Birthday Mailbag

Everyone loves running to the mailbox on their birthday to receive the bounty of birthday cards and gifts that the postman has left for them.  Okay, so everyone in 1987 loved running to their mailbox.  In 2012, it is pretty standard procedure to wait until 10 pm and read the 218 birthday messages that are posted on your wall.  As a crusader against all things greeting card related, I am perfectly okay with the shift in birthday tradition.  With that said, I was surprised this morning to find my mail box overflowing with messages (oddly enough, mostly questions) from the hundreds of millions of adoring fans of this blog.  I decided I would take some time out of my busy birthday schedule to answer a few of the messages.

Wow, you really screwed up your diet last week.  I have a feeling that your goal of under 200 before your wedding is probably slipping away since you clearly don't have the discipline to make it through one week (hell, you couldn't even make it one day).  Give me one good reason why I should keep reading your tales when it is pretty clear this story only ends in heartbreak.  
- Nancy from What Cheer, IA
Jeez, Nance, take it easy on me!  First of all, I'm shocked that you had time to read Tuesday's blog, pen this nasty message, find a stamp, and walk your crabby ass down to the Post Office in time for me to have this warm message this morning.  Truth is, I bombed last week.  Second truth is that I've already lost everything I gained and fully expect to be back on track next week to hit my December goal.  When I do, expect to find a box full of Christmas goodies waiting for you on your doorstep.  I'd steer clear of the fudge.

I thought you said this blog was going to be about more than just your weight.  Other than your weekly check-ins, we haven't heard much about what else is going on in your life, particularly the wedding.  What gives?
-Stewart from Nimrod, MN
Well, Stewart, I've had a lot going on in my life that contributes to not having an extra half hour to wax poetic about floral arrangements or party favors.  I've mentioned it a couple of times before, but I'm currently trying to get my Master's degree finished.  I used to procrastinate in 1st grade and I still do in my graduate work, so I usually let stuff wait until the last minute and then have to use up any and all free writing time reacting to a YouTube video or crafting an ice breaker.  Honestly, right now the wedding planning is kind of on auto-pilot and the weight loss is focus number one for both the bride and the groom.  With Molly being a teacher, we knew we needed to hit the planning road hard back in August before school started.  We are still ironing out some small details as we go, but for the most part, we could have a wedding tomorrow with what we've got accomplished.  Well, except for the flowers.  Trust me, Stew, you don't want to get me started on the flowers.

Professor Pool, I was looking at the class schedule and saw that you're teaching a class at 8 am on Tuesdays this Spring.  Just so you know, I'm probably gonna be late every day.
-Ronnie from Cambridge, MN
That's fine, Ronnie, but please make sure to stop at Caribou on your way and pick me up a Northern Lights Vanilla Latte.  Thanks in advance.  So, yeah, I'm also teaching my first class this Spring.  It is called First Year Experience and I'll be doing my best to make sure that no one repeats my first year experience.  Amazingly enough, this course meets one of the transfer goal areas required for graduation, so I can't even show up, put my feet on the desk, and sip coffee for an hour and a half.  I must be my students' guiding light, a beacon in the haze of freshman confusion.  I must instill in them the virtues of higher education and build their critical thinking skills so that they can go on to become foreign dignitaries and cancer curers.  Or I could just show YouTube videos and make them do ice breakers.  Right now only four people are signed up, so I currently don't even have a big enough class to assign them Breakfast Club roles.

Are you doing anything special for the end of the world?  I'm not sure if you've heard, but December 21, 2012 is just around the corner.
-Maya from Mexico
Just stocking up on Charmin and protein shakes, but that's a pretty typical Sunday for me.  One thing I know for sure is that I'm going to wait until December 22 to start blowing money on Christmas gifts, just in case.

