Weight Loss Thoughts- Late February

I did it! Last night I broke the 300 pound barrier! It seemed to take forever to get there being on the new diet and everything. So far I have been pretty consistent on eating a banana for breakfast (with coffee), nut's for snacking, a salad every day for lunch, a protein shake after Nautilus workouts or cardio (depending on the day) and then a small portion of whatever is for supper (no fatty or high carb foods).

Thrice since January 12 I have "cheated". Once was going to Pearls in Elk Rapids for supper with a bunch of guys and the other wer twice when my lovely wife brought home pizza for supper - in which case I had a few pieces. (after cheating, I paid my penance at the gym the following morning.)

Yesterday, I ran/walked uphill on the treadmill for 3 miles for the first time. It is getting easier to do the long cardio workouts on the odd days (when not doing Nautilus). Speaking of Nautilus- the gym owner suggested that I start on "Line 2" at the gym which are machines that basically work the same muscles- but differently. In other words- they bend the muscles in a slightly different way to "shock" them into expanding in different ways.

It worked- I was shocked when I did Line 2. Now I alternate back and forth between Line 1 and Line 2 every other workout day. I am “red-lining” on every machine every time.

One thing that I found fascinating is my daily calorie intake. For a 300 pound male to maintain his weight- he needs to consume 5,591 calories per day. I have been eating no more than 3,000 calories per day on average. Based on simple math the weight must come off!

Now I have a new goal in addition to loosing 100 pounds. Competing in a triathlon this summer. More on that later.

God Help Us All

or

There Lies A Desert

After Fred Thompson dropped out of the Republican primary, my support naturally fell to Mitt Romney. 

Since an unelectable Mike Huckabee will not drop out the primary, he is conspiratorially stealing votes that would otherwise go to Romney. Unless a miracle happens - by fiat, John McCain will become the Republican nominee for president. Mike Huckabee hopes that because of his antics (not dropping out), he would be chosen by McCain for vice president.

Which would leave me with two options – both repulsive – McCain and Clinton.

Usually, I would hold my nose and vote for the less offensive Republican ala/ George Bush 43 who I reluctantly voted for when Phil Graham lost the 2000 Primary. But George Bush didn’t repulse me as McCain does.

Besides the many smaller reasons that McCain disqualifies himself – temperament, age, lack of business experience it is the larger more important issues that cause me strife.

1. He hates the 1st Amendment to the Constitution so much that he decided to team up with a liberal Democrat to pass legislation abridging it with McCain – Feingold.

2. Wants to give amnesty to illegal aliens.

3. Buys into Al Gores Global Warming hoax which will lead to legislation that will kill the American economy.

4. He voted against the Bush tax cuts.

5. McCain demonstrates with his record that he is a liberal.

And since I will never vote for a liberal that leaves me with only one choice – one vote.

No vote.

This is the vote that joined with millions of other will become the true silent majority. I will be part of a landslide political correction. Since Republicans were bamboozled out of a clear choice in the Republican Primary- we will have to act in a different manner to have our voices heard.

Having our conservative Congress constantly fighting their liberal Republican President to pass good legislation and generally uphold the Constitution is political suicide. Instead, I think it may be far better for our country for a rotten Democrat to be elected (ala Clinton) and allow another Newt to emerge to form a congressional coalition to fight the inevitable socialist legislation that will ensue.

Another reason to let a Clinton or Obama win is to set America up for another Reagan just as Carter did in 1970’s.

Between here and the Promised Land, there lies a desert.

Week 3 - Muscle is Heavier Than Fat

It's a little frustrating. I have only lost 7 pounds but from what I hear- that is normal when you are weight training. I'm doing Nautilus weight training every other day and also 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill and exercise bike) 3 times per week. Not only that but my diet has been pretty much the following:

+ Breakfast: coffee only

+Lunch: big salad with lettuce, carrots, celery, green pepper, swiss cheese, (sometimes onion), and 1 tin of tuna.

+Supper: small portion of whatever Darlene makes and soy protein shake

I am not doing any gimmicks like you see on TV. No prepacked meals, no Chuck Norris exercise machines, no hypnotherapy, no lipo, no gastric bypass, no grapefruit.

One thing I have noticed is that I have to pay close attention to my insulin because I have gone low a lot lately. Also- I am not as hungry at night like I used to be. Before, I had to snack after 7pm- but those hunger pains have started to go away. The first two weeks were bad- I still wanted to eat at night but forced myself not to.

