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Posts Tagged ‘Gym Stories’
Just A Quick Update With Much, Much More To Come… Really Soon!
February 14th, 2012 | Added to Random Entries | No Comments »
Since I haven’t posted an originally-written update in about 20 days, I thought it would be a good idea to post up some quick thoughts about what’s been going on with the blog and some other random updates. First, if you’re craving more of my random thoughts throughout the day, then you’re a sick individual you should follow me on Twitter @JerseySmarts. If you want a brief glimpse at what I’m putting on Twitter these days, then you only need to glance to the right of this entry and read the tweet feed that I added to the site about two weeks ago.
As you’ll see, the feed contains just random thoughts, complaints, and observations. I’m not solving world hunger here, folks – I’m just living my life!
On the topic of what is going on with this blog there’s nothing major to update everyone on, but here is the general rundown:
First, for some reason we’ve been receiving a large number of spammy comments. Now, I write “spammy” comments because these comments aren’t your typical “click here for drugs” robotic spam comments, but rather vitriolic hate speech that is actually written by a human being. It’s really some pretty vicious stuff that has no place on a personal blog. And I don’t know how many times I have to write this in the comments section, but this always has been and always will be a personal blog. In other words, what I say goes so if you write a comment that attacks another commenter or blatantly distorts the issues presented in the various updates, you can stick your comment up your ass. Now granted, in the last year we’ve only gotten about 6 or 7 really vitriolic, arrogant, hateful comments and all of those were moderated before they made it on to the site. However, if you plan on writing bullshit and hate in the comments section you might as well save yourself the time because it’s not getting posted, period. My personal blog, my dictatorial rules – very simple to understand.
Second, I have a lot of content written and ready to be posted to the blog, but I’m waiting for the right time. For example, I have my next student loan update written and ready to go for whenever my total amount outstanding drops again (which should be in about a month – more on that in a minute). Also, I’ve been working on some other projects that are taking up some time so I’ve only been writing for the blog in my spare time.
Third, I’ve been working really hard to cull and delete a ton of the tags on this blog. If you don’t know what a “tag” is, it’s the keywords that bloggers use to help their individual pages categorize themselves and rise up in the search engines. A few years ago I utilized a system that provided a whole host of tags for specific keywords and that has bogged down and crapped up the database for the blog. As an example, if I wrote something about my old Chevy Blazer, I would get the following tags added to the database: Chevy, Chevy Blazer, Blazer, Chevrolet, Chevrolet Blazer, Blazer SUV, SUV, Chevy SUV, etc. That’s totally unnecessary. My culling process is reducing all of that gunk to two tags: Chevrolet and Blazer. That’s it – nothing more is needed. Obviously, this is a long process since there are some 6 or 7 thousand of tags in the database that need to be reviewed and deleted. I’m going through them about 250 at a time and I hope to have the project completed by the end of the year.
And the final part of this part of the update is that I’m looking for ways to freshen up the design of the blog. If you’ve been eagle-eyed, then over the last few weeks you might have noticed random updates here and there in certain design features (the addition of the Twitter feed, the lengthening of the Facebook feed, the layout change for news from the other sites that I own, change in some of the external button links, etc). However, I’ve been thinking that it might be time for wholesale change – I just don’t know how far I want to take it. If you have any ideas on how to change the design, please feel free to add them to the comments section of this post (but don’t post hate or it won’t get to see the light of day!).
That’s it for the JerseySmarts.com Update. And before I end the web-based updates I thought I might add that one of the sites that I own through Usable Web Solutions, LLC has really exploded in the last month and a half. Hits to that website have tripled and it is growing into a very respected site. I’m proud of the team that works there and plan to continue providing them with as much support as possible to let the growth continue. As for the rest of my life…
Things have been very busy. Towards the end of January my company moved its offices from Trenton to New Brunswick. That’s about ten miles less of a drive each morning for me, but the same amount of time thanks to the Route 18 traffic (which sucks). However, I tried to bypass most of the heavy traffic by changing my work schedule from 9am-ish to 5pm-ish to 7:45am-ish to 4:00pm-ish. I’m getting up earlier and leaving my house about an hour and a half earlier, but I’m also getting home right at or slightly before 5:00pm, so that’s an hour and a half earlier than the Trenton commute. The change hasn’t been too bad, but when you shift your schedule to work (and live life) an hour and a half earlier, you experience a personal seismic shift.
