Football Epilogue

Norman Rockwell's "Triple Self Portrait". Borrowed from website: "10 Most Famous Paintings by Norman Rockwell" . Prints and such:  https://amzn.to/43OWe1H Thankfully, I've been feeling a bit back to normal lately. I'm starting to actually feel acclimated and less in a form of "survival mode". All I have to say is it's about damn time! Feeling back to normal, it's time to re-baseline, i.e. get some perspective of where I'm at and where I maybe want/need to head. I'm thinking mostly in terms of health right now, but could extend this to other areas as I ramble Physically, I'm doing okay. Admittedly, the prolonged cooler weather had put a cramp in my getting of steps (goal of 10k/day). Figuring out my new work schedule also made for some challenges. One thing is true being in more of a managerial role: I have a lot more meetings. This much different than having a technical work focus where I can set something down and go for a ...

I've been using this blog to keep on with my fitness journey quite a bit. I've been writing less frequently as habits are being instilled. Still, it's good to check up and it might be getting time to pivot on to other things that this journey is enabling.  First off, a quick check in though. Since the holidays, I've been maintaining my weight fairly well. The added level of consciousness from daily weigh-ins along with having some good baseline habits is making this task easier. In rambling on with a friend this week, as well as some past discussions with others, being able to maintain in challenging times like winter is a victory in and of itself. I'll take it. When the weather warms and heading outside becomes more comfortable, work can continue on the "next level" goals. That's not to say I can't and shouldn't take advantage of some extra walking or cardio time when I can. Nor does it mean I shouldn't keep working on better eating habits...

Image by Oberholster Venita from Pixabay And just like that, Thanksgiving 2021 is a shrinking speck in the rear-view mirror. I'm grateful for having written my previous post as it helped keep me mindful during the feast. Still, there was a mix of good things and areas of improvement. Thus, similar to my travel report card , I came up with one for social/holiday eating scenarios (again I used this handy table generator website ) so here we go: Item Score (1 to 4 with 4 = best) Notes Water Intake 4 I conscientiously chose water throughout the celebration Alcohol Consumption 4 No alcoholic beverages were consumed Appetizer Grazing 3 I started strong, but found myself making a couple more passes than necessary once the desserts came out Meal/plate 2 Considering it was Thanksgiving, I think I did okay. I took modest portions of most foods, but did go back for some seconds on the ...

One of the big challenges in staying healthy, particularly for those of us who struggle with eating, is when the outside world "pivots" on us after we've established good habits under a certain set of conditions. By this I mean anything from a prolonged change in the weather to an injury or medical condition that might keep us from getting our steps. I started Noom in May. Living in Minnesota I've had the "fair weather" treatment up to now, literally. The days throughout the summer are long. Going for a run or walk at 8:30pm still has plenty of natural light and there's plenty of warmth for generating a good sweat. Also, in doing the math for me, there are fewer celebratory occasions and close-quartered social eating situations during those months. Enter the winter plunge. The days have gotten significantly shorter with twilight around 5pm. It's mostly dark when I get out of bed and mostly dark when I head home from work. The temperature hovers ar...

  Healthy frozen lunches for the week. For this healthier me journey to work for me, I require simplicity. As on top of things as it sounds to cook meals at the start of the week, that's actually luxury talk for those who have time and don't mind the cooking and the dishes.  I don't mind the cooking, but I abhor the dishes. I also don't think there's much actual cost savings and, for me, there's diminished value in taking the extra time that I could be using to jump start my week at the gym or do the laundry. In addition the same thing all week can be kind of droll.  Now I shouldn't be all down on fresh meal prep. A home cooked meal is awesome, but as I mention it's more of a luxury than I can regularly handle on a sustainable program. The flip side is to brave the restaurants over lunch. This lacks preparation, is super expensive and adds a ton of Calories; even if you're trying to eat conscientiously. Subconsciously, I believe I also interpret thes...

Pants sizing is nearly ubiquitous with diet and weight loss. People have their "fat" pants and perhaps their skinny pants as well. I have several pairs of pants that fall into either category. Fortunately, I've now moved into the area where I'm now wearing my "skinny" pants. It feels good to have pulled them out of my closet and frankly I like the look.  One thing I'm starting to notice this time around though is a desire to wear my pants a little higher on my waist. This is particularly true for my bigger pants which now sit comfortably around my proper waist, i.e. where my belly button is. While feeling a little weird initially, as I still have a little bit of a tummy that is now in the pants instead of above, I'm finding that to be a more comfortable position. One trade-off though is I have now lost a couple inches on the inseam. This give me the Steve Erkle about to utter his "Did I do that?" catchphrase feel.  Upon doing some reading (...

