Once you start...

Part of what I have been sharing in my weblog have been periodic entries to encourage people to live more healthy lives...start eating right...start exercising.

The hardest part is actually starting, but after getting over that hump the danger is to start losing interest. Or another danger is not seeing any of the benefits quickly enough and giving up. It is easy to digress and fall back into your old lifestyle.

Here are a few pointers to help keep your motivation level up:

1. Set goals. If there are no goals, you really are aimlessly trying to accomplish nothing. The goals will change as you continue. Also, once you accomplish them, you need to set new ones. They don't have to be completely specific, but there must be goals to achieve. My goals have fluctuated a great deal over the past 14 months. Initially, when I started, my goal was to find something to focus on besides what I was experiencing in my life at the time. Then I had a goal weight I wanted to achieve. Now that I have plateaued somewhat in my weight loss, my goal is to lose body fat percentage (somewhere between 12% and 14% is my ultimate goal, but I also have a goal that I would like to hit before the summer is up). Furthermore, I have other goals that revolve around my training as opposed to just my appearance (which helps keep my mind off of the pride factor). I would like to run in a sprint triathlon next spring...so my training is more geared towards building up my stamina.

2. Celebrate when you reach a goal. Part of my routine used to include one meal a week where I did not count calories. I still splurge here and there...but my diet is a little more strict than it used to be. However, now when I have a great week of working out, I will sometimes celebrate with an extra day of rest the next week.

3. Have accountability. This is actually a pointer that I don't practice myself. I have always worked out by myself. Because I have a very people personality, I find that having a workout partner is more of a distraction to me than a benefit. However, most people can definitely find it beneficial to have someone to hold them to a workout regimen.

4. Know that this is a lifestyle change and not just a diet. The wrong mindset can ruin you from the start. You have to be in it for the long haul...not just a set period of time. There are going to be ups and downs along the way, but if you make a change of your lifestyle, it is a lot easier to return to the "ups" if you have a period of "downs". Please see The Practical Way to Lose Fat. I referenced this article in another entry, but it is very insightful when talking about patience and being it it for the long haul.

These are four tips...but there are many more. If you have other suggestions, feel free to share them as well.

If you have the time...

Hey...here is an MIT survey for bloggers...it takes about 15-20 minutes. I took it so see how I compare to other bloggers. Some of the questions are pretty interesting as far as figuring out why they would ask them.

To the Penny

I have a confession to make that will cause some people to cringe. Up until about 2 1/2 years ago, I never really balanced my checkbook. I was horrible when I was an undergrad. I bounced so many checks, you would have thought that my checkbook was made of rubber. I ended up giving more money to my bank than I gave to some of my bill collectors during those years.

Once I was supposed to be "grown up" (after undergrad), I got a little better about things. I actually opened the statements I received from the Bank, and tried to pay more attention to what the balance was supposed to be. I still had some slip ups, but they were much more under control than they once had been, and it wasn't costing me as much.

Three Christmases ago, however, I made a huge mistake. A mistake that ended up costing me about $300.

Since then, it has become an obsession of mine to balance my checkbook. I get online at least once or twice a week to mark off what has gone through, and see what is still pending. As of this past January, with a couple of small exceptions, I had been to the penny with my account for two years. I just balanced my checkbook a few moments ago, and the feeling that comes from knowing exactly how much money I have is a rush for me now.

Borrowing an example from another blog, I will be adding a poll to the sidebar of this site before the day is out:

How many people out there balance their checkbooks regularly?

(please place your vote on my newly added Checkbook Mini Poll :)...see below and to the right)

Healthy Snacking

I am a peanut butter freak!!! I love it. I could truly try it on almost anything...at least once. It is great on granola bars, any cookie, added to ice cream, on bagels, on cheese, on pop tarts...the list really goes on. If I had no self control at all, I could literally eat a whole jar in two days. The unfortunate thing with Peanut Butter is that it is high in fat and calories.

