From Love Chunk To Love Hunk

Similkameen News Leader - Home

2010-10-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

As Chunky As I Wanna Be

2009-08-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

All right. I thought I was getting somewhere with all this talk about healthy living and healthy eating. Sweet Roast and I spent a day on the river last week and promised each other we’d do it more often this summer. She was energized by the sunshine and it showed. Then she showed me photos she had taken that afternoon and I saw the grim reality of the Love Chunk. I was a lot, um – shall we say, er…chunkier than I thought I was. Sure, I’ve seen myself in a mirror, but bathroom mirrors are deceiving in many ways. After seeing myself in far too many pixels in digital photos that (thankfully) can be deleted, I’ve come to understand the real reason why I’m doing this blog in the first place. To get back in shape. Hopefully that shape would be something other than a blob. In other words, I want my 2.5-megabyte photo to drop some kilobytes. A whole lot of kilobytes. So I will continue on my journey to becoming more hunky and less chunky and remind you it’s not all bad to see yourself in shorts on a beach with a larger than normal shadow. If anything, it should give you the added incentive to get a little more active. The incentive to eat a little healthier and feel better along with feeling better about yourself. I guess I needed to see those photos. I was due for one of those reality checks and it didn’t derail my train. If anything, it will give me the fuel I need to keep focused and get my train back on track.

Jumping Over the Hurdle

2009-07-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a big day for me. It was a day where I cleared a major hurdle in my attempt to get less chunky and more hunky. Sweet Roast and I went on a short trip with an older couple we know on the Trans-Canada Trail. The three of them were on bicycles and I was on foot. I power-walked most of the trip with a couple of short jogging sessions. It felt great. I needed to do it just to do it and now I see myself doing it more often. Our trip took us a few kilometres away from home (the trail passes our house about 200 feet from our front door), through a railway tunnel, across a railway bridge and along the former Kettle Valley Railway to a point where the Tulameen River runs alongside it. The water was also so inviting that we all got into it on the way back home. It was refreshing and reminded me of all the excellent activity-based fitness opportunities we have virtually in our back yard. I can now see myself incorporating a small swimming program of some kind into my overall fitness routine - and August is coming, which is typically the hottest month around here. I'll probably need the cold water of the Tulameen and Similkameen rivers to keep from overheating on the trail!

The Dope On Shoe Biz

2009-07-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Now that I have a pair of lightweight runners, I plan to use them for just that. It’s a good rule of thumb that many runners use. If you have shoes for racing, just use them for racing. I had a great pair of runners many years ago I used exclusively for training. When I finally retired them I knew the condition they were in was a direct result of my pounding them on the pavement and nothing else. I logged hundreds of miles in those shoes. What I’m saying here is simple. Buy a pair of shoes to train in. Use them only for that reason. Don’t decide to wear them to work, or in the yard cutting the lawn or whatever. Your training shoes are a very important piece of the training puzzle and should be used for no other reason. While I’m on the subject of shoes, someone told me many years ago something about winter tires I’ve never forgotten. What do winter tires and running shoes have in common? Well, I recall I was trying to save a few dollars with all-season tires when it was pointed out to me that the only thing between me and the road were tires and they should be good tires in order for me to drive safely in the winter. That pretty much convinced me to buy good winter tires for winter use. The same goes with running shoes. They are the only thing between your feet and the pavement and you should have a good pair of running shoes in order to prevent unnecessary injuries. That doesn’t mean buy the most expensive shoes, but get the right type for what you plan on using them for and you should be able to get a good pair regardless of your budget. I prefer a pair with extra support around the back of the heel and because I haven’t run for a few years I looked for extra cushioning for my whole foot. Your needs may be very different and with so many different brands and styles available it shouldn’t be too hard to find the right match.

Back To Basics

2009-07-14T09:52:00.001-07:00

Things have slowly changed over the past number of weeks. I’m down to power-walking once a week, but it usually entails a complete round trip home and back to work. While I’m not entirely missing the walks, I have continued to long for the days when I used to run for miles. I know I am far from ready for distance of any kind, but now that I have a new pair of runners I plan to make use of them. The Trans-Canada Trail passes by our front door (about 200 feet away from it, actually) and in our community the trail is paved. I have determined that the kilometre stretch that passes by our home will be my training ground. I plan to power-walk, sprint and jog on it in various intervals to develop a cardio program with additional benefits. Further down the trail from our house is a stretch where large concrete barriers were put in place to discourage dirt bikers from using the paved trail as a drag strip. I’m not sure if the blocks are still there, but if they are they will play a part in my program in a sort of obstacle course I can run. I have all sorts of ideas I want to get to, but can only execute them in the early evenings and only on evenings I don’t have any other activities planned. It’ll take some juggling, but once I get into a routine I’ll be on my way.

My Secret

2009-06-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

The other day someone who I haven’t seen for a while made a comment upon seeing me walk down the street. She stated that I looked a little thinner and asked what my secret was to losing weight. Without hesitation I responded with, “Stress!” Although I was trying to be funny, it had been a rather stressful few weeks leading up to this encounter. I had been called by the family doctor to my mother’s bedside only days before (she has since recovered) and add to that the uncertainty of the current economy on my small business and it gets a little hairy and scary. I actually have used running as a stress reliever in the past, but I have other ways of dealing with it. Since becoming a Christian I have found a great deal of peace. Part of it comes from prayer and some of it from the comfort of knowing I can’t control everything and that I’m better off relaxed than taxed. I also have noticed my eating happens change when I’m stressed. Many people will binge eat or just eat the wrong things. Typically I lose my appetite. I’ll force myself to eat, if I have to, and am trying to be more cautious about what it is I eat when stressed. The best thing to do it just try not to get overwhelmed by the day-to-day stresses and get through each day. It’s such a simple guideline and it actually does help. Sweet Roast refers to me as a ‘flatliner’ a reference to my even temper and stable emotions. I have discovered it is often far greater to respond to situations in a calm and relaxed manner rather than run on emotions. There’s no doubt in my mind I am probably dealing with various levels of stress daily, but I have found simple ways for dealing with it. It’s not an easy thing to do, but with time you’ll get better and better at it.

The Weight Is Over!

2009-06-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

It had to happen sooner or later. Sweet Roast found a burst of energy and did some spring cleaning and in the process came up with a great suggestion. She wants to start doing some basic (and light) weightlifting. We had all the tools and I have tons of knowledge on designing programs for beginners and beyond. The goal is to start with some light upper body exercises in front of the television using free weights. I’ve always liked using free weights and I have a collection of dumbbells ranging from 10 pounds to 25 pounds in weight. We even talked about moving one of our weight benches (we have one each) out of storage and onto the front deck so we can add more advanced parts to our weightlifting program once we reach that point. I thought it was an excellent idea. All we need now is a free afternoon to clear off the section of the deck we plan to use and to pull out the weight bench. I’m pretty sure that once we start working out together it’ll bring us both many benefits. We actually used to ‘work out’ together when we first met, so it would be a lot of fun to go back to that. There’s a lot of reasons why this can work for the both of us and I’m excited about it!

Her Adrenals Are Tired

2009-05-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Various forms of fatigue have always plagued Sweet Roast. I’ve explained here many times in the past that her energy level and my energy level are at two completely different ends of the spectrum. She’s tried a lot of different things and seen a lot of different ‘specialists’ ranging from naturopaths to her family doctor and although no one has actually been able to completely pinpoint the problem there has been many factors to deal with. They include menopause, fibromyalgia, aging and numerous stresses along with many others outside influences. One of the common targets identified for Sweet Roast is adrenals. Adrenals are described best as “a pair of ductless glands situated above the kidneys which secrete various hormones” and can be the root of many a health problem. Not satisfied with no clear answer, Sweet Roast has embarked on a journey of self-help, which has led her to the health food store. She is currently examining the possibility of suffering from something called adrenal fatigue. It’s quite complex but basically involved a number of symptoms and triggers. More often than not the trigger includes one of many types of stresses. The reference book she is reading includes simple tests and questionnaires to help narrow down whether or not adrenal fatigue could be what the reader may be suffering from. So far, she is discovering she is well within the target range of a serious problem related to her adrenals. It could be a major breakthrough in trying to determine what is really going on inside her.

Good Thing It Wasn’t In Traffic

2009-05-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

It was a close call. Sweet Roast was riding her bicycle home one afternoon and just after crossing a busy highway her seat flipped backwards and she fell to the ground. There were no serious injuries but quite a scare. I helped fix the seat when she walked it back to the office that same day. We discovered the parts holding the seat in place were no longer going to do the job. Until she could get to the out-of-town bike shop the bicycle came from to get the matching parts she would be without her set of wheels. I knew there was no way she’d start to walk to work, so I gladly traded her for the car while I walked to work most days. It was nice to get back into the power walking routine after a bit of a break. I still do the walk a few times a week, but not as often as I had been so it was just as well that the bike seat flipped backwards. It wasn’t long and I noticed a change in the Sweet Roast. She was losing her energy again. It was almost as if the daily bike rides were feeding her something that impacted the rest of her day. It was as if she was getting a shot of energy each time and soon after she stopped riding, the opposite occurred. It was probably triggered by her mental health, I figured. She was so excited about the bike ride daily and got so much enjoyment out of it that it may have also assisted in putting her in a positive mind set for the rest of the day. Again, without the bike, a very opposite reaction was obvious to me. I encouraged her to get back into the bike routine as quickly as possible and within days the bike seat was replaced with a brand new one. In fact, she changed it herself in the middle of the office while I dealt with a customer. She was focused. She was driven. She couldn’t wait to get back on it and test-drove the bike around the block to make sure the seat was secure. I tried to force it to fail with my weight pushing down on the seat and it held. There was no way the incident would repeat itself. Now Sweet Roast is riding again and her energy level has improved, but by midday she’s done.

