Personal Fitness and Health

Most often, I use this blog to talk about whatever strikes my fancy.  Recently, it's been a way to keep all you good folks updated on what's happening with Tabby's fight against cervical cancer.  And while that is currently the most important thing going on in my life, I got inspired to do a short-ish entry on my personal battle with weight loss.  Why?  Because it's my blog and I can.  Also, because the last few entries have been damned depressing (rightfully so) and I wanted to put something positive up.

A little history:  When Tabby and I got married, I weighed 142 pounds and has six percent body fat.  Six.  As in "almost none."  I was very lean, could eat anything I wanted, and still fit in a pair of pants with a 27-inch waist.  Those were the days.  Over the years, (19 of them, in fact), I saw a gradual increase in weight brought on by a multitude of factors, the biggest one being I simply love food and didn't exercise self-control.  I like to blame Tabby's cooking, but if I'm being honest, I did it to myself.  I packed on about 100 pounds of shame.  That's right, at my biggest, I weighed in at 240 pounds.  For a guy that's only (slightly under) 5'7" that's a whole 'nother person.  I came to a monumental decision that is still affecting my life, but in a positive way.  I needed to be more healthy.  In light of current circumstances, I really needed to be more healthy.  So I took a few steps.

First, I quit smoking.  It's been close to three years now, and I'm not picking it back up.  I did, however, substitute food for cigarettes, which resulted in the afore-mentioned ballooning of my weight.  Then I decided it was time to make things better.

Step one:  Gym membership.  The university for which I work (AKA:  "The Day Job") has a "wellness program" that allows employees to take 30 minutes of their day for personal wellness or fitness requirements.  My boss was kind enough to allow me to add those 30 minutes to my lunch hour, which allowed me an hour and a half to walk to the Student Recreation Center (which is the most kick-ass gym a guy could want), work out, shower, and get back.

Step two:  The workout.  For me, it's strict cardio for now.  The elliptical is both my best friend and my most hated instrument of torture.  Every day, I walk to the gym, follow the "fat burning" setting, and flat-out run for 35 minutes.  By the time I'm done, my shirt is soaked, my lungs burn, and my legs ache, but that's a good thing.  I think.  I follow it up with about 10 minutes of intense stretching of my legs.

Step three:  Bonus workout.  To begin with, I still am the assistant coach of the Texas State University Karate Team.  I'm a 4th degree black belt in Kajukenbo, and have the reputation of being somewhat of a sadist where workouts are concerned.  When I show up for class, it's all business, and I work the students until I'm sure they'll be sore in the morning.  I do the same workout they do, putting my body through the ringer until I, like they, are soaked with sweat.  On days when I don't go to the gym (because it's in another town), I try to get out and walk two or three miles through my neighborhood.

Step four:  Calorie counting.  It's a well-known, but often despised, fact of weight loss that, in order to lose weight, a person has to expend more calories than he is taking in.  If there's another way of doing it, someone please tell me what it is.  To that end, I downloaded a calorie tracker on my phone and enter in EVERYTHING I eat every day.  I also add in my exercises.

So how's that working out for me, you ask?  Starting from a weight of 240 lbs, I'm now down to 200 lbs, with an end goal of 180 lbs.  I've dropped several inches in my waist, my kilts fit better, and I can now walk across campus without getting winded.  I can also now out work (almost) every kid in the karate class, which, considering I'm going to be 42 years old in two months, is no small feat.  There are other benefits that I didn't count on.

• Food actually tastes better.  Not sure if that's from not smoking, the weight loss, or a combination of the two. 
• I have a better mental outlook.
• My knees and hips don't hurt as often as they used to.
• My back doesn't hurt as often or as much as it used to. 
• I have so much more energy. 

I guess my point here isn't to preach or say that everyone needs to get on the fitness bandwagon.  I'm saying I did what was right for me.  My body, though far from perfect, is still a work in progress.  And if this little blog entry inspires just one person to maybe get up and try to improve their physical health, then I'm glad to have provided that service.  

I wish everyone who reads this long life and good health!  

And So it Begins... Again...

A while ago (around 2010), I went on a drastic program and lost a significant amount of weight.  In all honesty, I dropped about fifty pounds and went from weighing around 225 to around 180 in about six months.  It was a difficult process, but one I enjoyed and one that came with more benefits than just my pants fitting better.  The next year, I decided to make a drastic lifestyle change and quit smoking.  That's right.  Since May of 2011, I've not had a cigarette.  But there was a problem.  As do many people trying to kick the habit, I put on some weight.  In fact, I put on all the weight I'd lost, plus a few more.  At the moment of this writing, I weigh now more than I ever have, 236 pounds.  And it feels awful.  A drastic weight gain like that does a lot of horrible things to a person's body, not the least of which is joint and back pain, limited endurance, and the overall feeling that it shouldn't be so damned difficult to bend over to tie one's shoes in the morning.

