Brads Blog

I guess I should bring you up to speed on my “diet” I’ve been on. I started 15 months ago. After watching the movie “Super Size Me!”, I became disgusted with fast food, and made the decision to lose some weight.

At that time, I weighed 208 pounds and was sporting Levi jeans size 38 (or a tight 36). I thought I would try the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic. It is an online program, and focuses on portion control. Initially, you fill out an online questionnaire, and answer questions about what kind of foods you prefer to eat. They take those inputs, and provide you with a weekly menu. The biggest part of this diet is documenting everything you eat, as well as any exercise you might do. For a while, I was gung ho about it. Even on my family vacation, I held strong. I was able to bring my laptop along with me so I could update my online journal.

Eventually, I grew tired of journaling my eating. So, after about a month of the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic, I gave it up. However, I stayed on the general eating schedule. I would eat loads of green vegetables, and began watching calories, fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Chicken and Turkey are essential parts of my program, but admit I still have an occasional ice cream binge. I have become accustomed to this new way of life, and prefer not to call it a “diet”. I have taught myself that this is merely the way I eat. I can eat what I want. I found it is also very important to drink lots of liquids.

I brought up a good point at Thanksgiving Dinner last week, when there were a couple of family members who couldn’t eat pumpkin pie because they were on a diet. I told them that you don’t get fat from pigging out at Thanksgiving dinner and eating pie afterwards. You get fat by eating like it was Thanksgiving feast all the time.

Back to my update- About a month ago, I started an exercise regiment. I do strength training on a Bowflex system every other day. Twice a week I run for 30 minutes on a treadmill. I have noticed increased strength, and feel better than I ever have. This week, I weighed in at 175.4 pounds. My Levi’s size 34 fit good, and I think I might even be able to get into some 32’s, but I’m not ready for that quite yet.

Some people ask me what my goal is. I don’t have a goal. If I had a goal, what do I do when I reach it? Should I pig out like there’s no tomorrow? Get fat again then start all over again? No. Not me. I’m just going to eat the way I know is right. My goal is not to lose a certain amount of weight, but to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The weight will take care of itself.

If you didn’t listen to Michael Savage last night, you missed a good one. He flew off the deep end talking about Google Earth. He went on about how it should be shut down because of the security threat. I really don’t see what he’s talking about. Sure, Google Earth can zoom in on an address and give you exact latitude and longitude, but this is not new technology. The same result can be achieved with an $80 GPS device sold at any sporting goods store. I think he was just looking for something to get fired up about.

I thought this was interesting, here is Cindy Sheehan sitting with all the people who purchased her book,”Not One More Mother’s Child”. When I first saw this picture, I figured it was taken out of context and that maybe this picture was taken before the doors were open, but after doing a little research I found that that was not the case. This picture was taken during the mad rush.