On my end, I’m finding that I have less time to spend on the computer in the evening (not playing around on the computer, but working on computer-based, paid projects). Also, I find that I’m totally exhausted by about 3:00pm. I think this is happening because my body isn’t used to going to bed at 10:00pm so I wind up tossing and turning for about a half an hour (though I’m totally beat right now and expect to sleep like a log tonight). It’s a change and I’ll get used to it.
Also, we’re getting towards the end of the college basketball season and I’ve been busy attending the Monmouth University men’s basketball team home games. The Hawks have struggled a little bit this season, but they’re starting to show signs of strength heading into their last four games of the season. Oh, and unlike the last few years I don’t really have a ton of pictures to post from these home games. I’ve actually been sitting back and enjoying the games instead of waiting for the perfect camera shot. However, I have taken a small handful of pictures at the games (mostly of the scoreboard after the games are over) and I plan to post them in the next few weeks.
I’ve also been hit with a variety of big expenses in the last few weeks. First, I spent a good deal of money traveling to Washington, DC for a business trip last week (granted, these expenses will be reimbursed, but I have to wait for the reimbursement to arrive). Then, I had my car crap out on me and it cost over eleven hundred bucks to get the thing fixed. And on the same day that I paid to get the car fixed, I co-hosted a fundraiser/donor recognition event at one of the Monmouth home games (which wasn’t a huge expense, but still an irregular expense in my routine budget). While all of these expenses are manageable, they are all irregular costs in my planned budget and they all hit within the same three day period. So… I’m glad that tomorrow is pay day!
Between the big shift in my personal schedule and the time I’ve been spending at the Monmouth games, my health is more or less in a stalemate. I haven’t been to the gym in about three weeks because I can’t figure out this new schedule yet, but my weight hasn’t moved too much and my blood sugar is very stable. I’m glad about the blood sugar being stable because a shift in routine combined with a reduction in the amount of medication that I’m taking could have formed the perfect storm to throw my blood sugar out of whack. On the topic of health, I purchased the Rebel Fitness Guide from Nerd Fitness a few weeks ago and I just finished reading it. Any guy who writes fitness articles and quotes the Lord of the Rings, uses Legos as a graphic tool, and frequently references the video games that I grew up playing and other nerdy topics is alright with me! I expect to begin the Level 1 Rookie workout around the beginning of March so be on the lookout for updates on how I’m progressing with that workout program.
Other than what’s posted above I don’t have many more big updates to provide right now. One of the last originally-written posts that I wrote for the blog was about finding a new church to attend that is close to where I live. Well, I’m still going to church there on a weekly basis and I find it amazing that I used to think that I didn’t have the time to go to church. Absolutely amazing. The services last about 45 – 50 minutes and when you factor in driving there and driving home, I’m only out of the house for about an hour and five minutes each Sunday morning. Who can’t give an hour and five minutes to go to church each week?! In fact, I continue to find that I enjoy going to church to listen to the homilies and the readings and so on. It’s nice – makes you feel good after you leave and gives you guidance for the week.
I’ve also been reading a lot on the NOOK, in The Word Among Us daily meditations, and random articles – so I have a lot to update on the site when I get a moment to do so! Stay tuned and in the mean time, follow me on Twitter @JerseySmarts!
Crazy Fat People Thoughts – Seeing The Bigger Picture in The Smaller Picture
August 22nd, 2011 | Added to Gym Stories, Sustainable Living | No Comments »
Some of you folks might remember a few weeks ago when I wrote the first “Crazy Fat People Thoughts” entry on JerseySmarts.com. The point of that entry was twofold. First, I was commenting about how I have a variety of never-been-worn-before jeans that I can now wear since I’ve been losing weight. Second, I was making a statement that most fat people do weird things or have habits/issues that range from minor quirks to extreme issues. While I’m lucky because I don’t think I have any major issues, I definitely have weird little quirks – like buying jeans that don’t fit me. This entry is about another one of the weird quirks that I’ve become more aware of lately and why I’m becoming aware of it. I think you’ll find it interesting.
 What happens when this scene does occur, but you still can't see it? Whereas the last entry of this type focused on all of these unworn jeans in my closet, this entry is going to focus on what I see when I look at myself in the mirror. First, some history…
I’ve mentioned many, many times on this blog that I once lost 125 pounds before gaining some 105 pounds back. While I’m not going to rehash that story, I do want to comment on my perception of reality during that time. Specifically, even though I lost 125 pounds and I was getting compliments from everyone I knew and everywhere I went, I didn’t see much of a change in the mirror. Now, before you go and think that I have some type of body dysmorphic disorder (look it up), I certainly knew that I looked different and I definitely knew that my body was a different shape at 260 pounds versus at 385 pounds.
