Service Vehicle Soon..

Motivation:

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again,
this time more wisely." ~unknown

Diary:

Well, this week there has been a lot of questions from readers about "what are you doing with your weight loss plan, since your loss of a counselor?"

Answer: I am refocusing.

I am continuing to work with the clinic to continue to lose weight for the next 12 weeks. I have found after a review of my weekly diary that I am starting to slip - slowly at first, but now my food intake is not matching with my goals. I have been reviewing my current eating plan, and trying different ways of making food preparation easier. Here are some concrete ways I am doing this:

1) Measuring my food (again). When I started my calorie counting program, I methodically measured (with a kitchen scale) the food amounts I was eating, and was exact with my portions to an obsessive degree. Since then, I just guessed the size, based on my original measurement, and this worked ok. Recently, however, I have noticed that the amount of food in the meal has been creeping to fit the size of the container. This "scope creep" has meant that my weight loss has been affected. I am going to go back to basics and start measuring and looking at quantity of portions in my meals. This will get back into line with what the experts want me to do.

2) Retool my food diary. I am reformatting the diary I use slightly to make food choices a little bit easier. I am making it a graphical spreadsheet that will let me "check off" what I have eaten and what is left, so I can ensure I get a good variety of foods, colors, and flavors. This activity also will help me be focused on the food that I am eating and think about "good choices"

3) Get focused on the GOALS! I am resetting my goal meter to make sure I am on track.
As a reminder, I like to think about goals in several steps. These are all new goals - in fact, I am making them right now:

- Yearly Goals
-- Body Fat % at a number that is not considered obese
-- BMI at a healthy number
-- Look good in a suit
-- Feel good in a airplane seat / baseball stadium seat.
-- Pay off credit card debt
-- Learn Dreamweaver, Flash, Content Management System
-- Become somewhat proficient on the guitar (not a well written goal)
-- Make a difference in my community. This is a vague goal, but a valid one that needs to be in the scope. I can always refine the goal.

- 3 Month Goals
-- Lose 40+ lbs.
-- workout 5 days a week minimum
-- train for 5K race
-- make a major debt payment
-- Make a small website (test) using FrameMaker
-- Complete a volunteer service project for community (to be determined)

- 1 Month Goals
-- Work with others to find a service project to complete (with my palm group)
-- Lose 12 lbs
-- be able to Jog 25 minutes non-stop - starting pace
-- Start reading DreamWeaver book or online tutorial
-- Stay within my monthly spending budget.

- Weekly Goals
-- Fix my car - more later.
-- Work out 5 days - review training plan
-- Lose 4 lbs
-- Find good Dreamweaver book or help guide
-- Put $ into savings account
-- review diary and progress reports
-- blog and measurements

- Daily Habits
-- work out 30 minutes or 2+ miles
-- eat from nutrition plan
-- complete daily diary and goals spreadsheet
-- save $ first thing in the day, review daily budget
-- be productive at work
-- be positive - while being realistic
-- go to bed by 11:00 pm


The nice thing about goals is that they can always be tweaked.

Notes:

#Diet#
As I indicated, I didn't lose but 1/2 lb this week - some due to stress, some due to me being tired and feeling in a rut, and some by the fact that I am not following my plan to a "T". A heart to heart discussion with a new counselor at the clinic revealed that I need to do it 100% or stop wasting my time. I only have 12 more weeks until the 5K, so I am ready to keep going.

So, it was decided that I would start a new plan - I lose Cereal in the morning, but I gain Cheese! Hard, White, Low-Fat, Low-Sugar, Protein-filled Cheese. Cheese, like Swiss, Mozzarella, Monterey Jack. mmmmmmmmmm Monterey.........

#Exercise#
The 2nd most popular emails this week were regarding the Training Schedule. I think I have a number of readers who are interested in doing the 5K. That would be great. I *believe* that the following have indicated interest or commitment: Memphis, Fergus, J-Man, Dave, maybe others? Some have asked that I start posting the training program, so that we can get started. I can do so.