Cacti can get pretty wiley. Another trip, another chance for some Noom introspection. Tucson, Arizona was the destination this time. Instead of a fairly regimented work trip, this was a mini-vacation and wedding. I had never been to Tucson and was eager to explore. Fortunately, the area did not disappoint for southwest history, art, nature and food.  This trip had some give and take as far as Nooming was concerned. There are a number of situations that I'm not really my best at as far as diet and exercise are concerned. I list travel as one of them. That said, it's important to reflect on what went well and what needs some improvement.  Two days of the trip were spent amassing over 40,000 step (20k/day) wandering downtown, the University of Arizona and up to "A Mountain". The Arizona dry heat felt good after leaving a rainy and cold week in Minnesota.  With the activity, there was some effort to stay hydrated.  There was also some effort to find the best tacos ...

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay I'm now sitting in the airport in San Jose, ready to return to the chilly weather in Minnesota. I have a little time to kill, so I thought I'd do some reflecting on how the trip went in terms of Nooming and such.  The program is big into logging your food, water, weight, exercise, etc. One aspect I think it could place a little emphasis on though is the reflection. What went well? What could have went better? Where do I really need to up my game? Along with this might be coming up with a couple things to be grateful for that happened through out the day. Ultimately, the scale and weight graph and "end your day" food logs speak for the progress, but it is in the reflection that we learn and grow. If things go bad, it's important to keep shame and doubt off of the table. This can be hard to do. However, the goal is to get better moving forward so an objective and constructive analysis is what is required. This self-coac...

Do you know the way to San Jose? Many people often talk about "keys to success". Sports announcers often bring these things up before the start of a game/match. Coaches, I'm thinking football in particular, make these "keys" the theme for the week. What are the things that need to be emphasized and done well, the sine qua non (I'll let you look that one up), for success. The keys to success on Noom have centered around one concept: consistency. Most of the time the already existing routine helps to foster consistency. During most weeks I get out of the same bed at roughly the same time, use the same toilet, weigh myself on the same scale, grab the same two fruits and two proteins for breakfast and snacks, get the same cup of coffee, take the same mile-ish lunch walk, heat up the same-ish lunch, head home at the same-ish time, coach/work out/run at the same-ish time, unwind at similar times in similar ways, hit the proverbial hay around the same time and re...

Image by Laura Lauer from Pixabay The 45. The typical heavy weightlifting plate in most gyms. That is how much weight I have lost so far with the help of using the Noom app . I have been working with the app for just over twenty-one weeks, so the steady, persistent progress has me dropping a little over two pounds a week on average. This includes the initial weight drop. If I look at just the more recent data, I have been losing roughly 1.24 pounds per week.  Multiplying that 1.24 pounds per month by four (for loss per month) and that's very close to the five pounds per month rule of thumb for healthy weight loss. While I would love to still be on that initial plunge, I'm working to lose in a healthy/sustainable manner. It's important to remind myself that what I'm going for is lifelong change. That's not always the easiest "pill to swallow", especially when passing all the baked and fried goodies in stores and restaurants, but it has gotte...

Not that forty. I turned that a little over three years ago. It's the forty pounds I've lost over the last few months! This is much more exciting than turning forty. Turning forty dawns the realization that you're truly an "adult" adult. By my estimation, this decade of life is the current peak of having to be responsible for stuff. For a lot of us, you need to finish up getting your kids out the door and on with their own lives. You also start turning an eye to your folks. The career is in full swing and you're starting to give the 401K and getting the mortgage paid off some more serious looks. You start knowing more people in your age group who are battling illness, or having life catch up with them in other ways. At times everything hurts and you just want to take a sabbatical from it all, but the majority of us can't. As harshly real as life looks, it's really made this getting in shape journey more important and maybe even feel like a little mo...

It feels like a fluke, a mirage, but I've just blown past losing 30 pounds! As of this morning I'm down nearly 35 lbs since starting this whole Noom thing. That is over 11 percent of my initial bodyweight in two and a half months. Okay, maybe not my initial bodyweight (7lbs, 6oz if I recall), but my initial weight since starting on the app. To put that in perspective I have removed roughly the equivalent of eight - 2 liters of soda/pop/Coke from my person. Part of me wonders where a lot of it all came off of me from. I'm getting the impression that it's little bits from here and there: a little thinner in the face, definitely got some good leg tone going :), and just slimming gradually everywhere in between. More than just the weight, I'm now fitting comfortably into some of the clothes I had put away for "when I thin down again". Shirts don't ride up my tummy or feel quite so short at my waist. I'm even thinking of mothballing some of my larger...