Any thoughts on the current state of Minnesota sports?
- Tortured in the Twin Cities
Here are a couple of thoughts -
Wild: Officially the least frustrating team in town, mostly because the NHL is on lockout.  Growing up in South Dakota, I didn't have the ravenous hockey spirit that exists in Minnesota.  Still, for as long as I can remember watching live sports (not TV, but butt in the arena seats), hockey has been my hands down favorite.  There aren't constant stoppages for commercials like the NFL, it is nonstop action unlike the MLB, and the players don't seem like they are mailing it in like the average NBA regular season game.  So, yeah, get your money in order and get back on the ice.
Timberwolves:  Rubio can't get back soon enough because he is Ricky Rubio, and he not like nobody else.  I was pretty excited about the Wolves last year before injuries killed half the team.  That good luck continued into the early season.  I still think they have way too much talent on their team to not be able to push for a playoff spot once everyone gets healthy and getting into the flow.
Vikings:  I've been watching the Vikings since I was old enough to understand the curse words that my grandpa yelled at the TV on Sundays.  This year is no different.  You've got the best running back in the league but somehow forget to use him.  You have a superstar, Swiss Army Knife player in Harvin who can't play an entire season.  You've got a highly drafted quarterback who can't throw a swing pass.  They always win just enough to keep you interested so that they can kill your Christmas spirit when they officially can't make the playoffs in December.
Twins:  I hear Francisco Liriano might be coming back, which would be the bright spot in the rotation.  Ladies and gentlemen, your 2013 Minnesota Twins!

You had hoped that year 30 was going to be one of the best ones yet.  How'd that work out for you?
- Barry in Tuscaloosa 
Year 30 (well, technically 31, Barry) ranks right up there with the best of them.  I moved in with Molly, got engaged with all my friends and family around, started school again, got to see some great concerts, officiated my first wedding as Rabbi Poolowitz, got down to 227 pounds, ballooned back to 264, managed to fight my way back to 245, paid off some debt, found out how much I love to cook, got better at my job, drew faces on fruit, toured my first brewery and subsequently became a beer snob, went to my first microbrew sampler, warmed up my future niece and nephew, had an organ removed, caught some nice perch, almost asphyxiated in an ice house, saw The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises in IMAX 3-D, have more friends and family than I did at this time last year and didn't lose any in the process, went to Lambeau, completed the pro-sports quadfecta (saw an NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB game last season (sorry, Ashley, the WNBA doesn't count)), saw one of my all-time favorite comedians, played more Phase 10 than a human should be allowed, discovered Homeland and got Molly addicted to Dexter, had as close to the perfect day as I'll ever have on my one year anniversary, got my ass kicked by a tiny Asian masseuse during a couples massage, ate Smashburger and Five Guys for the first time, wore a cardigan sweater on two of the hottest days of the summer because I wanted to look good proposing and in our engagement pics, went to Ikea for the first time (and the second time and the third time), cussed at the tiny wrench included in the Ikea boxes, bought a piece of the Metrodome, and so, so much more.  I laughed and loved more than I cried and hurt by at least a hundredfold.

I guess at a certain point the age thing stops being as important and the milestones start spreading out to five and ten year intervals.  Thirty-one doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and doesn't carry the same neat packaging as thirty did, but when I look forward to what the next year could bring, I can't help but be excited.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes.  See you next Tuesday!

Basked in birthday glory,

Jeff

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Fat Tuesday

Before I start spitting my rhymes and doin' my time, here are the results from this week:

Last Week
Weight: 244.2 lb 

BMI: 35 

BMR: 2281 kcal 

Fat %: 35.8% 

Fat Mass: 87.4 lb 

FFM: 156.8 lb 

TBW: 114.8 lb

This Week

Weight: 247.8 lb (+3.6 lb, total of -13.6)

BMI: 35.6 (+.6, total of -1.9)

BMR: 2304 kcal (+23, total of  -52)

Fat %: 35.1% (-.7%, net loss of 6.9%)

Fat Mass: 87 lb (-4 lb, net loss of 23 lbs of baby elephant)

FFM: 160.8 lb ( +4 lb, net gain of 9 lb)

TBW: 117.8 lb (+3 lb, net gain of 8.7 lb)

My snap reaction is that I'm probably lucky to have only gained 3.6 pounds this week (more on that in a minute) and that I should probably start losing fat at a pace similar to the one I'm gaining muscle and water weight or else I'm going to look like this guy:

Note: Not actually me.  My breasts are much more voluptuous.

Here's a peek at last week's goals:

Goal 1 - Don't Eat Until I Need to Throw Up or Lay Down - F-

True story, I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday because I wasn't sure if I needed to throw up or poop the bed because I was fairly confident I was going to explode.  That sensation alone accounts for the fail.