However, for better or for worse, whenever I looked in the mirror I just saw… me.
Was my stomach smaller? I guess so. Were my arms and chest more defined because of the intense lifting that I was engaged in? More or less, I guess. Did I see the same changed person that everyone else saw when they looked at me? Nope.
Maybe it was because I’m a pretty strong-minded person and I knew that even though my body changed, I was still “me.” You see, society seems to think that if you lose a lot of weight and your appearance changes dramatically, then you must be a “new” person. This weird cause and effect is played out in the media and in popular television shows (it’s actually the core root of NBC’s The Biggest Loser). Yet, becoming a “new” person was never my motivation to lose weight when I dropped 125 pounds and it’s not my motivation as I lose weight this time around.
That’s probably enough background, but feel free to ask for more if you’re interested. Now some more present day comments on this topic…
I decided to write this entry because yesterday I hit a pretty big milestone in my current weight loss efforts. Yesterday, I weighed in at 314.6 pounds, which is 50.4 pounds less than when I started losing weight at the beginning of the summer. That’s pretty damn good!
Just like when I lost all of that weight last time around, I’m doing the same things this time around – eating less and working out more. That’s the big “secret” to weight loss. It really is the secret!
And, just like last time around, I’m not “seeing” much of a difference in the mirror. However, because I was aware enough at the beginning of the summer to know that my eye-to-mind connection would lie to me again about what I was “seeing,” I took a measure to prevent myself from believing (disbelieving?) what my eyes saw in the mirror.
I took pictures of myself.
No, you’re not going to see those pictures on this website so don’t ask. However, I glance through the pictures every once in a while to get a view of the pre-weight loss version of my body versus the current version of my body. And truth be told, there is a striking, noticeable difference between the picture of me at 354.6 pounds (after already losing 10.4 pounds is when I started taking the pictures) and the picture of me at 335.0 pounds… but that’s about it as far as my eyes can “see.” I’ve also taken pictures of myself at 330.4 pounds and 326.8 pounds; I have yet to take some pictures of myself at my current 314.6 pounds.
However, here’s the thing – I don’t see a difference in the pictures between 335.0 pounds and 326.8 pounds.
Is there a difference? Well, there would have to be, right? I mean you don’t weigh 8.2 pounds less than you did a week or two prior and not look different. Yet, I don’t see it in the pictures. Sure, maybe I’ll see the difference in the 314.6 pound pictures, but I don’t see the change now.
And that’s the root of this entry because I’m finding it pretty hard to get as excited as I should be about losing the 50 pounds so far. Most folks would be jumping up and down for joy after losing that much weight and while I’m glad about it, I’m not ecstatic about the 50 pound drop. Part of me believes that I’m not excited because, frankly, I’ve been here before. In fact, I’ve gone another 54.6 pounds down this road and will likely retrace those very same steps in the next 6 months. But I’m just not overly elated at what I’m seeing in the mirror.
The analyst in me thinks that I need to heed the title of this entry and see the bigger picture in the physically smaller pictures of my body. In other words, I think that part of my problem is that I need to realize and begin to achieve the bigger picture items that come along with losing weight before my mind will allow me to see the physical benefit of losing the weight. What does that mean? Here’s an example: I go to the doctor again next Friday (second day of September). At that appointment, I will have hopefully lost a total of 55 pounds since I last saw the doctor. That’s an astounding amount of weight to lose. I think, however, in order for me to realize and achieve the bigger picture items that come from losing this weight, I’m going to need my doctor to lower the amount of my medications (currently at 10 pills and 1 shot each day).
I’m pretty confident that a development like that would begin to wrench open my mind’s eye so that it can see the smaller figure standing in the mirror.
__________
The paragraph above is the end of this entry. Though, since this is a weight loss-themed entry, I thought I would add a few comments on my next goal and the longer-term goals that I have for losing weight. If you’re interested, read on…
The next goal is to drop below 300 pounds. As any big guy can tell you, when you’re losing weight that 300 pound figure looms above your efforts like a storm cloud waiting to burst. Once I break through that level and begin weighing something in the 290s, I’ll be content that this weight loss effort may actually have some longer-term legs. And on those longer-term legs, I’d like to carry myself to 275 pounds by the middle of October – in time for my older brother’s wedding. Again, as any big guy losing weight can tell you – once you breakthrough beneath the 300 pound level, 275 pounds doesn’t seem that far away (and it’s not in the grand scheme of things).
