Control yourself, it is your health!

WAHOO!!!! On track still! Down 14 pounds since October 4th!!

Intake today... Approximately six baby Bellas for breakfast spread out over an hour... In my opinion,  making sure you are getting highly nutritious foods and proteins. Also, think about this; Something small, that is high in calories, say almonds WILL NOT FILL YOU UP, not without taking a lot of the item to do so which would be defeating your purpose.

A liquid beverage allows you to spread those calories out over a larger surface area. This allows your stomach to get fuller, for you to feel fuller and for you to eat less overall. As much as I like almonds, couscous, oatmeal, actually that will stay with you... but basically anything SMALL, they don't take up much space in your stomach but do add a lot of calories. Then, you need to rely on your mind. Rely on your own will power and drink more water. If you consume something that is 300 calories in 3 bites... and it is almost un-measurable in your stomach... you have to remind yourself you ate that. I juiced for over 120 days straight and still love the way juices fill me up. I know that a 300 calories "juice" will have the ability to fill my stomach. It does so due to the number of ounces volume consumed, without negatively impacting my calorie intake.

If they recommend 2000 calories a day and you eat 3 meals a day that really is just under 700 calories a meal. Make the effort to spread out your calories, regardless of how many you intend on consuming throughout the course of the day. This actually makes it so that you can feel fuller longer and have a better chance of successfully controlling your intake and therefore lose more weight.

It is only 9:28 in the morning. I will obviously be eating more food than just the mushrooms however, I am consistently keeping my intake in check.

Overall Health

My overall health is most important to me now... it should have always been this way my entire life. However, I justified the "cost" and wanted the biggest bang for my buck for years. And I paid for it... my waistline and overall health paid for it, even though my wallet didn't. Now, at 32, I see that I was only begging for punishment. My eyes are open, and I value my health. I will not allow my taste buds or desire to get the most for the least to dictate my overall health. Typically when one desires to get the most, it is in terms of quantity, not quality. Now, quality comes first. The higher the quality, the more nutritious it is, the better off I will be and I am giving my body a bigger chance of being healthy.

I know that nutrition can be the deciding factor of overall health and poor quality of health. The corporate world is really pushing this "low calorie" trend. However, low calories doesn't always mean healthy or nutritious. One must truly look to take care of themselves and take the initiative to grab their overall health potential and do something about it. In society today, most people are so complacent that they just "accept" whatever they are told. Education is key. Being educated and taking action is the only way to make a difference. We all have one body. If we want to give ourselves the opportunity to be around for a long time, we need o take care of it.

What a product may gain when appealing to our palate (taste buds) due to chemicals, fake flavors and scientific breakthroughs, it generally loses in terms of nutrition. Not justify purchasing and consuming cheap, nutrition, amino acid and vitamin lacking foods, because it "looks" good or because flavor scientists and companies make it "taste" good, better or fresh, can lead to better overall health and higher absorption of the nutrients a body needs. Generally speaking, once a body gets what it needs it has the potential to heal itself. A hygienist without their cleaning equipment is pretty useless in terms of actually doing the physical part of their job. Well, food that has been stripped of their nutrients or that are lacking most if not all of them, is pretty useless too.

I now juice most items that I consume. When I can't make a juice due to time restraints, I do drink shakeology (and love these recipes) as it is a proven way to get high quality nutrients in my system. I know vegans and self proclaimed carnivores that love consuming this. The self proclaimed carnivore said about the Tropical Strawberry Shakeology; "It taste like a dessert and I'm getting nutrients. There is no way I can juice like you do, but I can do this."

A friend of mine said it sounds expensive, I told her that it is less expensive than MOST "meals" you get at a fast food restaurant. She said, "Yes, but you are getting a meal." I said, "Are you getting any nutrition and vitamins, or just empty calories in that meal? When it comes down to it, most buns, bread, items, even noodles available at eating establishments across the nation are lacking nutrients, amino acids, vitamins and more." Multiply the $4 to $6 spent on fast food items that are lacking so much, by each day (time) they are consumed and then compare that to the natural ingredients, high nutrition content and the overall "cost" that I was paying before, and this, in my opinion, is by far cheaper and way, way better for the body.

It is amazing to me that people can care so much and give so much of themselves to others, but when it comes down to taking care of themselves and eating well, the low cost, low quality food and beverage items tend to dominate. Health, longevity and nutrition tend to take a backseat to most people, until someone is diagnosed with something. Being proactive can possibly lead to improved overall health and a better quality of life.

I will always give thanks to the motivation and inspiration gained that fueled my weight loss that I blogged about. I know I love the new me along with the freedoms and benefits of being healthier! And I'm pretty sure my family does too. I'm still moving towards my goal of 166 pounds!

Flu Virus

Hey guys! I'm alive! I truly believe had I been 90+ years old and in poor health, I would not have made it through the weekend! I lost 14 pounds between Sunday at 5pm ish and Monday at 6:30 am... all via hugging the porcelain bowl and a little flu virus. Ugh! I don't know what strand got a hold of me, but it kicked my butt. Between the headaches, the pain, the aches, the time in the bathroom, I was useless. My sweet wife bought Pedialyte to help replace the electrolytes, nutrients and some of the calories lost. I'm so glad she did, as my body needed it.

With that said, I'm just getting a chance to read some of the posts this morning. My facebook notifications say I have 39 unseen items. I wanted to touch base via the blog as well. I'll get to those notices on the reboot support page right after I post this. If you don't know, here is the link to it; https://www.facebook.com/RebootSupport Feel free to swing by and say hi.

