Here we are again...

Hello all,

I'm not sure if anyone still sees this blog, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it still exists. No need to delete free resources, I guess.

I honestly don't know how much I will maintain this blog as life keeps me rather busy, but I thought I would share a bit of an update. Since I last wrote, I've had one more semi-major event with the discs in my back and a couple of minor ones, but I've seen some dramatic improvement and maintenance after finding the right chiropractor.

Dr. Lance Kellow of Authentic Spinal Care in Urbandale, IA, is a NUCCA (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association) practitioner. The whole process fascinates me. He has a device with what I am calling calipers for lack of a better term that measure how sideways and twisted a body is, and there is a scale under each foot to measure weight distribution. Then he takes several x-rays of the back and neck and determines how the spine is off-kilter from a healthy spine. There is a lot of geometry and trigonometry involved, and using those measurements he can determine how to adjust the Atlas in the cervical spine (vertebrae C1, the one holding your skull). I started seeing Dr. Kellow in August 2015 and am doing well with appointments every 4-5 weeks. I need to be better about stretches and strengthening exercises to hold my adjustments, but I would say it's almost miraculous how I can walk in with a super tight low back, some twisting in my pelvis, and my torso leaning way forward, and after 10-15 minutes be more or less straight up and down with no twist and standing back on my heels. A major principle behind what he does is getting the head to sit in the appropriate position, which the spine then adjusts to accommodate.

I've gone up and down some with my weight, maxing out around 250 and generally holding steady around 240. I've had momentary dips to 235, but nothing really below that for several years. Not that I place a great deal of stock in the body fat calculator on my bathroom scale, but that has also stayed at roughly 40%.

It really hit me during my vacation earlier this month, and I've thought for years that I wanted my 40s to be better than my 30s in numerous ways (not just physical health, but that's definitely a component). I'll be 40 on August 16th, which is now 46 weeks away. I've decided to follow through on what I am calling my 40 by 40 Initiative. At the bare minimum, I want to drop my weight by 40 pounds to an even 200 (although I'm shooting for between 170 and 190, depending on fat loss and muscle gains). A secondary goal is to decrease my body fat percentage by a minimum of 40% (which works out to carrying a max of 24% body fat, although I want to get that closer to 15%).

To help me on my journey, and at the recommendation of a few friends, I'm trying out the Noom app. I have used it for 5 full days and so far I am really enjoying it. The app is designed to use psychology to help you understand things like triggers for unhealthy eating and replacing bad habits with good habits. There is a food logging component, which usually takes me about 10 minutes/day (no more than 15), and that has been eye-opening. Last Wednesday, my first day using the app, I logged my breakfast and lunch before I left home and was shocked by the calorie load my intended lunch was carrying. Just based on that initial assessment, I'd say I was easily consuming a minimum of 2700 calories/day, and likely exceeding 3000 on a regular basis; the fact that I had been staying fairly steady at 240 pounds was even more astonishing. I've got my daily calorie goal set at about 1800, so I've definitely had to reevaluate what and how I'm eating.

When it comes to nutrition, Noom is looking at calorie density. An example that came up multiple times the first couple of days was a comparison between grapes and raisins. Raisins are more calorie-dense than grapes and are less filling/satisfying, so they are classified as a Red food; grapes are a Green food because they are not very calorie-dense. Then there is an in-between category, Yellow foods. Don't let the color scheme throw you, this is not to say that a Red food is to be avoided at all costs, but you will want to moderate your consumption. I don't know if this will change, but right now my recommendation is to take my calorie allotment and get roughly 30% from Green foods, 45% from Yellow, and 25% from Red. I've found it immensely satisfying to bring a huge salad to work for lunch (2 1/2 cups salad greens, 1/4 of an onion, 1/4 - 1/2 each of bell pepper and cucumber, 2 Roma tomatoes, a celery stalk, a couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar, a little salt and pepper, and a can of tuna or a few slices of lunch meat; I might add in a boiled egg if I take the time to boil some up).

