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Getting fit is like watching a Glacier Melt…
Stay with me…the metaphor makes sense!
If you’ve not been hiding under a rock, then you’re aware that scientists are concerned about the high number of melting glaciers. When you’re standing next to one, you think it isn’t changing that much, but when you video over time and then speed it up…BAM, it becomes obvious that it is changing and shrinking!
Think of when you dump some ice into your sink. If you stand there and watch it…nothing much seems to be happening, but if you go away and come back in an hour, then the ice is either completely gone or mostly gone.
Getting fit, healthy, and in better shape is a lot like that. Seeing the day to day changes is a lot like watching an ice cube melt. It is hard to see, but if you keep at it, keep doing a little bit at a time and take teeny tiny steps, eventually you’ll see progress. Eventually you’ll see the fat shrink away, kinda like those melting glaciers.
My “Results” for last week / My “Goals” for this week:
Here were my very modest goals for last week:
Do the morning numbers at least 5 days – seven would be better
— I did. Exactly 5. I missed two days.- Goal for this week: do all morning measurements for all 7 days!
- Goal for this week: do all morning measurements for all 7 days!
- Take my daily meds both am & pm all seven days
— I missed 2 pm doses and 1 am does- Goal for this week: do ALL AM & PM does – no misses. This a big deal because I’m a diabetic and I have high blood pressure!
- Lift 3 days
— Yeah right! Didn’t do a single day. Ugh.- Goal for this week: Lift for 3 days
- Goal for this week: Lift for 3 days
- Move 2 days
— YAY!!!! I actually met my goal and more. I “moved” FOUR DAYS!!!- Goal for this week: Move 3 days
- Goal for this week: Move 3 days
- Stretch 6 days
— Uhmmm…. failed horribly on this one… only ONE day did I do any stretching- Goal for this week: Stretch 6 days
- Goal for this week: Stretch 6 days
- Use Slim-Fast for breakfast & lunch at least 5 days – seven would be better.
— I did this, I think, kinda, sorta, mostly, more than not…I started off tracking this and then stopped, but my somewhat faulty memory of the week tells me that even if I didn’t do this exactly as planned, I did it MOST of the time!- Goal for this week: Use Slim-Fast for breakfast & lunch at least 5 days
It’s always going to be a mixed bag
That last goal up above pretty much sums things up. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Life gets complicated very fast and plans go astray. But as long as you’re doing SOMETHING, you will make progress.
Glaciers are built up one snow flake at a time. They melt one drop of water at a time.
Getting fit is like that, it requires dedication and quite a bit of patience.
Now for the numbers:
I started my newest “fitness effort” about two weeks ago when I got on the scale and freaked out at how much I had gained during the Pandemic.
I started recording my weight on Nov 28th — on that date my numbers were:
- Weight 299.8 lbs
- Body Fat: 42.65%
- Muscle: 25%
- Visceral Fat: 30%
Now, as of yesterday, Dec 7th, my numbers are:
- Weight 292 lbs — Loss of 7.8 lbs
- Body Fat: 42.25% — Loss of .4 %
- Muscle: 23.6% — Loss of 1.4% — Not good! I need to loose Fat, not muscle
- Visceral Fat: 30% — same. No change
See ya on the dance floor! 🙂
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5 – 6 – 7 – 8 — UPDATE! Woo Hoo! Dancing is upon us!
Isn’t that CUTE?!?!
Get it?
“5-6-7-8” as in the count off which dancers use to start dancing and then…
…TahDAH! “Update” Woo Hoo.
I think I shall keep it and use it as a standard “Quickie” header for a four point update post.
Whatcha think?
Five…
You may have noticed a theme in the last few posts and a flurry of activity…
Yes, you have correctly noticed that I’m kinda freaking about about MONEY! It is because I need it and I don’t have it.
Why? Well we are in the Fall.
And “Fall” is when I have to do an oil change on my truck, a tune up on my truck, get my truck inspected and pay the annual registration taxes/tags to the State. It is also when my AAA (American Automobile Association) membership renews each year.
AND it is one of two times a year (every six months) when my auto insurance renews.
