Day 18 Happy Birthday To Me!

The clock keeps ticking.  Today I turned 36.  It was a great day full of wonderful gifts and surprises.  I also had some great food.  I guess I should start at the beginning.

My typical day starts at 5am, where I get up, make some coffee, and spend some time reading and thinking through the day.  By 730 the pidder-padder of my youngest daughters feet can be heard as she searches for me ... every morning ... by first going to my bed, then searching each room upstairs softly calling for me before she finally makes her way downstairs to sit with me for a while before she starts asking for me to cook breakfast.  Usually by that point, my older two are finally rolling out of bed and our day begins.  But not today.

Day 17 Monday 30 July

Well, this weekend is has been a busy one.  Have I mentioned that in all of this madness, I've been trying to find a new job?  That's about as fun as injecting rubbing alcohol into my eye using a 4 gauge needle.  I have a friend from my high school days that said it well when she said that email has just given people another vehicle to be rude.  As I sit here, I have about 5 doors partially open as I am being evaluated whether or not my past experiences and preparations warrant new opportunities.  How fun.  Let me quickly catch you up to speed.

Day 14- Free At Last!!! (27 July)

This is it!!!  The great milestone I longed to achieve.  Two weeks ago I made a goal for just two weeks ... to see if for two weeks I could hold myself to a strict diet ... stricter than necessary maybe, but strict none the less.  The purpose: to attempt to begin the nightmarish battle of returning food from the "diety" category to the resource category in my life and to hopefully have some form of positive effect on my body's swelling condition.  Additionally I was hoping to see other parts of my life fall into stricter discipline as well.  So, what now? 

Day 13 - Almost There! July 26th

I know I've said it before ... but I mean it.  My wife is trying to kill me.  Call someone ... send me help.  If I disappear, it was no accident.  I am not being ridiculous!  I have come upon a conspiracy theory of the greatest of evils.  She's out to get me. How?  I'll tell you!

Day 12 - July 25th

Today was an interesting day.  I had to be creative to remain within my regimen holding down a difficult schedule.  I sympathize with people who fail to keep their eating disciplines trying to balance it all.  I also understand why fast food is so prevalent here ... and why so many Americans are overweight.  I had to make several choices today not to eat when my body was starving for it.  I experience sensations now I have never known outside of seriously stressful situations.  Without food, I get dizzy, lose the ability to focus (visually and in thought), and it seems as if I can actually feel my pulse changing ... rushing, then crashing in some crazy cycle.  When I eat food, I can instantly feel the symptoms declining, almost as if I can feel my own body absorbing it and distributing it as fuel.  Sound familiar anybody?

Day 11 Let Me Catch You Up! (24 July)

So ... I took a day off from the scribing of my revolutionary journey ... or ceaseless complaining, depending on how you look at it.  Well that day turned into two (sorry).  I don't regret taking Sunday off .. but I did miss our therapy session ... and no, I will not pay you a dime.  But I will catch you up.  So off we go.

Day 8! What A Day!!!

Today was my youngest son's first birthday!  Jaryn made out like a bandit! But I'll get to that when the time is right ... let my tell you about my continued food adventure!

Day 7!!! One Week Down, One To Go!

The agony!  Is this an ongoing theme?  It will be for as long as I am trying to redirect myself here.  As I continued my trek to eating like some form of cattle, today would bring a couple of new obstacles.  But do cattle eat chicken?  I hope not.  If I walked up onto a cow gnawing on a chicken, I would quickly exit the scene.

Day 6 ... Almost One Week Done!

I discovered today a loophole in my plan.  Subway sells the veggie n cheese sandwich for $5 ... which I am sure most of you (whoever you may be) know.  I knew that!  I was a closing manager at Subway years ago (pre-Army).  But I never actually ate one.  Who would want a salad in bread?  Well, hold the cheese and the gasps, what this thing needs is an applause! 

Day 5 Done!

Did any of you ever do that New Year's Resolution thing with getting back in shape?  You know how that works.  You swear you will do right and convince yourself of your strength and resolve.  Then you recruit your friends to be your concrete support.  Then you get invited by one of them to a gathering where every food you promised not to eat seems to be getting thrown at you.  You justify a simple compromise writing it off as a snack.  After all, you would eat properly if the food on your plan was there ... and you pride yourself in your new found ability to use moderation.  That is the goal isn't it?  Moderation.  And then you moderately eat everything in sight.  At that point, you realize that you have just totally violated everything you previously committed yourself to.  In that moment, you breathe easily deciding that you will wait till spring because that will better fit your schedule considering all of the dinners you are going to have to go to .. and forget all about Easter and the spring holidays...just like you did last year.

I am not going to be that guy this time.

Sub Post (Day 4): You Want To Know This!

Check this blog out ... I went to high school with Jordan ... her blog is amazing.  Tons of recipes for you cooking show types ... I will be attacking it!

http://www.cuitsansfour.blogspot.com/

Day 4 Down! (July 17th)

I think I am having sweet tea withdrawals!

Seriously, I feel I belong in some group somewhere admitting my dependency on the nectar of a liquid made from simply cooling and diluting boiled leaves with dissolved sugar.

Day 3 In The Books (July 16th)

There must be a law of the universe that states when you decide to make a move to put your life back into disciplined order that every opportunity of vice you've ever wanted will immediately present itself.

Day 2 Down (July 15th)

So I had the thought that maybe I would get divine assistance today, being Sunday, considering what  I do.  Well... I am learning that obviously the Divine desires me to develop some sort of muscle from my will of jelly.

Day 1 (Saturday Jul 14)

Day One of my diet (yesterday was Day Zero) is down. It was an exhilerating accomplishment which included a buffet of diet offenses ... and felonies.

Sub Post ... This Is Going To Vacuum!

It's 936pm and I have already considered eating one of my children ... how can I be this hungry? 

The Time Haz Come!

So ... once upon a time I was a ripped specimen of human performance.  While serving my second hostile fire tour in Bosnia, I was severely wounded ... an incident that would forever alter the direction of my life.  The nature and details of the incident I do not feel like clarifying, though they are forever tormenting me, but the after affects I have to deal with ... primarily ... pain.  No escape.  Can't run, can't bike, can't climb.  My left hip, right shoulder, back, and knees are shot.  The result of my inactivity have been terrible.  In 1997 I was 205 lbs of pure muscle.  After my surgeries and recoveries I was down to 169 lbs.  Today I am resting at a light 236 ... which may not seem like a lot compared to modern obesity issues ... but this is about me .. and getting me healthy.  I can see my neck popping out from under my chin when I look at my feet ... and the pear shape that I have come to stop denying has got to go!

So why this extreme?  Well today I saw a friend that I haven't seen in a few months and he had lost a significant amount of weight ... I was sure he had found a strenuous routine that had worked ... but he didn't.  What he did ... worked ... and we all can do it.  I will share it shortly.