Noom has a pedometer included, and you can track other exercises somewhat subjectively (i.e., weight lifting for x number of minutes at Low, Medium, or High intensity). In order to maintain a calorie deficit, the app only adds half as many calories as you've burned to your daily allotment. If you burn 250 calories during your workout, you are given 125 to eat.

The app comes with a two-week trial that you can request be free (although they give you the opportunity to pay something to defray their costs), and the 8-month subscription is listed at $179, so that is something for you to consider if you think you might want to go this route. From what some have told me, I might be able to cancel my subscription by the end of the first 8 months and use a free app like My Fitness Pal; I would just have to carry over the lessons about calorie density and my triggers for poor eating habits.

We bought a treadmill in April and I got started at a pretty good clip right away, I think I used it every day for a solid 3-4 weeks. That was good, because I had taken a new position at work in March, a position that has me sitting down a lot more and includes an office where I can eat at my desk, so snacking and lack of movement contributed to about 10 pounds in weight gain. Stopping my snacking and hitting the treadmill daily reversed that, thankfully. Now that the weather is cooling off (rather quickly, at that), I have taken to walks outdoors. I'm looking to start the C25K running program again and see how far I get into it before it's too cold for me to exercise outside; then it'll be the treadmill through the winter until it warms up again. On the non-jogging days I would plan to still walk for 3-4 miles.

I'm also getting setup in my house for some dumbbell training. I have a set of Bowflex Select Tech weights, adjustable from 5 to 52.5 pounds, and while the P90X program itself is probably too intense for my back, it provides numerous exercises that I can do at my own pace. My goal is to get up at 4:30 each morning (probably Monday-Friday) to do my weight and ab routine, and walk in the afternoons 7 days/week. I'd love more space in my house for a more involved home gym, but I'll make do with what I have. I could always move weights to the garage if I felt it necessary; extra incentive to get it done early in the summer (before it gets too hot) and get it done quickly in the winter (so I don't freeze).

I expect things will slow down a bit here, but I've had some early success, losing about 5 1/2 pounds since my first weigh-in last Wednesday. My wife and I are working out the details for meal prep and leftovers, and I'm trying to remind myself that the occasional overage in daily calories isn't the end of the world. It's still too early in the process for me to feel comfortable having ice cream, chips, or other such snacks because I like those things SO much, and I'd really like to get a solid month under my belt (and hopefully another 5 pounds lost) before I give myself that break, but it's nice to know that this sort of readjustment in thinking is meant to allow the occasional treat.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this works and being able to share it with anyone taking the time to read this.

A long-awaited update...

Hello, friends.

Yes, it has been quite some time since I've posted here. And, unfortunately, I have some bad news.

I don't know exactly how I did it, but I have a herniated disc...again. This is the third time since January of 2012 (actually, that first time, it probably happened in November of 2011, but the symptoms didn't keep me away from work or become horrendously painful until January of 2012).

One frustration is that this third experience has come at a shorter interval. I've suffered from back problems since I was in high school (and looking back, I would tend to believe that my past problems have also been due to my disc herniating), and both the frequency and intensity have increased with the passing of the years. This puts me into a position of feeling less than optimistic about the future.

My hope is to see my family doctor today or Thursday (I have to call in at 8 AM to see if there is space for me). I haven't seen him since last year, probably in March, when my last herniation resolved. However, it was at the suggestion of my chiropractor that I ask for a steroid prescription. Two times now that has been the only thing to get me over the hump of pain and on the road to recovery, so it is my hope that the doctor will be willing to prescribe the medication again, even though I know it's terrible for the liver, especially long-term.

Flexibility and weight have been two of my major issues for years, so my goals after getting back on my feet are to increase my flexibility through regular stretching and exercise (and possibly physical therapy) and to start seriously dropping the pounds. If you look back to my series about eating on the Whole 30 meal plan, I lost a considerable amount of weight in short order simply by altering my diet. Now, unfortunately, I'm in the position of needing to drop 55-65 pounds. I'm going to be back on the Whole 30 plan starting Monday (need time to organize and get food), but rather than doing it for 30 days, I'm going to have to stick with it at least through the end of August.