One more thing- I don't buy all this New Age crap about "don't starve yourself" and "don't deny what your body is saying" - yada yada yada. The first couple weeks are a hell. No getting around it. If your food intake was like mine- then it will SUCK not eating. I am starving myself in that I refuse to eat when I'm hungry. I AM punishing my body. It does NOT feel good.

The guy who owns the gym where I go- said I should rest my muscles every other day and not even do cardio on the odd days. I disagree with him. I am going to continue to do cardio on the odd days just like everything I have read tells me to.

Even with all that- I have only lost 7 pounds and .8 percent body fat. And looking at the pictures below- it doesn't look like much has changed.

But....I SHALL NOT GIVE UP!!!!!!!!

Fred to Mitt 2008

Weight Loss- Day 1

OK- here I go.

Today is January 12, 2008.

I am fat. I weigh 314 pounds and have over 38% body fat. I am an insulin dependent diabetic in the express lane to the grave. Starting on January 9, 2008 after returning from a Dallas business meeting I have had enough. I joined the local Nautilus Fitness center and am once again vowing to loose 100 pounds in one year. I have made many promises like this before - all broken. I guess posting pictures of myself here is a way of making myself accountable for my progress.

Life or death- here goes.

The Antichrist

Pretense

To Doris Kearns Goodwin:

It is sad when such a brilliant historian can be so frightfully ignorant of the effects of her comments on a large portion of this country.  I am speaking of the beliefs of many Americans regarding creation vs. evolution, mine included.

Your comment about Gov. Huckabee, [bothersome rejection of evolution] on the Imus show this morning was as offensive as the "nappy headed hoes" comment made by Don eight months ago.

The difference is that with Don's comment - there was a political apparatus to repudiate him.  With your comment- there will be no movement against you, evidence that your bigotry against Christians is perfectly acceptable in this country.

I don't wish to change your thinking in regards to the unprovable "theory" of evolution (repudiated by Darwin himself), but would ask you to question your comments in light of your pretense of being objective.

Clarence Thomas - A Role Model

I ashamed to admit I have a half dozen half-read books sitting on my nightstand.

My intentions are good but most of the time I just don't find the read compelling. Not so with this book. I couldn't put it down. I got the book last night about 7pm after looking through the mail and finding my package from Amazon. I just finished it and it is truly inspiring.

I will pass this book on to Kellen and the rest of my kids as required reading. Clarence Thomas came from extreme poverty in rural Georgia and has risen to the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. I was made aware of this book by listening to Justice Thomas being interviewed on the Rush Limbaugh Show and Mark Levin Show.

I don't think I have ever heard Rush extol a book like he did with this one.

I find the single most striking thing about Justice Thomas is his humility. He give all the glory of his successes to God -- without exception.

The second most incredible thing is that he always refers to his wife as "my best friend". I find that to be the deepest love imaginable.

His journey has so many lessons to teach all of us. This book is certainly on my short list of best books EVER.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Apologies (to the 3 of you who read my blog) for the long delay since the last post.

It has been "that time of year" when I work 16 hour days + soccer coach + taxi driver for four great kids to and from church and school activities + try to be a good husband. Blogging has to take a back seat during Sept and Oct.

I thrive on the busyness for two months but I look forward to putting on the brakes a bit, too. Sales are -flat to soft- in reflection of Michigan's bad economy - thanks Jennifer. Fortunately, I have sold 2 new all school accounts to run this year + I have sold 2 new additional all-school accounts to run this year. I sold these in between doing kick offs at other schools.

What else is new? Oh ya- PC no more! That's right- I'm switching to Mac! It's interesting that I started as a Maccer back in the late 80's and loved the IIsi I bought in 91 which helped me through numerous job activities. Then I got caught up in the Windows craze and cheapness of the hardware/software. So for about 13 years I have been in the PC desert with the bugs and error messages: dll error this, line command error that, screen freezes and other numerous Microsoft quirks.

I am in the market for laptop and was pretty set on a Dell as of about a week ago. Then a friend showed me his Apple MacBook with a program called Parallels which simultaneously runs Windows and Mac OSX! (I wanted to say "at the same time" but then realized that would be redundant). The speed, smoothness and simplicity of the interface was breathtaking. So I started to do more research on compatibility issues I may have after getting a new Mac.

None so far.

Any MS Office document (Excel, Word, Powerpoint) can all be SAVEed AS.. any format in the universe. Not only that-- but there is a free open souce program called OpenOffice for Mac that makes all interoperations with my multitude of contacts transparent.