That’s about it in terms of my weight loss goals. Sure, one day I’d like to weigh around 230 pounds (I don’t know about going much lower than that weight, actually), but I’m in no great rush to get there. I could be very happy sitting at 275 pounds for a while just like I’m content taking small steps to get to that weight. If you’re interested in following this weight loss effort, stick around on JerseySmarts.com because I plan to chronicle as much of my thoughts and experiences as I can during this journey. It should be interesting. 
Crazy Fat People Thoughts – How Many Pairs of Jeans Do YOU Own?
August 8th, 2011 | Added to Gym Stories | No Comments »
Before I write my little diatribe today, I thought I would try to comment on the title of this entry. The title of this entry starts with “Crazy Fat People Thoughts” and then talks about pairs of jeans. Please understand, I’m not suggesting that all fat people are crazy or that fat people, in general, have crazy thoughts. However, after being a fat guy for the majority of my adult life, I do have some excellent first hand knowledge of the sometimes crazy point of view that fat people have on certain issues.
For example, I once weighed 385 pounds and then lost 125 pounds to settle at 260 pounds. After a while, I wound up gaining back around 100 pounds. Not good. But to show you how sometimes fat people can be crazy, when I weighed 260 pounds I would look in the mirror and see every bit of the 385 pounds that I used to weigh. In fact, despite the nearly non-stop compliments that I was receiving on losing all of the weight, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I looked exactly the same as I did when I weighed 385 pounds. No doubt in my mind at all – even though I was completely wrong.
 A huge stack of unworn jeans sitting in my closet The point is that I understand the crazy thoughts that fat people have from time to time. And on that subject, I figured now would be as good a time as any to report to you all about my recent weight loss efforts and one of the positive outcomes of those efforts. I began a weight loss contest with both of my roommates at some point in June. The winner of the contest will get free rent for the month of September (a $587 value). The contest ends in 13 days and I’m in second place by a few percentage points.
Since the contest started, I’ve dropped about 42 pounds. That’s pretty significant. However, since I know from my previous experience that I’m prone to having crazy fat people thoughts, I started snapping pictures of myself (front shot and profile shot) in just my underwear at different weights. Unfortunately, I didn’t start at the 363.6 pounds that I weighed when the contest started (or the 365 pounds that I weighed a week before the contest started), but I did begin taking pictures somewhere around 356 pounds. Again, my purpose for taking these pictures is so that I can see for my own two eyes a “before and after” shot of my body before I began losing weight and after the weight has come off.
And wouldn’t you know it, but the pictures don’t lie. I can clearly see a marked decrease in the size of my torso between the 356 pound picture and the 321 pound picture. In essence, I’m trying to use these pictures to trick (or untrick, really) my brain into recognizing a difference when it looks in the mirror. I don’t know if it’s working yet, but I do know that I have picture proof of my body getting smaller.
Along with that picture proof has come a little bit of pride in losing the weight so I did something the other night that I haven’t done in a while – I took out pairs of jeans that I know I can’t fit into and tried them on. That’s the picture above – an entire stack of jeans (rotated sideways so it can fit in the JerseySmarts.com format). Now here’s where the craziness comes into play – most of those 20 or so pairs of jeans have never been worn! And when I say never been worn, I mean the tags are still on these things! That’s one of the crazy things that some fat people do – we buy things that don’t really fit because we know if we lose a little bit of weight then they’ll fit just fine.
Of course, most folks never really lose the weight and thus what they wind up with is either a huge stack of unworn clothing sitting in their closets like you see in the picture above or a huge stack of unworn clothing that they donate to charity (and ultimately get less of a tax benefit on a per dollar basis than if they just didn’t buy these things in the first place). And to wrap up this part of the conversation, I thought I’d let you know that while I did manage to fit into about 6 or 7 of those pairs of jeans, I put the rest of the stack back and will give it another round of testing after I drop another 20 pounds or so.
To finish up this entry, I thought I’d make a brief observation about what I’d “win” if I win the contest. Sure, I get to keep $587 at a time when I could use the extra funds (with my brother’s wedding coming up and his bachelor party, etc). However, even if I don’t win (and, in truth, my roommate’s lead will be tough to overcome), I am still going to reap a financial benefit. By losing weight, I’ll reduce the number of prescriptions that I need to take each day and thus reduce my medical bills. By losing weight, I’ll be able to fit into some of these jeans that are sitting in my closet that I haven’t been able to wear until now – that saves me money by not having to buy new clothes! So, even if I don’t win the contest, I’ll still reap a financial benefit – and that’s enough to make my crazy fat person thoughts dissipate for a little while!
