I made it to the dreaded gym finally. I've been a member at the YMCA in Niles, MI since the end of May and I went once in June to a different location and that was it. Since starting tracking my calorie intake on myfitnesspal.com I lost another 4 pounds and my weight yesterday morning was 251.0 pounds. Even though I'm happy with the progress, I feel stir-crazy about sitting around the house and computer and I want to get out and do active things. I love to swim but still haven't used the pool.
Today I procrastinated a little too long to use the pool at the right time before work, but I had time for 20-25 minutes on the recumbant bike. I've been preparing for the gym by buying things that I think I need to use the gym. This makes it a financial commitment and it gives me less excuses not to go. The purchase I'm happiest about is the gym bag because we went shopping for a gym bag and a carry-on bag the other night and ended up finding a three-peice set that included both that was well under budget for what we planned to spend. At $32 for the set, that's less than my wife would have to pay to the airline if she doesn't stick to carry-on luggage.
My Gym Bag Contents:
Almost Prescription Goggles - These things are orderable on the internet for a low price and are great for finding ones towel, shoes, or family and friends on a crowded beach when without them everything is a fuzzy blob.
Tiny Radio - This thing is supposed to allow me to hear what's on the TV at the gym. This is ideal for the poor college student who might want an Ipod but doesn't want it so bad that over $200 seems like a must-have item.
Ear Plugs - There were two types at the sporting goods store for swimming. At $3 and $4 respectively, I decided it would be cheaper to buy both than to spend money on gas to come back if I wanted the other kind.
Swim Trunks - I'm not at the competitive level nor do I have the body of Michael Phelps. Modesty is in order here. At the same time I don't want to be in the water with board shorts and while I wouldn't mind wearing them outside of the water or in a jam, I'll stick to the more traditional size of swim trunks if I can. When I found some for around $10 each that fit well I grabbed two different colors. They also seem to work fine for working out when I'm not in the pool, at least for now.
Shower Gel - I guess I didn't need this since the Y provides soap and towels, but hey, it's marketed as being good to use as shampoo also.
Deodorant - Between my deodorant and my shower gel, I left the gym smelling much better than when I got to the gym.
Padlock - Since I don't want to walk home in wet swim trunks with no wallet and no truck, I've selected a $3 steel lock that was imported from China and was conveniently available at the Dollar General store near the gym.
My experience was pretty good today. After getting to the parking lot of the gym and realizing I could use a little something under my arms and I should also get a padlock, I left for my last three gym bag purchases. I looked at the time after the purchases and realized it was really cutting into my potential workout time, but I wasn't going to use that as an excuse to not go. I went in and changed and sat down and started pedaling on the bike. I entered my desired workout information and then kept pedaling while I tried to adjust my radio to the frequency provided to hear the televisions. This didn't go so well. I could barely hear one of the stations and there was a lot of buzzing. I left it there and then put my hands on the heart-rate sensors on the side of the bike. After about five or six minutes I decided to try to get a better station, whether it was for a gym television or just the radio. The bike started displaying that it had lost my heart-rate, but being confident that I still had a heart-rate I kept trying to find a station and kept pedaling. When I did put my hands back on the sensors, nothing happened. The resistance had stopped and the screen was frozen in the screen telling me that it couldn't read my heart-rate. It wouldn't tell me anything else and my miles and calories burned and time were all gone. I had to reset the program and just opted for a manual program instead of a target heart-rate. I rode for another 15-minutes on the manual program and burned another 149 calories. When I saw that I only had five seconds left I tried to pedal faster to get to 150, but sure enough my unfriendly bike happily stopped at 149 and gave me my stats exactly when it had been told to end my workout. I'm claiming 200 calories for my first workout this month under the circumstances.
Afterward, it felt so good to use a shower that doesn't spray rust all over me. I like the setup because there is a curtain for the dressing area and another curtain for the shower. I could almost just go to the gym once in awhile to take a shower sans rust. On a side note I realized that most of the shower stalls we taller and I had probably used one that was made for kids :)
I also wanted to share the website that I'm using for tracking fitness and calories and I know quite a few other people who are using it. I actually learned about www.myfitnesspal.com because of conversations resulting from blogging! It's free to use and is ad supported but the ads don't seem annoying or pervasive.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Being Overweight in the Adventist Church
My own experience of overweight and a member of the Adventist church hasn't been negative and only since coming to Andrews University have I begun to think about the social aspects of being overweight in my church. For those outside of my faith group, health reform is a fundamental belief of my church in which healthy lifestyle choices including diet and exercise are strongly encouraged. In particular four instances have led me to reflect on the matter:
A family member who has always had weight issues recently disclosed to me that she rarely goes to church in part because she feels like any time the topic of health comes up people tend to look at her and hurt her feelings by treating her as if she's the only one who needs to work on her health because she's obese.
A coworker who is a pastor told me that since working in our ministry and traveling a lot he's found it hard to stay on top of his health. One weekend after preaching at a local church, one of the members came and told him he couldn't even listen to the sermon because he was so shocked that an Adventist pastor could be overweight.
