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La De Da

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

I haven’t posted in so long I wanted to just get something out here to let my readers (aka. “Me”) know what’s going on. I stopped the Oatmeal Diet, again. This time it had more to do with other things in my life that got in the way (lunch date with my long/lost uncle, the midnight release of MW3, etc). I know, excuses, excuses. I may do it again, again.

Diet
I’ve been working towards a mostly Paleo diet these last few weeks. I’ve had the often deviation from this objective as my goal lacks focus. I have yet to draft a meal plan, although I spent a few weeks working with this: smoothies for breakfast and a salad for lunch, dinner open to anything, really. My smoothie recipes are secret, but are essentially flavored either strawberry, blueberry, peach, or mango (at least at this point). I’ll add more flavors later as I get my hands on other frozen fruit. I’m including ground oatmeal (which I turn into powder using a single-serve blender) in each along with yogurt, neither of which is Paleo.

My lunch salads have been relatively simple, which recipe(s) are not secret. I use green leaf, Romaine and or iceberg lettuce chopped into little pieces. I’ll add either canned tuna or salmon, or chicken as a meat on top. I usually add salted sunflower seeds and often carrots on the side. As a dressing, I’ve been mixing virgin olive oil with soy sauce. Mmmm. Not much to it, I know, but it tastes good, it’s 100% Paleo and relatively healthy.

Exercise
I continue to run as I have been most of this year. All my aches and pains had subsided, so like the infamous running moron I am, I cranked up my mileage to 5 miles every time I set foot on the treadmill. It went well for about a week and a half…now my ankles hurt again. :( I managed to squeeze in a 6 mile long run…on the treadmill, that’s boring, but I got it done. Usually, when I can’t run I resort to the elliptical or stationary bike, that’s if I’m in the gym – at home I’ll use YourShape on my Xbox Kinect.

For this year, I’m going to redouble my efforts at building a/n (running) endurance / aerobic base and from there begin increasing my speed. Let’s be honest, I’m already running faster, but it’s still not where I’d like to be. I intend to run a few 5 and 10Ks and maybe toss in my first half marathon.

Education
I’m still not in school and I won’t be going this semester either. I need to get back in there and start working on my bachelor’s degree, not to mention being in school pays – considering the income generated from the GI bill. :) I’ll likely go to ODU this fall. For now, I’m weighing my options and considering different ideas.

Family
Sarah and I are doing well. Hailey is nearly crawling. Jennifer loves school, got too many things for Christmas, and is worried about growing up and becoming all that is a woman!

Work
My job is still going fine, although there aren’t as many “training opportunities” as I would like. I’m not very busy for now, but I know that will change and look forward to the time when it does. In the interim, I continue to help out where I can and am needed, and have been focusing on professional development (in all its various forms).

Minimalism
I’ve already gotten rid of a bunch of clothes. I’m always thinking of what to let go of next. I told my wife yesterday as we went furniture shopping not to create an emotional attachment to any of these inanimate objects. It’s interesting as I think more about living with less, how silly I feel developing a very real, emotional connection with stuff. It’s kind of scary actually, and I suspect precisely what big businesses want people to do, that way they/we continue buying more and most stuff we don’t need.

I’m trying to take this concept of minimalism and apply it to all aspects of my life. It’s more than just living with less, it’s also about living efficiently and in the moment. I’m working on my financial position, relationships with other people, and trying to figure out how to spend my time.

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Oatmeal Diet, Take 3, Day 2 (of 7)

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Bust! I deviated greatly from my original plan and did not eat only oatmeal today. I hang my head in shame as I confess that I had pizza and salad for lunch. In fairness, I was invited last-minute to meet my uncle who I see only every 4 – 5 years. It was an absolute pleasure to hear from him and I was excited to see him. I thought it would be better to simply put my oatmeal on-hold than bring a bowl of cooked oatmeal to lunch and try to explain.

My first 2 servings went as planned, first at 5:30AM and the second at 9:00AM. For the second serving I withheld honey which turned out to be a tasteless idea. Haha! Seriously, it was a little bland. To make up for the lack of sweetener I added salt; I don’t know if that actually works as an appropriate substitute…Hmmm. I managed to get it all down, and washed both servings down with 8 ounces of water.

A further deviation was at lunch drinking Diet Dr Pepper and coming home to 12 ounces of Mountain Dew Game Fuel, a specially made MW3-inspired beverage. Aaah. It’s delicious.

So what’s the plan, drop the diet like I never started, or get back on the horse and try again. I’m getting back up, dusting myself off and continuing for the remaining 5 days. Oh, I had a banana with peanut butter this evening. I have to admit, eating only oatmeal makes for an interesting…experience…in the…bathroom. *ahem* If you know what I mean. Less substance, more oatmeal. Ewww. TMI, I know. I’m sorry, but truth be told – it’s unusual and mildly uncomfortable. I ate the banana to compensate.