That's a lot to carry around constantly. That's right! I've lost 25 lbs since the start of this Noom thing. All I can think is, "It hasn't even been two months" and "I'm not even changing that much stuff" and maybe a little "WTF?" These last five pounds have been a bit more of a challenge. Life has started to normalize with meal planning, etc. Still, it can be hard to find the time to do "all the things". The mix of work busy-ness, home projects and kids evening sports have resulted in some breaks in getting the daily 10k steps. This past week has also been a challenge due to some very hot weather. It's been in the mid to upper 90s °F (>35°C) here in Minnesota. Fortunately, the humidity hasn't been too bad, but the heat is still very discouraging. Here are some things that are working well: Workday food prep: fruits, hard boiled eggs and frozen power bowls, oh my! Water intake: I'm regularly getting ...

Image by M W from Pixabay  I've been Nooming along, minding my own business and then it hit me this week like the realization that I may never win the lottery; a weight loss plateau. How dare it show up and stall my progress! While I'm happy and am feeling great with the 22 pounds (10 kg) lost, I was hoping things would keep going merrily along until I hit my end goal. As usual, things aren't going to be so straightforward. Now in the interest of full disclosure, this wasn't the best week as far as "the plan" goes. The week started off a little rough with some extra stress and neglect in the planning due to what I'll just call "career related activities" (i.e. an exciting opportunity that I'll write about later if things come to fruition). This had me putting in time on some Power Point slides and such during my usual mean planning and gathering time on Sunday. Additionally, there were a couple more restaurant-based meals this week; inc...

I tried out my cooking skills recently with these ad hoc chicken fajitas. It's so easy a guy like me can do it. The result was super delicious, so much so I made it twice. Once as the salad below and once using the romaine leaves as a wrap/taco shell.    1 Chicken Breast, thawed 1 tbsp. lemon or lime juice 3 Baby Bell Peppers, seeded and sliced into circles 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded to preference and sliced 1/2 White Onion, sliced to comparable chunks 1 tbsp minced garlic 2 splashes of oil salt & pepper Romaine lettuce Pico de gallo (I just went store-bought) 1/2 avocado 1 tbsp. sour cream (optional) Place chicken in a bowl, add a splash (1 to 2 tbsp) of oil, minced garlic, 1/2 tsp of salt and lemon juice. Mix to coat chicken and let sit. Heat second splash of oil in sautee pan and heat on medium. Once hot, add chicken (save the bowl for a moment) and brown for a couple minutes on each side. Remove chicken and cut length-wise into strips and recoat in bowl of seasoning. Pl...

  Here's my progress so far after a month of Noom . I'm down 21.4 lbs as of this morning. While it's a big drop for one month, it hasn't been all monotonic as you can see from the bumps which (not surprisingly) correspond to the weekends.  I also had and still have a bit to give. In terms of percent body weight I've lost 7% of myself (yes there's a math problem for those who need to know my starting weight). In terms of where I'd like to get to, I'm one-third of the way (note: I like word problems).  However, this is really about the journey where getting there is only the first part; looking further out and setting new goals, be it maintaining, losing more or maybe even gaining a little more to find a "sweet spot". I'm intending for what I'm learning and experiencing as being the start of a life of new habits. A few things that have helped me so far are: Doing meal preparation:  I have healthy frozen lunches in the freezer at work and...

Who's hungry?  My Noom journey has been a positive one thus far. Two weeks in and I've pulled a fast 10 lb. drop (results not typical, but appreciated). I've developed a good list of "go to" foods and even feel some of the time as though I can't keep pace with my meal/snack schedule. The app provides a source of accountability and scheduling for how to engage with eating and activity. I've been able to "go get" my daily 10K steps and drink enough water from essentially being reminded and logging the activity. Still, I'm starting to learn the situations that get me in trouble and frankly need to improve upon. Here are three of them: Social Situations Who doesn't love sitting and munching on the delectable meats, cheeses, crackers, fruits and veggies on a charcuterie board along with a cocktail or three? I certainly do, but I'm finding that I continue to reach for the treats even at the end of the evening and regardless of how full I...