Day 28: We Did It!

Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention.  I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying new story.  I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen...we did it!

After 28 hard fought days, we came out victorious and, hopefully, a little better off than we were before.  I can't believe how dedicated people have been to this group.  Here are some fun facts for you:

• 21 different people posted at least once in the group
• As of the time of this writing, we've had over 400! posts in this group, including 328 check-ins, 28 blog posts, and a whole bunch of supportive comments
• Four different states were represented at one time or another in the challenge

I can't tell you how extremely cool all of this is to me.  I know how hard February is for me (see my Superman post), and I knew that I couldn't make it through (and almost didn't) without the accountability that  you all provided for me.  There wasn't some grand prize for checking in everyday, yet you just kept coming back to remind that you're still here and still plugging away, just like me.  I've received a lot of helpful hints that I will continue to be able to use on a daily basis.  Without further ado, here are my numbers for the month of January and February.

January

Weight: 229.6 lb (-8 lb, total of -31.8)

BMI: 33.1 (-1, total of -4.4)

BMR: 2198 kcal (-35, total of  -178)

Fat %: 38.5% (+4.7%, net loss of 3.5%)

Fat Mass: 88.3 lb (+7.9, net loss of 21.7 lbs of man boobs)

Fat Free Muscle: 141.3 lb (- 15.9 lb, net loss of 10.5 lb)

TBW: 104.4 lb (-10.6 lb, net loss of  4.7 lb)

February

Weight: 228 lb (-1.6 lb, total of -33.4)

BMI: 32.7 (-.4, total of -4.8)

BMR: 2173 kcal (-25, total of  -203)

Fat %: 32.4% (-6.1%, net loss of 9.6%)

Fat Mass: 73.8 lb (-14.5, net loss of 36.2 lbs of Ben and Jerry's)

Fat Free Muscle: 154.2 lb (+12.9 lb, net gain of 2.4 lb)

TBW: 112.8 lb (+8.4 lb, net gain of 3.7 lb)

I'm pumped, gang.  I know that I only lost a little over a pound and a half, I legit gained 10 pounds in the time from when I took those January measurements until Valentine's Day.  That isn't a gold-star, I lost 12 pounds in the last two weeks kind of statement.  Just saying that I did see some major changes in my body.  Since the beginning of January, I've lost two pounds in my hips, chest, and waist.  I've lost an inch in my arms, legs, and neck.  I was really worried about the fact that I had lost so much water last month and that maybe I was just starving myself without building muscle, so I added weight lifting to the routine and look what happened!  13 lbs of muscle gain?!  14.5 lbs of fat loss?!  I have a sneaky suspicion that by tomorrow morning, the scale will show me my 225 goal that I was hoping for and that I'll be ready to hit March like a mad man.  

I've had a couple of people ask me today what my secret for this success is.  I think it is six pretty basic principles. 

1. Use more calories than you put into your body.  Honestly, weight loss doesn't get a lot more simple than figuring out calories in/calories out.
2. Limit your white sugars and up your fruits and veggies.  This is one of my 17-day diet staples that can be used even when you are eating carbs.  
3. Have a great support system.  That one is pretty well documented with the over 400! messages in our group page.
4. Forgive yourself.  Everyone has shitty days where they eat a large pizza in their car while driving home or when their Cherry Berry container is so loaded with yogurt and candy that their bill comes to over $10.  It happens.  It is your ability to not dwell on those things and to get back on the horse that makes up long term success.  I fall off the horse all the time, but difference between Jeff now and Jeff a year ago is that I don't come to the conclusion that I just can't ride horses.  Have faith in yourself!
5. Try new things and make the good ones habits.  Molly and I are constantly changing our workout routines and our diet plans because the minute we get bored with something, we lose interest and start to backslide.  I hated lifting weights because I didn't know how, but once I found something I could do, I gained the confidence to keep doing it.  I hated running, but I invested in a great pair of shoes and now I'm on the treadmill twice a week.  The Interwebs literally has thousands of healthy recipes that don't taste like rabbit food, so try a new one every week until you build a nice stable of things you love.
6. Drink water, stupid!  I'm not calling you stupid, but if you've ever sat through a 4th grade science class, you realize just how much of this planet, including your body, is made up of water.  It turns out there aren't any lakes filled with Diet Coke, Starbucks waterfalls, or beer tidal waves (God, I wish that last one existed), so stop taking in all of those empty calories and chemicals and just flush your system.  I'm still a two cup of coffee a day drinker, but I still make sure that I get enough water to keep my vital organs and muscles hydrated.
7. BONUS TIP! Wear vertical lines.  They make your body look longer and leaner and fool people into thinking you're thinner than you are.  According to the incredibly mean clown in the dunk tank at the Sioux Empire Fair in 1994, horizontal stripes make it hard to tell if fat kids are walking or rolling.

Seriously, that's it.  You won't find a guy who has fallen flat on his face with dieting more often than I have.  But I know why being in better shape is important for me, and if you look around at pictures of your friends and family, you should know why it is important to you, too.  I want us all to be able to get together and celebrate on my 80th birthday, but that can't happen when we let inertia win.  

I'd like to thank each and everyone of you for helping me make Fitness February a big success, and I'd like to roll it into March Madness.  If you like the daily check-ins, keep them up.  I can't promise a blog a day, but I'll keep checking in and letting you know how my quest goes.  I know a couple of you write blogs, too, so feel free to post the links in here so we can all share in your journey.  

Let the madness begin!

Jeff

Post 27: I'm No Superman (But I Look Good In Tights)

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it's Superman!  In case any of you don't know that reference, I would strongly encourage you to join the rest of American society and maybe pick up a comic book from time to time.  Superman was America's original superhero, the man of steel who fought for truth and good and, to be completely honest, is kind of boring.  The guy has damn near every single super power, he doesn't have any cool brooding dark history (I mean his planet blew up, but he was a dumb baby then), and he really only has one weakness which is just getting poisoned by a green rock.  That's the main reason Hollywood can't make a good Superman movie anymore.  After seeing Batman brood on the screen with deep character study for three movies, nobody wants to see Clark Kent take off his glasses in a phone booth and be Mr. Perfect with his beaming smile.  

We get it, you're great.

As I've gotten older, one part of Superman's story line (and trust me, it is literally only this one part) has drawn me in and made me feel like I could relate to the Big Blue Boy Scout.  Superman gets his powers from Earth's yellow sun.  Whenever he gets beat down and is nearing the end, he just soaks up some rays and is as good as new, which is incredibly convenient for him but kind of seems like a lazy writer's easy way out of every single jam.  But maybe it wasn't.

You see, I, much like Mr. Kent, also get much of my power from Earth's yellow sun.  You probably do, too.  For as long as I remember, I have suffered from seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.  Having the winter blues is no new concept for most.  As the winter days grow longer and everyone gets more and more stir crazy, they tend to long for those summer days on the lake or the golf course.  Don't get me wrong, I long for those times, too.  But for folks with SAD, it goes beyond just being ready for warmer weather.  Twice a year like clockwork (generally early October/late January into February), my body and mind completely fall into a downward depression cycle.  My digestive system goes haywire, I can't sleep, I can't think straight, I have no energy, and I just want to pull away from the world.  Nothing makes me feel good, and nothing really makes me feel, period.  I literally just shut down.

I've been dancing around this subject in my blog posts for the past month or so, but this winter's sad hit me hard.  I'm not sure if it was any harder than any other year, but when you add all of the extra life stressors that I don't usually have, it seemed to be a little heavier.  Going into my fishing trip, I was down to about 229, but I promptly gained about 10 lbs back in a two week period.  I stopped at Little Caesar's on the way home one night and got a large pizza that I promptly ate it on the way home because I just wanted to feel something, even if it was full and sick.  I had stretches where I really had to talk myself out of bed, and there were a couple of days where I just couldn't.  While others get the flu, I get flu-like symptoms brought on by seasonal depression.  I can't really cope, so I stop trying to and just go into a protective cocoon where I am in survival mode.  That was the reason I stopped posting there for that week stretch, and that was the reason that to get to 225 after being at 229 last month that I had to lose 15 pounds in the past two weeks.  It was the driving force behind needing to drop that class because something had to come off my plate in order for me to pick myself back up.  I pop Vitamin D.  I need to buy a sunlamp, but until I do, I try my best to get out of my basement cubicle and go for a walk where there are windows and direct sunlight.  I make sure that the blinds are open at home so that I can get every single second of the sun's precious rays.  

