Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Me, Math Teacher? Part 1

When I was in 7th grade, I was not a very good student. I remember going in the day after school got out to clean the crap out of the rabbit cage in my science teacher's class to earn a few points extra credit, just so I could bump my grade up to a D. I even got a B- in my one quarter of Wood Shop, and I think that was only because the teacher was the football coach and he wanted to make sure I was academically eligible the next year.

The following fall I tagged along with my brother Chris when he went to his zero period Leadership class. He always got a ride to school, and I was too lazy to walk. The Leadership teacher let me sit in the back of the room and "do nothing" while the students in class were planning to solve all of the school's problems. Every now and again she would come back and ask me some questions about my classes, friends and the like. She probed me as to why I chose to perform poorly in my classes, and made it clear that she was not judging me, but just curious.

After a few weeks, she asked me to try something in one of my classes. She said, when the teacher asks the class to grab a textbook from the front of the class, turn to a certain page, read the section and answer the questions, that she wanted me to be the first to grab the book and at least "look-like" I was working hard. She did not ask me to complete the assignment, just look-like I was completing the assignment. Then she wanted me to "nonchalantly observe" how the other students in the class responded. She had brought me a doughnut on this very day, so I felt like I owed her one.

I followed her instructions and observed. The students that usually goofed off with me during "work-time" each grabbed a book and started working. Students who would normally work, then talk, then work and talk. The "ebb and flow" students if you will, did not take a break from the work for their normal repartee. Could I have been the person to pull so many others "off task?" No way!

When I reported my observations the next day, and declared my innocence to the influence over others, the teacher agreed. I had nothing to do with the change in the class. But just to make sure, she asked that try it again in another class. Then again in another and another. Each time the classroom behavior changed when my actions changed. Each time I would come back and report my observations. Eventually we had a conversation about me as a leader. She said, "You are a natural leader. Students will follow your example. You can use this gift for good, or...(ominous silence) It's your choice."

With this teacher's help and guidance, I went from a student who barely passed 7th grade, to an 8th grader with a 3.88 GPA and was elected as ASB President. I knew then that I wanted to be a teacher! Thank you to Heather Sinclair for being that teacher!


(Me, Math Teacher? Part 2 Coming soon. Oh, and I will eventually tie this back into my weight-loss. Stick with me.)

2 month weigh-in: Down 7 more pounds in the last two weeks. Total of 39 pounds. Man I wanted to get to 40!

Thanks for your support!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Social Support

Excerpt from a previously mentioned book lent to me by a good friend.

"Include family and friends in your plan...not with the purpose of recruiting them to this way of eating, but so they will help you and understand why you are eating this way. If they are truly your friends, they will support you in your desire to improve your health...Maybe they will even join you...on your road back to superior health."

The book emphasizes having at least one friend involved with your plan. I am lucky to have so many people involved in my plan. I feel like I have an army of people helping me fight my food addiction and poor exercise habits. Each of you that have sponsored this process, offered to help me exercise, offered cooking lessons, encouraged me in person, sent inspiring emails, texts and phone calls have empowered me to be confident.

That is the difference this time. In the past, I have hoped to lose weight. I have longed to be healthy. I have dreamed of feeling food about my choices. Now, with all of your support, I know I can.

Friday, January 27, 2012

PTSA Greatness

For those of you who are not in the field of education, or work in a school where your PTSA is not as fabulous as the crew here at Leota Jr High, you are missing out on some Greatness. Yes, I capitalized Greatness. I did so because it is a title, and therefore allowed. I gave the title of Greatness to the PTSA lunches that are provided to our school's staff once a month as a gesture of appreciation for the work we do for their children.

I have worked at three different schools and each one has had PTSA lunches on some level. One school had PTSA soup/chowder day every 6 weeks, or so. Another school had a big, almost banquet style, lunch once a trimester. Here at Leota we have a once a month, themed luncheon. The themes change each month and vary in cuisine to match the theme. This month we celebrated the Chinese New Year, and had a variety of rices, egg rolls, noodles, chicken dishes, vegetables and salads. The luncheons are catered with real plates, glasses and cloth napkins. Not common in a school lunchroom.

30-40 parents are involved in making the food, serving the staff, cleaning the dishes and tables, and organizing give-away prizes to the staff. Staff around the district know of our luncheons. If a district committee schedules a meeting on a luncheon day, and a Leota staff member is on that committee, then the meeting is held at Leota because staff from other schools are clamoring to attend our luncheons.

One such Greatness was yesterday. The staff lunchroom that usually has 8-12 staff members eating in it during a normal day was packed with 20-24 staff members. As staff piled the delicious food on their plates, and commented on the tremendous feast, I summoned my inner-strength. I had planned my meals for the day and had my packed lunch in hand. I sat and cut my pear and apple into slices. I opened my Greek yogurt, and poured some trail mix into it and stirred. I did have a glass of green tea that had been steeping awaiting the staff. I stuck with my plan, and I felt good about my choices.

