Category Archives: Life

Losing IT! Crunching the numbers

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I’m been doing this weight loss gig for half a year, and the balanced eating habits and exercise routines are taking a hold of my weekly living.  I feel cranky if I don’t get my exercise in, I feel bloated if I over indulge, these are good things.  I’m also trying to take a analytical approach to my journey, by tracking food intake, and exercise outtake.  Trying to quantify calories in versus calories out.

I started using WeightWatchers and had great initial success, at my start weight I maxed out the daily points at 42 points, with 35 weekly points to use or not use through the week.  The online WW program, adds calories to your Weekly Points and the program will only tap into those points if you go over your daily points.  The first three months I tried to ‘bank’ as many weekly points as I could while still eating reasonably, and not feeling hungry.  What I remember from reading the online WW articles, it was important to eat your daily points to keep your metabolism going.  In the three months using weightwatchers.com I lost 25 pounds.

I also started walking regularly in April, and using the same sort of in the cloud recording of my activity to track my progress.   Is use two sites to track my runs, the first Runkeeper.com is an application I use on my iPhone that tracks my outdoor activities using GPS to give an accurate account of distance traveled.  Runkeeper also lets you enter manual entries, that lets me put all my midsummer treadmill work into my profile.  The other site I use to track exercise is DailyMile.com, where I pretty much duplicate the same information. Why? because DailyMile is more social networking friendly, had nifty reports and graphics.  So it’s worth it to me to double track my activity.

In June, I let my WeightWatchers account lapse and started tracking my calories in the iPhone LoseIt! application, which also has a great website (for people without an iPhone, all the features can now be done on the web). With LoseIt.com I daily track my calories. With the ease of using my phone, I try to enter my food in before I eat each meal, the discipline has kept me aware of my intake, as well as how expensive my old habits of drinking soda and candy because I was hungry in the middle of the day were.  LoseIt! has some great reporting views, with the ability to download my data of calories consumed and exercise calories into spreadsheets.

I switched to LoseIt! in June, and since that time I’ve lost a total of 6 pounds.  So the problem I’m trying to number crunch through is why has my progress slowed, or is it just one of the natural plateau’s that happens during the normal course of life.  The slow down also happened in the middle of the summer, is there a seasonality to it?  I started traveling (3 trips in 3 weeks in August), did that effect my habits?

One other thing is just the difference between WeightWatchers and LoseIt programs.  WeightWatchers is about points, with 50 calories being approximately 1 point, with high fat foods increasing to two points, or high fiber foods reducing to a half point.  LoseIt is just calories.  WeightWatchers, as noted above, has a weekly bank of points and activities.  LoseIt add calories burned in activities to the daily balance, so when I exercise it appears I can consume more calories to hit my daily calorie goal.

With WeightWatchers I tried to bank my weekly and activity points, which if I banked 35 points a week, means I should bank about 1750 calories per week on LoseIt (since it appears to spread the 35 weekly points across all 7 days caloric goals).  Because of the way LoseIt adds exercise to each day, my exercise points get lost in the shuffle.  So I think I’ve been eating more while exercising more since switching to LoseIt.

I’m looking at the numbers, which are highly available thanks to obsessive record keeping these last 6 months, and have come to this conclusion.  I need to exercise to burn around 1500 calories each week, while trying to bank ~1500 calories consumed each week.  Using that as a benchmark for the next 3 months.

On the exercise front, I finished my first 5k when I ran the Corporate Challenge 5k.  My plan was to run 5 minutes then walk 3 minutes until I finished, and I mostly kept to that plan.  My time of 42:10 was almost 3 minutes faster than my off the top of my head goal of 45 minutes (which is my 15 min per mile workout average,) which pleased me abundantly.  I’m continuing my training, but going to shift my training C25k sessions and catalog those as runs, and try to get outside for a mile each off day and count that as a walk.  Which means nothing really, just shifting to a different category in runkeeper and dailymile as my performance improves.

So there you go, what things do you use to track your goals?

Biggest Loser Principles that helped.

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I watched the Biggest Loser last night with Angie.  She loves the show, I like the show a lot.  I snark at the overtly obvious product placement portions and generally watch the”game” with a bit of a cynical eye.  The producers have to have a mix of “gamers” and people that are genuinely looking for life change to make the show interesting to watch, and the cynical part of me has some knee-jerk hate response when a gamer gets the better of one of the life changers.

Watching last night’s preamble and cast selection show was revealing because I realized that they have some pretty consistent principles for the contestants to get them on the road to a healthier lifestyle right out of the gate, principles that I unconsciously applied when I started down my path in April.

