Writing what I know

I feel compelled to write, but what should I write about? I've heard writers should write what they know. What do I know?

I know music, to an extent. I know games, and I know what it takes to make someone feel like shit.

I can lie, and sometimes I know how to get caught.

I know what it's like to be made to feel weak and worthless. I've also discovered what it feels like to be seen as strong.

I also know food. I know food like a lover is known; from head to toe in intimate fashion. And food, like an ever present object of desire, need and affection, is a monstrous and needy partner.

I simply can't keep her from killing me, yet if I quit her I'll surely die.

Just say no to no blogging

Yes, its been awhile. I've not had too much to say I suppose, many things I've already covered and unfortunately I'm not thinking about the food I'm eating too much. As I said in the previous post, I've gotten behind on my weight loss. Fortunate thing is I've lost what I gained back, and lost a few more pounds. The bad thing is, that if I was losing according to plan I'd be weighing 260 instead of 282!

The biggest good news is that I found stumbled upon something I didn't posses before - a way to maintain. Since the majority of my life I've either been gaining or losing weight, I didn't really now how to maintain. So, I have that to look forward to.

In another post about my vacation, I promised pictures - I forgot! So, when I'm at the appropriate computer I'll post them

Lastly, I went shopping yesterday and broke the bank! One of the things that makes eating well easy is to have a plethora of good things to eat that is more convenient than the crappy things. Tuna, chicken and broccoli oh my! I love broccoli...

Cheers!

Vacation in San Francisco

As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged much at all lately. I've been too busy having fun.

Make no mistake, blogging about my weight loss is mostly fun - but you see, I've been on vacation!

I've lived across the bay from San Francisco for awhile (about 7 months) and have yet to really visit the city like I should have. So here I am - staying at a hotel on Fisherman's Wharf. We're right next to pier 39 ("we" being myself and my friend Matt).

We're just about to leave for Yosemite. Yeah I know, we're staying in the city and taking a day to go all the way out there. Thing is, we found a convenient little travel package that includes a day tour and transportation to the park. It picks up from any SF hotel, which works perfectly for us.

For awhile, I'm taking a little vacation from my normal low-carb bloggin - but if you care to check back tomorrow you can read about my trip to Yosemite and see a picture or two of me at the park. When vacation is over and done with, I'll post a summary of the progress reports I've skated out on, and sum up the weeks I haven't been around.

Until then...

Fun at Work

This doesn't have much to do with dieting. Nothing at all in fact. But, I just wanted to call your attention to something my work friends and I have decided to share with the world. Over the last few weeks, we've recycled our old latex gloves (we go through dozens a day) and used them to make a ball. Gloveball is our mascot here - and you should check out gloveballs myspace page. All he wants is to be your friend.

Check out the pics section - we have several pics up there of gloveball and some of our coworkers. For those of you who wondered what my job as an optical technician entails, well, gloveballs page won't help too much.

I work at Tinsley Laboratories. We makes precision optics for many different applications.

We made the optics that were installed in the Hubble telescope to fix its "vision", and we're currently manufacturing the optics that are going in the next big space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. We do other .types of optics - for instance, I work in the department that is refining optics that are making their way to the LLNL Ignition Facility.

I started at Lenscrafters, and worked there for a few years. When I moved out to Cali, I was lucky enough to find my way to Tinsley.

For those who are wondering, gloveball plays no part in manufacturing of our lenses; that's up to the pros.

Back in the Saddle - times two

Things are back on track, and it looks like I may exceed my goal for this week by a pound or two!

Next week, since my back has been great, I'll be expanding my exercise routine to include some cardio (which I should have been doing anyway) and some very light weights. I have little 20 pounders I'm going to use for upper body since I can't put too much strain on my back. I plan on going for reps.

I'm back in the saddle in another respect too. I'm a musician, but I haven't played in a band for years. Lately, friends have expressed interest in a few different projects. One project in particular, Esleg, is seeking a bassist. Well, DAMN! I play bass among other things, so my friend asked me if I was interested. I of course said yes.

There are a few basic demo tracks up, you should check them out if you like ye olde rock and roll. They are rough recordings, but when I heard them for the first time I saw great potential.


You can also check out The Alara Project. I have a few instrumental tracks of varying styles posted there.

So, things are good! when I move into the new place things will be even better for my music! Not only will I have more space to record in, my new roomate is a musician. And he loves Prince! How cool is that?

Very cool.

All Hail "In-N-Out", my guardian angel!

Everyone that has an In-N-Out near them MUST go eat there. Low carbers especially. There is a secret menu (many of you already know this) that is found on their (notsosecret) site that includes a "protein" version of any of their burgers. Yes, like many other fast food places they'll wrap up the burger in lettuce for you. How they differ from other fast food joints is that the food is actually TASTY wrapped in lettuce and I never feel like they're confused by my request. In-N-Out has saved my fast food loving ass more than once.

Near where I work there is an In-N-Out next to a few other fast food places. It's like a filter - just when I'm about to toss my diet down the drain, I get saved by all those perky burger-wranglers who find it natural that I don't want their buns.

The reason the holiest of holys is on my mind, is that I put myself in a precarious position tonight for dinner. I didn't eat breakfast or lunch today. Bad, I know! When I don't eat during the day, I get hungry (of course) and my will weakens. I tend to eat anything that gets in my way when I'm at this point. Burger King usually gets taken out first with a vengeance. Late night, Taco Bell usually falls victim to my beastly hunger. Nothing is safe. Not even my co-workers.

When I hit the road for dinner tonight, I heard that little voice in my head, the addict in me; "Go ahead and just grab some Taco Bell. You can do some extra pushups to get rid of it! You can stop anytime you want, just DO IT." I felt my hands take on a life of their own as I switched lanes in order to position myself for the kill. Thankfully, In-N-Out is closer than Taco Bell so I pulled in there instead. It tasted 10 times better, and was completely low-carb.

"Double Double, Protein Style please!"

"Hackers on Atkins"

I read a clever article discussing the Atkins approach and its draw to those who enjoy thinking out of the box. It's called Hackers on Atkins. I get a kick out of blowing peoples minds who aren't too informed about Atkins by telling them I lost over 100 lbs eating 2500 calories a day. They usually think I exercised a ton (I didn't) or ate low fat (I eat about 100 grams of fat a day). I did exercise, but not until I lost about 75 lbs. I was just too self conscious to go to a gym.

Reading the Hackers article reminded me of why I did Atkins in the first place - I was fat and pissed off at diet gurus like Susan Powter that encouraged eating a high volume of carbs. I got even fatter doing that!

Check out the article, its a good geek read.

The Razor Blade Diet

I thought that diets were sometimes difficult, even painful. Until I saw this video I thought I was having a hard time...

This made me feel good.

Okay. So this doesn't have to do with food, body image, or pretty much anything that I've mentioned so far. Yet, it made me happy to watch.