my belly more so than a larger man.  Belly fat is the dangerous kind that kills guys my age, plus it just grosses me out.

It is surprisingly easy to lose several pounds.  The trick is to keep it off.  Like an addict....if you change a behavior (in my case, eating like a hog) you can start seeing immediate positive results.  However, if you return to the old behavior, chances are the addiction will be re-established even stronger than ever.  This is called yo-yoing in weight loss and it can actually leave you in much worse shape than when you started.

I wanted to avoid that so I concentrated on changing my eating habits; trying to eat healthy foods, avoiding the unhealthy ones, maintaining my activity level, managing stress, and not allowing myself to get so hungry that I will eat anything I can find.

The result is my weight today.

Not too bad.  I'm still fat but a lot less.  At least friends (snort) aren't patting me on the belly and making witty comments any more these days.  In the coming months I'll be concentrating on developing muscle and saying goodbye to my sagging belly like I said adios to that seemingly impenetrable 200 on the scale.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Resolution

People are always making resolutions at the start of a new year.  Most times, those heartfelt resolutions fizzle out within a couple of weeks and we revert to the same old comfortable patterns...finding ourselves at the end of the year wondering where the time went and coming up with those same resolutions for the next 12 months.

I'm as guilty as anybody.  Hell...I've been knocking myself about a personal transformation for years.

This year's gonna be different though.  I'm ready to break out of loops..those endless cycles...that feeling of spinning your wheels and going nowhere.  I've spent a lot of time and energy to see what works for me but, more importantly, I've found out what doesn't work.

I have a path.  I have a plan.  I have a goal.  All achievable.

This year's gonna be different.

Recalled to Life

2012....it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Well, maybe not such extremes for myself during the year but it did have its ups and downs.  I suppose all years are like that; some good, some bad, but mostly evening out in the long run.  I've lost some people this year but I gained a granddaughter.  I've received a promotion at work but had to use that position to fire four people that I personally liked.  I've weighed in at under 200 lbs for the first time in many, many years and have stayed under that benchmark.  I've continued the attempt to stop smoking and, though I keep relapsing, I keep trying and will end this year and begin the new one a non-smoker.  Good times.  Bad times.  Mostly good.  The world didn't come to an end and that can be counted as a positive.  I have a job, a loving wife, a home, and no serious health or financial problems.  There are a great many people not as fortunate.

I've become keenly aware of age...of my body that comes with increasing little aches and pains with each new year.  This saps the joy out of living and is the primary reason why I'm attempting to do something about my physique.  So this next year will be a focus on a recall to working out in order to develop my body.  Not something that I'm particularly eager because...really....I'm lazy and exercise hurts; but I'm hoping it's a small hurt to prevent the continued bigger hurt.  2013 is the year I raise the bar for my personal goals that I've yammered about in this blog for so long.  This is my year.  The time is now.

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.

Best Christmas Gift Ever

Many folks bloviating what Christmas is all about today.  Some say it's all about religion, some that it's about family and loved ones, and most yammering about giving to others.  That's all well and good, and certainly a big part of the reason of the season...but....c'mon....Christmas is about kids...specifically kids getting great toys for no other reason than being a kid.  How sweet is that?  I think back on those days with fond memories about all the great stuff I found under the tree on this magical day.  The best, by far, was Creepy Crawlers.

Whoever invented this thing was a freaking genius.  The ability to make bugs?  Worms and spiders to scare your little sister with?  My God....it's a boy's dream come true!  I think that they have some super-safety version now days but the one I got had no such features, though it did have a disclaimer that it should only be used under the supervision of an adult...like that would ever happen; parents gave toys to their kids to get them out of their hair, not so they could supervise playtime.  Creepy Crawlers was a toy that would make a present day soccer-mom faint and lawyers slobber all over themselves.  It basically came with a hot plate.  Not warm....HOT.  This was for some serious cooking.  You squirted some liquid stuff they called plastigoop into metal molds that went on the hot plate.  You never really could tell when it had fried long enough other than by sticking your finger into the bubbling goo.  If your finger came out coated with searing hot plastic...well...you needed to cook it a bit longer.  If you just left your fingerprint in the mold and gave yourself a small blister, then it was done.  You took the whole plate mold out with a pair of flimsy metal tongs and set it aside to cool off for a few minutes.  It was pretty much impossible to play with this thing without burning the snot out of yourself.

