A Year Ago...

A YEAR AGO:

… I had a hard time riding a bike a ¼ mile. 

… I’d get winded walking from my car to my office – I hated that walk. 

… I was wearing pants with a 60-inch waist. 

… I had to buy over-priced fat man clothes from Omar the tent maker.  

… I hated putting on shoes and socks – I couldn’t reach my feet. 

… I struggled doing yard work. 

… I had to be careful about the chair I sat in.

… I’d wake up in the morning feeling like I had been wrestling rhinoceroses.

… I had a hard time fitting into our vehicles.

… I would sit and watch my kids play.

… I weighed an embarrassing 410 lbs (down from my heaviest at 437)

NOW:

…I ride 20-30 miles a week on my bike.

…I sometimes even take the longer walk to my office to enjoy the beauty of Temple Square.

…I wear pants with a 42-inch waist – I wore that size when I was 17.

…I can buy clothes from pretty much anywhere I want.

…I put on socks and shoes with ease.

…I’m redesigning the landscaping on our backyard (and am doing the labor too).

…my chair at work doesn’t groan in pain as I sit in it.

…I wake up in the morning ready to wrestle our little rino’s.

…I can easily fit in our cars – including the back seats.

…I chase, dance with, give shoulder rides to, roll on the ground with and ride bikes with our 3 energetic kids.

…I weigh 271 lbs  (still 72 lbs from my goal, but very happy with the 166 lbs total that I have lost thus far)

A year ago I was worried that I might be on the road to some plus-sized health problems.  Now I have changed my future…

…and I’m thankful I am able to do it.

“Have you the rwing?”

We’ve had a sad thing occur recently.  It happened for a happy reason, but nonetheless I’m quite unhappy about it.

I’ve lost my wedding ring.  Yes, the ring Wendi lovingly placed on my finger almost 11 years ago to remind us of our eternal union; the ring she gave me the day we were married as a symbol to the world that I belong to her. 

Yes, THAT wedding ring…   

I have no idea where it is.  I have no idea exactly when I lost it.  I NEVER take it off, so it was quite the surprise when I looked down at my finger one day a few weeks ago and noticed that it wasn’t there.  I love my wedding ring.  It has been getting loose for the past few months as my fingers have become more “lean.”  I planned to get it resized once I hit my goal weight.

I did take it off at the beach a couple months ago and put it on my key ring so I wouldn’t lose it, and didn’t remember to put it back on until after we took family pictures.  This loss is totally different though.

This time, I didn’t even take it off – it fell off…somewhere – either in my sleep, or when I threw something away, or… I have NO IDEA!  And it breaks my heart.

So Wendi has been kind enough to let me use a ring she got in Jerusalem.

It has her name in Hebrew stamped out of it.  It’s cool – and it fits! 

 And I think it’s pretty appropriate for a temporary replacement.

10-Miler with toe-head in-tow

Natalie has been asking to go on a bike ride with me.  She has 3 “bikes” to choose from: her princess scooter, a seahorse bike w/ training wheels, and her big red tricycle with big inflatable tires. 

I usually encourage her to take “big red” because it’s the most stable and she can ride it the fastest… but… she’s three years-old… and let’s face it, I’m not going to get much of a workout with her riding along on a tricycle.  Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with her out on a bike ride – and I love the fact that she wants to go riding too – but I need to have some rides that push me as well – especially if I want to maintain my goal to be able to ride Yellowstone next summer. 

So I decided to take her with me in the bike trailer on my first 10-mile ride.  We have a monument of an eagle at the entrance to our city.   It’s five miles from our house and a gradual uphill ride the whole way there. 

She put her bike helmet on and grabbed a water bottle and we strapped her in.  The ride was a challenging one – I had a headwind, it was uphill for five miles, and the 45-pounder in-tow provided some extra resistance.  After the first mile I decided to only do half the trip – and then I continued to debate that decision in my mind for the next 2 miles – and then after the 3^rd mile I decided to make it all the way even if it killed me.

Natalie had a great time.  She sang all the way back from the eagle – Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star… and America! America! God shed His grace on thee! 

It was a good ride.

Skinny Donut

We’ve had our dog, Donut, from birth. 

She was the smallest of the large litter that we had from our yellow labs, Candi and Porter. 

To maintain sanity in our home when the boys were born Candi and Porter had to find new homes – as well as all the puppies but one.  Shortly after the puppies were born the end of July 2009 I pointed out the smallest puppy to Natalie, who was just over a year and a ½ at the time. 

I asked her what we should name the little puppy.  She thought for half a moment and said, “Donut!” 

I was surprised and didn’t even think that I heard her correctly – mind you, she hadn’t experienced the joys of a donut yet and had a limited vocabulary at the time – but she insisted the puppy’s name was “Donut!” And so the name stuck.

Candi was a good sized friendly dog that needed to be kept in the kenel, or she’s run off. 

