No More Mr. Fat Guy!

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.

I was supposed to go out to eat Sunday with Heath, but he called me on Saturday night to say he’d forgotten about a prior engagement. And it’s a good thing he canceled, because as it turned out, I couldn’t go anywhere on Sunday.

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Amazon sells candy cigarettes?  I thought those died out years ago.  And they’re only four bucks for a case of 24 packs?  Somebody’s gonna burn in hell.  They got bubble gum cigarettes, too.  I wonder if they sell Kiddie Crack Pipes?

Only about a third of Americans eat at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables a day.

And two thirds of Americans are overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.

Gosh, what a strange coincidence!

Why cut back on portions, eat healthier foods, and get more exercise to reclaim your health? Because that’s the only way to lose weight and get in shape. But scientists continue the search for a magic Frankenfood that will taste great, fill you up, and not make you fat. It’s big business for one company in Holland right now. But I say it can’t be done. That’s not how life works, or nature works. Nature already provides us with foods that fill us up without a lot of calories. They’re called fruits and vegetables, and they contain fiber. But we prefer other, tastier foods.

If something is invented that “works”, I can’t imagine how eating it could be healthy, since to have any effect it would have to interfere with or shut down the body’s natural processes. Wasn’t diet pop supposed to make us all skinnier? And yet some studies show that people who drink diet pop are fatter than those who don’t. If you’ve ever seen the Albert Brooks movie Defending Your Life, you remember that in Heaven, everyone could gorge on their favorites foods all day long and never put on any weight. I doubt very much if Heaven’s going to be like that, and I’m 100% convinced that life on Earth will never be like that, no matter how many billions companies put into research and development. We’re fat because we eat too much, we eat the wrong stuff, and we don’t get out and move our bodies. That’s the reality, and no Frankenfood is ever going to “fix” reality.

I’m spending a week or so with some friends, as of yesterday.  I was busy traveling and settling in, so I didn’t post for a day or so.  I’m at about 280 right now.  It’s headed the wrong way, which I knew it would when I quit walking.  Most of my weight loss has come from two things-walking, and quitting soda pop.  And lately I’ve replaced a lot of the sugar and calories I was getting from Pepsi with iced tea.  I’ve been drinking two or three quarts of that a day, for a total of 500-750 calories a day just from sugar.  Not quite as much as I was getting from 6-7 Pepsi’s a day, but still plenty.  Still smoking, too.  I really need to do something about the sugar, caffeine and nicotine intake.

So, since yesterday, I’ve been nicotine free–no cigarettes, no gum, no patches.  It’s easier when I’m around other people to go without.  I’ve also been without tea, except for one glass to prevent getting a headache from caffeine withdrawal.    And my body is certainly noticing the difference.  It’s bad enough when I cut out either caffeine or nicotine.  But doing both at once is double the fun.  On top of the cigarette and and sugar cravings, I can hardly function due to lack of energy.  It’s very strange-I sit here trying to read, and not only am I overcome by the desire to lay down, I also can’t stop yawning or nodding off.  But when I give in and lay down, I can’t sleep, even though I can’t stop yawning.  So I try to read in bed, and keep nodding off and yawning uncontrollably.  It’s very strange.  I’ve been through it before, and it lasts a couple days.   I knew what to expect, and so did the friends I’m staying with, so I just brought a bunch of books and I’m either in the reading chair or in bed for the most part.   And I do somehow manage to make a little progress in different books.  It would be really great if I could kick all three–caffeine, nicotine, and sweet drinks–for good.  But I’m not going to worry about that right now.  I’m just going to try to drift off to a good night’s sleep by listening to George Noory.

This post has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss, so many of you may want to skip it.

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Just sneeze on it. That oughta do the trick. At least according to the FDA, which has approved spraying lunch meat with viruses to kill bacteria:

Even for snoopy journalists, there is such a thing as learning more than you want to know. We’ve just had one of those unwanted learning experiences; perhaps you did too. It came over the weekend in a news story reporting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved using viruses as food additives.

