Monday, December 22, 2008

The Offspring - You're Gonna Go Far Kid

Monday, November 10, 2008

Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl

The PussyCat Dolls- When I Grow Up

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Lifting once again.

Last week Tuesday (September 2nd, 2008) I started lifting for the first in three plus months. It was great to get back into the gym and hit the weights. I was feeling not strong enough and adiquet to what I was use to. I want to hit the weights harder than ever so I can get big and strong and use that as a deteriant towards any boys that want to date my girls. I want to be known for being scary to all of the boys in the schools.

I guess I am just afraid that my girls will be hurt by the boys in any school and I want to be there to protect them.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

I can talk myself into eating and doing anything.

I just wish I could talk myself into doing the right thing and keep to it. This last weekend, I talked myself into eating alot of fried chicken, ice cream and cake, and even more ice cream during the week, which really pissed me off because I was working on not eating anything like that but I felt I should because I was hungry for sweats. I have been really good for the last couple of days and I hope I can keep this up for the next 30 pounds. I really need to just keep my head down and get the job done because I know I will keep the weight off once I have hit my goal.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Been good all this week, 237!!!!

I have dropped down to 237 which makes me feel like I am back in control of my weight loss. I have been determined on my diet and am trying to keep my portion size down as much as possible.

Though I have not been weight lifting I feel like I still have some of the muscle still, but I can't wait for the winter hours to come back so I can lift all over again. I am feeling a little stiff which I am trying to stretch every morning and night. I think I will also try to get a stretch session in during lunch.

I have to schedule a physical appointment and see what they recommend for my hip and as a stretching regiment.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

My Wife and I are doing it again, and I don't mean sex.

My wife has been saying how she is not happy with her tummy. I m also unhappy with my weight loss progress. So starting tomorrow. Her and I are watching what we eat again down to a caloric intake. I have also be taking out coffee from my diet for a whole month and also sweets like ice cream and candy. I am just going to take it out all together so I don't have any temptations. Wish us luck and I will keep you all posted.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Back Down To 239 Baby!!!

For the last 4-5 weeks I have been off the wagon and was at a constant 242 pounds. This week I have tried to stay on track better and now I am back down to 239. I was so happy this morning. I have been doing cardio during lunch and also back on track for counting my calories. I also have been biking into work add my endurance and stamina have gone up a bit. I have also noticed that my cool down is much quicker and my heart rate comes down a lot faster. I like the feeling of that.

Monday, June 16, 2008

First Day back on the Wagon...I suck!

I am currently on my first day back on the wagon. I have so far failed, miserably. After going through the whole day, I finally had two burgers and later on at 10:00pm I had some Eggo waffles, but the good thing is I am not gaining anymore weight. I have kept off what I have lost thus far. I will do better tomorrow. I am thinking about not having coffee in the morning but having it at night so then I can take in more water throughout the day instead of lacking on water like I did today.

I will try to do better tomorrow.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

What do you do when you fall off the wagon?

I have fallen off the wagon but have not gained any weight. I have been finding myself justifying eating out and eating ice cream and everything. I have been also over eating and eating at night for the last month or so. I have been doing home improvements and "haven't had the time" to watch what I am eating or working out. My workout is really my home improvements but i have not been eating very healthy. The nice thing is that I am still eating in the same manner that I have been using to lose the weight, I am just eating more crap than I am use to. I chew my food completely before I swallow. I have also been drinking a lot of water which helps keep everything nicely lubricated.



This is how I plan on getting back on the wagon.



First, I have been reviewing why I went off the wagon and what was the main driver. Then I looked at how to stop those actions and get back on track. So I identified that I was eating junk food, eating at night, and also eating a lot of food in one sitting. Sometimes I would eat fast enough that I would get full...to full. My wife and I have also been eating a lot of beef for supper, mostly steaks. I have also been eating more than I need of that steak. So what am I doing to make sure that this does not happen again? I am posting my results from my FMEA on the refrigerator so my wife and my family can see my progress. It is harder to cheat when you have many people looking over your shoulder. So I am creating my FMEA sheet for everyone to see.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Engineering My Weight Loss

I was asked how I am losing the weight so I though I would share to you all what I said.