First, my brother sent me the following link of a 5K training program from the Mayo Clinic. It is Chazz-approved, and similar to the site I found a year ago.

The information I am building my training plan is from Cool Running site, a website of information for runners. I am using their Couch to 5K plan to fit with my ability, and will modify it as I need to.

Starting July 29th, I will do their workouts (M, W, F) and on Tue and Thurs I plan on doing a 2 mile walk or work on the elliptical aerobic machines. I think staying in motion is good for me.

The other thing I am considering is purchasing a Garmin ForeRunner 101. This will help keep me focused when in the training. For example, the training program states to "do two repetitions of the following:

• Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
• Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)"

I am already starting to roll my eyes. What? How? Huh? I get the concept, but keeping track of 90 seconds or 200 yards?? For a guy who doesn't ever wear a watch?

So, I can (and want) to use technology to help me with this problem. The Garmin device allows you to pre-program Interval training that sets run distances with rest distances, or run times and rest times. Plus, it has GPS and will show you how far and where you ran, and has something called a "Virtual Partner" to allow you to run with another "person" albeit a fictional runner inside a GPS wristband. But, then again, I am fictional as well, so a fictional blogger vs a fictional GPS device could be interesting. Or it could rip a hole into the universe and suck out our solar system.


However you choose to train, it is fine. The goal is to better yourself, not to overdo and injure yourself. Please consult with your doctor before undertaking anything strenuous, I had to say this on behalf of the Chazz Vader legal department and underwriters association. Be careful out there. And don't play with iPods while running in Thunderstorms. Don't run in Thunderstorms. Don't buy an iPhone. Don't do anything they did in the movie "Speed 2".
Don't eat yellow snow - especially in July. Everything else is fine.


#Fine Art#

better let my friend Karl describe the Fine Arts section of today's blog. From Karl to me - to you:

Also, directly in conflict with my cousin Anna's
wedding dance "Shotgun Johnson and the Mississippi Seven"
hereby known as (SJM7), will perform in
Luck, Wisconsin on Saturday, July 28th at the
Café Wren's July Full Moon Event.
Music starts at 6 or so, and goes till dark. If you
missed the February gig because of the blizzard, you
won't want to miss us again.
Kaptain Karl on the guitar, Memphis Evans on
percussion, Bill Turner on piano, Chazz Vader on
the squeezebox, Scuffy Pucker on the banjo, and the
Honorable Honigman on bass. Enjoy an evening of
old-time, jug band-ish, good time music. Then, stick
around for an after-dark film, TBA.

Hope to see you there!

#Personal#

On a personal note, my auto is again in the doghouse. I have had a lot of problems, and I think it is due to car makers putting too many doo-dads in the car. Sometimes I just want an engine with a steel frame and a seat.

I have a "Service Vehicle Soon" light on, a "Park Lamp Out" and "Power Windows" are well, not functioning. The dealer did an oil change and indicated that the "Service Vehicle Soon" light is a mystery. "If your 'Check Engine' light is on, we can fix it - 'Service Vehicle' could be anything." There don't seem to be a scan tool that finds these issues, as I have spoken with about a dozen car technicians about the issue.

I am getting stressed out about this, and the stress is affecting my life in negative ways. I don't like being stressed. I don't lose weight when I am stressed, and I am not a good person when I am stressed. Stress = Bad.

Then a revelation hit me in my panic. I bought the expensive "100,000 mile full vehicle rip-off warranty", that in reality I was talked into at the last minute when I bought the car, and the dealership got some kickback for the sale, HOWEVER I have fixed a $2000+ air conditioner, and also got a full repair for an impending rust removal on the vehicle. Also, it paid for a good amount of another issue with the gasket. I am going to call the place I bought it and ask if this electronics issue can be resolved by this warranty, and if they will pay for a loaner while it is in the shop. I think they would say yes, as they indicated last time that the warranty covers literally every part of the car that moves (or in this case, is failing to move, or moving out of order). I hope that this will go over without stress, but you know it will - because it does. That is what vehicles (and computers) are for.


more later,

Chazz

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