feed bag

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

self talk

I promised I would put this up here. Zig Ziglar promotes "self-talk". The fact is that we all talk to ourselves, but too often we're lying to ourselves. I believe that what you speak can be prophetic. Not for any mystical reason, but if you are speaking positively, you are in the correct frame of mind to see new opportunities. If you are speaking negatively, it puts you in the position to where you expect problems. Do you ever notice how negative people seem to attract trouble? Part of it is perception, as well. When you're in a positive mindset, problems seem small and the good things are overwhelming. I read the following every morning and every evening, out loud, to give myself a "positive talking to". Anyway, feel free to take this and adapt it for your own use:

I am an honest, intelligent, organized, responsible,
committed, teachable person who is sober, loyal and clearly understands that
regardless of where my paycheck comes from I am self-employed. I am an
optimistic, punctual, enthusiastic, goal-setting, smart-working self-starter who
is a disciplined, focused, dependable, persistent, positive thinker. I am
an energetic team player who appreciates the opportunities God offers me.
I take honest pride in my competence and appearance and am motivated to be and
do my best so that my healthy self-image will remain on solid ground.
These are the qualities which enable me to manage myself and help give me
employment security in a no-job-security world.

I am a compassionate, respectful encourager who is a considerate, generous,
gentle, patient, caring, sensitive, personable, attentive and fun-loving
person. I am a supportive, giving and forgiving, clean, kind, unselfish,
affectionate, loving, family-oriented human being and I am a sincere and
open-minded listener and a good-finder who is trustworthy. These are
the qualities which enable me to build good relationships with my associates,
neighbors, friends and family.

I am a person of integrity, with the faith and wisdom to know what I should do and the courage and convictions to follow through. I have the vision to manage myself and to lead others. I am authoritative, confident, and humbly grateful for all
the graciousness of God. I am fair, flexible, resourceful, creative, knowledgeable, decisive and an extra-miler with a servant's attitude who communicates well with others. I am a consistent, pragmatic teacher with character and a finely-tuned sense of humor. I am an honorable person and am balanced in my personal, family and business life, having a passion for being, doing and learning more today so I can be and do more tomorrow.

I am a healthy individual who is physically fit and mentally sound. I eat proper quantities of nutritious food to fuel my body and to give me an abundance of energy to complete my daily tasks. I regularly take time to exercise my body, nourish my soul, and sharpen my mind.

At Night
These are the qualities of the winner I was born to be and I am fully committed to developing these marvelous qualities with which I have been entrusted. Tonight I'm going to sleep wonderfully well. I will dream powerful, positive dreams. I will
awaken energized and refreshed. Tomorrow's going to be magnificent and my
future is unlimited. Recognizing, claiming and developing these qualities, which I already have, gives me a legitimate chance to be happier, healthier, more prosperous, more secure, have more friends, greater peace of mind, better family relationships and authentic hope that the future will be even better.

In the Morning
These are the qualities of the winner I was born to be and I will develop and use these qualities to achieve my worthy objectives. Today is a brand new day and it's mine to use in a marvelously productive way.

progress

I guess I should start blogging everyday. This past month has been great. I've had energy like I haven't had in 3 years. I'm finally down to where my scale will give me a number, not just an "E" for error. I had to wait until my physical exam 2 weeks ago to find out that I weighed 389. The scale this morning read 379. Beautiful. I've been doing quite a bit of walking at night and at lunchtime. I also purchased a used weight bench and weight set off of craigslist, and that's kept me sore all week! That's about it for now.

I'll try to get better at updating more frequently.

Cheers.

sesame street

Things have been going pretty well. I've been eating much better and in better portions. I started off the first few days above my 3,000 calorie ceiling, but I've kept it between 2,800 and 3,000 since then. If you're nosy like me and want to see what I've been eating, you can check it out at www.fitday.com and put in username "natethenorsk" and password "poiuyt". After you do, please go get a life.

Anyway, I've been walking lots more, too. My goal is 30 minutes a day 6 days a week. It's been more like 3 days a week so far, but I'm improving. Tonight the dog and I went to Memorial Park to walk around Prospect Lake. It's about a mile around, so it's perfect for an evening walk. It's been years since I've been there, and I was struck by how diverse the park visitors are. I felt like I had walked onto Sesame Street. There were hispanics, asians, blacks, whites, young, old, disabled, fully-mobile, dogs, bikes, boats, jet-skis, wind-surfboards, and roller blades. People were fishing, swimming, playing basketball, engaging each other in chess, working out, playing frisbee and lots of other activities. I thought Gordon and Maria were going to walk out from behind a tree with Big Bird and Elmo. It was a bit surreal. But things are going well.

the new plan

The new plan for getting healthy (that's the real goal, weight loss is only a part of it) has several facets:

1. Develop pathways for good spiritual, mental, and emotional nutrition. I believe this is more key than developing physical nutrition. My friend and mentor, Vaso Bjegovich, has developed a program called Healthy ID, that encourages people to first search out what their identity (ID) is wrapped around, to deconstruct their false identity, and to build a healthy ID. When you have a healthy ID, you treat your body right because you want to, and you'll naturally become physically healthier as you treat your physical person with respect. Healthy ID isn't about appearance or performance. The program is currently not available as Vaso waits for the right time to take it mainstream, but if you are interested in the concept, let me know and I can get some more information, or even the Healthy ID package (audio CDs and journal) to you. I'd love to have even more company as I embark on this journey. Anyway, I'll be using Healthy ID as a foundation, and I will read my Bible more. I'll also read my Zig Ziglar "self-talk" sheet everyday. We all talk to ourselves, usually it's silent, but we believe what we tell ourselves. Our subconscious can't tell the difference between the truth and fiction. By telling yourself everyday, day in and day out, that you are a fantastic friend, for example, you will become an even better friend. You can't help it! I'll be reading to myself out loud, telling myself that I already am the things that I want to be. I'll post Zig's "self-talk" here soon.
2. Being aware of what I consume. I've started tracking my food intake on www.fitday.com. For the next two weeks I'm going to limit my calories to 2800-3000 per day. From mid-July to August, I will consume 2600-2800 per day, and I will keep reducing that amount by 200 calories every two weeks until I'm consistently eating 2200-2400 per day. I will also be sure to eat 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit everyday.
   