A Whole Series of Observations from My Time at My New Gym
July 24th, 2011 | Added to Gym Stories | No Comments »
Many, many years ago, I spent a lot of time writing entries on JerseySmarts.com talking about the different experiences that I encountered at my gym. In fact, I created a whole category at JerseySmarts.com talking about all of the different people that I encountered or observations that I made while at the gym. You can go back and read about the muscleheads who go to the gym with excessive amounts of gel in their hair, dummy foreigners trying to make out in the pool, the creepy guys at the gym who spend hours in the locker room staring at everyone, and the creepiest guy that I’ve ever seen at any gym anywhere – the naked shaver! You really need to go and read that entry (and the comments that accompany it) to appreciate what I’m talking about on that one.
If you’re really in the mood, you can read about the swamp thing (which, by the way, brought up the memory of this guy and made me almost throw up re-reading the entry), the return of the clod hoppers, the bald creeper who uses the blow dryer to dry himself off after a shower, the lady who sings along with her iPod, the second creepiest guy that I’ve ever encountered at a gym – the mouth-breathing metal head, or the funniest type of person that I’ve ever seen at a gym – the guy with Imaginary Lat Syndrome (it’s an epidemic, folks).
 The inside of a Planet Fitness - not my Planet Fitness, though. I just found this picture on Bing. Once you read through all of that old content (some of those entries are more than 6 years old!), you can even skip ahead to earlier this year when I encountered a little old lady who was wearing an immense amount of perfume while on a bicycle at the gym. She wasn’t annoying, though. Actually, she was a sweetheart – you gotta love a little old lady coming all dolled up to the gym to work out.
Now, as many of you may recall, the gym that I attend now is nicknamed the “Judgment Free Zone” so before I wrote this entry, I had to really think about whether or not I was “judging” the people I would be writing about. And while that process was an interesting, introspective look on how I view people around me while I’m working out (seriously, give it a shot yourself some time – I found the introspection very insightful), I came to the conclusion that my new observations aren’t really negative judgments on these people. What’s more, through this introspection I found that I really didn’t encounter anybody at my new gym who was annoying or worthy of disgust or disdain. Talk about a refreshing change of pace!
However, I did realize that there were at least a handful of entertaining characters that I’ve observed at the new gym and I wanted to share them with you in this entry. So, in my “judgment free” way, here I go!
The Mayor of the Gym. This guy is entertaining to watch. You all know that guy who is the “Mayor” of the [insert local gathering place here]. Usually, my friends and I talk about who is the “Mayor” of this bar or the “Mayor” of that bar. The “Mayor” of any particular place is the guy who walks around and talks to everyone, trying to make friends or strengthening his existing friendships that he made during previous gym visits. Well, as my frequency of attending this new gym has increased, I’ve definitely figured out who is the “Mayor” of the gym. He’s a nice guy, don’t get me wrong. He even gave me a head nod one day, which I thought was nice. But there is something funny about observing a guy who talks to almost every person at the gym in a friendly, fun kind of way.
The Desperate Clod Hopper. Go back and re-read some of my old entries to figure out what a clod hopper is (in short, it’s the person on the treadmill who doesn’t pick up their feet and thus romps and stomps his or her way to a very loud cardio workout). Well, the other day I was at the gym in the late morning and there weren’t that many people there. The gym has some 30 or so treadmills all lined up in a row so when there aren’t that many people there, you don’t need to get right next to someone and workout on top of them. There’s ample space and certainly ample machinery to make the workout fun without awkwardly invading another person’s space.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, but while I was there doing my own treadmill workout I saw a younger guy (probably in his late 20′s) walk into the gym and hop up on a treadmill that was right next to a young woman. Now granted, the girl was hot – I’ll give him that because it’s true. But isn’t there something inherently weird about getting on a treadmill right next to the hot girl at the gym when there are literally 25 other treadmills that you can get on? Reminding myself to be “judgment free,” I thought nothing of it and kind of got a kick out of it. But then it happened – he started clod hopping.
Boom! Bam! Boom! Bam! Boom! Bam! I actually had to look twice to see if it was him who was romping and stomping on the treadmill! Then, keeping with that “judgment free” spirit, I thought to myself, “Whoa. This kid is going to have a hard time getting that girl to give him the time of day after all of that clod hopping.” And then I went about my business, but made sure to go workout on a different side of the gym than this guy because who really wants to hear all of that banging around anyway?
