Step away from the scale

We love the scale…or do we hate the scale?  When was the last time you got on the lb pedestal and measured your degree of chubby to skinny ratio?  Is it a digital scale?  Do you cheat on your analog scale and manipulate the calibration (I know I’m not the only one that’s done that)?  They in your bathrooms and kitchens and bedrooms.  They are a standard appliance in the home…but why?

I seriously doubt that any of us are horribly surprised when we step on a scale unless you’re competing on the Biggest Loser.

Let’s also add to the fact that there no surprises the fact that all pounds are not created equal

It is crazy cold here in the classic city this week and I’ve worn jeans to work every day.  Yesterday I wore my fat jeans. As sure as I am that you have a scale, I’m also positive you have fat jeans.  Whether they are an emergency back up pair or they are your daily wearers because you’ve split your seat in your other britches, I bought these jeans from a thrift store about a year ago because I had gone out to dinner and the jeans I wore did not survive dessert.  They were baggy and a nice cut and served their purpose well.  Yesterday…they swallowed me.

Today I put my skinny jeans on.  The same jeans that didn’t survive the Applebee’s adventure that stimulated buying the fat jeans.  I’m also fairly certain that you have some skinny jeans in your closet somewhere.  You can aaaaaalllllllllllmoooooooooossssssssssstttttttttttt button them, but after you suck it all in, it just doesn’t work well.  They aren’t quite cool enough to be hipster skinny jeans, but you love them and you want to one day slide your donk back in them.  My skinny jeans are now loose.

There is so much I’ve learned since the original fast.  I’ve always heard that the scale is not your only indicator…I just didn’t believe it.  I was chasing that same 10 pounds I’ve gained and lost for the past 5 years (and really it is about 10 pounds I keep losing and 20 pounds I keep gaining).  I’m just living now.  I’m trying to make better choices and be more active.  So go step on the scale…yep waiting…write down the number and then go get on a treadmill or eat a salad or make some juice or lift a weight.  Keep doing it a few weeks and months and then before you get back on the scale go pull out those skinny jeans and see how far you’ve come.

Ciao

SK

Do you remember?

I will go out on a limb and say that most, if not all, of us has a great moment we look back on where we were “in pretty good shape”.  It may have been playing sports in high school or when you completed a race in your 20s or after a biggest loser challenge at work in your 30s.  There’s some cool memory you have where you felt pretty good about who was looking at you in the mirror.

Mine was in my 20s and playing pick up basketball ALL THE TIME.  There is zero exaggeration in all the time.  I was probably on some kind of basketball court five days a week.  I played basketball instead of going out.  I wasn’t really trying to be in shape, we were just having fun and the by-product was I could run and jump and had a little bit of stamina and strength, pretty freaking awesome.

Fast forward from that happy picture you have in the full length mirror to the pictures you take now that are just of your increasingly round-ish face.  I was trying to think the other day when I got fat.  As with most things it is a slow and arduous process to reach the rotund physique that I created in my soon to be 41-year-old body.  I do recall a moment though when I was getting out of the shower and realized that my fat rolls on my back were now touching each other (sexy imagery I know).

Being sloppy was pretty fun though, aside from the aches, pains, shortness of breath, and ice packs.  I just ate and slept and ate some more.  I was lucky enough that my fat-boy was still able to be a fairly active dude.  Those good genetics allowed me to just keep on keeping on with my life because “it wasn’t that bad”.

I remember being smaller, but I really don’t remember what it felt like to be “in good shape”.

I remember the feeling of getting excited about a buffet

I remember the mouth-watering goodness of birthday cake

I remember eating a third plate in one sitting of a holiday meal

But I don’t recall what if felt like to actually be fairly fit…that’s pretty sad.

I remember someone telling me once that while recovering from alcoholism he had to create “new tapes” that would play in his head.  He had to create new responses for the situations his entire life that had previously been to take a drink.  I want some new healthy tapes too.  I’d like to know what waking up and craving green smoothies instead of chicken biscuits feels like.  Maybe I can automatically enjoy an apple the way I’ve enjoyed a Twix my entire life.

Reset

Restart

Re-live

Timehop is a pretty cool app that goes back into your social media archive and shows you what you posted in previous years.  There has been tons of cool stuff but something I have also realized

DUDE I’VE BEEN FAT A LONG TIME

and I’ve been putting it out there a long time and I’ve been fighting it a long time.

Finding that 20 something basketball kid isn’t about a resolution or a plan or a program.  That kid didn’t have any of that.  He just played and lived.  That kid didn’t eat great but that kid also knew that if he wanted to be able to not suck on the court that night I couldn’t destroy five trips back through the buffet line either.