Over the past year, as I have lost weight, and changed my lifestyle to a more healthy one, I have done very well at keeping peanut butter out of my house, or at the very least rationing how much I eat in a week. Occasionally I will buy a jar, but always the Natural peanut butter (just peanuts, oil and salt...btw, for those who get the Natural peanut butter, Skippy just started making one that you don't have to stir...the oil isn't settled at the top like others...I got my first jar of it last night, and it is really good). Natural peanut butter taste different than the traditional stuff (Peter Pan is my favorite processed peanut butter)...but if you eat it a few times, then you can find that you actually crave it over the other stuff, and it is better for you. I would rather have Natural peanut butter over the processed stuff now.

Even though I have feared peanut butter in the past, I read an article yesterday that really points out the benefits of the food: Peanut Butter: A Super Sports Food. The author, Nancy Clark, shows that even though a lot of people have the same fears that I do, peanut butter is really not a bad thing. She even recommends getting rid of the energy/protein bars and replacing them with a peanut butter snack. I admit that I am a big fan of certain protein bars (there are a lot out there that are a small step above candy bars...but some are good if you look at the Nutrition facts. Luna Bars, though advertised towards women, are good snacks...I like the ProteinBar brand too), and I doubt that I will stop buying them completely. However, I have now decided to start keeping peanut butter around again, and working it into my daily calories.

As a sidenote, I discovered Sun-Dried apples yesterday too...no fat 110 calories...and it taste like a fruit rollup.

If you have any other good/healthy/nutrition beneficial snack ideas, please share them.

After the Caloric Massacre

As the dust settles, and I look back over the events of my vacation, I realize that any kind of potential calorie count would be pointless. I was very proud of staying on top of my daily exercise routine (I was more worried about skipping that than anything), but my eating habbits were horrible. Don't get me wrong, I had some good meals in there...but I also had my fair share of bad ones. Not too many sweets, but a lot of fast food and pizza.

Now that I am back in the swing of things, I have a renewed focus on my caloric intake. As usual...this new focus sends me to the researching benefits of the internet and magazines. One article that I found today in particular, that has a lot of good stuff is: The Practical Way to Lose Fat by Jeremy Likness.

The author presents a lot of ideology that would burn the ears of the proponents of the current "diet fads". I recommend taking a look if you have time. His most profound thought comes in the last lines: "Perhaps the most useful tool for losing fat isn't a nutrition guide or workout program after all...it is a trait. Patience is by far the most powerful tool to lose fat and keep it off."

Funny or Not So Much?

By now, I am sure that everyone has seen the infamous Tom Cruise saying: "You're a Jerk" clip. If not, you have probably been asleep for the past two or three days. I have seen it on the news, on the internet and heard all about it on every radio show that I listen to (even this morning, three days after the fact, they are still talking about it on morning radio shows).

At the London premiere of "War of the Worlds", Tom was squirted in the face by a fake microphone that was held by a fake reporter. The reporter was apparently a part of a reality t.v. show that pulls pranks on stars. The show had already pulled the same stunt with Sharon Osborne (who in turn poured a bucket of ice water on the guy), and I heard today that they had done the same thing to some other actress (but I don't remember who it was). The fake reporter was arrested (I guess he was arrested for public display of a prank), and released on bail.

My question today is, "Did Tom overreact?"

I have really gone back and forth on this. I am not much of a practical joke guy. For one, they usually end up failing or backfiring on me :). Secondly, there really is no use for them...the point of them is usually to embarrass someone, or make them look stupid. On that line of thought, I see where Tom was coming from...I possibly would have reacted in a similar fashion.

But at the same time, it was just a squirt of water. Did the guy really need to go to jail over a squirt of water?

Back to Reality...

Well, I was able to enjoy six days of gorgeous Florida weather...its kind of funny, I was told that right before I came down, they had rain storms every night. I saw about two dozens drops of rain the entire time I was down there, and when my friend dropped me off at the airport yesterday, the bottom fell out. The entire time I waited to board my plain they had a monsoon.

I have to say that this proved to be one of, if not the, best trips I have ever had. I was able to relax with no worries of deadlines or responsibilities...it was much needed and well deserved.

I only have two regrets...one, I really wanted to see an alligator in the wild. I don't know why I wanted to do that so badly. I don't even know what I would have done had I seen one...maybe try to wrestle him :). I saw one at Busch Gardens, but unfortunately I was never able to see one at the lakes that I was near.

