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It Really Is About Watching Your Waist

on August 30th, 2010 by Rob

Isn’t this just the greatest picture? I love it. It seems to say so much about our evolution. Seems that people are getting heavier and heavier all the time… especially here in Mississippi. According to the CDC- average waist lines have increased about an inch per decade since the 1960’s!!!! Holy Snikies!!!!

I want to link some information here. I can’t beleive that I am linking to Oprah’s site….. as if she doesn’t have enough readers already. But this is good stuff. O.K. – check it: Dr. Oz talks about fat- the worst kind. If you would like to hear this stuff in video form- check it here.

The deal is that you can be within your “normal” weight range and still be at risk for health problems with a bigger waist. Turns out that women should have a waist no larger than 35″ and men should be be no larger than 40″. Bigger than that and you risk all sorts of horrible things…. cancer, heart disease and get this—– respiratory illness. WHAT? I guess I did have sleep apnea… I’m over it thanks to losing some weight.

So, you may ask, what can I do to lose the belly fat? Same thing you do to lose any fat… eat less, move more!

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Exercise Will Improve Your LIFE!

on August 18th, 2010 by Rob

I told Beth never again. And in all fairness, we didn’t really move… we just moved stuff around. But I swear I felt like I had moved by the time I got to the end of the weekend.

Which brings me to my point. I can guarantee that I would be a lot more sore and a lot more worn out after having moved all of this furniture BEFORE I started working out.

It just goes to show you…. this is not ALL about going to the gym and running and swimming and pushing weights around. It is so that we can live a better life.

At the gym this morning, I was having a conversation with a former Mississippi State Trooper. We were discussing the recent shooting and death of a Jackson MS police officer. He was saying that he felt there were instances when people were shot and perhaps they could have been saved had they been in better physical condition (not necessarily this case). I don’t think that there is any question that this is true- (once again, I am not familiar with the physical condition of Glen Agee).

Working out—- wether it is cardiovascular exercise or resistance training can prepare you for a better life!!!!

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Maters!!!

on August 11th, 2010 by Rob

Beth and I have started a new thing. Maters…. in the back yard. Of course I had to use a picture of Tow-Mater (my kids love this)!!

But what we have found is that it is a lot of fun for all of us. Beth and I make sure that they are watered by assigning one of the kids to do it each day. George particularly loves it.

The tomatos that we planted this spring grew about 5 feet tall and ended up giving us tomatos for about 6 weeks. Not bad for our first go ’round.

Since then… actually just in the past few days, we have planted some pepers and some different kinds of tomatos… grape tomatos I think.

The whole point of this exercise is to not only foster some fun for our family… being out in the back yard together (of course Dad just kind of sits on the porch and drinks beer)…. but to also to try to spur my kids interest in vegtables. I want them to LIKE vegtables.

When I was a kid, my GRANDPARENTS grew tomatos in the back-yard, but vegtables were not really a part of my life. I mean, I ate a lot of pop-tarts, but those don’t grow in the back-yard. Maybe if my PARENTS had been into it…. I would have grown to like vegtables and I would not have been 25 years old when I ate my first tomato. (Which by the way is actually a fruit).

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Get Your Snack On!

on August 9th, 2010 by Rob

This friend of mine used to have this great audio file of a Delta Airlines commercial. It was a goof, but one of the things that the guy said in it was to “Get Your Snack On!” Well, that is just what I am telling you today.

My children seem to get this. They will eat fairly snacks all day long and then when they get to dinner, they are not really that hungry and don’t always finish their meals. But you know what…. my wife and I have not given them the “starving children in Africa” bit. I don’t care… they don’t have to finish if they don’t want to. I hope that by doing things this way, they can avoid some of the stuff that has plagued me all of my life.

They can eat appropriate amounts…. NORMAL serving sizes and not worry about it if they don’t eat it all. It has been something of a challenge to learn to leave things on my plate.

Snacking helps ME do this as well. I have said it before, if you are trying to lose weight…. as I see it, snacking will do two things for you.

1. Keep you from being so hungry that your body goes into starvation mode…. making weight loss slower.

2. Keep you from being so hungry that you go nuts and overeat at the next meal.

Snacking…. I HIGHLY recommend it!!

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Portion Control- 5 ways to do it

on August 5th, 2010 by Rob

92nd and Broadway

We have got to get a handle on portion sizes if we want to make any difference. If we want to lose weight- we have to get this right. After all, you can eat any low-cal food and still over do it. It is possible to eat too much broccoli (don’t know why you would).

Follow these hints to “take it easy”——-

1. Break down left overs. This is one that my wife could do a better job of…. of course it is her responsibility to keep me thin…. to to mention cook, clean and just be in charge of all things domestic in general.—- (easy everybody- I’m kidding)- what I mean here is to take a casserole for example and cut it up and put it in individual bowls or plates to stick in the fridge. This way you will just pull out one helping. This just kind of makes it a “no brainer” when eating left overs.

2. Say yes to salads. I experienced this just a few minutes ago. My wife made a salad for me and served it right before my chicken lasagna…. it had low fat dressing and put some food in me before I got to the main dish. I am surprised by how full I feel without having a second helping of lasagna…. the salad did it!

3. Single out trigger foods. Take whatever it is for you and put it in individual zip-locks. If I don’t do this, then the chances are pretty damn good that I will Hoover that entire bag of Cool Ranch Doritos

4. Master small meals- When I lived in NYC, I had this friend Kevin that was a big runner/exercise guy (way before I was—- 10 years before I was)- anyway, this guy would never over eat, because he ate all day long. He would eat like a bird all day. We would stop at a convenience store and this guy would get a sandwich out of the freezer. What he was doing was keeping himself from getting hungry by eating just a little at at time.