This is something I've dealt with since at least college (the first time it was officially diagnosed), and it is something that I've learned to ride out when it rears its ugly head.  After having a fairly rough go of it this year, I need to be more proactive with being ready for it when it comes barreling at me during the same two times every year.  Unlike Superman, I'm not infallible.  I don't need to battle a Lex Luthor because I've got the supervillain SAD throwing punches at me. Transforming into the best me isn't as easy as ripping my shirt off, throwing aside my glasses, and running around in my underwear (although I have a story from late January in Vegas a couple of years that sounds awfully similar).  But just like Superman, a little sun goes a long way to making me super.  

Jeff

Post 26: Photographic Evidence

In anticipation of the big results later, I thought I'd go back and find some photographic evidence that change is and has happened.  You might call it a cop out of a blog post, but I call it progress.  Here are the engagement pictures that Molly and I took in late August/September when I realized it was time to make a change.  

Pretty rotund.  Those shirts, which I used to wear almost daily, can currently be used as a parachute shoud I accidentally fall out of an airplane.  Here are some pictures from the holiday season, roughly mid-December-January 1:

I had definitely made progress, but I was far from where I wanted to be.  My face is generally the best indicator of what my weight is, and you'll notice I had no neck in the first set of pictures and a little bit of definition in the second.  Here are the extremely low quality pictures that I took of myself this morning:

I'm going to go out on an unofficial limb and say that I'm down about 25 from those holiday pics, but I guess we'll find out in a couple of hours.  Also, I might need to get in a tanning bed.  Anyway, I thought I'd let you all see what I get to see staring back at me these days.  Also, I just realized from looking at that I didn't put the cap back on my hair cream and it is going to be hard and crusty when I get home.  Win some, lose some, I guess.  

Jeff

Post 25: Good Morning, Fitness Friends!

Happy Day 28!  I don't know about you, but I feel like it flew by.  As of the moment I am typing this character, it is 6:30 am, CST.  I've already got my first workout in (Power 90 lifting, baby), I've got two eggs scrambling in my belly, and I've spent some time reminiscing with Jeff from January 5 .Molly and I both took pictures on Jan. 5 so we'd have some comparison.  They aren't exactly bawdy, but it is me in my boxers, so I'll save you all the early morning shock.  Needless to say, I've seen some ch-ch-ch-changes.  I'll save results for the later posts because I have to jump on the official scale at work, but I like what I see on our home scale.  Anyway, I thought I'd give you all a shout out and remind you to save the celebrations for tomorrow.  We've still got one more day of hard work ahead of us.  Keep those knees and chins high, fitness friends!

Jeff

Post 24: Five More Months!

I can't believe we're exactly five months away from the big day.  I can't really say it feels like it is coming fast because it honestly feels like it is coming along at an appropriate pace, if that makes any sense.  Molly and I started dating on June 23, 2011, but it feels like we've been together forever (in the good way).  We moved in together in April 2012, yet it is hard to remember a time when we didn't live together.  We got engaged last July, yet it feels like we've been planning this wedding for years.  While we still have some major things to get done before July gets here (stupid invitations), I'm really just ready for it to arrive.  The wedding is going to be a blast, but I'm kind of ready for it to be over with so we can start focusing on the rest of our lives.  The house buying project has become a decent diversion, but it serves as a reminder that this isn't 1955 and that we aren't exactly doing things in order.  There's a firm chance that we will be in a new home before the wedding, so the day before the wedding and the day after the wedding are probably going to look pretty similar.  Gone are the days where I carry my new bride across the threshold of our first cohabitation the day after our honeymoon.  The biggest change will be that she'll shed a half dozen letters from her last name.

We've still got some of the "fun" stuff ahead of us, like cake tasting and menu tasting and showers and other high calorie occasions, but we're more or less kind of in a waiting pattern.  I think most brides with five months to go are probably scrambling around putting on finishing touches, but Molly is currently in full on "cool-as-a-cucumber" mode.  She spends her nights looking at houses, not scouring Pinterest for cute decoration ideas.  She's organized and does things far enough in advance (I guess opposites do attract) that she's got us on track without too much more work ahead of us save for the aforementioned stupid invitations.  The one thing that I still have to do is go suit shopping, but I'm not quite to where I want to be in the waist/chest area.  I'm in that 36 pants area, but I really think I can hit 34 by April.  My stomach, chest, and arms are all considerably smaller (I tried putting on a fairly new XXL shirt I bought and wore regularly through the winter, and I'm swimming in it), but I still have moobs and enough of a belly that I wouldn't be happy throwing my hands up now.  My original goal was 215 by April, which I think would be close enough to 200 that my sizes would at least be similar.  I'm still holding myself to that goal, even though it means March Madness is going to have to be pretty mad.  Maybe, just maybe, this FB group will live on question mark?

Here's a Top 10 list of stuff that I specifically think we need to still focus on, written in the order I'm looking forward to it:

1. Menu tasting (I love this place and I love food, so I can't imagine I won't enjoy it)
2. Music selection for the reception (I love that you can more or less make the DJ's playlist on our own personalized wedding site.  Remember to thank me at the end of the night.)
3. Cake tasting (I love cake, just not as much as eating pasta and doing the Bernie)
4. Suit shopping (All the hard work will finally be tangible when I can put on a suit jacket that isn't from a Big and Tall rack)
5. Picking wedding readings (You better believe you'll know it is a half-Jeff wedding when you hear what I find)
6. Creating our placecard holders (Mark my words, I will be missing a finger by the time that arts and crafts project wraps up)
7. Picking wedding hymns (Slightly less excited about this. Currently leaning towards "This Little Light of Mine")
8. Putting together seating charts (I have a feeling this could devolve into throwing darts at a board)
9. Picking out invitations (Stupid invitations)
10.  Addressing invitations (stupid, stupid invitations

Post 23: In Honor Of My Hero(es)

Post 23 couldn't be about anything other than Michael Jordan.  I use the number 23 every single day of my life since it is involved in every password I've ever made in some form.  I've even started talking Molly into using 23 in joint accounts and passwords, although I convinced her to use it because we conveniently started dating on June 23.  If I had my way, I would have three kids and they would be named Michael, Jeffrey, and Jordan (or in the case of three girls, Michaela, Jeffreyina, and Jordan).  My bedroom growing up had red carpet and black furniture.  I had posters, jerseys, cut outs, and Wheaties boxes spread out across the room.  For about a seven year period, I didn't own a pair of shoes that didn't have the Jumpman logo on the side of it.  I can distinctly remember watching WGN to see him play, and I can remember almost every playoff game.  I remember lying on the floor with goosebumps during the great plays and crying when he won his championships.  Judging by the fact that ESPN more or less shut down all other programming for the week leading up to MJ's 50th birthday, I wasn't the only one.

One of the biggest stories surround Jordan turning 50 was his own reluctance to accept the fact that he wouldn't still be the greatest, even at his advanced age.  Jordan built his career on the perception that everyone was out against him, that no one really believe in his talent.  He went out every night to destroy the other team to quiet the voices telling him he wasn't the greatest, even though the rest of the world had more or less given him the title of the Greatest of All Time.  As a young boy, I admired that quality.  I hated losing, and because I had a bit of a self-confidence issue, most of my accomplishments came from an inner drive to prove to the world that I naturally better than other people at certain tasks, even when I wasn't.  I saw his physical gifts as something I could never have, but that didn't mean that I couldn't be a winner just like him and, in the meantime, enjoy watching him defy gravity.