3. Walking 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. The dog loves it, I need it. Humans were made to walk, and I'm tied to my cubicle desk everyday. The body was designed for walking. Walking outside helps maintain a healthy emotional well-being, and it also helps "reset" your body's natural weight set point. Frankly, walking is about all I can physically handle right now.
   

This is the beginning. As I progress, the means to get to my desired end result will change. Walking will still be part of the regimen, but so will hiking, skiing, and climbing fourteeners again. As my taste buds begin to enjoy the flavor of fresh fruits and vegetables again, I'll incorporate more of those types of foods into my diet. I'm beginning with the end in mind, but I'm taking it one baby step at a time.

goals, revisited

Looking back at this post from January, I thought I'd bring you up to speed:

I've also set two important goals for the year. They're not resolutions, they are goals. They are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and have a completion date attached:

1. Lose 100 pounds by December 31, 2008. This year, I'm going to limit myself to two meals out per week. I'm going to walk at least 10 minutes continuously a day, and do other exercise for at least 20 minutes for 4 days per week. I will eat at least two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables per day. I will drink at least eight glasses of water a day. I will consume no more than 4 servings of dairy (excluding eggs) per week. I will enter my food daily onto fitday.com as best as I can remember until I have lost 50 pounds. I will take at least one cycle of hCG this year.

2. Pay off half of my debt (excluding auto and home). I will negotiate balances and payoffs with all of the creditors I can and will be current with every creditor by year's end. My list of creditors will be reduced by two thirds.

Ouch. January doesn't seem like that long ago, but here it is, the end of June. I'm not 50 pounds lighter, I'm probably about 30 pounds heavier. I'm not sure. My scale caps out at 380 pounds. Since my "plan" hasn't been going so well in regards to weight loss and fitness, I've enlisted the help of my folks. We've outlined a plan for me to lose 50 pounds by the end of the year, and I know I can do it. More on how I'm going to do that in a later post.

As for the debt, I'm on track or not far off. Of course, I'm not looking at the hard numbers to make that assertion, but I've been paying down the debt quite steadily over the past 6 months. Several small bills have been paid and I am making significant progress on the larger ones. I haven't sat down to recalculate balances and numbers of outstanding debts, but I will do that by week's end.

So what's been going on with these goals?

27.1.08

more goals

I said that I would post the rest of my goals in the categories of fitness, mental/educational, spiritual, relational, and domestic here.

Fitness: I will be able to run one mile in under 9 minutes before the year is through. I will be able to climb the Manitou incline in under 60 minutes before October 31. My first time up the incline, I finished in 48 minutes. My goal that day was to make it halfway. My best time up the incline was 34 minutes, and I made the whole trip (up the incline, down Barr trail) in under 60 minutes.

Ummm, you can probably figure this one out by seeing my lack of progress on my first goal. It's ok, my new fitness goal is to walk for 30 minutes continuously 6 days a week. I'll be kicking the incline's butt in due time.

Mental/Educational: I will read one fiction or non-fiction book (I prefer non-fiction anyway, frankly) per month. No more 7 or 8 months without reading, then reading 5 or 6 books all at once. At least 6 books this year will be about sales or the health insurance industry (not including my monthly HIU [Health Insurance Underwiter] trade magazine). I will also begin my first RHU (Registered Health Underwriter) or REBC (Registered Employee Benefits Consultant) class through The American College. Which track I take depends on if I will continue to specialize more and more in group health insurance or individual market insurance at work.

Ok, so I haven't met my goal of reading 2 books per month, but I have been reading with greater frequency. Progress in this area, at least.

Spritual: To read through the Bible by year's end. I've read through it completely only once, and that's not nearly enough for a believer of over 21 years. This will take 4 and a half chapters per day. I'll also begin church "shopping" in February, and I'll get plugged in before Spring.

Convicted again. Reading the Word is part of my revised plan to get healthy. I need to remember to ask my folks to keep me accountable in this area, too. I haven't been to church, either. I have been in a guys' accountability-type group through Pulpit Rock Church, called Real Men of Genius, but I haven't started attending PRC or any other church.

Relational: This goes hand in hand with being at a new church. I'll gain at least one new friend this year.

This one is coming together.

Domestic: This may sound like a stupid category for you, but I think it's appropriate. I will thoroughly clean my bathroom and kitchen, vacuum, wash my sheets, and do two loads of laundry once a week. I will dust the house once every two weeks. I will also finish my 3 year old baseboard project by touching up with paint and caulking. I will replace the kitchen and bathroom linoleum and install new baseboards. The baseboards will be completed by March 31 and the new flooring will be installed by December 31.

March 31 has passed and the baseboards are in the same sad shape. The house is cleaner and I keep a running list of what to clean each day to maintain the organization of my home. I also would like to refinish the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and add hardware to them this year.

I'll keep you updated on the progress of these goals here.

And I'll do my best to do it more often than every six months.

i just made iced tea

i don't know why, but i always gain lots of satisfaction from making iced tea.

the full pitcher of freshly cooled, tea and herb-infused water.

the pale color.

the heaviness of the container.

the sound of the ice knocking around inside the glass as i pour.

the anticipation of a tasty, refreshing, and healthy beverage.