-My Article-

I have lost over 30lbs since January 1st of 2008.

In December I looked at myself in the mirror while I was at the YMCA getting ready to go swimming with my kids and I saw a large man with large love handles and a large gut. Even though I am an avid lifter and can gain muscle easier than anything, I have always had a hard time losing the fat. That night I thought for a long time, “How am I going to lose the weight in the way that works for me?” I then came to the conclusion to look at things in the manner as an engineer, which I am. I sat down and started creating my project plan with no dates, I just wanted milestone because if I had dates, I would fail due to inconsistencies found in the human body. Every person’s body is different so no date plan can be successful. I know if I missed a date, I would just give up on the whole thing. After creating my milestones, I then created and FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis). This document allowed me to list out all of the possible means of failure to my weight loss. I had listed out several items that will keep me from losing the weight. A couple of them being my habit of eating at night, eating sweats, and also making sure that I stay at around 2000 calories a day. Now, I did put one more thing down as a possible failure and that was the adaptation of the human body. The human body will adapt to your lifting schedule and cardio schedule in time, so why would calorie intake be any different. I did some research on this and my theory was correct so I cycle my calorie intake of five days at 2000 calories and two days at 2600 calories, give or take an ice cream sundae.

After my FMEA and project plan was created, I then created a data sheet which will track my FMEA occurrence and avoidance, weight training and cardio occurrence and avoidance, weight for that day, and also a little journal spot to document any event or reason of inconsistency (Birthday Cake, Holiday Cookouts, etc.).

The last thing that I created was an IPO (Input Process Output) diagram to show how this all ties together to my body and goal. My inputs are food, workout routines, and environment. My processes are digestion, eating (chewing and eating slowly), and exercising and lifting. And as far as the outputs are…I don’t think you want to know the outputs…or care.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Supporting Wives - This one is for you.

During the journey of finding that skinny guy inside each and every one of us, we can't neglect that one person who has been through our victories and failures. I found this picture the other day and I think it speaks for itself. To all of the wives who have stood by their guy and helped them lose the weight that they have been working so hard for, "This one is for you."

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Losing weight slowly to avoid extra skin

I have been losing weight at about a rate of 1.5-2 lbs a week. The last two weeks I have hit a plateaus which allowed my body to shrink down. I have taken some pictures and it shows that my skin has gotten tighter which is showing more definition in my body. I think during that period of time, my body was trying to get the rest of the body to form up to what it should look like.

It is important to slowly lose the weight because otherwise you will have a lot of skin left over and no where to put it. It is also a necessity to drink lots of water because as your skin shrinks back to normal the skin needs to have and maintain it elasticity by drinking water.

Making smart investments with George Divel

You all know how much I am into making money by doing something that I enjoy. I have found a blog written by George Divel. This blog allows me to read about tips on financial practices. George Divel tells people what to think to make the best investment decisions. I enjoy his posts because they are short and to the point. He also writes in a manner that allows me to understand what it is that he is talking about for financial investments. George Divel is a very experienced person when it comes to investments and it would be best to look at his site and see if that information pertains to you and what you are trying to accomplish in the future.

How it feels in comparison to how it should be.

I was working out during my lunch period and lady and I were talking about diets and workout routines. She went on telling me about the meal plan that she is on and she doesn't like the food, but she is losing weight...not feeling really great. She also continued telling me about the strict cardio routine that they spelled out for her. This routine was someone taking their best guess as to how all of this is going to work for her and not how it is suppose to be for her.