Jordan turning 50 effected me in a way that I wasn't really expecting because I, just like the Great One, can't really accept the fact that my childhood idol hasn't set foot on a professional basketball court in a decade.  I somehow have managed to live in the denial that my dad is almost 60 or that my mom could in any way, shape, or form be over 50 since they don't seem like they've ever aged to me, but the publicity around MJ's birthday kind of popped all of those safety bubbles for me.  My dad is 58.  My mom is 51.  My grandparents are all in their 80's or upper 70's.  I am 31.  My baby sister is 26.  Michael Jeffrey Jordan is 50.

I think because I've been so incredibly lucky to have all four of my grandparents be a major part of my life and to still have all of them around today that I have been able to deny the reality of mortality.  I've lost very close friends and extended family way too early, but my core group of everyday family members hasn't changed since 1981.  My immediate family (including my aunts, uncles, and cousins) has been, for the most part, incredibly healthy, even when some of our lifestyle choices have put that streak to the test (let's not forget I almost weighed 300 lbs a couple of years ago).  I don't get home anywhere near as often as I'd like to, and because of that, I think the aging process has become a little more apparent with some of my relatives.  When you see someone every day, time seems to move slower and changes happen so gradually that you don't always notice them.  When there are two, three, and sometimes four month gaps between visits, those changes are a little more drastic.  I had younger grandparents, and when I think of them today, I still see them as I remember them when I was a child.  I see my grandma Pat laying out in the sun as I splashed around in her backyard swimming pool.  I see my grandma Nita being the caretaker of a constantly going farm family, but never not having time to get her hair done.  I see my grandpa Clyde as the tall, strong man who comes in from hours of climbing around fixing tractors and combines in his shop, covered from head to toe in grease and dirt.  I see my grandpa Wayne as the great outdoorsman who taught me to fish and shoot geese.  The reality today is quite different.  Age has slowed down my personal giants.  The people who never ceased to have the energy to take care of their families, in particular their fantastic grandson, now often need help taking care of themselves.  Michael Jordan turned 50.

As a related side note, my great-uncle Milo (who was always just my uncle, as far as I was concerned) passed away this week, and it was again a reminder that every great story (and his really was a great one) has to have an end.  The people we love eventually have to leave us, and the best we can hope for is that the love they gave can be passed on through us to the next generation.  I loved my Uncle Milo and have many great memories (most involve drinking pop out of glass bottles from the machine in his sports store).  His wife, my Aunt Peggy, was sometimes as much of a third grandmother as a great-aunt, and I hope that she knows how much she and Milo are loved and respected.

I know I get a little sentimental sometimes, but I can't fight my nature.  I love my grandparents, my parents, my sister, Molly, and the rest of my family and friends, and sometimes it is easier for me to say that in words than it is to their faces (a sad quality that I really hope I can grow out of someday).  My quest to be healthy is as much a thank you to all of the time, energy, and love that I've been given during my 31 years, and Milo's life, as much as his death, once again remind me that I need to push myself to get the best out of every day.

Rest in peace, Uncle Milo.

Little Jeffy

Here is Milo's obituary, in case you'd like to see what all you can cram into 81 years.
http://www.feigumfh.com/sitemaker/sites/Feigum1/obit.cgi?user=923358Smith#.US1OWgkXFPw.facebook

Post 22: Et Tu, Hips?

As my fitness levels have increased, I've been incredibly worried about my knees giving out.  I've had issues with my knees since an unfortunate snow football injury during college, and they've never really gotten better.  Since most of my activity involves pounding my knees because I'm a super heavy runner (I need some tips on my form) and because basketball involves jumping, twisting, running, and sudden stops, I basically lay in bed at night thanking God that my knees are just sore enough to make getting in and out of bed difficult, but not so bad that I can't do the activities that I need and love.

In the past week or so, an old friend from even before college started to rear its ugly head.  I have long suffered with ridiculous tightness in my legs, and most of my pain is the result of my hip flexors.  In case you aren't an anatomy and physiology buff, here's what I'm talking about specifically:

These skeletal muscles are responsible for pulling the knee upward.  Due to (or perhaps the cause of) my complete lack of flexibility, these muscles have become tighter and tighter over the years.  There are times where they are so tight and sore that I literally scream out if something touches them and puts any form of pressure.  These hip flexors don't help my knee issue because when they get tight, they tend to pull upwards on my knee, causing things to get even more out of whack.  When they aren't busy pulling my knee up, they have a tendency to pull my hip down and out of where it is supposed to be.  Evidently, this is what they are currently conspiring to do.  Over the past week, my left hip has felt like it is becoming further and further out of the place where it is supposed to be.  There are certain ways that I move my leg that make it feel like there is bone grinding on bone.  I've printed a list of exercises to help with it, but almost all of them involve lunges, something that my weak knees don't really allow me to do.  I think that I probably just need to suck it up and go see a chiropractor, but based on previous experiences, I'm well aware that one visit to the chiropractor usually evolves into needing to come twice a week.  With mortgages on the mind, twice weekly copays aren't really something I'm excited to jump into.  With that said, I've got to do something pretty soon.  Between the knees and the hips, I'm starting to walk with a noticeable limp when I stand up.  Eventually everything kind of stretches into place, but I'm still never really comfortable.  It also doesn't help that I don't have an ass, so I feel like I'm sitting directly on the sore bone.  I come from a long line of people with hip issues (and by long line, I mean my dad), and I'm really hoping that I don't have to get a new knee and hip like he did this past year.  Has anyone else ever had hip issues or hip flexor tightness?  If so, do you have any less knee-stressful stretches or exercises that I could do to loosen up?  Let me know!

Your hippie hipster,

Jeff

Post 21: Two More Days!

It is hard to believe that the month of February has already come to a close.  I'm excited to post my numbers tomorrow mostly because I've stayed off my official scale all month and really have no idea what to expect.  Since we only have today and tomorrow left, I'm putting the call out there to push yourself hard through the finish line.  If you usually work out for 30 minutes, work out today and tomorrow for 35.  If you usually celebrate Wednesdays by having hump day cake and Thursdays by having an "It's Almost Friday!" cookie, grab an apple and a bag of carrots instead.  My plan is my regular food for the day, but to jump on the elliptical tonight during Modern Family even though I'm playing ball at noon.  I'm still amazed at the hard work that all of you have put in.  Some of you are workout fiends, which is awesome and inspiring.  Some of you are just making an effort to be more self-aware, which is every bit as difficult.  I like to think that I fall somewhere in between, where I'm trying so hard to keep my fitness levels up, but am maintaining a basic awareness of my own faults and the strategies I need to get around them.  As you may have noticed, this is Post 21, which means by tomorrow I still have seven more to go in order to fulfill my promise to you.  I'm going to go limber up my fingers so that I don't have any unfortunate typing cramps as I head to Day 28, but I'll get there because you got here.

Jeff

Post 20: Whoomp, There It Is!

When I was growing up, my friends and I were gym rats.  Whether it was outside during the summer or inside all winter long, we never had a basketball off-season.  We were more or less the WNBA players of the South Dakota circuit.  As I mentioned in great detail in a post on the Mondays blog, we all had our specialties.  My specialty was never shooting.  I was the rebound, post-up pass, Johnny hustle guy.  Although I idolized Michael Jordan, my dreams were more geared towards being the white guy at the end of the bench who came in to play defense when the starters needed a rest or to jump up and down waving towels when one of the good players hit the game winner.  The less the other team expected me to contribute, the more deadly I was.  I was more or less a ninja.  Part of this was because I had better players around me, and part of it was that I understood that every team needed the rebound guy as much as they needed the scorer.  Basketball, more than any other game, needs role players, no matter how big or small that role is.  

Well, right about junior high my friends and I had become a pretty well oiled machine. We had been playing together since the 4th grade, and we out chemistry-ed most teams.  One of the highlights of our roundball glory was my friend Ryan's mom, Sherry.  Sherry was best friends with my mom, and she was a loud, charismatic, superfan mom.  She went to every game, screamed louder than anyone else, wore the most Trojan gear, and even had her own special cheers she would do.  One of the best ones was when she would stomp twice on the bleachers every time someone made a shot or a free throw and would yell, "Whoomp, there it is!" at the top of her lungs.  In case you forgot this awesome reference (and even if you remember it), here's a flashback:

Still remarkable. To this day, the "Whoomp, there it is!" chant is a running joke when we all get together.  