Goal 2 - Work Out at Least Twice in Blunt - B

Again, I wasn't expecting a full exercise program, but Molly and I went for a walk in Pierre on Wednesday and I played basketball with pretty much the entire family on Thursday. Oh, also I listened to Jillian Michaels scream at Shelbi and Molly for 30 minutes while I shopped online. That counts for something.

Goal 3 - WATER, DUMMY! - ???

I don't know how to grade this one because my numbers on the scale today indicate that I did a great job last week of drinking liquids, but the fact that I literally didn't pee yesterday except for when my ritual morning draining and that my toes spread out in five different directions during a post-basketball cramp this morning leads me to believe that my number might be slightly off.

Next Weeks Goals

Goal 1 - Undo Last Week

So, clearly I'm not going to get to my 242 goal by today since I was at 247 this morning.  I'm giving myself one week to rectify that.  It won't be easy because this week is loaded with birthday traps, but I would really like to be in spitting distance of 230 by Christmas.  That's going to take some hard work, but if I want to take entire weeks off and eat like a fat kid, then I need to have a couple of weeks on and eat like a smart kid to complete the only pair of adjectives anyone ever used to describe my childhood.

Goal 2 - Add a Weekend Workout

On top of throwing my eating habits to the wind last week, I also forgot my knee brace and shoes at home yesterday, so I'm already a full day of exercise behind the curve.  There's only one way to fix that, even if I'm already starting to have anxiety attacks about it.

Goal 3 - H20, Agua, Eau, Wasser, Water!!!

No matter what language I say it in, I need to put it into my body in larger quantities.  It helps make me feel fuller, it takes away the aches and pains in my muscles, and it helps make sure that I don't pee straight coffee.  I'm not taking this off the goal list until I get it right.

Real quick (yeah, right), here are the fourteen things that I couldn't say no to this weekend, in the snowballing order in which they were ingested:

1. Taco Bell

I needed to grab a quick lunch on my way home from work before we left for Blunt, and TB was the only convenient option.  I did manage to only order one extra value meal with no add-ons, which is a HUGE improvement for me.  And so the rationalizing begins...

2. Gingerbread Shake from Burger King

Look, this blog is all about being healthy and living to be 100, but you ain't livin' if you ain't eatin' one of these shakes.  The radio DJ's that I listen to in the morning have been raving about this stupid thing for weeks and we needed a snack about halfway through the drive, so I gave in.  They were right, it was awesome.  I have little to no regrets about this decision because of the high quality of the calories.  Also, I only got a small, so clearly I'm making good decisions.  The snowball picks up traction.

3. Papa Murphy's Pizza

My mom and dad were running errands in Pierre and my mom wasn't feeling the best, so I didn't want to burden them with having to cook when they got home.  I told them to pick up Papa Murphy's, as long as they got the thin crust.  I proceed to eat two pieces of the stuffed Chicago style and about half of Hawaiian thin crust.  It is still Tuesday.

4. Burger, tots, and beer

I wanted to show Molly that Pierre had classy food options, so I took her to the country club pub where I ate a 1/2 hamburger with a gallon of South Dakota brewed beer.  

5. Cheeseburgers and Chips and More Beer!

We had a lot of set up to do for Thanksgiving and family up from Texas, so we made the decision to order food from the truck stop instead of cooking.  That officially puts one day of red meat ahead of the previous three week's worth.  Awesome.

6. Danish

My great aunt sent my grandpa two Danish pastries that he was kind enough to share with my family.  We took one home with the intention of being able to freeze it and split it between the five of us.  By 10 am the next morning it was gone.

7. Brisket with a side of brisket

Our family, particularly the males, have never been satisfied with turkey on Thanksgiving. Our meal featured an impressive spread of turkey, ham, and brisket.  While I did partake in some of the delicious sides and desserts, my main focus was to eat as much brisket as I could before it either ran out or someone took it away.  As I drank a few more beers and the night progressed, the rate the brisket went down and the creative methods I used to add even more calories (brisket sliders!) was pretty impressive.  Oh, and I washed all that brisket and beer down with one of the leftover cheeseburgers from the night before.  This would be the lead up to the great puke/poop dilemma of Thanksgiving 2012.

8. Pancakes, cheesy eggs, bacon

Being the gracious house guest that I am, I decided I would make breakfast for everyone on Friday morning.  I fired up the griddle and the oven and whipped up a meal fit for an early morning king.  Of course, every abnormal or broken pancake couldn't be fed to the masses, so I would remove them from the pan and put them in my mouth before anyone knew of their inadequacies.  This didn't stop me from eating a full regular meal once everything else got done.  

