Start of Week 17

Start of Week 17: I started at 261.4 and have lost 51.6 lbs. Not a great week for weight loss. I went with the Mrs. to the Falls for the night. We ate a really great meal and a great time. I completed the rowing. I did 6000 m each day. Not fun. This week I have a guest trainer. Wanda Cook, super athlete, has put together my program this week. Wish me luck. Here is the workout:

Monday: (am) Swim - 1200m as 200 easy warm up, 4x200 at a quick pace that you can sustain for that distance(rest 2 min btw) then 200 easy to warmdown
(pm) strength training

Tuesday: bike for 55 minutes at a moderate pace (in middle increase intensity for 6x1 min. like hill climb. should be standing on spin bike)

Wednesday: Run - as jog 10 minute, 4x400m sprints at track with jog btw each one, then 10 min jog to cool down

Thursday: strength training (or a rest day)

Friday: Swim - 1400 as 200 warm-up, 6x100 sprint(2min rest btw), then 2x200 moderate pace, 200 cool down

Saturday: bike 70 minute at moderate intensity

Sunday: Easy run for 30-40 min.

Observation #69 AC DC

My beautiful wife asked me a really interesting question: What motivates you more: seeing an overweight person or seeing a really fit person? This is an AC DC question. Not in a Bon Scott vs. Brian Johnson way. It is a positive-negative question. Never wanting  to be overweight again is motivation but that is negative motivation. Striving to be as fit as other people in the gym is a positive motivation.

When I first started Operation 180, I wanted to be fit but I was more sick of being out of shape. The state of your mind is important if you are going to be successful in the weight loss game. As I get closer to my goal, the overweight version of myself seems like a different person.  He was fun but he lived without discipline. Due to that disconnect with my former self, seeing overweight people doesn’t motivate me any more. When I see an overweight person now, I don’t pity them. No judgement. Who wants that? I just want to tell them that they can do it to if they really want to. It won’t be easy but they can get there. I don’t want to sound like some bullshit motivation speaker. Doctor Phil is on the phone asshole. I can relate though.

Whether its realistic or not, I feel like I’m doing what healthy people do. I am more motivated by others who are in this camp. Before I started, I didn’t understand skinny people. I was jealous maybe.  I just didn’t believe skinniness was possible. How can someone be skinny in 2011? Don’t these people have jobs? Don’t these people take care of their kids? They must be up to something. F**kin’ voodoo. Some are blessed with good genetics. Lucky SOBs. Others just work hard. It is possible to do it. You just have to figure it out. You just have to want to figure it out.

Observation #68 The Fat Tax

I teach law to teenagers. Well, I try. One of the early concepts studied in the course is natural law vs. positive law. A natural law philosopher believes that law comes from nature. If there were no laws we would be ok because people know right from wrong. The Jimminy Cricket would warn us if we were not acting in accordance with the law of nature. Some natural law believers take more of divine approach. God or some version of, provides us with the rules to live by. Positive law theorists believe that law dictates our behaviour. The reason why we don’t kill people is because it is against the law not because it is wrong. This is a simplification of course. We need laws to shape our decisions. We need to legislate morality because too much is left to chance with natural law. I always ask my class, “If there was no law against murder, would you kill someone?” Scary answers sometimes.

Can we legislate people to live a healthier lifestyle? In Denmark, they just passed a “fat tax”. They have placed a charge on any food that contains more than 2.3% saturated fat. We, in North America, of course have already tried to use a positive law approach to healthiness. We heavily tax cigarettes and alcohol. They are called sin taxes. Some argue that the healthcare costs incurred by people who are obese or smokers or alcoholics or all of the above need to be balanced with collecting more revenue. Some people see this as an additional burden on the poor. Do poor people eat worse than richer people? They probably work longer hours for less, making fast and fatty foods a more convenient option. Additionally, there is that cycle of poverty that has contributed to poor nutritional education and genetic pre-dispositions.

I’m not sure legislating healthiness is the best approach. You can’t ban butter. Imagine knocking on the door of a speakeasy, “I need two pounds, man.” Maybe if you adjusted people’s income tax based on their weight, maybe people would be more motivated to live a healthier lifestyle. Weight can be an abitrary number sometimes too. Maybe a positive law approach isn’t the way. It’s too bad natural law doesn’t take care of this. It should.

Start of Week 15

Start of Week 15: I started at 261.4 and have lost 46.8 lbs. This was the roughest week yet. We went to a water park in Erie, Pa. I did not eat well. I am not down much but I'm happy to be down at all. I want to get to the 50 lbs lost mark by the end of the week. I am really going to push. 

Observation #67 Too Fat to be President

Chris Christie. First off what parent does that to their child. Denis St. Denis. Joey Joseph. There are too many Mike Hunts in this world. This is not the point. Chris Christie is the governor of New Jersey. He is a Republican. People are saying he may be the only Republican who has a chance to challenge President Obama in the upcoming presidential election in the United States. Christie has said that it isn’t his time. The media has turned his potential candidacy into a singular issue: his weight.

September 26th 1960. The day that changed politics forever. John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon participated in the first televised leadership debate. Before this, it was a man’s message that mattered. After this it was a man’s haircut. The relationship that Joe Public had with their politicians was through their radios and the newspapers. Before the debate, most Americans didn’t even know what their president looked like. The television brought appearance into the mix. The presidential archetype was set forever. Image is everything. Style over substance.

Why can’t a fat guy be president? Shouldn’t a man’s philosophy and policy ideas be the way a politician should be judged? Shouldn’t we be assessing pork barrelling instead of pork rinds? Listen I don’t want to be fat but I don’t think its right to judge a man’s ability to govern based on his waist band. I really don’t buy the whole he may die in office because of his health. There are a lot of skinny dudes who pass away too early. I don’t know Chris Christie, in fact, I’m not familar with his politics. I do know that he would rather be fitter. I just hope he gets there on his own and is not forced by some talking head at Fox News.

Observation #66 A Mantra

I’ve been reading a little about mindfulness. When I am working out I try to clear out and just be present. One of things that I’ve been trying is counting to five when I reach that point in a workout when I want to quit. It gets me in a rhythm and before I know it I am through the rough patch.

Unfortunately Operation 180 is not just about working out. It would be so much easier. The weight loss game is mostly mental. Sure, you physically pick up that cupcake and ram it in your face but you have the power to stop it. It’s like that Seinfeld episode where the brain plays the penis in the chess match except it’s the brain vs. the rolls. I have created a mantra that seems to be working. When I am questioning continuing, when someone puts a plate of chicken wings in front me and says like the snake in the Garden of Eden, “Just have one. They will go to waste.” I try to start a sentence with these words “This is the last time...” It has proven to be very powerful. I do it in my head of course. No one wants to hear that douchebag.

This is last time I will ever be this heavy. This is the last time these pants are going to cut off my circulation. This is the last time someone will say “Mam, can you put your top back on?” This is the last time I will worry about getting the sugar. This is the last time I will wear an XL T-shirt. This is the last time I will run into someone from high school and lament my thinner days. This is the last time I will have to think about my weight. Everyday is the last day. Cross that shit off the list.

A mantra is a powerful thing.