Chasing Flies In Centerfield

2009-05-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Slo-Pitch season has started. It’s the only competitive sport I participate in and I can see it actually assisting in my journey to get more hunky and less chunky. When I heard that the first practice was going to take place I was excited, but soon determined I couldn’t make it due to my work schedule. As the days passed getting closer and closer to practice night I changed my plans so I could be there. That told me I was craving the different physical activity, as I knew it would fit into my fitness program with little problem. I also knew my power walking and loss of a few pounds earlier this year was going to probably help on the field. The team I’ve ended up playing with is mostly made up of guys in their 50’s and 60’s. I’m in my late 40’s and last season we attracted even younger players to our squad. I have no idea why they’d want to play on a team of ‘old farts’ but they did and we all had a great time. I’m interested in the team fellowship and individual challenge of improving my batting (I’m consistently good for a single or double each time at bat) and the running around the field chasing balls is another fun part of the game. We had a few new faces at practice the other night, which gives us a lot of players to draw from if some can’t make it to each game night. It also stretches out the batting order and allows for players to switch off positions so none of us gets worn out. I’m no stranger to the game having been part of a slo-pitch team 20-some years ago in a different community. That was a ‘beer league’ and back when I was running road races and pounding a lot of pavement so I think when I started playing again two seasons ago I knew it would fit into my routine, as it was a familiar element. My first season with the ‘old farts’ only saw me participate in practice nights as I joined after the short season had ended. Last season I got to play in most of the games. This season will hopefully be the same; it all depends on the schedule. With practice nights and game nights, typically we play ball twice a week. I hope to be there as often as I can and intend to eventually jog from home to the ball park (about a kilometre) as part of my warm-up and jog back home afterwards as part of my cool-down. I’m looking forward to it!

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She Ain’t Just Spinning Her Wheels

2009-04-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Sweet Roast really likes riding her bike. I mean she REALLY likes it. She’s done it long enough now that it’s not only become a routine, but it’s now a very regular part of her day. I currently drive to work most days getting to the office around 8:00 AM. I normally get a start to my task-filled day and by 9:00 AM there’s a rap at the office window which tells me Sweet Roast has arrived and is waiting for me to hold the office door open for her. She’ll typically drive home for lunch, unless I’m off to a lunch meeting which is when she’ll bike home and back to work. By 4:00 PM she’s ready to call it a day and she’ll bike home. The odd evening we’ll go for a walk, which is me on foot, Sweet Roast on her bike. I have to admit I really like seeing her cycling so much. Although my power walking has been reduced, I have not regained any of the weight I lost, which makes me happy. My next plan is to get into some light jogging, but so far I haven’t figured out how to fit it into my days. I’m considering a light jog with Sweet Roast on her bike the odd evening when the weather warms up then I’ll find some way to turn that into a routine. Until then, I think we are both getting what we need in the right dosage as to not wear ourselves out and still see some benefits. All we need to do is fine tune a little for now.

Spurts Of Energy

2009-04-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

I’ve noticed Sweet Roast has had spurts of energy over the past few weeks. This is a good thing, but I have had to tell her to be careful. She has a habit of taking on a bigger chore than she can handle when she feels good only to feel bad for not finishing it when she runs out of energy. It’s all about the pacing. She’s been feeling pretty good now that she rides her bike from home to work and back home everyday. She’s told me she feels a lot more energetic because of it. Her productivity at work has improved and now she’s tackling small chores around the yard. The past few days she’s even been working on small yard projects during her lunch hour after riding her bike home. It’s a big change to the way she used to be, and although I’m thrilled to see the transformation I keep telling her to not overdo it. Lately she’s been pruning the massive lilac bush in the side yard next to the house. I used to trim it back each winter and have just let it grow over the past couple of years. There’s a lot of dead branches on it which affected how it bloomed last spring, so Sweet Roast has decided to cut it back this spring and she’s being smart about it by doing a little at a time over the course of a few days. So far, she’s done a good job and hasn’t worn herself out in the process. Today we spent an hour in the yard, which included me moving lilac prunings and a woodpile while she raked the whole yard. I got her to stop before she overdid it. We went inside and after a quick shower I went to work for a few hours. When I got home I found Sweet Roast back out in the yard with a rake. She said she had only just got back outside and wanted to finish a small job she had started earlier in the day. Once finished, she called it a day. She probably needed that small accomplishment to measure the day with and that’s fine. As long as she doesn’t work so hard in the future that she ends up back to where she was before she started exercising. There really is a balance to all of this and you have to be aware of what your body can and cannot handle in order to make any real progress.

A Biker Chick

2009-04-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sweet Roast received a gift last week. A family friend loaned her a bicycle for use this summer and as soon as she got on it she made a serious transformation. She has become a biker chick riding her bike to work each morning, home for lunch, back to work for the afternoon and back home after work. She’s even added distance to her rides by touring the neighbourhood instead of riding directly home. The extra energy she seems to have gained with bicycling has also made her more productive at work and she’s taking on small chores in the yard. I keep telling her to be very cautious with how she uses this newfound store of energy, but secretly I’m very excited for her. Sweet Roast has been trying to make changes to her body but has not had the proper motivation to get started. The bright, sunny days of spring and a new to her bike has been enough to get the ball rolling. This is something I’ve said before in previous blogs – it’s often hard to get started, but once you do and turn it into a routine, it’s hard to stop. Add to that signs of progress along the way and you have a great combination that not only assists with your fitness but enhances your mental health as well. When you feel better about yourself you tend to want to keep working at it. I’m not sure how long Sweet Roast will keep riding her bike, but for now it’s giving her the right kind of motivation. She’s even suggested I start some light jogging so we can participate in a fitness activity together. I like the idea and I think it would be a very good addition to my power walking routine.

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

2009-04-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

My once a day multi vitamin program had been pretty steady until one day a week or so ago I noted I had missed taking them for a few days. What had happened was I had been trying to take one with my morning coffee before heading off to work. That seemed simple enough and once I had incorporated it into a routine, I broke the routine and forgot the multi vitamin for a few days. Sweet Roast made a great suggestion that may get that routine back on track. She suggested I take a bottle and put it in my office next to my computer screen. The idea was that I’d see them there and would be reminded early in the day to take one. She even picked up a women’s formula multi vitamin and put her bottle next to her computer screen at work. A couple weeks into this new routine we’re still getting used to the switch but I suspect in another week it’ll become a regular part of our morning. As for mornings not spent at work I still have a bottle of the multi vitamins at home and I’ll try to carry the weekday routine into the weekends. I’m sure it sounds as if I’m making a simple task sound far more complicated than it is, but we are busy people with busy lives so something as simple as taking a pill each morning does take a bit of work to wedge into a tight schedule, but it will work out in the end. Also, since we both know we require the ‘extra’ vitamins and minerals (although mostly trace amounts) provided from a multi vitamin we’ll make the effort to build taking one into a routine.

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A Change In The Weather

2009-03-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

The days are getting longer and the snow has melted enough in the yard to reveal the Sweet Roast’s woodpile. I’ve also noticed a change in her lately, which has nothing to do with the pile of boards she was at one time contemplating moving from one location to another and back again as a form of exercise. What has happened is two things that seem to go together. The change in the weather – longer and slightly warmer days with some sunshine – has perked her up considerably. It’s a proven fact that many people suffer from a winter condition called SADD and stems from a lack of sunshine and shorter days. Sweet Roast may have a form of that, but we’re not sure. What we are sure of is the promise of spring has got her excited, which is a very good thing for her mental and physical health. If she’s looking forward to something she may get active and do something. Another part of the change I’ve noticed in her comes from her learning a new skill through an online computer course, which is adding more to her repertoire. What that is doing is forcing her to exercise a part of her brain that will ultimately improve her mental health. This means is that I have an example in my own home that verifies the connection I’ve always believed existed between mental and physical health. Most of us feel better once spring rolls around as we’re pretty much done with winter, the cold, the dark and dreary days so Sweet Roast is not an exception, but more likely just an example of what can happen with a change in seasons. It’s obviously starting to get her motivated.

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Maybe If She Read My Blog…

2009-03-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Sweet Roast is frustrated. She keeps telling me she doesn’t like her body. She’s put on a few pounds in the past year and it shows (but so have I). I’m not trying to be funny, but it has a lot to do with why she’s not happy with how she looks. She’s also menopausal, which contributes to weight gain in women Sweet Roast’s age. So I try not to mention when I’ve had another breakthrough in my path to better fitness. But I know she sees me walking to work all the time and she’s already home and relaxed by the time I arrive after work on foot. It’s tempting to point out the obvious, but I can’t. I don’t think she’ll truly see what I mean and make the connection. Diet is only one part of the equation. Exercise is another part (often the biggest part) for many others. I’ve even walked to work on cold, blustery days, as I know it’ll do me far more good than driving to work in a heated car. In fact, I’ve gotten so used to bundling up for the morning walk that the other morning I got into the office at 8:00 AM and had no idea it was -20C (-4F) until someone had mentioned it later in the day. I’m pretty much programmed to do the distance from home to work at least once a day, regardless. In her defense, Sweet Roast has the right idea; she wants to ride her bike to work when the weather gets better. It’s a good idea, but I think she’d be helping herself if she was walking to work right now to get those muscles moving and ready for when she starts riding her bike. I know I’m looking forward to some light jogging once the weather improves, as I know I’m already miles ahead in my prep by power walking as long as I have. But I really do understand Sweet Roast’s problem. Most of it is mental and so simple to turn around. If she started walking once or twice a week to work, there’s no doubt in my mind she’d start to feel better about herself and start to increase the frequency. It’s just getting over the first hurdle that takes so long. Maybe if she read my blog she’d be inspired to just starting moving!

