No More Mr. Fat Guy!

He’s got it goin’ on, baby doll, and he’s on fire.

I want one of his juicers.

We don’t move enough.  And the little we do do move doesn’t get our heart rate up. That’s why we’re fat and out of shape, even if we don’t eat all that much.  A few extra calories a day can turn into an extra 50 or 100 pounds over a couple decades. Here’s an article by a Washington Post fitness columnist who used a snazzy new device to measure his activity during the day, and was shocked at just how few calories he burns.

I couldn’t sleep last night, probably because of too much caffeine intake. So I was up late reading a fascinating book I found in the library downstairs called Radical Honesty: How To Transform Your Life By Telling The Truth. John had told me about the book a while back, but it didn’t interest me. But after reading this article I had to check it out. I haven’t decided if the guy’s completely nuts, or a genius. But it’s probably one or the other. After reading about his week long workshops, which (according to the article) include one day where everybody’s naked, I’m inclined to go with at least somewhat nuts. But the book does have some interesting ideas, and there’s no doubt that all of us spend much of our time lying to ourselves and others about lots of different things. More honesty would definitely be a good thing. Anyway, so I got up late, and decided that it was more important to take care of some things around here than to head to the gym today. Not sure if it was the right decision, but it’s the one I made. So no walking or weight report today. And I’m working tomorrow and Sunday, so it’ll be Monday before I’m back at it. But I’ve had a good week so far - nine hours of fitness walking, and eating a lot better than normal.

Normally, I avoid writing about politics on my blog. But I read something yesterday that made my blood boil, that made me so angry, that I believe the time has come for a radical revolt.

Yes, that’s right - it’s time to overthrow the government.

The long train of abuses has gone too far. The sufferable evils have become insufferable. We have no choice but to foment a new American revolution and start all over again.What pushed me over the edge and turned me into a fire breathing radical?

Was it illegal immigration?

Was it the war in Iraq?

No. It’s something far worse, far more tyrannical. A proposal by the federal government that attacks the very foundations of who we are as a people and threatens to destroy our entire way of life.

The feds are saying that the pollution problem is so bad in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that THEY MAY START BANNING DRIVE-THROUGH LANES.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced plans Thursday to significantly strengthen ozone regulations, saying the existing standard fails to protect the public from the damaging effects of the lung-scarring pollutant.

The proposed changes could mean drastic new restrictions on drivers, workers and industries in North Texas to curb ozone-forming pollution. Some already discussed here are banning drive-through windows during ozone season, limiting hours for motorists to gas up, restricting the use of off-road construction equipment, even banning afternoon Texas Rangers games.

See, I told ya. And you thought I was exaggerating. Not at all. If they can do it in DFW, they can do it where you live. Damn you Al Gore! Damn you to hell! This is all his fault. If he thinks America will sit back and let the feds get away with banning drive-through lanes, well, I think there’s probably a hole in his ozone layer. No, this will not stand. I have too much faith in the American people. They’ve got too much backbone (and backside) to put up with this.

During the first revolution, a popular motto was Don’t Tread On Me! We need something catchy like that to inspire people. I’ve thought of one, and I hope it’ll spread like wildfire: Don’t Make Me Have To Get Out Of My Car And Off My Fat Ass To Get My Triple Cheeseburger!

Some would say the treatment is worse than the disease, but a new report suggests taking cod liver oil can prevent depression.

Just got back from the gym. I only walked 2 hours today. I was planning on 2.5, but after the hour and 15 mark, my battery went dead in my mp3 player. So I took a break, drank some water, had a cigarette, and went out to my truck and got a new battery. When I got back, the radio had been turned up so loud that it was impossible to hear my mp3. It was already very loud, but I could turn up my volume and live with it. But now it was impossibly loud. So I went to the treadmill room and did another 45 minutes. I find treadmills boring; I’d much rather walk naturally. So after I got two hours in I left.

I don’t know when it became a federal law that all public accommodations must blare a TV or radio at all times and all over the establishment. If it’s not a federal law, it might as well be. One of these days people are going to wake up to the real, health damaging, harmful effects of all this extremely pervasive noise pollution. I can’t believe how used to it we’ve all gotten. Restaurants sometimes have 5 different TVs going, all on different stations, in addition to a radio or jukebox. It’s ungodly loud in almost every public place you go to. But of all the places you shouldn’t have to put up with this garbage, health clubs are near the top. It never ceases to amaze and infuriate me.

Rant over.

Tune in tomorrow.

Same Fat Time!

Same Fat Channel!

What a horrible story. Seventeen years old and so fat he has to carry an oxygen tank wherever he goes to breathe. But he’s trying to make changes, so good for him. But does letting your kid balloon up to three times what he should weigh constitute child abuse? If not, why not?

