Archive for April, 2009

Fit And Fat?

Yep, it's a proven fact. All you need to do is look at some of the bigger players on your favorite NFL team to know that while these big guys might appear to be fat they are actually fit as a fiddle! And most of these guys can sit down at the trainers table and test well within normal ranges for blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure! By the way, I would never call an NFL player FAT, not if I want to live, I refer to them as BIG and it seems to be ok.

Size Doesn't Matter

At least when it comes to fitness! And, it turns out that those skinny little wide receivers are more prone to heart disease than their blocking buddies! It's enlightening (and encouraging, in a weird way) to discover that almost 25% of thin people are more prone to heart disease than their overweight brethren.

Fit And Fat?

Yep, it's a proven fact. All you need to do is look at some of the bigger players on your favorite NFL team to know that while these big guys might appear to be fat they are actually fit as a fiddle! And most of these guys can sit down at the trainers table and test well within normal ranges for blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure! By the way, I would never call an NFL player FAT, not if I want to live, I refer to them as BIG and it seems to be ok.

Size Doesn't Matter

At least when it comes to fitness! And, it turns out that those skinny little wide receivers are more prone to heart disease than their blocking buddies! It's enlightening (and encouraging, in a weird way) to discover that almost 25% of thin people are more prone to heart disease than their overweight brethren.

Funny thing about the Marines. As much as you think you hate it when you are in it, you tend to only remember the good times when you are no longer a part of it and woe the person who says a bad word about MY Marine Corps! Then, when you first step that un-booted foot on the civilian shore again your new concept of freedom takes on a life of it's own. Suddenly you can eat what you want, stay in the rack as long as you want, grow your hair down to your butt if that's what makes you happy and all sorts of un-marine things.

Naturally, this sort of attitude has great potential for disaster – and brother did I ask for it! All of a sudden I turn around and I am a FAT 55 year old capable of being weighed accurately only by a truck scale out on the interstate! Seriously, at 5'-9" tall and close to 400 lbs. that is nothing short of blobsville.

Long story short, self-esteem goes down the tubes, depression leads to eating, eating leads to depression, a cycle you can ride straight to hell if you aren't careful – and on this hog a helmet won't help! At the point where I thought I had reached bottom I discovered the book, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and saw light at the end of the tunnel. If I had learned anything at all about my yo-yo battle with weight over the years since leaving the Corps I had forgotten it and then it hit me; everything I had put in my mouth up to that point had done absolutely nothing for me but make me unhappy, why not try something new?!

And when I went through my Mother's losing battle with cancer my stress relief was eating. I am paying for that now but believe me, it's never too late to change, no matter what your age or condition. I have already lost a 120 pounds but a guy as big as me can lose that in no time.

Chocolate Really Is Addictive!

Well, maybe not like alcohol or heroin is but there are definately some similarities. The same parts of the brain affected by chocolate are the same parts activated in drug addicts!

Blame it on dopamine, the hormone in us that is linked to the pleasure and motivation centers of the brain. If you have a problem with weight gain you may have fewer dopamine receptors and need more food to get that food "high."

I finally figured out how to describe, what's commonly known as the "angel and the devil on your shoulder" syndrome as it pertains to diet and weight loss. You know the one; you're trying to lose those extra pounds and inches when a temptation comes along, up pops the angel, advising you what you should do, and you know in order to reach your goal this is what you must do. But want overcomes right and you start listening to the dark side, "have some of that candy, darlin, you been so good you deserve it." "It's just that one piece," "just eat this donut now, you can make up the calories later" (with some exercise that never happens), etc, etc.

I heard somewhere that conscience is "internal dialog" and I immediately recognized it as the number one factor in my inability to lose weight, I would commit to dieting then almost immediately start telling myself it was ok to eat this and ok to eat that. No devil required, I was doing fine all by myself, thank you. Even though my internal dialog kept reminding me of past failures, falling off the diet wagon so many times even though successful at losing weight with plans like; Weight Watchers, Nutrisystems, Low-Carb, Low-Fat, Cabbage soup, Grapefruit Diet, I still didn't get it.

It wasn't until I could truthfully acknowlege the righteous voice in my head, a voice that allowed me to see the error of my ways and pointed me to the light of self-discipline and accountability that I was able to succeed in acheiving my weight loss goals.