Eating was also good today, although I did end with a little more food than normal, just an apple and walnut butter, but I normally wouldn’t have eaten that in the evening.  I am preparing for a fast tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow – I am heading off on my trip to Washington DC, as the conference has not been cancelled despite treacherous roads, closed public transportation, delayed flights, and a winter storm warning for another 10-20 inches of snow.  Go figure!    I packed an extra set of clothes as I am anticipating getting stuck somewhere.  To top all of that off, I forgot that I booked an extremely early flight out of an airport that is two hours away.  Ughh!  Since we are expecting 6-8 inches of snow this evening, I am going to have to leave even earlier.  That means I will be on the road by 2:00 AM.  Again, ughhh!  Why do I do this to myself?

Are you looking for a changeup in your workout routine?  If so, Diane’s giveaway at Fit To The Finish may be just for you.  It is a Gym in a Bag.  I don’t think I would use this, but I would love to win it for my wife – she is wanting to try resistance bands.  If I don’t win it, I’ll be buying some, but it sure would be nice to try for free. 

The New York Times reports that the required posting of calories in New York has an effect on the way people eat.  While it isn’t very significant, consumers did reduce their caloric intake by an average of 6% when calories were posted for viewing.

Be sure to check out my latest Motivation for Monday and Wednesday’s Word of the Day videos.

Be sure to check out my YouTube Channel!

Regarding the videos, I have two questions for you all today.

• First, are you still enjoying the videos?  I ask this because the comments on the videos has fallen off drastically.  I don’t know whether this is because interest is waning, or because of the blog redesign some time back which moved the videos off to the side.
• Second, would any of you be willing to write a testimonial for me to use on the website I am putting together for my speaking business?  If so, send me a comment via my Contact Page.  There are no guarantees I will use what you send, especially since I am only going to use 3-5 quotes, but if you are willing to be quoted, I would love to see what you have to say.

I regained my half pound weight loss from last week, which puts me at 195.5 again.  As I have set 195 as my redline, this is unacceptable.  My body fat percentage skyrocketed this week to 21.3%, a 1.5% increase.  Just for the record, I know this is not accurate, but simply reflective of yesterday.  My BMI increased accordingly to 28.1.  The measurements are where some things get interesting.  My neck increased an eighth of an inch to 16.875″.  This is interesting because it is my third straight increase for my neck, and I can really tell it in my smaller-neck dress shirts.  My chest increased 3/4″ this week, which brings it to 44.625″.  My stomach actually decreased, which surprised me.  It went down an 1/8″ to 40″.  My waist increased 1/2″ to 37.625″.  My thighs went down an 1/8″ to 23″.  My calves went down 1/4″ to 16.25″.  My biceps decreased an 1/8″ to 13″.  Last, but not least, my forearms remained unchanged at 12″.

Eating today was so-so.  A typical Sunday.  I am ready to hit this week full steam ahead and make some headway on getting back below 190.

This week I plan on fasting at least one day.  I also am going to eat weight-loss portions most, if not all meals.  Exercise will continue at the same pace as last week, although I may take one of my free days if the trip to Washington, D.C. doesn’t get canceled.

What is your opinion of the recent international study that says 1 in 5 People are Unable to Benefit From Exercise?  After quickly reading over the actual results from the study (found here), I have a couple of comments.  First, it is interesting that they only evaluated Caucasians.  I wonder if there is a difference in other races.  Second, all participants were sedentary to begin with.  Is it reasonable to assume that sedentary people are more likely to be the ones whom the theory supposes are unable to benefit from exercise?  If so, then the 1 in 5 number is high.  I would assume that the vast majority of people who exercise regularly are seeing a benefit from it or they would not be motivated to continue.  Last, are there other contributing factors that the study did not pinpoint such as diet or unknown health conditions?  Point being, this is hardly conclusive, but it is interesting.  Now that this point is made, let me make a better one – DON’T LET THIS BE AN EXCUSE!

I am pleased to report that I did do the Intu-Flow routine in spite of my dragginess this morning.  Of course, that routine is pretty easy, it is just time consuming.  Tomorrow is my off day with regards to exercise.

I don’t remember if I have talked about my upcoming trip on here or not.  This Tuesday I am supposed to go and represent my company in a forum of federal regulators.  No, we haven’t done anything wrong, nor is this even a forum that would suggest that.  It is more of a round table discussion with us, our competitors, and the bodies which regulate us.  Really it is a great thing to be selected as a representative for this, as only two people were permitted.  Anyhow, this forum is in Washington D.C., which is another reason to be excited.  On top of that, I have some family which lives just north of Washington D.C., so I made arrangements to see them while I was there.  All that being said, Washington D.C. is buried in 30 inches of fresh, wet snow tonight.  Many are without power (200,000 is what I read on the news), roofs are collapsing from the weight of the snow, and the cities and states are saying it may be Wednesday before the neighborhoods are dug out.  That part of the country is as ill-equipped as where I live to deal with this much snow.  Needless to say, the trip I have been so excited about may not happen.