This is a life change, and I know that I will not give up the PTSA lunches for the remainder of my career, but I am still early in this change. I need to show myself that I can make the tough choices, and that will give me confidence that I can continue this life change after the 6 months, plus a year.

When this change is complete, and I am at a healthy weight, life-style and feeling good, that will also be Greatness.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Athletes: The Good Kind

How many times have you heard someone say that they were sick of reading about professional athletes who got arrested, failed a drug test, or cheated on their wife. They will swear up and down that these ridiculous people don't deserve the millions that they are being paid. "We have people starving in this country and these idiots have millions?!"

I know most of you have heard it before, or even said it yourself. I know this because I have said it, and usually in conversation with my friends. Yet we still tune in to watch the games, we still buy tickets to watch in person and we still buy the team's gear for which we cheer. All of this gives money to the players we vilify.

That is one of the reasons I like Tebow. Sure it is easy to poke fun at him when he bows for each score. It's easy to mock his throwing style, as he has none. We can regurgitate every downfall we heard the talking heads on ESPN say about him, and we can post disparaging articles of his Quarterback skills on Facebook. But you know what you can't do? Doubt that he is a good person.

You can doubt that he is a virgin. You can doubt his QB skills. But you can't doubt that he is a good person. Sports writers for the past several months have been looking for stories on Tebow that will standout, and each time they write about his good deeds. He flies in a person or family that has recently suffered a tragedy for each game, and pays for their flight, hotel, rental car and tickets to the game. When he is with them before and after the game he does not want to talk about football, he wants to talk about them. When the team wins, he praises his defensive and offensive teammates. When the team loses, he takes ownership of his shortcomings. I won't even get into his charity work. This athlete is a good person, and that is refreshing.

I have another one for you. And this one has directly impacted my life, and the journey I am currently pursuing.

Growing up in Snohomish, this guy quickly became known throughout the state as a fireball pitcher. He was born with the gifts of a 96 mph fastball and a curveball that looks like it is falling off a table. He was selected 11th overall in the 1996 MLB draft and signed out of high school with the Philidelphia Phillies. During his MLB pitching career, this local hero pitched for several Major League Baseball teams including the Padres, Rangers and Phillies. Although his career was hindered with injuries, he was able to pitch for 10 years in the Big Leagues, and remain positive throughout the ups and downs.

I am blessed and honored to call Adam Eaton a friend. I was lucky enough to have met and lived with one of his high school best friends, and his cousin while attending Linfield College. Adam came down to visit a couple of times, and each time he would stop at the grocery store, and fill the bed of his truck with breads, meats, fruits, vegetables, paper towels, toilet paper and whatever else he thought we could possibly need as college students. He asked for no money in return, and when we offered he would only chuckle and say, "I am getting paid to play the game I love. You guys are working your butts off in college. You deserve to have someone spoil you a little."

Over the years I have heard stories from my two roommates about Adam giving up his time and money for charity golf tournaments, charity poker games and signing an endless supply of baseballs for young fans. He has not forgotten his roots either. He has moved back to Washington to be closer to his family after living in San Diego. His playing days are over, but his kindness has not even begun to diminish.

Last Spring when he heard I was organizing a charity wine event called Wine vs Cancer, he quickly donated half a case of Quilceda Creek to the event. If you don't know Quilceda Creek, look it up. WOW! Then he attended the event and purchased several of our auction lots. His contributions were one-third of the day's total. And it does not stop there.

When Adam heard about my life-changing request for help, he initially held back, knowing that I would get enough people to sponsor my weight loss, and be motivated to do well. He waited until he could speak to me in person, and his words were genuine and heartfelt.

"What you are doing is great. The cause for cancer is great. The thing that is more important to me, is you. Your longevity is more important than the money you raise by losing weight. Being healthy, and living longer is worth more than anything I could donate to your weight loss." A lump started to form in my throat...

"So I propose this, to make sure that this life-change is not done after the 6 months, after your final weigh-in, and all the money is raised, if you can keep the weight off, or lose more for a full year, I will match everything you raised next year."

I asked him if he realized how much money that could be, "When all is said and done, it could be around $15,000 to $20,000."

"Yes, I know. It's worth it to make sure you are with us for the long-haul. Actually, how about this? If you keep it off, I'll match. If you lose more, we can set up more incentives after your final weigh-in and I will give more, if you lose more."

The caring and generosity does not end with this guy. I can't say no to this, so I agreed, said thank you, and got a nervous knot in my stomach.

