Day 30 - 36 - Speed Blogging - Mon-Sun. 10/26 -11/01/09

I have bouts of losing focus combined with being a lazy ass, this is can be a very potent combination. I have managed to fall a complete week behind documenting my own life - it's not like there is studying or research needed just write down what I did....seems hard to mess that up. I am now going to give you a synopsis of the past week...to be honest it will probably be all out of order with most of it made up as the mental cocktail that is Joe also includes a very short attention span.

Monday
Monday is my laziest day of the week.
I always have good intentions when I go to bed Sunday night after a big day of soccer to get up and head to the gym. Then the morning comes and I ache and it is so early, the day usually slips away from me - I can usually justify this with the need for a day of rest. I am eating now so today I had oatmeal in the morning with nuts and apples and late in the day I had carrots and celery...eating is so overrated.

Tuesday
Today I went to the Y and decided this will be the week I increase my running to 2 miles and I would begin lifting weights. I did my 2 miles in 24 minutes...I was happy with that. I asked my workout Guru Jamie for the simplest workout possible and he gave me one exercise for each muscle group...it is still boring as hell but it goes a lot quicker.
I got a call today from Christie that one of the Tuesday men's teams dropped out and she was putting together a team to fill in....that's right BONUS SOCCER....how great is that. We played against a super jackass team, they are a bunch of donkeys who think they are so good when they just aren't...some are almost as bad as me and that is really bad. The boys played with us Hector and Diego - in the interest of speed blogging I will just tell you jackasses did what jackasses do and a little fracas broke out between Diego and this guy. The guy was behind him and ended up getting him in like a Full Nelson wrestling hold and everyone started moving towards them....all I could think was somebody is going to start punching him. So completely out of character for me a 46 year old, bald, fat man with low testosterone I ran over and tackled him. OK it was a fairly crappy tackle I didn't get my head to the right side and didn't get my arms wrapped around correctly...if I was still in high school I would have had to take a lap for that effort...I did keep my legs driving though. All and all it was way cool and no one got hurt (especially me), I think I got a little respect from the boys for my protective machismo (did I mention I didn't get hurt)!

Wednesday
Went to the Y ran my 2 miles and lifted some more weights in the morning. In the afternoon I went to the Chinese superstore Lee Lee's - it is actually more of multi cultural market with foods and products from all over the world...it is way cool...kind of like a Fear Factor prop store. I got a bunch of veggies, fruits, miso and some superfood seaweed for smoothies....everything is way cheap - kind of like the third world on 75Th ave & Cactus.

Thursday
I got up and made a superfoods smoothie from this recipe I got online from this raw foods guy David Wolfe. David Wolfe is like the Le Bron James of the raw foods world (yes there is a raw foods world) from his website he also appears to be making a lot of money catering to the tree huggers, Vegans and occasional fatties that stray his way. I like the information but I am still to cheap to shell out $60.00 for 2lbs of Goji berries or $140.00 for 4 pounds of algae....I wonder if I could get used algae at Savers hhmmmm... Back to my smoothie, I combined all the good things I read about into the blender: freshly juiced (from my new juicer) carrots, cucumbers, beets and fresh ginger with spinach, dates, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, oatmeal and the $2.99 reconstituted sea weed. I blended the crap out of it and the final product resembled a foul smelling Nickelodeon slime product that was the most impossible color of green...man it made a lot. My wife and the kids watched this process and seemed amused and disgusted at the same time...I offered them some....no takers....this had now turned into a bit of a challenge. I started drinking...well more like masticating this "smoothie"....the family looked on....Cheryl immediately left the room, followed quickly by Hannah...Lebo needed to watch....I told him to go brush his teeth for school...he balked...he wanted to watch me hurl this all over the kitchen....I would not give him the satisfaction....I powered through and am a better man for it. I learned a few things from this experience apple cider vinegar and sea weed do not go together and superfood smoothies need to be less super and more smoothie. I am still eating everything raw and not eating very much at all - my allergies are getting worse.