Specifically, the FDA approved a mixture of six viruses that food companies can spray on lunchmeat, hot dogs and sausages before packaging them.

The viruses are supposed to kill any Listeria monocytogenes bacteria that try to multiply on lunchmeats. Listeria causes an infection that seriously sickens 2,500 Americans annually, causing 500 deaths.

The spray-on viruses are called bacteriophages (Greek for ”bacteria-eater”). They don’t hurt humans or plants, and they normally live in our digestive tracts, the experts say. FDA approval also is to be sought for another kind of virus that would be used to keep E. coli bacteria from sickening people who eat ground beef.

It’s great to know that the spray-on viruses will save hundreds of lives and prevent untold suffering. We keep telling ourselves that this is a good thing.

But the mental picture of viruses chewing on bacteria that are growing on the lunchmeat we are chewing on is unappetizing, to tell the truth.

I’m not real crazy about the thought of genetically modified foods and pharma crops, or what some folks call Frankenfoods. I’m no expert, but it seems to me that when it comes to food, the closer to the way God made it the better. Now they’re talking about injecting safflower and barley with human genes:

Ask the people around you if they want experimental drugs and industrial chemicals in their food or beer — without their knowledge or consent. Chances are they’ll say no. Then tell them experiments that could make that happen are occurring right here in Washington state.

As you read this, a professor at Washington State University and a private Canadian company, SemBioSys, have applied for permits to turn two common food crops — barley and safflower — into virtual factories for synthetic drugs or chemicals.

On its Web site, SemBioSys declares its plan to inject safflower with human genes to produce experimental insulin and a drug for heart attacks and strokes. WSU confirms that it plans to grow barley, injected with human genes, to produce artificial proteins with pharmaceutical properties. Where these fields will be is secret; nearby farmers and residents won’t be notified.

Human genes in your beer? “Honey, is it me, or does this Michelob taste like Bob?”

Maybe they can use the genes of skinny people to make light beer.

There’s a new report out in the American Journal of Public Health that says that soda pop is one of the main reasons we’re all getting fat, if not the main reason. They reviewed 88 studies to tell us this? But it’s not just the calories in pop–it seems that the more pop people drink, the more calories they consume from other sources. We all know that soda pop isn’t filling, but they seem to be saying that it’s also an appetite stimulant, which leads to even more food intake.

Of 21 studies, 19 showed that as people drink more soda pop, the number of calories they consume rises. Moreover, the studies using the most reliable statistical methods showed the largest effects.

Instead of satisfying a sweet tooth, soft drinks may do just the opposite. Several studies found that the caloric increase is actually greater than that contained in the soda, raising “the possibility that soft drinks increase hunger, decrease satiety or simply calibrate people to a high level of sweetness that generalizes to preferences in other foods,” the authors say.

“These results, taken together, provide clear and consistent evidence that people do not compensate for the added calories they consume in soft drinks by reducing their intake of other foods,” the reviewers say.

Boy, I guess there’s something to that comment someone left a while back. It said your weight can vary by as much as 8 pounds on the same day. From 279 to 287 in a week?

I’m gonna go get drunk.