Porter was an energetic, lovable MAMMOTH that loved to be out with people, but kept under supervision because he didn’t know his own strength. 

I would take Porter out in the evening and he would run full-speed along side the car for 2 or 3 miles around the block.  He was a great dog, but needed a lot of attention.   I taught both Candi and Porter to run on the treadmill – Porter loved it.  Candi tolerated it.

Donut has just the right mix of both her parents – and is smaller than both, thankfully.  She has a wonderful friendly disposition and is becoming quite obedient.  Because life has been so busy for us this past year she hasn’t received much attention.  And she’s gotten a bit chunky...

So, Donut is experiencing a lifestyle change now too.  We’ve decreased her feedings to once a day and she now gets to go running with me when I go biking in the evenings.  We’ve noticed that she is now losing weight.  Imagine that – diet and exercise – it actually works!!?

So…that’s a good reminder to me that the only such thing as a skinny Donut is one that runs on four legs next to me while I’m riding my bike.  She’s the only Donut that I’m spending my time with – even though I REALLY miss the ones you get from the bakery ;) 

Joe’s Chili – It’s about chili time!!

My friend Tina asked me for my chili recipe today, so here it is.  It’s simple, tasty, and does a good job covering my needed 70/30 protein to vegetable ratio.  I usually make a big pot of it freeze it in meal-sized portions.

Joe’s Chili

Ingredients:

2 lbs various lean meat (I like to use a pound of ground turkey or pork and a pound of pork stew meat)

1-2 onions (optional)

3 cans petite-diced tomatoes

3 cans various beans (red kidney, pinto, black)

seasoning to taste (chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, mustard, etc.)

2 tbls apple cider vinegar

Splenda Brown Sugar to taste

Instructions:

Brown the meat (and onions if desired) in large pot.  Add tomatoes and beans, stir and bring to a boil.  Add seasoning and brown sugar and reduce to a simmer.  I usually let it simmer for several hours (sometimes overnight) stirring occasionally, but it should be ready after simmering for an hour or two.

Note:  I cook by taste so please feel free to make adjustments according to personal taste as necessary.  I like to top with cheese, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.

Let me know if you have other suggestions for improvement.

Green Smoothies

Wendi and the kids got me a Ninja Professional Blender for my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  Our old one was pretty whimpy.  This one is quite manly!!

I’ve been trying to find new ways to include vegetables in my diet and I’ve heard from several people that spinach in the magic ingredient.  Indeed – I am enjoying adding spinach to my smoothies now.   So far we’ve tried it with honeydew melon, fresh peaches, cantaloupe, strawberries, carrots, and just plain with vanilla protein powder.  I always add Silk Light Soy Milk, which gives it a nice creamy flavor.  If I do add fruit, I try to add fruit that is lower in calories.  

So far I’ve been pleased with what we’ve come up with.  The boys now get excited when I start the blender because they know their smoothies are on the way (I give them theirs before I add the protein powder). 

Sammy enthusiastically kicks his feet and grunts in anticipation while Aron’s smile grows into a toothy grin which brightens his face. 

Sammy can drink two baby feeders full; Aron usually will do one feeder full and then likes to drink more from a cup. 

I probably wouldn’t eat much spinach otherwise, but I like the satisfaction of getting healthy raw foods into my diet.  It’s tasty enough and it certainly can only help me.

Natalie so far has refused to have anything to do with a green smoothie – she wants a pink one.

Mom, I’ll be out riding my bike!!!

I used to love riding my bike when I was a kid.  I’d go everywhere I could on it – it was like my best friend. 

I saw this bike recently in downtown Salt Lake City.  It is identical to the bike I had when I was about 10 years old.

Frequently I would leave the house telling my mom that I’d be out riding my bike, and then I would ride, and ride, and ride some more.

This was taken on one of our scout trips riding home from Lytle Creek in CA.  I was maybe 14?

That was before the days of helmets and mountain bikes, biking shorts and Camelbaks.

I spent some time on a bike in Finland as a 19 & 20 year-old missionary and learned that bikes are fun in the snow too.

My wonderful wife, Wendi gave me a new bike for my 40^th birthday recently.  It’s impressive for the price – a hybrid-type bike – I’ll primarily use as a road bike.  I’ve decided that I’d like to be ready to bike Yellowstone next year – even if I don’t have the time to actually do it, I’d like to be prepared to do it nonetheless.  I’ve been out on it every day (except Sundays) since I got it, typically doing 4-5 miles.  I hope next week to at least double that distance and ride in the mornings instead of the evenings.

I kind of feel like a kid again – I’m looking forward to getting back to the point that I was when I was bout 10 years old, to be able to ride, and ride, and ride some more.  I’m sure I sound like a kid again as I leave the house and say, “Honey, I’ll be out riding my bike!!!”