The "sphere"

An interesting section on Jynell's blog talks about a person's sphere of influence and it got me thinking about my journey and it's effect on other people around me:

• Since I started, my co-workers have constantly been asking for weight loss tips to help them on their road to weight management. I have even convinced 2 people to join the gym where I go (close to work). Luckily, in that case, I get a $50 credit with the gym for referrals.



• My neighbor and good friend has started going to the gym and has made a point of needing to lose weight. I think it is more of his wife harping on him to get his act together now that I have.



• My brother, who has always been slimmer than me, was actually heavier than me when I visited him in AZ in June. That apparently was a wake up call to him as well. When I say him for Thanksgiving, he was down some.



• Finally, my father in law has taken the weight loss plunge as well. He's actually lost a similar amount of weight as I have. We started at roughly the same time, so I can't really tie it into my influence per se, but I think we both keep it going as neither one of us wants to lose to the other (although we are not officially competing).

So there are the larger examples. Maybe all these things were happening around me and I just didn't realize it. I like to think that perhaps some of my drive and desire have rubbed off on other people and have helped us all be a little better about watching our waist lines.

Count me a convert

Here's something I've added to the old weight management routine...the Magic Bullet.

My wife actually wanted one to make baby food with, but I've been secretly eyeing up this product for a little while now. I was always intrigued by those silly TV commercials, but always cynical to the claims (I have a similar issue with those Total Body Gyms being hawked by Chuck Norris).

Well, the stars aligned with my parents visiting with coupons /gift cards, Macy's was having a sale, and voila...my wife and mom come home recently with a brand new Magic Bullet system for free (which sounds about right to me).

We've had this now for 2-3 months and I have to say it is worth the purchase. My wife uses it daily to make baby food and I use it every other day to make protein smoothies. Before I was paying $5-6 to buy one of these shakes at the gym. Now I can make these to my tastes for a fraction of the price.

The basic formula: Fill up one of the cups with 2/3 of the way with frozen fruit (or a frozen / fresh mixture of fruit), pour in milk (I use 1%) to basically fill in the gaps of the fruit, top with some non-fat yogurt, a squeeze of honey, and a scoop of protein powder. Screw on the blender attachment and let it blend for 1 minute...

I'll usually make one of these for my desert. Tastes delicious and the protein keeps my metabolism going strong as I head to bed.

No paid endorsement here...just thought I would pass along another tip along the journey...

Update: You can see the protein powders I have tried here and here. I prefer the taste of the EAS product better. The Designer Whey product appears to have more "other stuff" added to aid in weight loss, etc...

Have you seen these?

Please send me a comment on where I can buy them (except for Target stores, where I originally bought 2 strands and now I can not find on the shelves ANYWHERE!!!)

I am looking for a strand of white...Just one damn strand! This shouldn't be that hard! I've gone to multiple Target stores in my area and all they have is god awful blue....

Can you tell my frustration?

Is there anybody out there?

Well...I figure now that pretty much everyone has lost interest in this site, I should start posting again (but I make no promises!)

Here's the latest...

-> I am at 195 lbs. Still 9 lbs off my goal. I am neither happy nor sad about this.

-> My exercise plan has curtailed just a little. While I would regularly hit the gym 3x / week, I now make it there 2 -3x / week. My supplemental home workouts (pushups, bicycling) has pretty much ceased (it's too damn cold to go bicycling and....well, there's no excuse for the pushups really)

-> My food plan has also curtailed a bit as well. While a lot of the changes in diet are sticking, I will go off plan 1-2x / week and do something like go to Taco Bell or get a burger somewhere. Nothing terrible, mind you, but the April / May version of me was pretty strict in diet.

So what does all of this tell me? That my body has settled in to being comfortable around a 193 - 196 lbs weight range. As long as I do not go back to drinking sugary waters, eating fatty burgers / white bread, and putting in some moderate exercise, I should be OK to maintain this weight even if I jump off the wagon from time to time.

Am I OK with that? I'm not 100% sure. While I would like to achieve my goal of 50 lbs in 50 weeks, I have received tons of compliments and feel pretty darned good health wise with my new weight. While the silly government still labels me as "overweight", I certainly do not feel that way anymore. And as far as the "rewards" to myself are concerned, it looks like I will not be able to afford those rewards (will probably plow that $$$ into a home remodeling project).

On the other hand, I did set out with a specific goal in mind and I still can realistically achieve that goal. Losing 9 lbs by 3/10? I should be able to do that without any problem. Hrmmm...