Secondly, I never went to a beach (believe it or not). I stayed in Lakeland, which is like an hour or so inland from Tampa and Clearwater...so any beach trip would have had to have been just that...a "trip". Not to mention, Clearwater is experiencing what they call the "Red Tide". This happens once or twice a year...there is an algae that kills a ton of fish, and they wash up on to the shore...it also causes people to get a scratchy throat and watery eyes...not to mention, I was told that the smell was awful too. When I saw that was going on, I kind of lost my desire to go to the beach.

The main thing was just getting to rest. My life is so hectic when I am home. I have stuff going on everyday of the week. And this summer has proven to be more eventful (as far as trips out of town) than any other summer that I have had since I have been in school. One of my friends jokingly said that he had forgotten what I looked like :). I also was very proud of myself for staying on top of running. There was a lake about a half mile from where I was staying that had a 3.5 mile trail around it...it was great...and very relaxing as well. My eating was horrible though...we wont get into that :).

Well, I have spent most of the day getting caught up at work, and that will consume the last hour that I have here as well. I will be chasing rabbits again starting tomorrow...I may share a couple of stories from my trip. I had a three hour adventure to try and find a towel to be able to take a shower the first morning I was there that was pretty funny...

The O.J., I mean Michael Jackson, Verdict

Okay, I am sure that the blog world in its entirety is probably going to write about Jackson today, even though I like to typically be more creative and not join the bandwagon of the spotlight topics, I feel since I am a child of the 80's, I need to at least share my opinion.

Even though I owned Michael Jackson records and tapes growing up, and I owned the making of Thriller on VHS, and I at one time thought it was cool to wear one glove...when Mike became the freak that he now is, I began to not pay much attention to him.

Due to the media coverage, there is no way to not pay attention to him right now. In fact, I heard that out of the hundreds of potential jurors, there were only two that said they knew nothing about the accusations and the previous court settlement.

My opinion (if you didn't pick it up from my title) is, honestly, I wanted to see him go to jail. I know that I do not have all of the evidence in front of me. I know that it is possible that these families were trying to simply make money. I know that everyone is "innocent until proven guilty". However, Michael Jackson is not right in the head. Seeing what he has done to his skin and face over the past two decades...the fact that these boys were in the situation that they were invited into...the fact that he offered kids alcohol and that they had access to pornography while at his "Neverland" Ranch...the fact that he hung his own child over a balcony...the list just goes on.

I have no idea how in the world he got out of this...I guess if you have enough money, you can buy your way out of any trouble.

Florida Eve

Hello all...it has been so crazy the past week or two. Once I missed one day of consistently writing an entry a while back, it was all down hill from there. I have been so busy in and out of work that I have barely had time to breathe, let alone make time to write a blog entry :).

Even though I have a ton of stuff to do today, I wanted to take time to write an entry or two because I will not be able to for the next week. Why you ask? I am stinkin' going to Florida :). I have been anticipating this trip for about three months now, and here I am today finally, the day before I fly down there.

The problem with being the way that I am, is that even though I am so excited to go tomorrow, and I probably wont be able to sleep tonight (I am like a kid when it comes to these things) I am already dreading coming back. I have already played out in my mind how it is going to be next week, and I am so not looking forward to that.

As I have noted before, this will be the first vacation that I have had in about seven or eight years. I had worked in the restaurant business for 14 years before finally escaping, and it is really hard to get vacation time without simply taking time off and losing pay.

Since today is Florida Eve, I wanted to put the question out there "What is the best/most memorable vacation that you have ever been on?"

I will probably write again today or tomorrow, but if not, I hope everyone has a good rest of the week and weekend.

The Irony...

Not that I had intentions of writing two back to back entries about the Obssessive disorders of my life, and not that this is really an entry, but I just laughed out loud as I realized what I had done earlier today.

Some of you may not find this as funny, but I realized I had written a "Post-It" note to remind me later to write another "Post-It" note LOL.

Some of you may ask, "Why didn't you just write the second post-it when you wrote the reminder?" That is a very good question :). The only reason I did not is because I was in the middle of a conversation with the person for whom I was writing the note.

I guess I still could have written it.
Lord knows why I do the things I do.

The Detriment of being a planner.

I have been going through a lot in my life the past few weeks. Not so much what has been happening to me, but what has weighed heavy on my heart and mind.

