Tuesday, February 28, 2012

This has been a incredible journey!

This weeks healthy eating.
This has been a incredible journey! I would have never expected to get this far in such a short time. As of today I have had this blog since December 18th, 2011. What is incredible is that since my start I managed to have this blog read 251 times. With just one day left before the end of February I have had 97 readers this month. I feel that it would be great to reach 100 readers this month.

I feel that I have had a great day. At work I was striving to use the stairs as much as possible. I also was able to fulfill my exercise obligations. The only thing that was lacking was my pull-ups. The rest I have achieved with great success.

I also managed to go out this evening and do some grocery shopping for myself. I was able to buy a variety of fruits and vegetables for me to take to work with me for lunches. This is a big leap for me. I hope to get disciplined enough to be able to continue on with this plan. I am now looking for chia seeds. I can add them to so many things and there is some much benefit from eating them. I will be shopping for them online, or at least figuring out where to buy some locally.

That is all there is for now. Hope you enjoy and please keep coming back.

Monday, February 27, 2012

There is always so much learning to do.

There is always so much learning to do. But with each new thing learned I have the ability to improve myself. I have been continuing on with my hunger to exercise. I have added things but do so in moderation as to not injure myself. I have backed off on my biking  for now. I still do bike 30 minutes a day with the rare exception and weekends. Once I can bike outside I will hope to even do so on the weekends.

There is also the other exercises that I perform. I am doing sit-ups, pull-ups and push-ups. This will help to improve my upper body strength that has always been on the weaker side. I have also started another exercise that I am not sure what it is called. Once I figure that out then I will add it to the list that i am doing. Just as a reminder my workout log is located on the right side of this posting. It is with other links that I feel are important

I have also been busy educating myself in the area of food. I am looking at introducing more raw foods into my diet. It will be difficult since I live with very diverse eaters in this house. I even have my wife who does not eat vegetables of any sort. That makes it hard to but not impossible for a raw diet. I will accomplish this but have to take it slowly.

I am also looking to limit my use of plastics in my everyday life. This is also a challenge but I am making some progress. I have started using more glass containers for storing leftovers and for taking food to work. The next thing I want to do is convince my wife to use the cloth bags when shopping to help eliminate excess garbage and harm to the planet.

This week I am planting my first seeds for my garden. This might seem early but must start the tomatoes and pepper plants. I hope to get a better start this year then I did last year. I am also hoping to add a few other things to my garden to help with my wanting to have a raw diet. What I need to do is figure out what I want to do for planting. I currently am using the raised bed method. It has worked well for me for the last couple of years. I will be searching out other space. I am considering using some type of planters.

Thank you for stopping by. I know that I have not been here as regularly as I want to. I will continue to post and let you know how things are going.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Busy week but still time for a workout.

Busy week but still time for a workout. I have managed to work non-stop at my "real" job all week. It was one thing after another. Through it all I found the time to workout. I rode the bike everyday. Not necessarily for a half hour each time but got on the bike everyday. Also this week I started doing regular sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. Not doing too  many of each but am working into it. Little at a time will have big rewards in the future.
If you want to check out my workout log just use the link to the right side of this posting.

I also had a wonderful week online. I was involved in a great chat on twitter a #eathealthy. The topics are great. Last night the topic was technology and health. Discussion was focused on GMO. A few nights ago I even participated in a webinar with Beachbody. Looks real interesting.

As I said real busy week. Will be concluding the week with my Friday night karate class. That gives me a hour of workout. I do enjoy it.

Glad to have everyone here. Hope you enjoy the information. See you soon.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I have only one goal in life.

I have only one goal in life. That is to live a life of  honor. How can honor be defined. Honor mingles with respect for ones God, ones family, ones teacher ones friends and ones life. Honor speaks of good and always carries with it ones word.

How far must a person go to better himself? In the world of today we do not live in time of the need to prove oneself with fighting. Nor should we be living in a world where one person is more important than that of another. We are all different. We are all unique. Varying backgrounds gives a sense of "color to this world. I do not want to be judged because I thought that I was better or more valuable than another person. I want to be judged by how I respected members of the human race.

I strive to be the best person that I possibly can, both physically and mentally. I must train like I have never trained before. Why should one train to the extreme limits? Because then that person knows how much he can endure. How far he can be pushed and not fall. That is who I strive to be. I have do this with my biking. I know  what limits I can push myself to and continue to complete the task at hand.

What I strive to find is spoken about in many countries. A small example of what I strive for is Chi, Ki , and yes even Sisu. Please follow my workout log and watch me improve and become the best I can be.

This is just my thoughts for tonight. Enjoy!


Saturday, February 18, 2012

While I am taking a break from the workouts.

While I am taking a break from the workouts.  I am today continuing on with the idea of eating healthy. I should have taken my own advice and refrained from eating the lunch I made for the rest of the family. I had to eat it disregarding the fact that I have food allergies. Thus the reason for now working out today.