Reset

Restart

Re-live

Making new memories takes time and most of us hate that part so we’d rather just keep pulling up the mental VCR on the old memories that are comfortable and safe.  Gang you can’t find a VHS tape now to save your life, yet you won’t upgrade your mental Beta tapes for fear of losing something special.  I think it is a good day to try this fancy new HD life guys…come on, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Ciao

SK

Excuses, excuses, excuses

This is the part of a blog where the writer tells you all the reasons he hasn’t been writing.

Fill in the blank _______________________________________________________________ is why I haven’t been blogging.

More than anything else, I just haven’t taken the time and sat down and wrote.  Writing is like running for me.  I love to do them both, but I have to schedule time for both activities and sometimes I just get lazy and stop.  Luckily I always come back because I love them both so.  Usually It takes a little bit of motivation for me to get on board and come back and today is no different.

Now for those of you interested in juice stuff, I have been actually writing down recipes and I will be creating a separate section on the blog for juicing and juice fast type things.  I’m not going to commit to when I’ll get it up, but hopefully before my next fast (January 5 if any of you want to start planning now).

This fitness journey for me really start with Carlos Whitaker and his #fitbyfourth initiative he started back in the summer.  That got me moving, fasting got some weight off and changed habits, and I’ve just kept at it.  Well ‘Los is back at it again with #fitbyfirst coming at us right now.  31 days to get a jump-start on a healthier me.  I’ve really done well watching what I eat, exercising, and continuing to lose weight, but everyone likes a little motivation from time to time.  One of the keys to the Journey with ‘Los is to journal.  I have terrible handwriting, so one again I’ll be bringing my journal here to share with you guys.

The first couple of days are easy…Take a before picture, make a video to yourself from yourself, and do the fitness test.  All items are complete and I’m ready to get after it.  2015 will be my year to get back into the under 200 lb club.  I also have plans for a half marathon and wait for it…muscles!!!!  I also have a pile of personal and financial things that I have been working on and improving that will continue to move forward for me.

So I’m back…again…don’t hate me because I’m wishy-washy, just love me because…well…just because I need love darnit.

 

Ciao

 

SK

Gooooooaaaaaaaalllllllllllll

I ran into a friend over the weekend and they had seen my Facebook posts and asked how the fast was and complimented me on my success.  Then he hit me with a question, that I really hadn’t thought about:

“So what’s your goal?”

If you know me offline, there’s a pretty good chance you know that I love goals and goal setting.  It is in my DNA but somewhere during this process I totally forgot to think about what in the world I wanted to accomplish for this to be a success.

Of course I want to lose more weight, but how much?

Of course I want to be healthier, but how do I measure that?

Of course I want to look good in a speedo, but really who actually wears a speedo?

I also need to work on some type of reward for reaching this goal.  I’m always looking for something to celebrate, so this could be yet another reason for a party, right?  I realize that my body is not like anyone’s else body so I need to use my data to see where I need to land in order to be healthy, so let’s do the word problem…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based off of my last measurements (231 lbs and 26.38% body fat), I am carrying around 61 lbs of fat.  No I didn’t stutter, I’m carrying around a 7 yr old boys worth of fat on a daily basis.  No wonder my blood pressure is high and I haven’t felt well.  In order for me to get into the “fitness” category I would need to lose approximately 27 lbs of fat.  That would bring my goal weight to 204 lbs and my body fat to 16.67%.  On a safe weight loss goal of one pound per week, that puts my target date as approximate March 1, 2015.  That really can’t be all the goals I have though right?

I want to complete another 7 day juice fast in November and another one in January.

I want to complete a “how to” .pdf/book/pamphlet and make it available to the masses before the November fast.

I want to complete a minimum of one 5k in 2014.

I want to complete 6 races of various lengths in 2015.

I want to keep my daily calorie intake under 2000.

I want to completely overhaul this blog and turn it into something special.

I want to get my blood pressure to a normal, healthy level.

They, whoever they is, say that putting your goals in writing increases the likelihood of them becoming reality.  I don’t have time to waste.

************This blog post has been sponsored by the sodas and candy that I no longer crave and that I hope will be dead to me forever************

 

Ciao

 

SK

If I can do it…

…So can you

I guess this is kind of my new mantra as well as the direction I’m going to take the blog.  This ten days has had a major effect on my life.  Before I get to what I’ve learned, let me get to the results.

Starting weight-244.8

Finishing weight-231

Starting BMI-35.12

Finishing BMI-33.14

I also lost 4″ from my tummy and hips

I don’t really know what I expected the results to be, but I’m truly amazed at the before and after (and no there won’t be any pictures until I really, really get my body together lol).  I am not even close to where I think I want to be, but I am so proud of the jump-start that I gave myself…yay me!

