Motivation for Monday
Per Pippa’s very flattering comment, I decided to make my Toastmaster’s speech this week’s Motivation for Monday. Be sure to adjust your sound. Enjoy.
Log My Loss
This isn't a diet, it is your life!
One More Day in Boston
Wow – this has been one busy week! It has been a great week though. I think I have made some great business contacts, and I have learned quite a bit. Today our speaker was Cynthia Cooper, the auditor that was the whistle blower at Worldcom several years ago. Among other things she was Time Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2002, a published author, and a well-sought after speaker. It was a real treat as our class is only 16 people, so we really were able to spend some quality time with her.
Speaking of a treat – Jody over at Truth2BeingFit asked me a week or so ago if she could share part of my story on her blog. In particular, she wanted to share the eye-opening health reasons for my change, as well as the numbing events in my family over the last 12-18 months which might have been prevented through healthier living. Take a moment and head over to her blog right now to read her post – “Learning From Experience – A MUST READ!!!! PLEASE!”
I didn’t get back to the room early enough to post or peruse any blogs last night. I did get some exercise in, but it was only a mile walk. Eating was so-so. Again, not bad, just not stellar. Today was more of the same. We had a mandatory lunch and dinner together today with the class, and while I ate healthy, I overate a little at both of those meals. Even so, something more impacting happened tonight. I had a chance to tell the whole group my story, and I think there were a few that it may have made a real difference. I hope so.
It’s late here, so I am heading off to bed soon. Don’t forget to stop by Truth2BeingFit and leave a comment on her post.
The Perfect Ten – The Last Update!
That is right folks – this is the last update for The Perfect 10! In just a few short days someone is going to be the happy owner of a set of mini-clubbells from RMAX International! I am anxious to see who all has stuck it out until the end. So get your update in – I will be randomly selecting a winner on Monday. Even though I have pretty much blown this since Dad died, I will leave you with a previously unknown fact about myself:
For most of my life I have been a pretty shy person. In fact, I was so shy (and lacking in confidence) that I wouldn’t ask any girls out. The only way I ended up dating the young lady that was to be my wife was by helping her with her homework. After I finally got comfortable with her, I was able to ask her on a real date. 
It took a while. I was so scared of rejection that I wouldn’t move forward. In fact, it got a bit worse after I asked her out because she turned me down three times. That is right — THREE TIMES! She also turned me down multiple times when I asked her to be my girlfriend. By the time I asked her to marry me I had become a confident enough person that it wasn’t really a problem. That is not the only area of my life where I was shy. In fact, I was pretty much shy about everything, unless I was in very comfortable settings, most of my life.
How about you? Do you have any stories about your shyness or lack thereof? If you don’t want to tell us about that, how about telling us the boldest thing you have ever done? Remember, your previously unknown fact doesn’t have to be any of these. They are just suggestions.
BTW, eating went really well again today, as did exercise. I haven’t started my Tabata routine back up yet, but I am exercising daily again. I feel like I am finding my groove again. It sure feels good.
I am going to leave you tonight with a special shout-out to Beej. He wrote a post that really humbled me the other day. I don’t feel like I am deserving of his comments, but I do appreciate them. Thanks again Beej!
Project Complete and a Shout Out
Well, it may be a day later than expected, but I have finally completed my two intense projects that were both due yesterday. I am so drained right now. I have pulled some really, really long hours last Friday, yesterday, and today, as well as working over the weekend some too. While I typically have these long days once a quarter, they usually aren’t like it has been this quarter. Thankfully I am past this part. My quarterly meeting is actually next Monday though, so it is not really time to exhale just yet, although the bulk of the work is over.
The good news is my food intake has been outstanding yesterday and today. I am firmly in South Beach Diet Phase One, which I really need to get me back where I need to be. I am not sure I will do it for a full two weeks, but I am certain I will at least follow phase one until Sunday.
I blew it on the exercise today. I had intended on having my projects done, but when they weren’t I knew I had to do whatever it took today, which meant getting to work at 6:00 AM and just now getting home at 8:30 PM. I simply don’t have the energy left to exercise after that. I will get a workout in tomorrow though.
As I am heading out for the night I want to give a shout out to two of my favorite bloggers. Many of you know Lori-Ann (Amazon Runner). She asked me to let everyone know she was having some trouble with her blog, but was trying to get it straightened out. I just went to her site, and it looks like she has fixed the problem. By the way, check out Lori-Ann’s store via the link on the side of my blog. Some of you may not know the other blogger – Rob at Fitness for Real, Fitness for Life. I can remember when Rob and I were about the only visitors to each other’s blog. While he took a hiatus from blogging for a bit, he is back now. If you haven’t checked out his blog, you should.