One thing that I managed to do today was continued creating my healthy eating habits. I made jello and divided it up into small canning jars. This eliminates the need to purchase jello in plastic containers or put homemade jello into plastic. This also allows for easy transport to work and easy for the kids to grab a container for eating.

I hope to expand on this as time goes on. I will be collecting more jars and creating more grab and go lunches in glass jars. This can be done for various food. I can put not only jello but also fruits and vegetables in jars. In my house I use 3 different sizes of canning jars that all use the same size lids. That way I do not have to have a large selection of lids. Lastly, the other use that I have come up with for the jars is to put my left over food from  meals. This works well. Not only is it safer to use the glass but also easily allows for me to see what is in the refrigerator. I hope that this information is useful and that you can learn form things that I have been experimenting with.

Thank you for stopping by. Eat healthy and exercise regularly.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Let us talk about something other than exercise.


Let us talk about something other than exercise. I did not get in any exercise today. Things sometimes happen that you do not have control of. But what can we control? We can control what we put into our bodies. There are many chemicals that are in our foods or in the food packaging that we should not be ingesting.

Plastics are just one of those things that are everywhere in our lives. How much affect they have on our health we may never know. What is interesting is that there is such a rise in diseases in the past decades. I cannot say that plastic is solely responsible but it definitely does not help.  The above picture is just the start to my attempt to getting rid of plastic. I hope to one day be completely plastic free.

I have been beginning to push for healthy eating. I for the first time participated in at #eathealthy chat on twitter last night. I also have been watching and following Blyhte Metz who is very knowledgeable in healthy lifestyles. I will one day get there. In fact today's video from http://www.blytheraw.com/ talks about plastics. Her shows are always informative.

Thank you everyone for stopping by my blog. Should be back to the exercise but look forward to adding fun food ideas and healthy eating information.



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

It has been a long day.

It has been a long day. This is not good. I have been using that excuse too much lately. Up at 4:00 a.m. this morning. Started work a hour early today. Yet through it all I made it to the exercise room at work for my biking. Yes! 11.00 miles. Not as good as yesterday? Nope better.

 I increase the resistance on the bike by one from 11 to 12. I know that I was not going to do that for another week or two but I felt that after the ride yesterday I needed more of a challenge. Much harder and must push harder to keep the RPM's up there. Was flying at about 103 RPM average.

The good news is that I am dusting off my tripod and video camera. Getting ready to enhance this blog with the posting of ...yes VIDEOS. Cannot wait! I hope to have some very soon. To start out they will be very simple. Possibly just showing an exercise or two that I do. As time goes on and my comfort level in front of the camera gets better I would like to make better and better videos. Please keep tuned in for them.

Back at it tomorrow. With my exercises. Will be keeping the bike at level 12 and pushing the legs. Hope to see you all tomorrow!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

Happy Valentines Day everyone. This has been one busy day. Not much time to my self or much time to support my training.

I did however achieve another record today. I managed to bike for a half of an hour today and covered 11.60 miles. Now I understand that this was done in the gym with no wind resistance. I feel that it was a good ride anyway. I cannot wait for summer to show up. I am anxious to get a road bike and feel the wind on my face.

I will am extremely happy for the progress that I have made this year. With the added exercises I hope that I can keep pushing for success. I will be back at the bike tomorrow. I am also looking forward to also continue my push-ups and sit-ups.  Cannot wait.

Tomorrow also marks the halfway point in the week. I am excited. Yes tomorrow will be once again busy but that is what comes along with having a job. I also am excited to get the exercise. I will let you know tomorrow how the day is going. I also have exciting things to look forward to this week.  Please stay tuned.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I am feeling great!

I am feeling great! Had a wonderful workout this just a little while ago. It was not much more than a few sit-ups and push-ups but it was great! This is the second day for this additional workout and I feel good. Arms are feeling slightly weakened but I will survive.

If you do want to follow my progress with my workouts the please follow the link that is to the right of this posting. I will continue to update this link with my workout data so that all of you can follow my progress.

I have mad great progress lately and I feel good about this. Arms are sore and I am enjoying it. Hope to add my running again in the next few days. What I do what I want to do is take it slowly so that I do not overload myself so that I do not burn out. However I have a limited amount of time to fully implement my full routines. In April I will be traveling to Florida with my family. I want to be running before that. I could not do much better than running when at Disney World or even running on the beach along the Gulf coast. That would be great. I am stepping up my workouts to accomplish this goal. I want to be running before long. Please stay tuned for further updates.

As a side note. This picture was taken today. The temp was just under 30F. To be a warrior that has the ability to handle any thing that is thrown at them then this should be a normal part of life. Take care all.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

I just noticed that I have been lacking postings.

I just noticed that I have been lacking postings. I would like to announce that I have started doing more for my workouts. Still have not taken to running or biking on the weekends...yet. However I have started with the sit-ups and push-ups. Today I set a timer for 10 minute and did as many push-ups that I could do in that time. I was able to push out 50. Then I did the same for sit-ups and there I was able to do 150. That is great. Now over time I will continue to use the 10 minute rule and keep increasing the numbers.

