The Buda Belly

Wanna know what is REALLY disgusting and helps MAKE me get stay on this "weight loss" thing? Bear in mind, this will probably paint a picture in your mind that you may never forget. Of YOURSELF, not me.

While visiting with my granddaughter Lucy (who just happens to have chosen to allow Stephen and Brigette to raise her) in Wisconsin for several days, I naturally had to go to the bathroom. They live in a small duplex (as is befitting a new youth minister and his family) and they have a tiny bathroom. To save space, they placed their full-length mirror behind the towel rack to hold it in place. This just happens to be just across from the commode. And since the bathroom is small, this mirror is approximately 24 inches from you as you sit and do your duty! I think you know where this is headed.

The first time you sit down to "make a deposit", you find yourself face-to-face with......yourself.

Now, sitting is NOT the most flattering position for exhibiting your normally covered mid-section. Standing is not great when you have an abundance of "love handles", but sitting just "accentuates" the obvious.

So, here I am, sitting, looking at....my......BUDA BELLY!

Thanks, Stephen and Brigette, for allowing me to see my belly button peaking out like a Joey on a mother kangaroo!!! Not a pretty sight!

Now, THAT MEMORY helps me out a lot!!!

I'm sorry for the "mental visual". I hope you can get over it and sleep at night.

*****

I'm also sorry for not posting last night. We had our Central Texas Beekeepers meeting (of which I am the president) and Matthew came down to video tape our speakers. We got in at 9:30 and spent part of the night visiting.

Anyway, yesterday morning the scale read 251. That's a total loss of 1.5 pounds. I guess I did OK Wednesday.

And this morning the scale read 250.

Buda is WORKING!!!!

More later!

Michael

Day Two-Only 23,789 days of diet left!

Day Two.....only 23,789 days of diet left. That's over 65 years. Ya know....If I can live another 65 years by dieting every day.....I probably would DO that. I'd be 120 years old and I can live long enough to enter my second childhood and treat my kids the way they treated me when they were in their FIRST childhood.

Really, though, it is worth it. As I said last fall, almost all of my health issues would go away if I could lose 50 pounds. My goal is to reach around 185 pounds, but I would be happy with 200. So....I use the idea of being a drain on my children as one more reason to stick with what I am doing. The next time I get the munchies, I will think of Stephen and Matthew fighting in the back seat of our blue second-hand suburban on the way home from school. Instant loss of hunger! Thanks, guys!

The bubble on the scale was just to the left of center this morning, so that means I did lose just a little bit. Way to go, Me! Now if I can just keep it up.

I continue to learn. Donna fixed salmon croquettes for supper and I checked the can just for fun. A serving of salmon from the can is 90 calories. Ok, that's good, right? But that's not the whole story. A CAN of salmon (14.75 ounces) has 7 servings. That means that a serving of these croquettes is one and a half patties if the patties are the size of a half of a golf ball. Wow. I'm an old country boy. I'm used to eating a little more than that. Of course, maybe that's why I am the size that I am now!

I guess if everybody ate what the packages say is a serving, we would all be skinny simply because the servings are so small that I would call them survival rations!

Stay tuned. In the near future, we will explore a new exercise machine, a spreadsheet that helps me keep track of how much I eat, a reference to Buda, and plenty more picking on my kids!

Thanks for joining me on my journey. Remember, I invite you to share this experience with me, especially if YOU need to lose some weight. What do you have to lose, except some FAT!

Michael

Merry Christmas....uh....Happy New Year...uh....

Merry Christmas.....uh....Happy New Year....uh....well, I can pretend!!!!

Pretend that I started this blog right after January 1. Just because it is January 26....but who's counting?

Anyway, I guess it's time to get started again. So.....

WELCOME TO THE GRAND RE-OPENING OF MICHAEL'S "NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT" BLOG!!!

I know...it's been a while and there are multitudes out there waiting to hear how I've lost umfphteen pounds while you were eating all you could over Christmas. ACTUALLY, I was the one eating all I could over Christmas. At least it seemed that way.

But each day is a new one and I am claiming TODAY as my new day and here-by proclaiming 2010 as the "Year of the Skinny-Ones-To-Be".

In case you didn't follow that...that means all of us that are eating everything on our plate because it would spoil before it got to the starving children in India are going to do our best to mentally package some of that food and (at least in our mind) do some good by "sending" it to THEM rather than eating it!!!

Ok....enough of the introductions. Back to the grindstone!

Today is Tuesday, January 26, 2010. Here is were I am:

5' 8" tall

252.5 pounds (that's around 52.5 pounds OVER my MOST realistic goal!)

I bought 46 inch jeans over Christmas but I can easily fit into 44's

I am shooting for 200 pounds by December 1. That's 5 pounds per month.

I have a Hershey's bar and a Mr. Goodbar in my desk drawer. If I am able to avoid them....I will have the Hershey's bar when I have lost 20 pounds and the Mr. Goodbar when I have lost 40 pounds.

I have cleaned out all of the things I could find that I have a hard time avoiding. How did I get rid of them? I ATE THEM!!

Well, not everything. Jimmy, the box of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups that were supposed to go into your stocking at Christmas are now in plastic bags in a plastic container filled with water and stuck away in the freezer. I KNOW where they are but it will take me some time to get them thawed and maybe I can get myself distracted before they thaw!!!

I am working on eating less and being more active. Gee, that's such an easy idea I'm surprised someone else hasn't come up with it before now!!!

Before on this blog, I listed EVERYTHING I ate. As my son Stephen said, that was probably TOO MUCH information. So now I am going to list my total calories for the day and my comments on that.

I am encouraging YOU to join in. I know several of you who need to join me. I'm not judging you, but YOU have commented to ME about how you need to get in better shape. YOU know who YOU are! What you do is up to you. But I could use your help and encouragement and if we do this together, we can all be healthier and live longer. In the next few days, I am going to announce a contest and we will see if we can get some participants. Please check back.

As for right now.....it's time to get started.

For breakfast.....Old Man's Oatmeal and an egg for protein. Together let's see how the day goes.

Thanks for joining me. I hope your in for the long haul and will help me enjoy the ride.

Michael