But oh, what jewels you could have afterwards.  Spiders, bugs, worms, frogs, mice, lizards....and the best....a bat.

Best Christmas present ever.  Thanks Mom and Dad, er, I mean, Santa.

Silent Night

Not Snowshoes

I like wearing sandals.  They are comfortable and I'm fortunate to work in a place that has a rather loose dress code.  But....I have to bow to the inevitability of winter.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

The Best Part of Waking Up

I love coffee.  I mean...I really love the stuff....ever since I was a kid.  I can remember the first time I was allowed to have a small cup and there was some little part of my brain that lit up and sent out the message "this is good, more, more".  I was hooked!

Coffee has been my friend through most of my life.  Settled the symptoms of ADHD when I was very young (or what we use to call being a normal kid).  It kept me awake for classes when I was older.  Alert standing watch on the freezing deck of a ship when older still.  Gets me going and keeps me going at work during the week.  I drink a lot of coffee...all through the day.  I am not a very pleasant person before I've downed at least two cups in the morning.  I have an understanding wife that gives me wide berth until I'm sufficiently caffeinated.

But all that coffee is screwing up my digestion.  I walk around a good part of the day with a faint gut-ache.  I'm also thinking that it may cause some headaches as well as a bit of ringing in my ears.  Of course, this is part of old age as well, but I think that my intake of at least 3 pots of coffee every day (there, I said it, that's about 30 cups, jeeze) probably aggravates these symptoms.

What to do, though?  I can't quit cold turkey.  In the first place, I actually like the taste of coffee.  I even have a tub of coffee flavored ice cream in the fridge right now.  In the second place, that little part of my brain which originally lit up so many years ago is still there.  Stop the supply of caffeine and it gets really nasty.  It's not fooled by decaf either; it just gets even meaner, as if my brain resents having tricks played.

So....I'm tapering off a bit.  Limiting my consumption in the morning at at work.  Substituting tea so that I don't get quite as high a dose of caffeine.  Not giving it up, though.

I Think I Can

I mentioned previously that there are several folks who have informed me that this goal of achieving health and fitness is unrealistic at my age.  I believe that most of them have good intentions.  Not like they are telling me that I personally can never do this, just that it's physically impossible to do certain things at a certain age.....like play pro football, become a champion skateboarder, or go dancing and drinking all night.  And I agree...those are physical limits that, no matter how much I may WANT to do, I am not able.  I couldn't even do them when I was young.

I don't see limits when it comes to fitness though.  I can control what and how much I eat.  I can control how much or little activity I do every day.  Muscle can be gained and defined as long as my body is still functioning.  Health is not exclusive to the young.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that we are largely in control of how we feel both mentally and physically.  Even though we may not have a lot of control with what happens to us, we have a great deal of control of how we react.  I choose how I want to feel.  I can be happy, satisfied, sad, or unfulfilled.  I choose what I eat.  I can eat healthy and nutritious foods or stuff my face with crap.  I choose whether to exercise or not.  Nobody is forcing me to go to the gym anymore than I am being forced to sit on the couch.

Some people think that I cannot be fit and healthy.  I think that I can.  Since it's my body, I get to decide who is right.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

    BUSTED! 

Finally....December!

Indeed.  What am I trying to do?

November is generally a bad month for me, at least bad emotionally.  I get depressed during November.  I'm not really sure why.  I've had several crummy life events occur in November...but I've had some good ones as well, so I don't think that there is any PTSD stuff going on.  Maybe it's the season; it is past the initial autumn changes and everything is just dead, still not cold enough for the tranquil beauty of snow, and a long way from any warmth of spring.  There's Thanksgiving, but that is centered around eating and nothing cheers me up like chowing down.  Work is busy...but that's every month.

I just get depressed in November.  Don't know why.  I just accept it and plow through the month as quickly as I can.  I don't write much though and, when I don't write, I tend to lose focus.  I've drifted away from what I intend to do with this blog and It's high time I got back on the ball here.

