TigerJ13 – Days of Change

Still sick.  I basically sound like I am coughing up a lung every time I breathe.  I still managed to hit the gym for some light work outs.  Basically 10 – 20 minutes of cardio, then a light chest/back/shoulders weight work out.  I know, you are probably saying “hey doesn’t this bozo know he’s not supposed to hit the same muscles lifting two days in a row?”  Yes, this bozo knows it.  But when I’m doing light lifting, I ignore it. My logic is simple; the human body is designed to go out hunting every day, dragging weight through the forest, climbing trees to reach food.  What ever.  So a consistent work out, even every day, just trains the ligaments and keeps the body fit.  But, it is not optimal for muscle development.

I think we lose track of the nature of our bodies.  Which, gets to the point of this blog: Food, friend or enemy. 

We use the holidays as an excuse for over-eating.  I know I do.  I feel myself getting fatter and fatter; my only hope is that I can lose some of it after the holidays when there isn’t so much crap to eat.  

My point is, isn’t it possible to eat better when there are more choices around?  Eating is fueling the body.  I want to fuel my body with diverse types of food to make sure I get enough vitamins and minerals.  The macro-nutrients (Fat, Protein and carbs), which we get in excess during the holidays, hide the smaller micro-nutrients.  So, I don’t see anything wrong with having a cookie, if you eat a diverse lunch with it.  Have the mashed sweet potatoes, even if they do have real butter in them (or especially if  they have real butter in them).  All these things fuel the body.  My problem isn’t with the holiday meals, it’s with the day to day stuff.  Which is why, here in this open blog, I confess that I am addicted to Hostess products.  I stop off at convenience stores and pick up Ho-Ho’s.  This is an evil habit, which I am hereby disavowing!  I am making a stand.  I will not from here until the end of 2008 stop on my way to where ever and pick up any Hostess products.  I also solemnly swear not to hit a vending machine in 2008.  And by hit I mean get something out of, not actual strike.

My point in doing so is not to say that a Ho-Ho here and there is what makes us fat, it’s the continual and perpetual use of these products that keep us fat.  So I’m stopping it now.  I’m going to try to sub in healthier choices.  I already started keeping some quick protein bars in my car for Ho-Ho emergencies.

By the way, thanks to being sick, I am down to about 198 pounds.  That’s about 7 lbs from where I was about 2 weeks ago.  Yea, sickness!  Seriously though, it is nice to be on the low side of 200lbs.  Now I need to keep the trend going.

Well, this is the beginning.  2008. A time of change.  I’m new to the concept of the Blog.  I prefer to think of it as a digital diary.  I need to change my life.  Of course, life, almost by definition is change, so I guess I’m already successful.  I have set up the following direction to my change:

• I want to be healthier
• I want to have less pain
• I want to be a better husband
• I want to be a better father
• I want to be a better martial artist

As Sifu says (often enough that it stayed in my head), when climbing a mountain, don’t decide exactly what point to which you are going to climb, first decide on the mountain, and then the area you would like to be.  I’m not going to set an exact point – like I want to lose 30 lbs.  Yes, I could use to lose 30 pounds but that won’t necessarily make me healthier.

This is my path in the previously mentioned direction:

• Eat better
• Exercise more
• Meditate
• Abandon anger
• Be accountable (hence the blog)
• Get rid of my worst habit: the need of always being right and the embarrassment that goes with it.

If someone should end up reading this, I promise the following:

• It will be funny.  What good is the written word if it has no humor?
• I will not use foul language.  After all, anyone could be reading this
• I will site sources.  I plan on bringing up any health related topic that has helped me.
• It won’t just be about one thing.  I plan on blabbing my mouth (or my fingers) about every topic I want to talk about.  Anything from politics to exercise to Zen.

So this is my Diary of Change.  Thanks for joining me.

This year,2007 , I made my first New Years Resolution.  To be more pro-active about pain in my life.  I have arthritis and plantar fasciitis and my teeth hurt whine whine whine.

Well, I made some decisions to help some of these issues… some worked out a bit.  Like I started taking Fish Oil.  Which is supposed to help with inflammation… so far, I haven’t noticed it, but I’m hoping some day.  Other decisions I made, like having some tooth problems looked into, caused a lot of pain, but got better.

 2007 started with a new house.  In March, while trying to install some child safety equipment, I cut open my finger requiring 6 stitches.  My wife joked about how I was being pro-active about pain.  Unfortunately, this also meant that I missed my chance to test for green sash, which is a big step in my dojo. 

In July, I decided to take the big plunge.  Spend a load of money on an “experimental” surgery.  High Energy Shock Wave Therapy.  It’s supposed to really help with Plantar fasciitis.  Cure it even.  The place was supposed to be the best in the area and the worst that could happen is it wouldn’t work and I would be throwing 700 bucks down the drain.

Turns out this isn’t the worst that could happen.  I could spend the next 10 weeks in the horrible and unending pain of damage to nerves caused either by the surgery itself or the anesthetic that they shot into the nerve.  August through October is one huge blur of pain to me. Oh, and my second opportunity to test for green sash was in August.  Needless to say, I wasn’t able to test

So, here I am again, making a New Years resolution, to better myself.  But since the last one turned out so funny, this time I’m keeping a blog.  And I’m starting in 2007 so I’m not grouped together with all the other NY Resoluters!

It hasn’t started off well already.  I wanted to make this Blog a week ago, but I’ve been sick.  A simple cold moved into my chest and became an infection that now requires antibiotics.  Not the most auspicious of starts.

On the plus side, I’ve lost weight already!  Mostly because I haven’t felt like eating.  But I am at 203.4 lbs clothed.  Most of my weights I’ll enter in here I’m sure will be naked, since I can work out in the morning, but this is a start.

On the down side, my Dojo is closed from Sunday until Thursday, and I leave Thursday to party with my in-laws in Frankenmuth.  So striving to be a better martial artist, I will accept the fact that I will have to work on the more internal aspects of the art, and practice forms at the gym as often as possible.

I haven’t made it to the gym in a while, but I have been taking my morning Metamucil (don’t laugh, I honestly believe that taking fiber in the morning is crucial to health, more to come).  And thanks to the antibiotics, I’m not going to be drinking anytime soon.