Round 4 begins

In two hours we bought groceries ($55 for two people for about five days), created 15 juices, prepped for ninja smoothies for tomorrow, cleaned, and made a last supper of veggie quesadillas.  The menu these first few days is

Beetlejuice

Beets, ginger, cucumber, lemon, apples, spinach

Warrior

Beets, orange, carrot, sweet potato, ginger, spinach, kale, pineapple, lime

Sea Breeze

Pineapple, cucumber, apple, kiwi

Sublime

Spinach, kale, mandarin sunshine, agave, lime

No excuses y’all.  Let’s do this.

 

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

So now what…

As awesome as it was to do the 10 day fast, it had to come to an end.  Which means going back to the world of French Fries and cheese dip and fried everything.  Wow this is intimidating.  There is an entire world of bad choices out there advertising, attracting, and dangling my favorite foods in my face.  Being fat is a whole lot more fun than being healthy.  Being fat doesn’t require me doing any preparation or thinking about anything.  All I have to do is decide and then consume and then repeat.  I also have the challenge that involves my taste buds and the fact that I don’t have any experience eating healthy ever.

The first weekend, post fast, was a pretty normal weekend.  There was a basketball tournament, baseball workout, baseball scrimmage, Xbox, fantasy football draft, running around, and general time-consuming chaos for three days.  There were plenty of opportunities to fall off the wagon and snack or cheat or generally go back to being that guy.

I still have to plan

• It was such a key when on the fast, actually having my juices ready to go and easily accessible made the fast a success.  I believe that it is even more important going forward.  Now that I have the ability to eat Big Mac’s whenever I want I need to plan and schedule out my juices and meals accordingly.

Buying produce is harder than I thought

• I sat in Publix trying to buy juicing items and I realized that I do not have a clue what Kale actually looks like.  I was overwhelmed by the colors and options and how little I actually know about fruits and veggies.

I have to stay ahead of the meals

• When I was in the fast I just waited until I was hungry to have one.  This plan with eating “normally” doesn’t really work for me.  I need to start with some kind of breakfast and plan out my meals, snacks, and juices.  I want to build a healthy eating style rather than one meal and two juices being all I consume during a day.

When eating out, ALWAYS GET A TO GO BOX WHEN THEY BRING YOUR MEAL

• Restaurant portions are gigantic.  I did very good ordering my meals but I realized very quickly that even eating slowly and trying to be mindful I eat too much if it is on my plate.  I can make all the correct choices I want but if I consume everything I see, I’m not really making the progress I want.

This entire journey is such a process.  The good thing from the weekend was that I succeeded in not totally blowing my diet out of the water.  Now I’m back to the routine at work and will have a better chance to set some new eating routines.

 

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

G was right

I was a band nerd in high school (technically I was a band nerd in college as well).  Our band director in high school was also one of the most influential men in my life growing up.  I was friends with both of his sons, spent countless hours at his home, and I was even lucky enough to speak on his behalf the day they named the fine arts building at the school in his honor.  His middle initial was G so that was one of the numerous nicknames we had for him.

G was notorious for his sayings that band people got used to hearing over our four years in his classes.  Some were funny, some were prophetic, and some I still don’t understand to this day.  One of his constants over the years was:

Plan your work and work your plan

Simple enough right?

We could apply this simple concept to countless applications in life from your finances to raising kids.  What I didn’t realize was that it might be the most critical component to completing a juice fast.

We decided from day one that we would make three days worth of juices at a time.  Simple enough?  What I didn’t realize is that this opened up one of my greatest revelations of juicing and healthy living:

You have to make being healthy as easy and convenient as it is to be unhealthy

(Boy I’m on it today)

Eating healthy, by definition, requires a lot more work than being obese.  There are very few fast food options that aren’t a complete nutritional train wreck.  But by definition they are FAST.  Microwave meals are FAST.  Eating junk food is FAST.  Preparing a fresh green salad or selecting some lean meats for dinner and properly preparing them is not only not fast but it can be expensive.

There is no way I could have done this if I had to make the juices during the day as things went along I wouldn’t have made it out of the first day.  I also traveled with a cooler in the car constantly.  I had to have juice and water with me at all times.  As I have been going through this, my hunger patterns have totally changed and I never wanted to get caught in a situation where I didn’t have my chosen tools for battle.