Friday Night Blog Spotlight
Tonight’s blog spotlight is a newcomer to logmyloss, Jody over at Truth2BeingFit.com. This is a great weekend for you to stop by and check Jody’s blog out, because it won’t be long until Jody – Fit at Almost 52 will be Jody – Fit at 52. Yep, this Sunday Jody turns 52. I’ll venture to say you haven’t seen many 52 year-olds in the shape that Jody is in though. Let me tell you what, this gal has got it going on. As soon as you are done reading this, you need to head on over and check Jody’s blog out, just be sure to leave her a comment and let her know South Beach Steve sent you.
A lot of you have been asking about my wife’s grandmother lately. I want to first of all say how awed I am at the concern I have seen. I sincerely appreciate this, and I truly appreciate all the thoughts and prayers that have been going on. It seems they have finally figured out what was going on. It seems that every time she drank something, it was going into her lungs, thus perpetuating the pnemonia. Now that they have figured that out, they are getting her liquids in a little different fashion, which teaching her to drink differently, which will prevent this from continuing. This has been especially tough on my wife, as she has had a cold just like me, so she hasn’t been able to go see her grandmother for a week or so. It does her good to hear she is getting better though.
Speaking of having a cold, I am still not totally over mine, and I don’t think I will be tomorrow either. I am considerably better though. I think I will be totally over this Sunday. That being said, I chose not to workout again today. Tomorrow I may go ahead and walk, but if I do it will be at a slower pace.
Eating has been fair today, although I wouldn’t call it weight loss portions. I am going to try to make tomorrow a great day for dieting though. I am hoping for an outstanding Sunday.
Friday Night Blog Spotlight
Tonight’s blog spotlight is one of the pillar’s in the fat-to-fit blogging world – Lori at Finding Radiance! This gal not only talks the talk, but she walks the walk. Since 2003 she has lost 110 pounds (maybe more) through sensible eating and dedicated exercise. In addition to reading about her great workouts day-to-day, on her website you will also find her workout videos. Besides that, she likes coffee as much as or more than me, and like me, she roasts her own. There aren’t many of us out there that do this. As she will attest, it is indescribably better though. Enough of that, click on over to Finding Radiance and leave Lori a comment. Be sure you tell her South Beach Steve sent you! Remember, for now the blog I spotlight is the reader who leaves the most comments during the past seven days who has not already been featured.
For some time I have said the key to losing weight is diet. That doesn’t mean I don’t support exercise, I certainly do, but if you really want to lose weight, you almost certainly have to adjust what you eat. Now I have a study that supports my theory. I happened to run across the article via a link at Summer Tomato, where I usually find some good reading every Friday with Darya’s For the Love of Food posts. The article makes the claim that exercise doesn’t necessarily lead to weight loss. While there is some pretty interesting information supporting this in the article, the most interesting line to me was, “laboratory rats that had been overfed and then slimmed through calorie reduction were able to “defend” their lower weight more effectively if they ran on a treadmill and ate at will than if they had no access to a treadmill.” So, while exercise may not lead to weight loss in and of itself, it is an important component to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
I am disappointed to report that my wife’s grandmother’s health has taken a sharp turn for the worst. While she seemed to be getting better, the thing that originally put her in the hospital, pneumonia, is not getting better. Today it ocurred to my wife’s father that she had been cleaning an old barn a few days before she began to get sick, leading him to believe this might be a fungal pneumonia. He informed the doctor who is going to be running some tests to find out. Furthermore, she has now been diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrom. I don’t know a lot about this, but according to my father-in-law, this is not good at all.
Exercise for me was reminiscent of some of my exercise this past summer. I walked a full eight miles! The only bad thing was that I had a slight pain in my back before starting the walk, and it has hurt quite a bit more since the walk. I also did 30 push ups, but began to feel a little strained feeling in my elbow that has tendinitis, so I laid off a bit.
Eating has been fine today, not great, but not bad. Breakfast was an apple with natural PB. I also had a piece of bacon. Lunch was a taco on a low carb taco shell and a taco salad. Supper was three eggs, bacon, and a piece of sausage. I also had a large bowl of Grape Nuts with strawberries.
Tomorrow should be interesting. My boys and I are heading up to St. Louis, Missouri to go to the zoo. My oldest son has a gal up there he has been wanting to go see, so we are going to pick her up and let the two of them hang out together at the zoo. I’ll spend the day walking around with the other two. My wife on the other hand is going to enjoy a day of doing nothing. I think she has a few movies she has been wanting to watch lined up. I am sure she will enjoy this.
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