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Tony’s Take on: Singer 96-Inch Extra Long Tape Measure
Keeping it Simple – Sometimes Simple IS Best
Task:
Pretty much every exercise and fitness guru on the planet says that keeping track of your progress is a good idea. You can track many things like weight or body fat, but one of the easiest, the simplest, and the best, is to just measure the inches on your body:
- Chest
- Waist
- Hips
You add up these three numbers and that gives you your “Total Inches.” As you get healthier and fitter those “inches” will probably shrink. So when you see ads saying “I lost a bee-jillion inches using XYZ Miracle Diet Product,” the grand total of those three measuring points in the “inches” they are talking about.
Using a tape measure and piece of paper is a good way to keep track of your progress AND it is a very LOW COST way to do so.
Problem:
I wanted to measure my body. So I grab the Read the rest of this entry
Hey Jenny! I’m baaaaaaacccccccckkkkkk!
This Past Week
On the work front: I did a lot of work. It is amazing how hard you have to work before leaving for vacation. And it felt good. I got a lot accomplished.
On the personal front: I did a lot of thinking and planning:
- I’ve been struggling with how to incorporate HAES into my own journey to fitness and I had a revelation. Read all about it in these two posts: “What is Health?” and “Where is the ‘Me” in Health? — After all, it is all about ‘Moi’!“
- I have a new truck. A new truck which I love. But that thar new baby is a catterwaulin’ and demandin’ hard earned dollars on a reg-ul-LARH basis. Akshulee, my new baby has been purfect, but them thar nasty wall street banker fellas, they are down right ornery! And they want me to send them part of my check each month for the next five years. *sigh* Which means that I’m been working through next year’s budget to see how much dance I can afford. The short answer is a whole lot less than I want. *sigh* (Special note to any event directors that may be reading this — I work cheap! I’d love to be on your line dance staff! Hint, hint, hint!)
Some Additional Steps to Get Me to My Goal
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the methodology of “getting healthy” and “living healthy”. And why so many people fail at the effort. An’ jus fer der record, I jus used a 14 dollar wurd! “METH-o-DOLL–O-gee!” So thar! Take that! Texans can too speek rail AngLish! 😉 But I digress; back to the post at hand:
I’ve also given a lot of thought to how you fit any new effort into an already busy schedule. Take a look at the lists of “Related Posts” at the bottom of this article if you want to go back and read some of the articles as I’ve worked through these particular chains of thought.
To that end, I’ve been creating a prioritized “to do list”. A variety of things are going onto the list, all of which I believe will get me closer to my goal of living a healthy lifestyle. Some of them are relatively small and can be easily accomplished, others represent a major change and contain many smaller steps. Many of them represent a change where I replace an “unhealthy” behavior with a new “healthy” behavior.
As I’ve been working on the list it occurs to me that what I’m doing is HUGE! I mean, stop and think about this: basically I’m making changes that will affect EVERYTHING in my life. Some, indeed most of these, are not “do it once then forget it” things. They are “do it for the rest of your life” things.
I’ve created a new page I’m calling “Check List Check Off” where I’ll list all of these items and check them off as I do them. I’ve mentioned that some of the tasks are actually composed of smaller tasks. Check out my post on “Making my morning coffee more healthy” if you want to get an idea of what I’m talking about.
So, on the “Check List Check Off” page, I’ll tackle one thing at a time. But as I do so, that “one thing” may explode into dozens of small things when I tackle it. And as I finish each step, I’ll mark it *DONE*!
Some More Steps
I’ve thought of a couple additional things that I either need to do or want to do that will hopefully move me toward my goal.
- Track my weight and body fat percentage. I know from past experience that if I weigh in on a daily basis that I am more prone to sticking with any fitness effort. It also gives me a concrete measurement of how I am progressing.
.. - Take regular progress photos. This also falls into the category of keeping myself on track. But I also know I’m something of a performer. Knowing that I’m “performing” for an audience, even if it is for the four people who are actually reading this, makes me more likely to keep moving forward toward my goal. Just ask any of my friends. They will readily tell you that given any opportunity, I’ll go into performance mode. LOL
.. - Reduce Stress. This topic is so huge that it would require a whole book in and of itself. So for now I’ll leave it simply as “reduce stress.”
So, there you have it. I’ve made a start. I’m moving again.
See you on the dance floor!
Related Articles:
- Healthy at every size! (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Getting Healthy is complicated and it takes time… …lots of time! (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Getting Healthy is complicated… …and it takes sleep, if you can get it. (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Getting Healthy is Complicated… …so do it one step at a time. (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Step by Step (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Step by, *prioritized* Step… (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Check-List, Check-Off (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
New Jenny Craig Tips and Tricks
While I was fixing breakfast this morning I thought of some more tips and tricks that have helped me so far. Check out my earlier tips by clicking on “Jenny Craig Tips and Tricks” under the “Diet and Fitness Drama” up in the header at the top of this page.
When preparing the Sunshine Sandwich, nuke, ahem, microwave the sandwich according to the instructions but before putting the sauce on the sandwich, put the English Muffin in the toaster for just a bit. This firms them up and adds a bit of crunch to the sandwich making it a more enjoyable eating experience.
When spreading the sauce on the Sunshine Sandwich put the sauce on the bread, not the egg or meat. The texture of the muffin keeps the sauce in place while you spread it evenly across the bread. Putting it on the egg or meat is putting it on a smoother surface and the knife will just push it around in clumps making getting an even spread of sauce more difficult.. .
When having a fruit like a banana for breakfast, chop it up into a lot of small chunks and eat it with a fork.
This makes it feel more like a meal instead of a snack because you are increasing the number of bites you’re taking and you’re using the fork instead of your fingers. Fingers = snack in my twisted brain while fork = meal. Go figure. 😉
See ya on the dance floor!
Some More Jenny Craig Tips and Tricks
Ok, here’s a couple more tips and tricks that have helped me so far. Check out my earlier tips by clicking on “Jenny Craig Tips and Tricks” under the “Diet and Fitness Drama” up in the header at the top of this page.
Buy some nice dishes. The Jenny Craig entrées are designed to be easily and quickly microwaved, part of the reason that I like the program so much. But once the nuking is done, they are not the most attractive things to eat out of. So, buy some nice plates, bowls, forks, knives and spoons.
You don’t have to spend a lot. I found mine at the Goodwill store. Once you get the Jenny Craig entrée on the plate alongside your veggies and/or salad in the dishes the visual effect is quite nice. I’m no gourmet and I’m certainly no psychologist, but when I see the food on a nice plate it does something positive in my brain.
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For a single guy like me, they are absolutely necessary to manage leftovers and to use when packing my lunch.
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See ya on the dance floor!