Kim and I and the things we share

Oh the things we share

• love for each other
• love for our puppies
• home
• intelligent conversation
• the love of food
• crazy family
• friends
• a jinks
• a desire to be healthier
• over coming odds
• compassion
• life
• a bed
• good moods and bad
• sorrows and celebrations

No one said it would be easy....

Hello world!

Boy have we messed up our healthy living over the last few months.  Guess we paid the price by gaining substantial weight back?  Ok.  That's enough about that.  We own it.  We will get past it.  Starting now.  Never said this journey would be easy.......Let's try again.

Hope everyone is finding happiness

So Kim and I are doing great. We are working right now on stream lining our food more to take out more and more processed Items. We are eating many fruits and veggies. We are eating lots of lean proteins. I realized this weekend that I am 90lbs lighter than my heaviest weight, even if it has taken longer than I wanted that is really cool. My physical identity is starting to be recognized as a fairly normal sized person. This is all a little new. I have been the big person for a long time.




Another thing I have been doing is working on my mind, brain, thinking, or processes that I have. I am finding ways to access my own peace and happiness that is from me not dictated by an outside source. I, for a long time relied on other people, or items, or situations to provide the happiness I wanted. I was often disappointed in counting on those sources because I had an expectation for them that they could not do. I know for many years I struggled to find forgiveness for people I have held responsible for hurting, or harming me. What I discovered is for me it was not forgiveness I needed to achieve. I had to open my mind and investigate how I felt, why I felt that way, how did I know to feel that way, and realize what I learned was incorrect and I had to change that.

finding focus

As I have said in earlier postings I am working kind of three goals discipline, balance, and peace. I have been practicing imbalance for about three weeks. I have lost focus on my goals and floundered a bit. The good news is that normally in this situation I would stray greatly and swing like a pendulum in extreme fashion because I am practiced at this. I have not gone backward I just stalled for a moment. I feel my focus return. I am still down 50lbs. this is a measure of my progress but not the goal itself. I am learning to adjust to change. I have been like I am for a long time and change is good but strange. I hope everyone who has contact with this is well and is getting everything from the world you need.

We are still on it here is what has been going on

Ok, so let me catch everyone up on the last week or so. It is truly a difficult concept but I learned my expectations and patterns of thought  means absolutely nothing to anyone outside my head. If I impose some sort of vengeance or punishment on someone, it is completely possible they won’t have any idea and it will have been in vain. Ok, I learned, I get it, and now I will peacefully move on.


Over the past three weeks I hit a total block with my weight loss I was stuck yo-yoing the same five lbs. and I was ready to go postal in my most unbuddha like demeanor. Today I had an epiphanal moment. I stopped half of my diabetic medication a few days before that. So, everything I have been doing did not go south and I can put a stop to the “come apart” I had planned. I have adjusted to the change and I am now dropping weight to my delight.

I hope Kim puts an update up soon, she is doing so well. We will be adding some new pictures to the blogs very soon around the first of April.

I am trying my hand at homemade chili Verde I have the base of several recipes and I will doing this Friday. If anyone has advice I am open to it.

spicy corned beef and cabbage

Ok everyone, here is something Kim and I came up with for St. Paddys day.

Things you need:
1 quart home made chicken stock (it does not have to be home made but that is the best)
1 leek sliced, rinsed, then diced
1 onion diced
3 large carrots sliced into rounds
4 stalks celery diced
1to4 chipotle peppers in adobo diced (very hot)
2 table spoons of olive oil
2 lbs baby red potatoes cut in half
1 can corn
1 can kidney or black beans
1 head of cabbage
1 corned beef that has been boiled for 3 hours in water with it's seasoning packet cooled and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon fresh ground coriander
1 table spoon kosher salt
1 palm full of dried oregono
1 cup dry red wine
1 table spoon of worshtishire sauce don't mind the spelling you know what I mean
1/2 a can of tomoatoe paste