It's December!  I'm in my forth month of my 55th year.  My intent was to chronicle a middle-aged (okay, slightly past the middle) man's attempt to reverse decades of bad health habits and emerge, after one year, in the best physical shape...ever.  That's a pretty tall order.  Several (ahem) friends have told me it is impossible.  So far, they seem to be right.

So here are my goals for the remainder of the year.  Nothing ground shaking.  Nothing radical.  Just that, for the rest of the month, I will concentrate on two things:  stop smoking finally forever  and get adapted to exercising on a daily basis.  These are two things that will build a good foundation for what I am trying to do. Without either of them...I'm really just wasting my time and I may as well go out and buy a whole bunch of life insurance because I'm probably not going to get far past 60 the way I am going now.  Smoking is a bugger.  I stop, then start, stop, start, stop for a good while, relapse and go back to smoking even more.  I sincerely wish that my Dad, when he caught me as a kid puffing away in the back yard, had given me a whupping rather than a lecture.  He should have knocked some sense into me...but I guess him nor anyone else could back then.  I also want to get into the exercise habit BEFORE the annual rush of folks hit the gym with their new year's resolutions.  I don't like being part of the herd.  I want to be a fixture at the gym before then.  That means blowing the dust off of my Y membership card and dragging my but down there every morning.

I could use some support.  Most times it seems that nobody reads this blog.  I often get the feeling that nobody is interested or, worse, nobody really cares.   Would it kill ya to comment?  Does that sound like begging?

What the hell....I'm begging.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving would really be a fairly healthy eating day for me.  Turkey is a good, lean, high protein and all the fitness gurus say that it's a great meal choice.  Of course...adding on the extras in most holiday meals; like stuffing, gravy, taters, green bean casserole, pie, more pie, and just one more sliver of pie but I'll leave off the whipped cream this time so it's okay...kinda throws that idea out of whack.

I'll be working this Thanksgiving so the temptations of gorging will not be available.  Lots of people work today.  Nurses, police, firemen, all types of care providers.  We do it willingly because we understand it's part of the job.  People need us day and night, even on holidays.  Be thankful that there are such people.

Think about the poor and homeless as well.  Oh....we all think about them today and in just about every community there will be huge Thanksgiving feeds to the needy.  All well and good but these folks will need a meal tomorrow as well.  So, while you are enjoying your feast and being thankful that you can indulge for today, save up a tiny portion of your bounty and give it to somebody struggling with a great deal less during your mad spending frenzy tomorrow.

Just a thought.  Sorry to sound preachy.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Busy Today

No time today.  I'll be busy giving lectures to an engaged and rapt audience.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

November Walk

November walk from Jay Sheer on Vimeo.

Already Gone

 Who doesn't love the Eagles?  What a great band.  Great songs.  One of my favorites is Already Gone, and my favorite line is the one in the photo above.

This is a very simple truth that most of us don't really "get".  We build our own chains in life.  Link by link, as Jacob Marley's ghost described in a Christmas Carol, we add years of chains...carrying them around in a desperate search for somebody or something to take them away.

Forgetting we have the key.

My wife lost a sister to suicide last week.  She struggled with depression for years and seems that it finally had taken it's toll.  I'm not wise enough to argue whether her choice was the right one or not.  I do wish that she had discovered her key while she still had time to free herself.

May we all find our keys in time.

Halloween Rules

Okay, this is my Halloween schedule.

Before sundown with all the cute little kids ....top shelf candy, the good stuff.  Hershey bars, Reese's cups, Snickers, tootsie pops, etc.

After dark with somewhat older kids but still dressing in costume ....anything left from the first round and adding the cheap crap I still have left over from last year.

After 8 pm with teens looking for free food and if they wore a costume it would be an improvement over their raggedy hoodies and droopy jeans ....the pop-tarts in the trunk of my car with a best-if-used-by date of three years ago.  

After 9 pm I will be emptying out the contents of my cat's litter box.

Anybody knocks on my door after 10 pm better be family, a damn good friend, or showing a badge.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Energy in a Can

Go into any grocery or convenience store and you will see this....tons of energy drinks.  High caffeine, high sugar sludge that amp you up, puts you on full throttle, and make you feel like a rock star.  These bad boys are monsters.