So here we are, 2012, and I, like so many others, are headed to the gym to try to live a healthier lifestyle.  While most of them will give up after a few weeks, I won't.  I've lost the weight before, and I can do it again.  How?  Incentives.  First off, I feel like I've let the entire Kajukenbo Ohana down by becoming such a fat slob.  I've dedicated more than twenty years of my life to the study of martial arts, and I'm not going to be that guy anymore.  Second, I want to be around to see my grandkids (not any time soon, please), and it seems like being healthier is a good way to do that.  Third, Tabby said that if I meet my weight loss goal, I can order a new kilt.  That alone will do it for me.

So what challenges are there?  Well, the biggest one is the most obvious:  I love to eat.  Italian, Chinese, Greek, Mexican, you name it, I love to eat it.  I'm a food junkie.  I love potatoes and gravy, steak and beer, creamy alfredo sauces...  It's tough quit eating the things a person loves, so I'm going to attempt to make the above things, but in a light (but still flavorful) way.  Yes, I can cook.   Second, my jobs are such that I spend an enormous amount of time on my butt looking at a computer screen.  That's why the gym is across campus and I'm going to walk to it instead of driving or riding to it.  Third, time is an issue.  My boss, however, was kind enough to allow me extra time on my lunch hour to do my training.

So here's what's going to happen:  Starting now (as in Sunday, January 1, 2012), I'm on a low-fat, low sodium diet.  Tabby's on the same diet for medical reasons, so it should be good.   Today (Monday, January 2, 2012) I went to renew my gym membership.  Thursday through next week, I'll be in Pittsburgh.  Starting Monday, January 16 2012, I'm going to be in the gym five days a week.  My weight loss goal is simple:  By the residency in June, I'll weigh no more than 180 lbs.  That means I have to lose 57 pounds in 6.5 months.  Can I do it?  You betcha.  I'm also going to be taking photos of myself once a week to track my progress.  Don't worry...I'm not posting them here.  I won't torture you that way.  But when I've lost the weight, I'm going to compile them into a time-lapse thing so I can see my progress.  I may post that.  I may not.  I'll also be posting any good recipes I find for low-fat, healthy food.  We'll start with this one:

Scott's Low-Fat Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients:

• 1 bag whole-grain noodles (I prefer spirals or twists)
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 large container fresh mushrooms
• 1 medium container of LITE sour cream
• 2 tblspns low-fat, low salt margarine
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 package of low salt, low fat beef stock
• lean meat.  (I prefer a London Broil because it's cut lean)

Directions:

1. dice your onion and put it in a pan with margarine at medium heat and cook until clear.  
2. slice the mushrooms and throw them into the pan too.  Cook the mixture for about ten to fifteen minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and no longer feel like styrofoam. 
3. Pour in your wine and stir in well.  Let the mixture simmer and reduce.  
4. Pour in the beef stock and stir in.  Bring to a boil and let it reduce for about ten minutes or more, depending on taste. 
5. Boil your noodles.
6. Mix in the sour cream.  NOTE:  There's a trick to it.  Put the sour cream in a mug (like a coffee mug) and gradually raise the temperature by spooning in some of the hot broth and mixing in the coffee cup.  When you have the sour cream mixture at close to the correct  temperature, then mix it in.  Otherwise, you'll curdle the sour cream.  
7. Heat to boiling and let it reduce. 
8. Set your oven to "broil" and let heat for five minutes. 
9. Rub the London Broil with your favorite low-sodium steak dust, and let it sit for a few minutes.
10. Cook your London Broil.  CAUTION: It cooks very quickly.  Seven minutes, then turn it over, and it could very well be done.  Remember, red meat is supposed to be pink in the middle, not grey. 

Serving

Beef Stroganoff is meant to look as good as it tastes.  Suggested serving is as follows:  On a plate, lay out a bed of noodles.  Then slice between four and six (THIN) slices of your London Broil.  Using a small ladle, put your sauce over the meat.  It should not run all over the plate.  If it does, you've used too much.  However, a gravy-boat filled with sauce might be appreciated by your guests.  Top with a sprig of fresh parsley or some chives, and serve with steamed broccoli.

That's it.  That's my recipe.  Hope you like it!  And here's the cool thing:  If you used low-fat sour cream and lean meat, this is actually a healthy meal. 

Oh, and happy new year.