Jim's Place

My first post entered using speech-to-text!

NOTE: I created the following post using the speech-to-text conversion tools on my laptop PC. It's fairly accurate but I did make some corrections. You can listen to the post by clicking on Jim dictating this post

Well, Hi gang! I wanted to try out this new speech to text capability that I have on my laptop PC.   I originally got this with the idea of using it to write my book and it works pretty dern well, if I may say so myself! Anyway, I also thought it would be nice to go ahead and enter my posts,  whether it's on the Body-for-Life web site, elsewhere or even e-mails or what have you, and my web site as well.  So then I started thinking hmmm... maybe I could go ahead and put the text in there but also include the voice file.   That way you can hear my funky Texas accent at any time you want to...  that's assuming you want to!  Anyway, it seems to work pretty well. It certainly beats the heck out of typing when you are not a very fast typist -and I'm certainly not one of those! 

A million and one...

I just got back from a bike ride that logically should never have happened. The last two or three weeks I've been dealing with a sinus infection a stomach bug of some type and probably some issues with my underlying hormonal disorder. So for the last week I just haven't felt up to working out or riding my bike. And from my past experience, I knew it wasn't wise to exercise when there was any kind of infection. So it only made sense to wait until I got over this stuff before resuming my workouts. But today I guess I just had my fill of all that and said enough is enough...

So I put my bike clothes on, strapped on my heartrate monitor, grabbed my bike and hit the road... I headed out from Lake Jennings campground, where I've been for the last 8 days, and started pedaling towards Alpine. The road to Alpine is mostly uphill and although it wasn't very steep, my legs were saying "steep enough!". And sure enough my heart rate monitor showed that my heart rate was abnormally high - indicating infection in the body. But I just couldn't wait another day to get back on the bike...

It was as if my brain had taken my body hostage and my heart was saying "enough!". Riding along the road I pictured that scenario like an episode of a TV police show...

Even a 'bad' challenge is better than no challenge...

I’m in week 10 of my fourth challenge and I gotta tell ya’ there aren’t any stunning results to brag about. In fact, I’m several pounds up from my weight at the end of C3 ! That is partly due to ‘celebrating’ dropping over 100 lbs. during 9 straight months of BFL. There was a trip to Texas that made it hard to stay on track and I’ve been sick for over 5 weeks of this challenge. Add to that my decision to have a few drinks with family and friends and the odds were not much in favor of me transforming into the next Arnold Schwarzenegger anytime soon! With such disappointing progress, it would have been pretty easy to just say “screw it!” and look forward to starting a new challenge in January… Especially the last few days with this bug that just doesn’t want to go away. With the cold symptoms and shall we say excessive seismic activity in the bowel region I haven’t been riding my bike much or putting significant energy into preparing my meals (can you say ‘Subway’!)

Body image and self-esteem...

Occasionally, people will look at pictures of me when I was over 300 lbs. and say things like “Wow! You must have felt terrible about yourself. I bet your self-esteem is far better now that you’ve lost over 100 pounds!” I always appreciate the support but I‘ve thought about that statement a lot lately. When I hear comments from people saying how disgusted they are with their bodies and how they are so anxious to get in better shape so that they can feel better about themselves a red flag goes up...

It makes me realize that I haven’t had that perspective during my struggles with weight. Don’t get me wrong! Walking around (barely!) at over 300 lbs. made it a challenge to continue to be my usual “happy camper” self! I certainly felt terrible about my overweight and unhealthy body. But I still felt pretty good about who I was as a person. My character hadn’t gone downhill just because my body did. In a nutshell, my self-esteem wasn’t based on my body image. The main effect mentally and emotionally of being obese was how I felt about my LIFE, but not my self-worth.

Pictures straight from Campsite #94

I'm camping at Lake Jennings right now at campsite #94 and took some pictures this afternoon. Since I have my new Gateway laptop tablet PC and an internet connection using my cellphone, I was able to edit the pictures and send them to my website. This is so cool!!! Click on each thumbnail to see a bigger version. Notice that I have a pretty dern nice view up on the hill looking down at the lake. And as you can see I'm fully equipped. A great tent trailer, my beautiful candy apple red road bike, my iPod boom box, my laptop PC and a hot woman... Uh..scratch that last item...that's my NEXT camping trip!!! And as you can see I've started writing my book. Notice How I can switch to portrait or landscape mode on the screen. And being able to write directly on the screen and have the PC convert my handwriting into typed text is pretty dern sweet! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and if you happen to be in the area, drop by! I'll be here until November 23. OK, signing off from campsite 94...over and out.... 
 

Time to take a stand?

With the holiday season here, you can bet that some people are going to try to get you to stray from your Body-For-Life program...

“Oh come on! Just this once! It’s the holidays! You can get back to your program after the New Year…”

“It’s time to relax and have fun!”

“You’ve done a great job with your fitness program and now it’s time to celebrate your success!”

blah… blah… blah...

Athlete or drinker? Pick one...

The last several weeks have been like a lab experiment for me… and the results are in…

I finished my 3^rd consecutive challenge in September. After dropping over 100 lbs in 9 months of BFL, I felt pretty good about my original plan to celebrate my success by having drinks for the first time since starting BFL in January. I began C4 with the idea that I would have drinks occasionally and still be able to stay focused on my program. First it was a little party the night I finished C3... then a camping trip… and then 11 days back in Texas with my family… It seemed like my planned diversions were a reasonable break and that as long as I stayed focused on the food and exercise that enjoying alcohol occasionally wouldn’t have a negative effect on my BFL program…

Do your homework...

I’m in week 8 of C4 but not only have I not made progress but I’m actually several pounds heavier than when I started… But there’s no mystery here… After dropping over 100 lbs. in my first 3 challenges I decided to celebrate my success with a party, a camping trip and a visit to Texas to see my family. I knew it would be a challenge to make any progress as a result … Heck! I love the BFL lifestyle! I certainly didn’t lose my passion for BFL but I did let my focus get more diverted than I expected.

So here I am trying to get back on track and having a hard time getting excited about my program. For the last couple of days I’ve been doing some “homework” to figure out what’s going on and what I need to do to get the spark back …

The 3 areas I decided needed attention were:

1. Beliefs

2. Standards

3. My emotional “gas tank”

Here’s what I concluded after several hours of self-talk over the last few days…

You deserve a break!

Remember the McDonalds commercial with the slogan "You deserve a break today!"??? Well, I think I may have bought into that idea a bit more than I planned... After 3 consecutive challenges and dropping over a 100 lbs, it only seemed logical that I would want to take a break from my Body-For-Life program. After 9 months of being so "obsessive and extreme" (as my FORMER friends used to say!) to the point where I didn't even have drinks on my free day, of course I would want to celebrate my success...right?. So I planned a party, camping trip and a visit back to Texas to see my family after I finished my third challenge in September. I would then party (code word for drink alcohol!) with everyone before going back to my 'obsession' with fitness and losing weight... Sounds like a great plan. Don't we all need a break from the stress of depriving ourselves of all the pleasures of life that everyone else gets to enjoy while we suffer through our demanding and strict Body-For-Life challenges?!!! Sheesh! After all that hard work, you NEED a break! Right?!!!