I told her that she should take some of the advice from the person training her but to also listen to her body. I have yet to find a book that tells you how to listen to your body to know how the cardio is working or how the meal plan is working. Your body will tell you. My body tells me after I have a burger from a fast food restaraunt that that is not going to make my body feel good. Or if I have some ice cream before working out, I feel like crap and my workout is totally tainted.

I told her as far as a meal plan goes, eat what you like but eat in small portions and eat slowly. A coworker told me to chew 25 times before swallowing....yeah right. Who in their right mind is going to count everytime they chew...not me. I told her to try to taste at least three ingredients when eating, that will make her enjoy her food longer.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Losing Weight and Saving Money

You all know that I have been working on losing weight. I have lost 25lbs so far and feeling great. One thing that has really helped is the fact that I am fully stocked on my multi-vitamins from a bodybuilding website that I found not to long ago. This bodybuilding website is called www.illpumpyouup.com. This site has all of the great brands at a fraction of the price. I use to have a site that I would always buy my supplements from but when this site came up, I just couldn’t turn them away. They carry over 150 brands giving them access to over 2000 different products. Now what store online could say that and keep a straight face. I make sure that I by my whey protein and my creatine from them because with them I am saving over 25%. Now that you have heard my testimony, give this bodybuilding website a try.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Dennis Leary - Traditional Irish Folk Song

In the spirit of St. Patricks Day I thought this might be a funny song for everyone to enjoy.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Eat when you are mad

DO NOT DO IT! I just got done eating a lot of peanuts and it did not make me feel good even though I wanted to do it so I can feel good. I will talk more about this in the future.

Health Insurance for YOURSELFand the FAMILY

Health insurance can be looked at as a dreadful thing to get, but if you had the insurance you and your loved ones will be covered in case of an emergency. My family is covered and I can rest assured that if I get into an accident I know that I will pass on and my family can move on without issues or problems, financially. You can get online insurance quotes and see what you would be willing to spend to get the coverage for yourself and family.

I cannot express this enough. Just play the "what-if" game and you will see where things could go wrong.

Eat Measureable

In the last couple days I have been eating food that I cannot measure accurately. This posses a problem because then I do not know how much I am taking in. You know me, I love data so I can measure my inputs and outputs. What is nerve racking though is the fact that I am swinging up for weight which I should be maintaining my downward slope for weight. The weekend is coming up so I am thinking about eating high calorie this weekend and then on Monday, start all over and eat low calorie. I hope to see my weight drop to 247 or lower. We will see

Video Games for the Phone

I recently got a Moto Q which allows me to be on the internet and manage my calendar. It also has a good size display to be able to play video games on the phone.

I recently came across an older game (1990) that recently made it to the phones, it is called Dangerous Dave Mobile. You are to travel through the mansion full of evil spirits, ghouls, and other threats in search for your missing brother. I have the trial game on my phone and I am going to order the game after the trial is up. If you want to try the trial version then you can go to the Official Dangerous Dave Mobile website and download the game for your phone. The graphics are awesome even from a phone's point of view. The graphics are great and so is the sound quality. The experience that you have with this game will all depend on the phone that you have. I like to play games as a nice cool down from working out or while I am waiting for my wife and kids. Let me know what you think of the game.



Thursday, March 13, 2008

Lost 22lbs since January 1st.

It has taken me 2.5 months to lose 22lbs and I feel great and everyone tells me that I look like I have been losing weight. Before I took on this challenge to lose the weight I was afraid of losing my strength during the process. I have lost zero strength throughout this entire thing. I actually had a great heavy day on Monday and increased my dead-lift by 75lbs. I was amazed that I had that much of an increase even though I have cut down my quantity of food. I eat 6-7 times a day and eat a lot of protein, but at no point have I lost any strength or muscle. I love it.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Habits form in 21 days.

Because I have been eating cookies and some other junk food, it is going to be hard to stay away from that stuff all this week. I am waiting here at a Saturn's dealership to get my free oil change and they are cooking cookies...the good kind. You know, the kind that was made with real butter and the sugar is just filling the room. I am only having coffee because that is going to be my treat from this stuff. I had some fruit at the house before I came over so I am good on my sugar needs but they sure do smell good.

