Well, I hit a plateau at about 361 pounds and that lasted a month. I ended up loosening my diet and taking a month off, sort of. I didn’t gain any weight but didn’t lose any either, but it was good for my body to have that time to adjust to the 29 pound I’d lost to get to the weight I was stuck at. My skin shrunk so I don’t have any odd looking areas (except, well, whatever) and I started to feel what it’s like to have a healthy body.

That was then. I’m back at it full bore now for the past week and I have finally dropped below the stubborn 361 to a still way to fat but improving 353. Now I’m at a point where I can actually feel what food does to me and how my body reacts differently to things. It’s pretty frutching cool. I feel good and I am, for the most part, happy.

I know my recent Facebook status updates have been a little dark, but when I started to lose friends I realized that no one wants to hear it, so I figured I’d just have to get over it. I think I’ve rid myself of negativity as well as I could on such short notice, and everything has been a little better since then. But alas fair readers, I might actually be getting back on track with everything now.

Still off smokes, been six months and a few days since my last one and I haven’t cheated at all. Still not spending money on stuff I don’t need. Still broke.

Later.

So when these things happen and I identify them, I usually cut it out of my life, at least for a spell. The main casualty of this will be that I can’t advertise new posts, but there are other ways to find out when I post so we’ll have to rely on them. RSS, Twitter and maybe Google Buzz will have to suffice for now.

BTW, I don’t play any games on Facebook, never have, so don’t think went all WoW on Farmville or anything.

The way this has changed my life is I do more because when you quit something it leaves a gap in your life and it has to be filled. This time its pretty new but I’m finding that I read more, actual books too. Another thing that’s good is I spend more time and more thought on teaching my son. I think this is because I always have less going on. I also don’t run to the computer first thing everyday. I’ll have days where I won’t turn on until evening.

And I really like it. My life feels more valuable now, more woorthy. And maybe self-worth has long been a problem of mine. This project has forced me to look inside my own mind and I don’t always like what I find.

But I also have found things that I take great comfort in. These are far to personal to talk about here, but if you look deep inside yourself I think you’d understand.

Well, with this, I’ll end this broadcast day. Thanks for reading, and forgive any huge errors – I wrote this on my (awesome) phone.

I’ve been working out a lot and still dieting and so far I’ve lost almost 30 pounds! Don’t try this at home folks, unless you started out weighing more than a house like I did (do?).

Yeah man, not buying anything and not spending money is really bad for the bod so I had to break my own rules and buy some exercise stuff. I hope you cats understand. My latest fitness purchase, at a whopping $5 American, was a jump rope. I picked it up today and I was really surprised at how much work it is. I chose this tool in keeping with my boxing routine, and because I’ve read it’s a good sweat and workout. I need something to work lower body and this is the cheapest way to go. Today, just now in fact, I did 5 minutes and it took me 10 minutes to recover. I love it. Other than that, the only other stuff we have are the same two punching bags as seen below. This summer, if I find some dumbells or free weights at a garage sale I’ll pick them up, but other than that, I think I’m done buying gear for the duration of my project. I have some carpet and padding so I am thinking about making a makiwara and maybe a ground-and-pound bag, but that is about it.  September is still a long way off, but the stuff I have is great, still fun and all in good working order.

I’m eating less food, and eating more healthy, so my body is looking better all the time. You can see it in my skin too. But the place I notice the biggest change is in my head — all the negativity that shrouded my every thought before is all but gone, though I still have the wickedly mean sense of humor. My head is clearer and things make a little more sense now. How scary is that? To think that food I ate and lard in my ass caused me to hate life.

Soon I’ll post pics of me in the mirror just like the ones below, same shirt and everything. You’ll be pretty surprised.

Well, anyway, I have to get back to studying — I have a midterm this week — but I’ll leave you with a cute kitten pic.

Her name is Kitty GaGa, and she is the coolest cat I know.

Since I started working out and eating right (and the correct amount of food), I have noticed so many changes I don’t know what to do. I FINALLY managed to kill my soda obsession, started taking a multivitamin, work out most days and now my brain is working faster and better, just like the rest of my body. My reflexes are noticeably quicker and suddenly my days don’t feel like something to get through — now I want to dig in and live. Clothes I could never fit into before slide right on and I have a way easier time getting in and out of our little car. This is all new to me.

I must have felt this way before because in my younger years I was a gym-rat. This may have been before they knew the importance of aerobic workouts, which I think is the core of most of these benefits I’m talking about. But then again, through my 20s I never had a car so I walked everywhere. Oh hell, maybe this is proof that youth is wasted on the young.