Keep your eyes peeled, I’m going to give a how we did the fast tutorial and then try to put together a group for a fast later in the year.  Who knows where this is going or when it will end…regardless it is going to be a fun ride.

Thanks G!

 

Ciao

 

SK

Day 7

I made it a week…like seriously it has been a week since I had solid foods; absolutely amazing.

Today is also the beginning of our last “new” batch of juices and apparently our juice master has gone into the lab and created a fresh bath of juices.  The weekend juices were super yummy, but he’s been using actual recipes and this time he’s straight winging it.  They were ok, but it was clear that these were “guesses” on what went well together (stay tuned at the end of the fast I’ll break down the recipes and what I thought).

Day 7 was pretty normal altogether.  I’m starting to miss actually eating.  It is not that I don’t like the juicing, but I don’t think I’m ready for an extension past 10 days though.  I am very excited to have a juicer of my own to start supplementing my post fast eating with my own juice concoctions.

Starting anything sucks.  Whether it is a new job or a new diet or a new pair of shoes, there is always some trepidation in it for me.  As much as starting sucks, I believe I am even worse at finishing things.  It has been a chronic issue since my childhood.  I start with great intentions on working out, or writing, or losing weight, or reading more and then I get bored or apathetic or busy or something and all that positive mojo goes right out of the window.  At this point of the fast I’ve accomplished way more than I truthfully thought I would.  There’s absolutely no way I’m not going to finish this process.

I’m going to lay off from the journal the final few days and simply give you guys the results on Friday.  I’ve got a lot of things in my head though that I would like to explore with the blog in the near future.  I’m really excited to be a little more healthy, a little less beefy, and ultimately a lot more inspired.  All of this from juice?  The Lord does work in mysterious ways.

 

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 1

Sooooooo as you can see, I’m fat.  I guess technically I’m class 2 obese

That’s a freaking hard pill to swallow.  We all have an image in our heads attached to words.  I never attached my profile picture to the word obese.  But as GI Joe says, “Knowing is half the battle”.  So now what?

We started day 1 of our office 10 day juice fast with the scale and the tape measure.  This was my idea because I need to know how my body changes and I need to have a point of reference where I’m coming from.  The plan was to have eight fruit and vegetable juices during the day (8, 9, 10, 12, 2, 4, 6, & 8) and water for a ten-day period.  There are countless documentaries available and the internet will direct you to recipes and results, we clearly aren’t the first people to take on the fast.

Fasting has been a part of the human culture since the beginning of time.  It is biblical, spiritual, and healthful.  I’ve never successfully fasted, so that adds another challenge to the fact that I eat like crap, I eat of convenience, and I don’t really like a lot of fruits or vegetables.

My goals were very simple for this next ten days…FINISH THE TEN DAYS.  I’m great at starting things, but not great at finishing them.  I’d love to see my body measurements drop a noticeable amount but I don’t have a weight loss target.  I am also using this time to pray more and try to touch my inner spirit a little more as well.

The first day was a challenge.  The menu for the day (and the first 3 days):

Watermelon Fresca

Beet Zinger

Carrot Orange

Green Zinger

Chai Fresca

Orange Blush

Synergy (Fire water)

Green Zinger

To my surprise the juices didn’t taste horrible.  Some were more of a challenge to consume than others, but I was able to choke the majority of them down fairly easily.  I went through the day and was never really hungry, hungry.  There were a few times my mouth watered and my tummy growled, but I never had a point where I felt like I was starving.  I had a slight, dull headache in the afternoon, and was a little nauseous for a while; but nothing was too terrible.  It was a big deal that four of us at work are going through it together so there was zero temptation to cheat and you knew that everyone else was feeling the same things.

The biggest thing I noticed was the bathroom…I had to go pee 2-4 times an hour (I’ll actually track this on day two).  The juicing acts as a detox and works on cleaning and clearing out my system.  I had to find some willpower for after my son’s baseball practice when he had McDonald’s and I was sipping on Firewater (cayenne pepper infused and holy crap it was spicy).  I slept fairly well and woke up in a pretty good mood.  All in all, I think day one was a success.  I think I really helped my body by pre-toxing and taking myself off of caffeine, sugar, and breads the previous four days in preparation.

Let’s go tackle day 2.

 

Ciao

 

SK