I’m not eating right, and I’m not walking, and I’m smoking.  Sometimes it’s hard to believe that at this point in my life it’s possible to make significant changes.  It’s hard to stay motivated, and it’s far easier to just keep living the way I’ve been living that’s gotten me to this point.  I have no idea how I dropped any weight recently, except that I’ve managed to cut way back on pop.  But for the most part, I’ve not been eating well for the  past couple weeks.  I had a few good days, but most of them were not so hot.  Every day I plan to walk, but it’s been quite a while since I did.  Every day I plan to eat right, but I rarely do.  Self discipline has always been a problem for me.  I’m not really lazy; I can work hard for long hours, and often have.  But that was when I was working for someone else.  Now that I’m self employed, I find it difficult to stay on task without an employer to answer to.   And the same goes for lifestyle changes.  And it’s hard for me to keep believing that I can change.  I can believe it, and often do; it’s just that it’s difficult to sustain the belief.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not looking for sympathy or fishing for  “hang in there’s”.   And I’ve lost around 15-18 pounds since 303.  When I stick with it, the pounds come off fast.  I know several of my fellow fat fighting bloggers would love to have lost that much since late December.  And I’m not quitting.  I know I’m in a rut, but it’s not going to be permanent.   I’m not even thinking about quitting.  I am going to lose 100 pounds.

I gotta get back to walking.  Walking, for me anyway, is the key.  Not just the calories burned, but it also keeps me focused on my health goals, it makes me feel better, and I get to listen to my Coast to Coast AM podcasts.

I gotta get back to walking.  Every day.

Mildred didn’t make it, and I’m taking it worse than I thought I would. I don’t think I’m cut out for farm life.

She was one of the two goats we milk. You sort of get attached to a goat when you milk it every day. When John bought her two years ago, I went and picked her and Nan up in my little pickup truck. They bawled all the way to the farm. Then when I let them out into the pasture, they took off running like scalded cats, and it was a day or two before they’d come up to the barn.

Then, when we tried to get them to the milk barn, that was an even bigger ordeal. We tried to coax them with the leash, but they wouldn’t budge. Then we tried dragging them. But they weren’t going anywhere, and that was that. Finally we had to pick these two full size goats up and carry them. I guess that’s when I really bonded with ‘em. But after a few weeks of carrying them, they finally realized that there was lots of feed in the milk house, and they started coming out willingly.

In her two years, Mildred gave us four babies that lived. We’ve still got Li’l Orphan Annie in the house where we’re bottle feeding her. She also gave us hundreds of quarts of fresh goat milk. Now, it’s all up to Nan.

I feel bad that we didn’t get any pictures of Mildred the other day. After she gave birth she was listless, and I was worried about her. Then yesterday she was even worse. We brought her in the milk house to keep her warm, but she wouldn’t eat at all. We did get some water down her with a syringe. I was pretty sure last night she wouldn’t make it, because she didn’t bawl when we shut the door and left her. Goats hate to be alone, and normally she’d have been wailing like mad. But she didn’t. Whenever I’d go check on her, she’d just be standing, with her face buried in the corner. We knew she loved apples, and around 11 last night we got her to eat a couple. I’m glad her last meal was her favorite.

John got up around 7 and checked on her, and she wanted out, so he let her out into the yard. Around 10, he asked me to take her to the vet. She was sitting by the barn, and when I went to load her in the truck, she couldn’t walk, or even stand up. I knew it was all over then. I was angry at myself for not getting her to the vet yesterday.

When I got to the vet, he told me what I already knew, that there was really nothing he could do. He said it was just a matter of her being old and worn out, and bringing her in the day before wouldn’t have helped. We thought she was around 3 or 4, but the vet said she had to be around 8 years old. He gave her a shot, and she was gone instantly.

He couldn’t dispose of her, because the rendering plant won’t take sheep or goats anymore due to mad cow disease concerns. Whatever. So when I got home, I had to bury poor old Mildred. John helped me load her into the wheelbarrow, and we took her collar off, and then we made the long trip down past the pond and into the woods.

I’m glad she’s not suffering anymore. And now I feel bad for all the times I cussed her and called her Mildew. And man I wish we’d taken her picture.

I’ll be back to writing about losing 100 pounds soon. But I wanted to say goodbye to Mildred.

Rest in peace, old girl. I hope the apples were sweet.