  1. Own your weight.  Every contestant has to do the first weigh-in. At the beginning I needed to own a number.  We have a futzy scale at home that I never used, and so one of the first steps in my journey was to find a scale and use it consistently to measure progress.  I went to the gym, and found a good consistent scale (actually two at two different gyms).  The identification of a starting point and owning up to the weight you are was an important first step on my way.
  2. Understand your why. All people that are trying to change the way they live have to understand WHY they are making a change.  For the contestants they all have intriguing stories to tell, that’s why they are on TV, that’s why they get selected to be on TV.  But each of us have a story too. You can share it publicly, you can start a blog, or you can, like me journal it, share it with my support group at Celebrate Recovery.  I know that if I didn’t understand my why, week x would be hard to find the reason why I don’t drink Coke Classic any more.
  3. Have a support team. Last night, each person that was featured were surrounded by supporters.  Some might be #teamBiggestLoser volunteers to help with that first challenge, 500 steps, or 1 mile run, but they also had family and friends that supported the life change decision.  The rest of the season their support group becomes each other, fellow competitors, and is one of the things that ‘irks’ me about the competition is that the support team are also adversaries.  My support team is my family, as well as the larger group of people I social network with.  Twitter and Facebook friends, as well as my church family, and my Celebrate Recovery friends.  Also growing niche networks on dailymile.com and runkeeper.com help keeps my exercise regular.  I know I can’t do this alone, and a large support group keeps me going, when alone I would be drifting.

So take these three principles and start your own journey.

Nourishment…

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A man wiser than me once told me when I asked, “Why do you run?”

I run because, frankly, I love to eat food.

Which is probably as good as a reason as anything else.   In the past 42 years, I’ve eaten a lot, and if I was honest, I recognize that I’ve avoided pretty much anything that would balance the scales to make my lifestyle anywhere close to healthy.

If you’ve followed my social media streams, you may have noticed that I’ve made a turn this past May and started incorporating regular exercise in my weekly routine, for one reason to help in my goal to lose weight, and the other is because, frankly, I love to eat food.

This morning at church, our pastor (interim) encouraged us again to study the bible.  I’m a sunday school teacher, so I do that, each week.  But if I’m honest with myself, it’s not really studying.  It’s more like saying, I walk from the car to the elevator, and calling that exercise.  The phrase about running, because he loves food echoed in my thoughts, and I had an epiphany.

I love television, perhaps too much, perhaps in the same way I love food.  Loving food isn’t wrong per se, but when my love of food is out of balance it becomes unhealthy.  Same with consuming popular culture, out of balance and it becomes spiritually unhealthy.  I need to give myself some balance.

Sort of like my weight loss plans, I cut down on the intake, making better food choices, and incorporated exercise that allows me to still enjoy eating food, and also delivers the exertion that my physical body needs.  So in my spiritual diet, I need to cut back on my popular culture intake, make better choices as to how I consume television, and have something spiritual to offset the dose of popular culture and provide my spirit a connection with the Almighty that is needs.

So in that endeavor, I’m going to get back in to a regular bible reading plan.  As a way of using the social media that has been helpful in my physical life style improvement, I plan on blogging about what I read. I don’t promise a daily epiphany, or even any words of wisdom, more just a bit of my thoughts and the scriptures I peruse.  Again the purpose here is accountability to myself, not preaching to you, my readership.  If these posts don’t satisfy, just skip them, just like you might my exercise and weigh-in updates.

BORING: Biometric Screening Results

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Had a health fair at work so I took a screening see how I’m doing.

I try to take a baby asprin morning and night, to ward off the big D (diabetes) and HD (heart disease) given family history, so take that into account with the below results.  The glucose was a fasting screening hadn’t had anything except water since midnight.

Mundane details below the fold:

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Random Catchups

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I know, I know, I’ve been ignoring my blog, during this last final season of madness.

I’m sorry.  To the four people that read this blog, I know, I’ve let you down.

But maybe I’ll turn it around and start my random digressions (it might be another di-word) as there are plenty of good things going on to write about.

Like how I started WeightWatchers March 30,2010 and have lost 10.8 pounds as of last week. 

Or, like how I started walking, with the intent to jog. I’ve walked/jogged/treadmilled 24 miles in the last two months.

I’m still Editor-in-Chief-ing at LOSTblog, but have a bunch of awesome helpers to keep the blog fresh, they want to do a full series re-watch, so I’ll be part of that, but not every episode.