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When One Step Leads To 11,575

2009-03-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

I’ve put my power-walking program back on track after taking a few days off to rest and to give myself a break from the routine it’s become. The break was very helpful and one day last week I put it to the test. I wore a pedometer to see how many steps I had taken to work. It totaled a few thousand, which inspired me to wear the gadget for a full day, and was somewhat amazed that I had covered a total of 11,575 steps. This included my first step out the back door, to work and back (twice), the entire day in my office, to the post office and back (twice), around the house and beyond. It’s not what I would call a typical day, but with a total of over 11,000 I think it’s safe to say an average day is in the neighbourhood of 10,000 steps for me. We ran an article in our newspaper (Similkameen News Leader) in mid-February about keeping fit in the winter, which made reference to a recommended 10,000 steps daily for overall fitness. The article calculated that 2,000 steps equally one mile, which is slightly more than three feet per stride and although my power-walking stride is wide I decided to use three feet as my stride length. Three feet times 11,575 steps is 34,725 feet or 6.57 miles or 10.58 kilometres. Wow! I had no idea I had walked such a distance in a day. No wonder I’m seeing results in my power-walking program. It also gives me another goal to shoot for in that if I walk an average of 5 miles (8.04 kilometres) per day, in a five-day work week I’m covering 25 miles (40.23 kilometres). I don’t think I was even running that distance when I quit because of the pounding on my joints. It gives me a completely different view of power-walking versus jogging/running and so far I like how it stacks up. If 10,000 steps a day sounds like a lot, it really isn’t. You’d be surprised what distance you cover in a regular day. I know I was and it’s inspired me to find ways to incorporate power-walking as a regular part of my fitness program.

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A Brain Break, Not A Coffee Break

2009-03-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

It’s been nuts at work. I’ve had too many things on my platter and not enough time to get them all done, which affects my productivity. I’ve also worked every day for almost a month and I know I need a break so I put in some extra hours for a couple days with the goal of taking a day off. When I say I’m taking a day off, I mean it. No talk about work, no driving by the office ‘just in case’ and no dropping in just to check on things. Also, a day off for me does not mean sleeping in or napping all day on the couch. A day off for me also does not mean jamming as many chores from the ‘Honey Do’ list into the available daylight hours. For me a day off means a brain break. Sweet Roast and I call them play days and because they seem to be few and far between, we look forward to them when they happen. So we had our play day which included packing a lunch and a short drive on one of the local roads with many stops to take photos. We saw eagles, newborn calves, frozen rivers and snowy landscapes – all of which became subjects for photos. It became a relaxing afternoon without cell phones, answering machines, deadlines, demands, expectations and schedules. We were able to clear our heads and just have some fun. We ended up eating our lunch on the side of the road in a newly developed subdivision in the next closest town to where we live. It was too cold to eat outside, so we sat in the car and enjoyed the view. Why is a brain break so important to me? It allows me to shut off the work part of my mind so I can put my mind on something other than work. We try to fit in at least one play day per season and usually go down the same road. Sometimes it takes us hours to just get 30-kilometres away from home. There’s so much to see and do when you slow down and look around. And that’s why I find brain breaks so important to me. It gives me a chance to slow down and get away from the stresses of work. It’s a very important component of my mental health and usually after a play day I’m energized and blasting off at full speed until the next one. Add a brain break to your routine. You’ll be glad you did!

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Sometimes Taking A Break Is Better Than Breaking Something

2009-03-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

The daily power-walking program of mine has forced me to try on many different shoes. I was originally wearing a very comfortable pair of hiking boots until they just quit being comfortable. I then went through three pairs of well-worn sneakers until I found a pair that could handle the pounding. I know I’m in need of some new sneakers, but the pair I’ve settled on still has a few hundred kilometres left in them, so they will do for now. On one morning late last month I earned a ‘you’re setting quite a pace this morning’ comment from a local I passed on the way to work. He was strolling with his dog when I met him. I know he’s a long distance bicyclist and runner, so I took it as a compliment but in the days to follow I noticed my feet were getting sore and the route was getting a little boring. I’ve been through this many times before when I used to run, so I knew what it meant and how to fix it. So I took a few days off. I had Sweet Roast drive me to work. I relaxed and didn’t stress out about it at all. I knew I just needed to give my body a rest before it started to fight back. The rest also gave my feet a chance to get over whatever was bugging them. In actual fact I suspect a slight sprain on one big toe from the power walking. The break was good as it gave me a chance to not see or be on my route for a few days. The first day back on it was refreshing. I noticed things I didn’t see before and suddenly it became interesting again. And I looked forward to the trip to work. When I was cross training with weights I would occasionally mix up my routine to ‘shock’ my body and to snap it out of the rhythm it was used to. Sometimes that meant skipping part of the routine or maybe changing the order of the program. We often need to shake things up to keep from getting bored with whatever it is we are doing in order to stay healthy and get fit. Sometimes it just means taking a short break every so often. Whatever ends up working for you, try to incorporate it as your safety valve and you’ll never lose interest in your routine. Just remember, try not to keep it too routine!

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I Can Take This Much

2009-02-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

I’ve mentioned before how stress can affect one’s health and I’m going to share a little tip that I’ve recently adopted. So far, it’s kept my stress level down. Sweet Roast mentioned to me one day that God only gives us as much as well can handle. I’ve heard that very same comment a few times since and regardless of whether or not you believe in Him; you’ve got to admit it makes a lot of sense. We aren’t designed to take a lot of stress. If you look at our skeletal structure alone, although the human body is an amazingly well engineered specimen, put too much pressure, strain or stress on a bone or joint and when it’s had enough it starts to break down. Depending on the amount of pressure and the pressure point it could translate into a sprain, dislocation or more serious damage like a break. The same goes for your mind. You can only take so much. The season right after Christmas is the toughest for us as business slows down quite a bit but bills still need to be paid. I did wise up late last year and pre-paid and over paid a number of bills when the cash flow was good to prevent myself from getting too stressed out. I haven’t lost much sleep this slow season and far less than I did the year before. I like to think God’s only giving me as much as I can handle this year and even if that’s not the case, I’m not twisting myself out of shape over cash flow. Since it’s a proven fact that the health of one’s body, mind and soul affects overall fitness, I’m going to stay as stress-free or low-stress and I can. And that’s something I know I can handle with relative ease.

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The Un-Salad

2009-02-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

I’m all for eating salad. But for me there are some items that I probably wouldn’t ordinarily eat if they were anywhere else than buried deep within a pile of salad. I have always viewed salad contents as basically stuff that comes out of your garden, which usually means leafy green things and lots of bright coloured parts. I believe in following the simple, yet basic rule of the brighter the colours, the better it is for you but I never thought of building a salad the way a family friend did at Christmastime. He called it a power salad and the first ingredient was to not add lettuce or any other leafy green vegetable. Instead, the salad contained diced up bits of the brightly coloured good stuff. There were three different kinds of peppers; onions, cucumbers, carrots, radishes and the list went on. We even discussed adding other things to make the ultimate power salad – orange slices, apple chunks, raisins, nuts or whatever. The main thing to keep in mind is to skip the leafy green stuff. It’s mostly water and filler anyway. Why build a salad with loads of good stuff if all you’re going to do it hide all of it under a mountain of rabbit food? So we have built our version of the un-salad a couple times since. It’s never the same, which makes it interesting as well. Add some cheese chunks. Maybe some kernel corn. How about chunk tuna from a can? Make it however you want and if you stick to the un-salad rule, you’ll have the healthiest salad in town. One important tip to enjoying the un-salad and keeping the calories low would be to skip those fatty dressings. My favourite is Thousand Island. Sweet Roast’s pick is Ranch. With the un-salad we went with vinaigrette, which gave the salad a zesty kick and made the flavours of the ingredients stand at attention. Yummy!

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Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

2009-02-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

You’ve probably heard this old saying before: Rule #1 – Don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule #2 – Its all small stuff. There’s certainly some truth to this, but there are times when the ‘stuff’ is far from small. A fine example is the recent passing of Sweet Roast’s father. He was ill and had been recovering from a heart attack. Although the family was prepared for the worse, the reality was hard on everyone and produced a lot of stress. My dictionary defines stress as “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances” which I think pretty much described what was happening. The stress caused Sweet Roast to say and do things to me she would not ordinarily – and given the circumstances, I didn’t take any of it personally. But her stress did transfer to me and I could see where it was going. I knew that if I let the stress control me, I’d start to eat poorly and possibly take a vacation from the program I had been following so far on my quest for better fitness. So I took action. I started paying more attention to my food intake and bypassed the convenience foods (and resisted skipping meals when I wasn’t hungry) and tried to eat meals similar to what I had been. And although I now had possession of the car, I chose to drive it to work in the morning and drive it home after work opting to walk home for lunch. The lunchtime walk also allowed me some time to clear my head, which assisted me in beating the stress I was feeling. I also found this approach helped me sleep a little better so I could be productive during the day – which sometimes turned into twelve to fourteen hour days. These tricks didn’t fight all the stress, but equipped me with the tools I needed to better deal with it which is exactly what I was hoping would be the end result.

