A 120 pound jounrey...

Very Inspirational...

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing - that’s why we recommend it daily.”

“Motivation is what gets you started.
Habit is what keeps you going.”

Some of my faves...

Hershey's Dark Chocholates: 33 calories each

Odawalla products, especially SuperFood and Super Protien Chocolate

If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions. – Chinese Proverb

Facing Goliath...

A middle aged, over weight, man discovers he is losing his remaining eyesight. To help him cope, a natural competitive bodybuilder challenges him to take on a physical transformation and enter the world of competitive bodybuilding. (http://www.sebastianmaclean.com/transformation)

BMI vs W2H Method (waist-to-hip-ratio)

Jillian Michaels says:

"Your body is trying to tell you something, but you're just not listening! To win at the weight-loss game, you've got to make some changes. One of the most important ones is to stop listening to anything but your body to establish a realistic weight for your specific build. Forget about what you see and hear from pop-culture sources.

Another thing not to rely on is the body mass index (BMI), which determines the amount of fat you have on your body according to your weight and height. Here's why you're not going to use it: It fails to distinguish between fat and muscle, so the BMI will ultimately give you an incomplete sense of the shape you're in.

Today, the medical industry has set its weight guidelines according to the waist-to-hip-ratio method, which is a much more accurate way of arriving at an ideal goal weight. Follow these steps to find yours:

Get a tape measure and measure your waist right at the belly-button line.
Standing with feet hip-width apart, measure your hips at their widest point.
Now simply divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. This is your waist-to-hip ratio. (The ideal waist-to-hip ratios are 0.80 for women and 0.95 for men.)"

Great weight managment tool

http://caloriecount.about.com is a fantastic analysis and tracking site for fitness and nutrition and the moblile apps are awesome.
Calorie Counter by CalorieCount.com on iTunes or other platforms: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/mobile.php

My Healthy Breakfast Experience...

I was hungry today at Breakfast so the menu is a bit larger and higher in calories than I usually shoot for but as the saying goes: "Eat like a King for Breakfast and Queen at lunch and like a Pauper for dinner" and you will generally maintain a good portion balance.

I must say, the breakfast sandwhich I made was so amazing! I lightly toasted a slice of the Oroweat sandwichthin and put a little butter on it. I cut up a quarter of an avocodo, some onions, a slice of tomato, Jalapenos and toped it with a Morningstar veggie sausage patty. The flavor was so delicious!

As I have weaned myself off of alot of processed food, sugar and other 'sweetners' this last month, i've noticed how the flavor of stuff is popping out. I also recognize how my body 'craves' certain things if I am not eating enough of them...espeicaly healthy fats. So this morning the avocodos and tomato and onions all mixed together to form a chemical rush to my happy spot in my brain! It was actually quite a yummy rush...who would of known that such a healthy meal could provide such pleasure? Eating good doesn't have to be a drag...but it takes awhile to drain off the sludge of pleasure deadening sugars that processed food pumps into everything. We are inundated with salt and sugar and that makes everything with less 'ampage' seem less flavorful...until you wean yourself off the mainlining of it all.

Breakfast:
-Morningstar Veggie Sausage Patty: 80 calories
-Orowheat Sandwich Thins: one half 50 calories
-Half or teaspoon of butter: 25 calories
-Quarter of a avocado: 80 calories
-Onions: 2 calories
-Jalapeno peppers: 2 calories
-Tomato: 2 calories
-Chobani Greek yogurt(Vanilla): 120 calories
-Cliff Bar, Crunch, white chocoalte/ macadamia nut: 190 calories
-Black Coffee: 5 calories

Total: 556

Doughnuts & Ice Cream for Breakfast...?

This last week I have seen a number of children walking to School eating breakfast or part of their meal at least. One girl I saw eating a Ben & Jerrys size tub of ice-cream and the next day she was eating a doughnut. This morning two young girls in Fred Meyer where purchasing their doughnuts too. I regularly see kids downing pop and "energy drinks' on the way to a day of learning and it's no wonder Teachers are stressed out, trying to manage and corral kids who are coming amped up on the sugar and caffeine!

"160 Million Americans now suffer from overweight and obesity...and epidemic that has reached nearly 70% of the entire US population. Statistics are showing that 1 out of every 2 babies born today will develop diabetes in their lifetime if things don't change." -Bill Phillips 'Transformation'

These kind of stats should waken us up to the desperate need to model a healthy lifestyle for our children. They are learning how to 'live' from us and their peers. They are being shaped by something or someone in matters regarding exercise and diet. As a parents this responsibility should motivated us more, we need to be working at providing well balanced examples of living healthy and fit.

Fitness & Health blog 2.0

Engage...

Smokers, tokers, pokers...and forkers?

"If you find honey, eat just enough, too much of it, and you will vomit" -Proverbs 25:16

During my Monday morning coffee at my favorite local coffee shop (The SHOP); I noticed the ginormous coffee mug some lady brought in. You can see it in the picture. Now, nobody likes a persnickety person, especially a health and nutrition one, but I was taken back by the glutenous bravado of such a mug. Does anyone really need such a bladder buster? Shall I belly up to the coffee bar with my washed out milk jug and ask them to fill it up with the drip brew of the day?

When will we realize that we are killing ourselves with such lunacy?

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies. -Psalms 141:3-4

An elderly man, sat down next to me with a cinnamon roll the size of his head and he washed it down with a bottle of fruit juice! Heck, I think I was catching an insulin buzz off him from across the couch!