And this time $#@#$@@##$@@!!!!! Progressive, which is otherwise a pretty good insurance company, RAISED MY FRIGGIN INSURANCE RATES FOR NO APPARENT REASON other than the money sucking fat cat capitalists want to GET EVERY LAST penny out of people like me who live below the poverty line!
Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!
Yes, I’m stressed. And I need money, so I’m trying to sell some stuff and yes, I’m begging for donations (which no one has ever actually done…) sigh
Want to be the first? The donate button is always over there in the right hand column…
Or you can buy a cool design from my online store: TxCowboyDancer Designs
And check out “My Online Garage Sale” — There will be more stuff added to it over the next little while. Most of the stuff will be dance related in one way or another. — No, I can’t have an “actual” garage sale. The complex I live in has rules against that kind of thing. SIGH
Six…
2010 Worlds – Line Dance World Champion! — Yes, that’s me in the top spot! Graduating into the Advanced Division!
However, the “once a year bills” are not the only money stressor.
There is a bigger one that is directly related to my long-term goals of getting fit and healthy.
(By the way, I use big words – once a gain my spell check had no idea what a particular word was. In this case — what a “stressor” was. I had to add it to the dictionary on my computer.)
I admit defeat. There. I said it. I will never ever “exercise” for the sake of “exercise.”
I hate exercise. I will. NOT. Do. It.
But I do love to dance!
Dance is not exercise.
Dance is fun.
Dance is passion.
Dance is what I miss MOST from “before” my health went to crap.
Dance is what I love to do — which my body “thinks” is “exercise” but which my mind and my heart sees as “fun”
Cycling is the other one, but DANCE has the potential to also enable me to MAKE money eventually and dig myself out of this financial hole that I’m in because once I get to a certain level of fitness, I can start TEACHING dance again! So Dance gets priority over cycling.
And, “dance” is what will help me become physically fit and healthy again! Who Hoo! Woot even! and YeeeeeeeHawwwwww!
But for now, at the outset, Dance is also a money-stressor. sigh
Why? I’m glad you asked. 🙂
I need choreography…
One thing that is adding to my stress levels is that I need money to pay for Choreography.
As part of my (1) return to dancing and competition dancing and (2) as part of my efforts to become fit and healthy, I want / am planning to / strongly desire to compete in Showcase Line Dance next year.
I can choreograph, but my choreography, compared to a talented professional choreographer is like a child’s finger painting compared to a Picasso or Monet.
I have only begun to play around with choreography and that is what my choreography looks like – a beginner’s efforts.
And folks you don’t “win” at Worlds with choreography that looks like a beginner’s efforts! A major portion of the scoring for Showcase Line Dance is the quality of the choreography!
I need the help of a Pro!
I have my first choreographer lined up. She has agreed to do it for $80 per hour. She is an amazing dancer and choreographer with years of experience. She has even choreographed for Hollywood and Broadway!
She thinks it will take 3-4 hours do to it which means that I need between $240 and $320 to pay her for the choreography.
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This has been a good week… Doin’ a Happy Dance!
Life is lookin’ good!
Just a quick rundown of some great things that have been happening to me over the past few days… Woot! Uh-huh! YeeHaw!
- I’ve been feeling a LOT better, more energy, moving around easier, more active.
.. - I am now within spittin’ distance of 300 lbs! Woot! This will be a major milestone, just a few more pounds!! Yay!
.. - I’ve started planning for next year’s “Dance Competition Season” Woot! Check out my updated Calendar to see which events I think I’ll be attending… — I’ve started looking at dances and music for next year. I’ve already been invited to perform in the Saturday night show at the Texas Hoedown in March! Thank you Virginia for the invite! I start rehearsals on Monday. It will so good to get back into the studio!
.. - My Blood Glucose levels are mostly within the target range. My big challenge is taking my meds on a regular schedule. My sleep cycle keeps messing up my “take the meds” time. *sigh* but it is getting better! Progress! Not Perfection! Woot!
.. - I’ve been cleaning out old files on my computer, sorting them, deleting them, renaming and organizing the ones I need/want to keep.