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15 + 15 = 30

2009-02-04T12:39:00.001-08:00

While I’m quite pleased to have lost 15-pounds so quickly in my quest to get more hunky and less chunky, I also know it is not the start of a regular pattern. I cannot expect the same results in the next month, so I am prepared for that. Also, when I start to weight train, I’ll be increasing my muscle mass, which will increase my weight slightly, so I’m expecting that to affect the numbers in some way. In other words, although the ‘15’ sounds good, it’s not much more to me at this point than confirmation that my body is reacting to the extra work I am getting it to do. I should point out I am most certainly looking forward to where this can take me, but the first 15-pounds is just that. The first 15-pounds. This is where a lot of people lose their faith in diets and exercise programs. After dropping 15-pounds in the first month the expectation is that the second month will repeat that. A loss of one or two pounds – or even a gain of a couple of pounds – can bring a lot of disappointment to those with high expectations. I may not lose any more until I start to cross train and force other muscles to work. I’ve been down this road before so I know what to expect. The reality I am working towards and not some wacky math equation that seems to think I can keep losing 15-pounds per month until I get to my target weight. It’s not going to happen like that and I know it. It also forces me to get creative with the cross training options I’ll test and when I find ones I like and can see myself enjoying I will incorporate them into the complete routine. But until then, I’ll stick with the power-walking.

I Have 15, Do I Hear 20?

2009-01-30T08:33:00.000-08:00

My first clue that something was happening occurred to me the other day when I tugged at my jeans. I noticed I had been pulling them up at the waist quite frequently and then it dawned on me – could I be losing weight from all the power-walking? Then I decided to confirm it by getting on the bathroom scale. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t put a lot of faith in scales, but it did give me a reference point. I wasn’t convinced the scale was giving me the right message and chose to ignore it another couple of days. That worked fine but I could not ignore the constant pulling up of my jeans, which got me back on the scale. It was true. I had lost 15-pounds. It took me another couple days before I was brave enough to tell Sweet Roast. She was happy for me, but I could hear it in her voice. Then she said it. “Maybe you can help me with my weight.” I was honest in my response when I told her it was basically pretty simple, “You’ve just got to find something you like doing and stick with it.” And when you think about it, that’s really the bottom line. If you try to lose weight by doing some sort of exercise or routine you don’t like, you aren’t going to stick with it. Conversely, if you find something you like doing and stick with it you also need to see results to keep motivated. It may only be 15-pounds, but I’m motivated and power-walking from home to work and back once, and sometimes twice in a day is no big deal to me now. I’m contemplating suggesting we take one of our vehicles off the road for a while and see if we can manage. So far I’m not missing the car ride to work. The only problem is that there are work-related places I still need to go which are quite a bit further than a 10-minute power-walk away. This weekend will be a test for me as Sweet Roast has the car out of town and I have a few places I’m required to be outside of that 10-minute zone and her car just isn’t very reliable – but I know my feet are.

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Who You Calling A Loser?

2009-01-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

I have pretty much determined that the walk to work each morning (and odd walk home in the evening) is already pretty close to speed-walking, only I’m not swinging both arms as I’m usually carrying my briefcase in one hand. I’m also seeing results already having lost a few pounds since I started walking. It’s marginal, but enough to keep me motivated enough to take an extra trip either to work or back home without hesitation. I’ve noticed I’m not breathing as heavy as I’m getting used to the cardio workout with my recovery back to normal breathing taking place quicker and quicker. My results are also enough to piss off Sweet Roast! I realize it’s not a contest, nor have I looked at it as one in any way, shape or form. Just my timing was off (as usual) when I proudly announced the other day I had lost a few pounds already. Sweet Roast did not seem impressed stating she’s gaining as I’m losing. Maybe if she walked as much as I do… But it did occur to me the other day, on one of my trips to work, that if she can’t keep up with me once the weather improves I can see her getting back into her in-line skates. She used them frequently a couple Summers ago but I think she was rarely motivated enough last Summer to put them on. My almost-speed-walking and the early progress I’ve made will no doubt get her in the mood to move…which would be fun for me as well. It’ll be something good for ourselves we can do together. I’ve also started taking multivitamins (a special men’s formula) in the morning with breakfast and salmon oil pills with supper. I’m still working on getting free weights into the package. I just have to find the routine I designed for myself a couple years ago and fine-tune it a little. I’d really like to incorporate weight training into my overall program before too long.

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One Step At A Time

2009-01-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

The morning walk to work has been a good part of my day. I notice I walk very fast with a wide stride and find I feel great once I get to my chosen destination. It’s inspiring me to get more serious about walking and I’m now interested in shifting gears and moving up to ‘speed-walking.’ Speed-walking is just as it sounds, walking at a faster speed than a normal stride, but is still down a notch from the competitive sport of ‘race-walking.’ The benefits of speed-walking (also called power-walking and many other variations) are many and I can see how they would fit beautifully into my planned program and could easily include Sweet Roast. Speed-walking, first and foremost, is an activity, which will increase my caloric burn without the pounding my joints would get from jogging. While I’d love very much to get back into jogging, for now I think speed-walking will give me the same benefits without the extra stresses on my body (and knees). Speed-walking is basically walking very fast without breaking into a run or jog. One foot remains on the ground at all times and you swing your arms in pace with the stride. With the Trans-Canada Trail just yards away from our front door, and it’s paved throughout the town we can use that as our speed-walking route without encountering highway traffic and the beautiful countryside the trail cuts through should keep us interested in using the same path frequently without getting bored. I know when I jogged years ago I used to jog along the same stretch of highway all the time and logged hundreds of miles. The fact that I used the same route all the time did not bore me at all, in fact, it enabled me to establish ‘markers’ along the way for pacing with my stopwatch. I can see the Trans-Canada Trail providing the same opportunity with speed-walking. I can hardly wait for the snow and ice to melt away so I can get started with my speed-walking program. All I need is a good pair of walking/running shoes (I’m due for a new pair anyway) and my stopwatch and pedometer. I’m also excited that Sweet Roast may be a regular speed-walking partner!

Re-Thinking Supplements

2009-01-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

I was never really sure about the effectiveness of a multivitamin. About a year ago I started taking my first ever multivitamin to try to supplement my diet with the things I wasn’t getting through regular meals. I know people who swear by them. And I know the other side of the story, which claims the trace amounts contained in multivitamins made the whole exercise of taking them seem pointless. It was that argument that made it easy for me to quit using them. Then I started re-reading articles I had kept from various health magazines I had saved over the past couple of years and came across one in support of supplements. Apparently, the key to multivitamins is to take one that contains the nutrients selenium (known for cancer protective effects) and zinc (which, among other things, assists in sperm production). There’s no doubt that since I’m in my 40’s I should be looking at supplements more seriously and this article got me thinking. It also promoted fish oil as one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids (important for brain and heart health and a natural anti-inflammatory) and probiotics – the good bacteria (which assists digestive health and enhances the immune system). We basically have to adjust our meal plans slightly to factor in more fish (we eat a lot already), yogurt and soy products (both of which we already consume) and I’ll add a good multivitamin and fish oil tablets to my mix and I should have all the supplements I’ll need. Which reminds me, I subscribed to a couple different health magazines a few years ago and have found them a wealth of information since I started this ‘project’ of mine. I’m glad I kept them!

Slow And Steady Wins The Race

2009-01-19T08:41:00.000-08:00

When I decided to work on the project I have titled, “From Love Chunk To Love Hunk” I knew it would take a while to achieve the many goals I would set for myself. My reasoning was that it took a number of years to get out of shape, so it should take some time to get back into shape. From what I have read, and people I have consulted with over the years that train of thought seems to be the most logical and successful. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t believe in diets or any other method that promises quick results. Sure, there will be measurable results for some, but I’m looking to keep it off long-term and I have set the goal of roughly two years to get into the shape I plan to be in for the rest of my life. So I’ve been walking to work in the morning. It may not sound like much, but it’s a start. I’ve made the trip more than once in a day on occasion and since it is only slightly more than a ten-minute brisk walk one way; it’s no big deal. Well, whatever I’ve been doing has inspired the Sweet Roast a little more as she has been pointing out to me her weight gain frequently in the past week. Personally, I think she looks fine, but I know she’s not the tall, slender babe I fell in love with so many years ago. Nor am I the same tall, hunky guy I was then. However, my efforts have already paid off as Sweet Roast suggested she needed to get out and walk some more herself. I believe her words were “I hate the way I look” or something to that affect, so we went for a Sunday morning walk. It’s the middle of winter where we live, so the temperature was about -10C. Our neighbourhood happens to contain a paved stretch of the Trans-Canada Trail, which passed by the front of our home about 200-feet from our front door, so we walked a section of the trail and then came back, did a loop around our block and got home just about an hour after we left. If I can get Sweet Roast to do this once a week, it’ll get her started on the same journey I’m on, which will benefit the both of us in many ways.

