The Quest To Being Healthy Begins Anew

As I've mentioned in a few posts, I've tried to diet unsuccessfully since I moved out of the house back in May of last year. I lacked the proper motivation... apparently... until now.

I was given a huge motivational push and perhaps a sign from God on this past Saturday afternoon regarding my overall health, my weight and lack of losing it. Some may even look at it as the proverbial 2 x 4 to the side of the head, in the hopes of knocking some sense into me. In any case...

I had taken my son and little one to see Captain America, outstanding movie by the way. As we were walking out of the theater, we to got the bottom of the stairs and my daughter says to me "Daddy, you need to go play more". I looked at her thinking what the heck could she be talking about so I asked, "What do you mean baby?" Her reply "Daddy, you need to go play so your belly can be smaller." I looked at her again, wondering where the heck this came from. My son remarked "Wow, that was mean!" I disagreed completely. My little one is almost 4-1/2 years old and is not capable of malice, I KNOW my little girl. It really got me to thinking about my weight, my future, and her future.

What have I taken away from this? I take a few things from it actually.

1. It is definitely time for me to get off my ass and fully commit to losing the weight I need to in order to be healthy.
2. My little girl really loves me and wants me to be around.
3. I also believe its God's little way of nudging me in the direction of getting back on a proper diet and exercise program.

I know what I need to do, have the tools to do it and have been paying for a gym membership that is way underutilized. With these things in mind, I am hoping that this is the final push I need to stick with this 17 Day Diet or at least and the exercise plan I've devised for myself. Only time will tell, but I believe that its time to do something about it now, as I really want to be around to see my little one get married and experience the joy of being a grandfather.

Its time...

That’s all for now.

Randomness

Well, now that I'm all done redesigning/destroying my blog, I may as well write something, right?

Its a little after 6am and I've been up now for about 2 hours. This day is really going to suck I think. I have lots to do since I basically just played with the kids all day yesterday and I know I am going to be too tired to do it later. Should I go back to sleep? Yes, because I'll be useless later if I don't. No, because if I do, I won't wake back up until noon or so. Ugggghhhh!

On another note, I really need to get this wrist looked at or figure out some home remedy for tendonitis. Now that its hurting so much, I'm outta here.

Fishing Fail

Well, I attempted to take my ADD, computer addicted son fishing again today. Luckily I was smart enough NOT to shell out the $110 for the boat only to have him bored after the first 30 mins of fishing. I guess, due to various factors, he doesn't have the love for it that I do and today was no exception. We went to the same lake, but fished off the bank. Lots of nice shore access to fish from so it wasn't that bad really. But did he get bored again? Of course he did! F... I give up. LOL We stayed maybe an hour or so and I gave up. He was just sitting there playing with his phone and I decided we may as well just leave. Unless I can get my little one interested in it, I guess I will be going it alone. I have no issue with this, I had just hoped to involve my son in something that my dad had gotten me into. Ah well... epic fail for me I guess.

Really...

Just a quick post here. I have really neglected my blog and I really need to make an effort try to write here. The last few months have been a whirlwind of good and bad with work, the divorce, and other things. Once I get things wrapped up with the ex, I definitely see a long post coming for that. LOL Thanks for reading, if you are and I will write more eventually.

Enjoy!

First time on the course in YEARS

     I had an enjoyable nine holes of golf after work yesterday. It was the first time I've golfed since 2003. I've been to the range maybe 7 times total in those 8 years and it clearly showed. They say the first thing to go is your game around the greens. My friends, the rumors are true. I could not chip or pitch to save my life. My putting was horrid too. I had a few decent drives and a few decent iron shots, but overall you could tell I had not played in a very long time.

     The course itself, Pocono Manor, East Course, was pretty long. It was roughly 6400 yards, but its spread out over the property. This was quite different than what I was used to in California. I guess, due the premium price for real estate in Southern California, the course are more compact. Same yardage amounts, for the most part, but just lots closer together. Does that make sense? The condition of the course… well, that left a lot to be desired. The greens were in fair to poor condition, the fairways were decent. The worst of all were the carts and cart path. The cart path has clearly not been maintained in YEARS. We could have used a 4x4 golf cart to navigate it properly. Then we get to the carts…they are obviously older, weren't clean at all, and to top it off, the one I was in died. We were able to push start it twice, but then it crapped out completely. This was around 7:40pm, we were supposed to be off the course by 8pm We were going to make it no problem, until the cart died. I called the Pro Shop three times before finally getting a live person. I was then put on hold until I somehow got transferred to the phonemail of the General Manager of the resort. I left him a fairly hostile message and it appears it worked as we all got a free round of golf to use at our convenience.