9. Steak, hashbrowns, and a little bit of everything on Molly's plate

After eating like complete dog poop for the better part of four days, it was decided that we needed to eat out again and dive into a truly great South Dakota steak.  After a salad loaded with bleu cheese dressing and a full cup of beef stroganoff soup, I was ready for the main course.  I ate a full pound of juicy, tender, well seasoned ribeye (I barely left a piece of fat and gristle on the plate for fear I might miss out on some savory). I also housed a huge portion of hashbrown potatoes, two full pieces of toast, some of Molly's tator tots, the crust from her patty melt, and a Sam Adams.  

10. Cheesy eggs, bacon, two mini-pieces of Hot Stuff Pizza, half a container of Auntie Anne's pretzels dipped in marinara

You know, typical "I need to be on the road to Sioux Falls" all day snack foods.

11. Carnitas Pizza and Phuket Wings

I love carnitas.  I love pizza.  Put them together and I'll eat the whole pizza (which I did).  The name of the wings pretty much summed up my attitude about the diet at this point.

12. Beer, beer, beer, beer, beer, etc.

We went out with my high school friends to celebrate being friends, and I may or may not have sampled my weight in different brews around the greater Sioux Falls area.  Skip to the next item if you don't want to be grossed out, but it is fairly well published that I am incredibly particular about my toilet arrangements and rarely use a facility outside of my own home.  I officially ruined my stomach that night to the point that I had to use a filthy hotel bar bathroom.  I've been sitting in a bathtub ever since.

13. Marlins Breakfast

Here's my regular order at the greatest greasy spoon breakfast location in Sioux Falls (there isn't a close second.  I'm not even willing to listen to rational arguments on this subject):  3- Meat Skillet (featuring ham, bacon, sausage, and shredded cheese on a pound of hashbrowns), two sunny side up eggs on top, a side of sausage gravy to pour all over top of it, two pieces of toast, and two of Molly's pancakes.  I followed this up with one of the longest, most miserable drives back to Minneapolis I've ever encountered.

14. Domino's Pizza

Hey, after a long, hard week of eating and doing nothing, it is hard to scrounge together the energy to cook.  By this time, the snowball had fully engulfed me.  

These are just the things I can remember, although I had my fair share of cheese, chocolate milk, and other high fat, low nutritional items.  There isn't anyone else to blame for all of this because I continued to open my mouth and insert items all on my own, but this is solid proof of how easy it is for me to get lazy once and then lose all control.  I was talking with a friend this morning who also has weight issues, and we both agreed that we probably can never stop being vigilant about our health.  There is no safety level on the horizon because all it takes is one trip to Taco Bell and a week of not blogging before I wake up four months later trying to figure out why my pants don't fit.  Thankfully on this Thanksgiving, I've got a good support system to help pick me back up so that I can give it another shot.  

Talk to you Thursday,

Jeffrey

Pre-Thanksgiving Update

Sorry for the disappearing act last week, folks.  I know that my week without posting blew up the media world.  Anderson Cooper questioned, "Is this the end of Jeff's quest for a smaller suit?"  Donald Trump claimed he had proof that I wasn't even weighing in to begin with.  Kim Kardashian tweeted something stupid.  The truth is I was really busy and I just didn't have time.  We're in the thick of the registration season at work, I'm in the prime paper writing time for grad school, and getting up at 5 am to work out makes Jeff a very, very tired boy.   The truth was I gained last week, but it was less than a pound and there were a lot of reasons for it, not the least of which is too gross to type on a respectable blog such as this.  Just know that had I had about 20 more minutes and a cup of coffee before I jumped on the scale, I would have kept the losing streak alive.  Anyway, here are the results from the past two weeks, including the numbers from the last blog post.