I’ve got 9+ months of recovery under my belt, with the end in sight of my Celebrate Recovery step study that’s been really helpful in my examining my life, my emotions and a fruitful productive output for my sometimes self-destructive side.

So I have some boring things to write about, that I must tell the internet.  So stay tuned!

LOST Answers Serenity Prayer

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I understand, I do.  You want answers, and you think that you’re not getting them.  You’ve waited all this time, and you think your entitled.  But let me put a chink into the denial that is camouflaging your LOST answers addiction.  The answers you want (or that I want) don’t matter to the majority of the main characters. 

Like who got shot in the canoe, our LOSTies flashed in and out of the time frame so fast, they had no idea who was shooting at them, or who they shot.  So, while it would be cool to pull a LOSTie loop and have Juliet gun down Sawyer, it just isn’t important to the remaining LOSTies who was in the canoe.  Chalk it up to Widmore goons and be done with it, for you own good.

While you let the denial fade over your answers addiction, here is a modified Serenity prayer just for you.

Damon and Carlton (or your own higher power) grant me the Serenity
to accept the answers that you have written
the courage to develop some answers of my own
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Watching one episode at a time
Enjoying on scene at a time
Accepting character arcs as their pathway to peace
Taking, as all fans have, this wonderful show
as it is, not as I would have it
Trusting that the show will be incredible
if I surrender to it’s awesomeness
That I may be reasonably happy in this season
and supremely happy with rewatches of the DVDs
forever in the future.

Namaste

Shamelessly reimagined from this

originally posted at LOSTblog

LOST – A story of addiction recovery?

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Last night Jeff “Doc” Jensen published his long teased theory of LOST as a reflection of a recovery program in his article: ‘LOST’: A Shot at Redemption. It is a wonderful article, and the theme of redemption and recovery resonates with me partly because of where/when this build up to its ultimate season occurred and how it has affected me personally.

Before you read any further, this is not a humorous look at “LOST addiction.” My hope is to start a very real discussion of real life addiction, and how recovery programs have made a difference, not only in my life, but in a great many others too.

Continue reading →

Lost Petition – Bleg

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What’s next for the petition?  After a week’s worth of internet flurry with mentions from here to there across many sites, I need to find something to DO with this petition.  My goal is to get to 5000 signatures then get the Petition printed out in a neat format and sent to a friend in Hawaii that will take it to the LOST On the Beach premiere.

PetitionOnline provides a printing service at the low rate of one red cent per signature. Which is nice to know, but my pocketbook currently lacks red cents (or blue cents, or green cents, or …) that isn’t already allocated to the needs of a 6 member family.

So I’ve plopped a PayPal Donate button over in the sidebar ————————>

If you feel led to donate, I’ll make sure all proceeds go towards the printing costs for the petition and shipping to Hawaii in time for the gala opening.  If I can’t get that level of support, I’ll keep the petition open for another LOST event down the road when my pocketbook is more able to handle the heavy lifting.

If through your generous donations, the giving exceeds the need, my plan is to send the remaining funds as a donation to my church’s youth group mission fund, to support summer camps and the like later this year.

Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm for this petition.

Not necessarily Tom Sawyer’s Island…

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There he goes again, blogging about the *sing-song* LOST Disney Attraction Petition. 🙂

Well when you get a reference from OC Weekly, Yahoo! Buzz, Perez Hilton and the Orange County Register, taking a cue from The Other McCain, you milk it for all it’s worth.  This blogging business is a rough and tumble world, and the only thing you can really do to generate traffic is to.. well, blog. 

So this is in response to Disney-O-Rama’s post: Should Tom Sawyer Island Be Turned Into LOST Island

Apparently a group of hardcore fans of the ABC show “Lost” have started a petition to persuade Disney to create a “Lost” island at Disneyland. The “Lost” attraction would replace “Tom Sawyer Island”, which is seen as being outdated, even with its newly created tie-in to “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series.

While I consider myself to be a hardcore fan of “Lost” as well, this is a bad idea in so many ways.

First, thanks for your support and linking to the petition, next time, try reading it, I’ll help you out, the short preamble says:

LOST is one of the best television series to ever be broadcast on television. Disney should give this awesome show it’s[sic] due and create a LOST Island attraction at one of it’s Disney theme parks. Just think of the locations that can be immortalized in a Disney location.

While it does say Island, it is not specific to Tom Sawyer Island.  It’s more a reference to the location that LOST is centered on “LOST Island”.  The petition isn’t trying to define where in the Magic Kingdom it should be placed, but that the idea be considered by the powers that be to include some LOST themed something.  Heck, most LOST fans would probably be thrilled at a Dharma snack bar, selling Dharma branded concessions.  Executive Producer Carlton Cuse thinks an E-Ticket ride is a better idea.