     All in all, I did have a great time with the guys. It was nice as it wasn't crowded, so there was no one "pushing" us from behind as I was used to in California. I am definitely looking forward to going again, possibly this Friday to use our free round.

The NBA is fixed and I HATE the Heat

I preface this post/rant with the fact that this is solely my opinion and while I believe it to be true, I could be wrong…

After watching Game 1, I come away practically convinced that the NBA is a fixed sport. David Stern and the other NBA higher ups want Miami to win so they all don't end up with egg on their face from the big "announcement" and all the hoopla surrounding it. To make matters worse, the announcers for last night's game were so incredibly biased and praise filled for the Heat. I'm not a Dallas fan, but my gosh, you'd think that the Heat were the best thing to come around since sliced bread. I thought at some point it would stop and they would go back to being the normal, unbiased announcers like they should be. These weren’t the local, hometown station announcers. These were the national television network announcers and they were talking the Heat up like they were Gods. It really disgusted me to say the least. Almost to the point of not watching and I do think for the next game, if I watch it, that I will watch with the sound off and look for a radio broadcast to listen to with the game. I am sincerely hoping I am wrong and that this turns out to be a fair series where the better team wins. But after last night and Dallas literally just falling apart near the end of the third and most of the fourth quarter, it makes me wonder. Perhaps it was just rust from being off, I guess we shall see in the next game. This situation reminds me of how I used to hate the CBS announcers for the Lakers/Celtics finals in the 80s. I'd turn off the sound on the tv and listen to Chick Hearn instead as I was a Lakers' fan at the time since I lived in Los Angeles.

Don't get me wrong, the "Small Three" are talented, well actually "Small Two" because I don't count Bosh as anything more than an overrated role player. If he's so talented, where did he lead the Raptors for the years he played with them? I really can't stand him. I really enjoyed the times Shaq would verbally shoot barbs at him, he deserves them all. D.Wade? I can't say much about him. I like and respect him. He's a great player and not an arrogant, flamboyant ass like a good portion of the players nowadays. Speaking of an arrogant ass, I save the worst/best for last. Lebron. In all honesty, him and his "talents" can go fuck themselves. I can't argue the man has talent and is one of the best players in the league, but he has to be the most arrogant SOB I've seen in a long time in professional sports. Think back, there have been many players before him who where "The guy" of their time period and none of them has been nearly the ass that he is. Dr. J? Magic? Bird? Jordan? No, those guys had class. Perhaps they talked a lot of crap on the court, but off the court and interviews, they weren't the huge A-hole that Lebron is. I sincerely hope the Heat fail and I have hoped for this their whole big announcement. The Celtics messed up by trading Perkins, else I might not even be writing this today since I do not think they would have gotten past the Celtics if they had a tough, inside presence that Perkins gave them.

I can only hope that the NBA is truly a competitive sport and not the fixed, money mongering machine it looks like. If the Heat win, this may be the end of me watching NBA basketball. All it will prove is money can buy championships and that three individual "superstars" weren't good enough on their own to win by themselves. 

Diet-Day something

So this diet... its been an experience to say the least. I just need to muster the discipline to effing stick with it. The good news is even though I've gone off track with it a number of times, I had lost another pound the other day when I weighed. Its time I grow up and start acting like an adult maybe? Take responsibility for my own actions? Maybe look towards my future and the future of my children so I can be here for them? Yeah, I think its time...