The physical difference can be measured.  What happened between my ears is a little more difficult to quantify.

I slept better

I didn’t ache

I crave exercise

My energy level is off the charts (and I’m already a high energy guy)

My mood has been amazing

I have prayed constantly

I feel better

I look better

I see myself better

My clothes aren’t as tight

I could probably go on another ten or fifteen things that I clearly know have changed as a direct result of the juicing.  My mind has also been opened to the possibility that I can live a different way.  I’ve had plenty of self-inflicted wounds in my life that have gotten me here.  My health choices are only one of these wounds.  But my health is not that far removed from my finances which is not that different from my relationships which is shockingly close to my spirituality.  It is all interconnected.

I have absolutely opened up a new part of my brain and embraced the possibility that I can live a little bit better than I have before.  That’s really all this is about, getting better.  There are so many things we have in our life that are going to cause conflict and prevent us from being the best we can be.

I also want to make this blog the best it can be.  So over the next few weeks I’ll be in the lab working on changing it to better fit this direction that I think I want to go ;).  I love you all and I greatly appreciate the support.  Let’s see if we can start something big.

 

Ciao

 

SK

Day 6 (the weekend)

For the better part of the past seven years, most of my weekends are consumed with baseball.  I absolutely love it, but it hasn’t really helped my relationship with food.  About a million drive through stops, countless hot dogs, and soda on top of soda on top of soda.  The other weekends have been just as poor habitually.  Even without baseball on the radar this weekend, I knew it would be a challenge.

Friday night there was a party with friends.

Saturday I played golf with a good buddy.

Sunday my son and I hung out and chilled.

Three absolute landmines for someone trying to stay on the juice train.

Amazingly enough, it really wasn’t that hard.  Habits are hard to break, so my plan for Friday night was to keep something in my hands the entire night.  So I spent three hours with a juice in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.  I really didn’t think about the consequences of this costume, but it was the greatest conversation starter ever.  I spent an evening explaining the benefits of juicing, the reasons why I’m doing it, and how it is making me feel.  An absolute winning proposition all the way around.  I even managed to get my son to smell them all and even, almost, take a sip of one of them.

Saturday I discovered them limits of juicing.  It was hot and sunny and evidently four hours of being outside in it and walking a course was too much for my 1000 calories.  I was completely drained by the time the round was over.  At the halfway point of the round a hot dog and a powerade sounded like heaven on earth.  But I continued to trudge through and made it to the end.  I had to fight my eyeballs to stay up past 9 pm that night.

Sunday was great.  I woke up without an alarm.  I was refreshed all day and really enjoyed hanging with my son even more than normal.  The challenges of cooking for him were really not an issue either.  I was full and satisfied and didn’t finish all of my final drink for the night.

I’m sleeping great, feeling great, looking better, and generally pretty excited about what’s going on.  The other positive event from the weekend was getting a juicer from a friend that wasn’t in use.  I’ll be locked and loaded to continue my juice evolution after we finish the fast.  Four more days to go y’all.  I seriously can’t believe I made it this far.

 

Ciao

 

SK

Looking back-Part 1

It is Saturday morning and rather than talking about day 4, which was basically just like day 3, I figured I’d look back on this process and journey and what I’ve learned about myself and food.

I’ve had a running joke the last few years that I only eat 12 things.  That really isn’t that far from the truth.  My family grew up lower middle class.  My parents were never married and I was raised primarily by my grandparents and my Aunt.  We had welfare food and from an early age I remember just not like very much because most of it tasted like sand.  I was a skinny kid and it was always a challenge when I was somewhere that wasn’t home, to find things to eat.  As a teenager I started to like and consume in mass quantities fast food and easy food, because it was easy and it actually tasted good to me.  I had a therapist once talk about how I learned the majority of my relationship skills as a child and they would be tough to “unlearn”.  I guess my bad relationship with food started there too.

Over the years my palate has improved but my eating habits really have not.  Lots of starch, lots of carbs, and lots of sugar…then you sprinkle in a pile of caffeine on top of it and you have a molotov cocktail of fat and sloppy at age 40.  I’ve always said I didn’t really like the gym and I don’t stick to running plans unless there is a race.  I think some of the problem might be that I was trying to fly a jet plan with 87 octane fuel.

EATING IS FUN

People love to sit around the table with friends and family and eat.  It is an event.  People buy houses because of the cool kitchen or the way you can entertain your friends and family.  People have date night at restaurants and have family events with cookouts and pot luck dinners.  People grab hot dogs and pizza at ballparks because it is a habit and its part of what makes it fun.  And it should be fun, but I think that some of the convenience and fun of eating has slanted my personal relationship with food.