In our small groups we were talking about judging others and somebody in the group disclosed that he was guilty of judging people who were overweight.
A few days ago I came across a link on twitter that referred to a blog with quotes from the Bible about behavior and statements from Ellen White about the importance of Adventist ministers to adhere to health reform. The implication of the post was clearly taking a stand against employing pastors who were obviously not living in line with health reform (i.e. overweight). Sadly I've lost the link to the blog and would post it if I found it. My own nature would lead me to look at the context of all of the quotes to see if they were in line with the intent of the authors and I haven't had a chance to do that. My gut feeling on at least the Bible texts was that proof texting was being used and the quotes from Ellen White provided good food for thought.
By weight and height I fall into the obese category and I have only these four recent points of reference to reflect on the matter. I hope the experiences of people who struggle with weight within our church is that they predominately encounter loving followers of Christ who support them regardless of their clearly visible challenges.
I also believe that our church is blessed with a wonderful health message that has the potential to allow us to drastically reduce many of the diseases and ailments which plague western society because there is a cause and effect relationship between what we eat as a society and the diseases that are common in the United States and Europe. I want to make choices that will lead me out of obesity not for the sake of physical appearances but that my quality of life would be better when I'm older.
And while some may correctly or incorrectly associate adherence to health principles as a requirement for ministry, it certainly is not a test of membership in our church. While I am actively seeking to make health changes in my own life that is a challenging and deeply personal decision that may include underlying issues for others in our church that we can't even begin to comprehend. I hope to be an encouragement to people who are overweight regardless of success in making changes. I also hope the name of my blog doesn't offend anyone as I seek to explore issues related to being overweight and the health message of Adventism.
A family member who has always had weight issues recently disclosed to me that she rarely goes to church in part because she feels like any time the topic of health comes up people tend to look at her and hurt her feelings by treating her as if she's the only one who needs to work on her health because she's obese.
A coworker who is a pastor told me that since working in our ministry and traveling a lot he's found it hard to stay on top of his health. One weekend after preaching at a local church, one of the members came and told him he couldn't even listen to the sermon because he was so shocked that an Adventist pastor could be overweight.
In our small groups we were talking about judging others and somebody in the group disclosed that he was guilty of judging people who were overweight.
A few days ago I came across a link on twitter that referred to a blog with quotes from the Bible about behavior and statements from Ellen White about the importance of Adventist ministers to adhere to health reform. The implication of the post was clearly taking a stand against employing pastors who were obviously not living in line with health reform (i.e. overweight). Sadly I've lost the link to the blog and would post it if I found it. My own nature would lead me to look at the context of all of the quotes to see if they were in line with the intent of the authors and I haven't had a chance to do that. My gut feeling on at least the Bible texts was that proof texting was being used and the quotes from Ellen White provided good food for thought.
By weight and height I fall into the obese category and I have only these four recent points of reference to reflect on the matter. I hope the experiences of people who struggle with weight within our church is that they predominately encounter loving followers of Christ who support them regardless of their clearly visible challenges.
I also believe that our church is blessed with a wonderful health message that has the potential to allow us to drastically reduce many of the diseases and ailments which plague western society because there is a cause and effect relationship between what we eat as a society and the diseases that are common in the United States and Europe. I want to make choices that will lead me out of obesity not for the sake of physical appearances but that my quality of life would be better when I'm older.
And while some may correctly or incorrectly associate adherence to health principles as a requirement for ministry, it certainly is not a test of membership in our church. While I am actively seeking to make health changes in my own life that is a challenging and deeply personal decision that may include underlying issues for others in our church that we can't even begin to comprehend. I hope to be an encouragement to people who are overweight regardless of success in making changes. I also hope the name of my blog doesn't offend anyone as I seek to explore issues related to being overweight and the health message of Adventism.
Weight Loss Program for US Veterans / Free Info for Anyone
The VA healthcare system has a program for veterans called MOVE. They offer support groups, information, weigh-ins and nutrition counseling. It seems like it would be a great program to be more involved in but I'm having trouble fitting it into my schedule. They have a home program but an analog telephone line is required to plug into a scale and a Magic Jack won't work. The good news is they are working on upgrading to an option that can work with wi-fi networks and I should be able to participate in that once our national evangelistic campaign is over in November. Veterans who are enrolled in the VA healthcare system can participate in MOVE without a copay and may even qualify for mileage reimbursement if they meet low income requirements. VA healthcare can also arrange appointments with a dietitian on an occasional basis even if the veteran is unable to participate actively in the MOVE program.
The MOVE program offers a small survey that can be completed by anyone with internet access regardless of veteran status that will refer to information pamphlets that are also available for free on the internet.
MOVE Homepage
http://www.move.va.gov/default.asp
The MOVE program offers a small survey that can be completed by anyone with internet access regardless of veteran status that will refer to information pamphlets that are also available for free on the internet.