The more I seek to contemplate my own sinfulness in light of how I have abused my body...the more I realize there are pushers of pleasure all around me. The Pastry Pimps and Munchie Madams are seducing us on every corner. There is more mainlining of sugar and caffeine going on around us than any meth-a-demic...and its completely acceptable...in fact, its encouraged! If you try to decline or moderate your consumption...you encounter a weird cultural pressure and disdain.

Its maddening how complicated this path can be...especially in the church.

As a preacher, you can hammer on the smokers, tokers and pokers...but dare to touch the forkers and...well, you know.

I remember the guilty feelings I would have as I would run off to the corner of the church property as a young adult, to catch a quick smoke after sunday school and before the worship service. Oh the shame I pummeled myself with; while my overweight pastors and fellow muffin toppers were cramming themselves into those small pews. Those condescending eyes and noses glaring at me in my post smoke stench; as I shimmied past their overweight stomachs.

The hypocrisy was nuts.

"You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols. Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead." -1 Peter 4:3-5

I'm not sure if I ever have heard a sermon on the issue, in over 40 years.

"Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags." -Proverbs 23:20-21
"Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony." - Proverbs 23:2

"Let your moderation be known unto all men." -Philippians 4:5

"Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things". -Phil 3:19

It's tough walking this path, trying to change and opening your mind and heart to new ways of living. It's not easy embracing new foods, moving and relearning how to have a relationship with food and culture. It's frightening how much self deception, bondage, self medicating, illusionary living, slavery and self hate is rooted in the industry and pushed from the store shelves. It's eye opening to see the matrix of servitude and self delusion that is going on with fork and spoon. The powers that be are harvesting off the lusts of our own hearts and the brokenness of our society. The poor are at the mercy of the industry, food is now bought not grown and the impoverishment of our society is funding a medical industry that benefits from our idolatry...and as long as we think its cheap and tasty we love it so.

The bombardment is mind numbing...and saying no...has become a radical act of defiance.


Unplug...it might not always taste as good...but remember...living free is always better than being a slave.

Fitness update 5.2.09

Weight: 235
Exercise: 3-5 per week
Diet: clean and consistent

Below is a snap shot from my iPhone app that helps me track my workouts. Its a simple check the day you worked out application. Its a great tool for keeping a visual accountability to your goals. I aim at 5 days per week for exercise. I started working out in February and so far I am gaining on my weight goal of 200-215, depending on how look at that weight...all the fat tables say I should be around 180...but that seems ridiculous to me....we will see what I feel like in the lower 200's

fitness update 4.13.09

Weight: 237
Diet: clean
Exercise: walk/hike and now, jogging.

I am approaching 20 lbs lost.

I tweaked my back running the other day, so I laid off for two days and now, Im walking again. That frustrated me because I was really enjoying working out a bit harder and I have been very disciplined to go slow these last two months in training. I think Kona might of been the problem, when I run, I have her on a leash and sometime the pull of her weight hits a certain spot in my back that is prone to pain. I hope to jog maybe tomorrow. Today, I walked along way, it was sunny and I was in a good spirit with a weekend full of much to think about and praise God for.

Fit4Life ends...

Weight: 241
Exercise: getting back on track
Diet: clean
Last Sunday we had our final Fit4Life class. We celebrated the 3 month endeavor with a potluck of healthy food, prepared by the participants. It was delicious! It was a milestone...a healthy Potluck at a church...who would of thunk it? It was a great first step for us and the church as we seek to apply the gospel to all of life. We will look at another class in the Fall for anyone interested.

The caffeine high..and why?

Here is what happens to your body when you intake caffeine.

Eat this not That....

"Eat This not That" video on "The Ellen Degeneres Show"

Menu ideas...

Men's Health Magazine has a "Belly-Off" Menu planner that lays everything out for you day by day with shopping lists, how to instructions on the meals and basically everything right at your finger tips. I printed off this weeks menu and I am going to incorporate or use it and see if its a good fit. I've been wanting to experiment with new foods and recipes. You can check it out here.

Here is a link to their recipe finder, I have some cans of Turkey chili in the cuboard so I typed in: Turkey Chili and this is the recipes that it spit out for me to try.

You can also try this fun little widget they have for meal ideas...simple, easy and they look good.

And here is the "The Best and Worst Restaurants in America" Report card. How healthy is your favorite eatery?

Fitness Update 3.24.09

Weight: 243
Exercise: Walk/hike, long one today, probably over an hour.
Diet: so far so good, tonight looks rough with the CRC dinner being some kind of sloppy joe burger thing, ouch, looks delicious but heavy on the calories. Not sure what will take place there...one of the reasons I pushed it a bit longer today on the exercise.

Fitness update 3.22.09

Weight:
243...that's 13 down pounds since February.

Exercise:
I've been trying to get back on my schedule but I've been sick with a chest cold that has done a number of late on my energy and breathing capacity. But I was able to get out yesterday with LeeElla and show her my walk/hike routine...which according to her...busted her 'arse. That was enlightening to see...I realized my fitness level has significantly increased.

Diet:
On track.
We are learning to eat new foods, better ways to cook and discovering healthy options at favorite restaurants. And we are even cooking dishes from the healthy eating shows we watch...which we used to watch but never attempted to eat...which is kind of like watching "The Biggest Loser" while eating ice cream on the couch!