These Boots Were Made For Walkin’

2009-01-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

I have entered the first phase of my quest to become less chunky. I now walk to work. It’s not that far, really, and this morning I timed my trip, which took just about 12-minutes. I don’t take a bit of a stroll when I walk, either. I have a pretty quick pace and a one-way trip to work for me these days entails slippery roads and sidewalks with me carrying my briefcase stuffed with a laptop computer and various other cords, connectors and DVDs along with me. I wasn’t sure how long the trip took so that’s why I ran my stopwatch this morning. Under normal conditions it’s probably closer to a 10-minute walk, which means, when the weather improves (its January - snow and ice still cover the ground) I can easily make the trip more than once a day. What got me walking? Well, I entered this phase of my journey quite by accident. The Sweet Roast’s car ended up in the shop. I am always at work an hour or so before her so we use two cars. So rather than drive to work at my usual 7:45 AM, get my morning routine underway at the office then have to stop everything just before 9:00 AM so I could drive home and pick up Sweet Roast I decided to walk to work and leave the car with her. So far, I think it was the right choice. It’s still too early to tell if I have any more energy than before, but I do expect to feel something in a couple more weeks. By the way, walking to or from work is nothing new to me as I’ve done it before so it’s not as if I’ve taken on a new task I’ve had no experience with. Lately I’ve noticed the collection of weights I have on the floor and am currently using as doorstops. I think they will become part of my second phase. Another part of the equation I’m quite well acquainted with!

It’s So Deep I Need A Shovel

2009-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, I admit it…I’m not in the shape I used to be. I think that’s probably one of the main reasons for this blog and the experiment I’m trying to attach to it. So earlier tonight I decided I had to do something physical. It had been a long time coming. I looked the Sweet Roast deep into her eyes. I marveled at how they twinkled when I said the phrase ‘I need to get physical’ and I noticed how the light danced along the long silky strands of her hair. It was the magical moment that led me outside to shovel the driveway. I had discussed it with Sweet Roast the night before and instead of doing it, we played a board game. Hey, it got my mind off of being chunky and got my mind thinking about words I don’t normally use unless it includes a triple word score. So I tackle the driveway. In actual fact, it’s more like a postage stamp sized end of the driveway where we wedge two vehicles between fences. Typically I keep this spot clear of snow, but this Winter I basically let Mother Nature take care of it. So far, she has done a great job of keeping it full of snow, so with a hard, crusty layer of frozen rain on top of what was easily a few inches of snow, I picked the right time to shovel. Add to that the fact that it’s evening and my only source of light is a street lamp across the road and that the local municipal road crew had plowed the street a few hours before. Did I mention the light rain falling? Anyway, I’m no dummy. I know this is going to be heavy snow and slow going, so I arm myself with two shovels and examine the target. I decide to bust up some of the road crew’s work first and then clear out where I usually park my car. I thought once I could park it in its usual place, I’d just shovel around it. Being careful not to overdo it, I take many short breaks to give my back a rest. I soon discover the end of the driveway where we park is a little larger an area than I thought it was. I move some snow here and push some over there. I get enough cleared to park the car, so I get in, drive it into place and decide on a new plan of attack. I discover I’m much more out of shape than I thought I was. I’m sweating, breathing heavy and not enjoying this chore anymore. I end up backing the car up and moving it forward. I back it up again and move it forward just to the right of where it was before. I repeat the process until I’ve packed down most of the snow in the driveway. The job is soon completed and I’m still sweating and breathing heavy. I get out of the car, admire my work and call it a night.

What I Hate About This Time Of Year

2008-12-31T08:03:00.000-08:00

It’s the New Year. Time to make promises I can’t keep and call them resolutions. Actually, that’s the one thing I hate most about this time of year. How many times have you heard someone – or even yourself – say “I’m going to stop smoking this year” or “I’m going to lose weight?” While those are always good things to work on over the next few months as both are health-related promises there’s an issue here I need to discuss. I hate that so many of us say these things, with good intentions, but a few weeks into the New Year the train gets derailed. Why do we always set ourselves up for failure? Because we use the start of a brand new calendar as our starting point. You don’t need to start doing something to improve your health on January 1st in order for it to work, or have a fighting chance. The point is that you realize you have to do something and then the big step is starting. There are better ways to success than starting on January 1st. Here are five great tips that should help: #1: Be cool – having a positive motivation as your mindset will do wonders. Even on those ‘cheat’ days. #2: Be tuned in – a great way to get to know your body is to pay attention to cravings, energy levels and sleep patterns. They are all connected. #3: Be frosty – stress is tough on weight. Teach yourself how to relax so you don’t sweat the small stuff. Hint: it’s all small stuff. #4: Be focused – you can’t take a road trip without the map. The same goes for going from chunky to hunky. You need to have a plan and a good one will take you there. And #5: Be a team player – nothing motivates more, keeps you more accountable and keeps those goals worth attaining than having supportive friends and family. Your successes may even motivate one of them to join you on your walks, swims, hikes or trips to the gym, which will assist both of you with your fitness goals. These are just a few helpful hints that may give you the kick start you need to get fit in the New Year!

The Ringing In My Ears Is The Neighbour Ringing In The New Year

2008-12-30T08:28:00.000-08:00

Our New Year’s Tradition is a pretty simple one. It involves sleep. Typically Sweet Roast is sawing logs by 10:00 PM any night of the week. Sometimes she can force herself to stay up until maybe 10:30 PM. On New Year’s Eve, she’s normally down for the count much earlier. A party animal she is not. I’m normally used to staying up to midnight on December 31st just so I can give the Old Year a fitting send off. Keep in mind; this usually just entails me staying up until midnight, not a wild party or a fridge full of beer. Both Sweet Roast and I just stay home and say so long to one year and hello to another in a very quiet way. The difference in our methods? I’m at least awake at midnight. I know one thing I like about how we celebrate the occasion is that we aren’t getting drunk and stupid, which, even in moderation, is not only unhealthy for you, but is equally unhealthy for those you put in danger if you are stupid enough to try driving home after the New Year’s Party. Another thing I like about our celebration is that the following day, the first day of the New Year, we will go outside, regardless of the weather, and take photos of ourselves and our pets to document the start of a new chapter in our lives together. What’s this got to do with becoming less chunky and more hunky? It’s all part of the ‘healthy mind’ part of the equation that will lead me to my goal of becoming the Love Hunk rather than the Love Chunk. Feeling good about yourself and being with loved ones helps a lot. That’s one of the things I look forward to on New Year’s Day and although it’s not the only time I do it, it is on New Year’s Day when I purposely take the time to remind myself I need to do it a lot more in the 12 months to follow.

Less Stuffed Than The Turkey

2008-12-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

We made it through the Christmas Holiday Meal Tornado with barely a scratch. Actually, we were lucky this time around, which also allowed for a little more common sense to kick in on our part. The scenario is probably pretty similar to one of your family meals: there were eight of us gathered around the table and normally it’s hard to find room for a cup of coffee next to your place setting because platters and bowls of food are constantly getting passed around. Then the gravy boat ends up taking up space near your butter knife and the potatoes end up sitting on your left, then to your right and then get moved back to your left again. Those green things you don’t like hover around your plate like a mosquito and the hostess reminds you to take more of them and that there’s still some of that other stuff you don’t like still available and would look great next to the turkey on your plate. Well, here’s the lucky part for us this holiday: the food was left in the kitchen and each of us had to serve ourselves. This worked better for me on a few levels. Firstly, the dining room table was less crowded (translate that to mean ‘more elbow room’), secondly, it allowed me to only put on my plate what I wanted to eat which left less waste. And thirdly, the common sense part of the equation: it allowed me to take smaller portions and fill up on turkey, potatoes and salad and skip over the sweet stuff. Even during the afternoon (the pre-Christmas Holiday Meal Tornado) when you couldn’t take five steps without bumping into another tray or table full of snacks, I skipped the sweets. The best part is after dinner I did not feel as stuffed as the turkey for a change thus avoiding another of those Christmas Holiday Meal Tornadoes.

It’s Best To Stretch To Avoid Being On A Stretcher

2008-12-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes…Winter. With Winter comes that white stuff. I found out the other day that that fluffy white stuff is a little harder to move around than it used to be. On a rare day off, with about five inches of the fresh, light, fluffy snow blanketing the house, yard, cars and anything else within our fence line I decided to tackle it with my trusty shovel. Actually, I think it’s called a snow pusher. I haven’t seen the term ‘snow shovel’ in sales flyers for quite some time. For some reason we’ve all gotten so politically correct that the word ‘shovel’ is bad. It’s now a ‘snow pusher’ or ‘snow remover’ or ‘snow lifter’ or ‘snow clearer’ or whatever. Anyway, I head out to the yard with many tasks at hand. I plan to ‘push’ snow along a path from the house to the back gate, from two places along that path to the shed, along another fence line our dog likes to use as a washroom and then I plan to dig out little ‘pit stop’ areas for the dog. Three of my neighbours are out clearing their driveways – with electric or gas-powered snow removal apparatus. I’m doing it the old school way. Well, within an hour I’m done and quite pleased with myself. I decide to go inside for a hot drink and to warm up. After the hot drink I decide to lie on the couch to warm up. After warming up I decide to take a short nap on the couch. After the short nap I decide on a slightly longer nap on the couch. After the slightly longer nap I decide to move some more snow around – this time in the front yard. Add to that a couple more ‘winterizing’ projects and about another hour of time and I’m thinking my day is done. My back is sore and I want to skip the warm drink part and get back to the napping. I should have stretched, I thought. It’s just a stabbing pain that makes me think I may have pulled or pinched something that would likely go away after another nap. I was partly right – I had another nap. And for the rest of the day, partway through the night and for part of the following day I had a little reminder to stretch the next time I think it’s just a little bit of snow in the yard.