Anyway, since I wasn't much of a scorer, I never really felt like I got my fair share of Whoomps.  Flash forward to 2013.  As you all know, I've been playing ball pretty regularly for the past two years.  As you may all also know, it was pretty much my sole source of exercise.  However, the past week I've stepped up my training regimen with cardio and strength training, and I've had a bit of a revelation.  As I've built up my strength and my wind, I suddenly don't half to take half the plays off.  I don't have to cherry pick and decide whether to use my energy on the offensive or defensive side.  I can suddenly shoot accurately from all over the court.  I can make my own offense.  I can get to the hole (not the rim just yet).  In particular, I've developed a nifty play that I affectionately call the Reggie after one of the best step-back shooters of all time and a first class-sonuvabitch, Reggie Miller.  I am literally days away from starting up an informational video series and posting it to the Internet.  It'll probably look something like this:

I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling pretty proud of my new found athletic prowess.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still most certainly not the most talented guy on the floor, but there are times where I show flashes of a younger, stronger, faster 18-year old Jeff who suddenly has the self-confidence of  the older, wiser 31-year old Jeff.  Mix that with the competitive juices that have never stopped pumping (ask Molly, playing Phase 10 with me is never a casual activity), and you've got a complete basketball player that I'm pretty proud of and who is earning his fair share of Whoomps!  As long as my body holds up, you should probably keep an eye out for a Wheaties box near you.

Jeff

Post 19: What Have I Become?!

Today you'll get a series of much shorter, much more direct posts.  We'll start with a habit that has become quite troubling.  It started last week, and I noticed that it peaked yesterday.  I'm not sure if I should call a doctor or if I should immediately drive to the psychiatric hospital to turn myself in.  I'm nervous.  I'm scared.  I...I'm...I'm a fitness nut!  The basketball seemed to be the gateway drug, but with the purchase of my running shoes, I'm starting to branch out into wider activities.  I ran for 20 minutes last Wednesday and then lifted.  I've lifted with Molly three times in the past week.  I lifted Saturday.  I elliptical-ed Sunday.  Without hesitation yesterday, I grabbed my gym bag and headed down to work out even though we didn't have a lunch basketball game.  I ran two miles on the treadmill, then jumped off and lifted and did sit-ups for 15 minutes.  I've checked my temperature a couple of times to make sure I don't have some kind of fever that is making me delirious, but it turns out that I might just enjoy physical activity.  If I can keep this up, I think I might even be able to shave 10 minutes off of my last 5k time (not something I should be particularly proud of since I was pretty bad, but still).  If my body holds up, I think I have a real chance to not just lose a bunch of weight, but to also have a much more fit body when bikini season rolls around.  As I start to look for more and more strenuous ways to push myself, I think March Madness might just live up to its name!

Jeff

Post 18: A Few of My Favorite Things

Since I'm mid-17 Day cycle, I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes that helps me get through the cravings.  I kind of spun it off a stuffed Italian chicken recipe I used to make, but we've come to prefer the new take even more.

Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Breasts

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Reduced Fat grated Parmesan cheese (I keep the shaker handy because I don't know how much I might need)
• 2 egg whites
• 2 wedges of Laughing Cow Blue Cheese
• Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce (I like the spicy, Molly likes the regular)
• Green onions (diced)
• Celery (diced)

First, pre-heat your oven to 450.  Then, I start by trimming the fat from the chicken breasts and pounding them relatively thin.  Once the chicken looks nice and beat up, I dip them in egg white and then place them on a plate covered in the Parmesan Cheese.  Flip them over and add additional cheese until the chicken has a nice light breading on all sides.  Pour Buffalo sauce to cover the bottom of a baking dish, and then place two of the chicken breasts on top of the sauce.  Spread a wedge of the cream cheese on one of the chicken breasts, and then repeat on the second breast.  Sprinkle the diced celery and green onions evenly across the top of the cream cheese.  Take the two remaining chicken breasts and place them on top of the two that are already in the pan to make a "sandwich".  Pour Buffalo sauce on top and spread evenly with a knife/spatula.  Flip the double chicken breasts over and add more sauce to the top if needed.  Place the pan in the oven for 45 minutes.  Boom, pow, whammy!  Healthy, low-carb, breaded stuffed chicken breasts.  Since each serving consists of two breasts, Molly usually cuts hers in half and has lunch the next day.  I'm a fatty who can put down 16 boneless wings, so I tend to eat all of mine.  To each their own.

Low Carb Onion Rings

• Half an onion, sliced into onion ring appropriate size
• Egg whites (I use the leftovers from the chicken)
• Low fat Parmesan cheese (again, same as the chicken)

While the chicken is cooking, take the onion slices and dip them in the egg white.  After they are nice and eggy, put them on the plate with the cheese and coat each one evenly.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, put the coated rings on there, and stick them in the oven when there's about 15 minutes left on the chicken (still at 425) and flip them at the 7 minute mark.  Again, non-fried, almost no carb onion rings.  We like to dip them in no sugar added ketchup, which isn't nearly as awful as it sounds. 

There you have it.  Buffalo chicken, onion rings, a little Crystal Lite Peach Tea, and a Healthy Choice Frozen Greek Yogurt (I could probably write an entire post gushing about my love for this yogurt, but I'll keep it short and sweet: It is creamy, my favorite is strawberry, it has so few calories, and it tastes nothing like yogurt). 

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Jeff

Post 17: Something Had to Give

I had a major life epiphany yesterday.  I officially have too much on my plate.  As we've gotten closer and closer to the wedding, we've started to find more and more "little" projects.  We're focusing in on things like wedding programs, songs, table markers, invitations...things that I actually enjoy doing and that allow Molly and me to flex our combined creative powers.  The average guy probably doesn't get excited because he found the perfect box for cards at World Market or because he drove to six different places before he found the perfect wine corks for an arts and crafts project.  This is our "cost savings" part of the wedding where we get to put a little bit of ourselves into pieces of the wedding instead of outsourcing.  As previously mentioned, we've also officially put ourselves in the housing market rat race.  By the end of today, we will have met with two mortgage providers, gone to five open houses, and went on seven viewings with our real estate agent, all within the past 7 days.  We've also spent multiple hours looking over real estate websites and constantly watching for new MLS postings because we've already learned that great houses that are priced right generally last about a day on the market.  One might say we are incredibly motivated buyers.  Also, you may or may not have known this, but I'm spending a tremendous amount of time and energy focused on losing weight before the wedding.  I know it sounds stupid because most people don't have to put much thought behind it, but I would say that in the average day where I'm making smart decisions, I'm thinking about said decisions 10 of the 15 hours I'm awake.  If I don't and start letting my mind wander to one of the 1000 other things I need to do, I generally wake up on a street corner with pizza grease in my beard and two Dairy Queen Blizzard cups on my feet like shoes.  It isn't pretty.  Add on top of that general work stuff (I do still check in at the office 40 hours a week), and my time is pretty well toast.  Unfortunately, I also have another commitment in my life that has been neglected, and it has become the easiest one to give up.  I've officially decided that I can't be a grad student on top of everything else right now.  It isn't that he work is hard, it's just that it requires time, something that I just don't have a lot of laying around the apartment right now.  I hate being a quitter, but I've seen what happens when I don't recognize oncoming train wrecks.  Since I make my bones telling students to evaluate their lives and prioritize, it was time I took my own advice.  I still plan on jumping back into it next fall, but until wedding/house buying/work/weight loss require less of my life, I'm waving the white flag and focusing my efforts in more important places. 

Speaking of life commitments, I'm wrapping it up here so I can go cut wine corks, shower before my day of real estate-ing, and jump on the elliptical for twenty minutes so I can fit in a suit for my wedding.  Wish me luck.

