The Physical Part II

One great thing about going into my new old job yesterday was that I got to see many co-workers that I have not seen in years. Almost 4 years to be exact. I had stayed in contact with a few from my department, but most people would remember me as a "big guy" and now I'm not so big, wear glasses and have a lot less hair. There were many more than just a few double takes as I was able to spit out every one's names without hesitation while they struggled to realize who I was. On several occasions, I had to tell them even though we had worked with each other for over 5 years. It was interesting and fun to be back where I probably belonged this whole time in the first place.

I will not be working full-time and have no intention of working full-time as I've seen how much I bring home if I do work and it's much more fulfilling to stay home with the boyz. But it will be a good summer fill-in and evening "hobby" to get me out of the house for a while.

I know the Dr. scale was not off as my scale at home is pretty much antagonizing me with the same result. I've found it very difficult to stay away from the snacks and get enough movement in lately, not a good combination.

I'll work on my wife about a possible guest appearance. She's pretty busy currently with the end of the school year approaching and lots of new students to test for next year/summer school. We met while studying education in college. I made it the average 4 years as a teacher while she's been at the same school going on 14 years.

Why are Physicals so Painful?

I'm starting a new old job next week as my boss from the nursing home I really got my MT career started at, gave me a call last week and asked if I'd be interested in any hours. Since I've worked there before and my wife has the summer off, I ran it by her and she was a little more excited about getting me out of the house than I thought she would be.

Today, I went to get a pre-employment physical, drug test, TB skin test, etc. The Occupational Nurse asked tons of questions and nothing was out of the ordinary. What was painful about the physical? My weight!! According to WW, I'm 6'1" with my shoes, according to her scale, 5'11" without my shoes. According to WW, my weight is about 196, according to her scale, 203!! That is not an acceptable number!!

Painful, yes!! But I can deal with it. I have stayed true to my goals of reaching 10,000 6 out of 7 days or tracking everything I eat, but my elliptical has seen some heavy action lately. 1 out of 3 goals is better than none.

My wife did better than I did yesterday, writing everything done that she ate all day and asking me to figure out the points. Her points, fun to figure out; my points, too much work to figure out. Maybe it was that I snacked WAY too much and didn't want to know.

Physicals are painful, but it was an eye-opener that will hopefully wake me up out of this lackadaisical funk I've been in.

Dream Analysis Please!!

Saturday, I went to Sam's Club. Bought all the regular stuff: lots of fresh fruits and veggies. However, there was one thing calling my name since I saw it in another cart the last time I visited Sam. Salt Water Taffy!! Unfortunately, Salt Water Taffy at Sam's does not come in a small package, so I was FORCED to buy a 4 lb. bag. I proceeded to eat a few pieces and then take the rest to my Mother-in-law's house (I'm sure it will be safe there). Even after the darn taffy was thought to be safe at Grandma's house, I proceeded to eat my fair share.

Saturday night, I felt horrible. Knowing that I had eaten enough sugar for a month, I knew why, but I had no idea of the result. I am not one to remember dreams, but Saturday night I had the most vivid dream I have had in a long while. I was dropping my girls off at school and stayed to help in the classroom room for the morning. As the morning went a long, more children kept getting sick with skin infections. It was soon discovered that there were flesh eating insects that had invaded the school. The Health Department came and put the school on lock-down meaning I was trapped with the killer insects. After a while, we were told the only way to keep the insects away from us was to keep 7 pieces of Salt Water Taffy in our mouths at all times. The principal at my daughters school has had great success following WW and attends meetings that I work regularly. She refused to eat the taffy as each 7 pieces was 4 points! I had no problem keeping 7 pieces going strong in my mouth. I remember watching the insects multiple, attack and then a cry saved me. My soon-to-be 1 yr. old was cold and needed a little cuddle. Lucky for me, cause I was about to consume an entire 4 lb. bag of Salt Water Taffy!!

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend. Last week was very eventful as I was offered two part-time Music Therapy positions.

Do You Have All the Right Tools?