What a past couple of days. Nuthin’ but goats, goats, goats. Sorry for being gone so long, but it’s been one barnyard crisis after another. I’ll have to write about it in more detail later. But the short story is that Nan had two, Mildred had three, Tipper had one, all in the past two days. One of Nan’s died, two of Mildred’s died, and then we discovered three dead kids out in the middle of the pasture that Lucille had delivered and we had no idea, because they usually give birth in the barn. And now Mildred, one of the two goats we milk, is very, very sick. And the one kid of hers that lived was on death’s door, but we’re nursing it back to health. The good news is that all the pregnant females have kidded. The bad news is that a bunch of them didn’t make it, and we’re not sure Mildred’s going to make it. The score right now on the kids is The Grim Reaper 8, Me 7. I hope that’s the way the score stays.

In the past couple days I’ve buried six kids, we’ve got Mildred staying in the milk barn to keep her warm and we’re praying she turns around, and we’ve got the miracle survivor kid in the house in a box, and we’re bottle feeding it. We may have to take Mildred to the vet in the morning.

I did weigh in. I’m at 285. I’m not sure what Deb did, but there are now some pics of baby goats, and my weigh in, in the post below. I’ll try to edit things tomorrow, and get all the pics up in this post.

The second half of this past week didn’t go so well, as you can see.  Crashed and burned ’bout sums it up.  I gained two pounds. I’m actually surprised that it was only two.  I’m not going to go into all the gory details, but the story involves Mexican food, stuffing my face at a buffet twice this week, several bottles of Coke and Pepsi, not walking, and way too much chocolate.

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that I’m totally revamping the site.  I’m taking down all the posts, while leaving the pictures, and I’m changing the name from No More Mr. Fat Guy to How I Beat Anorexia.

I’m not having a great couple of days. Didn’t walk yesterday, and didn’t walk today. The assignment I’m writing now is not enjoyable at all. I’m not eating right. I can’t quit smoking. All I can think about lately is pizza, subs, steaks, desserts, and Pepsi. And tomorrow I’m going out of town to visit an old friend I haven’t seen in years, and I doubt if we’ll get much walking or healthy eating done there. I’m sure I’ll have put on a couple pounds come Sunday. It’s very discouraging. 200 pounds seems so far away.

I’m discouraged, but not terribly so. I knew I’d have days like this going in. But I’m not going to get too down about it. I’ll do better next week, and eventually this new way of life will become a habit.

Yesterday was a mix-some good, some bad. I did learn a valuable lesson, though. Never take a 2 hour walk on a virtually empty stomach. Let’s go to the instant replay, and then we’ll discuss it.

As I posted yesterday, I’d only had a can of chili beans, two apples, and about four ounces of juice when I headed into town to go walking at 7:15 last night. It’s too dark to walk out here on my country roads, and I had other things to do earlier, which prevented me from getting my walk in. Last night, it was about 38 degrees when I left the house, and not raining. Perfect weather for an outside walk! Instead of a hot, loud, crowded gym where I’m walking around a room 18 times to make a mile, I can go down to the park with the half mile loop, be out in the fresh air, and have the place all to myself. It’s a no brainer. So I grabbed my parka, my mp3 player, and headed there.

The good news is that I got an hour and 45 minutes in. And man, did it feel good to be out in the brisk air, working up a vigorous sweat. (Of course, in my parka, I look like the Abominable Snowman and the Unabomber had a baby.) Art Bell was sitting in for George Noory, and I listened to the second half of an interview with some UFO weirdos. It was OK, but I don’t put a whole lot of stock in the UFO stuff. But on the next show, Art had a guest who says that sometime around 2011 or 2012, the cycle of solar flares is going to be at an all time high and cause all kinds of catastrophes, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, frying of electrical grids and satellites in space, famine, pestilence, etc. He mentioned a scientist named Hathaway here at a space center in Huntsville who’s predicting that it will be the worst solar flare activity in 400 years (although Hathaway isn’t predicting all that really bad stuff). I’m going to listen to the second half of the show next time I walk. But it’s pretty interesting.