Friday
Today started a bad couple of days for me - my allergies have been getting steadily worse each day and today they are really awful. Through most of the 28 day fast allergies were not an issue..because of the fast or just nothing blooming or whatever that bothered me...I don't know but the more days I eat the worse I feel. My brain is messing with me hard today, I decided to use crackers for my avocado raw dip thing I made instead of carrots or celery...my brain said it would be OK. As I have mentioned before I have this internal saboteur that is very cunning and fierce, I didn't even see it coming. Today I also had a diet coke from QT while getting gas, I have not had a Diet Coke in a month...no big deal it tasted goooooodddd! I never got to the gym today just didn't feel very well - I also continue to weigh myself everyday which is not good I am not losing any weight at all...I gained 2 pounds...ugh!

Saturday - Halloween!
Today is the usual youth sports day with Lebo having two soccer games - Hannah had no games but went with her good friend Lexi and her mom Cindy (her Y coach) to practice for her club volleyball tryouts tomorrow.
Lebo's first game was with his old team (Cisco White) they played very well - he started in goal and played good, he didn't see much action and made one mistake (it lead to their only goal) - he also played forward and scored a goal....it was a good morning. In the afternoon he played with the Cisco Black team he started in goal and did very well against a pretty good team. Gave up two goals one impossible to get in the upper corner and one easy one spinning off his hands into the goal, he also made some really good saves...a very good job!
Spent the evening at Church for the big Trunk or Treat event it was crazy our little church had about 1100 people come through it was amazing. We had fun hanging out with some friends handing out candy and BS ing, I avoided candy completely but did have popcorn and pumpkin pie. When we got home I was so hungry I made a turkey burger and mash potatoes - as you can guess this was not a raw meal - I gave in to my saboteur - weak weak man.

Sunday - The best day!
Today is play off day at the Castle for two of my teams - Soccer troupe lost and Fusion won. In the evening WhyUCryin had a double header and we won both games. It was a pretty good soccer day overall, mostly because I got to play 4 games which is always good.
Hannah had a great tryout and made the club volleyball team, I was very proud of her effort and commitment. I hope she keeps it up she seems to really like the girls and the coaches - she is so excited GOOD JOB HANNAH!
Lebo had a game in the afternoon (this interfered with what would have been a 5th soccer game for me - see I can be Super Dad once and awhile), he played goalie again this time against the best team in the state at our age group. The defense played well and Lebo had had some good saves but the offense couldn't get close to scoring and the game was tied at the half. The game remained tied till about 10 minutes left in the game and Lebo took a hard shot straight on and couldn't hold it and punched it out and the kid followed his shot and scored on the rebound...bummer. In the process of making the first save he jammed his finger and wanted to come out I shook him off and told him to stay, a few minutes later he made a big mistake....he came out after a ball and stopped halfway and got stuck in no mans land and gave up another goal....then his finger really started to hurt. He eventually complained enough to get himself pulled...I was VERY disappointed...I wish he would get mentally tougher...not today though. The next goalie gave up two goals in about 2 minutes and we lost 4-0, the kids played well with only one sub but in the end could only get one shot on goal all game....we will get them next time.
I am not proud of my food day, in the morning I had hash browns, eggs with sausage and toast, in the evening had chicken nuggets and made mashed potatoes for dinner and had a chocolate cupcake for dessert.
Right now I feel miles from where I need to be mentally - I did not weigh myself today so I have nothing to report in that area. I understand I am sounding like a whiny little Be Atch and complaining about something that should be completely within my control...but it's not. I hesitate to show this part of myself because I don't like this part. I want to be inspirational and confident and motivated and mostly I want to be funny....I also promised to be honest...so there it is....right now I SUCK....maybe tomorrow I won't....we will see.

Talk to you soon,
Joe
Peace!