Tomorrow I’m back on schedule just as originally planned. Unless another long, lost uncle (or aunt for that matter) rings my tele and invites me to lunch I’ll continue eating just oatmeal.

Exercise: 1H, stationary bike. 19 miles!
Weight: AM, 182.8; PM, ?

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Oatmeal Diet, Take 3, Day 1 (of 7)

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Whew! I made it through the day with little more than 5 servings of oatmeal. I say, “little more” because I broke down and, in an effort to circumvent a debilitating headache, consumed 32 ounces of Diet Mountain Dew. Other than that, I stayed right on task consuming oatmeal at every meal washed down with a glass of water.

For the first meal I woke up at 5:30AM, went into the kitchen and prepared my scrumptious feast. I ate it quickly and then went back to bed for a little more shuteye before leaving for work. At each scheduled time (9:00AM, 12:30PM, and 4:00PM) I went to the kitchen in our office break room and prepared another serving. I measured and poured 8 ounces of water into a plastic cup which I then marked with a permanent marker. From then on, at each “meal” I filled my cup to the 8 ounce mark and used it to wash down the oatmeal.

In total, I’ve consumed 5 separate meals of nearly pure oatmeal. In each serving I added up to 1tbsp butter and 1-2tbsp honey. In my 3rd serving (12:30PM) I added a packet of salt, but decided I can stomach the taste of the oatmeal without it. When you add it up, excluding the butter and honey, I’ve eaten 1,500 calories: 5 servings @ 300 calories, or 10 measured servings of oatmeal (as defined on the container) at 150 calories each.

I feel a little hungry, but not too bad. I honestly expected each serving to be less palatable than they were. I have to admit, eating just oatmeal this time has been pleasant. It helps to have some flavor. I’m adding just over 1 1/2 cups of water and microwaving for 2 minutes which (in my opinion) makes the oatmeal near-perfect.

Tomorrow, I’m going to use honey again, but I plan to buy some jam/jelly for flavoring on subsequent days. I’ll continue to have 1 8 ounce glass of water at each meal, and allow myself only 20 ounces of Diet Mountain Dew. Oh, in full disclosure I should confess I chewed a few pieces of gum which added a handful of calories…but who’s counting. ;)

Exercise: none. (I ran barefoot on the pavement yesterday and think I may have caused a stress fracture on the top of my foot.)
Weight: AM, 184.8; PM, 184.6

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Oatmeal Diet, Take 3

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

As the title of this post implies, I’m at it again – eating Oatmeal for one full week. The gory details can be found in the immortalized words of both my first and second attempts. I’ll spare you details and get to the point.

This time I around I came at the diet from the same angle. I didn’t do any additional research, nor did I come up with a grandiose and earth-shattering plan. I’m still just a guy trying to eat oatmeal for a week. I have been thinking of trying this again ever since the end of my second attempt, and for some reason decided at noon today that tomorrow is better than any other day!

The rules are still basically the same. I’ll be eating 5 double servings which total 1,500 calories over the course of a day. I’ll be eating at specific intervals starting at 5:30AM, followed by another round at 9:00AM, 12:30PM, 4:00PM and finishing the day at 7:30PM. These times were not chosen at random, but have no more thought behind them than a logical way to break up the day so that 5 meals are systematically consumed.

I’ll spare you my specific flavoring plans for the whole week and take that piece of this one day at a time. Tomorrow, I’m planning to either flavor 2 and eat 3 bland, flavor 3 and eat 2 bland, or eat all five servings flavored. My flavor of choice for Day 1 is honey, and butter. In fact, I’ll introduce butter into every serving using no more than 1Tbsp each time. For my first and last meals I’ll allow using milk instead of water as the cooking / saturating medium. I’m not going to count the milk calories, well I say that, I’ll probably end up doing it anyway, but I don’t plan to at the outset because I haven’t fully committed to using milk!

In case you’re wondering, I’m using Quaker Oats; Quick-1 Minute in the large cylindrical container. The honey is raw and was produced in the local area; I bought it over a year ago. I’ll take a container full of honey, the Quaker paper container of oatmeal, 1 stick of butter, a metal spoon and a 1/4 cup measuring spoon. As the clock strikes due time, I’ll scoop out the required portion, head to the kitchen and add water (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups), and microwave for just under 2 minutes. I then add the butter and honey, and voila – oatmeal. :)

I’ll still be exercising and will post that information here as well. I’m wondering how much weight I’ll lose during this process, although don’t be fooled – this isn’t a ludicrous attempt to shed a bunch of pounds. This afternoon I weighed 183.6, but that fluctuates by 1-2 pounds each day, at least according to my scale. I’ll post my morning and evening weights here, along with the details of the day and the exercise I completed.