My Diet- Day 3

Day 3- I am doing better than expected. I’ve lost 6 lbs in 3 days so far. Yes, I know most of this is water weight most likely, but I do notice my middle is a bit smaller. I still have a LONG ways to go, but it’s a great start. The diet is interesting thus far. The concepts are solid and are things I’ve known for years, it just seems to have put it all together into a diet. I wish I could have thought about doing that as this one was on the NY Times best seller list. I could be thin and rich. LOL

I do have to say its difficult grocery shopping with my daughter. When I’m alone, I can just got the items I want and be done with shopping. With my little one, however, we have to look at everything and its rough. Plus my previous behaviors we’d get all kinds of “fun” stuff like candy, donuts, cookies, soda, poptarts, etc. It was real rough last night. I had MAJOR cravings for stuff, but I managed to get out of there without ruining my diet. I did cheat a bit last night and had 4 of her fritos and abit of her chocolate milk. But not too bad overall.

This morning it was blackberries and plain yogurt, plus turkey sausage with onions. I did have to have coffee instead of the green tea this morning. But I’ll make up for that later. I need to go back and read through parts of the book again as I need some clarification on things and want to see what I have to look forward to in the second 17 phase of the diet.

I also need to incorporate more exercise into this. I still haven’t stepped foot into the gym, its almost like I’m afraid to go back. Not sure why, kind of weird in that respect. I’ve been walking at least. In fact, walking from the parking to my desk at work is ¼ mile. Its also a ¼ mile from my desk to the cafeteria and although I don’t eat there anymore, that is where the scale that I’ve been weighing myself on is located. So I’m walking at least an extra mile every day. But I know I need to add more. A friend on Twitter mentioned her husband benches over 300, I replied I used to be able to do that. I’d love to get there again, so maybe its time to start.

Ok, that’s all for now. Have a great weekend!

17 Day Diet- And so it begins...

Its time, or it has been time and I'm finally deciding to do something about it. I'm starting the 17-Day Diet tonight and hope that this will be the final push I need to be healthy again. Actually I’m restarting as it started it Monday and then had a really lousy day Tuesday and resorted to comfort foods instead of getting pissed off. I guess that’s a plus right? 

I'm really frustrated with myself as I had lost a good 60 lbs while going through the divorce with all the depression. But I've gained it all back and then some. Very, very frustrating!! I have a good friend who has just started this diet and she's lost 10 lbs already, only 8 days in. I've read most of the book and it has some interesting concepts. The majority of them make sense to me and are things I actually have known a long time, just haven't put them into practice. I've noticed that my self confidence has waned greatly since I have put on the extra weight. Even my two older children have remarked that I've gained a lot. So… its just time. I need to be here for them and for my kids, so not only is this a choice for me but its been a choice for them as I would like to be around to see them get married and to be able to hold my grandchildren. This also means getting my lazy ass to the gym. I been paying $30 a month for the damn membership and totally not going. I'm such an idiot and a lazy one to boot. Time for major life changes that I intend to make part of my life even after I've lost the necessary amount of weight I need to lose to be healthy and non-diabetic. I did it before and I know I can do it again. Its just so hard sometimes trying to juggle everything at the same time. 

Hopefully I can keep posting here and update my PROGRESS. I definitely need to do this… its now or never.

Tired of being sick, having food allergies, or whatever the F

Warning- I will ramble in this one, but try to make it coherent.

I am so sick of being... sick. Not a cold, flu or anything like that. Just the random food allergies that I have or supposedly have. Since I was 25, I discovered (I think) that I was lactose intolerant. Over the years I've fought with this, trying little bits here and there. Sometimes having success, other times crashing and burning horribly. A few weeks ago, I had a yearly checkup and the doctor mentioned that she thought I had Celiac's disease, or allergic to wheat gluten. I looked it up and sure as heck, it looked like I had it as I had a number of the symptoms. I got the test she suggested, just the blood test though, not doing the endoscopy thanks. The test came back negative. Now I am completely dumbfounded. I then read an article in Men's Health that the newest "intolerance" to come about the past few years is a Gluten Intolerance. So now... what the F do I have? I honestly have no idea at this point. I did do some reading about gluten and talked to my doc again regarding it. I learned that one of the reasons gluten intolerance is becoming prevalent is the fact that the wheat is now genetically altered in a lot of foods. I had no idea... WTF?!?!?!?!? We can't just leave things as God made them, no we got to F with them to make them "better" and in the process screwing them up. Maybe I'll go back to being Vegan. I just don't know at this point. I didn't have near the issues when I was Vegan during my injury (long story there), so maybe thats the answer. I just don't know anymore...