Week Two

Every week – I want to update you on my progress with last week’s ‘challenge’ and declare my new weeks challenge.

Last week – I said I was going to drink more water.  I did VERY well on the water thing on Monday through Thursday.  I was hydrated like a camel and clearing liquid like a fire hydrant.  Good times… Well, Friday – with a modified work schedule due to Maxwell being a bit sick, Saturday at the velodrome and Sunday at home – not so good. This isn’t the end of my quest, it’s just a realistic description of my success and failure.  It happens, we aren’t out of water!  I can succeed!

This Week - The challenge will be to work out – for at LEAST 30 minutes – 5 days a week.  That simply means – if I haven’t ridden, raced, run or something by the time the kids go to bed – I’m going to be on the road w/the bulldog or in the basement with the boxes running for a while.  I’m not focusing on running – but I can not in good faith deny the workout you get is quality.  Some may say – this isn’t an every day thing – but good coaches will tell you that rest is important to your workout routine as is the actual workouts!

Other Comments – I did notice an oddity in my brain cells this week (I only have 2).  By simply focusing on drinking more water, adding ONE positive-health change – I began noticing my brain trying to make right decisions.  When I look at a plate of junk vs. a plate of healthy food, I wanted to eat healthier.  I didn’t always – but I wanted to and did in more occasions that the previous week.

Status:

Week 1 – Drink More Water – Partially achieved and ongoing!
Week 2 – Workout at least 5 days a week.

One thing a week!  Rebuilding the man in the mirror.  What are YOU doing this week?

It was dirty?

I’ve been doing a cool new thing that I am finding refreshing and productive.  I’m getting up early and doing a few things, doing a few chores and then getting on about my way.  Well – yesterday – I decided I needed to do some laundry.  No problem right?  I do it all the time – i’m fairly good at it!  I get clothes clean… lets do it.  I grab up a bunch of “mediums” and start a load.  About 20 minutes later I realize – I cant find my phone.  Only 2 words come to mind.  Oh and shit (very close together, might I add).  Well…. I go pause my front loader, look in the pocket and there it is… dead as a doornail.  SONOFA….

Okay – so i’m trying to not get as worked up about things.  Let’s not get worked up!  Just bite the bullet and order a new one using the insurance you pay for on a monthly basis.  $50 – phone comes home tomorrow.  AWESOME!  Now comes the horror story … I hate that this has to end in a bad story because I have tried so hard to remain calm.

I grabbed an old phone and activated it.  Sarah had used this phone in the past, prior to that it was my sisters.  I tried to use the Verizon Wireless Backup Assistant, which prior to this incident I had nothing but great reviews.  It wont let me log in… hmph…. this isn’t good!

I get to work and see that SOME HOW it has taken all of Sarah’s contacts and assigned them to me.  In addition, the behind the scenes stuff is pointing at Sarah’s phone – while the web says my phone.  DOH!  Import a lot of my contacts (again, trying to remain calm and just deal with the loss – its really a pimple on a flies buttocks here ….).  I hit sync and nothing happens.  You see – Sarah now has all my contacts.  UGH!

I ended up having to kill Sarah’s account, re-import, purge/clean things and finally – rebuilding my own contacts.

Enough to make your head spin!  Well… I’m back on my own (new) phone and have a bunch of my contacts restored.  The are still filtering in and there is a chance my old phone will come back on long enough to get a few off as well.  It is currently baking in the sun here in the #ATL!

All in all – my phone wasn’t dirty – but it’s much cleaner now!

I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror

I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

As I’ve walked around Northside Hospital pondering weight loss, obesity, American culture, lifestyle, fat people, myself, my family and about 1000 other things – I came up with a lot of blog topics that would make people say “Hell yeah!’ or “Seriously!” or “Man, you are right!”… things that would spark lots of ‘Likes’ and comments on facebook and was compelled to write them.  The problem is, I couldn’t bring myself to write anything like that, it just wasn’t coming from my heart.  It was coming from my head and my head is amidst turmoil.

There are so many things I could complain about.  The cost of eating healthy, McDonalds at a hospital,  portion sizes at various restraunts… but complaining will not help me  It won’t help me one bit.   It won’t help Sarah, it won’t help Derek, Max or anybody else.

In my three days of pondering all of this I’ve come up with something … I have to do what I have to do and do it the best I can.  Stop making bullshit excuses.  Stop looking at my environment, my culture and anything else I am blaming for myself being overweight.  Simply put – I am overweight because I put more food in my mouth than I need.  Some of my weight is caused by putting the wrong food in my mouth – but ultimately – I eat too much of the wrong things and because of that I am fat.

A while back, I did a feature on TV and that was a lot of fun.  It was all inspired by my “Jerry McGuire” moment where I decided to tell the world if everybody did something different to get to work, one day a week – they would get lots of benefits.  I still believe that.  I can conceptually prove all of that too you.  I *INVITE* you to join me in my quest to commute by bike or other means 1 day a week.  I’ve enjoyed it!  It’s good for you.  The problem is, commuting one day a week is not enough.  It’s a great start – but it’s not enough.

All this brings me to a blog post starting with a Michael Jackson song.  I never in a million years thought that would happen, but it’s true – I need to take a look at the guy in the mirror and make some new changes.  The problem with that is – changing your whole life TODAY means in 3 weeks or 3 months, all the changes will have fallen by the wayside and you will be back to the old ways of thinking/acting. Don’t believe me?  I’ve lost over 350-400 pounds in 6 years.  I still weigh the same amount (and haven’t been over 300 pounds).

So here is my latest greatest attempt at getting my life in order.  I’m going to keep with my plan … call it “One A Week”.  What does that mean?  One thing a week.  I am going to focus on ONE THING a week.  The catch is … it has to be a snowball.  I can’t work on this one week, that the next and forget about this!  I might add something to my life, I might subtract something from my life.  I might MODERATE something from my life – but every week – I am going to try to introduce one healthy habit.

Here’s my current list:

• Commute by bicycle, on average, one day a week (Successfully engaged)
• Drink more water (Starting 8/9/2010)

If you are one of the seven readers of my blog and would like to partake in my insanity – please feel free to comment on your one-a-week!  Support from friends, relatives and peers will do nothing but help!  Sarah has to walk the walk now.  While I can not walk the same walk, it’s time for me to walk in parallel and lead a healthier lifestyle!  What will you do this week?

Stop – no REALLY! STOP

In light of the current situation in my life, I find it necessary to blog about something random and humorous.

I haven’t confessed to this publicly, but on July 4th, on my way to the Peachtree Road Race I ran a red light.  I don’t remember doing it, but the video and photographic evidence is conclusive.  Ooops…

Well, on our way to our final destination this morning, I pulled up to the same light and said to Sarah, “I’ve got my bike rack on there, we can go!” (it blocks my tag).  Well, as I said that,  Cobb County Sheriff rolled by.  We both agreed it was good that I didn’t go.  We are smart at 4:45 am!

We get to the Glenridge Connector and get stuck at a left turn light.  There is a car in front of us. The lights cycle 2-3 times, but we NEVER get a left turn lane.  That sucks, eh?  Well, the car in front of me decides to take matters into his own hands.  He looks both ways and goes.  Listen up here, kids…. CRIME DOESN’T PAY!

Just as the guy takes off, a cop comes up from behind and sees him do it.  The cop makes a high speed left to follow him and nails him for running a red light.  A bit flabbergasted at the situation, I watched as a car pulled up next to me in the left-left turn lane.  Seconds later, the light changed.  I felt bad for the guy, but hey – I’ve done my fair share of supporting “The Man” this year – thanks for taking one for the team!