One could say that Adam Eaton is just helping out a friend, but I know that Adam has done this kind of generous act before, and not for friends and family. It was for people in need of help beyond their means. Just like Tebow, you can't doubt that he is a good person.

Not that I needed any more motivation to continue my healthy choices, the 120 of you that are supporting my weight loss have already done that, but I just received a boost and refocus on what I am eating and doing for exercise. I appreciate the support from each and everyone of you.

Now I need to do my part by staying healthy, exercising, losing weight and reaching that good person's goal for me! And that will be refreshing.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

JoePa

JoePa did not deserve the way he has been treated in the media. I remember being asked when I was a junior in high school, "If you were a blue chip recruit, where you would want to play in college?" Of course I grew up a Husky, but even across the country, I knew JoePa was special and I would have wanted to play for him.

His philosophy of making his players better men is shared at Linfield and ultimately why I chose to go there. On my recruiting trip they showed me several articles where they were referred to as the Penn State of small college football. What a huge compliment!

JoePa reported what he knew to those that investigate campus crimes. He did what he thought was right, just like he always did. None us know what we would have done in that situation, because we have not been there.

JoePa changed so many lives for the better. That's what he will be remembered for by those who matter.

Rest In Peace JoePa

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Limited Life

4 days I have been trapped in a "Winter Wonderland" of boredom. I have gone for walks. I have played games on my phone. And I have watched DVDs that I have already seen countless times.

Now I would like the snow to go away so I can go to work, teach, be more active all day and have human contact.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

6 weeks of Wow

Again I sit in my house and type a blog post on my phone. One letter at a time, frustrating myself with every accidental letter that my sausage-like fingers hit. Although, I must say that I have noticed a slight decline in their circumference similar to that of my waste line. But it is still frustrating that I can't call each of you to discuss my progress, hear how your life unfolded this week and share in each other's subtleties in more detail.

I am here, mid-January, 6 weeks into what I know to be a permanent life change, and I feel stupid for not having made this change earlier. The mission of change seemed so grandiose, so much like an Everest, that I thought I was not capable, or worthy of such a change. I have fought through the inescapable fear only by having the strength of others. I needed people to believe in me before I could believe in myself.

Now that I have a glimpse of what this change can be, I am humbled by its simplicity. I am honored by the knowledge gained by reading, discussing and living what has been known to be true. Eat less, exercise more. It works!

Of course there are minor tweaks, but the essence stays the same. I am reading "Eat to Live" by Dr. Fuhrman, a book given to me by a good friend. And although his writing style drives me up a wall, he makes a very compelling scientific argument that we should all be Vegan. Now I don't see myself giving up meat completely, but I am asking myself questions before I eat certain foods. Could I get my protein in a healthier way right now? Do I have enough fruits and vegetables to eat with all of meals this week? Why don't I eat more beans? Read the book. You may not buy into it completely (I haven't), but you will find his chapters on the myths of what healthy foods are, like chicken, olive oil, whole grain pasta, wheat bread and milk very interesting.

I continue to use myfitnesspal with confidence. I am more active, although I definitely need to step this part of my life up. And after today's weigh in, down 8 more pounds, I am 32 total pounds closer to where I would like to be...

Wow. Who said that? I did.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Shopping in the Mall of Despair

Every overweight person has them. Some more than others, but if you look, every closet has clothes that are too small to wear. They are often referred to as "Goal Clothes." You will hear shoppers say, "Well it doesn't fit now, but once I lose the Holiday Weight it will. I'll get it!" But there it sits in the back of the closet for months, until you add next year's Holiday Weight and now you are even further from that "Goal Outfit."

I have only one shirt I have ever purchased with a goal of wearing after I lost weight. It was about 7 years ago when I had already lost about 50 pounds in the summer, and was expecting to keep the weight loss going. I felt like another 20 pounds, and I can wear that shirt. About 3 weeks later I herniated three discs in my lumbar and was hindered in my exercise for 6 months. I was angry, and ate my comfort food. If you have never ate and ate out of anger, then good for you. It is a disgusting sight.

I put the 50 pounds back on, and more. Since then I have had physical set backs, mental set backs and ended up not caring, in an eating cycle of despair. Never mind "Goal Clothes," I was not fitting into my big clothes. So I bought bigger. Then I got bigger, so I bought bigger. Soon I had more than a closet full of clothes that no longer fit. After the tree fell on my house last year, I consolidated my big-but-too-small-clothes at my Mom's house. Three laundry baskets full of stuff that could no longer stretch its seams around me.

This week, I went shopping in my Mall of Despair. After my recent weight loss my jeans are too big, and I need some of my old pairs. So I went and picked up my three baskets. The jeans in these baskets have not fit for 2 years. Now they are comfy.