2 WEEKS AGO
Weight: 248.8 lb (-4.8 lb, total of -12.6)

BMI: 35.7 (-.7, total of -1.9)

BMR: 2310 kcal (-30, total of  -46)

Fat %: 37.3% (-2.9%, net loss of 4.7%)

Fat Mass: 92.8 lb (-9.2 lb, net loss of 17.2 lbs of lard)

FFM: 156 lb (+4.4 lb, net gain of 4.2 lb)

TBW: 114.2 lb (+3.2 lb, net gain of 3.1 lb)

LAST WEEK

Weight: 249.4 lb (+.6 lb, total of -12)

BMI: 35.8 (+.1, total of -1.8)

BMR: 2314kcal (+4, total of  -42)

Fat %: 36.5% (-.8%, net loss of 5.5%)

Fat Mass: 91 lb (-1.8 lb, net loss of 19 lbs of blubber)

FFM: 158.4 lb (+2.4 lb, net gain of 6.6 lb)

TBW: 116 lb (+3.8 lb, net gain of 6.9 lb)

THIS WEEK

Weight: 244.2 lb (-5.2 lb, total of -17.2)

BMI: 35 (-.7, total of -2.5)

BMR: 2281 kcal (-333, total of  -75)

Fat %: 35.8% (-.7%, net loss of 6.2%)

Fat Mass: 87.4 lb (-3.6 lb, net loss of 22.6 lbs of belly Jello)

FFM: 156.8 lb ( -1.6 lb, net gain of 5 lb)

TBW: 114.8 lb (-1.2 lb, net gain of 5.7 lb)

Boo-yah, bizzos!  Look, had I not had back to back weekends of absolute fun, I'd be sitting somewhere in the 238 neighborhood.  The truth is that I have a life that's pretty awesome.  No, seriously.  That week where I gained I busted my butt and focused on building muscle and water weight.  Sure enough, that happened.  I also got to go out with Molly's friends on Friday night where I drank beer and ate nachos, which I immediately followed up with an encore with my friends the following night where I drank beer and ate German pot roast covered in cheese.  No apologies.  We had a blast, I made major progress in the water and muscle department, and I'm ignoring the .6 increase because I know how hard I really worked.

This week's results are a combination of a roll-over of the previous week's progress that just didn't show on Tuesday and this week's uptick in working out.  Even with the 5.2 pound loss, I actually consider this week more of a failure than the previous week because I didn't stick to my protein shake at lunch after working out and I ignored my water intake this weekend.  It was Veteran's Day week, and as the vets advisor at ARCC, I had events over lunch a couple of days (I still made smart decisions, including whipping out my phone at Applebees to find out that the Jalapeno Shrimp was the best choice). Molly was sick this past weekend, so we were home bound.  As easy as it should be to remember to drink water at home, it just wasn't.  I didn't eat much in the way of crappy food and even turned down Molly's Domino's suggestion twice, but I didn't stick with the plan more than I did stick with the plan and the result was a loss of muscle and a drop in water weight.  Still, I can't complain too much with a loss of 5.2 lbs.  

I wanted to weigh 243 lbs by the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  I'm not throwing in the towel or making excuses, but picking the Tuesday after Thanksgiving probably wasn't the smartest move for a weight loss milestone marker.  I really want to push the goal weigh-in back a week, but it is only one freaking pound.  I've already told Molly and Shelbi to throw in their walking shoes because I don't want to completely lose momentum.  My compromise with myself is to push the weigh-in day back to Wednesday instead of Tuesday.  That gives me one extra day to shake the Marlins breakfast that I'm going to eat Sunday morning (and you better believe I'm going to devour every last greasy truck stop-tastic bite of it).  

Quick hit updates on the goals:

Goal 1 - Survive the Weekend Part II   C- 

Could have been better, could have been worse.

Goal 2 - Up the Workout Times - A

I played ball Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings last week and both mornings this week for a solid hour, plus I played again at noon on Thursday, Friday and this Monday.  

Goal 3 - Add More Greens C+

Honestly, I don't know how I did on this one.  I feel like I made a conscious effort to eat more vegetables, but I can't prove it so I'll just take a passing grade.

This week's goals

Goal 1- Don't Eat Until I Need to Throw Up or Lay Down

What a wonderful country that we live in that we can celebrate a day of thanks by being so gluttonous that we go into a coma.  Good work, Pilgrims!  I'm not going to say that I won't eat the sweet potatoes or have a piece of pie because the next blog I write will feature me substituting Thanksgiving words for curse words (much to Kacey's delight) and I'll just be frustrated.  There is a happy medium between passing by every dish and eating until I want to die.  My goal is to live in that medium and not try to supersize it.