Feel free to subscribe and/or comment as you’d like. Oh, and please forget that history has a tendency to repeat itself – I’m going to do it this time!

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Y WORRY

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

On my way to work this morning I passed a car with the license plate ‘Y WORRY’. What great advice! When you think about what it is, or means to worry, you quickly realize there’s absolutely no point – and it’s a complete waste of energy. Worry leads to anxiety, and stress, which can cause health problems and manifest itself in surprising ways.

So, why worry? The truth is no one worries about now. People worry mostly about what could happen, or what should have happened, but no one worries about what’s happening because they’re consumed in and by the moment. As usual, I looked to Dictionary.com for a more formal definition of the word:

worry (verb) – give way to anxiety or unease; allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.

The difficulty or troubles that most allow their minds to dwell upon are things that haven’t happened, and in many cases aren’t likely to ever happen. So, why worry? People just do. The reality is, some people worry more than others for unknown reasons, and some people don’t worry at all. (I’m sure there’s some scientific basis behind it which speaks to their upbringing, parental influence (or lack thereof), peer pressure, etc., but I like to think of it simply.)

As I thought more about worrying, the reasons behind it, when and how people do it, I came up with a few ways to beat worrying and get on with your life. I hope these ideas are helpful. Your comments are appreciated.

5 Ways to Waste Worry

  1. Think about something else, anything at all. If your mind is caught up in thinking about anything other than that about which you’re worrying, you won’t be able to worry. The human mind is only capable of focusing on a single conscious thought – fill your mind with something else and voila – you’ve wasted worry, at least temporarily.
  2. Get busy doing something, anything at all. Just like thinking about something else, this exercise will get your body and your mind busy elsewhere. I like to think of these first 2 ideas as redirects, or passive approaches to wasting worry. While they’re both moderately effective, it’s easy to slip back into worrying and lose traction in your life. Keep reading.
  3. Tackle the worry head on. Face off. Mano a mano.Sit down and write your worry at the top of a clean sheet of paper, for example: I’m worried my daughter will get made fun of at school because she’s in a wheelchair. Leave some space and answer the question – Do you have any control over the situation? Yes. No. It’s that simple. Either you do or you don’t. You’re in luck if you don’t have any control over the situation because my next instruction is to rewrite your worry without the worry. Be positive, and present tense. For example: I am confident my daughter will make friends at school who will appreciate her differences. Then write the words, “I am in control.” Say the words aloud. Ball up the paper and throw it away. As you throw away the paper, imagine your mind releasing the worry and your life without it.

    If you answered “yes” that you do have control over the situation, it’s likely either limited control over circumstances, or complete control over your emotions. The truth is you can only completely control your emotions, so it will help to paint your worry in a positive light. Think of all the things related to this monstrosity about which you’re worrying. Now, make a list of 10 things that are positive, but which are directly related to the worry. For example: I am worried my family won’t make it to the next payday without using our credit cards. One of your 10 things could be, “I have a job!” Another could be, “We have food in our cabinets to last us until we get paid again.” You get the point. When you’re finished, post the worry and your 10 positive things somewhere that you’ll see it every day until the worry subsides, or you have to come up with a second list of 10 things.

  4. Breathe. There have been interesting studies done on the importance of proper breathing. It turns out, due to poor posture, smoking, lack of understanding, and various other reasons, most of us don’t take full advantage of the lungs we’ve been given. For those who smoke – you’re ignorantly destroying one of the most vital components of your human body. Shame on you. As you breathe, imagine your mind releasing the worry. Think of yourself worry-free. Relax. Meditate. Slow down. Too often our lives are moving at warp speed and have a hard time keeping up, and often trip over ourselves. Sometimes the root cause of your worrying is that you’ve allowed your mind to become consumed with too much. Breathe. Release a few things from your mental warehouse. Breathe, again.
  5. Have faith. Whether or not you believe in a higher power is irrelevant. Faith is believing in something greater than yourself, believing that there is a universal power available to you, for your selfish use, whenever needed. When you’ve worried yourself into a debilitated state, you need this universal power more than ever. Take it. Use it. Believe in yourself and have faith that your worst fears are only fears and aren’t likely to happen. Better yet, they won’t happen! Release your fears into the cosmos and rejoice in the positive potential of the situation. It can and almost always turns out better than you imagine. Your faith will get you there with less, little, or no worry and give you the peace of mind you deserve along the way.
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