This last weekend I have been eating to much and also pies and cookies....to much of those too. I see this coming week to be a little difficult to stay on track but I have to be strong and keep on track. It does take 21 days to form a habit and those habits have been in place for over 60 days so I think going off of the wagon for a short while will not hurt anything.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Stay On Track!

It is hard to lose the weight (currently 20lbs lost) but it is even harder to stay on track and not enduldge in sweets and junk foods. My grandfather-in-law past away and we came back home to see all of the family and be around for the funeral. While coming up, we stopped at Arby's and I almost justified the fact of getting a burger or at least some kind of roast beff. I ended up turning both of those down and got a salad with no dressing...but it was hard. My wife actually helped a little with keeping me on track even though she got a roast beef sandwhich. But I tell ya, you really need to avoid all of this if you want to make it easy to stay on track. It is almost impossible to stay the coarse with these obsticles in the way.

Just remember your goals and try to reach them with no excuse.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Using Products To Lose The Weight Part 2

I keep seeing and hearing people say that “Oh I drink this stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I lose the weight.” How is that a way to live? I mean, I count my calories to help me lose the weight and I am eating fine. Once I am down to the weight that I want to be I will stop the extreme calories count and go to just maintenance of my weight. Because I now know what to do I am not worried about it. But this “not worrying about it” will only happen once I have reached my goal weight.

The reason why I am talking about this is because I over heard a lady at work here say that she is drinking Advantage Supplement Drinks so she can lose some weight. She would not eat a banana, orange, or apple which was provided at our training session because she said that she doesn’t want to ruin her diet and that there are too much sugar in the fruit. WHAT THE HELL!? Fruits and vegetables have natural sugars that, I think, should be used instead of actual sugar. I was eating oranges and bananas and I was satisfied with only 240 calories taken in for those two items. It was a great source of fiber and also a good sweet satisfier. Because of the fruit, I didn’t eat the pastries that were there.

I wish more and more people would just think about how things were when we did not have “Drinks” and other products to help us lose weight. Go cave man when you are eating and you will realize how sweet fruits are and how great tasting veggies are.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Make money for blogging

One of my reasons as to why I have started a blog was to make money and also document my thoughts as I was trying to lose weight. I just found one way to make some money and that was by submitting posts on subjects that I have interest in and was able to document my two cents. The site is called get paid to blog. This is my first post on that matter and I am going to see how easy it really is. I see people on this site make about $19k just for writing about stuff. To make that kind of money for just being able to write about topics would make me just ecstatic for the opportunity. I heard about this from stumbling upon a blog from my blog-rush membership and they had this on their site so I thought I would take a look and see what the whole deal was about. The site is very user friendly and it seems to be lagit so that is exciting. I hope I am privileged to the “opportunities” that cover health and fitness because then I would be blogging about things that would not pertain to this blog what so ever. We will see if I get paid to blog or not.



Now, if this does not let me get paid to blog then I will let everyone know about it and I am sure they would love that kind of advertisement. I will give them a fare chance to wow me and if so, you might hear more about this.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Losing Weight Like an Engineer Should

I am now down to 251lbs which is one pound away from my first goal of 250lbs. The reason why I have been losing weight so consistantly is because of my food selection, counting calories, eating 6-7 times a day, cycling my calories, exercise and weight trianing.

As you know I am an engineer and in being one I analyze my numbers everyday, from my calorie intake (total and portion size) to my weight that I am lifting. I make sure that I also supply the demand as it is necessary. Because I eat 6-7 times a day, I make sure that I have consistant numbers for my calorie intake per portion per meal. Now, their is one varient that I look at that is not consistant to engineering practices and that is cycling my calories. Because the human body is so adaptive, I change my calorie intake for a couple of days and then go back to my normal intake. This allows the body to ramp up the metabolism and then use that momentum to burn on the days that I am at my low calorie intake days. This allows the body to then burn the fat and nothing else which is evident after two days of eating at high calorie rates and then dropping down. About one to two days later I will lose another pound or two...awesome.