I have heard good things about the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating, and it is a style of eating that I would consider transitioning into if I can get my head fully wrapped around the types of meals, what goes with each type, when to eat them, and how to space the different meals when switching.

Otherwise, I am thinking more of a paleo style of eating (even though I do not ascribe to the overall premise)...really, eliminating processed foods and added sugars is the order of the day. I have done well with short-term elimination of these things in the past, but for the good of my body, it's going to have to be an almost permanent elimination, with just a little wiggle room for special occasions (this will make date nights interesting, because I know I'm programmed for the "dinner and a movie" type dates).

For accountability purposes, I am going to start blogging about my food again. I might not post every day, but I will give a complete reckoning of what I've consumed, and may even include pictures.

Here's to living a healthier life! We all can do better, and I hope to do my part in leading the way.

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Sixteen

Happy Wednesday, food-loving friends. Today was my day off, and I think overall I'm feeling pretty good, though I had a bit of a tickle in my throat this afternoon that I hope doesn't mean I'm coming down with something. It was nice to sleep in a couple of hours and have an easy start to the day. I was able to do some sermon preparation while Abi and Lukas went to the park, too. It'd be nice to have the next day or two off to finish that up, but I'll just have to do what I can.

Things are moving along with the house, too. We received notification today that the seller has agreed to fix the issues we raised from the inspection, which is a huge relief. God's hand has been evident in this entire process. Sure, there are still things we will need/would like to do to the house, but we will deal with those as necessary.

One bit of a downer is that we got the bill today for my MRI (from back in February). Insurance covered about 1/3 of it, which is definitely something, but we're still left owing about $750. :P I had held off on getting the MRI for several weeks because I knew what the issue was, but I finally needed to do it in order to get the necessary excuses for work.

Getting my back into shape is one reason for doing the Whole30. Reducing systemic inflammation while also losing weight will go a long way to preventing future disc herniations. Beyond that, I need to be consistent with a solid exercise program, something that I'm struggling to accomplish. Do you ever feel like you've just got too much going on? It's feeling more like that every day.

Okay, so how about I let you in on the menu for today? Because of the late breakfast, I didn't have an actual lunch, just a couple of compliant snacks.

Breakfast:

Four-egg omelette
Green onion sausage
Bell pepper
Onion
Avocado
Tabasco

Lunch (Snack):
1 gala apple with almond butter
1 Larabar




Dinner:

Leftover Meatloaf
Steamed zucchini with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
Summer Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Well, even though I have other things I could/should be doing, I think I will go upstairs and use the exercise bike for a few minutes. Hope to see you back here tomorrow!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Fifteen

Okay, so it's been a rough couple of days, what with ice cream Monday night and rice last night. Add to that a couple of cookies around lunchtime today, and you've got the makings of a reboot being necessary. Well, that is, of course, life, and we might as well get it all out on the table.

I have tomorrow off because of working this last weekend, and I'm going to be busy studying. I am scheduled to preach this Sunday morning, and I really haven't started writing the sermon yet. It works out, though, as Abi and Lukas will go to the park with a friend for a couple of hours tomorrow, so I should be able to get quite a bit done.

The house is progressing, too. We got the results of the radon test and the home inspection today. The radon levels are high enough that they will need to be mitigated, and our real estate agent knows someone who does it for about $1,200. With the leak in the roof and the rotted window sill that needs replacing, we are absolutely hoping the seller will cover these issues. We could still back out if it came down to it, but we like the house enough that such a decision would be hard to make.

Okay then, here is the compliant portion of my food from today:

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with bell pepper and onion, all prepared in some coconut oil
Monkey salad with blueberries










Lunch:

Almost Five Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie
Cabbage salad with homemade mayo and black grapes
1 gala apple











Dinner:

Homestyle Meatloaf (we didn't have plain ground pork, so we used a pound of breakfast sausage instead; Abi thought it was a little spicy, but I enjoyed it)
Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"
Green salad with homemade mayo

I hope you've been finding some inspiration from these posts. I'm not perfect at this, so don't beat yourself up if you aren't, either. Have fun with it. I like food and trying new recipes, so a lot of this has been fun for me; if it wasn't, I wouldn't be doing it at all.