The Only Fish Without Scales Comes From A Can

2008-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Call it osmosis. The Sweet Roast stumbled upon a real lunchtime gem the other day. For some reason she had skipped breakfast – which is very unusual for her. Unfortunately, our office is located within close proximity of a convenience store and a bakery. While either has it’s advantages, there’s challenges in finding the right things to eat at either location. Anyway, Sweet Roast went to the convenience store and found tins of tuna on the shelf. This is an old staple of mine – canned tuna! The variety she found contained sun-dried tomatoes in the mixture. When she returned to the office she popped open the can and started dining. Tuna from a can is actually a great ‘healthy’ snack – provided the fish is packed in water. Stay away from the varieties swimming in oil if you can. She found the meal filling and satisfying and she did herself a huge favour eating tuna rather than something from the bakery. It also reminded me I can find something other than an energy bar, sub sandwich or chocolate bar in there the next time I need a fast ‘healthy’ lunch. The benefits of tuna are many but most notably high in protein and low in calories, which means you can mix the chunks into a salad for change and still have a low-fat meal. Sweet Roast also says she’s read where canned tuna can squelch cravings for sweets. So far, in her couple of experiments with that theory it’s been proven to be correct. Regardless of your results, don’t forget to stock your pantry or office cupboard with tuna – an easy energy booster right from the can!

Going Cold Turkey During Christmas – Not!

2008-12-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

I recently turned 48. It’s not a big deal to me as in actual fact it’s just a number. I don’t feel like a number, but the main reason for this blog was to motivate myself to get back in shape – or at least improve my current shape – before I turn 50. I figure I can do it safely in two years. I’ve set neither a solid timeline nor a guide to follow other than it has to be before I turn 50. What sucks about having a birthday near Christmas is that it is difficult to start ‘dieting’ going into Turkey Season. I’m not even going to pretend so I’ll glide through Christmas as I normally would, but will keep in mind I need to start working on my plan before much more time passes. One thing I intend to do quickly is get back to lifting weights. I’ll start nice and easy with small free weights and will progress from there. Although I may not have a concrete plan, I do have a plan of attack. I already know, from past experience, what works for me and I’ll use a combination of those elements in my efforts to become more hunky than chunky. The combination will include free weights, walking (hopefully moving up to jogging/running) and a healthier diet. The hard part is clearing the first few hurdles. After that, it’ll be smooth sailing. And instead of defeating the purpose by trying to go cold turkey at Christmastime, I’ll be eating cold turkey sandwiches as I plot my revenge against those nasty calories.

I Wood Call It Circuit Training

2008-11-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

My lovely Sweet Roast doesn’t like the way she looks. Without giving away so many details that she’ll lock me out of the house, let’s just say she’s put on a few ounces. Most of this resulted in what can only be described as inactivity. But, we both know it, so we recognize the cause – or at least a contributing factor. And lately she’s gotten to the point where enough is enough and she’s taking action. In addition to a weekly yoga class, Sweet Roast has devised a very simple plan of attack on her non-yoga days. We have a pretty good collection of lumber in the yard. It’s heavy, rough-cut lumber in various sizes and lengths. She has told me, and others, that she was in the best shape of her life when she worked on a ranch about 15 years ago. She lifted things like bales of hay and changed irrigation pipes frequently. I first set eyes on her at about that time and I must say, she was buff. She had arms on her that were toned and she had a flat belly. In a word (or two) she was a hottie. She still is, as far as I’m concerned, but I get what she means about wanting to get back to where she felt better about herself and was full of energy and motivation. Here’s where the pile of lumber fits in. Sweet Roast announced to me one day that she wanted to move the pile to a different location in the yard. I thought it was a good idea. But I only caught Part One. She intends to move it somewhere else after moving it all to location #2. Then, once it’s all at location #2 she plans to move it all to a third location. Once that is complete, the plan is to move the lumber back to the original location then repeat the process. She may take a few days per move, but the lumber will most definitely be seeing more of the yard than I will this season. Call it old school circuit training if you want, but I think it’s a great idea. It’ll get her started on her way back to physical fitness. It’s an attainable goal. It’s easily accessible and she’ll be able to easily track her progress with a visual scan of the yard. In fact, I think it’s a brilliant plan. And most of the lumber is already at its second location!

Ah, Nuts.

2008-11-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

I didn’t get to be the Love Chunk by skipped snacks and one of my favourites is bite-sized, affordable and comes in so many variations that I’ll never get bored of them. Yep, you guessed it. I’m a fan of peanuts. I used to buy them in bulk, still in the shell, but that eventually became too much work. The shelling them, that is. Mind you, I probably didn’t eat as many due to all the extra work in shelling the little beggers. Anyway, regardless of what you may or may not have heard about peanuts listen to this – sure there’s fat in those suckers but they are also packed with a bunch of nutrients. The list on peanuts alone reads like a health journal entry. They contain protein, fibre, magnesium, Vitamin E, copper, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Oh, and in regard to the fat it’s that heart-healthy type that also helps satiate hunger. Walnuts and almonds are also good. So if you need a high-energy power booster, find a way to fit peanuts into your diet. Just try to keep to the ones that don’t come covered in chocolate. My favourite variety of peanuts right now contains sea salt and cracked black pepper. When faced with a wall full of choices I normally lean towards the barbequed variety with honey-roasted as probably the second choice. The only thing I think about with those choices is the salt content; otherwise I’m a sucker for peanuts. A high-fibre, quick and easy lunch snack for me is crunchy peanut butter rolled up in a wrap, or crunchy peanut butter spread on low-salt crackers. Why crunchy? I dunno. I’m just not a huge fan of smooth. But I am nuts about nuts!

Who You Calling A Turkey?

2008-11-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

Let’s talk about meat. Sweet Roast and I don’t eat a lot of red meat. It’s not as if we don’t like it, it’s just not really our favourite meat. Beef is a good source of Vitamin B6, iron and zinc but your average (translate that to read ‘affordable’) cut of meat also contains an added bonus - fat. And usually enough to make the cut not as healthy as it could have been. We have used a lot of meat substitutes, but when it comes to eating meat, the Sweet Roast and I will pick turkey most every time. Turkey is ultra low-fat, and gives us the iron and zinc we’re missing by not eating beef. Pork is pretty much out of the question for us (mostly for personal reasons) and those same reasons also strike a lot of seafood off our meat list. Mind you, canned tuna is a really good deal – especially when packed in water. Tuna has tons of protein and is a quick fix for something to eat. The down side is that it’s not a very good source of vitamins and minerals. Our meat substitute of choice is something called veggie ground round. It’s a soy product that is high in Vitamins B12, B6, zinc, niacin, thiamine, iron and more. It’s promoted as a good source of protein and when it’s crumbled up and added to meat recipes, looks and has the texture of ground up hamburger. In fact, Sweet Roast makes a deadly sweet vegetarian chili using this meat substitute. She even entered it in a chili contest in a nearby community and won third, second and first place is successive years with the recipe. Tasters often need to be convinced it’s not meat because, as I stated before, it looks and has the texture of ground up hamburger. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time she made chili with the real stuff. Tofu, on the other hand, just doesn’t create the same visual the soy product does. When you’re trying to sell a meat substitute to someone who doesn’t know it’s not meat, you want it to at least look like what it’s not in order for the concept to have a chance of getting to the taste buds. And while I’m thinking about it, I wonder what that chili recipe would taste like if it were made with turkey. I think there could be an interesting chili in that combination, and probably something quite healthy. We may need to experiment with that in the test kitchen.

Shakin’ My Booty To The Ants In My Pants

2008-10-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

I rarely sit still. Especially when I hear music. I’m not a dancer, nor am I a singer, but when I hear something with the right beat I just can’t stop moving. It’s more than just tapping my toes. If I’m standing I’m either swaying, groovin’ or movin’ to the beat. Often I’m sort of dancin’ my little ‘crazy man’ dance totally oblivious to how I must look to others as I let the music take me away. If I’m in a seated position, depending on where I am and what I’m doing, I’ll normally keep time to what I hear. I think it goes back to my years in broadcasting where I spent a lot of time by myself in a sound proof booth, with not much more than huge speakers and loud music. I just can’t not tap, clap, snap or rap fingers, hands, palms or toes. Often I’m keeping time to drums and bass guitar. Sometimes just the drums. It depends on what the music is and whether or not it sucks me into it’s rhythmic sound. Regardless, the bottom line is that I can’t sit still. I read somewhere that it’s actually a good exercise with some (although very minor) benefit. All that tapping, movin’ and groovin’ actually burns off calories. I’m far from breaking a sweat after I’m done, and there’s no way I’m out of breath so I’m not burning off much, but the few calories I do convert to energy not only had it coming to them, but they enabled me to bop along with the tune I was hearing. Even if it was only in my head. So the next time you hear a song that makes you want to move…do just that and say good-bye to a few of those extra calories you’re burning off in a fun way.