Day 29 - Today I eat...big deal 12-25-09

I picked a good day to start eating because I hardly eat anything on Sundays anyway - I hate playing soccer on a full stomach. Some people can eat McDonald's between games or go to dinner and still play in the evening - I just can't do it and very few things come between me and food. I had a game at 9 am so I got up early and had a 1/2 cup of raw steel cut oats (oatmeal soaked in warm purified water rather that boiling water and steel cut oats are a less processed version of oatmeal - excellent!) with apple and almonds in it. I had some time between games so I got a organic banana and some fresh super green fruit juice from Fresh & Easy (it was nasty) for lunch. After soccer I went to work and cleaned a couple of offices then went to my sisters house for my niece Michelle's birthday (big 30), there were a lot of the usual delicious food choices pasta, sausage, bread and the such...I was really satisfied with the raw choice of salad and Balsamic vinegar - it tasted amazing!

The evening brought the last soccer game of the day, for the day I was 2-1 in my 3 games more importantly it was FUN! At home the family watched Land of the Lost with Will Ferrel I personally thought it was hilarious - Cheryl not so much.

As for the weekly weigh in it kind of sucked I was at 290 down only 5lbs from last Sunday, I am going to have to find a way to get the numbers moving down a lot faster to meet my goal....maybe amputate and arm or something.....I don't need arms to play soccer....hmm something to consider closer to the end.

Talk to you soon!
Joe G.
Peace!

Day 28 - Transition day 10-24-09

Today I am starting to drink juice and eat a couple of almonds as a way of winding down the fast and ending it - tomorrow I eat. Well not eat eat I am planning on some juice and banana with the possibility of a salad - we will see how it goes. I decided today seems like a good day to end it for now, it is day 28 and completes four weeks of water fasting - unbelievable. I have really been reading a lot about how transition and what your body might be telling you when your ready. One of the big things was that you would start to actually get hungry again and I definitely am developing a growing hunger - not really like the old hunger more of a genuine need to eat rather than a desire.... I don't know it's not like I am that in tune to my body or anything - it used to be a mystery to me why I felt bad after an hour at the Chinese buffet.

Deciding what to eat and how to eat going forward that is the real question. After careful consideration and research I have narrowed it down to one of two things:
A. The Filbertos/Great wall/ Hometown buffet diet - this diet involves eating crap load of foosd once a day (for the most part this is only a guideline and may have to be increased to twice) - this diet featuring multiple cultures and use of saturated fats, with high sodium with unlimited carbs should supply the proper energy I need (side note this is not a physician sponsored diet - I got it from a guy named Jim at the car wash....I think his name was Jim...it doesn't really matter.....he is not a Dr.....even though he commonly offers breast exams to the ladies......yeah wait his name is definitely Jim... I remember because this chick Lydia said "JIM your disgusting and your not a Dr".....and I was like come on I need my car.....and she was all.....wait that wasn't Jim it was....hell I can't remember..... the point is he isn't a Dr....I don't think)
B. The second choice was a raw foods diet - which is fairly self explanatory....you don't eat anything cooked....so it's raw.

I went with option B the raw food thing - It is pretty exciting and I will try to explain it better as we go along - if you really even care at this point. This particular blog has taken the lead as the most tedious blog so far in my opinion and I am writing it - I can't even imagine what your going through.....I know it's getting worse....I will stop now.

OK now onto the traditional Saturday thing kids sports - My son had a soccer game this morning, he didn't get to practice all week because he was sick so he played goalie in the game. He played pretty well - our defense played really well and made the keeper job pretty quite -the other team did get dangerous one time and the boy made a very good save. We finally scored a goal late in the 2ND half after being in their end almost the whole game. Coach Bacon made a good choice with a goalie change and our regular goalie Mitchell made a absolutely spectacular save very late in the game to preserve our lead - it was really cool. Lebo played a short time at forward and had a good opportunity to score from a great pass by JJ...the only problem was it ended up on the useless appendage known as his right foot and pppffftttt opportunity lost - toe poke that sucker boy! Overall the kids played really well, our most complete game so far - and the littlest kid with the biggest heart scored the game winning goal - It was very cool for him and Mom and Dad.