You may think turning Tom Sawyer Island into LOST island is a bad idea, and many agree with you, but that doesn’t discount the concept of a LOST attraction. I admit that my first impression was centered around using Tom Sawyer Island, and Damon Lindelof tweeted about putting a Polar Bear on the island, so I don’t think it’s a terrible idea.

I haven’t been to Disneyland in 15 years (give or take 9 months), so I’m not up to date on the layout of the park or changes that have been made.  My memories of going to Disneyland in my youth (30+ years ago) have very fond memories of exploring Tom Sawyer Island, hiking along the trails, going into caves, checking out the neat forts, pretending we had guns, and the sailing ship circling the island.  As a “hard core” LOST fan, all of those elements that I remember of the attraction of Tom Sawyer Island, are repeated concepts in the mystery of LOST island, and recurring themes in the plots of the show. 

Do kids need to know all the deep mysteries of LOST to have fun on an LOST themed island.  Just as kids don’t have to wade through or even be familiar with Mark Twain’s character to enjoy the current rendition of the Island.  My two boys (7 and 10) would LOVE it, maybe their friends down the street might be clueless about the theme, but they’d probably love the imaginary games they could play exploring the island.

Adults would come to the attraction, but that’s one of the things that Disney does extremely well, is create experiences where generations can share their enjoyment.  Examples: Every Pixar film made.  When Disney gets off it’s game and starts shooting solely at a younger generation, well I have two words for you: Miley Cyrus. (that’s a joke, Hoss).

I’m glad you do agree with the concept of the petition (I’ve shown it’s not TSI specific) and agree with the points you make here:

Don’t get me wrong – I think the idea of a “Lost” style attraction where fans can physically experience what they have watched for 5 plus seasons now is a great idea. I just don’t believe that Tom Sawyer Island should be sacrificed in the process.

If the Disney powers-that-be take this petition seriously, maybe more suitable locations would be “Disney’s Animal Kingdom” in Orlando or possibly the new Disney resort that is being developed in Kapolei, Hawaii.

The Hawaiian location would be a supreme location for such an attraction, so I do hope you’ve signed the petition.

Thanks for taking the time to form a well thought out response to a self-admittedly kinda silly idea.  Your post is proof that the silly ideas (like a theme park in Anaheim of all places) can generate some real ideas, and some awesome fun.

The LOST Petition makes the Around Disney blog.

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I was very surprised to see an email from a reporter for The Orange County Register asking if she could contact me for an interview.  I remember as a teenager, going to High School at Los Amigos High (Fighting Lobos) in Fountain Valley seeing the paper on the dining room table at breakfast.  This was twenty plus years ago, so the memory is hazy.  (Yes kids, back then they printed the news on actual paper.)

So a couple of days ago I had a really nice conversation with Sarah Tully, who writes for the Register’s Around Disney blog, which has news and information about all things Magic Kingdom (aka Resort Area of Anaheim where Walt Disney’s Disneyland is located, perhaps you’ve heard of it?)

The interview resulted in this article (click on through to give some linkage):

Tom Sawyer’s Island cabin could become Jacob’s cabin. A smoke monster could waft around Disneyland guests. Dharmaville barracks could go up in Frontierland.

If fans of the “Lost” T.V. show have their way, all would be part of a show-themed attraction at a Disney park. Preferably, Tom Sawyer’s Island would become “Lost” Island at Disneyland.

Fans are circulating an online petition to ask Disney to put an attraction based on the science-fiction show in one of its parks. See the petition HERE.

The organizer, former Orange County resident Jon Stueve, aims to collect 5,000 signatures by today so that a fellow “Lost” fan can deliver it to officials at the “Lost” premiere in Oahu, Hawaii. As of mid-Thursday, more than 3,000 people had joined the petition.

While I’m disappointed that Suzi Brown, a Disneyland Resort spokesman commented that Walt Disney Imagineering officials aren’t, “contemplating the concept.”  I’m not really surprised.  Imagineers are men of science, after all, and they’ll need some convincing from some of us men (and women) of faith.  So I’m taking a ‘whatever, dude!’ attitude, and just gonna enjoy the idea as it dances through the my ever decreasing grey matter.

Thanks again, Sarah for the article and taking the time to contact me, and listen to this hair brained idea.  It is the highest praise of a ‘hard core’ LOST fan to say to you – You All Everybody!