LOL - Not Really LMAO but LOL

A guy calls a company and orders their 5-day, 10 lb. weight loss program..

The next day, there's a knock on the door and there stands before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19 year old babe dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck.

She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company. The sign reads, 'If you can catch me, you can have me.'

Without a second thought, he takes off after her. A few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gives up..

The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens.

On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 10 lbs. as promised.

He calls the company and orders their 5-day/20 pound program.

The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning, beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life.. She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, 'If you catch me you can have me'.

Well, he's out the door after her like a shot. This girl is in excellent shape and he does his best, but no such luck. So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape.

Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 20 lbs. as promised. He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7-day/50 pound program. 'Are you sure?' asks the representative on the phone... 'This is our most rigorous program.'

'Absolutely,' he replies, 'I haven't felt this good in years.'

The next day there's a knock at the door; and when he opens it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that reads, 'If I catch you, you're mine.'
 
He lost 63 pounds that week.

Complacency Is the Enemy of Success

com·pla·cen·cy   /kəmˈpleɪsənsi/ Show Spelled[kuhm-pley-suhn-see]

–noun,plural-cies.

1.a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.

Every now and then, we all get over confident.  Complacent.  Well, for me that time, for this goal, came this week.

I went along, through the week with the "Everything is just fine" attitude.  That led to a bite of chocolate here, a Dairy Queen Blizzard there (in my defense - I had not consumed all of my available calories for the day ... Just sayin').  Skipped exercising a couple of times because "I'm doing good!  Once won't hurt."  OK, maybe that is true, if you say it once in a while ... Not three times in one week.

I did not lose the weight I could have.  In fact, not even a pound.  I know that I cannot expect tremendous success each and every week.  But, I also know that when you loose sight of the goal because of complacency, you cannot expect success at all.

Am I foolish enough to think that this will be the only time I will face this "enemy" ... nope.  What I do know is --- Right now I have regained my focus.  And I am ready to keep moving towards my goal.

What does it all mean?!?!?!?!??!  All goals have challenges.  All challenges have solutions.  The hcallenge of complacency is common, we all get there.  The keys? 

1. Catch it early
2. Kick it's ass
3. Start again

I heard a quote this week that sums it up pretty well:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison

Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you back here soon.

Mission Accomplished! (Step 1)

The end of week three brought a very nice surprise ... Mission accomplished! The first 15 pounds is gone! Well, actually it was a little more, but I'll take it!

The next step is just like the first one, 15 pounds in 30 days. For this step, I am going to continue doing what I have been: Keep an eye on what goes in and keep my fat butt moving.

Thanks to the flu and the little bastard bacteria that decided it was a good idea to follow it into my lungs, throat and chest, I met with my doctor last week. She was very excited that I had finally decided to take this on. She did mention that 15 pounds every 30 days is a bit ambitious. So, we’ll see how I do in this step.

The great thing about this plan is flexibility. If I need to make a change ... I can and I will.

Going it alone would suck! Glad this doesn't suck! The support I have received has been, again, overwhelming. I can't thank everyone enough for all of the encouragement and love.

I owe y'all some posts. They're comin'. I promise!

Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you back here soon.
- Randy

Link-tastic

OK, the title is lame.  I have the flu.  Give me a break.

While sitting around surfing the Internet the past couple of days, I have come across some good links to help win the battle.

17 Arse-kicking Strategies to Stick to Your Diet and Get Fit
Am I Hungry
Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat

The last link is the blog associated with the book Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat by Dr. Michelle May MD from right here in Scottsdale.  I am reading it now.

I hope these links and information helps!

Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you back here soon.
- Randy

Week 1 - Done!

Well I made it through week one! Still alive! Still breathing!

First, I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support! I received emails and comments from so many. It means a lot to hear the great words of encouragement and love. Thanks, soooo much!

Picking my birthday week to start this process was a tad short sighted. My family made me a great cake (strawberry with strawberry frosting!) and took me out for a wonderful birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Using my new found will power, I was able to hold off the urge to eat as much cake as would fit on my plate. As for dinner, I eat like a bird for most of the day and eat as I pleased at dinner. Better decisions!

The other challenge for the week was controlling stress eating. This week turned out to be a non-stop circus. All it took was the love and support of a wonderful family to see my way through it. I am a lucky man!

As I move into week two, I will be working to refine my daily and overall initiatives. I will have a post on them this week too.

I will also start a "Lessons Learned" page.  This will help me keep track of the things I have learned and hopefully help you avoid some of the pot holes in the road.
I am always in search of new and improved ways to get to the end of this goal. Keep those suggestions coming!

For now, I will keep on keepin' on!

Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you back here soon!
- Randy

Food Diarys

A food diary is a great way to keep track of what goes in your bod.  There are several methods for this, of course.  Online, pencil and paper, spread sheet... you get the idea.

Being the geek that I am, I use the online method.  This has several advantages.  First, it is on the web (in the cloud for the geeks in the room) and available from just about anywhere with an Internet connection.  Second, the site generally has a large catalog of items including serving sizes and nutritional information.

One of the best parts of online food diaries is that, these sites usually support thousands if not hundreds of thousands of other users.  Discussion groups for support, recipes and fitness, just to name a few.  You also gain the benefit of sharing your information easily with friends and family who use the same service.

Here are three of the more popular sites:

MyFoodDiary.com  - $9/month
This site is my choice.  The interface is clean and easy to use.  The catalog of items is extensive and very accurate as far as I can tell.  It also provides a recipe calculator, body log, exercise log, forums, charts, graphs and much more.  I have no problem paying for a good product.  This site is a great deal for just $9 per month.

SparkPeople - Free
SparkPeople was recommended to me by a friend who has used the site daily for a year or more ... she swears by it!  It is a great site that offers a TON of features for free.  This site has a very large community.  It's focus in on sharing and community involvement.  The tools are very useful, if just a little "clunky" to use.

MutiMirror - Free
Also recommended by an enthusiastic friend, The MutiMirror online food journal is also very community based.  The tools are very similar to SparkPeople and MyFoodDiary.com.  The main difference is the emphasis on nutritional balance and analysis.  This site is packed with ways to measure and analyze your daily/weekly/month/yearly intake.  At this point in my plan, this site is a little more tool than what I need.

There are others: Fit Day, The Daily Plate ... Lots and lots.  Click here to search Google for even more!

Using a food diary will help you keep track of what you ate, what worked, what didn't work so well and a great way to share ideas and recipes with others that are attempting the goal.

I hope this has helped one or some of you!

Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you back here soon.
- Randy

New Content

I have added some new items to the page.

On the right-hand side, I have added a list of links to maps I have created while on my daily walks.  Also on tht right,  I have added a section for links to sites that I keep an eye on or links to online tools that I use.

I will keep these updated as I go.

Thanks for listening.  I hope to see you back here soon.
- Randy