Check out the well written blog of Jennette Fulda, or PastaQueen. Back in 2004 she weighed 372 pounds. And by taking charge of her health, and without surgery, she’s down to 181 pounds. Wow! Only 21 more pounds to her goal weight. Go over and congratulate her! Check our her 3-D progress pics, too.

Newspapers should combine their Crime and Sports sections.  They’re usually the same stories anyway.  Just think of the trees we could save.

That’s what the scale at the Patrick Wellness Center in Fayetteville says. That’s the gym where I walk. I just got back from another 2.5 hour walk. That’s a total of seven hours walking since Sunday. I did an hour and a half, then took a break. Unfortunately, the water at the gym was shut off for repairs, so instead of rehydrating with H2O, I had little choice but to buy a can of pop. But that’s OK; that’s only two pops so far this week, and I haven’t had an A&W root beer in quite a while. So I had the pop, stepped outside and smoked a cigarette (yep, I’m still cool!), and got back to it. Did another hour, and then headed home.

And boy, am I starving. I had a cantaloupe this morning, and 24 ounces of goat milk. I’m trying to eat more fruits and veggies, and Dollar General had some cantaloupes that are a little past their prime for fifty cents each. I picked out two that were still nice and firm, and I’ll have the other one tomorrow. I mix in this health drink called Rice and Shine with the goat milk, along with some peanut butter to make it more filling. It’s actually pretty good. But after a 150 minute power walk, I’m famished. So I’m having some goat meat chili, courtesy of two male goats I took to the butcher a couple months ago.

Back at it tomorrow. Same Fat Time, Same Fat Channel!

Yet another side effect of the obesity epidemic in America:  more and more boys and men are having breast reduction surgery.

Says here that one million American kids ages 6-17 used paid fitness trainers last year.  I find that very hard to believe.  Judging by the shape of the kids I see every day, the number is either grossly inflated, or the training’s not having much impact.

They’re saying that the era of cheap food is over. Mainly because about a third of the grains raised in America are now being used for ethanol. I’ve definitely noticed food prices rising the past several months. But they’re saying it could get a lot worse, and it could be permanent.

Cron’s right - bodies and scales sure do fluctuate. I decided that for the blog I’ll use the readings from the scale at the gym since I’ll be there at least five days a week to walk. It reads about 5 pounds higher than my scale at home. Yesterday the gym scale said 284.2 and today it reads a pound higher. Now, since I walked 2 hours yesterday, and didn’t eat all that much, I think it’s highly unlikely that I gained a pound these past 24 hours. It’s just the normal range of fluctuations. I’m not really too worried about what the scales say right now, anyway. I’m just recording the data for those who are following along at home, and to track my long term progress. I know that if I keep walking and eating right the pounds will eventually drop off.

I just got home from the gym as a matter of fact. I’d planned on walking 2 hours today, but I felt so good that I went a half hour over, for a total of 2.5 hours. A lot of people wonder how I can walk that long without getting bored. They can’t imagine doing it themselves. Well, I love walking to start with, so that helps. I’ve always enjoyed it, even if I haven’t always done it as much as I should have. But there’s no way I could walk a couple hours a day on my own. I can go an hour with no problem, and could do it every day. But much longer than an hour and the boredom factor becomes a significant obstacle.

That’s why I bought the mp3 player a while back. They’re getting cheaper all the time; mine holds 24 hours of talk and I paid about $35 for it from Amazon. If you want to get into some real heavy duty fitness walking I strongly suggest you pick one up. They’re a lot lighter and more manageable than a CD player. Anyway, as regular readers know, I generally listen to George Noory and his Coast to Coast AM talk show on my mp3. But there for a while he started having a lot of guests and discussions that I just had no interest in. That’s part of the reason I slacked off on walking, along with my heel problems. So really, if you think about it, it’s George Noory’s fault I’m still fat. Nah, just kidding there! Anyway, it had been a long time since I walked, or listened to George, or even checked the website to see who the guests have been lately. And then, out of the blue, a very good friend who lives in Los Angeles sent me a package in the mail. It was a brand new copy of Noory’s book. She knows how much I love the program, and out of the kindness of her heart decided to do that for me. It was really sweet and generous of her, and I still can’t get over it. And it reminded me how much I love listening to Coast to Coast AM. And it played a big part in getting me back to walking again. So thanks again, Melissa!

Experts are saying the diabetes epidemic is picking up speed “like a runaway train”. 1 in 14 Americans now have it, and the numbers just keep climbing. Of course, the huge growth is strictly in Type 2 or adult onset diabetes, which is preventable. It’s almost all due to obesity, overeating, sedentary lifestyles, etc. I know I’m headed for “diabesity” if I don’t change my lifestyle radically, which is what this blog is all about. And I’m hoping I can encourage some other folks to make some changes along the way. Diabetes is a horrible disease - blindness, amputations, dialysis, etc. And this is the future we’re creating for ourselves if we don’t get the weight off and start eating right and getting fit.