Hannah had district playoffs for her school volleyball team... I missed her game because it was the same time as Lebo's...it did not go well they lost. It was a really frustrating volleyball season and we are all glad it is over. Hannah got a lot better over the course of the season but lost her way a bit toward the end.... she needs to get it back she has tryouts for a club team Nov. 1st - we will see.

We went to the Y today as a family in the afternoon and Hannah and I had a race in the mile run and I will be damned if she didn't beat me - I hate to lose even to my own daughter. I sprinted like hell to catch her on the last lap but she kicked it in and held me off....she ran it in 10:55 and I was at 11:04...this my best so far but I still lost....I was so proud of her despite the taunting that followed.

That's about it watched some movies and chilled with the family...pretty good day overall.
Talk to you soon.
Joe
Peace!

Day 26,27 - 1 Good 1 Weird - Thurs,Fri 10-22,23-09

Thursday
Today was pretty awesome once again I felt great!
I went to my awesome Doctor Rebecca today (have I mentioned she is the best Dr. ever) for my bi-monthly shot....

Sidebar: A humiliating personal confession
I have been getting a testosterone shot every two weeks for the last 8 months or so - I originally went in because I was so tired all the time and just didn't have all the pieces of my youth working as God intended. My testosterone level was like 120 when it should have been somewhere around 600 or 800 - they have a bizarre chart that put my numbers between a female Bichon puppy and Taylor Swift - I mean who make these things that's just not right. On a serious note if you are a man with low energy and gaining weight it may very well be low testosterone or Project Runway - get it checked.

....I called in and changed my appointment to a check up so I could keep on top of the Gandhi thing and it was about time to check under the hood and kick the old tires. I was cheerfully greeted by super nurse Cheryl and she immediately asked me if I was still fasting, I affirmed I was and she was blown away that I was still going and still alive. Rebecca came in and was very happy to see me looking good and that my blood sugars and blood pressure was doing so well and with out any meds. She was still hesitant on the whole fasting thing but said I sure seemed to be doing well and losing a lot of weight. She then went to work on checking me over and said everything looked great and ordered some blood work and the trusty urine sample. As she was looking through my records she mentioned that it was time for my prostrate exam and the coughing hernia test thing that guys get, if I was up to it. This is about the time I wished I had one of those old man doctors that just don't give a crap and not a concerned, thorough and hot young female doctor. I won't get into the details from here but it was about the most hilarious thing I have been through in many years. To me this was a watershed moment of getting old - like one of those old guys in the gym that just doesn't care about being naked anymore - it was ridiculous standing with your pants down discussing your dangily bits....hilarious!

The rest of the day was cool got back to the Y for a class and got to run my mile. The evening was great because I of course got to play soccer with my Thursday team Insario (Jill & Christie). We played against Yo Yo Ma, they are a great bunch of super talented players - they make it so fun you don't really mind that they just kicked the crap out of you. Ended the night after work at home with my lovely wife and Project Runway on the DVR - lying in bed I had to smile on what a ridiculous wonderful day it was!

Friday
Today was a really weird day, I went to the Y in the morning for step and Yoga classes and really struggled through both as they went on I felt worse and worse. I ended up leaving early and headed home and went right to bed and slept for about 3 hours when I woke up I started to fell better but it took several hours to get there. I am not sure if it was a detox thing or one of my disease carrying kids gave me something, but I really felt like crap. By the evening I was feeling good again and went to work with my wife and we made the world a little cleaner place.
Ended being a OK day in the end but it was a weird one - I'm sure Gandhi had his days too.

Talk to you soon!
Joe
Peace!

