Mindful of your food.

I have been studying Buddism lately and one of the keys it to be "mindful" or in the moment as much as you can. Ding! moment. That is what I have been doing. Really enjoying savouring the precious food that I am allowed to eat and lose weight. This morning I ate strawberries for breakfast, really ate them, enjoyed every moment. Compare that to woofing down an Egg McMuffin.

30 Lbs! - Slow and Steady wins the race.

As of today I have lost 30 lbs. The key this time has been to eat very well. For example I ate a bowl of strawberries for dinner. No quick stop of McDonalds as it quickly adds up. I eat 4-5 meals per day every 3 hours starting at 9 PM. Because I am a geek, my phone actually dings when it is time to eat and that works for me. Other key ingredient is that I am allowing myself to cheat every once in a while (at most weekly.) Telling myself I will never eat an ice cream cone on a hot day or a fine Pinot Noir with fresh grilled salmon is just too damn oppressive. The very interesting thing is that I have NOT been working out. I went to the Dr to ask why my energy = 0 on some days. We did a sleep study and it turns out I have sleep apnea....Isobel calls me the snore monster. Guess how you fix it? Weight loss. I look forward to the yawns going away and for me to get into the gym to accelerate this turn around. I loved the body I was in when I was a wrestler and liked it even more in 1999 when I was a hard core outdoors man. On my way back and feel very very good....yawn (except for the yawns)

What you calling a bucket list?

So I make lists. I am linear and organized. How then did I get fat? Unorganized Eating? Nope, anxiety.

So recently I created a list. The response I got was that it was my bucket list? This ain't my bucket list as I ain't going to kick the bucket this fall. It's just things to do between now and labor day so I can explore, spend time with loved ones and enjoy.

• 4/26 Plant Flowers with Bee - Done
• 5/3 Donate time @ Food Bank -Done
• 5/10 Take G-Ma Wine Tasting / Mom take me up St Helens - Done
• 5/17 Wildlife Safari, Camp in the snow, see Crater Lake - Done
• 5/24 Memorial Day Weekend (no Hood Climb), Build out ZEN Garden
• 5/31 Fix up Bike and Find Trails
• 6/7 Take Kayak Fishing (afford a kayak by then?)
• 6/14 Ava's Ballet Recital
• 6/21 Pacific University 10 Year Reunion Weekend
• 6/28 Climb Mt Adams
• 7/4 Weekend @ Em's (with Kayak)
• 7/12 Camp near Hot Springs
• 7/19 Trip to Lincoln City (Sailing, Garage Building, Buy Shoes)
• 7/26 Mt Jefferson Backpacking
• 8/2 South Sister Climb / Backpacking
• 8/9 Middle Sister Climb / Backpacking
• 8/16 Ava Grace Birthday Weekend (Zoo and Oaks Park)
• 8/23 Hood to Coast
• 8/30 Labor Day Trip to Olympics

Day 105 - 29 lbs lost.

Day 105 of the Biggest Loser contest. Opportunity wasted this weekend as I was very active but ate on the road (Dairy Queen, Road Side Deli, etc.) But the good news is that I weighed in at 278 this morning (29 lbs) lost thus far. This week should go better as I work for only two days and then spend 3 days on my daughters field trip and then the 3 day weekend working in my Japanese garden. With a little under 4 weeks to go my goal is to get into the 60s.

Camping in May

One week before Memorial Day weekend and Diamond Lake is frozen solid. Saw the wildlife safari, camped (without the crowds) at Diamond Lake and then took in Crater Lake. Saw gas for sale for $4.49. We live in a beautiful state.

Day 99

Today is the 99th Day of my "Biggest Loser" Program and I feel great. I started at a remarkable 307 lbs and now am back down to 283 a loss of 24 lbs. Still a ways to go, but last weekend I for the first time in atleast 10 years went snow shoeing. Mt St Helens was the spot and we hiked for 8 hours total! I recently bought a new camera's and intend on restarting my outdoor blog (I have been focused on my politcal blog abramsright.blogspot.com as of late.

14 Mile Snow Shoe on St Helen's For Mom's Day.

The REALLY crazy thing was that my legs did not hurt the next day. Snowing and sun at the same time. Reminds me what it is like to be alive. Oh wait.