.. - And over the past few days, I’ve had a sudden surge of folks buying stuff off of my design store: TxCowboyDancer Designs! Woot! Uh-huh! It really does make me feel good when something I created is bought by someone who thinks highly enough of it to lay out some cold hard cash. Even at a measly 10% commission. But hey, I ain’t gonna turn it down! Woot!Here is the current “Top Dozen” most popular designs on my site:
- Also in the “graphic design” front, one of my very favorite designs was purchased this week *and* it appears in the Top 12 for the first time! Woot! It is a photo I took when I visited Banff, just outside of Calgary, Canada. I fell in love. I actually checked job listings at their local library when I got back home to Texas. Alas, there were no openings. *sigh* Here is the photo for your enjoyment (or if you wanna buy something with it on it, well that works too!) LOL
I mean, I’m not a pro photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes you get lucky… *sigh* I wish I could go back….
- And, finally, I’ve noticed over the past few days that I am more flexible, I’m able to reach and twist more that I could a month ago. Life is good.
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The future is looking brighter…
Yes, I’m aware that it ain’t gonna be easy…
…but for the first time in a VERY long time I am optimistic that I will actually get fit, healthy and dance again! What’s that? Do I hear the teeming masses asking “But why do feel this way Tony?” I thought I did… 😀
Brace yourself, you’re about to enter Tony’s brain…. where you’ll see a chain of thought that will mystify and amaze you!
But first because I’m in SUCH a good mood, I’m going to give you the “short version” — I’m going to tell you the ROOT SOURCE of all this awesome positiveness:
The diabetes medications I’ve been taking for a little over two weeks now are working.
Which means I’m not as hungry all the time.
Which means I’m loosing weight.
Which means I’m feeling better, both physically and psychologically.
I’m moving more. I have more energy. This morning, I saw a number on my scale that I’ve NOT seen in a long time… [drumroll please] … 310 lbs! Yay me!
One of the most frustrating things over the past couple years has been working to get fitter and healthier and NOT seeing any friggin results!
Who knew that there was this underlying obstacle called “diabetes” which had to be dealt with first BEFORE my hard work would produce? Well, now I know. Now the meds are doing their job. Now I’m working at getting fit. And best of all… …Now I am seeing results. Life is good.
About that tour of my brain…. heh he he heh
I updated my Event Calendar / Schedule
You can clicky click on SCHEDULE any time up in the menu at the top of my blog from any page in my blog. Or if you are really not into scrolling you can click this awesome link I put here just because I like you: SCHEDULE / CALENDAR
I have spent most of today updating my calendar, looking at the events listed on the IAGLCWDC website, the UCWDC site, the ACDA site, and the World OutGames site, evaluating them, looking at the dates and considering costs, timing, etc.
Toss in a few side trips to AmTrack, to Southwest Airlines, Eurorail and American Airlines, well you kinda get the picture of what I’ve been doing since I got up: day dreaming about competing in dance again!
Well, not really day dreaming, exactly.
Let’s be generous and call it “long range planning” and “goal setting” and “motivational imagery.”
I love that last one… “motivational imagery.” Sounds cool don’t it?
Goal Setting
When setting goals you need two kinds: Read the rest of this entry
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Macro, Micro, and Meta-Mucil
There is actually a “Method” behind the madness…
If you’ve been reading my blog recently you know where I’m coming from:
333-335 lbs at my heaviest,
not healthy in any sense of the term,
and certainly not fit!
But I’ve not really talked very much about where I’m going.
And I’ve not talked very much about how I’m getting there.
Oh, I will… I definitely will. Watch for future posts on specific techniques.
For now, so you have some context in which to place this post you are reading, I have to very briefly give you a broad overview of what is going on as I make this journey to Health & Fitness.
Basically, I’m applying organizational skills that I acquired from my former life as a librarian to the task at hand. Business practices like Gantt charts, procedural assessments, time management techniques, task efficiency studies, task check lists, etc.
The reality “on the ground” is that my life is in a certain state (one which I don’t like).
I strongly desire it to be in a radically different state! Getting from here to there, Read the rest of this entry
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 