So here I sit, old and happy, slimming but still fat and I’m on top of the world. I’ve been off smokes almost 3 months now without a single relapse — not even a puff! This is a HUGE boost to my confidence because quitting tobacco is the hardest thing in the world. The truth is not too many people quit, but I did. So let’s recap here — I have been addicted to and quit 4 of the top 5 most addictive substances on Earth. This tells me two things: 1) I have an abundance of will-power, and 2) I need to stay the fuck away from drugs. My soda addiction was amazingly hard to overcome, and if I can get that hooked on a comfort I have to watch out for everything.

In other news, I am starting to see a flaw in my design of this program. It is becoming apparent that no amount of savings can change the fact that I do not make enough money. This has to change and the sooner the better. I’ll keep you posted fair readers, because I have a couple things I’m considering but no solid plan yet.

Anyway, short post for now, but I have a couple Broke Bites I’ve been sitting on and I got a new cat a long time ago and never introduced her, so look for those posts soon.

Later.

So I may have found a link between poverty and obesity. See, I used to get some exercise by going to McDonald’s and the gas station for soda every day. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, at my peak, which was a couple weeks ago, I weighed in at 392.5 on the freight scale at work. So folks, I am now all about diet and fitness. I am sick of being a lard add. I deserve better.

Here’s me at 392.5:

So now we now have a little dojo in our basement. Me and my wife have a reflex bag and a B.O.B. – a bioform opponent bag. We have gloves and a timer and we each have our own routines. We still workout together, but not all the time.

And I have cut out fat in my diet wherever I can. No more high-calorie beverages. I’ve started to think about food as fuel and have been extremely mindful of why I’m eating what.

Another thing I’ve done is download a couple programs to help me track my progress and make sure I’m doing every thing right.

So far, I’ve lost ten pounds – in two weeks. I’m at 382.5 now and I weigh in every Tuesday.

This app is a freebie, so the feature set isn’t the greatest but it is better than nothing.
And maybe i’ll start posting more than once a month.

Just fuckin’ with ya, I didn’t start smoking again, but what I did do is download a calorie counting app for my phone and started working out with my wife. She was absolutely overjoyed when I started using the reflex bag and she wanted to join in. It isn’t awkward or anything to sit there and punch a bag with her either. We actually enjoy it quite a bit.

And you hear some strange things coming from our basement too, like me telling my wife, “Dear, you should know how to throw a good punch,” or her telling me, “Wow, that was an awesome bitch-slap.”

Anyway, wish me luck in shedding these extra pounds. It sucks and takes too much time.

In other news, I replaced my loaner phone with an HTC Hero. And as many of you might have guessed, I have come to my senses about the iPad, which means I will not be buying one, as I stated previously in a post that was at least half joking. Sure, the Heros Android operating system had something to do with it because it is fantastic, but most was me wondering whether this new Apple device would actually fit my current life. Since I got the new phone (remember, my old smartphone that ran my life died one day out of the blue and I have been using an old one we had laying around) I have been living without the computer for the most part. I would use it to watch movies or for writing or homework, but my net time on the computer was me looking something up for a minute and then I’d go do something in the real world.

And I have loved it. If I get an email, it comes to my phone like a text message. If I need something like an answer or a recipe, the phone has wifi for my house and the rest is covered by the data plan. This phone rules. Most of the apps are free since they have a small banner ad on it at the top or bottom. I haven’t tried a pay app yet, so I don’t if they have ads on them but they shouldn’t.Anyway …

I prefer the way my life works with the computer put away for the entire day. I spend more time with my son, better time too, and my wife gets more of me which she likes for whatever reason, and both those things add to my happiness. As does my victory over tobacco and starting to exercise. So you know what, after all that ugly crap that happened in the early part of the year, what I realized is my life is pretty good, though I don’t have enough time or money, but who needs that when everything else is going right?

Later.

PS: We’re reaching the halfway point folks, so I’m working on a state of the project address style post for you. Be warned.

Fried up some turkey bacon in hamburger grease so it got nice and crispy. Put some in with the pork ’n’ beans and the rest went in the quesadillas with a couple kinds of cheese, grated.

This was an easy meal to make. Very little active cooking time and it comes out pretty tasty.

Holy christ is that thing cool. All I have to say is WANT!!!!

I have to tell you people right now, I am going to buy one of these. Think of it as a gift from President Obama who just raised my grant money for me, or maybe because my iPod broke and I quit smoking or something, but what ever.

The truth is, this, for me, is like Obi Wan’s lightsaber, or Freddy’s glove. Micheal’s mask or Jason’s machete. This’ll allow me to edit drafts of my screenplays in their native file format the same way I do now on paper, but better since I correct as I go.

This is the device I have always dreamed of because I HATE HATE HATE being tethered to a desk for the entire creative process. Anyone who writes knows it can take up all your free time and it sucks being in the same place all the time.

Anyway I know it’d be cheep of me to try and play this off, and I am firm on this, so I just thought I’d let you cats know. I will own one these later this year.