Day 25 - Championship day! 10-21-09

Today was awesome! I feel amazing!
Got up early today and fired up for the day - morning is not really my favorite time unless it's 2 or 3 in the morning that I don't mind but 5 or 6 or 7 not so much - not a problem today. Today was Pilates and Max Muscle at the Y - it was a good workout but not much cardio so I ran my mile after the classes and that was perfect.
The afternoon was cool not much happened, got some stuff done around the house. I used my meat grinder to grind up a bunch of chicken I got on sale and made ground chicken for the kids - Hannah loves chicken or turkey taco meat and I saved a bunch of money which I LOVE!

Lebo is still got a nasty dry cough and will have to miss another day of practice - bummer.

Hannah had her last regular season volleyball game for school, she played terrible and so did her whole team. They managed to win a three game match against a team they should have killed - but it was a very exciting game in the end. What was really cool was one of the girls that sat almost the whole season on the bench with no confidence and getting no respect had the game of of her life. She served like 14 straight points and had a hand in every other point of the 2nd game which they won - it was really awesome. We sat next to her parents and they were just so happy and proud - I just love that kind of thing, it is what makes youth sports so great!

Speaking of great sports the evening brought Soccer time!
I had two games one with the always fun WHEE! team - with my favorite teammates (Jamie, Christy and Jill) it ended being a meaningless game and a forfeit but it was still fun. We ended up playing against Hector and a bunch of other young guys - sometimes soccer is so very fun and so very frustrating at the same time. Just when I start losing some weight and feeling faster and more confident on the field, I play in this game - wow - those young guys are everywhere and beat you to everything, the worst part is they were so nice about it - damn them.

Game two was the championship game with my Fusion team - we haven't been good in awhile so it was pretty exciting. The team we played against is a nice team and they have been really good this season, also they have Jamie and Christy on their team - that is weird playing against them. The game started really rough for my Fusion team we were only a few minutes in when we were down 3-0 and soon after that it was 5-0 - it did not look good. We are not what you would call a comeback team, we are lucky to have 5 points in a game and now we are down 5-0 with about 3 minutes left in the first half. The the tide began to turn, we changed things up an started playing better defense and then we got a girl goal and the another (girl goals are worth 2 points in indoor soccer) so at the half the score was 5-4 - look out. The second half got better we kept the pressure on and kept scoring and played great defense, we ended winning 10 -5. The other team really blew it, the girls never subbed so Christie hardly played and when she and Jamie were in they hardly ever passed to them - STUPID. So anyway we are the Champs!!! Johnny tell them what they won......"You have won a new Castle Championship t-shirt!!!!"
YEAH BABY!!!!

I went to work between games so I was finished for the night and got to hang out with Jamie and Jill in the gym after the game - it was so much fun hanging out and joking around I really enjoyed it. After that I got home and Cheryl was still up so we watched Top Chef on the DVR and I stayed up and drank some water and played Internet poker till 2:30. I ended up waking up Cheryl at 2:30 to tell her I loved her, how great I felt and what a great day I had - I love being me!

Talk to you soon!
Joe
Peace!

Day 23,24 - Good Stuff Mon. & Tue. 10-19,20-09

Monday
I feel great - better than yesterday!
Not much else to report for Monday, Lebo stayed home from school today - I got up early and took Hannah to the Dr. for a Swine flu immunization with the nasal spray. I am mostly against shots, pills and the like and we have never got a flu shot before. We have tried to limit the kids exposure to antibiotics and medication unless absolutely necessary. I believe if your good to your immune system it will be good to you, so if your always supplementing it and trying to protect your kids from every germ exposure they never can really build up the immunity they need when they need it. That said I bought into the hysteria and am getting both kids there immunization...damn sell out.
I ran a mile today on the treadmill today that is the new goal of running a mile a day for now and hopefully increasing as I go....we will see.