The Ridiculous Blowout Kid. A few years ago, I would have probably gotten really mad at seeing this type of person at the gym. However, when I went to the gym a few months ago and noticed a young kid (probably in his late teens/early 20′s) with a blowout hair cut that was as full of gel and/or grease as I’ve ever seen, I actually had to restrain myself from laughing out loud. Now, now – I wasn’t laughing at him (remember, I’m keeping a “judgment free” mindset). But I was laughing at the sight of a young kid walking into the gym with hair that literally stood about five inches off of his head. Imagine the gross sweat that must roll off of that head! Blech!
The Guy Who Does Weird Workouts, Front and Center. I didn’t really know how to quantify this guy when I saw him the other day, but I figured the best way to report him to you all was to report what I saw. There was a guy at the gym who strategically stood in a part of the dumbbell area that is pretty much the “front and center” of the gym. While he was there, he did the oddest, most bizarre collection of workouts that I’ve ever seen.
Hear me out – I’ve seen all different types of plyometric workouts when I played football. I’ve seen just about every type of endurance workout when I wrestled. I’ve seen almost every different workout that relates anything to sports and athletes. And then I saw this guy. I can barely explain what I saw because it was so weird. For example, this guy was holding onto a curling bar and seemingly try to jump up over his own head while holding it. I’ve never seen anything like that before, but I – and everyone else at the gym that day – was treated to some entertaining workout routine!
The Kids BS’ing Instead of Working Out. The only thing that distracted me from watching that guy’s weird workout was trying to hold back the laughing as these young teenagers (definitely kids out of school for the summer) sat around near the dumbbells for about 30 minutes and doing next to nothing while sitting there. I happened to be on the stationary bike directly in front of these kids so I had a front row seat to absolutely nothing. It was pretty amazing, actually, when you consider that there were people all over the gym and everyone was getting a good workout. Just another example of kids needing someplace to go and something to do with their free time, I guess.
And that’s about it, folks. I have more observations, but they are general in nature. For example, there aren’t any creepy guys crawling around the locker rooms at this gym (thank God), there aren’t any muscleheads being overly aggressive in some steroid-fueled rage, and there aren’t really that many gym-goers to get aggravated about. The people who go to this gym are just regular, average people looking to focus a little bit more on fitness. That’s one of the many reasons why I like going to this gym – it’s fun and it gets the job done in a cost-effective, efficient way.
A Few Changes in My Approach to Getting Healthy This Time Around
February 5th, 2011 | Added to Gym Stories | No Comments »
Yesterday, I wrote about how I wound up so out of shape to the point where I now have Type 2 Diabetes and am required to take at least 6 pills each day. I also wrote about why I think that now is a great time for me to get back into the gym and to start counting calories again. Today, I intend to write about what I plan to do differently this time around as compared to when I first lost over 120 pounds back in 2004 and 2005.
Here are some things that I intend to do differently this time around…
 Tracking calories on myFitnessPal This is a change for me and one that I’m taking on for a specific reason. When I lost 120+ pounds a few years ago, I didn’t track my calories. Instead, I just ate less and worked out more. In fact, when people would come up to me and say, “Wow! Did you lose weight? How did you do it?” I would say, “It’s easy. Eat less and work out more.” And, in truth, that is the secret to losing weight. However, times change and so do perceptions.
For example, I tracked my calorie intake for a few days last week and I was shocked at the amount of calories I was taking in everyday. Sure, I knew that I was eating too much, but I had no idea that I was taking in that many calories! Without going into the gritty details, it was shocking.
In addition to the mini-experiment I ran last week I decided to track my calories for another reason. I only really lost weight once in the 4 or so years since I gained back the majority of the weight that I lost the first time around. When I dropped a few pounds, it was when I was using a calorie tracking website to track how much food I was eating. If I remember correctly (and I probably don’t), I think I dropped some 20 or so pounds in about a month solely by using that calorie tracking website – there was no working out to compliment the tracking efforts.
So between the mini-experiment last week and my successful use of a calorie tracking website in the past, I decided to sign-up at myFitnessPal.com. Soon, I’ll have a widget on the sidebar of JerseySmarts.com tracking the amount of weight that I’ve lost. I have to get more familiar with their system first and then get myself acclimated to using the tracking website multiple times each day. Be on the lookout for that widget, though!
No Pedometer. I used to always wear a pedometer – up until sometime last year. Using my pedometer, I tracked the amount of steps that I took each week and tried to notice trends over time. What trends did I notice? I walked more steps during the weeks where I was attending major events. Big surprise, right?
