Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #26 and #27

So I missed a week. Thank goodness it wasn't an resolution for this year or I would have already failed. Luckily, I don't really do resolutions anymore. I am going more for intentions. A friend of mine shared hers with me they were really well constructed. I still am working out doing mine right. For now they are more like a task list. I will share them in detail at some point, just not today. They are all centered around two main things with a little 12 steps stuff. Those to main things should not surprise you if you know me; Yoga and Whole Food, Plant Based eating.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #16

I spent my weekend volunteering at the Engine 2 sponsored 2Forks Weekender here in Cleveland at the Downtown Marriott hotel. The amount of information was absolutely staggering. There were times that I felt such a disconnect to the rest of society, that such critical, lifesaving information is not more widely known. There shear amount of data demonstrating the overwhelming benefits of a whole foods, plant based diet is almost overwhelming.

Plant-Based Lifestyle

So a friend came up to me recently and asked me how I did it. It, you ask? The implied question really was on multiple levels. The first implied question was how did I lose the weight that I've lost, was it really only diet and which one. The second implied question was about my diet and how I stay plant strong, plant perfect or what have you. At the time I answered it well I think but upon thinking about it could have put more thought into answer better.

This post will attempt to describe what has really made me successful up til now - and hopefully out into the future.

2015 Year in Review

If you have been in and social media site in the last week or so you have been probably been bombarded with year in reviews which randomly select pictures you have posted over the last year to create a montage of the last year. So you know it's that time of the year again. You would also know it is that time of the year again since I have started posting on this blog again. :-)

In January of this year, I posted my goals for the year, here. I did not say resolutions because that seems to imply binary, yes or no. You either did it or not. Resolution doesn't need to be binary but that seems to have become the norm. So in my post I called them targets. So let's review them to see how we did.

There are Numbers

Then there are numbers!

Yesterday, I was finally able to get an updates biometrics test. I was hoping to get it at the same time as the Holiday Hold weigh-in but a change for expanded services in the Wellness Center at Hyland delayed that until just recently. But yesterday I was able to get the test done.

But first a recap just in case you forgot.

Random Thoughts - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

So as I mentioned in a previous post I finished my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge with some really nice results. This post is just a few random thoughts I had that are prompted by participating in the Challenge.

I really don't have anything planned to say this time around so we'll see what happens. We'll all be surprised.

So let's start with something thought provoking: my farts stink.

How's that for a starting topic?(!)

Seriously thought they stink. Actually I should stay the smell is different. Clearly it is from the change in diet and the substantial increase in the amount of beans I eat. Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, beans, beans and more beans. But it's also because I am eating more vegetables across the board. I bring this up because while I remember thinking about it during the challenge, this morning my wife, Arisa, told me that smell of my breath was different. She didn't say "bad" she said different. And I asked for the clarification. Twice.

Wrap Up - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

Tuesday was the final day of the challenge so I had my blood test done again on Wednesday morning. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves actually. But I like to babble so you will have to wait. ;-)

So the 28 Day Challenge ended on Tuesday night but Wednesday was a busy day besides getting my blood work done and meeting with the Dietitian. So I treated it pretty much like any other day of the 28 day challenge. Thursday night though we went to Pacific East in Coventry in Cleveland Heights for our year end Board of Directors Meeting for the Japanese Association of Northeast Ohio (JANO). Reality is that I really like sushi and if I had not been mindful I would have eaten way more than I should have.

One of the take aways I have from the Hyland sponsored nutrition classes I took this summer, meeting with the Dietitian, but most of all through implementing it during the 28 Day Challenge is being aware of eating when I am eating. So Thursday night with literally a miniature boat of sushi placed in front of my I started to go into shark mode - a mindless feeding frenzy. Until I caught myself and realized that I was stuffing my face as fast as I could - so I slowed down and noticed that I was actually full. So I stopped eating. VICTORY!

Week 3 Recap - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

Happy SaturdaySunday! I spent 3-4 hours shoveling the snow off our driveway(yesterday). May not be exercise from Rip's books but it was a lot of work and sweat. So I'm going to count it anyway.

Speaking of Rip, I finally got my Engine 2 Diet book back from the Hyland dietitian. So the general theme for Rip, as well as his father's, is diet. Make your diet #plantstrong and good things will happen. That is not the only message though, particularly with Rip who as a triathlete knows the importance of exercise in all of this. In fact, the whole entirety of Chapter 6 is about exercise with pictures to help you learn. In fact he has a host of Youtube videos with stretches and then workouts(and #2) to help guide you.

Engine2 Diet 28 Day Challenge Week 2 Update

So if you are following this Challenge (all two of you), you know that last week started of with a power outage at work so I didn't get to meet with the dietician. This week, however, I did get to meet with the dietician so I was able to update her on progress and get my bodyfat % checked with that doohicky. But before I reveal the latest and greatest numbers let me talk a little bit about this week.

So normally I spend my Sunday afternoons on the elliptical watching the Cleveland Browns. I started during last year's NFL season for two reasons 1) to do something other than sitting on the couch and stuffing my face, and 2) to protect my TV - last year's Browns were absolutely pathetic, even though they were better last year than under Pat Shurmur.

Week 1 Recap - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

So Wednesday was started Week #2 of my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge. Normally I would have met with the dietician on Wednesday to review the week and take my Body Fat % measurement with that little gadget she's got. The power company had other plans for us - we were sent home due to a power outage and a failure in the backup generator.

Wednesday is also my spinning class but since we went home early Arisa and I ended up going to Planet Fitness where I did the PF 30 Minute Express circuit for the first time in ages. I really like that workout since you can push yourself as much or as little as you are up to on a given day. And you can see progress over time as the weights or reps increase as you get in better shape. But I'll tell you my arms have been killing me for the last two days because of it! I keep telling myself that old adage No Pain No Gain.

And So It Begins [28 Day Challenge]

Happy Sunday, Go Browns!Welcome to Day 5 of my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge.
I as I said in my last post I am taking the Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge. I started a hybrid version prior to kicking off on last Wednesday to get in the mindset and learn how to prepare some of the meals so the challenge wouldn't be such a shock. Actually, in the 28 Day Challenge there is a Firefighter version and a Fire Cadet version. The Firefighter version is cold turkey immersion into a plant-strong lifestyle for 28 days. The Fire Cadet version is for those fainter of heart and removes various things over the first three week. For example, the first week is no meat or processed foods, the second week implements no dairy, and the third is to eliminate extracted oils.
What I did was similar in that I drastically cut back on everything - I haven't really had milk that much if I had soy milk around. Even had some of the Engine 2 meals for dinner which means I wasn't having meat. I didn't really do the regimented way of eliminating the E2Diet non-compliant foods but cut way, way back on them replacing them with fruit and vegetables.

28 Day Challenge

Beginning on October 22, 2014 I will start the Engine 2 Diet's 28 Day Challenge. Arisa is going to do a modified version, but already there is no meat other than fish in the house!

Okay, so the last time I posted on my blog was almost a year ago and this my first post of 2014. My last post was about the Holiday Hold that I did last year through the New Year. I actually did lose weight an ended up under 170. At least for a short while anyway.

Well, it's October a year later and the news isn't so good. I ended up putting back almost all the weight. While my official "Holiday Hold" weight was 178, prior to that I had been as heavy as 190 pounds. At 5'5" that made me obese. (Using BMI of 32 to mean obese) So when I say I put almost all the weight back on, I was 5 pounds short of 190. When I hit 185 again I decided I couldn't wait anymore, so in late August I started making changes.