Being a 29 year old, single, working/"college" student, who desperately wants to know what the future holds for him can become debilitating at certain times. This has been one of those times.

Don't get me wrong, its not that I am not happy with life. I love life. I love the fact that I have friends that care about me. I love my job. I love my school. I love a lot about Louisville. I really love the fact that I am going to Florida in less than a week :).

The problem stems from being a planner. Being a planner has its good points. When everyone is going out on a Friday night, it is the planner who calls ahead and gets tickets for the movie that will be sold out by the time they arrive at the theatre. It is a planner who counts the number of people that are going to be there so when they go to the hostess stand the number can be given to the hostess as the name is put on the wait (usually the planner's name :)). It is a planner who has the bug spray, so that when everyone is at the lake and the sun begins to set, the group will be protected from the mosquitos.

The only real drawback to being a planner is wanting to know how everything will turn out when there is no way of knowing how everything will turn out. One can plan for every single possible scenario, yet without knowing all the possible scenarios to plan for, the planner is at a loss.

As a Christian, this is where faith has to really step in. When I go through one of these debilitating times, I must always remind myself that God is in control...that he is sovereign over what is going to happen in the future. No amount of worrying now can effect or change what is going to happen in the future. All that the worrying does is effect my stress level for the moment.

Planning is good, I will always testify to that. I will try to plan anything that is "planable" when it is possible. But I must always come to terms with the fact that I can't have all of the answers to all of the questions, and know that I don't have to in order to stay the present course. All I must do is simply plug along where I am at, dealing with the "here and now", and trust that everything will work out as it is supposed to in the distant future.

Salesmen want to make a buck

Okay, here is the deal. When I want to learn something about something, I typically go instantly to the web to learn what I can about a topic to be more knowledgeable (taking everything with a grain of salt of course...there are a lot of crazies on the web). That is my nature, it is what I do...I am obsessive like that :). If I don't find out enough about the topic online, I turn to books, and then I typically lean on the knowledge of other people that know something about the topic as well.

I had a free "Training Analysis" done last night. Granted, after further analysis, I do feel like part of what the trainer told me (during the hour and a half of talking) was informative, but I had to remind myself that this guy is a salesman that works on commission. His whole driving force behind talking to me was 1. trying to get me to buy a training package from him (that cost an arm and a leg btw) and 2. try to sell me APEX supplements.

I left that session feeling very depleted...like everything that I had read and learned, and all that I had been doing was wrong to accomplish my goals. After I have had some time to think about it though, I can really look back and see that that was what his goal is by meeting with me. Since he more than likely works off of commission, it is his goal to make the person think that what they are doing is all wrong...and the truth is, though I can probably change a few things to accomplish some goals quicker, just the fact that I am dedicated to a healthy lifestyle, and do the things that I do, puts me on the road to success no matter how long it takes me. I have passed my one year anniversary. I plan on being active as long as I can. I dont need a professional trainer telling me that what I am doing is all wrong, and forget that so much of what I am doing is right.

There are two morals to this story:

One, if the person that is talking to you is going to earn money from what they are telling you, make sure you sift through what they tell you and take only what is useful from the conversation.

Two, if you want to be more healthy, just get out there and exercise...just start...sit down and decide that you are going to do it and just do it (I stole that from nike :)). However, do it consistently and systematically...develop a plan/routine for each week. That way, if you do decide that you are not accomplishing what you want to accomplish and you decide things need to be changed around in the future, you can make those changes within your routine instead of starting from scratch and developing a routine. Just because I may change a couple of things based on this assessment, does not mean that I have not accomplished anything in the past year. Furthermore, my routine is already in place...I have always been moving in the right direction by doing what I do.

David vs. Goliath

(This story may not be for the faint of heart :) )

Man...I feel like it has been forever since I have posted anything. It has been a busy few days, both inside and outside of the office. My work has really picked up in the past week, and even though this past weekend was my first weekend to not go out of town since the semester has been over, I didn't really relax much. Pretty much every moment was planned (as usual), and I didn't even clean my house or do my bills until last night (let me just say, I felt the tension leave my shoulders when I took some time to get stuff organized...as I was driving to work yesterday, I had such an uneasy feeling about "life" as a whole, and I think it was directly related to the lack of order that existed all around me).

