Thursday, November 25, 2010

Doing My American Civil Duty and Giving Thanks

2010 was a good year for which to give thanks.

I am thankful that both my parents are doing all right. They both had some strife this year, but have come out of it on the other end ok. Thank you both for everything you do, you are the world to me. You have always been there for me, and I will always be there for you.

Thanks to Carl, Ruth and Connor for putting up with me and putting me up so much this year. I am thankful to have a new car, and with it, I tried to get up to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephew more than in years past.

Thanks for showing me the ropes of wine tasting, Carl, Michelle, Lynda, Mike and all your North Bay friends. I got a new activity this year, and it's actually a mature one. I think the adult may finally be trying to get out in me, thankfully.

Thanks to all my social media and real life friends that helped support and motivate me with the weight loss this year. Sabrina, thanks for competing with me and helping give me the kick in the butt I needed to get going. Shevonne, thanks for introducing me to MFP and Daily Mile. Tony, Robert, and Jason thanks for all your words of encouragement.

The economy started to rebound a little this year, and I'm definitely thankful for that as well as gainful employment. Thanks to the crew at work for being the greatest - Teresa, Carrie and Elaine you make every day a joy!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

My Holy Grail is a Healthy Lifestyle (Currently Paused)


For those of you that have found interest in my weight-loss quest, you may have noticed it's been quiet lately. For those of you that can't wait for me to stfu on how many calories I've burned or how many laps I walked around the block, you may have found a reprieve from my onslaught. I'm sorry and you're welcome, in that order.

I am nothing if not consistent, and for the past year this has been the story of me on a diet. For two or three months, I go at it. I'm gung ho. It could be that I found a book to inspire me, and that's enough to keep me going for a few months. Or, maybe there's some cool app for the iPhone where I can track my calories or GPS my walks around the hood. Whatever, there's usually something to prod me along for about 90 days, tops. Then, I stall/plateau/getbored.

In everything there's supposed to be both good and bad, that whole yin-yang philosophy, right? In my case, I have every intention of being absolutely perfect on my diet, but realize perfection kind of isn't my thing. So, I'll go solid for a bit, then be bad for a short while, more good, a little more bad, etc. It's been strangely consistent, too. For those first two-three months I'll be incredibly motivated, blab about it all the time, and chalk up dozens of lbs lost. Then, I lose it. I don't know how or why, but it's gone. During the downtime, which has been in intervals of three to six week periods over the past year, you won't hear a peep from me about the quest, I put back on some of the pounds I lost, and I get depressed.

Eventually, I can't take anymore of the reversal of fortune, so I hop back to it. The best part is, the cycle is totally working in my favor. I don't have the whole past year meticulously coded anywhere, mostly because there's only a few months of data on any of the services I've used before I got bored with them. But it's kind of gone something like lose 20, gain 5, lose 30, gain 10, lose 25, etc.

So, what am I getting at with all this? I'm near the end of one of the bad cycles, have put back on 15-20 pounds from my recent losses, and hopefully something inspiring is right around the corner.