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.
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Day 351 – Long, long day!
Work was busy once again. This time it was my own fault though. It seems I totally forgot I had a pretty important project due today – yes, today. Needless to say, I didn’t get it done. I did get a short extension though. On top of that, I have a pretty important presentation at 8:00 AM tomorrow. As if that isn’t enough, I had some computer jobs after work – three of them! I normally don’t take on that much side work after the day job, but this just fell into place this way. None of the computer jobs went well, so I am stressed beyond belief tonight. Thank goodness it is almost bedtime.
Walking was good today. It was once again a wonderful sunrise. I put in 4.8 miles this morning, and I did 10 push ups. I know that isn’t many push ups, but I am pretty scared to push this arm injury much. I am going to take it nice and slow.
While the weather was great today, it has gotten ugly tonight. My father-in-law called and said they have considerable wind damage at their place. Fortunately, we didn’t get any of that. It did finally rain though, which was needed.
Eating was also great today. Breakfast was a Gypsy Pepper, a Jalapeño Pepper, two Roma tomatoes, and an apple with Super Pecan Butter. Lunch was a great salad with homemade oil and vinegar dressing mixed with lots of herbs. Supper was several hot wings, pinto beans, and steamed squash. I am planning on fasting all day tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. If I am still stressed out, that will be a challenge.
If you get a chance, you should head over to My Three Month Okinawa Diet. Mike started dieting almost three months ago and has shed a whopping 81 pounds so far. His goal is another 11 pounds in the next week. That may be tough, but no matter what, he is going to get close. Congratulations Mike!
Day 350 – What a Great Day!
Today has been a pretty great day outside of work. Not that work was bad, but boy was it busy and stressful! Too much to do and not enough time to do it!
Eating did not quite go as planned today. I had planned on fasting all day, but when I told my wife my plans, she chastised me for not telling her my plans sooner. Apparently she already had plans for supper. Not a problem, I just fasted during the day. Supper was great – a pork chop, some pinto beans, and some green beans. I accented this with a very small green pepper and a jalapeno. I had a handful of fresh blueberries for dessert. Mmmm! I was still a little hungry later, so I filled a bowl full of cucumbers and vinegar that was made a few days ago. It is just about to get right. This is such a terrific snack.
By the way – the peppers are really beginning to come in. Now I can’t wait for the tomatoes. Sure, some have come in already, but just a few. I can’t wait until I can have tomatoes and peppers for breakfast. Yummy!
Speaking of yummy, I roasted a fresh batch of coffee tonight. I haven’t had a chance to do this lately with all the traveling that has been going on. I sure do miss it when I don’t have it. This batch is a Kenya AB Auction Lot #768 Rukira. It is supposed to be a good light roast coffee with a fruity taste. I won’t try it until Wednesday after it has had a chance to sit a bit, but I cannot wait.
Even though I would have preferred to throw my alarm clock out the window this morning, I finally heeded to it after two hits on the snooze button. I hardly ever hit snooze, but boy I didn’t want to get up this morning. Once I did, things were great. I walked 4.8 miles, which was a little more than expected. The walk was really a good one – a little cooler, a beautiful sunrise, the birds chirping, what more could you ask for. Nothing, but I will tell you what I got. Toward the end of my walk, who did I see walking over the hill? My wife. Apparently she has decided to start C25K today. She has yet to convince herself that there is anything worth getting up at 4:30 AM for on a regular basis, so we may only see each other in passing, but it was nice seeing that she started it. Something has always told me that she would really enjoy that program if she ever started it. Now I suppose we will find out.
Anyhow, after the walk I decided to do Tabata Jump Rope. If you aren’t familiar with the Tabata training, it is basically doing any exercise as hard as you can for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat this eight times. I have not done this ebfore today. Let me tell you what, this will kick your tail! I did not finish the full eight sets. In fact, I am not sure how many I did finish – either four or five. I will get better at this though.
I ran across a couple of helpful posts on other blogs tonight. First, Mark’s Daily Apple tells us all about freezing produce. Second, Darya over at Summer Tomato presents an opposing view to the latest hype that body fat is healthy.
Last of all, recently I have had posts which were chosen to be in three blog carnivals. The first was my Cinnamon, Diabetes, and Heart Health post, which made it into the Take Charge of Your Health Care Carnival. Next, my post on When the Sun is Shining made it into the Your Metamorphosis Carnival and the Blogging About Losing Weigh Carnival.
Day 349 – A Munching Victory
Today I have been wanting to eat all day long! Do you ever have those days? I have been a little stressed about some home projects I am struggling to finish, so I think that had something to do with it. In my former life I would have probably put away a few thousand calories this afternoon alone, but fortunately, that is my former life. I told my wife I was really struggling wanting to eat, and she suggested I eat some cucumbers and onions we had soaking in vinegar and Splenda in the refrigerator. I thouth that was a great idea, so I had a couple of bowlfulls of this. While that is still alot, it is better than a bag of chips, a bag of cookies and a glass or two of milk, or any of the many other things that were a part of my diet a year ago.