Jeff

Post 16: The March to March

Hard to believe, but we only have six more days until Fitness February comes to an end and March Madness begins.  I've spent the better part of February stalled out.  I didn't really gain, but I most certainly didn't lose.  I'm still patting myself on the back because I made enough good decisions to counter the really bad ones I made, and ultimately I'm sitting in the final week with a legit shot at hitting my Feburary goal of 225.  I'm not going to give you a hard number today because my scale at home and my official scale at work vary pretty drastically, but after hovering around the same number on my home scale for the past two weeks, I've dropped about 7 lbs since Tuesday.  It never ceases to amaze me just how much weight my body sheds when I don't drink any calories (I haven't this week), when i eat my fruits and veggies (I have), when I cut out the grease (check), and when I put some effort into working out (I played basketball four days this week, brought running shoes with me to Cambridge for some quality treadmill time on Wednesday, and got up to lift with Molly and Power 90 Anthony twice).  I'm thinking tomorrow will be a day of rest since my body, which feels and looks slimmer, is feeling tired and sore.  Still, even with a day off, I think I'm in a really good spot to make a hard sprint to the end of February and to my goal, which will put me into a great position for the kick to the wedding and put me at a weight that is less than I've seen since 2001. 

Since I'm not working my body tomorrow, I'll plan on working my brain tomorrow and pumping out three blog posts.  I promised 28 and I'm running out of time, so just like my quest to push the scale, it is time to push the blog! 

Six more days...push hard, gang!

Jeff

Post 15: House Hunters

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Molly and I have officially become house hunters.  I use the word officially because she's been chomping at the bit for about six months now.  When she isn't looking at Pinterest for wedding ideas, she's on 15 different realty sites trying to find houses.  In fact, I would even say that she has spent more time looking at houses than she has looking at wedding stuff.  She's a lunatic (just kidding, baby!).  Because we really didn't know where to start, we scheduled a meeting back in September or October with a financial planner who comes and talks with the vets at our school.  Dominic advised us on some helpful tips for saving money and making sure that our credit was as high as it possibly could be before we really got serious in the buying process.  Since then, we've been squirreling away money and closing out old accounts that were just collecting dust.  We started checking out the occasional open house and zeroing in on what burbs we might want to consider home.

The hardest part of the whole process for me (I won't speak for Molly, but I'm guessing she would concur) is matching expectations with reality.  For very good reasons including family and job location, Molly would like to stay in the greater southwest Minneapolis suburban areas, including Richfield, Bloomington, Edina, Eden Prairie, etc.  Unfortunately, houses in that area are either ridiculously expensive, 100 years old, or both.  Growing up in South Dakota, $200,000 could usually buy you the biggest house in any town.  Living in Edina, $200,000 can buy you the size equivalent of a studio apartment with 80 year old carpet and wood paneling.  I hate wood paneling.  I know that the northern suburbs provide so much more house for the money, but I also know how important it is for us to be closer to where we are now.  For instance, if we lived in Coon Rapids and Molly had to make the same drive I do everyday but in the opposite direction, it would take her at least twice as long as it takes me because of the flow (or complete lack thereof) of traffic.  While more house is enticing, seeing an hour less of Molly every day isn't.

So, we settled on a geographic location and decided to work with an old neighbor of Molly's as our real estate agent.  We met with him on Monday after we met again with our finance expert and had some real numbers in our head for what is possible.  Steve, our agent, was super nice and super excited to help us out (as he should be since we're paying a part (albeit a very small part) of his salary).  He's been sending us out every new house that hits the market, and tonight we lose our home shopping virginity because we're officially touring three houses in Bloomington as real deal home buyers.  We also started shopping around with another mortgage lender, and I think we might be able to handle a little more than what we initially were told (don't worry, I've run the numbers about 1,000 times to make sure we're not going to end up spray painting "THEY TOOK OUR HOUSE" on the garage door after we get foreclosed on).  That would be HUGE because the difference that $10,000 extra makes on the type of place we make our first home is remarkable.

One thing I get a little bit nervous about is that besides being on real estate sites all the time, Molly rarely doesn't have our TV turned to HGTV.  I've seen enough Property Virgins, Property Brothers, Kitchen Crashers, and every other stupid show that I'm starting to think that I might be capable of doing work myself and improving the value of our home over coming years.  We see houses in our price range and I say things like, "Oh, we could totally redo that kitchen for $2,000 and add $10,000 in equity to our home," or "Wood paneling is so easy to tear down and replace with sheet rock!"  I have to shake this mindset because I am incredibly deficient in all areas of handiness.  I have the brain for it, but my manual dexterity is lacking considerably.

Anyway, house shopping has now become the official past time of the Pool/Szarzynski household.

(Completely unrelated side note that I thought of as I was typing that out...I CANNOT wait until I can type Molly Pool.  Having grown up with one of the shortest possible name combinations that features a first, middle, and last name with less than four letters each and that all feature double letters (Jeff Lee Pool), the consonant laden, end of the alphabet mess that is Molly's last name presents a challenge every time I have to write it or type it.  Five more months...okay, end of tangent).

I'll try to keep updating everyone on how the process is going, and maybe even post some pictures of places we like and of all the wood paneling we see.  Heck, I might even start a spin-off blog called Wood Paneling in The Upper Midwest with Jeff "The Handyman" Pool and feature the best of the worst that we encounter.  Wish us luck!

Jeff

Post 14: What 200 Calories Looks Like

I stumbled across a post on Facebook that showed exactly what 200 calories of different kinds of food really looks like.  I thought I'd share it here with some thoughts and see how aware the group is of what's going into your body.  Keep in mind that this is a straight calorie count, so it doesn't take into account how much fat or carbs are in each dish.  Also, for your information, 1 lb = 453.6 grams.  So, without further ado, here is a 200 calorie serving of:

Apples (385 grams)

Avocado (125 grams)

Bacon (34 grams)

Sesame Seed Bagel (70 grams)

Flax Bread (90 grams)

Butter (28 grams)

Baby Carrots (570 grams)


Celery (1425 grams)


Medium Cheddar Cheese (51 grams)


Coke (496 ml)


Cheeseburger (75 grams)


Glazed Donut (52 grams)


Doritos (41 grams)


Eggs (150 grams)


French Fries (73 grams)


Gummy Bears (51 grams)


 Honeydew (553 grams)


Hot Dog (66 grams)


Ketchup (226 grams)


Hershey Kisses (36 grams)


Whole Milk (333 ml)


M&M's (40 grams)


Uncooked Pasta (56 grams)


Peanut Butter (34 grams)


Splenda (50 grams)


Sliced Smoked Turkey (204 grams)

I really think it helps to be able to visualize how many calories are in common foods people eat.  That plate of french fries looks great, but when you picture it with two halves of a cheeseburger, ketchup, and a large Coke, you're looking at 1,000 calories (not to mention a ridiculous amount of fat).  The really shocking ones for me are the butter, the cheese, and the peanut butter.  I know for a fact that I use at least that much peanut butter (who am I kidding, I probably use at least twice that much) when I'm making a sandwich.  Both Molly and I are super guilty of throwing cheese on everything, and I think because it is shredded we somehow trick our brains into thinking we can use a little bit more.  That small little cube of cheddar is probably half of what we use in a given day.  I can't remember the last baking recipe I made that used only that much butter.  It also makes me realize just how few calories I take in when I'm doing my current diet, and how I need to stop feeling guilty about some of my choices.  I try to maintain between 1,500-1,800 calories a day, but my two eggs, a half bag of baby carrots, an orange, and an apple (I, of course, eat a full supper, but that's rarely over a 500 calorie meal) leave me more than enough wiggle room during the day to throw in a handful of shaved turkey and 3 lbs of celery.  What do you guys think?  Are there any items that surprised you?  How mindful of calorie counting are you in your given day?  