Well, as I mentioned, I hadn’t eaten much all day, although I wasn’t hungry at all when I began my walk. But the longer I walked, the more aware I became of my hunger. I was shooting for two solid hours with the great weather and the interesting show, but after an hour had gone by I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it that long. After an hour and 45 minutes of brisk walking, I was famished. And I wanted something hot and filling. A salad wasn’t going to do it, nor was a baked potato. So I stopped at a pizza place and got a couple sandwiches. Yes, with meat and cheese. So I’ll have to watch my meat intake for the rest of the week. But I don’t feel too guilty about it. I should’ve eaten more before I left the house. When you’re almost three hundred pounds, a two hour walk at 3.5 mph is quite a workout, and I’m sure I burned off even more calories with the parka. In the future, I’ll make it a point next time I have to go to town to walk, to make sure I’ve eaten fairly recently.

Yesterday, as I was leaving Barnhill’s, I picked up my receipt and saw something that just about knocked me over.

The cashier had given me the 60+ Senior Citizen’s discount. Now, this could just be the result of pressing the wrong button on the register, but I doubt it. Besides, this is the second time in a year that this has happened to me.

I’m 45 (in a few weeks).  I can understand people thinking I’m 50, but 60?

Darn.  I’ve got my work cut out for me.  I don’t want to look 15 years older than I am; I want to look 15 years younger.

Do I really look close to 60?

I mean, besides Milwaukee’s Best? Speaking of which, have you ever in your life come across a more inappropriately named product? I’m surprised the city of Milwaukee hasn’t sued them for defamation of character. There’s a plant that should pack up and move to Mexico. Honestly, that’s got to be the worst beer in America. It’s almost as bad as Meister Brau ( I think it’s German for “rotgut”), which I think is no longer being brewed. And now they have Milwaukee’s Best Light. As opposed to the regular Milwaukee’s Best, which is the chunky kind.

But I digress.

What’s the worst non-alcoholic beverage you can drink? Hands down, it’s got to be soda pop. It has zero nutritional value, and it’s full of all sorts of things that aren’t good for you. Lots of sugar for one. And there’s all kinds of other stuff in there. I’ll be writing more about pop in the future, because it’s such a problem for me.

I think I’m addicted to it. I’ve been drinking around 6 cans a day for years. Well over a decade. And I have trouble believing I can ever quit it altogether. Me 100 pounds lighter? I can picture that. Me a non smoker? Yeah, I can see that, too. But me a person who never drinks Pepsi? That’s real hard for me to visualize. I absolutely love the stuff.

I had some yesterday. But there’s no more in the house, and I’ve made it this far today without one. And I really, really want one. I could cheat, and make some sweet tea, but that’s not much better. What’s keeping me hooked is the sugar, and sweet tea won’t help in the battle to overcome that.

So I’m going to try to tough it out. We’ll see how it goes.

If you hear about a Pepsi truck being hijacked in rural Tennessee you’ll know what happened.

By the way, if you’re looking for a supercharged energy drink, try this instead of soda pop.

From what I’m reading, there aren’t many things worse for you than french fries and potato chips.  Did you know that there is a growing movement to require companies to put cancer warnings on potato chips and fries?  Besides all the salt, and all the grease, the big problem with these foods is that when starches are baked or fried at high temperatures, something called acrylamides are formed.  Acrylamides have been shown to cause cancer in animals, although the FDA says that no tests have yet proven that they cause cancer in humans.  But there are many groups that believe they do.  And when you factor in the high levels of salt, and all the grease your body takes in when eating these foods, it’s hard to see how they can be anything but bad for you.

Bummer.

I’m not much on potato chips, but I sure do love me some french fries.

One more reason to stick with my goal of greatly reducing the amount of fast food I eat.  And even if you’re not overweight, it’s still a good idea to cut way back on these foods.  They’re delicious, but deadly when overindulged in.