5. Keep seconds out of sight- Also when I lived in NYC, we used to eat at Carmine’s all the time. Its a great Family Style Italian Restaurant and if you are in NY you just have to check it out. Best Marsala I have ever had and the Cesar Salad is just the best…. o.k.- getting off track. The point is- the dishes are right there on the table “family style”. Don’t do this if you are at your table. Make it a trip to get your next plateful. After all, it takes about 20 minutes to really feel satiated and if you will just wait a minute…. slow down and take a second, then you may not need a second helping.

Do you have any tips to cut down your portions???

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Drew Carey

on July 29th, 2010 by Rob

Goodness… everyone needs to see this!!

Check out this article!!

Looks like Drew has been to the gym!

I find this to be really interesting…. aside from Chris Farley- Drew Carey is the celebrity that I have most been associated with.

I even have a picture of a Halloween costume… where I went dressed as Drew Carey- You know, I just put on some glasses and a Cleveland Indians hat.

Really good to see him make some changes!!

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B.U.F.F.E.T- Know what that stands for?

on July 28th, 2010 by Rob

BIG UGLY FAT FOLKS EATING TOGETHER—- well, almost.

When I lived in N.Y.C. the Chinese food was much different than it is in the south. Even at the places that weren’t in Chinatown the food was much more authentic Chinese. You know, I am not sure about this…. it is just me sitting at my kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon…. but I just don’t remember seeing or knowing that many fat Chinese people. I mean, I guess there are some, but you just don’t see them like you do Americans. Maybe it is all the rice that they eat? You know, now that I think about that, it seems like I have heard some information on that rice…. like, the rice they eat is different from the rice we eat. I have heard that they leave the “husk” on and this makes it better. I don’t know, I will have to do some research on this and check it out and let you know.

Anyway- I want to address something. Chinese buffets. I just can’t do it anymore. I can get carried away. I mean, if the ones that you have been to are ANYTHING like the ones here in Mississippi….. well, you can get the cart off the road in a hurry. I mean, they have pizza on the buffet at the Chinese resterants here!!!!! WTF? Once again, it is just something that is off limits for me.

Cornell University (shout out to you Larry!!) has a Food and Brand Lab. So, they went and checked out people eating at Chinese buffets. (In upstate N.Y. they must be like the ones in Mississippi)— so these smart guys from Cornell go and OBSERVE fat folks eating together and they made some pretty cool findings-

1. The skinny people were more likely to BROWSE the buffet before serving themselves.

2. The skinny people were more likely to sit with their backs to the buffet.

3. The skinny people were more likely to sit at a booth

4. The skinny people were more likely to use chopsticks

They made some more keen observations, but these were the most striking. Interesting stuff. I think that this has to do with food addiction. I just mean that I know how I am and I am much more like those fat folks.

So- the next time you go to a buffet…. if you can handle that…. act like skinny folks!!

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Time to trim the calories!

on July 27th, 2010 by Rob

In an effort to curb childhood obesity rates…. some of our nations largest food companies have have said that they will trim 1.5 trillion calories out of their products by 2012. (Is there anyone else out there that is suspicious of Kraft and it being owned by Philip-Morris?)

These companies made their announcement through a trade association. Michelle Obama said that “This is precisely the kind of private sector commitment we need”- she is the one that started her own “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign.

Will this really work? Can we trust them?

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Burn more in less time!!!

on July 25th, 2010 by Rob

This post goes right along with a post that I did a few days ago. I was talking about doing more —-faster.

So, here is the deal. Furthering my assertion that you need to “move your ass”- I read an article a few days ago based on a study from Harvard…. (don’t you just love how this lends credibility to virtually anything you say)- anyway- Harvard says that losing weight is a lot more about calories burned than time clocked. (Shocking!!!)

So- they say you will need about 7 hours a week walking at a 20 minute mile pace vs. about 2 hours a week running at a 10 minute pace to burn enough calories to lose weight (formula based on a 140lb woman).

So- as I said a few days ago…. I don’t want to mess around with this for the rest of my life. It is time to move!!! Get it done, get it over with!! MOVE YOUR ASS!!!

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Prostrate Cancer Risks are high!!

on July 24th, 2010 by Rob

Well, I am pretty sure that this is NOT something that I want. I mean, the examination is bad enough—– “Moon River”—– I can only imagine what the treatment is like. I recently went in for an examination and I told my doctor- “I can’t believe that I pay you for that” … He said, “well, I am sure as hell not doing it for free”—- Good point doc!

I do have a point. It is get moving to reduce your risk of prostrate cancer.

I was reading an article today about the risks and how to avoid this deadly disease. Wrap your head around this one…. ONE IN SIX MEN WILL GET IT!!!!!How can this be avoided? Read on!

1. Lose the fat in your diet- eating a lot of this…. expecially from animals (which tells me it is most likly saturated fat)—- eating a lot of this has been linked to a higher risk of prostrate cancer

2. Pack your diet with nutrients- MORE THE BETTER ON FRUITS AND VEGTABLES! Pick the ones with bright colors.

3. BE FIT!!- The American Cancer Society recomends at least 30 minutes a day of exercise… but 45-60 mins per day is really needed to reduce the risk.

Also, men that have what is called meabolic syndrome are more likely to get prostrate cancer… what is that? Well, it is a certain group of risk factors… overweight, fat around your mid-section and  higher blood sugar levels…. basically being un-fit.

So, there ya go…. it is as easy as that! And make sure to get checked regularly… don’t fear the finger!

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