Blog Archives
Rejoice in the Little Things for “I’ve been a GOOD boy!”
Here’s a quick recap (my friends can stop laughing now). For those just joining the us, the “joke” is that I have a reputation for *NEVER* telling a story in 10 words when 10 paragraphs will do.
Siiiiiiiiigggggghhhh
Today’s post is all about patting myself on the back. Bravo! Cue the Applause! Yay! Woo Hoo! Yippie! Good Job! I rock! I am FAB-u-LUS!
I’ve actually done quite a bit this week towards my goal of “being healthy” and “living healthy”. Each of the things, in and of itself may seem tiny but each tiny step is still a step.
So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I’ve done this week which move me closer to my goal:
- Coffee: Finally bought a bottle of plain white vinegar to use in my coffee maker to clean accumulated oils and coffee gunk from the guts of the machine. (How to Clean a Coffee Maker With Vinegar)
.. - Morning drugs: For two weeks now I’ve been taking my morning “pills” which consists of (1) a daily mufti-vitamin and (2) my high blood pressure medication. I’m not counting this as a “done” thing yet because you really need to do something regularly for three weeks before it really becomes a habit. On my shopping list for this week is “Calcium with Vitamin D”. There is a history of bone problems on both sides of my family in the guys and the gals so I figure it is time for me to start doing the supplement. (Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Calcium) (Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Multivitamin/mineral Supplements) (18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick)
.. Read the rest of this entry
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My Love-Hate Relationship With Caffeine
No! Don’t! Stop!
“No, don’t stop!”
Now getcher mind outta tha gutter! I’m talking about “caffeine,” not whatever kinky thing that was flitting through your mind! 😉
Caffeine how I love thee! Thou nectar of the gods that allows me to survive the morning!
Caffeine how I hate thee! Thou foul tempter that leadeth my body from the righteous path of healthy living!
My last post was a general information article about caffeine with my usual bit of comedy thrown in for good measure. Of course what other people refer to as “comedy” I like to call “my life.” 🙂 After describing a typical day in my love/hate relationship with caffeine I arrived at the conclusion that I should definitely lower my intake of caffeine.
Why you ask, dear reader? Good question. Let me count the ways:
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Getting Healthy is Complicated… …so do it one step at a time.
Over the past few months I’ve been overwhelmed.
Everything has seemed like this huge massive mountain with the summit miles above, insurmountable. And at times I’ve felt that the sides of that mountain were crashing down around me.
My friends will readily say that I never miss an opportunity for drama or a mini-performance. And, in complete candor, they are mostly right.
However, this time there is no drama, no exaggeration. I can truthfully say that during this past year there were days where something as simple as getting out of bed, showering, doing laundry, or paying a bill seemed to be a herculean task; it was just too much.
Getting healthy is not an easy thing to do and when you feel as I’ve felt over the past few months, well “not easy” can turn into “impossible.” At least mentally. The good news is that things are getting better. Bit by bit progress is being made. And for those of you out there who might be feeling the way I did, well, it really does get better and you can do it. One tiny step at a time.
In a previous post (Getting Healthy is complicated and it takes time… …lots of time! ) I talked about how, when calculating how much time you really have in a week, you will discover that it isn’t as much time as you think. And after you figure out just how little time you actually have you should feel proud of what you did manage to accomplish in a given week, not upset at what still remains to be done.
And in another post (Start of a New Journey…) I spoke about the importance of getting started, even if it is a tiny start. We’ll continue now with that chain of thought with a concrete example:
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Start of a new journey…
Well, the worst has officially happened.
Well maybe not *THE* worst, as in the worst that can *ever* happen. But at least in terms of living a healthy lifestyle, it has.
Hmmm….Actually, if I’m going to be completely honest with myself, my current fitness level is not the worst it could be. Things can always be worse.
Nonetheless, the situation right now is not a pretty one.
So, let’s get the facts on the table, engage in just a wee bit of self-flagellation, (Don’t you just love that word?!) then we’ll talk just a bit about what happens next.
“The facts ma’am, just the facts…”
I now officially weigh the most I’ve ever weighed. I have the highest body fat percentage that I’ve ever had. I can feel the effects that living an unhealthy lifestyle have produced in my body. The cold hard numbers are: 279.25 lbs / 37.2 % body fat
Self-flagellation…
Ok, I know that some of my kinky friends will quickly jump all over this and say that I really enjoy a bit of self-flagellation but in this case there are no whips or leather involved. 😉 I got to this point by making choices: bad ones. I know that I didn’t wake up one morning and say “Hey, I want to live an unhealthy lifestyle.” It wasn’t one choice. It was many. It didn’t happen overnight. It has taken me years to arrive where I am now. Small choices that I made, tiny actions that I did, have now accumulated over years and produced the unhealthy me that I see in the mirror every morning.
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Healthy at every size!
Ragen Chastain, dancer and author of ‘Dances With Fat’ — Photograph by Richard Sabel (used with permission of the photographer)
I have a good friend, Ragen Chastain, who blogs over at “Dances With Fat“.
Her blog is awesome! She’s a very talented writer. And dancer. And Choreographer. And a beautiful person, both inside and out! It is simply not fair that so much talent and niceness be packed into one person! 🙂
Be sure to check out her blog and subscribe, especially if you’re on a quest to get healthy. Why? Because she makes an extremely valid point which, unfortunately, is not widely accepted:
You can be healthy at any size!
What she says, in my own words, is that just because you are fat, that does equal being unhealthy. And just because you’re thin, that does not equal “good health“. There are large people who are perfectly healthy. There are skinny people who are unhealthy.
A medical study that Ragen mentions in a recent post to her blog supports this. Be sure to read the post and the study. I read the study. Ok, ok, I only read the abstract. The details of the study soon put me to sleep, plus they were using them thar big ole words tha’ cowboys like me from ta piney woods of East Texas jus’ get all befuddled ’bout. 😉
The conclusion of the study says, and I quote: Read the rest of this entry
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 