I have a story about the events of my morning to share, but it really takes some background before I share it...this will be a pretty long one (sorry for that).

I have lived in my apartment for about 4 1/2 years. Every year when there is a major shift in temperature, I have had to deal with a visit from this massive bug. Usually just one or two times a year do I have this encounter, but there was one year where I had to slay 3 or 4 of them. I am not quite sure what the bug is, but it is about an inch and a half to two inches long, and it has the ability to fly. It resembles a cockroach, but I have never in my life seen one this big, nor have I ever known that a roach is able to fly.

My very first encounter was my first spring in my apartment. It had just started warming up outside, and I was up late one night of my spring break, working on a paper that was due before the end of the semester. The way that my apartment was set up at the time, my computer desk was in my dining room facing the kitchen and the hallway coming down from my bedroom. I was sitting there, minding my own business and frantically working on my paper, when all of a sudden this monstrous thing comes flying down my hall, into my dining room and lands on my computer desk in front of me. I freaked out...jumped up, knocked my chair over, start moving things around on my desk as it crawled its way to the bottom of it. Finally I was able to squash it and call the EMS workers in to remove the body (joke :), but it did take some cleaning up to remove its remains). As I cleaned up the wreckage (and the body), and my heart rate began to get back to normal, I wondered what in the heck I had gotten myself into by moving into that apartment.

Over the course of the last 4 1/2 years, as I said, I have had several different encounters. At least one a year. One was crawling down my hall (the first time an x-girlfriend had ever seen my apartment...and she discovered it...what a great first impression), another was staring at me from atop my ironing board when I came home one night, one (the one that probably freaked me out the most) was actually under my covers.

Today's adventure is just as eventful as some of those previous ones. I had already hit my snooze alarm a couple of times, and I had decided to reset my alarm for ten more minutes. I had just crawled back into bed, and I began to hear a clicking noise. I thought that it was coming from my air duct, but as I looked towards my ceiling, I noticed the silhouette of something on my light fixture. Crawling out from the inside of my light fixture was one of my yearly visitors. I of course realized in an instant what it was, so I jumped out of my bed, turned on the light, ran to the kitchen to grab a paper towel, ran back into the room just in time to see him fly to the floor and scurry towards my bed. I threw up the comforter that was hanging down over the sides, and luckily caught him coming out the other side. Let me just tell you...I was awake at that point. My heart was going about a hundred miles a minute.

Please, if anyone out there has had this problem...tell me how to stop them from getting into my stinkin' home.

Can Guys and Girls be "just friends"?

This is a question that has plagued me since middle school. I have always had mainly female friends (I would say between 80% and 90% of the friends that I have had since then are girls). I have always had at least one "best" female friend as well. In fact, I can mark certain periods of my life by who that girl was.

I think part of the reason for this is my personality. I am very much the talker. I sometimes would rather just sit at home and talk about life than go out for a big evening on the town. I am also much more analytical, emotional, and sensitive than your average guy.

I am not saying that it hasnt been difficult or awkward with certain relationships, but thus is life. No matter who your friends are, there are issues that come up that you have to deal with. They are different when the friend is of the opposite sex, but issues are issues...you deal with them and go on with life. The hardest issue to deal with in this case is when they get married. Most of my female friends from college now have husbands and families. I am still close to them all, but the dynamics have changed drastically, and for the most part, I am just as close to the husbands as I was the girl.

I have even tried to make it a point to have more male friends in my life (with little success). I was at one time under the impression that it wasnt healthy to have any close relationships with females. I still analyze that thought and have different views on it at different times, but now, especially as I am older, I view my interaction with the opposite sex in a very different way than I did when I was in undergrad. I know that when I talk to a girl, it is not for the sole purpose of trying to hit on her (whether she thinks that or not), as opposed to when I was a college boy looking for dates.

Let me know your thoughts...I can talk about this topic in great length, but I will keep it short for now.

Life...or something like it...

I am simply in no mood to try and come up with some kind of deep thought/comment provoking topic (although I am happy to see the runaway bride pleaded "no contest" in her court trials...paying money and doing community service...she got off somewhat easy in my opinion). I am also just too stinkin' tired...so even though I dont do this much...I am just going to share a brief snippet about what has been going on in my life this week.