Monday afternoon the family and I took some much needed family time and spent the afternoon and Tuesday at Disneyland where we met up with some friends.

After hugging the porcelain bowl for over 12 hours the last thing I wanted was any form of liquid, juice, etc... so on Monday I didn't have a juice. The first time in 145 days! I had a juice in the fridge, but I just couldn't bring myself to down any liquid, not after the 12 hours. Instead I made a refried bean burrito with a whole wheat tortilla. I had to get a solid substance in my stomach. I ate it half at a time and made sure I could keep it down. It was nice to finally do so.

Back on juicing! I made an awesome juice this morning. Kale and pink lady apples. Then I added about a pound of carrots and enjoyed that too. For a treat I made a grape juice. I've decided that as I'm still juicing and lovin' life, I'll make sure that the nutrients are the most important thing I get. Calories are a must... yes. But for sure, nutrients.

Today I made breakfast for my wife, and the two little ones. Of course, the boy wanted pancakes, the girl and wife, waffles. And me, a juice. So... I took care of them first and then cleaned up. And then got to making my juices for the day. Just in time for the boy to say he was hungry again. haha

The life of a proud papa, husband, father, cook, family chief, kitchen cleaner, go to person for just about everything, is busy busy busy... :) Not complaining though. Just busy. As I can only imagine that we all are.

I'm staying clear of most processed foods. The whole wheat tortilla has I believe 4, maybe 6 ingredients. Pretty cool. At 145 days of juicing 90 to 95% and then going through the flu bug, I'm contemplating how much percentage I'll be doing from here on out. Thinking about 70 to 80%. Still testing the waters. This may change. I know that now, after completing his fast, Joe eats real food and then does a reboot from time to time. I was inspired by his and Phil's results, but my juicing and their's has not been a verbatim path. No two people's will be, as we all have different elements that make us unique. But... all of us has similarities too, which makes having support while doing this, so very helpful and ideal. :)

A reboot is both a physical and a mental thing. Find your inspiration that got you started and add to it. As you reflect on it often, you hopefully will be able to draw strength from it and make yourself stronger. Yes. It is true, every person is different. And each of us have a unique road.

Each time I found temptations to be strong, I tried to down water, or have a juice. I initially tried to avoid being around temptations, but that isn't practical, especially since I'm the main meal preparer around here. Food preparation and cooking is mostly my job. I love unique flavors and exotic tastes and so does most of my family, so hiding from those things would be very difficult.

I used reverse psychology on myself.
Instead of hiding from the food, the scents and all that goes along with meals, I made a juice. Had the juice on the side and took large whiffs in and just smelled everything as I cooked. If we went to Downtown Disney, a restaurant or anywhere else with immense food scents, I'd embrace all the food smells. It was torture. And I was miserable... at first.

Then, I made a game of it. I told myself that the parts of me that truly ENJOY food are my senses. My taste buds, my nose, my eyes, etc... My waistline doesn't. My waistline hates how much my eyes, nose, ears, and taste buds LOVE LOVE LOVE food... as they just can't get enough of it. So... yes, I took on an attack. I launched an attack and said; "Feel free to smell and bring in everything via my senses but don't consume them." It sucked. It really did. I learned to "savor" all the senses as I just opened my mouth and breathed in deep. Doing so slowly and just enjoyed. I would do so, and happily tell myself, I'm enjoying all the characteristics of food without gaining or swallowing the calories. Yes... that sounds a bit odd. But it worked. And an important lesson is, do what works for you. No one else can lose the weight for you. No one else can put it on for you. Doing what works, works. Don't be embarrassed by it. As no one else will harvest the results that you have the potential to harvest.

Part of my motivation was signing up for weight loss contests to keep me motivated. This helped me when the desire to quit came upon me.

The end results:
I'm getting $300 from HealthyWage for successfully losing 10% of my body weight and I lost 26.76% while participating in the HealthyLoser $5,000 challenge! The two cool things about HealthyLoser are that "All participants who lose at least 15% of their Body Weight will win Cash." They award at least $8,000 to each group and each group is limited to 300 people. Also, you start when you want to. You don't have to wait until a designated starting day. This allowed me to start the same day I found them and not have to wait to engage my newly found inspiration! Which means, I was losing weight on my time!

Starvation Mode Possible?

Has anyone ever seen Disney Cars? The contests that I am in have around 40 to 50 days remaining. After weighing in this morning, I need to make sure I don't put myself in starvation mode.  I don't need my body to hoard calories.  I did two workouts in less than 24 hrs and it says I gained 2 lbs.  lol  Not really what I wanted to see. I feel like Lightening McQueen when he blew out his tires (when Chick Hicks and The King realize Lightening is vulnerable... all that progress looks to be lost). Let's just say I don't want "Chick Hicks" to win the Piston Cup. I'll fight on... keep working out, and in the end, I still plan on winning the weight loss contests that I entered.

On the bright side, I know that fewer calories IN than you have going OUT equals weight loss.  And I also know that plateaus can (and do) happen. With that said, I don't know how many calories not consumed "triggers" starvation mode or it if is different for each person.  Also, I don't know if it is based off of minimal calorie intake over a period of time. Most days MyFitnessPal says I am consuming between 1,300 and 2,000+ calories... depending on the 'juice' I make. With the daily Insanity workouts I am doing I should be losing daily as well.  I'm not terribly concerned.  I just want to make sure that all is well.  This is my first real day of seeing results other than I'd like.  So... it might all be fine.

So now... I'm looking online to make sure that I am consuming enough calories.

I'm headed to go find answers... if you have any insight, please feel free to leave comments below. Thanks!