A Tired Roast Is Still A Sweet Roast

2008-10-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

My lovely wife, the Sweet Roast has fibromyalgia, which is a chronic fatigue disease that strikes both males and females. She’s described it as a pain that feels as if her skin hurts all over. I remember in my drinking days the odd hangover where the following morning after an all-nighter my hair actually hurt to touch. That’s probably as close as I’ll get to understand what it must feel like when she says she’s hurting all over. Stress seems to be one of the things that trigger an attack for her so we try to keep things as stress-free as possible in our lives, but it doesn’t always work. Outside influences can often take over and an unexpected event can become stressful in an instant and before you know it, Sweet Roast is a tired and sore roast. It’s obviously not fun to experience, but we have gotten used to it. One thing I’ve noticed is that fibromyalgia continues to be misdiagnosed and sometimes confused for many other things or believed to “just be in your head.” I think that’s because there are rarely any outwardly visible signs, like a rash or a cough or something that could be identified as a fibromyalgia twitch or mark. There are many symptoms, but the most common (or as I can see with living with Sweet Roast) are a feeling of being tired and worn out as well as sore despite adequate rest and meals; muscle pain that seems to target the neck and lower back; sleep disturbances, depression and a headache that won’t go away but keeps thumping away for sometimes many days. Another symptom is the inability to get a diagnosis for fatigue (often more than two opinions are needed to even get close to pinning this one down) and pain in eleven of eighteen pressure points. As I said, when Sweet Roast suffers a flare up, she says she feels sore all over. When someone feels like this they aren’t about to go for a walk, run ten kilometres, work in the garden, lift weights or cook a nutritious meal. Not only does it hurt, it hurts your fitness. If you think you may have fibromyalgia, check with your doctor. It sucks to be in pain when you should be enjoying yourself.

Call It A Clothes Call

2008-10-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like to use bathroom scales. Not because of what they’ll tell me, but because I don’t believe they are an accurate way to measure weight and progress. I prefer a tape measure and the clothes test. The tape measure never lies. If your waist is two inches bigger than it was the last time you checked, you’ve probably gained a little tonnage. A tape measure is also helpful for tracking any size gains for weight lifters. It’s a pretty accurate tool if used properly. The old clothes test, on the other hand, is pretty simple. If the jeans you used to wear last fall fit a little tight on you now, trust me, it’s not because they were washed in hot water. It’s another sign you’ve added some tonnage to your overall cargo. The changing seasons are sort of like Christmas for me. There’s bins of winter clothes we put away last spring that may or may not fit anymore. It’s anybody’s guess and sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised and other times, well, I discover I’ve added some tonnage. Lucky for me, I’ve keep a pretty stable weight over the past couple of years, so most of the surprises I get these days are in the territory of “I wondered where that shirt ended up” or “now I remember why I didn’t wear that (fill in the blank) much last year” discoveries. I also don’t purposely add to my wardrobe things in sizes way too big for me just in case I end up squeezing into them next year. I think that sort of defeats the whole purpose of weight control. If anything, the few clothing items I buy myself, I’ll buy to fit me now with hopes of them looking a little big on me this time next year. That would be the ideal mind-set if you asked me. Now if I could find those missing socks that disappeared in the dryer last year I may finally match a few ‘singles’ sitting in my sock drawer waiting for a mate.

Playing Those Mind Games Forever

2008-10-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

When I think of health I think of three parts of the puzzle. Mental, physical and spiritual. If you have strength in all three, then you are well on your way to a healthy life. One of my favourite things to do is exercise my brain. That can be by doing something as simple as reading or a little more difficult as trying to memorize something. Sweet Roast spends a lot of leisure time studying or doing crossword puzzles. When I’m in a puzzle-solving mood, I lean towards Sudoku or Logic Puzzles. Exercising the mind is very important. There are a lot of foods that are known to be good for the memory as well as a whole series of vitamins but I prefer to do it the old-fashioned way. I’m currently doing the play-by-play for our local hockey team online. I thought at first it would be a huge challenge, but I have since found it a lot easier than I expected. Memorizing all the players’ names and matching them to their jersey numbers I thought would be a big chore. So far, the home team has been fairly easy for me to remember, but I have used a couple of memory short cuts. The player wearing #20 is O’Brien. The zero reminds me of the O. The fellow in jersey #22 is Cecconi. The 22 reminds me of the double ‘c’ in the middle of his name. Other tricks I’ve used include #11 is Brechmann – the two one’s remind me of the two n’s at the end of his name and others I just remember. Another trick I have found that helps me remember things is to purposely write it down. Say I have a list of three things I need to do, I’ll jot down the key words and memorize them to remind me of what I’m supposed to do. For example a list that reads 1) Check the mail, 2) pick up laundry and 3) pay the mortgage becomes mail, laundry, mortgage – a lot easier to remember. Sometimes just writing down mail, laundry, mortgage helps to reinforce the points to remember. Even if I lose the list, I should be able to recall the three words that’ll tip me off to what the three tasks were. I don’t use post-it notes (keep forgetting where they are), text message reminders (can’t recall my pin code) or portable tape recorders (never can remember to re-charge the batteries) so I’ve adapted to using methods that actually work for me. Now if I could remember what I was trying to write about everything would be just fine.

There’s Something Going Yawn Around Here

2008-10-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

You’ve heard the old saying “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” well, there’s some truth to part of it. The sleeping part anyway. The rest of it, well, should be rewritten to say “Early to bed, early to rise only works for some of the guys” or “helps with the disguise” or “puts rings under your eyes” or whatever works. I’ve read time and time again that anywhere between seven and eight hours sleep is enough for the average person. Sleep is important. Not only does it allow you to recharge your battery for the next day, it forces you to relax and shutdown for a break. My alarm clock goes off every morning at 6:45 AM. That’s seven days a week. I’m in the office normally between 7:30 and 7:45 AM. I find I get a lot done first thing in the morning, especially if I’ve had a good night’s sleep. When do I go to bed? Normally between 11:00 and 11:30 PM which gives me between seven and eight hours sleep. Right now it’s 9:30 PM and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, but I’ll get to 11:30 PM regardless because I know, with few exceptions, if I get too much sleep I’m a slug the next day. It’s just something I’ve been able to determine about myself. The path to health includes a good night’s sleep and not just one or two of them a month, but many of them, hopefully in a row. I find I have a great deal of creative energy all day long and credit my sleeping pattern (and the odd cup of coffee) for it. I also put in an average of nine and a half hours a day in the office so I need that energy to carry me through. Sure, my job basically amounts to me sitting in front of a computer most of the time, but without a good night’s sleep my brain would log off long before the computer and I’d get less and less done each day. Good thing I own my own business or I’d have to fire myself when productivity levels take a dive. Now if I were ever able to clone myself I’d get a whole lot more done because I know the original is quite productive. Mind you, if I’m going to be doing any cloning, the clones will have to be about 25 pounds lighter than the original in order to meet my high standards and pass quality control specifications.

Hard Work Has Its Rewards

2008-10-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Sweet Roast and I had what we call a play day the other day. It was basically a day off from work that we filled with activities for ourselves and ended with a reward for getting everything done. We planned a picnic in the afternoon at a place we go a few times a year about 25-kilometres from our home. A quick stop for a 12-inch sub sandwich (cut in half – her side had tomatoes, mine had black olives), a couple of cold drinks and our cameras and we were off. It’s October, not exactly peak picnic season, so we really had no trouble finding a spot. In fact, we had the entire 20+ unit campsite to ourselves. After lunch we took our cameras and explored along the river located there. We easily spent close to two hours wandering along the riverbank, taking photos, climbing huge rocks and skipping a few. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. It got us motivated to ramp it up a bit by the time we got home. There’s a small yard project that we started a week ago which involves landscape fabric and crush – rocks about the size of walnuts. The plan was to cover a section of the front yard with crush to eliminate the need for mowing the lawn and weed whacking. Anywhere in the yard where I can eliminate either (or both) of those chores and I’m all over it like a bad smell. So once we got home from our play day, Sweet Roast rolled out the fabric and I started loading the wheelbarrow with crush. Here’s some trivia for you: twenty-five shovel loads of crush makes a good-sized wheelbarrow load. I moved six wheelbarrow loads to finish the project, which in real time took us just over an hour to complete. Our reward, two heaping bowls of chocolate ice cream (mine with smooth peanut butter added, hers with peanut butter and Nutella) did not last as long.

The Scales Of Injustice

2008-10-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

I hate bathroom scales. Not because they tell the truth, but because they give misleading information. For example, two different men weighing 200 pounds can look very different. One may be overweight (chunky) while the other can be slim and muscular (hunky). Scales are evil tools and I really don’t like using them for daily or weekly records. I probably step on a scale once a month and I can proudly say I have had the exact same weight for easily the past two years. While I have no real problem with the actual numbers, I do wish they were in a slightly different order, but I’m getting used to it. I started to step away from stepping on a scale when I was cross training. A few years ago, back when I was feeding my engine the wrong kind of fuel, I logged a lot of miles on pavement jogging and on alternating days I weight trained. Not insanely heavy grunt and groan weight training, but a routine I had devised making use of the equipment I owned. I still have the weight bench and various free weights. Why am I chunkier than hunkier? I became a slug. It happens to some of us. Our lives change, for whatever the reason, and the weights somehow magically end up in closets or become doorstops. Now, back to the problem with scales. Your weight can actually increase as you develop your muscularity. I’m not talking huge numbers, but don’t be surprised if the weight goes up slightly rather than down. And don’t blame it on the scale. Another thing I hate about bathroom scales is one can say one weight and another can say anywhere from two to five pounds different from that, so they really aren’t reliable. Now, if you are just using a bathroom scale as a rough guide, fine but here’s the quickest way to lose your first five pounds: throw away the scale!