I am exhausted today because I am a stinkin' procrastinator, and stinkin' busy. I am teaching tonight, a Bible study that I knew I was teaching about a month ago over Mark 15, and yet I hadnt done much preparation (some reading, but very minimal) at all until yesterday morning. I started working on it yesterday morning at 5:00 before work...went to work...didnt get home from my day until 9:30 last night officially...worked until 12:00 am...started hitting snooze around 4:00 am...worked on it again until I left for work...and now i am leaving work about an hour early to finish before I teach it tonight. I wish that I didnt put things off, but I always do.

I will never forget my greatest "procrastination episode". I once wrote a 20 page paper for a Greek class (covering two verses in Jude and one in 2 Peter) in about 27 straight hours. I got up at 8:00 am the morning before it was due, and worked straight through the night, finishing it up shortly before it was due at 11:00 am the next day. That is with no prior research...i merely had checked out all the sources I needed. So I researched and wrote it all in 27 hours. And for a good bit of time after that, I new the issue inside and out. I would have to go back and read it to share with any depth now.

I really dont mind the marathon papers sometimes. It is kind of a nice jolt to the system. I tend to work better under pressure typically anyway. Furthermore, I discovered that I have inherited this trait/habit from my mom, being somewhat of a perfectionist, if I wrote the paper several days or weeks before it were due, there is quite a possibility that I would rewrite the entire thing before I actually turned it in due to the amount of revision I would probably do to it.

There are many other issues going on in my life that I could write about...and I kind of liked doing this today. You may get more of my life in the future, if this sparks enough commentary...if my life seems to bore you, then you want have to deal with it :).

Mind and Body

A friend of mine pointed out to me last night that I, unlike most, have the ability to struggle with discipline in targeted areas of my life at certain times as opposed to lacking discipline in all at the same time. In other words, at those times in life (i.e. when your schedule is more demanding, and your time is spread more thin...or you find yourself being over committed), when most people slack on their regular routine (or discipline) in all areas (which is somewhat justifiable depending upon the situation and circumstances and how long it lasts), I, on the other hand, still stay very disciplined in some areas and yet let others fall even completely away from my regular routine.

Here is my life as an example...

I thought my life would slow down some this summer, but it feels like it has actually picked up the pace some (until this week...this weekend I am relaxing, and it seems like life is slowing down a little...hopefully it will hold steady for a while once it does). I have been out of town every weekend since my semester was over (that has left m-th here in Louisville). I always have work (m-f days). I still have Bible studies on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Mondays and Tuesdays I have been trying to spend time with friends when I can, but some weeks, like this week, I am teaching Thursday, so I have had to prepare for that.

Within all of this busy-ness, I have still stayed somewhat very disciplined with my exercise schedule, my eating habits, my water intake and being at my Wednesday and Thursday night responsibilities. However, discipline in a lot of other areas has been lacking. My apartment has remained a mess most of the summer, my morning quiet times have become sporadic at best, my laundry piles up until I have about 5 or 6 loads compared to the 3 I used to do weekly.

I have pondered her statement since last night (actually I fell asleep right after the conversation, but I have pondered it all morning), and it has led me, as always, to a few questions for everyone.

Why do we even choose to be disciplined in certain things and not others? (this is really more of a question for myself, but you can ponder it about your own life too).
I have been both the couch potato playing playstation, and the active exercise junky. The feeling I get after a good workout continues to bring me back to it. I want everyone to experience that, but not everyone wants to. Why not? It means a longer, more healthy life. Why have I chosen to be disciplined in that area over something else?

Do we prioritize disciplines in our lives (consciously or subconsciously), and on what basis do we prioritize those disciplines?
The end of my thoughts on that last question actually lead to this thought. Once I have certain disciplines in my life, what is the criteria on which I decide what disciplines are more important to me than others? What makes my health more of a priority to me now than say my laundry? Or more importantly, why has physical health become a higher priority than my quiet times?

Is my friend's statement true?
When most people's lives get busy and/or overwhelming, do they usually slack in all areas of discipline, or are there those out there who prioritize as I seem to, and ultimately stay very disciplined in some areas while others seemingly fall to the wayside?