MOVE Homepage
http://www.move.va.gov/default.asp
Fruit and Vegetable Challenge Moved to Dedicated Blog
My challenge will be updated on a dedicated blog at http://morefruitsandveggies.blogspot.com/ This will allow me to explore some other ideas on this blog.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Fruit/Veg Challenge Week 1 Goals
Week 1 begins Sunday, July 3rd. Goals may be completed in any order and don't give up if you miss one. The ultimate goal is to make healthier eating choices by making a habit of intentionally including fruits and vegetables in your diet. If you're already doing this, why not increase your variety? Dietitians recommend selecting a wide variety of colors in your fruits and vegetables to benefit from different nutrients.
Weekly goals:
1a. Buy and eat local produce. Visit a farmers market or a fruit stand.
1b. a red fruit/veg
1c. a fruit or vegetable that has pointy things on it
1d. a melon
1e. a fruit/veg you haven't had in at least a month
1f. a creative salad
1g. share a pie with a friend
Weekly goals:
1a. Buy and eat local produce. Visit a farmers market or a fruit stand.
1b. a red fruit/veg
1c. a fruit or vegetable that has pointy things on it
1d. a melon
1e. a fruit/veg you haven't had in at least a month
1f. a creative salad
1g. share a pie with a friend
62-Day Fruit and Veg Challenge Kickoff Days
So in addition to having a different fruit or vegetable each day for the next two months, weekly goals could help move things along and keep it fun. But the challenge begins on a Friday, which is a horrible day to begin a week. With a deep-seeded conviction that a week should begin on Sunday, I hereby proclaim that Friday 7/1 and Saturday 7/2 shall be kickoff days with week 1 to begin on Sunday, July 3rd.
Fri 7/1: Start out right with fruit in your breakfast.
Sat 7/2: Share a vegetable dish with somebody else.
Fri 7/1: Start out right with fruit in your breakfast.
Sat 7/2: Share a vegetable dish with somebody else.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
62-day Fruit and Vegetable Challenge Preview: Fruit - Pluot*
My wife and I decided to check out the supermarket in Niles, MI the other day to see what we might find for the fruit and vegetable challenge. One thing that caught our eye were some pluots. They had the skin coloration of a Washington apple with greens and reds mixed in and they had the texture of a plum. She mentioned that her mom likes these and has been wanting to purchase a tree so she can grow them. I'd never heard of them and they looked like they'd be fun to eat.
As we drove home to Berrien Springs, she demanded that I hand her a pluot. I argued, "But if we eat them now I can't use them for my fruit and vegetable challenge at the start of the month." She responded that they were already quite soft. Logic and curiosity got the best of me and soon we were biting in to our juicy pluots.
The inside also had the texture of a plum and the coloration was deep purplish red. It mostly had the feel and taste of eating a plum and what stood out was the intense sweetness on the outside and the sourness close to the pit. Soon I was finding myself out of dry places to hold onto the pluot so I shoved what was left of it into my mouth and chewed around the pit. The sourness was strong but in a way that reminded me of the sour straw candies we used to eat as teenagers which are now making a comeback. I whittled down the fruit until there was nothing left then rolled down the window and spit the seed out once we were past the Sheriff's office on Old 31. I'm pretty sure it's legal to spit biodegradable pits out the car window but I wasn't eager to have that conversation with the local law enforcement. Once we got home I went to research the fruit to find out what it was.
A pluot is a trademarked hybrid between a plum and an apricot. They have a few different varieties and the ones we had this week are the Dapple Dandy variety, which come early in the season and are harvested in June. Other varieties will be harvested through September so we might get to try some more later this summer.
*Pluots are the registered trademark of Zaiger Genetics of Modesto, CA. I have no financial relationship with any company that sells these other than being a consumer who found the fruit interesting enough to buy, but since I'm talking about their trademarked fruit I'll acknowledge that I'm using a trademarked name.
As we drove home to Berrien Springs, she demanded that I hand her a pluot. I argued, "But if we eat them now I can't use them for my fruit and vegetable challenge at the start of the month." She responded that they were already quite soft. Logic and curiosity got the best of me and soon we were biting in to our juicy pluots.
The inside also had the texture of a plum and the coloration was deep purplish red. It mostly had the feel and taste of eating a plum and what stood out was the intense sweetness on the outside and the sourness close to the pit. Soon I was finding myself out of dry places to hold onto the pluot so I shoved what was left of it into my mouth and chewed around the pit. The sourness was strong but in a way that reminded me of the sour straw candies we used to eat as teenagers which are now making a comeback. I whittled down the fruit until there was nothing left then rolled down the window and spit the seed out once we were past the Sheriff's office on Old 31. I'm pretty sure it's legal to spit biodegradable pits out the car window but I wasn't eager to have that conversation with the local law enforcement. Once we got home I went to research the fruit to find out what it was.
A pluot is a trademarked hybrid between a plum and an apricot. They have a few different varieties and the ones we had this week are the Dapple Dandy variety, which come early in the season and are harvested in June. Other varieties will be harvested through September so we might get to try some more later this summer.
*Pluots are the registered trademark of Zaiger Genetics of Modesto, CA. I have no financial relationship with any company that sells these other than being a consumer who found the fruit interesting enough to buy, but since I'm talking about their trademarked fruit I'll acknowledge that I'm using a trademarked name.
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