Tuesday
Feeling AWESOME!
Both kids back to school today, Lebo was dragging ass and really pushed to not go....but he has no fever for the last two days and I have got to get to the Y. Today was Yoga and step class, Cheryl and I went together and set up in my favorite little back corner. Yoga went well, I still can't get over how difficult it is for me, I think I am starting to get some flexibility though. The transition from Yoga to step class is comical because it goes from all relaxed to women rushing in throwing down steps and weights in their favorite spot even if your standing there it is so territorial...luckily I own my corner....back off ladies and yeah she's with me. I SUCK at step class - maybe because I have never been a dancer...unless drunk. I ended up having to leave the class - it was way more cerebral than cardio trying to figure out which way to go. I went out and ran my mile, right at 12 minutes my best so far. Rest of the day was cool Lebo skipped soccer practice still not breathing well and constantly coughing, went to work and that was about it - Great Day!

Talk to you soon.
Joe
Peace!

Day 22 - My wife is how old? Sunday 10-18-09

Happy birthday to Cheryl!
My lovely bride was brought into this world October 18Th, 1963 (put your shoes back on she's 46) what a great day for me! Of course I was unaware of that then as I was not born yet....I am just saying.... no big deal if I am considerably younger than her...what four months is considerable if say you were hanging from a rope or waiting in line at the bank...whatever... Happy Birthday Cheryl!

Have I mentioned before how much I love, love, love, love Sundays it is by far the best day of the week and this was no exception.

Today started bright and early with a visit from an old friend of mine, we rarely see each other anymore and have not gotten together in quite awhile. Used to be we were always together and had great times and when Cheryl and I got married we all got along so well it was a match made in heaven. Last couple of years I started noticing we were getting together less and less often, we began to argue and there definitely was constant tension - Cheryl became frustrated with the both of us. I now realize I was wrong, neglectful with my diet and lack of a healthy lifestyle which ultimately destroyed the relationship - I prayed my new commitment would repair the bond with my old friend. Well all I can say was I was so happy by the surprise visit that it only re-energizes me to push forward and continue to be a better man - I may never eat again!

I celebrated Cheryl's birthday in what I thought was the best way - by leaving the house and going to play soccer - that's right SUPER HUSBAND! I normally play on three teams on Sunday but there is some kind of problem with one of my teams and blah, blah, blah I got put on a new team. So I show up for the game with my new team and they have way to many guys which means way to many subs and that sucks - no one is happy. So I talk to somebody else and get on a new team for next Sunday, I am going to play with Fusion which is a bunch of people from my Wednesday team...should be good. So now I am down to two Sunday games...aaarrrrgggg.... but my next game is with the best team ever Soccer Troupe....Awesome! This was a great game we played against a team that is very nice and usually pretty good - I was on fire I scored 4 goals and we won handily....I scored on a header, a chip, Back heel, hard shot and some more crappy goal....it was great (also highly unusual). After that the next game turned out to be a forfeit so I got to play some Bonus Soccer to make up for my lost game....That's perfect.

When I got home the house was quiet, Cheryl was relaxing watching TV with Lebo and Hannah was outside playing - Hannah and I went and cleaned some offices and got Cheryl Panda Express for dinner on the way home. My late game was cancelled (bummer) so we all sat together and watched Monsters and Aliens (good movie) family had cake and Cheryl opened her new Pajamas and slipper. All in all I think Cheryl enjoyed her birthday and I know I did.

Now onto the weekly weigh in - this morning I weighed 295 down nine pounds this week. To be honest I don't really care about the weight right now...I just can not get over how good I feel. I can honestly say this is one of the best days of my life...I know that sounds crazy....but I have literally not felt this good for as long as I can remember. Energy, knees, feet, stomach, heart, my clarity of mind, passion for life it's just amazing, way beyond the 36 pounds. I want this to be the new bottom, the new baseline I build the rest of my life on....I am very excited for the future....we will see.

Talk to you soon!
Joe
Peace!