I’m far from an anatomy and physiology scholar or a biologist, but I have learned a little over the past few weeks about how the body works.  The reality is that I have done a terrible job of taking care of myself.  It shows on the scale, it shows in my complexion, and it shows in my energy level.  Now I’m not saying that I’ve done it all wrong my whole life, because for the most part I’m a pretty happy dude.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ve been off in my food relationship as well.

I’ve got a pile of relationship theories that I have used to help advise friends over the years (and yes Doctors make the worse patients).  One of the things I’ve always believed is that, just like in sales, you must negotiate from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness.  Successful relationships are a win-win for both parties.  You give and you take but both parties have something to gain from the interaction.  The relationship I’ve had with food has not been from a position of strength.  I have eaten convenient, easy, processed meals that make me happy but really aren’t giving my body what it craves.  I truly think that because that is what I ate, it is what I’ve continued to eat.  I think that I’ve taught my body, over the years, that when I’m hungry to eat some junk.

I guess I didn’t realize I had this much to say.  So I guess I will break this thing up into parts so people can actually digest it.

 

Ciao

 

SK

Day 3

Things are going just swimmingly here in Fast-ville.

There really isn’t anything major to report.  I think I’ve gotten through all the hunger issues and generally feel like I’m in the routine of things.  I timed my workout perfectly today, I had just enough gas in the tank to finish the workout without feeling hungry or stretched.

My big discovery from day 3 is my mental clarity.  There were times during the day that I felt as though my brain was going at a faster speed than the rest of the world and I was able to process things faster and more clearly.  It was pretty cool.

Day 4 will be interesting as we cut from 8 juices a day back to 6 and we will be changing our flavors and varieties.  The weekend should be fun and I’ll be full of info on Monday.

 

Ciao

 

SK

Day 2

Well, well, well…day 2 was supposed to be a disaster:

Headaches

Itching

Irritable

Tired

Diarrhea

Hungry

Much to my surprise, I had NONE OF THAT, so I’m…

The video is not only the right title, but I was bouncing around all day like I was an extra for Pharrell in the shoot.  My secretary posted on Facebook that I was “geeked up”.  All jokes aside, I felt amazing.

I slept fairly well, although still not the magic sleep that it is supposed to inspire.  I arrived at work ready to consume some sustenance.  About 15 minutes after that first sip it was as if I had put super high-octane fuel in my body.  My thoughts cleared, my mood was excellent, I was smiling, happy, and generally ready to rock and roll.

I discovered something else during day two, I don’t hate the juices.  The reality is that some of them were actually pretty good and even at one point I was craving the taste of one of them.  I did discover that, for me, they are a million times better when they are ice-cold.  I was also able to slide much more easily into my work pants (I did jump on the scale, but I’m going to save the results for you guys at the end of the 10 days).

The day was pretty smooth.  My fasting partners at work and I joined a local gym as well and went for the first time as well.  When I returned to work I definitely needed a pick me up and the my handy juice bottle was there waiting for me.

I am surprised and amazed and happy and optimistic and feeling great.  Hopefully it keeps getting better as my body adjusts to everything.  The craziest thing is I have already gotten my brother and a good friend to jump onto trying this for themselves.  I’m not going as far as calling myself a real juicer, but I am definitely well on my way.  See you guys tomorrow.

 

Ciao

 

SK

Summertime…

As I recall from my childhood, summer usually went from the first week of June until Labor Day.  It seemed like it was forever.  This year schools were out by mid-May and are returning to school the first week of August.  This summer has flown by with an extra pace because of the events…

 

High school student death #1

Broken window in-car

State tournament baseball finals

College World Series

Broken wrist

High school student death #2

Visit from China

Loss of projector in the PB

Baseball tryout

Loss of a dog

Death of high school teacher

 

Now I’m sure that everyone had plenty of stuff happen this summer as well, but for some reason it seems as though mine has flown by at an even more break neck pace.  Summer flew by in a flash.  So now as the weather considers cooling off a bit I need to put my hands back on the wheel a little bit and slow this boat down.  I’ve learned this summer that Crossfit is too hard for me, that my train wreck relational history can actually help people, that my son is no longer a little boy and totally a young man, and that our company is going to do amazing things in the future.

2014 is winding down and I need to come up with some things to accomplish that don’t involve fantasy football, tailgating, and playing Xbox.  So I’ll spend the next few days/posts to talk about a few goals and put them out there in writing and let’s see how much I suck or don’t suck come 1/1/15.

 

Ciao

 

SK