- Jeff

Post 13: Check In

Hey gang!  I know I'm more than a few posts behind, but expect some two-a-days over the next week or so in an effort to get caught back up.  So much stuff has happened in the last week!  Here are some of the highlights:

• Last week the diet kind of went to crap.  This happens every single time with the 17-Day Diet.  We successfully (usually very successfully) complete the first 17 days, jump into the second 17 and add the extra foods, realize we probably need to go back to the first 17 again, don't plan accordingly and end up eating foods we shouldn't, and then just falling back into really bad habits.  So, knowing that this happens, we just gave ourselves a couple of days to get it out of the system and have started it back up again.  It is amazing how much more energy I have towards it because I was able to have a couple days of break.  Plus, there was no shortage of unhealthy options in my face since it was Valentine's Day.  Speaking of which...
• Molly and I had a terrific Valentine's Day date night.  We decided multiple months ago that we would go to The Book Of Mormon as our gift to each other, so it made planning pretty easy.  We started with a couple of drinks at The Bulldog downtown (great bar) and made our way over to The Orpheum.  I could write an entire post on great the play was, and I think I will.  Needless to say, we had a great time.  Standing downtown with all the big city buildings reminded me of why I moved to Minneapolis, and looking at the beautiful girl holding onto my arm reminded me of why I stay.  
• Even though my food choices probably weren't always the smartest, I kept up the workout routine.  The highlight was when five cocky kids decided to challenge us fat old farts to game of full-court 5-on-5, evidently not realizing that we play up-and-down basketball every day together.  We crushed them the first two games, but our gas ran a little low in the last one and we let them escape with a mercy win.  
• Molly dug out my Power 90 workout videos to try to add some variety to her 30 Day Shred.  I decided I would be supportive and jump in on Saturday.  It was fun, but I feel awful for our downstairs neighbor who has to hear us jumping up and down.  She's decided that she's going to try for the full 90 days, and I'm going to jump in on the every-other day strength training and ab workouts.  Not to knock the cardio part, but I know that my heart rate gets way higher playing basketball.  We'll see how it goes.
• All of this is becoming increasingly difficult as my knees have finally decided that they aren't at the same commitment level as the rest of my body.  I popped my hip out last week, which effected the way I stood, walked, and ran.  Yesterday I went to get out of the car and my knee could no longer support my weight.  I had to one foot hop my way to our apartment (a workout in its own right) and up the stairs.  I threw some ice on it and popped a few Advil.  After about 20 minutes, I was able to stand on it again and bend it, but it still feels really, really bad.  With that said, I brought workout clothes to Cambridge and am planning on spending my lunch break on the treadmill.
• Speaking of treadmills, I took Kacey's advice and went to her running store to get fitted for real-life, honest to goodness running shoes.  If I'm going to run a 5k (and I am), I have to take better care of my body.  I spent more on the shoes than I've spent on probably my last three pairs combined, but I know the long term benefits will be worth every penny.
• Molly and I had a great 3-day weekend that was capped by a visit with a mortgage lender and a real estate agent.  After months of looking at realty websites, we're finally starting to set foot in our possible first homes.  We have our first showings tomorrow.  It is an exciting and scary process, but after sharing laundry facilities and kitchen smells with neighbors for a decade, I am so incredibly ready to have a place that is our own.  

I think those are some of the big things, although it feels like more happened in the last week than has happened in the last two months.  I apologize for disappearing, but I promise you'll get your 28 posts by February 28, come heck or high water.  I've been following everyone's progress, and you are all doing so great.  It is hard to believe that we're already to Day 20!  Let's all kick strong have a real reason to celebrate when next Thursday arrives!  

Keep tuned for today's Post 2!

Jeff

Day 12: Real Motivation

I'm taking a major cop out on the Day 12 post and putting in a video.  On January 6, I heard Lt. Col. Mark Weber on the KFAN morning show.  Lt. Col. Weber is a decorated soldier who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  The man was inspirational, funny, and moving, and his story left an imprint on me.  Lt. Col. Weber was on the Power Trip show again this morning, and again I found myself laughing through tears and really taking a hard look at my attitude toward life.  If you'd like to hear his original interview, it is Podcast-able (again, Monday, January 6th Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN).  Today's interview can be heard at: 

http://www.kfan.com/pages/psn_powertrip.html?article=10807910

Mark's personal website with information about finding his book is here (based on hearing him tell his own story on the radio, I think I'm going to invest in his audiobook so I can hear his story in his own voice):

www.tellmysons.com

And finally, here's a video of him giving one of his motivational speeches about living with purpose.  I know it is a half hour long, but I think it is worth a view.

In case I haven't told you, I really appreciate each and everyone of you joining me on the quest to make our lives a little more enjoyable.  I had my first person outside the group ask me today how he could get involved, and I was pretty touched.  Let's keep living with purpose together.

- Jeff

Day 11: The Sports Scene

Throughout my formative years, I grew up in a gym, at softball complexes, and on golf courses.  In fact, our family was generally participating/coaching/spectating some sports activity roughly 362 days a year, and my mom was probably nice enough to go open the gym for me and my dipshit friends on the other three days. I like to think that all of this experience grants me a certain level of expertise in the world of sports.  Although I didn't grow up in a major sports city, Sioux Falls had its share of semi-pro experiences with the Canaries (baseball), Skyforce (basketball), Stampede (hockey), and Storm (arena football), and one of my lifelong dreams was to be a season ticket holder for one of their seasons.  Unfortunately, spending five years in Iowa limited my access to these opportunities.  One of the big draws to moving to Minneapolis (okay, there were about a thousand big draws (by the way, I know a lot of the people that read this blog are friends from Iowa...loved my time there, wasn't always the best fit for me)) was that I could attend Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, and Vikings games without having to invest in a hotel room for the night.  Although the price of attendance limited my ability to go all the time, my general proximity and incredible networking luck have provided me with ample chances to take in games since I've been up here.

One of the great things about Molly is that she'll gladly tag along with me to games, even when it isn't probably the most interesting thing in the world to her.  Our first year of dating including the Minnesota Sports Quadfecta with a Gopher football game thrown in for good measure.  She knows how much I love attending live events, and she knows how much I can't wait to share those experiences with our kids someday.  So, in the name of wishful thinking, here's the order of Minnesota sports season tickets that I would love to someday spend my lottery winnings on.

4.  Timberwolves
It is fairly well established that I love basketball.  If I could, I would watch/play basketball all day.  It is a great team sport with constant movement and unique skill sets at each position that sets itself apart from all of the other sports.  My greatest sports heroes are all from the NBA, and I can still name you more NBA players (past and present) than any other sport.  So, why then would the Timberwolves be so low on my list of season ticket dreams?  Mostly because this isn't 1998 and Michael Jordan ain't walking through that door.  I think I've probably attended half a dozen T-Wolves games in my life, and admittedly, it wasn't during their Big 3 seasons of the mid-2000's when they actually won games.  The games I've attended have varied greatly in attendance numbers, but it never seems to matter.  For a game that features so many exciting plays and that constantly moves, the crowds are awful.  The rare exception was last year when I caught a close game, but even then people sat on their hands until the final two minutes.  The NBA is notorious for seeming like its players don't care until the playoffs, and that feeling is escalated when sitting in the Target Center.  Everyone seems slower.  The play is plodding.  If there isn't a real superstar visiting from another team, everyone just seems kind of disinterested.  There are non-stop timeouts for both the teams and the television.  I still love basketball and I still love the Timberwolves, but the overall live product just isn't there for me.

3.  Vikings
The NFL is my (and most of America's) favorite sport to watch on television.  There are only 16 games per season unless your team makes something called the "playoffs".  As a Vikings fan, I usually am only treated to those original 16 games.  The NFL is made even more exciting because of fantasy football, which makes almost every average Joe an expert on every player's statistics and abilities.  Vikings fans are passionate, frustrated, forgiving, and fun to be around.  Pound for pound, the Vikings offer the best pre-game experience.  I love walking around the plaza, proudly wearing my AP jersey and yukking it up with the rest of the purple clad yokels.  Inside the Metrodome, there's a constant buzz and energy, even when the team is kind of awful.  I think if I had to pick one team to keep around at the expense of the other three, I would probably vote to save the Vikings.  Unfortunately, the commercialism of the NFL kills the live experience for me.  You never realize just how long an NFL game is until you have to sit in an arena and watch the players just stand around because there is a commercial.  All of the excitement happens in bursts (and those bursts are better than any other sport), but there's so much down time between plays and between possessions that it can get to be a bit of a fan marathon.  Also, as much as I love the buzz inside the Metrodome, the concession/bathroom areas are the absolute worst.  Maybe my beloved Vikes will slide up a couple spots once the new stadium gets built, but until then, I'd rather spend my Sundays on my couch at home.