Goal 2 - Work Out at Least Twice in Blunt

"Work out" will be somewhat relative because I imagine this will be going for walks instead of my current workout schedule, but I need to do something.  Two days of some cardio work is better than 5 days of no cardio work, plus I'll still have two days of hard workouts waiting for me next week when I get back.

Goal 3 - WATER, DUMMY!

I have to, have to, have to remember to drink my water.  I was just commenting about how it has been a miracle that I haven't had a single leg cramp since I started playing basketball again and really being aware of my TBW numbers.  How do I celebrate this?  By not drinking enough water over the past week and dealing with a twitch in my muscles that seems to be warning me that the big one is coming.  I don't want to be "that guy" who carries a water bottle everywhere I go, but I honestly buy into the water awareness being one of the top two biggest success factors for me (I don't have time to think of the other one).  It does suck running to pee every hour, but it doesn't suck sleeping through the night without fear of your body declaring a mutiny against you.  

Finally, I don't usually participate in the Facebook days of thanks routine, so I'll just summarize all I'm thankful for in one word on here and call it a day.  This year I'm thankful for you.  I'm glad I have a car and a job and a house and enough to eat, but none of that would be possible or really even matter without you.  My family, friends, and Molly are the reason I get out of bed every morning, the reason I don't want to call in sick to work because I'm afraid I'll miss some fun, the reason I can't wait to come home at night to play Phase 10 and watch HGTV, the reason I can't wait to drive six hours both ways across South Dakota, and the reason that I try to be the best me I can be.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Gobble, gobble,

Jeff

A Day Late And A Dollar Short

Sorry for the delay in posts, but work is super busy because it is the first week of open registration (which, by the way, is my favorite week because students remember that they need me), and when I get home I just want to veg out and watch political commercials.  Unfortunately, I'm back to suffering through McDonald's and Budweiser ads for the next three years.  Here are the numbers for last week and this week.

Weight: 253.6 lb 

BMI: 36.4 

BMR: 2340 kcal 

Fat %: 40.2% 

Fat Mass: 102.0 lb 

FFM: 151.6 lb 

TBW: 111.01 lb

Weight: 248.68 lb (-4.8 lb, total of -12.6)

BMI: 35.7 (-.7, total of -1.9)

BMR: 2310 kcal (-30, total of  -46)

Fat %: 37.3% (-2.9%, net loss of 4.7%)

Fat Mass: 92.8 lb (-9.2 lb, net loss of 17.2 lbs of lard)

FFM: 156 lb (+4.4 lb, net gain of 4.2)

TBW: 114.21 lb (+3.2 lb, net gain of 3.1 lb)

One thing to note was that I did get up and work out prior to weighing in yesterday, so some of the numbers are probably a little artificial, but I plan on adding early Tuesday and Thursday morning workouts to the routine full-time, and I can't get access to the official scale until after 8 am.  

Some quick thoughts: Whatever I'm doing is working, so I'm not going to stop doing it.  My fat mass is tumbling because of the cardio, the muscle mass is increasing because of the added protein, and I jumped another 2% in water weight.  My goal was 243 by November 27 and it seems to be pretty attainable.  November 20 is the the last day of our weigh-in challenge at work, so starting next Tuesday I'll probably hit it hard and cut out carbs for one week.  I know I said I wasn't going to do the rapid weight loss thing, but there's over $50 on the line and my body can handle the extra loss going into Thanksgiving. 

Last Week's Report Card

Goal 1 - Survive the Weekend - B-

I did "pretty" good.  I drank beer, ate greasy appetizers (including the world's most amazing soft pretzels and mustard at this bar in Savage that I will gladly take any of you to anytime you want), and had two waffles instead of one Sunday morning.  Still, in my head I did loosely track my calories and in the end I lost almost 5 lbs.  Might have been closer to an 8 pounder had I been a good boy, but I wouldn't give up the fun I had with John, Helena, and Molly for the extra 3 lbs.  

Goal 2 - Add Strength Training and Stretching To Cardio - C+

I did my sit-ups and push-ups on five of the seven days, and I can hit my goal of 10 push-ups.  I didn't do my yoga at all, but I did start stretching prior to basketball, which has helped my back tremendously.  Having less of a gut pulling on my front probably helps, too.