Thank you Mall of Despair! You are now the Mall of Hope!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sledding, Tobogganing, Bobsledding, Luge


How do you quantify the exercise you get when you spend the morning pulling kids up a sledding hill after they wipe out and get a fat-lip? (Zoom in on the picture. Seamus had some awesome wipe outs!)

Myfitnesspal can put numbers on it apparently. I have not been adding my exercise calories burned into the system because you are allowed to eat those calories back and still be on pace to lose 2 pounds a week. I want my exercise to be extra weight loss, so I don't want to eat those calories back. But I was curious about what they calculate sledding to be in terms of calories burned.

I typed in sledding and "Sledding, Tobogganing, Bobsledding, Luge" came up as the title of an exercise in the system. Then you must enter how many minutes you were performing this exercise. How do you quantify that? We were on the slopes for 2 and a half hours, but I was not active the entire time. Do they know that?

At first I tried 150 minutes, but when 2857 calories burned popped up, I knew that was not right. So I tried 60 minutes, 1143 calories. Still no. If the 36 minutes of P90 is only 700 calories, then I don't think I burned over a thousand. I figured with the time spent encouraging Seamus to go down the big hill, consoling him after his massive wipe outs, and holding his sister Finnegan while their Mom took a trip or two down the mountain, I probably only spent 25 minutes pulling Seamus around on the sled for a total of 476 calories burned.

Whatever, I still stayed under my calorie count without adding that into myfitnesspal.

Like my Purple Camo Pants?

Friday, January 6, 2012

Pears! Who knew?

Apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries and sometimes cherries. Those were the fruits I remember eating while growing up. Apples and bananas were a staple. Grapes and strawberries were seasonal, and cherries were like one month a year. Fruits were never my first choice for a snack. I would eat them if the chips and cookies were all gone. Not begrudgingly, but not eagerly either.

Pears at my house were only purchased in the can, and eaten when we had cottage cheese with dinner. Like, a lot kids I was not a big fan of cottage cheese. So I did not eat a lot of pears growing up, and never a fresh pear. They looked funny. They bruised easily. And the texture made it feel like it had fallen in dirt right before I took a bite.

I have discovered the pleasure of eating a ripe pear now that I am eating many more fruits and vegetables. They are juicy, and have a taste that is not too sweet, but definitely not bland. They are easy to cut, or bite into, and make a great side dish to almost any meal. This left me wondering, "What else have I been missing in pears?"

A quick search of the Inter-webs tells me that they are ridiculously great for my health. One pear has 24% of my daily requirement of fiber. Hello colon health! It also has 11.5% of my daily Vitamin C, goodbye sickness. And it has copper. Who knew fruits had copper? And who knew a little copper was good for you? (Don't eat a penny! That's not what I am talking about.) The copper in a pear helps protect your body from free radicals. That is radical man!

I recommend eating more pears, but make sure you wash them. They do typically grow where they use pesticides.

Pears, a lot of health packed into 103 calories!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Making a Difference With Each Pound

Should I go for a walk today? Should I avoid the snacks in the copy room? Should I plan out my food for the day, or week?

The answer to all of these is YES!

Yes because these choices are making a difference. They are changing lives. Not only my life, but countless others. I know that most, if not all of you, signed on to pledge my weight loss because you want me to be healthy. You wanted to help push me, motivate me, and see me through a life change that will make me a better family member, friend, person. I love you for that, but also because you are changing the lives of many others.

The dollars that you pledged are going to a great cause. The American Cancer Society and Relay For Life are on a mission. A mission to find a cure for cancer, and to make the lives of people battling cancer better. Patient support is sometimes overlooked, but not at ACS. They want cancer patients to know that they are fighting to find a cure, but also have not forgotten about those going through Chemo and Radiation treatments right now.

Your donations will help ACS with programs such as Hope Lodge. When cancer patients have to travel for treatment, the ACS helps with that burden by finding and paying for their lodging. Another program is Road to Recovery. Some patients cannot drive themselves to treatment because of fatigue, or the drugs they are taking, so ACS arranges rides. Look Good...Feel Good is a program designed to teach women how to cope with skin changes and hair loss due to treatment with cosmetics and wigs. The ACS also has scholarships for patients who have battled cancer, and whose medical bills may hinder paying for school.

To read more about these programs visit this page:
http://www.relayforlife.org/learn/WhyWeFundraise/index?cons_id=9921451

To read about where the money goes visit this page:
http://www.cancer.org/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/FinancialInformation/financial-information-landing?ssSourceSiteId=RelayForLife

And if you would like to volunteer your time to help with the Northshore Relay For Life, or another Relay in your area, please let me know.

Together we are changing lives!