See you again soon!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Fourteen

Okay, so we were a little bad here the last couple of days. Last night after I got my post up we decided to have a little ice cream to "clean out our freezer" in preparation for our move next month. And tonight's dinner we used honey in the recipe and served the dish over brown and black rice.

Knowing that processed sugars and portion sizes tend to be my major problems, I'm considering eating more or less paleo with some non-paleo side dishes, still focusing on loading up on vegetables while exercising portion control on the other food groups in particular.

This afternoon I was finally able to get upstairs on the exercise bike for a few minutes, not enough to make a huge difference, but hopefully enough to help things stay on the right track.

And, without further ado, here is my menu for today:
Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with some diced onion
Monkey Salad with Strawberries












Lunch:

Leftover hamburgers
Green beans
Cabbage salad with tomatoes and homemade mayo
1 gala apple
Handful of roasted squash seeds









Dinner:

Beef and Broccoli Cashew Stir Fry (we didn't have fish sauce, and I just now realized I forgot to add in the pepper flakes, but it was delicious nonetheless) - A little tip: We used a sirloin steak from my in-laws, and I found it was quite easy to slice it thinly while it was still frozen
Brown and Black Rice
Green salad with homemade mayo

I will continue to post about our mealtime adventures, especially since there are still several recipes yet to try in this month-long schedule I found. If I find that this way of doing things causes me to put a lot of weight back on, I will reconsider, but in the past I have done well with exercise and watching my caloric intake, so I think that as long as I keep my portions more manageable and take plenty of time to eat and feel full before I've eaten a great deal, I should still be okay.

See you again soon!

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Thirteen

Whew! I'm actually getting this post written before 8 PM. Considering we went to church this evening, that's a pretty big accomplishment.

Work was good, though a bit tiring because I was so bored. Not that I'm going to complain a whole lot because I was still getting paid. Thankfully I only have two more days in this stretch; Wednesday should be a good day for catching up on rest and other things.

I think I am finding that overall I have more energy, which is what I want to see. I'm still working on having a consistently higher intake of water, which is probably my biggest failing nutritionally at this point.

So, would you like to see what I had to eat today? It wasn't a lot, which isn't ideal, so I'll have to figure out how to appropriately increase my intake.

Breakfast:

4-egg omelette with sauteed bell pepper, onion, and mushroom












Lunch:

Cabbage salad with homemade mayo and grape tomatoes
Chile Lime Chicken Breast
Beets
1 gala apple (eaten mid-morning because my breakfast was small)









Dinner:

Almost Five Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie
Cabbage Salad with *gasp* non-compliant Ranch dressing (we were in a rush and basically out of homemade mayo)
Black grapes
1 apple with almond butter

I'm excited about getting into our house, hopefully still on track for October 16th, and the ability to give more artful presentations of the table settings. Something to look forward to, I'm sure.

Return of the Whole30 Challenge - Day Twelve

Once again it's a late blog post, and for that I apologize. And, as such, it will be short, too.

It was a good day at work, fairly quiet, most likely because of the Iowa-Iowa State football game. Funny how something like that will keep people from going to the hospital...

So, here's my food breakdown for today:

Breakfast:

Mini Frittatas













Lunch:

Buffalo Chicken and Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes (mixed together)
Cabbage Salad with Homemade Mayo and Black Grapes
1 large apple
A handful of grape tomatoes









Dinner:

Burgers on Napa Cabbage leaves with a little Trader Joe's Dijon Mustard
Green Salad with Homemade Mayo
Green Beans with Trader Joe's 21 Spice Salute

Okay, gotta run off to bed and get ready for another day at work. Have a good day/night/whatever when you read this, and I'll see you again.