This morning, I went for a hot walk with the boyz to watch "Lightning McQueen" once again race around the Milwaukee Mile. As we were walking home, I took note of my neighbor digging out some roots from bushes in front of their house. We went about our chores and headed to Sam's Club and when we returned home, noticed that our neighbor hadn't made much progress in his quest to "root out the problem." What was he using? He had a regular garden shovel and a new hacksaw that he was finally getting assembled and ready to use. After I had put all our purchases away, I headed to our basement and grabbed a few things. We've dug up many a bush around our house and if all I was using was a shovel and a hacksaw, I think I would have given up LONG ago. I brought with me a reciprocating saw run on a rechargeable battery, a huge sledge hammer, a pick ax, a shovel with a good point and a bottle of "Stump Out" for when he was finished. I showed him how to use the saw, hit the roots with the hammer a few times, since I noticed he was a bit tired and let him finish the job.

I went back in the house to feed the boyz and when they were done eating, we headed to the back yard where I ate my lunch. It could not have been more than 20 minutes and as I sat shoving salmon topped salad into my pie-hole, my neighbor came into the backyard carrying all the tools plus a cold beer. He said thanks and we exchanged a few words, but never asked about his "project." I thought for sure, he had given up.

After I was done with my lunch, I returned all the tools to their rightful place and checked for the mail. His entire stump was out! 20 minutes with the right tools did the job while he was tinkering with the problem for well over 3 hours without a plan or the right tools.

Sometimes I feel like I am still lacking a few of the "right tools" to get to the root of the problem when it comes to weight loss, but there has always been someone to lean on and help me though. What are those tools that are so necessary while losing weight?

It's Construction Season

"WRONG WAY"
This week has been horrible for road construction around these parts. I don't drive much, but every morning I'm in charge of getting the girls safely to school. My regular route is under construction and I hard to find a new way. Well, after about four attempts at different ways, I found an alley to drive through. Might not have been the most appropriate course to take, but we got to school on time.

"LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY"
This morning, the main street that I travel had only one way traffic. Luckily, it happened to be the way I was traveling, but on the way home I had to find a different route once again.

"ROAD CLOSED"
And of course, the next block from ours is undergoing a huge construction project. It has made for a great walk at least twice a day as the "boyz" love to watch the big trucks.

"WATCH FOR WORKERS"
Proceeding with caution is the name of the game during this construction season. I'm doing fine with my journey so far, but would hate to find out that I'm going the wrong way!

Highs in the 80's today in Milwaukee and now we're off to the racetrack to watch Lightning McQueen...and I thought all the Indy Cars were in Indy this week, who knew??

Adjectives

One of my all time favorite descriptions is a little gross, but definitely paints a picture. A local radio talk show host often describes lies as being a "piping, steaming, pant-load!" Now if that doesn't say it all, I'm not sure what does.

Last week, at one of the WW meetings I was working, a newbie described her difficulties in passing on mac & cheese. I don't even like mac & cheese and really never have, maybe it's the Wisconsin in me, and I know it's not really "real" cheese. However, the way in which she described the mac & cheese: A steaming, hot, gooey, cheesy bowl of deliciousness," all of a sudden made my want some. It's Friday and this incident happened last Saturday and I'm still craving a steaming, hot, gooey, cheesy bowl of deliciousness.

Adjectives can make such a difference in what I and my family eats. I try to make positive and appealing descriptions of the veggies and always provide a good role model by eating them myself. Usually, my veggies take up the biggest portion of my plate. Lately, I've started to make more veggies since my kids have been eating more of them. Seems that most of the time the veggies are the only thing gone from their plates.

Last week, there was a great show about Michael J. Fox and being an optimist. I didn't catch the whole show, but I definitely know that being an optimist can only be helpful when trying to lose weight. His description of being an "incurable" optimist only makes the statement that much stronger.

Have a great weekend full of adjectivity and optimism!

Ode To Adam, My Idol

Danny was my pick,
Adam really makes me sick,
But, alas, Danny is gone
And Adam has won! (Not to mention my good friend Kathy, who is loving every minute of this)

I love Adam's voice,
It makes my soul rejoice,
Every I hear him sing,
I'm left wanting,

For more of his screams,
And more of his yells,
He reaches for the highest beams,
and rings out the loudest bells.