2.  Twins
Of all the Minnesota sports teams, I've got the longest relationship with the Twins.  I remember how big of moments those 1987 and 1991 World Series teams provided to my formative sports fandom years.  The only athlete that has come even close to the level of esteem that I held for the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all-time) Michael Jordan was Kirby Puckett.  As a kid, the yearly summer trip to the Dome to watch the Twins and to swim at the Thunderbird Hotel's pool was always a highlight.  To this day, there's a certain childhood giddiness that I have whenever I drive past the Dome (memories) or Target Field (Minny and Paul shaking hands).  Target Field magnified my love of the Twins by about tenfold.  I've been to day and night games, both rain and shine, and I've loved every minute of every one of them.  The field is so green, the scoreboards so big and bright, and yet there's some level of intimacy with the game that you don't get with the other sports.  You get the feeling that everyone in the stands thinks that the Twins are their team and that Target Field is their home, even when the product on the field is awful (which is pretty regularly these days).  Who knows how long the sheen of Target Field will outweigh the poo-poo platter that takes the field, but I'm not sure that I'll ever get tired of sitting under the summer sky with a cold Summit in my hand watching Joe Mauer hit for average.

3.  Wild
I grew up in South Dakota where we had one kid in our class who played hockey, and we all made fun of him religiously because of it.  This wasn't Minnesota where every kid comes out of the womb with a pair of skates on (that actually sounds pretty painful).  We were the land of 10 Lakes, and everyone played sports that involved flat shoes on solid ground.  My first taste of live hockey came when the Stampede came to Sioux Falls.  Even though I had no idea what the rules of hockey were, I figured it was a live sports experience and went in with an open mind.  By the end of the third period, I was hooked.  The crowd was pumped the whole time, the action on the ice rarely stopped, and there were loud gasps and cheers with every shot on goal.  I decided that maybe I'd get into hockey, so I tried watching some NHL games my senior year of high school.  I was amazed at how bored out of my mind I was.  It seemed slower, it seemed like the game was constantly stopping for commercials, and without the benefit of seeing the whole ice all the time, I didn't feel like I had any idea what was going on.  Fast forward a couple of years to when I went to my first Wild game with my buddy, Jared.  He split season tickets with some of his family, and they were by no means spectacularly located.  I had kind of given up on hockey, so my expectations were pretty low.  This was just a random regular season game, and I fully anticipated the NBA experience of guys not really giving a crap about what was going on.  Boy, was I wrong.  The crowd was totally into it, the players played like it was a playoff game, and I found myself screaming at things I didn't even really know about.  It was like my first Stampede game all over again.  I've since gone to two more games, and the experience has always been the same.  If anything, I'd say the Wild are the reverse Vikings.  The games are so much faster paced in person and way more exciting than on television.

Well, there you have it.  If you are thinking about getting me season tickets as a wedding gift, I've now provided you with my gift registry.  Don't get me wrong, I will never turn down tickets to any live sport, regardless of how crappy and boring it might be.  Still, I hope someday that my fortunes take me out to the ballgame and that I just so happen to get to wear my Cal Clutterbuck jersey in the process.

Let's! Play! Something!

Jeff

Day 10: Baby Steps Backwards

I fully intended on writing a running Grammy diary for the night, but I ended up not getting sat down in time to do it.  If you read my favorite music of the year column, you'll know how pumped I've been that almost all of my favorite artists from 2012 sang live tonight (heck, at one point we had Brittany from Alabama Shakes, Mumford and Sons, and Zac Brown on stage at the same time).  Also, Bruno Mars sang with Sting, which just cements my theory that "Locked Out of Heaven" was at one time meant to be a Police song. 

Anyway, since I didn't get to do a fun (the mood, not the band) column, I decided to pump out an update column.  On Friday, I wrote how jazzed I was for week 2 and how I had big plans for what I intended to do.  Somewhere between posting that and 10 pm on Sunday, I've managed to misplace some of my personal strength.  This makes two straight weekends where I kind of fell apart.  I gave into my pizza temptation (twice).  I ate stadium food.  I drank beer.  I basically didn't move except to get up from my seat at the Wild game to go get a giant pretzel and another beer.  The worst part is knowing that I didn't really have anything going on this weekend that required me to be put into situations where good intentions were ruined by poor options.  With the exception of the Wild game, I literally had no plans and didn't leave the apartment.  My best man, who attended the game with me, even offered to go to Subway before the game so that I didn't have to eat at the game, but I turned him down so I could eat Mr. B's pulled pork.  I didn't get on the elliptical, I didn't cook at home (unless you count the Papa Murphy's pizza I popped into the oven), and I basically kind of didn't care.  I'm going to write a column at some point this week if I work up the nerve to explain some of it, but for now let's just say I was being lazy.  I have great intentions, and I swear I hit it hard during the week.  It just seems like the weekdays are spent undoing what I'm doing on the weekends.  I guess the best I can do is to continue to be aware, not get TOO crazy on the weekends, and work even harder Monday-Friday to hit my 225 February goal.  I think the reality of just how close July is will hit soon, and that should definitely light the fuse under my not-currently-shrinking ass.  I'm just hoping that firework starts popping sooner rather than later because I need to seem some scale movement.

Monday, here I come...

Jeff

Day 9: 5k Help

I'm excited (?) about the 5k that my Minneapolis peeps have decided to run, and judging by the way I was huffing and puffing running to our car after the Wild game, it might be time to hit the treadmill.  In the past, I've just jumped on the treadmill and went as hard as I could.  My brain seems to think that I can run three straight miles without any real issue, but my body quickly disagrees.  One of my biggest issues (besides that I have the lung capacity of a newborn) is that I get shin splints really quickly, and it eventually leads to my feet falling asleep.  That's right, I'm so out of shape that my feet just fall asleep while I'm running.  This can't be natural and it can't be something that happens to everyone else.  What are you running nuts doing that I'm not?  I often wonder if I don't have the right shoes.  I have a tendency to go to shoe stores, try on about twenty pairs, and then walk out with whatever was the second cheapest pair on the clearance rack (I can never get the cheapest because I just care too much about my workouts, dammit).  So, where should I start with shoe purchases?  Is there one brand better than the next?  What's a good workout plan that will help me build some endurance?  Should be running at faster speeds or higher inclines?  I absolutely suck at stretching, so what do you recommend that I do to keep my legs from feeling like someone is whacking my shins with flaming baseball bats?

It is no great secret that I hate running, so if I'm going to feign excitement and buck up to run a 5k, I'm going to need some help getting ready for it.  Let me hear you, team!

Jeff

Day 8: One Week Down!

Congratulations, team!  We managed to survive our first week of the challenge.  I'm incredibly happy with the participation we've had, and I like seeing that some of my friends from different walks of life are helping one another out.  I'm sure you're all starting to get a feel for the regulars, so maybe this week is a good time to branch out and introduce yourself to the group.  Let us all know why you decided to take on the challenge, how you're feeling after week 1, and what you want to accomplish in week 2.  I spent the bulk of Week 1 losing what I had gained over the past weekend, but I'm feeling pretty pumped for Week 2.  I've decided that my goal for week 2 is to make it all five days working out twice a day.  I know I said that last week and kind of sucked this week, but my schedule wasn't workout friendly (cough, cough, excuse).  Next week I have no excuses.  I've started focusing on the diet again, so it is time to kick it into gear for a real deal week of weight loss.  225, here I come!  

I'm keeping this post pretty short because I'm going to do some exercise in mental stability tonight.  Molly is out on the town, so I've got some beers, some warm food for my belly, and a night of video game filled Jeff time.  Sometimes the best way to feel like you're 18 again is to live like you're 18 again (even though I probably wasn't drinking at 18).  Anyway, I've got a night filled with Batman ahead of me, so I'm check out early.  I hope you all enjoyed your first week, and I hope we all keep the great momentum rolling. 

See you tomorrow!