I will be talking more about using lean six sigma on weight lose and also JIT processes for food intake.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Using products to lose the weight

I was talking to a guy at the gym and he was talking to me about all of the stuff that he wants to buy and currently using to lose weight. He rattled off three things that he is taking which he relies on everyday and I just thought to myself that if he spent that money on healthy foods and more natural alternative, he would lose weight. So many people are dependant on chemicals to do the job quicker and easier with little to no work. Sometimes this makes me sad to know that the world will eventually become weaker body and mind and become the end to our world.

Eating Slower for Smaller Meals

After eating seven meals a day, my stomach has shrunken down so much that I cannot at all eat what I use to. So what I suggest is to eat slower and enjoy the taste of the food when you are out. This way you will fill up on less food like you are suppose to.

Modular Eating

Like I have said before in the past, I am an engineer and I like my data so I can measure performance and progress. I am also a father who enjoys playing with my children. I do not have time to measure and analyze the food that I eat to maintain my calories. I rely on canned tuna potatoes and measuring cups for oatmeal. I also do pre-measurements so I can then grab a grapefruit or egg and know the calorie content so I can just write it down and call it a day.

Keeping to a modular rule on food and simple measurements will keep you on track and also accurate to a degree of plus or minus 10%.

Eating Out and Feeling Like Crap

After eating healthy and whole foods, a couple of days of eating out only made me sick to my stomach. We went on vacation which lasted for 7 days. I enjoyed every bit of it but eating out can really take a toll on a person’s stomach which is used to eating whole foods and not fatty greasy food.

Calorie Cycling

I am still learning about calorie cycling but it seems almost straight forward enough. You want to start this cycle by eating over the maintenance calories that will allow you to maintain your body weight. Then after those ten days are done, go five days on 500 calories under your maintenance range. Then after those five days are done, eat two days at above your maintenance range. The reason why this works is because your body ramps up the metabolism when you are eating above your calories range and then when you go down in calories your body is still ramped up and using your fat as fuel. But don’t stay under calories to long or your metabolism will stop and start storing calories which turn into fat.

So to keep this simple, eat whatever you want for ten days. Then on Monday to Friday, eat 500 calories under your maintenance range. Then on Saturday and Sunday eat above your calories range but not to much.

Gazelle Edge

Who likes to use an elliptical machine? I know I do and enjoy the random setting for terrain. We also bought a Gazelle Edge…lower model for $74.00 plus shipping and handling. My wife uses it because she is light enough I am a little over the weight limit. It is so nice to have because as it’s ability to fold up and store away. It folds down flat and rolls to the place that you want to store it…very nice. It does not have the adjustable tension so you can make it a uphill workout or a down hill workout. You are able to lean forward or backward to increase the workout on your legs or arms. The nicest feature of the gazelle is that fact that it is so quite to use. I can barely hear my wife on it while I am watching TV.

Fat Monitor - Omron Fat Monitor

I just bought a Omron Fat Monitor so I can see where the weight is being distributed. I have been losing weight and am now at 254 which is a total of 16 pounds lost due to my diet. I am also lifting so I wanted to see what muscle is being created and what fat is being burned. Using this monitor is so user friendly and compact, I use it ever morning to measure my body fat percentage.
If you have not learned by now, I am a person that needs the data to support any activity to find consistency and potential areas for improvement. Data data data….I need it.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Having the Energy

While being on this diet, I have had so much energy. Before I could easily could take a nap. Now I find it hard to be tired duing my childrens nap. I also have had a sense of hyperactivity do to my amount of energy.

