The B Metro Magazine article is finally out. Their cover story titled, “Social Animals” is about 13 different people from Birmingham, Alabama that use social media as either their form of communication, expression, and/or profession. I am so thankful to B Metro for including me in the article. I didn’t know who else was in the article, and I think it’s cool and funny that I know four of the folks mentioned. Anyway, check the article out, they did a fantastic job on it. I can’t wait to see it in print. The magazine will be available soon.

Check In

I’ve been doing well lately, and I know that I stopped logging my food online. Honestly, I don’t like the comments about what I’ve been eating. No one said anything terrible. I don’t know, I just don’t like it. So, I will be writing down what I eat in an analog journal and reporting it to Sonthe and Emily. Having just two people review and guide me on my food is helpful. It’s not helpful when everyone is making recommendations, especially when recommendations conflict with each other. I’m learning that people are as passionate about their “diet” philosophy as they are about religion or politics. You might laugh, but it’s true. Some people are pro carbs, anti carbs, vegan, vegetarian, pro protein, etc. etc. If you get all these different people talking about what to eat, it ends up becoming a battle over who is right.

Also, I like to give (and receive) positive reinforcement. Good behavior gets praise and bad behavior is frowned upon, but the individual is not shouted at, belittled, or preached to about their negative behavior. Really, this is Danny Haralson’s philosophy, and he has a great example from his past. Many years ago Danny managed a tire store. They sold tires to consumers. Danny said that he constantly had problems with one individual and he was constantly having to get after him for miscellaneous reasons. However, one day Danny watched the guy sell a set of tires, and he did a great job of selling (make sure the customer got what they needed). So, Danny spoke with the guy, and gave him a lot of praise for the job well done, and after that praise, Danny no longer had to get after him for anything. The guy was motivated to continue with the good behavior. The positive reinforcement was way more effective then the negative reinforcement. — So, there’s food for though.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, no one said anything that offended me. I just prefer to not share my food with the world.

Enough about that, my exercise has been going very well. I am getting a lot of walking in to get ready for the upcoming couch to 10k program from Walk University. I’m very excited about that, and I will be providing more information on Walk University later.

So, lets keep the momentum up, and keep trucking….

Momma Goldbergs

My buddy Hal is part owner of this local restaurant, Momma Goldberg’s, and he asked that I post this, so if you love Momma G’s, please vote:

“Please take 3 minutes and go in to this survey and fill out Momma Goldberg’s for at least these categories:

Best Deli
Best Lunch
Best overall value for lunch

and any others you see fit.
We only have 2 days to do this so I need your help really bad. Please…Please…3 minutes. Thats all it will take.

Thanks guys!

http://bhamweekly.com/birmingham/best-of-17-menu-of-menus-readers-poll.html“

Last weigh in: 474 lbs
Current weight in: 453 lbs
Total loss for the week: 21 lbs
Total loss since Feb 2009: 179 lbs   (Just 21 lbs away from the 200 milestone)

I am really back on track now. A big time shout out to Sonthe and Emily for helping me get back on track. Last week when I posted my 18 pound gain, Sonthe was on top of it, she contacted me that day and we walked and talked about what changes I should make to my nutrition that afternoon. Whenever I have a gain, my anxiety goes up, and Sonthe was able to put me at ease and get me back on track.

Emily has helped me keep track of calories and make recommendations on my meals. We text back and forth what we are going to eat, and make recommendations about our choices. It is so helpful. Without her help, I would have had a beer and burger at the bar the other night instead of unsweetened tea and salad.

Thank you Sonthe, Emily, Hal, and everyone else that sent me words of encouragement and made recommendations about my nutrition.

This weekend was BUSY!

Also, Saturday was not a good food day. I will not be logging that one.

Sunday was good. Monday was better.

I’m incorporating more veggies in my diet. My snack of the week is baby carrots, plum tomatoes, and a little hummus.

Alcohol

I have decided to cut back on the booze. I am only going to drink at special occasions, which includes,  holidays, birthdays, special events, and visiting with out of town friends. This will cut out my weekly drinking and the occasional drinking with friends after walks.

My first test was last night, and I passed. I hung out with friends at a pub after walking. I drank unsweet tea and also ate a salad that contained the following: romaine lettuce, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, and grilled chicken. I had light Italian on the side and I didn’t eat much of the dressing. I even managed to have a good time without adding on an additional 500-1000 calories to my day.

Training

The time has come for me to step it up on the walking! We have officially kicked off http://www.walkuniversity.com/ in Birmingham, Alabama, and that walking group will be starting on September 14th. I started my training with a 2 mile loop yesterday afternoon, and I’ll be resting today. Right now I will be walking one day, resting the next.

B Metro Magazine

Also, I’m really excited about the September issue of B Metro Magazine. They have a story featuring this blog. So, Birmingham peeps be on the lookout for that.

Notes

I’m glad that I’m honestly logging my food and exercise. It’s really helping me to see where I need to tweak things.

The problem with my drinking is that I have a high tolerance for alcohol. Thus, I drink what seems like a lot.

I will be walking in the morning before my day starts.

