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

A "Bad" Week

I know it has been a while since I have posted. Life has been busy, as I will explain.

Thanks to the multitude of readers (Sara & Matthew!) who have been bugging me to keep up the post. There were days when I just couldn't and days when I just didn't. That's life but I have a new start today and will continue on until the next time I don't. (Now how's that for commitment!!!)

Early last week we heard that Donna's Uncle Bubba was not doing well. He has been going downhill and just 6 weeks ago they found cancer in his leg and other places. He passed away Friday. The visitation was Sunday evening and the funeral was Monday (yesterday).

Uncle Bubba was quite a man. You would never know it from looking at him, talking to him or even knowing him as family for 7 years. But he led a remarkable life.

He never finished high school. He went to Houston at 17 to do grunt work at a steel building company. Within about 10 years (I'm not too sure of the time line) he opened his own business and started selling and erecting steel buildings. After a period of time the business was very successful and he sold it for LOTS of money.

Knowing what companies like his needed, he started a business SUPPLYING the steel building companies with the supplies they needed. Another VERY successful company. He sold it around 7 years ago and "retired". The company that bought his business didn't treat their customers nor Uncle Bubbas old employees right so he opened a new business. In 6 years he now has offices in three states and is very successful again.

He was well respected by everyone in the business. His competition even flew their flag at half-mast when he died.

He lost a son in a car wreck 20 years ago. He has dedicated his wealth to helping youth. To show you his generosity and his wealth, he donated the funds for a new youth building at his church. They built it for over one million dollars. He didn't want anyone to know who donated the funds and he and his wife wouldn't even go to the dedication service.

He always said, "You can't out-give God". And I believe he tried. The pastor called him once to thank him for a specific donation. Uncle Bubba said, "Shoot! I gave you that yesterday and God has already doubled that on a business deal that I made this morning. Now I've got to figure out how to get rid of this money!"

At the funeral the pastor asked anyone who felt like Uncle Bubba had treated them like his own son to help them get started. Those at the back of the church said they counted around 75 hands up before they lost track.

Most people never knew how much he gave, not just in money but in inspiration.

This has hit the family hard because it was very sudden.

Needless to say, I won't make this post very funny. Suffice it to say that I lost most of my willpower over the last three days. We baked cookies on Sunday and I partook of WAY too many samples. We went to a family members house after the visitation on Sunday evening and I ate WAY too much pizza and chips (and dips and cheese and ......well, you get the idea).

Yesterday the funeral was in Houston with a luncheon meal afterwards. Then we drove to Brenham for the burial with another meal after that. I didn't hold back either time.

Then last night I decided that I had blown it anyway so....why not. I ate sandwiches (again) and had a couple of beers and the complementary peanuts.

So......when I got on the scale this morning, it read 250. Yep! Right back where I started. However, I know that it is all just "in transit" and will be "passing through" in the next couple of days. So it's back to the "old man grits" this morning and back on the bicycle.

Uncle Bubba's story (most of which I just learned this weekend) has inspired me to do better in my business and get a lot more focused. I plan on transferring that over to this diet and make it work.

Michael

The West, Texas Kolache Diet!

Well, I'm not sure how scientific it is, but I'm willing to give the old college try to the West, Texas Kolache Diet!

I was in Ft. Worth to shoot kids halloween pics at a country club on Sunday evening. I got through around 9 p.m. and was loading my car when it started raining. No, sorry, it wasn't rain. It was a WATERFALL! The last two trips up two flights of steps outside in the dark IN THE RAIN meant that I was wet. My equipment was wet. My shoes were sloshing. A TV fell down three steps and landed in the water and I just left it there in the rain for several minutes while I took the rest of the load up to the car. I still haven't plugged it in to see if it works.

I finally got everything thrown in the car and went an hour north to spend the night with Matthew.

Yesterday on the way home I stopped in West, Texas. That is just north of Waco on I-35 and they are known for their kolaches. In fact, while I was there I asked them if they had ever figured up how many pounds they have ADDED to the collective weight of all the people they have served pastries to. They just laughed.

Needless to say, I had one.

Ok......two.

(and a cookie)

Then when I get on the scale this morning, it reads 244. What? That's down 2 1/2 pounds.

I KNOW it can't be attributed to two days of heavy walking and probably not eating right. (I think I know how to hide that last sentence so Donna can't read it!) I KNOW it can't be hauling 6 loads of equipment up and down stairs in the rain. In a hurry!

It HAS to be those kolaches!!!!!