Keeping track of the number of steps that I take each day and each week was not a part of my big weight loss the first time around and I’m not including this time around either. Plus, the damn pedometers are prone to getting broken, lost, or just plain busted once in a while!
No Out of the Ordinary Scheduling. When I lost all of that weight a few years ago, I was going to the gym at ridiculous times of the day. I’d go first thing in the morning around 8:00am and then maybe go a second time at 5:00pm or 7:00pm – whenever I felt like my day was over. The reason that I was able to keep that type of crazy gym schedule was because I was working part-time at two different jobs and I was still in graduate school. It’s pretty easy to go to the gym twice a day and work yourself to the bone when you don’t have any large, major commitments that you need to attend to on a daily basis!
But, for all of the reasons that I noted yesterday, I don’t have that type of free and loose schedule any more. So no more going to the gym at random times of the day because there’s nothing better to do!
No Swimming. This change in my approach to working out really is a shame. From winter 2004 through summer 2005 I swam at least 5 times each week and for at least an hour each session (most weeks I swam 7 – 10 times each week for at least an hour each session).
But there are some issues you can do something about and others that you can’t and this one I can’t do anything about – there’s no pool at the new gym. No pool = no opportunity to swim each day after each workout.
And that’s really about it in terms of what I’ll change during my second big attempt at losing weight. The way my life is structured these days, I can’t do what I once did and at least I realize that, you know? I can, however, give this attempt a real effort and do what is within my power to make it succeed.
I guess we’ll see what happens!
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February 14th, 2012 | Added to Random Entries | No Comments »
Since I haven’t posted an originally-written update in about 20 days, I thought it would be a good idea to post up some quick thoughts about what’s been going on with the blog and some other random updates. First, if you’re craving more of my random thoughts throughout the day, then
you’re a sick individualyou should follow me on Twitter @JerseySmarts. If you want a brief glimpse at what I’m putting on Twitter these days, then you only need to glance to the right of this entry and read the tweet feed that I added to the site about two weeks ago.As you’ll see, the feed contains just random thoughts, complaints, and observations. I’m not solving world hunger here, folks – I’m just living my life!
On the topic of what is going on with this blog there’s nothing major to update everyone on, but here is the general rundown:
First, for some reason we’ve been receiving a large number of spammy comments. Now, I write “spammy” comments because these comments aren’t your typical “click here for drugs” robotic spam comments, but rather vitriolic hate speech that is actually written by a human being. It’s really some pretty vicious stuff that has no place on a personal blog. And I don’t know how many times I have to write this in the comments section, but this always has been and always will be a personal blog. In other words, what I say goes so if you write a comment that attacks another commenter or blatantly distorts the issues presented in the various updates, you can stick your comment up your ass. Now granted, in the last year we’ve only gotten about 6 or 7 really vitriolic, arrogant, hateful comments and all of those were moderated before they made it on to the site. However, if you plan on writing bullshit and hate in the comments section you might as well save yourself the time because it’s not getting posted, period. My personal blog, my dictatorial rules – very simple to understand.
Second, I have a lot of content written and ready to be posted to the blog, but I’m waiting for the right time. For example, I have my next student loan update written and ready to go for whenever my total amount outstanding drops again (which should be in about a month – more on that in a minute). Also, I’ve been working on some other projects that are taking up some time so I’ve only been writing for the blog in my spare time.
Third, I’ve been working really hard to cull and delete a ton of the tags on this blog. If you don’t know what a “tag” is, it’s the keywords that bloggers use to help their individual pages categorize themselves and rise up in the search engines. A few years ago I utilized a system that provided a whole host of tags for specific keywords and that has bogged down and crapped up the database for the blog. As an example, if I wrote something about my old Chevy Blazer, I would get the following tags added to the database: Chevy, Chevy Blazer, Blazer, Chevrolet, Chevrolet Blazer, Blazer SUV, SUV, Chevy SUV, etc. That’s totally unnecessary. My culling process is reducing all of that gunk to two tags: Chevrolet and Blazer. That’s it – nothing more is needed. Obviously, this is a long process since there are some 6 or 7 thousand of tags in the database that need to be reviewed and deleted. I’m going through them about 250 at a time and I hope to have the project completed by the end of the year.
And the final part of this part of the update is that I’m looking for ways to freshen up the design of the blog. If you’ve been eagle-eyed, then over the last few weeks you might have noticed random updates here and there in certain design features (the addition of the Twitter feed, the lengthening of the Facebook feed, the layout change for news from the other sites that I own, change in some of the external button links, etc). However, I’ve been thinking that it might be time for wholesale change – I just don’t know how far I want to take it. If you have any ideas on how to change the design, please feel free to add them to the comments section of this post (but don’t post hate or it won’t get to see the light of day!).