I guess it all started with Red Bull, a drink that was used mostly by college kids as a cheap and legal type of amphetamine in order to get over the effects of the prior night's kegger in time for a morning test in American Lit.  Most folks thought the stuff tasted like crap and slammed the things down for the effect rather than the flavor.  Then, they came out with these little 5 hour energy shots for those who couldn't chug a Red Bull fast enough to bypass their gag reflex.  Still, those little energy shots have a wang to them, so lots of people began doing what you do when taking shots of cheap whiskey....chase it down with something less harsh, like beer.  In the case of the energy shots, people were chasing it down with soda pop, particularly Mountain Dew.  A sugary caffeine drink that goosed up the effect of the energy shot.  After a while, folks figured out that mixing the two saved precious time and...voila...the big can of energy drinks were created.

Now...don't get me wrong.  I love caffeine.  I drink tons of coffee and tea.  I can appreciate getting a chemical boost in the morning to jump start my brain and mellow out my mood so that I can function and interact with other people.  Yet coffee and tea have their caffeine as part of a very complex structure of the plant itself.  The energy drinks are injected with synthetic caffeine.  It's akin to the difference between chewing coca leaves and smoking crack cocaine....technically ingesting the same drug but vastly different in how it affects your body.

This shit is dangerous.  I think that the fact that there are not thousands of people dying from heart attacks and strokes through drinking the stuff is only due to the fact that most consumers of energy drinks are pretty young...hence more resilient.  But if there is one thing that I have learned; you pay for everything eventually.

Stuff I Try Out

I thought I would bring back a regular feature here called "stuff I try out".  Basically, it's just things that I use in my attempt to reach the goals of getting fit and healthy.  Some of them work well...some of them are complete crap.

One of the things that work well for me is this Extra Dessert Delights gum.  One of the major problems I struggle with is smoking.  I'm addicted to nicotine as well as food.  If only I could become addicted to exercise and broccoli.  Anyway; the problem I have is that when I cut down on eating, my smoking increases.  When I cut down on smoking, I tend to compensate by eating lotsa junk and sweets.  It's a vicious cycle...vicious, I tell you.

This gum works really well in handling both the urges of snacking and firing up a cigarette.  I'm not much of a gum chewer but this stuff is actually pretty tasty and the flavor lasts longer than 5 seconds like most other chewing gums.  Root beer float is my favorite with strawberry shortcake and key lime coming in a close second and third.  It's about five calories a stick which is nothing...especially considering that it helps me forgo a couple of hundred calories in a candy bar or decline jamming a cancer stick in my mouth.  Like everything, it's not the cure-all.  It will not make me lose weight or quit smoking or even make me sexy...but it helps.

Well....maybe not any help on the sexy part.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Trying Again.

Okay.  Back to square one with the base camp.  I'm really hoping that the staying up for three days is a fluke and the next couple of weeks will be a bit more sane.  Who would have thought that getting enough sleep every night would be harder than eating or exercise?  My temptation is to chuck the base camp requirement and just go right into an exercise program...but that route has never worked before, so I doubt it will work again.

12 days starting Tuesday.  If all goes as planned, I should finish by October 20th.  This will give me a Sunday to prep for the road ahead.  I hate not succeeding time after time but I guess it's not a total waste.  Being on the base camp part of the program is good for my mind and body.  Even if I don't make any progress toward weight loss and muscle gain...I just feel better.

And, after all, I guess that's the goal.

O Gentle Sleep!

One of the conditions of the base camp is getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night.  This is something that I may have to fudge on if I ever want to get through the entire 12 days.  Due to my lifestyle...I just cannot do that consistently every night of the week.  Some nights, I'm lucky to get four or five hours.  It's not because I have any difficulty falling or staying asleep once I go to bed.  It's just that my job gets in the way at times.

It's like this...Part of my job is to supervise a bunch of people across three shifts seven days a week.  Every once in a while, I have to get some face to face contact with them to do...well...to do supervising stuff.  For example; I'll probably get off work at 7 or 8 pm tonight, then go back to work tomorrow morning around 3 or 4 am to check on the people that work overnights on the weekend.  By the time I get home, unwind, eat dinner, visit with my wife...I'll be doing great if I can squeeze in 5 hours of sleep before heading out again.  The likelihood is that I'll get closer to 4 hours because I need time to ingest food and coffee to wake up enough to be functional.