Goal 3 - Tweet What I Eat - C-

Boy, was I ever faithful to that little exercise on Tuesday-Friday.  Not lying, if it passed my lips there's a pic of it on Twitter. Once my guests arrived, I kind of started forgetting about it because it was weird and awkward.  Still, I would STRONGLY encourage this exercise for anyone who is starting out on a new diet plan or who is wondering why their progress has stalled out.  First of all, it is remarkable how often and how much you eat without thinking about it.  Secondly, when you know other people might be seeing what you're eating, you become more aware of what you're putting into your body and you start making smarter decisions.  

This Week's Goals:

Goal 1 - Survive the Weekend, The Sequel

This weekend will be even tougher than last.  We are going out Friday night for happy hour and appetizers with Molly's friends, which always turns into eating dinner and drinking all night.  I can be smart on Saturday during the day, but we're going to the Zac Brown Band concert with Jared and Kristyn, which will involve eating out and drinking out.  Sunday morning we're banking on making waffles again, and I just can't say no to those damn waffles.  That might be part of the reason I'm marrying into the Upper Midwest Waffle Dynasty (don't tell Molly).  I'll try really hard to cut it down to one...and a half.

Goal 2 - Up the Workout Times

I got up early and played basketball at 6:30 yesterday morning, and I felt pretty awesome throughout the day.  My biggest fear when I'm so close to the starting line is that pushing it too much is going to break my body down and cause an injury that will derail my progress.  Playing ball for an hour in the morning and again at noon seems to just be asking for trouble.  I know I did it in high school, but I'm not 18 and I don't weigh 165 lbs.  Still, I can get a full hour of ball in during the morning instead of the 40 minutes at lunch.  I'm planning on playing Thursday and next Tuesday in the morning and sticking lunch ball on.  I'll see if I can convince myself to work out Sunday, too, even if it is just a brisk walk through Target or the mall.  I listen pretty well to my body, so if it starts to tell me to cool it a little, I'll let off the throttle.

Goal 3 - Add More Greens

Tweeting my food and using MyFitnessPal have helped me fine tune my diet, but it is becoming abundantly clear that I lean more towards fruits and less towards the veggies.  I had a salad Monday and it did magnificent things to my digestive track (sorry, TMI).  I brought carrots today.  Last week I brought some celery with a triangle of Laughing Cow cream cheese to dip them in, and it was a nice little afternoon snack.  I shall try to repeat said actions.

Finally, I have mostly avoided posting about the election on FB or Twitter because I get pretty excitable and it isn't worth it 99% of the time.  Those who know me well know that I tend to lean left, although in my short voting history I have voted for Republicans in all offices.  I consider myself a Democrat because I believe in their social platforms, and I think there are people who need a hand out in order to get a hand up.  If you don't believe that, that's fine, too.  I've played Devil's advocate enough just trying to get a debate started that I think I understand both sides of the coin pretty well.  The funny thing is that most of my family and friends and people reading this blog are Republicans who would get incredibly red faced if I ever decided to be blatant with my political ideals.  Anyway, regardless of which side of the aisle you vote on, my wish for all of you is that you take your victory or loss in stride and spend the next four years doing what you can to make America a better place.  Screaming and name calling or blindly posting religious verses might reaffirm your own belief system, but it pushes you further from the conversation.  I've been alive long enough to know that about 50% of the country agrees with my views and 50% doesn't, and that isn't going to change in any of our lifetimes.  In 2016, the Republicans will most likely get their chance to lead the country because history tells us these things are cyclical.  Again, none of this changes. What can change is your investment in this country and in your community.  If you don't believe the health care system is taking care of seniors, spend some time volunteering in a retirement community and keep yourself in shape so you can lessen your healthcare expenses.  If you think the government is killing small business owners, stop shopping at Target and Walmart and get to know your local grocer.  If you think the government is imposing their views on you, then put down your cell phones and have real conversations featuring real ideas with real people.  This country was built on grassroots movements, and I can't imagine that just because our founding fathers disagreed on one issue that they walked away from the table on the rest.  We are not MSNBC, we are not Fox News.  We are Americans who should be proud that we have a democratic system that allows us to choose our leaders and who should be just as proud that differing viewpoints lead to stronger answers.  To be a little more cliche, be the change you want to see.

The long and short of it is that I love you all on November 7 the same that I loved you on November 5.  Thanks again for being a part of my story.

Jeff