I got in two full hours of serious walking today. Went to the gym around 3 in the afternoon. I walked moderately for 20 minutes, then took a 5 minute break. Then I walked for 40, very briskly, and took another break. Then 45 more minutes at a brisk pace, another break, and then a final 15 minutes of leisurely walking. I feel great. I’m disappointed in the gym, though. When I joined several months ago, one of the main reasons I joined was because they didn’t play the radio very loudly. That policy has apparently changed in the interim. I’ve really got to turn the volume up high on my mp3 player to hear George Noory. Oh well. It’s unpleasant, but it’s too hot to walk outside, and there are worse things in the world to put up with.

The show I listened to today was with John Robbins. You may be familiar with his story. He was the heir to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, but walked away from it all and began crusading for a healthier America. He’s written some books. I think his most famous is called Diet For A New America, but I could be wrong, and don’t feel like looking it up right now. He’s got a fairly new one out, which is what he was promoting on George Noory, called Healthy At 100. (My book will be called Unhealthy At 300.) Here’s his website.

Have you heard about Alli, the latest craze in weight loss fads?  It’s pronounced like “ally”, and it’s apparently flying off the shelves all over America.  And that’s despite the side effects, which include powerful, loose stools.  And gas with “an oily discharge.”  The manufacturer even recommends that users wear dark pants and bring a change of clothes to work with them.  That’s nice.  Ewww - what’s that smell?  Did Jane just lose another pound?

I think I’ll skip this fad.  I need more friends, not fewer.

Got a brisk 90 minutes of walking in today at the gym. That’s three days this week, for a total of 4.75 hours of walking. Not too shabby for a fat guy.

I have to work tomorrow, so I won’t be able to walk. But back at it Monday!

That’s what the scale at the gym said today.  Ouch.  I’ve backslid worse than I thought.  Actually, two scales at the gym said the same thing; one was a medical scale and the other was a digital.  I was wearing tennies, socks, shorts, underwear, and a tee shirt.   I think from now on I’ll use the gym scale as the standard.  Mine says 283 at home, but I think the medical scale is more accurate.  Not good news.  I’ve really lost my focus, in large part due to the part time job I took.  I may have to rethink that.  Especially since it’s turning into more of a full time job lately.  My full time job should be getting healthy and thin.
But the good news is that I walked again for the second time in a few days.  Got an hour and a half in.  I didn’t eat as much today as I usually do, to boot.  And I’m eating more fruits and vegetables this week.

An hour and 45 minutes down at the park.  It finally rained, for what seemed like the first time in months (we’re in a major drought), and that cooled things off enough to walk outside.  Felt great!

I’ve been out of town for a while. Not the whole time since I last blogged, but a good bit of it. I’m back now, though. I’m at 279 right now. I’m definitely behind schedule for dropping 100 pounds in 2007, but I certainly haven’t given up. It can be frustrating, that’s for sure. I seem to have trouble getting past where I’m at right now and cracking into the 260’s. I feel like if I could do that it would be a real breakthrough. But so far no luck. The good news is that I have dropped and kept off over 20 pounds. And with my part time job, I’m on a much more regular (and NORMAL) schedule. I’m also bringing in a bit more money than before, which helps, especially with my frame of mind. It’s hard to be positive when you’re worried about money. And it’s already easy enough to get discouraged and give up, thinking what’s the use, without having to worry about money. So the extra cash is a real plus.

I actually went out and socialized recently, too. My buddy Heath and I drove up to Nashville to check out an open mic comedy show a while back. Heath actually got up and told a few jokes, and they were pretty good. Unfortunately, most of the (very small) crowd decided to head back to the bar and socialize at about the same time. Hardly anyone was paying attention to him, and lots of people were talking over him. I felt bad for him. Especially since he was better than most of the rest of them. The vast majority of the 15 alleged comics were just terrible. But I was glad I went, and Heath and I got to talk quite a bit on the way there and back. I also went out to dinner with him and his family before we headed up, which was nice. We’ll probably head up to Nashville on a semi-regular basis to check out the show. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes each way, so we won’t do it every week, but Heath likes doing standup, and I may give it a try one of these days.

Anyway, stay tuned. I’m renewing my health club membership tomorrow. I joined for one month back when it was cold, but the weather was so nice that I was walking outside. But after the trouble with the dogs, and the very hot weather we’re having, I’ve decided to walk indoors for awhile. It’s just too hot to be walking outside right now.