I’m pretty excited about tomorrow morning. Danny is having an info meeting for his couch to 10k group, and then they’ll kick off on Monday.

Food

B: Shredded Wheat, Skim milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, 2 turkey bacon, and 2 fried eggs with cheese

S1: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, and mustard

L: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, mustard, and wheat thins.

S2: apple

D: Pimento Cheese on Wheat with a side Greek Salad

8-12 beers – 4 55cal bud select, few sam adams light, and a few miller lights.

Exercise:

E:  None

Notes

It was a long day today. I got home around 10:30pm because I helped my mom with some errands.

Today was a good food and exercise day.

Food

B: Shredded Wheat, Skim milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, 2 turkey bacon, and 1 fried egg

S1: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, and mustard

L: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, mustard, and wheat thins.

S2: apple

D: Full Greek Salad with chicken from Full Moon BBQ

Exercise:

E:  Walked a 2 Mile loop at the gym

Tuesday morning, I weighed in with an 18 pound gain. Wednesday morning, I lost 1 pound. Thurday morning, I lost 9 pounds. Hopefully by next Wednesday, I’ll have all 18 pounds gone. Sodium makes my body retain fluid, and the most efferctive way to get rid of the excess fluid is to drink a lot of water. That was the difference between Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh in. Tuesday I didn’t drink a lot of water throughout the day, but Wednesday, I drank a ton of water.

Counseling Yesterday

I love my counselor. We’ve only had 3 sessions and she is being so helpful. Yesterday, I was cheerful but under stress about money and the gain from Monday. I’ve allowed tasks to pile up, and I’ve got so much that needs to be done that I was overwhelmed. She helped me to realize that it’s my nature to procrastinate. It’s something that I’ve always done. I was the person in school that always waited until the last minute to write papers and do homework. What’s funny is that I’ve always tried to fix it, but there’s no way to “fix it.” I’m in a constant cycle of putting things off and then feeling guilty and stressed about that behavior. So my homework is to list out everything that needs to be done, and some of this stuff is going to take a while to do, like pay off some debts, and she’s going to help me get organized and break the big stuff down into manageable pieces. We’re going to take the easiest things first, and knock them out of the way because accomplishments feel good and helps us gain momentum towards achieving our long term goals.

The biggest relief comes when she says that I’m doing fine. I understand that I have problems like the weight, debt, and procrastination, but I want to do something to fix my problems. She said that I’m a troubleshooter. (I agree, I’ve always been a troubleshooter. I like to fix problems.)

I told her about getting sick with tonsillitis, my Aunt passing away, and my 18 pound gain. She agreed that antibiotics are notorious for increasing appetite and that my Aunt passing is stressful on me and others in my family. I also told her about all of the steps that I am taking to fix this weight gain situation, so she wasn’t overly concerned about my gain. She said it was understandable. The main thing is that I’m back on track.

I believe that setbacks and gains are part of the weight loss process. Monitoring is crucial to our weight loss success because monitoring makes us aware of where we are. If we don’t monitor, we’re not aware, and then it’s easy to allow things to spiral out of control.

Notes

Good food day, but no exercise. Still working on a walking schedule with Danny. I’ll post it when it’s available.

Food

B: Shredded Wheat, Skim milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, 2 turkey sausage patties, and 1 fried egg

S1: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, and mustard

L: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, mustard, wheat thins, and a  banana

S2: apple

D: 2 slices of rye bread, pastrami, pickle, mustard, one serving of baked lays sour cream and onion chips, and one Bud Select 55 calorie brew

Exercise:

E:  Nothing today

MorticiA shared this awesome poem on my blog, and I am re-posting it for everyone to read.

The Race

attributed to Dr. D.H. “Dee” Groberg

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten…
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy — no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

*** DISCLAIMER *** Although I’ve lost a lot of weigh in the past year and a half, my journey is not perfect. I have good weeks and bad weeks. I don’t expect perfection, and I hope you don’t either. I do know, however, every time I fall down, I get up. “Fall down 7 times, get up 8….”

Thank you Sonthe

After posting my weight yesterday morning, I got an email from Sonthe Burge, a local (celebrity) dietitian that I met through Jennifer West and Shaun Chavis. (Sonthe is the expert dietitian of Health Magazine’s Carb Lover’s Diet.) She wanted to meet to see what was going on, so we ended up walking at a local trail in town. Why not get some exercise in and chat?

Thank you Sonthe!!!!!

Food

My food was fine up until supper. My mom stopped by the grocery store on the way home. I should have eaten 1 piece of chicken, put the tater salad in the fridge, and prepared a salad. Oh well….

B: Shredded Wheat, Skim milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, 2 turkey sausage patties, and 1 fried egg

S1: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, and mustard

L: 1 arnold round, low fat pepper jack cheese, 1 roast beef, mustard, wheat thins, and a  banana

S2: apple

D: 1/2 a rotisserie chicken – no skin – minus the wing, 1 3/4 cups of potato salad

E:  1.5 mile walk with Sonthe at Lakeshore Trail

Not what I wanted to see at the coffee maker… I did not have any.