Call It A Gut Feeling

2008-10-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Let’s get serious for a moment. My six-pack abs more closely resembles a keg. In fact, I don’t ever remember having a six-pack, but I know when I was growing up I was very skinny. You wouldn’t know that to see me now, partly due to the fact that my shadow has gained a bit of weight and partly due to the fact that my shadow hasn’t really been taking very good care of itself. From all the studying I did when I was running and jogging years ago I know that the most successful equation to weight loss/weight control is very simple. Diet + Exercise = Fitness. There’s no other way around it. Dieting alone is not good for the body. Reducing your calories is only part of the equation. You can eat one piece of dry toast in the morning and a radish or two for lunch and go nuts at supper with an apple and and orange and you will lose weight, but eventually your body will fight you for fuel and basically force you to the late night drive through. And then you’ll think you failed. All you did wrong was not follow the simple equation of Diet + Exercise = Fitness. When I’m talking exercise, I’m suggesting a 20-minute walk or 20-minutes in the garden, not running your first triathlon because the day before you accidentally inhaled a box of doughnuts. I remind myself frequently that it took a lot of years to get into the (bad) shape I’m in. It’s going to take some time to correct it. And I’m going to get hungry and I’m going to crave something I shouldn’t eat, but it’s all okay as it’s a long trip I’m going on. Which s why I do not believe in, nor endorse any packaged diet program. Nor do I believe in bathroom scales, but that’s a whole different story.

Attacking The Snack Attack

2008-10-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have a cookbook somewhere that I think is responsible in many ways for helping me to survive my single years. In those reckless years BW (Before Wife) I did a lot of crazy things. I ate a lot of the wrong things and in large volumes, but I also lifted weights and pounded the pavement to the tune of 30 or so miles a week. At the time I was burning off a ton of energy, so I got a little reckless with what I chose to fuel my engine with. The cookbook contained recipes that were basic, simple and most of them had no more than four ingredients. In some cases, that included water. One of my favourite recipes was a ‘treat’ that combined corn syrup, sugar and peanut butter over heat until it became a paste-like substance. Then you added cereal, popcorn or combination of each, mixed well and spread out on a cookie sheet to cool. Sometimes I’d add raisins or peanuts or whatever else I could find in the BW kitchen. I have to say it was an extremely high calorie snack that was probably better for me without the first two ingredients, but at the time it did the trick and satisfied that craving. I can’t remember the last time I made it. Now my snacks are a lot more sensible. I have two or three favourite cereals I’ll eat while watching a movie, and I eat them dry (no milk) and eat them with my fingers like I would a bowl of popcorn. This is an almost nightly ritual shared with my lovely Sweet Roast. The cereals we have chosen are healthy choices in that they are a couple rungs higher up the ladder than the candy coated, sugary kid-oriented cereals you find on the store shelves. We are trying to be sensible in our snack choices, which isn’t all that hard to do when you consider we rarely eat desserts (at home). Snacking at work is a whole different story where the main food group involved is chocolate. Often dark chocolate.

I’ve Never Met A Calorie I Didn’t Like

2008-10-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

Any idea what a calorie is? You’ve heard about them, I’m sure, but any idea what one is? A calorie is the unit used to calculate the energy value of food. Up until weight loss plans started using ‘calorie counting’ in the formula it probably didn’t matter what a calorie was. I know in my years (and I mean years) of study related to food (and mostly the enjoyment of it) I have grown to accept the calorie as a friend rather than the bad guy he has been made out to be. Sure, I have joked many times about breaking a cookie in half so the calories would fall out before eating it but in actual fact, I think that without calories we’d have no energy in our bodies to fight off germs, disease and a whole lot of other things. There was an actual point when us humanoids got a lot lazier (about the time when television was invented) when we quit burning off more calories than we consumed and started to get chunkier rather than hunkier. Add remote controls and microwave ovens to the mix and before you knew it, we didn’t have to lift a finger (well, okay, maybe that was all we needed to lift) to get anything done. That was when our friend the calorie started to become our enemy. Well, I still like calories. I don’t count them because it seems pointless to me as they just seem to jump up and latch on to me wherever I go. They have a way of luring me into their activities and it’s probably because I keep letting them win. My lovely Sweet Roast and I used to go for evening walks in the neighbourhood. Often we’d be gone for an hour. Not bad at all if you think about it, until I mention that a Dairy Queen happens to be on our route and even if we said we weren’t going to stop, we’d hear the calories calling our names. At first is was pretty easy to ignore because it was just the coffee or iced tea calories that knew our names. Then the ice cream calories found out who we were and, well, they got pretty loud. At times, painfully loud. Impressive when you consider the Dairy Queen is in actual fact a ten-minute walk from our home and our hour-long walks involved only about twenty minutes of actual walking. Oh, and about forty minutes of getting friendly with calories.

Nothing Rhymes With Xanthan Gum

2008-10-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

As my lovely Sweet Roast digs deeper into the roots of livin’ and cookin’ gluten-free I’ve made a discovery. Aside from my earlier discovery that eating healthy typically costs more, I’ve also determined that the gluten-free pantry now contains substances, powders and ground up bits of things that sound as if they were leftovers from a bad science experiment. There’s amaranth flour (a plant variety grown for food), quinoa (edible seeds from a plant), sorghum (a cereal grain), soy and xanthan gum (a food thickener). There’s a bunch of hyphenated terms as well. I’ve learned over the years that unless the hyphenated term is sports related, as in face-off or kick-off, it’s likely not going to be a lot of fun. There’s lactose-free, gluten-free, sun-dried and old-fashioned. My favorite pantry hyphen so far is non-aluminum, double-acting baking powder. If that’s not out of someone’s science project then I’ll eat some dirt. At least I won’t have to read a label to determine if it’s good for me as it’s bound to be all natural. I’ve probably been eating my share of the non-aluminum, double-acting stuff and didn’t even know it. No wonder I’ve been feeling so (fill in the blank). It’s because of the non-aluminum, double-acting baking soda in the (fill in the blank) I’ve been eating and chasing down with a huge glass of lukewarm, partially-clear, acid-free, possibly chemically-enhanced tap water. It makes me wonder what flavours xanthan gum comes in and if it’s any good for blowing bubbles.

I’m A Glutton For Gluten

2008-09-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

It happened a few weeks ago. My lovely wife, the Sweet Roast, determined that she had to remove gluten from her diet. I asked her what gluten was and she gave me an answer that, while it made sense, really didn’t answer my question. It was sort of like asking why the sky is blue. The scientific answer would explain it in far more detail than necessary. Basically, gluten is a substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat that is responsible for the elastic texture of dough. It’s also a mixture of two proteins it causes illness in people with celiac disease. While both Sweet Roast and I, the Love Chunk, are Blood Type O, we really shouldn’t be eating a lot of gluten. Or so says a pile of her reference material. So, how do we get rid of it? With an atom splitter and since we don’t have the $220 million it costs for a slightly used NASA-approved model, we (or I should say she) decided to shop for gluten-free products. The atom splitter would have been far easier, or so I thought, until a gluten-free recipe book was discovered. Which leads me to one of my many pet peeves. Why does it cost so much more to eat healthy? Grrr. If it’s something only available at a health food store, expect your debit card and bank account to get a work out. Shopping for all the ingredients you need to create healthy meals so you can lose some weight and lead a healthy life seems to cost just the right amount that the only thing losing weight is your wallet. Anyway, Sweet Roast did a fine job of hunting down the correct ingredients to build a gluten-free apple crisp. It was a work of art. It did such a good job of filling up the better part of a clay baker that I was afraid to taste it. Well, that and the fact that the phrase ‘gluten-free’ sort of gave me the same kind of chills as ‘sugar-free’ or ‘low-fat’ does. Is it going to taste like something other than damp, crumbled cardboard? Well, the apple crisp passed the taste test. The next night, it was even better, buried under heaping mounds of ice cream.

So My Ass Does Look Big In This

2008-09-29T12:52:00.001-07:00

There's something I hate about this time of year. It's the hunting for and pulling out of all the clothes one would wear as the temperature cools and winter approaches. What really sucks about this chore is the discovery of clothes that don't fit anymore...or barely. I'm sure my wife, Bren, did a major wash just before we packed away all the winter clothes. That's the only reason I can come up with as to why some of my favourite shirts have shrunk so much since spring. She must have washed them all in hot water. I'm sure there's a rule against that somewhere. Do not wash winter clothes in hot water before storing away until September. I've got to get that message out there somehow.

A Bag Of Chips And All That

2008-09-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

A dilemma for many, but not for me. If you had to choose between a chocolate bar and a bag of chips, which would you pick? I'd take the bag of chips every time. And it wouldn't matter which chocolate bar was up against the chips, although I'd probably hedge if the chips were, say, pickle flavoured or something stupid like that. Just plain chips would win...barbeque chips would win...salt and vinegar chips would win...all-dressed would be the ultimate champion. But what if I chose to read the labels on each package first? This is where it gets difficult. Too much nutritional information (or lack of nutrition) screws up the experiment. I think I need a chocolate bar to settle my nerves now. See what's happened here? I can't believe it. I talked myself out of the bag of chips. Grrrr.

Who is the Love Chunk?

2008-09-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm the Love Chunk. It's a nickname I gave myself a few years ago. I call my lovely wife, Brenda, my Sweet Roast. I'm not too sure where they came from, but pet names we don't normally use. I prefer to go by my given name and I rarely call Brenda anything other than Bren. The Love Chunk part of the story is that over the years I've gotten a little chunkier rather than hunkier. I would prefer the latter over the former, but as I approach 50, it's a little harder to achieve that goal. This blog - I hope - will inspire me, and maybe a few of you, to work to get hunkier rather than chunkier. Or at least we'll have a chuckle or two as we try.