So the next time anyone goes through West, Texas, please stop and get me a couple of dozen kolaches. An assortment of flavors will do, but the pineapple and the blueberry are the ones that worked for me. I figure one pound per kolache and the half-pound goes to the cookie!!!

Seriously, the scale did read 244. I even got off and jiggled it a little bit to see what was wrong.

So I'm back on the routine again. Yogurt and granola for breakfast. Butter bean soup for lunch. A couple of handfuls of sunflower seeds for snack. We'll see what is for supper.

I feel much better and my clothes aren't quite as tight. Now I need to get back with the exercise. Stephen got a new bicycle and is riding it in Wisconsin. I guess I need to get my old one out and dust it off and ride with him. At least at the same time that he does.

More later as life goes on.

God Bless you!

Michael

Hello, Out There!!! Anybody Holding Me Accountable?

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Anybody listening?

Just checking!

I haven't posted in four days and NOBODY has emailed me and asked me, "What is going on?" Nobody has accused me of being a slacker! Nobody has called to see if I'm even alive!!!

The purpose of this BLOG and me laying my soul bare is to get support from those that love me.

Oh well. (Here comes the pity party) I guess I'm all alone in this world. I guess NOBODY loves me. Think I'll go eat some worms.

******

Sorry 'bout that. I couldn't help myself. I had to let some of my dramatic expression seep through.

It HAS been a busy three days. From picking up some used bee equipment that had been donated to the club on Wednesday morning to putting bees in my observation hive for Thursday and spending most of Wednesday afternoon cleaning up the donated equipment in the rain, it was a busy Wednesday. Then Thursday morning I went to Waller county to give a demonstration to 650 4th graders at their Ag Day and then came home and drove the load of donated equipment to the beekeepers meeting and auctioned it off. I got home around 10 that night.

Yesterday was a bit slower but I had blown my diet a little and was up about a pound and didn't want to admit that. It's a lot easier to admit it later when I'm back down than it is at the time.

So see, you SHOULD have called me on it! I expected more out of you. Now get back out there and tackle somebody!..... Uh.... Sorry. I'm not a football coach, am I?

Anyway....I DID blow it and got back up to 248 but I'm down to 246.5 again.

We went to Houston last night to see our niece Zoe dance at the half time of a football game. We ate with Danny/Katie/Caroline at Carabbas. EVERYBODY ELSE got something EVIL to eat. I ate a salad. Not bad....but just not the same.

But I AM back down to 246.5, so I guess it was worth it.

I GUESS!

Anyway....time to start again. Old Man Oatmeal for breakfast this morning and hopefully a salad for lunch. I have the Brenham 25th class reunion this evening so I have to watch myself at that.

Now that I have made a big deal out of nobody picking on me, I will tell you that I will be out of pocket for two days. I have to drive to Ft Worth tomorrow morning to shoot halloween pictures at a country club tomorrow night and I will be spending the night with Matthew. I'll continue this "thing" that I do starting Tuesday morning.

I WOULD like to see how many of you are checking in on me. If you get a chance, please email me. All you have to do is say "Me" and I can tell who it is by the email address. Probably. Maybe. I don't know. Some of you have some weird email addresses.

Until next time.....God Bless.

Michael

Warning! The following content may not be suitable for all folks!!!

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The process is simple. You wake up in the morning feeling like crud. You get up and spend the next half-hour over the sink while your natural responses causes you to spit up that unwanted weight right down the drain.

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And the pounds just flow out of your mouth like.....well....like greased snot!!!

BUT WAIT! There's more. If you are one of the first 15 people to respond to this offer, I will send you a second snot rag for free! That's right. Two snot rags for the price of one. When you stop sneezing and hacking, just suck on the second snot rag and you can start all over again.

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Good morning everyone. As you can tell, it has been a couple of wild days and I needed to get my creative juices out before they blew up like my nose has.

I finally went to the Doctor yesterday and he couldn't really find anything wrong. I've just been snotty sick for 8 days. So he gave me some medicines and is hoping that will make it better.

You know what they say: Doctors practice medicine. They practice and practice. They just never seem to get it right.

The good side is that the Snot Rag Diet DOES work. I am now at 245.5. That's 5 pounds and headed down.

I'm not going to review what I have eaten over the past few days. I'm not sure you feel like that right now especially after reading about the Snot Rag Diet. We'll start with a new slate ( uh...PLATE) tomorrow.

Please have a great day! I pray that God blesses you the way He has me!

Michael