I ran across an interesting article this week, one that is sure to create a little controversy here.  A study has been published that indicates a link has NOT been found between saturated fat and heart disease.  <WARNING, STEVE’S OPINION AHEAD> This seems to support my theory (and yes, it is only a theory from my perspective).  Other studies have found that saturated fat increases LDL cholesterol, and high LDL cholesterol has been found in heart attack victims, thus it has been assumed that high LDL cholesterol was the cause of heart disease.  The theory that sums up my thought is that we have been chasing a symptom, not the problem.  Here is the theory: the high LDL is the body’s way of repairing a damaged cardiovascular system, which is why heart attack victims have traditionally had high LDL.  However, the high LDL is not the problem, it is the symptom.  In fact, I wonder whether the high LDL is necessary to repair the damage, and by lowering the LDL with medication we may be preventing the natural repair of the body.  That being said, we may, and probably do, need lower LDL, but it should be done through long-term healthy eating and healthy living, not quick fix medication.

Breakfast and lunch were both weight-loss portions.  Supper was not.  It was perhaps even a little on the weigh-gain side of the house.

Last night I mentioned that I had some good news.  Wednesday I received a notice that one of the speakers for Toastmasters had canceled for the week.  I decided to push myself and volunteer to fill that spot, even though I had just given a speech, and I didn’t have one ready.  I finished the speech up Thursday morning.  While it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be — the closing was a bit week, I still received very high marks from the reviewer.  After the meeting, the President of our local club asked me if I would be interested in putting together a couple of my recent related topics and giving them as a 20 minute speech at the local Chamber of Commerce!  This is the first big step in my long-term goal of getting paid to speak.  Woot!

On the same note, I am in the process of designing a website for my speaking business, as well as getting some other things in order so it will look professional as I begin to get opportunities.

Okay, so most readers of this blog are interested in losing weight.  Furthermore, most readers of this blog would enjoy a great vacation, right?  Well, it seems that if you play your cards right, you can have both.  It seems that researchers have found that spending time in high altitudes can help you lose weight.

Last week I posted an article with food label lies.  Today I have 9 more food label lies for you.

Here is my update:

• Exercise six days a week. – Success!
• Do Tabata Squats three days a week.- Success!
• Do Tabata Jacks three days a week.- Success!
• Do push ups three days a week.- Success!
• Do planks (front and side) three days a week.- Success!
• Implement a flexibility training program (hopefully this will also help with my tendinitis).- Success!
• Implement clubbell and/or sledgehammer training. – This is still coming.

Now for the previously unknown thing about me.  I can play four musical instruments, although I am not really good at any of them.  They are piano, harmonica, Dobro guitar, and drums.  When I say I am not really good at them, I mean that.  In fact, beginner would be the right word, although I played drums in the school band for three years, had Dobro guitar lessons for about eighteen months, piano lessons for about six months, and have taught myself harmonica off and on for several years.  I don’t do any of it consistent enough to make it count.

As always, your “secret” can be anything, it doesn’t have to relate to music or musical instruments, but if you can’t think of anything else, this may be a good one to share.

I have some interesting news I’ll share tomorrow night – tonight I have to get in the bed.

Eating was also really good today, although only breakfast and lunch were weight-loss portions.  This evening I have really been wanting to eat.  I have resisted overall, but my supper was probably maintenance portions, although a big part of it was lettuce (taco salad without tortillas).  I really want an apple, and I may give in yet, but I am going to try not to.

This article is over a year old now (just goes to show how old my stack of archives is), but the advice is still relevant, especially for those concerned about heart health.

This has been another hectic week for me, but unlike most, it has little do with my day job.  As some of you know, I also run a part time computer business on the side.  That has kept me hopping this week, as has some personal obligations.  Tonight is the first night I have been home before 8:00, and tomorrow is going to be another late one.  I have been invited to a celebratory dinner where the founder of the company I work for is being given an award.  I really have other things to do, but this is quite an honor for me to be invited, as only seven other employees will be there.  Plus, it is quite an award for him and his involvement in community service.

Be sure to check out my YouTube channel.

Exercise today was simply the full joint-flexibility routine, which is the easy day.  I am kind of dreading tomorrow.  My chest is sore today from all the push ups yesterday.  I also feel it in my shoulders, but not the same pain I have been having.  It is a good pain if that makes any sense.  Yet, I know this pain is going to make tomorrow hard.

A lot of you are using Wii Fit as part of your total health program.  Apparently it works.  See for yourself.

If you have ever questioned whether some people have a mental disorder when it comes to weight, this article should settle it.

Eating was weight loss portions for all three meals – victory!

It has been a long day though.  On top of my normal day, I had a computer job tonight too, which means the day ended up being over twelve hours when I finished all my work.  Tomorrow should be a little easier.

Have you heard about Hardee’s new Double Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit?  Before you click on this, realize that not too long ago I could have eaten two of these – easy.  Two!!  Do the math!

Okay, it has absolutely nothing to do with dieting or fitness, but it does have to do with the health of your computer.  All of you should head over to Secunia’s website and run their vulnerability scanner.  Secunia is a well-respected company in the security world, and this tool is no exception.  It scans your PC and lets you know if you are running vulnerable software.  If so, it gives links to upgrade it.  This is a great, free tool you should all be using.