That also is the same theory that I use for biking. I set the biking time (stationary bike) for 30 minutes and crank out as many miles as I can in that time. Yesterday I was able to achieve my record since starting in January, 11.38 miles. That feels great to get to that point.

If you notice to the right of this post you will find some links there. These are links to pages that I have interest in. Also I have added a link to my workout spreadsheet that I will be tracking my workouts on. This will help me keep track of what I do and how my progress is. We will be able to look back at the history and see where I was and where I am. Hope you all like it.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Sometimes you can tell that the day is going to be busy.

Sometimes you can tell that the day is going to be busy. Today was just such a day. It seemed  that from the time I punched in to work the hits just kept coming. It was a unusually busy day.

For lunch I usually bike, that did not happen. Now I am too exhausted to do anything but relax. I know that I added a few extra miles to my work day. I managed to go up and down several floors over and over trying to solve the worlds problems. Never did solve them. I do think that I managed to get buy until the morning though. I am waiting at home to see if I will really get called back to the hospital tonight for the conclusion of a procedure that is happening. Only time will tell.

I have been working at adding to my habits. I manage to bring two meals to work everyday. That would be breakfast and lunch. Not only is it a better choice of what is going into my body but it also helps the wallet. Just like going out and eating it can be expensive to eat in the cafeteria at work. Before bringing my food  I was spending about $76.00 at the cafeteria every two weeks. By bringing my food I have reduced that cost down to about $6.00 for the same amount of time. The best part is that the food that I bring many times is healthier for me.

Will be back on schedule with my biking and other exercises tomorrow. Hope you tune in and hear more about how my journey is taking shape.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I have had a great day.

I have had a great day. I pushed myself a little harder on the bike this afternoon. I pushed out a 11.14 mile (30 minute) bike ride in the gym today. Was a great workout. That is a great feeling.

Now I have been a little tired. I do attribute much of the tiredness to my new prescription. I will have to say that even though the headaches have been minimized I am doing rather well. I have also Been suffering from multiple migraines this year. Not sure what is causing this but I am working closely with several doctors trying to overcome these migraines.

I plan on continuing with more and more exercising. I have been doing great with my biking. I have also been working at adding new exercises. Because of karate I have now added other things to my routine. Yesterday I did sit-ups and push-ups. I will be doing a baseline tomorrow so that I can understand where I am starting at and then will be pushing myself to the limits. I plan on taking 10 minutes to perform each exercise. During that time I will be doing as many of each as possible. I also will be pushing on with my stretching.

Thank you for taking the time to visit tonight. Hope that you stick with me on my journey.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

I find that the weekends are not good for talking exercise.

I find that the weekends are not good for talking exercise. Like usual I am running short on the exercise this weekend. Still trying to figure out how to motivate myself for the weekend exercise but falling short. I am hoping that I can over come that soon.

What I want to do is bring in the subject of food. Eating right is a key ingredient to a successful healthy lifestyle. The problem that I am having is that the definition of what is good or bad for you has changed over the years. I need to study the newest dietary requirements for people now a days. What I do know is that the need for a balanced diet is a must.

Eating a variety of foods is required. The balance between vegetables, meats and fruits is a must. The need to include things like nuts and fish is also needed. I feel that avoiding fatty foods can also be done without compromising flavor.

For close to 5 years I at salads everyday. Yet I gained nearly 20 pounds and my weight was still increasing. I thought that I was eating fairly healthy and was still shocked at my weight gain. Then I decided to change my diet. I stopped eating so many salads and focused on just eating. If I was gaining weight I figured it was just because I was getting older. Then a revelation. I started consuming less sugar. I cut out drinking all soda pop. Within a month I decreased my weight by 10 pounds. Without the use of exercise I was able to keep off that weight for a year now.

The addition of exercise in January of this year I was able to take off an additional average of 4 pounds. That is amazing. I was inching closer and closer to my ideal BMI, which is around 183 pounds. Now I will be focusing on eating healthier which will boost my motivation for getting out and doing the exercises that I need to do.

So over the next week, even months I hope to study foods and the best and healthiest diets that I can find. I do not have a medical background and am not a dietitian. But I will approach it the same way I have done for my medical health. I will learn. My way will not be for everyone. I encourage everyone to participate in discovering their own healthy lifestyles. What I hope to do is make you aware of how choices may affect you and help guide you in making your own choices for not just exercise but also diets. I hope that my friends everywhere can help me learn new things and I hope to bring that knowledge to you.

Take care and have a great evening.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Making exercise a way of life.

Making exercise a way of life. I have this down during the week, but fall short on the weekend. I need to figure out some way of motivation during the weekend. I find that when I am not at work I let my laziness get in the way.

I have been rather tired lately. I have had very little headaches today, but still very wiped. I will be back with better postings.