Try as I might, I can't do anything about this.  So I'm thinking that, at least this part of the base camp, I'm going to have to just do the best I can and keep going.

Crap!

The one thing that Shawn Phillips goes over and over in his book about the 12-day base camp is.....do the entire 12 days without any failure at all.  None.  No wiggle room.  Eat a doughnut, start over.  Miss your exercise, start over.  Don't drink enough water during the day, start over.  Not quit or give up, but start again from day one and do twelve uninterrupted days.

Well, I haven't been able to do twelve days in a row.  Right now I've been awake since 2am due to some stuff I had to take care of at work.  Part of the rules for this base camp is to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night.  On top of that, I've also eaten a few things I was suppose to stay away from during this time.  After 10 days...I start again from square one.

I do take away some good things and it's what encourages me to keep trying.  I feel great.  The fact that I have been able to get through this very long day without fatigue and staying mentally sharp attests to what I was doing for my body was good for my body.

So...starting over.  This is hard stuff.  Backsliding is probable.  Giving up is not an option.

I Feel Good

A little skeptical that I would....but I have to say, being off the dairy, bread, and junk food for the past four days is starting to have its effect.  I don't feel sluggish.  I don't have a headache.  Seem to wake up with more energy and it lasts through the day.  This is really working.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

No Cheese?

Man, I love cheese.  I love all kinds but am especially fond of very sharp cheddar.  Alas...for the next 11 days I've made a commitment to myself to stay away from all dairy products.  It's really bumming me out too because I'm starting to realize just how many dairy products are in my daily diet.  Especially cheese.  I have a nice big block of cheddar in my fridge right now, batting it's eyelashes and blowing kisses every time I open the door.

Be strong.

Lean, Clean, and Green

Well....here it is almost 25 days into my 55th year.  I am stunned with how time passes so quickly.  Summer is winding down.  Weather's getting cooler.  Holiday season fast approaching.  Time's a wasting and I'm not really any closer to achieving that elusive goal of fitness.  Having a plan to do this is easy....carrying through is the problem.  I start off well with good intentions and then, thrrrrrrpt.  Most people might give up.  Most people do; but I'm stubborn and am determined to understand why it is so easy to fail in trying to lose weight and get physically fit.

I think I may have found the reason.

I've got a book by Shawn Phillips titled Strength for Life and it is just crammed full of useful information.  REAL information, not just a bunch of recycled fad diet crap and two-bit psychobabble.  Shawn writes in a very easy-going style that speaks directly to you, especially if you are a middle aged man.  Anyway; in the book, Shawn writes that people going balls to the wall on any type of fitness program after years of neglect frequently fail.  The body just burns out because of all the toxins that you start off with in the beginning.  It would be kind of like taking an old junkie car and putting it on the race track.  You might be able to get a lap or two in, but in short order, the engine is going to blow.  There is just too much gunk built up over the years.

Shawn suggests doing a 12-day base camp before launching a serious program.  A way of rebooting your body and prepping it for a true transformation.  The guidelines are simple; eat lean, clean, and green.  That means lean sources of protein.  No processed or junk foods.  And lots of fruits and vegetables.   In other words, eat healthy.  No dairy.  No bread.  No sugar.  For 12 days in order to get your body in a position to do some changes.  There is also the guideline of drinking plenty of water, no alcohol, and getting seven to eight hours of sleep each night.  Shawn also recommends taking a few moments every day to express gratitude as a means of building positive energy for yourself.

The main problem I have with sticking with a program is that I feel like crap all the time...more so when I start seriously watching my diet and exercising.  Shawn promises that after 12 consistent days of sticking to this base camp I will feel energized and will able to stick to the transformation that I have aimed at for so long.  We'll see.  I'll keep you posted.

Today Sucked

This day totally sucked eggs.  This was the morning that I went to the dentist to have a couple of teeth yanked out of my skull.  In preparation for the ordeal, I was prohibited from eating or drinking after 10pm last night.  That means waking up with no breakfast, no water, NO COFFEE.