That’s it for the JerseySmarts.com Update. And before I end the web-based updates I thought I might add that one of the sites that I own through Usable Web Solutions, LLC has really exploded in the last month and a half. Hits to that website have tripled and it is growing into a very respected site. I’m proud of the team that works there and plan to continue providing them with as much support as possible to let the growth continue. As for the rest of my life…
Things have been very busy. Towards the end of January my company moved its offices from Trenton to New Brunswick. That’s about ten miles less of a drive each morning for me, but the same amount of time thanks to the Route 18 traffic (which sucks). However, I tried to bypass most of the heavy traffic by changing my work schedule from 9am-ish to 5pm-ish to 7:45am-ish to 4:00pm-ish. I’m getting up earlier and leaving my house about an hour and a half earlier, but I’m also getting home right at or slightly before 5:00pm, so that’s an hour and a half earlier than the Trenton commute. The change hasn’t been too bad, but when you shift your schedule to work (and live life) an hour and a half earlier, you experience a personal seismic shift.
On my end, I’m finding that I have less time to spend on the computer in the evening (not playing around on the computer, but working on computer-based, paid projects). Also, I find that I’m totally exhausted by about 3:00pm. I think this is happening because my body isn’t used to going to bed at 10:00pm so I wind up tossing and turning for about a half an hour (though I’m totally beat right now and expect to sleep like a log tonight). It’s a change and I’ll get used to it.
Also, we’re getting towards the end of the college basketball season and I’ve been busy attending the Monmouth University men’s basketball team home games. The Hawks have struggled a little bit this season, but they’re starting to show signs of strength heading into their last four games of the season. Oh, and unlike the last few years I don’t really have a ton of pictures to post from these home games. I’ve actually been sitting back and enjoying the games instead of waiting for the perfect camera shot. However, I have taken a small handful of pictures at the games (mostly of the scoreboard after the games are over) and I plan to post them in the next few weeks.
I’ve also been hit with a variety of big expenses in the last few weeks. First, I spent a good deal of money traveling to Washington, DC for a business trip last week (granted, these expenses will be reimbursed, but I have to wait for the reimbursement to arrive). Then, I had my car crap out on me and it cost over eleven hundred bucks to get the thing fixed. And on the same day that I paid to get the car fixed, I co-hosted a fundraiser/donor recognition event at one of the Monmouth home games (which wasn’t a huge expense, but still an irregular expense in my routine budget). While all of these expenses are manageable, they are all irregular costs in my planned budget and they all hit within the same three day period. So… I’m glad that tomorrow is pay day!
Between the big shift in my personal schedule and the time I’ve been spending at the Monmouth games, my health is more or less in a stalemate. I haven’t been to the gym in about three weeks because I can’t figure out this new schedule yet, but my weight hasn’t moved too much and my blood sugar is very stable. I’m glad about the blood sugar being stable because a shift in routine combined with a reduction in the amount of medication that I’m taking could have formed the perfect storm to throw my blood sugar out of whack. On the topic of health, I purchased the Rebel Fitness Guide from Nerd Fitness a few weeks ago and I just finished reading it. Any guy who writes fitness articles and quotes the Lord of the Rings, uses Legos as a graphic tool, and frequently references the video games that I grew up playing and other nerdy topics is alright with me! I expect to begin the Level 1 Rookie workout around the beginning of March so be on the lookout for updates on how I’m progressing with that workout program.
Other than what’s posted above I don’t have many more big updates to provide right now. One of the last originally-written posts that I wrote for the blog was about finding a new church to attend that is close to where I live. Well, I’m still going to church there on a weekly basis and I find it amazing that I used to think that I didn’t have the time to go to church. Absolutely amazing. The services last about 45 – 50 minutes and when you factor in driving there and driving home, I’m only out of the house for about an hour and five minutes each Sunday morning. Who can’t give an hour and five minutes to go to church each week?! In fact, I continue to find that I enjoy going to church to listen to the homilies and the readings and so on. It’s nice – makes you feel good after you leave and gives you guidance for the week.
I’ve also been reading a lot on the NOOK, in The Word Among Us daily meditations, and random articles – so I have a lot to update on the site when I get a moment to do so! Stay tuned and in the mean time, follow me on Twitter @JerseySmarts!