Jeff

Day 7: The Brewer's Lament

About a month ago I decided that I needed to find a hobby to help fill all the time gap left from not being able to eat carbs or drink beer.  My solution?  Brew my own beer!  I decided to go the Mr. Beer kit method, so I bought two kits and got to work.  Since moving to the TC, I've become a little bit of a beer snob.  Gone are the days where an American light beer met my basic requirements (I knew I was in trouble when I bought a case of the official beer of central South Dakota (Busch Light) for a fishing trip in September and still have 19 of them leftover).  The lightest beer I can drink is Summit, and even that is an EPA.  My snobbery started last Christmas when Molly took me on a tour of the Summit Brewery in St. Paul as the coolest gift possible.  After touring the facility, learning about hops, and sampling their finest offerings, I decided I could never go back to flavored water.  From there, it just got work.  I discovered Surly, another Minnesota beer, and my addiction to hops was even more cemented.  My friend Tim, a beer connoisseur in his own right and fellow home brewmaster, came to visit last spring and he, Molly, and I went to a beer tasting where multiple local brewers showed me everything I have been missing in the world of beer.  I started tasting the subtle differences in beers, being able to pull out the different ingredients, and learning to appreciate the differences between the stoutest stouts and aliest ales.  The more bitter the better.  I've gone to a few more tasting events since then, and I keep going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.  I do my best to pick up a different six pack whenever I make the trip to the liquor store in an effort to taste all that the world of beer has to offer.  Don't worry, I'm not an alcoholic.  I've just become a true lover of all things beer.

Anyway, back to the brewing.  Three weekends ago I whipped up two batches of my own brew (or as close to my own brew can be based on using only prepackaged ingredients); an American Light style beer for Molly and an American pale ale (think Sam Adams) for me.  I decided to not stray too far into the fancy recipes until I knew for sure I could make palatable brew with the most basic ingredients.  I was so nervous that I read and reread and rereread the instructions and message boards until I was 100% confident I wasn't going to mess things up.  Although my hands were shaking most of the time, I managed to mix the ingredients per the instructions and cleared a shelf in the bookcase in our extra bedroom.  The beer has to ferment at a very specific temperature and that room seems to be pretty temperature controlled.  Because the wort has to be away from direct light, I draped a towel over the whole setup and let the yeast work its magic.

 Welcome to my brewery

Mr. Beer touts that you'll be ready to bottle and brew your beer in just two weeks, but I quickly found on the message boards that the two week estimate is about two weeks short.  I decided that tonight was going to be the night that I bottled and started the carbonation process, so I pulled a little sample for a taste and alcohol by volume check.  The AVC is pretty close, but after waiting patiently for over three weeks, I still don't think it is quite ready to enter the next step.  The key to knowing when it is ready is that it needs to taste like flat beer without sweetness (unless that's what you're going for), and both still have a little bit of sweet mixed in there.

You have no idea how hard it is to be patient and just leave it alone.  I've decided to give it three more days, and then I'm going to force the issue, regardless of how ready it is.  After I bottle it, it needs to sit in the bottles at room temp for another 3-4 weeks before I put it in the refrigerator for 2 more weeks.  That means that I've still got a month and a half to wait until I can crack open my first bottle and taste something that was made by my own hands.  I have a feeling that my personal brew won't have half the quality I've found during my exploratory trips to the liquor store, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it will be twice as satisfying.  Until then, the wait continues...

I'm still trying to decide a name for my home brewery.  From there, I'll try to name each individual batch.  Throw some ideas at me, team.  The one that tickles my fancy the most wins a bottle of the inaugural batch (for better or worse). 

Brewmaster Pool

Day 6: The Pizza Problem

One of the hardest things for me to give up when I'm trying to lose weight is pizza.  I'm a pizza-holic, plain and simple.  The average person's response would be, "Even when you're dieting, you can still enjoy things you like.  Just remember, everything in moderation!"  I've always been above average, so said logic just doesn't cut it for me.  As I've mentioned many times before, I can easily eat a large pizza without assistance of a friend.  In fact, if a friend happens to be anywhere near the pizza, we need to go ahead and order/cook a second pizza.  I am an addict and the good Papas John and Murphy are my dealers.  With the carb restrictions imposed by the 17 Day Diet, daddy can't get his fix right now.  I've been on the hunt for a solution to help curve my constant craving (I may have had a bit of a relapse this weekend while we were ice fishing...a couple of times), and I know that if I don't find a healthy alternative to Domino's, I'm never going to beat this thing.  I ordered some 17 DD cookbooks that had over 1,000 recipes in them, including three different "pizza" recipes.  I have limitations on how far I'm able to go in trying to trick my brain into believing something is what it isn't (for instance, blended cauliflower can taste like mashed potatoes, but Greek yogurt is not a Blizzard).  Tonight I decided to bust out a spinach crust that consisted of chopped frozen spinach that was thawed out and patted dry, spinach, salt, oregano, basil, egg whites, and Parmesan cheese.  I mixed it all together and evenly distributed it into a cookie pan.  From the look of what was going into the oven, this was headed towards disaster.  After about 15 minutes in the oven, I pulled it out and was pleasantly surprised and how it had kind of pulled together to form a solid substance.  I flipped it over (which was easier than I thought it would be) and stuck it back in the oven for a couple of minutes to make sure there wasn't any mush left in it.  In the meantime, I cooked up some Italian style chicken sausage links, one of my favorite grocery store finds.  I pulled the spinach crust out, put a little no-sugar added marinara on it, and added a little turkey pepperoni, low fat mozeralla, and the cut up chicken sausage on top.  I popped it back in the oven for about five minutes to melt the cheese and to get the flavors melted together.  When I pulled it out, I was surprised to find what looked like pizza.  The question remained...would it taste like pizza?  Ladies and gentlemen, I am hear to tell you that...no, no it doesn't.  Don't be ridiculous!  Nothing tastes like the delicious ooey-gooey greasiness of pizza.  BUT!  But this was about as close as I think I'm going to get on a low to no carb diet, and I think I'm okay with that.  The toppings are the same toppings I would use on a regular pizza, and the crust held together pretty well.  It still has a spinach taste to it (why wouldn't spinach taste like spinach) and the texture was more egg souffle than doughy crust, but it wasn't any worse than a spinach flavored tortilla wrap and I kind of like egg souffle.  I still want to try some of the other recipes for crust as the cravings come back around, but I'm giving spinach pizza crust a solid passing grade.

What are the cravings that cripple you when you're trying to cut calories/fat/carbs?  How do you get over those cravings?  Do you have any handy alternatives that you use when you just can't shake the need for your favorite unhealthy foods?  As always, I love your feedback and tips!

See you tomorrow!

Jeff

Day 5: Wedding Music

We had our meeting with the musical director at the church tonight.  When I heard we were meeting with a musical David Clarke, I immediately hoped it was the famous British drummer who brought the world some pretty groovy rock hits back in the 60's with four of his good friends (and that he had added an "e" to the end of his name to avoid his throngs of middle aged fans).  Alas, it was not the same Dave Clark, but instead a man who was every bit as interesting and probably ten times as kind.  We discussed our plans for the prelude, processional, ceremony, and recessional.  We've got the church organist at our disposal for the "traditional" wedding music, but I also want to make it something unique and personal that means something to Molly and me.  I've got one of my best childhood friends and his fast fingers ready on the guitar, but now the quest is on to find the right music that Dan can bring to life.  We have a little bit of freedom with our procession and recessional music, and I think I've got some great ideas.  What I'm looking for from the group are some suggestions for a song/hymn to use during the ceremony.  David suggested we do one sing-a-long hymn (evidently Lutherans expect group participation and not just a captive audience during the service (something new every day)) and then pick a song for the unity candle/whatever with the caveat that if the song has lyrics, they have to be related to the gospel.  This, my friends, is NOT my area of expertise.  I'm going to Google "non-churchy church songs" because I really do want to find a song that meets both David's requirement but that still has meaning to us.  To help jump start the process, I'd greatly appreciate some suggestions of hymns and/or songs that you've heard at weddings that you think might tickle my fancy.  Feel free to throw them in the comments below or as a reply to the FB post.  We'll consider this an exercise in wellness for the soul and the ears.  I'm looking forward to hearing what you've got to offer!

Jeff