So you can imagine I didn't start off with a particularly bubbly mood.  Follow the rest of today with pain.  Once the anesthetic wore off, it felt as if somebody hit me in the jaw with a hammer.  Painkillers help...barely...but all in all, this is turning into one very long day.  To top it all off, I think I may have lost my southern accent along with the teeth.  I dunno...maybe it's just the swelling.

On the plus side.....I probably lost a couple of pounds due to not feeling much like eating anything.  Not exactly a diet plan I want to keep.

The Good Die Young

The absolutely wonderful pineapple upside down cake my wife made for my birthday lasted three whole days.  I think that demonstrates a great deal of restraint on my part.  If I had waited a few more minutes or at least cut the last piece in half, I could have said four days......but it was especially long and tough day for me so I treated myself.

9-1-12 from Jay Sheer on Vimeo.

Fraidy Cat

Well...with a little encouragement from my wife I went to see a dentist for the first time in, oh, longer than I want to think about.  I admit it...I'm a big wuss when it comes to the dentist.  As a result, I'm one of those people who will not go until the pain of a bad tooth is worse than any real or perceived pain I would get at a dental visit.  I've been having pain off and on for a year now and finally decided enough was enough, sucked it up, and went for an initial appointment.

It was only to get everything X-rayed so the dentist could see what he had to work with.  I appreciated the dentist not making any gagging noises or saying things like "oh my God!" or "KA-CHING, there's my new car".  We looked at the x-rays and he told me that, before anything else, a couple of back teeth will have to go.  The dentist asked if I wanted sedation and I replied that I need to at least be so high that he could rip out my tongue and I wouldn't notice, or be unconscious...and I would prefer the later.   So tomorrow I go for a physical to make sure I can tolerate the sedation.  Next week I go get them yanked out.

Strange how my teeth do not seem to hurt right now.  Perhaps I can just cancel.  Maybe the problem will just go away and I won't need to go through the ordeal of several scary dental sessions.

This is yet another reason why I need the motivation my wife provides.

Transformation

Consider the Cicada.  These little buggers are all over the place in August.  At first, their chirping sounds in the trees are somewhat soothing.  As more and more gather though, it becomes so deafening as to be almost painful.  It is also a remarkable bug in it's transformation from one form to another.

Butterflies are usually the symbol for transformation or change.  They start off as a caterpillar, go into a cocoon, then emerge as a completely different organism.  Yet, I don't really see butterflies as a true example of transformation because....they don't work at it.  Butterflies just have the change done to them by their genetics while they wait in a cocoon.  They basically expend the same effort that I would in growing my whiskers.  It just happens.

The Cicada on the other hand...they have to change everything in their lives to get that new life.  Cicadas live most of their lives underground feeding off tree roots.  If I remember my biology, they do this for about ten to fifteen years.  Happily crawling under the soil, drinking root juice, until they have the compulsion to go to the surface and mate.  They then tunnel their way out by the hundreds and climb up trees and the sides of houses.  Then...that remarkable transformation occurs.

They split their outer skin along the backside and wriggle themselves out.  Unlike the butterfly, the cicada has still retained its same basic form; only better, more color, and...wings.  The cicada will spend quite a bit of time squeezing out of what is now a dried shell.  It will spend more time waiting for its wings to expand.  During this time, the cicada is vulnerable to predators such as birds and squirrels and young kids who may want to capture them in jars.

They don't have a choice.

A cicada must transform or die.  It cannot go on in the form it had for so many years of its life.  Like so many of us, the transformation comes out of necessity rather than desire.  I'm sure the cicada would be quite content to live as it had but it's biology dictates it do something different...or die.

This is what I think of with my own goal of transformation.  Unlike a butterfly, it is something that will not just happen no matter how much I may wish for it to occur.  Like a cicada, I would also be just as happy to live my life as I always had.  Yet, like a cicada, I must transform or die.  Age has a nasty tendency to present you with problems that were of no concern to me as a youth.  Food, exercise, healthy habits...I got along fine without them for years.  Now; however, health problems are popping up as a way of my body saying "you can't do this anymore".

So...I have to get my wings...but I'll have to crawl out of my hole and work for them.

......and hope the birds don't get me first