Oh yes, Adam I'm a fan,
You really are the man.
Idol I will miss,
But next week, I'll vote for Kris ;)


It's a sad day in Milwaukee :(((

Time Related Goals

When I was actively losing weight (still trying, without much success), I always set small goals with a time line in mind. I never really cared if I reached the goal within the time I set, but it gave me something to work towards. At the end of the month, I'll be attending a Bachelor Party for one of my college roommates. We had 6 guys living in a small college house. It had four very small bedrooms and one even smaller bathroom that never got cleaned. Pretty disguising when I think back to it.

I have three weeks to prepare myself for this event. I have nothing planned between now and then so I'm thinking now would be a great "time" for a time related goal. I'm writing it down because if I don't I won't follow through.

*I will ride my elliptical at least 3 hours weekly. (My usual goal is 2 hrs.)
*I will get at least 10,000 steps 6 days a week. (My usual goal is 5 days.)
*I will stay within my points target 4 out of 7 days. (Have been tracking, but rarely focus on staying within my target and never worry about being above.)
*I really don't care what the scale says after the 3 weeks, but doing achieving the 3 above goals should result in some downward movement.

This will be for the first time that all of us are together since my wedding (see before picture at the bottom!). I have seen one of my roommates yearly and the last time was right after I reached my goal. I excited and nervous and worried and stressed about the event. I will make these next three regular weeks the best that I can in preparation for this day. I know I shouldn't stress out about one day, but being a stay at home Dad, nowadays I don't have much else to stress out about.

Positive Self Talk

Well, after a few months of muttering along, I decided to give myself a stern talking to and the scale really has budged. I'm not giving up and continue to track daily even though sometimes I've become a slacker tracker and only written down things till 4:00, but I have something writen for each day. I have continued to walk daily and have reached 10,000 at least 5 out of 7 days for the last 3 weeks. I have continued to ride the elliptical at least 2 hrs. weekly.

The scale has been kind to me this week, just not today for an official weigh in. Seems for some reason, Saturday morning is the worst weigh in of the week for me.

Hoping to have another good week of eating and continue to talk my way into success.

Are You Crazy if You Talk to Yourself?

This morning, I caught up on last night's Biggest Loser. One of my favorite part's of the episode was when each contestant was speaking to themselves as their "fat" self talking to their "skinny" self. I've been thinking a bit about talking to yourself since then and one of the Weight Watcher tools for living is "self talk." Is it crazy to talk to yourself about certain things? Like trying to convince myself it's OK not to exercise because I'm "too tired" or I can eat just one more helping of potatoes because "it's a veggie."

Self Talk is a healthy thing and when used appropriately can be a great tool on a weight loss journey. I wish I would have been able to say a few choice words to my old self as the contestants were able to do. What would my 80 pound heavier self say to myself now. Mike said something like "Way to go, dude!" and his Dad, Ron said something that I definitely would have said "I'm proud of you! Can't say I've ever said that before."

Pride. What a great way to show yourself how you feel. Reminds me of the old SNL sketch about "I'm smart enough, I'm good enough, and Gosh, Darn it, people like me!" Have a great Wednesday and be proud of yourself and don't be afraid to say it to yourself or shout it out loud.

What's Your Destiny?

It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.
Jean Nidetch

Do you feel that you are always in control of your food choices? It's hard to always be on top of your game, but it is "choice" that makes all the difference. This weekend, we celebrated my oldest daughter's first Communion. It's difficult to have a plan and stick to it when I'm at a social event with lots of food. Fortunately, this party was at my own house, but still we had others bringing food. My plan was to have one serving and stop, my choice was something different: two plate fulls without even thinking. My plan was to have fruit salad for dessert and not have cake, my choice was something different: not one, but two pieces of cake and the fruit salad. My plan was to get a good cardio workout on the elliptical and try to get 10,000 steps, my choice was something different: didn't bother with the elliptical, too late when everyone left and I only got about 7,000 steps and didn't care. Do you see a pattern?

My choices have definitely determined my destiny for the weekend. My choices will also determine my destiny for this week and the future. I will not let my bad choices, outweigh my good choices!

Time for Party

My oldest daughter is celebrating her first communion tomorrow. This Daddy has got to get some house cleaning/straightening/purging done before the big day. My wife has off of school today. She teaches at a highly Hispanic populated school and was sent home early yesterday with no school today. Think it's been blown a bit out of preportion. Must be May sweeps ;)