FYI: I am on vacation and I have been eating as I should and eating my six plus meals is really making me feel like crap. Tomorrow I am going to eat more sensible.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Plateaus Will Subside

I have been at 257 for the last week time frame. I have been noticing that the decimal point is coming down as I weigh myself everyday. I understand the difference in weight from day to day but I have been so consistent in weight that I can see the recession in weight as time goes on.

I am staying true to my diet with the occasion of a treat which is well deserved. I have been keeping my calorie intake to the same day-to-day and still lifting and doing cardio. I have a fat monitor coming to see what my progression is in fat loss. I want to make sure that the fat % goes down and the muscle % goes up. If I am able to maintain that scale then I will keep to what I am doing. If not then I will have to do something with my diet because my workout is mostly maxed out.

I saw an article on calorie cycling and I am very interested in that. My wife found a site that can give you the day-to-day cycle of calories for the weight loss that you want to see. Everything is going well so I am staying on track and keeping it together. After my first 10 pounds I went out to dinner and did not count a thing. I lived to eat that day. The next time I lose 10 pounds, I will do the same thing (7 more pounds).

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Eat to live. Not, live to eat.

I am currently at 261lbs. I have been having a moto that has helped me get through my diet. I am eating to live and not living to eat. I eat plain oatmeal, plain tuna and potato, and plain salad. I am only eating the food that is necessary for me to live and be energized for my kids and diet.

I have increased my calories throughout the day so I am not taking in so many calories at night. It seems to help with my hunger and also with the energy that I need for my workouts. We went out to dinner the other night and mywife and I had steak and fish along with our salads which I just pigged out on. I put a little bit of oil and vinager so I was pretty well satisfied by the time out dinner arived.

This weeks goal:
Reach 259 for weight. I have not weighed that much since I was in college and that was over 5 years ago. This means I will have to lose 2 pounds this week. I think I am out of the water weight loss stage and am in the fat weight lose.

Friday, January 11, 2008

I have lost weight!!!

At the beginning of the year, I was weighing in at 270lbs. I have gone down to 261, but I am sure that that is mostly water weight. I have been counting my calories more so than I have before in the past. I have been trying to stay around 1800 calories for extreme weight lose. The doctors have told me that it would be fine this way until I have to lose 25 more pounds. Then I should up my calories so I don't hurt myself. I have been eating seven times a day and keeping that hunger at bay. I have been having very little waste so I know I am utilizing the food in my system.

My Meal Plan:
1st Meal: 2 eggs scrambled and one medium size grapefruit.
2nd Meal: 2/3 cup oatmeal plain with nothing else added.
3rd Meal: 1 can tuna and one potato (salt and pepper to taste) nothing else.
4th Meal: 9 baby carrots (That is all I need to keep hunger at bay).
5th Meal: 2/3 cup oatmeal plain with nothing else added.
6th Meal: Supper - My wife makes something different everyday to get away of that boring routine that I have throughout the day. We keep it at around 400-475 calories.
7th Meal: 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1/2 banana

My Training:
Monday: 30min cardio during lunch and weight train (1hr 15min) at night.
Tuesday: 30min cardio during lunch and nothing at night
Wednesday: 30min cardio during lunch and weight train (1hr 15min) at night.
Thursday: 30min cardio during lunch and nothing at night
Friday: 30min cardio during lunch and weight train (1hr 15min) at night.
Saturday: Free Day - Though meals are still being counted and staying within 1800 cal.
Sunday: Free Day - Though meals are still being counted and staying within 1800 cal.

I have been feeling great and my lifts are still doing well. I have been feeling really good and cleaned out. My wife posed one more challenge, to take coffee out of my diet for 14 days. I have been sticking to it. I just have hot water instead of coffee.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Plantar Fasciitis Part 2

Within the last three weeks from now, my foot has been really feeling good...no, great. My foot didn't start feeling better until a friend of mine from work found some scrap plastic rod, about 2.5inches in diameter. I have been stretching my foot on it and messaging my foot as-well.

The key to curing yourself of this is to stretch.