I did not exercise today. While I have had two light days already this week, I felt I needed another day of rest, primarily for my feet. I had developed a little bit of a sore on one of them last week and I don’t want to aggrevate it. It should be fine tomorrow.
Food all day was okay, other than the quantities. For breakfast I had an apple with three tablespoons of Super Pecan Butter. For lunch I had a small salad (all fresh veggies) with apple cider vinegar, some green beans, Spam (Uggh! Big Mistake of theday!), and Country Ham. The meat was really pretty small in quantity, but more than it should have been. My mid-afternoon snack was already listed above. My supper was also too big. I had a small salad (all fresh veggies) with EVOO and apple cider vinegar, a very small amount of green beans, 1/2 cup of Uncle Sam Cereal with 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries, and 1/2 cup of 2% milk. I then followed this up with an apple and three tablespoons of Super Pecan Butter. The quantities were awful, but the food choices were pretty good (other than the lunch meats). Tomorrow is a fasting day. I intend on not eating anything at all tomorrow and breaking the fast Tuesday morning.
Last of all, in case you needed a reason to avoid high-glycemic foods, a recent study, How High Carbohydrate Foods Raise Risk for Heart Problems, has found that eating high-glycemic foods caused the brachial arteries in the body to stretch out for several hours, presumably reducing their elasticity, which is a cause of heart disease. This is a significant study that everyone should read. The findings are substantial and they seem to prove that sugar-laden, high glycemic foods are more than just a risk to our waistline.
Week Fifty-One Weigh-In and Measurements and Goals
I am pleasantly surprised this morning. I honestly didn’t expect a loss at all, but when I stepped on the scale I was down another pound to 206.5. I guess all that walking really paid off. Of all the measurements this week, only one, my calves, went up. They increased an eighth of an inch to 17″. My body fat decreased 0.7% to 22.6%, my BMI decreased 0.2 to 29.6, my chest decreased 0.625″ to 45.25″, my stomach decreased 0.5 to 41″, my waist decreased 0.25″ to 38.75″, and my thighs went down an eighth of an inch to 22.875″. My neck, biceps, and forearms stayed the same.
Looking back at my goals for last week, I find that I didn’t really do so hot. I didn’t do a single plank, although that was because of injury. I also ate like a glutton at least once, perhaps more. I did, however, blow out my walking goal. The goal was 20 miles and I walked a whopping 36.1 miles.
My goals for this week are to walk at least 24 miles, do a total of 30 push ups, do my plank routine 3 days, and begin my jump-rope routine again.
Day 348 – Fresh Veggies Are In!
Summer time is here. It is HOT, HOT, HOT. While that is not my favorite thing, it does bring along some good things, like fresh vegetables from the garden. This morning my wife and I headed over to her grandma’s house to pick a few fresh vegetables. A few doesn’t even begin to describe what we brought home. This included a grocery bag full of green beans, two bags of various peppers, some tomatoes, some potatoes (that I will not eat 
), lots and lots of cucumbers, some squash, a bag of fresh apples, and more. My wife’s grandmother doesn’t know the meaning of the word moderation when it comes to gardening. She literally grows enough to feed a small community. That is good for us. My wife, the boys, and I help out in the garden, so she eagerly gives us all we want. There will be no shortage of them until frost.
After working in the garden, my wife and I went for a 3.1 mile walk this morning. Even though we walked pretty early, the heat really took a toll on her, so we walked a mile less than we had planned. In addition to working in my wife’s grandma’s garden, we also worked for about two hours in our garden late this afternoon. I don’t think I am going to walk tomorrow. I kind of feel like I need a day off.
Eating was great today, although I had intended on fasting again. Unfortunately, the awesome looking fresh vegetables ruined that plan. I don’t regret that a bit though. There is nothing like stuff fresh from the garden. For breakfast I had one blackberry (yes, just one, that was all that was ripe), a sliced Roma Tomato, a sliced green Bell Pepper, a sliced Gypsy Pepper, and a small apple (think golf ball) with natural peanut butter. Lunch was a Fuji Apple with natural peanut butter. Supper was a large salad full of fresh vegetables, two smoked chicken strips, and Ranch Dressing.
You may have noticed, my page on Intermittent Fasting is up. I encourage you to check it out. There is a lot of good stuff there.
One last thing, if you happened to look at the Super Pecan Butter recipe I posted this morning earlier in the day, it has been updated immediately prior to this post. It seems the oil which was added earlier looked good at the time, but now it seems to be a bit much. If you choose to make this, you probably want to start with half the oil at first.
Tomorrow is weigh-in and measurements. Despite the extra exercise this week, I don’t feel like I have lost anything. In fact, I kind of feel bigger (my belt does not feel as loose). I hope that is just my mind. We’ll know in just a few hours. Wish me luck.
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