All this with the stable, bug free and time tested platform of Apple.

I guess I'm not too old to... think different.

A Loss Indeed

What a fitting setting for a remembrance of Luciano Pavarotti. A southeasterly view of the Mackinac Bridge from a parking lot in St. Ignace. A bridge that has stood the test of time for 50 years. Pavarotti stood the test of time also, a time when mass musical tastes had degraded from the quality of trained talent to the likes of Britney Spears.

A man of furious talent, he was the role model for thousands of voice students the world over. My voice teacher in college kept a TIME magazine cover of Pavarotti on his piano as a constant reminder of vocal perfection.

He passed away last night, succumbing finally to pancreatic cancer. It is a loss, indeed.

May he rest in peace.

et lux perpetua luceat eis

Things That Make You Go...."hmmm"

Legally Correct Swimming Rules

2007
SWIMMING RULES
OTSEGO COUNTY SPORTSPLEX
(legally audited by Dewey, Cheatam and Howe)

1. Everyone in the water should wear a buoyant helmet at all times.
2. No extreme movements shall be made by swimmers.
3. No throwing of any objects in the water including foam balls, Q-tips or cotton filled clothing.
4. No talking loudly at any time. Loud talking can distract a swimmer from proper breathing putting the swimmer at risk for drowning.
5. All swimmers must have a medical exam with a doctor’s signature submitted to the lifeguard prior to swimming.
6. No diving head first.
7. No diving feet first.
8. No belly flops.
9. No aberrant behavior or disrespect towards over zealous lifeguards will be tolerated.
10. Any swimmer caught having fun will be asked to leave the Sportsplex.

The Management

Disorganized GSL

Never have I seen such as dysfunctional organization as I have seen with the Gaylord Soccer League. Where do I begin? I have been a soccer parent for two years and now I am a coach.

Let me start by saying the good things. The grass and fields are exceptional. Ummm-that’s about it.

There is CLEARLY little to no leadership at the top of this organization. It started at the coaches meeting when I got my packet full of information and calendar. They had me down as coaching 14 U14 boys. They provided my 14 shirts, 14 shorts and 2 pairs of orange socks. This was my initial indication of something wrong at the top.

I promptly turned around- called and mailed (I paid for stamps) every U14 player introducing myself and providing a detailed calendar and snack schedule.

About a week later after a week of practice I got an email from the assistant director of coaches- that the schedule had completely changed. So I re-printed a whole new set of schedules and handed them out at practice.

Yesterday, Saturday, August 25, I was at the field at 8:30 AM with the rest of the team warming up for our 9AM game in the rain. There we were- ALL OF US, stretching and exercising and getting ready to play.

At 9AM there was NO referee and NO other team to play. It turns out that the other coach “never got” the email sent by the league board about the new schedule. Apparently, the ref “never got” the memo either.

So there we stood in the cold rain not even sure who to confirm the opposing team forfeiture to.

If that was all- it would be bad enough – but what set me off on this blog this morning was going to the GSL website and not being able to get any good information. They still have calendar postings from 3 weeks ago (read: site not updated daily during soccer season). When attempting to find our official schedule the website makes me type is a players name and birthday to see the schedule. (WHY CAN’T COACHES GO ONLINE TO CHECK THE SCHEDULE?) So I type in my son’s info and an error message came up. (?!?!?!?!)

Shouldn't coaches have a designated area on the wesite?

The GSL has such great facilities; it’s a shame that incompetent leadership could be its downfall.

Bush Fatigue

Peggy Noonan nails it. Check out her latest column American Grit.

You only need to read the first few paragraphs, but the bottom line is: if Peggy Noonan is turning on "W" - it's getting bad.

I have been feeling more and more an annoying indifference to "W". We really don't seem out to win the war in Iraq but rather to manage a conflict. The politics of war and diplomacy have shifted soft in the last 100 years so much now that we as a country are afraid to do the hard and dirty work that must be done to defeat this incessant enemy.

America's new rules of engagment appear to be more interested in asking the terrorists if it was childhood trauma that caused their meanness. We are afraid of inflicting a Blitzkrieg and our brave soldiers are paying the price.

Largest Walleye to Date

30 3/8" long and 10 1/2 pounds

Friday, July 13, 2007

Approx 4:03PM

Big Bradford Lake - Waters, MI

Caught with a handmade orange Colorado blade double hook crawler harness. Caught while trolling about 1.4 MPH and took about five minutes to get into boat. wooHOOOO!

Copper Harbor 2007