Directions:
sweat onions, carrots, leeks, celery, and chipotle and salt in the olive oil in a large pot

after 10 min. add tomatoe paste cook another 5 min.
add red wine and worshtishire sauce, chili powder, pepper, oregono, coriander cook another 3 min

add corned beef, corn, potatoes, beans, cabbage and cover with stock.

cook about 30 min untill potatoes are fork tender it is hot but really good
optional add 1 table spoon of sour cream to your bowl cools it down a bit

Some times you have to remember the scale is only one way to tell how your doing

So, yesterday was a prime example of how far I have to go. I have been going to the gym working the elliptical and doing great. I for the first time got on the treadmill and attempted to run……..ok now stop laughing. I found that it is much more of a work out and I felt like it was my first time in a gym. It was uncomfortable and I was not coordinated at all. I have something to focus on and work at. I will be a runner before the end of this leg of my journey. I have has some frustration the last little while. I hit a brick wall with my weight loss been a yoyo for the last two weeks and it can be hard to see. On the other had I reduced my diabetes medication and my blood sugar has been awesome every morning. All so my spikes right after I eat are under 200 that rocks. I am wearing clothes I could not have contemplated a month ago. I will be spending some reflection time on things I can do to make my eating even better and practicing this running stuff. I know this is only a number issue and will resolve itself soon.




I am thankful for Kim helping me stay focused and putting up with grumpy me when the scale gets to me. I am thankful I have friends like Jinksie that are doing this with us. I am fortunate I get to have this experience. I feel great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

baby steps

I don’t need to know. I don’t need to find some altruistic meaning. I don’t need to hold on to bad, hurt, painful, or vengeful feelings. I can turn poison in to medicine when the need arises. Some of this may seem hard to swallow, but let me put this in context. I am meeting with my mother on Saturday, for the first time in around 3 years. It is not my place to have an expectation of anyone one else. I can let them be them and do my own thing. I hope someone can use this some how.

Hey here is some thoughts, ideas, and advice from me and Dr. Oz

The first thing we should talk about is points of weight loss success by Dr. Oz.


1) Do not wear stretchy cloths. It hampers your ability to monitor if you are putting on a few extra pounds.

2) Do not keep fat clothes they offer you the ability to go back to old ways. At least you will have to think about it when you would shell out for a new wardrobe again.

3) Plan your meals don’t walk in the kitchen unless you already know what you are going to eat.

4) Chew your food at least 20 times. The more you chew the more it stimulates your brain and make your eating experience more pleasurable and complete.

5) Never ever eat out of a vending machine

6) Never eat when standing or in a car. It does not allow for a relaxed or focused eating experience and you will want to eat again.



The next thing I will cover is this. I cannot go through days without clear goals. I need to know what things I need to accomplish because if I don’t I can find a lot of time to do absolutely nothing ha. It is part of the learning discipline. I can choose not to do things but I should be conscious of what those things are.

It is also important for me to always know what my causes are. What I mean by this is knowing what the bigger picture is. It is important that Kim and I are finding ways to have a productive and healthful relationship and that we are always growing as partners. It is important that I do things that make the world a better place even if in my small ways. It is important that I am always aware of my priorities and making life decisions that support them. Everyone has different lists and things that are important to them. I am just beginning the journey to take who I am organize this into a strong foundation and grow a future I in the past would not have thought possible.



I am grateful that people who love me will remind me of what I am working on if I get off track. I am grateful that I feel so good lately. I have hope and gratitude that my program at work will continue to improve and grow.

Slow and steady wins the race...

How many times have you heard the saying "Slow and steady wins the race"?  Personally, I've heard it used thousands of times I'm sure in my 33 year existance.  I guess I didn't really understand what that meant until recently. 

Watching TV you cannot get away from all the fad products out there offering "help" for weight loss. Cleansers, burners, gadgets, and services that will ship food to your door!  Really???  I say it's all crap!  With a little effort, each and every person out there can do the exact same thing.  Yes, it takes will power and it takes research. It takes being prepared. It also takes patience.  Slow and steady.  Doing what Dawnna and I are doing, you are not going to lose massive amounts of weight immediately.  (Although, in the 2.5 months we have been doing this, she has lost 45 pounds and I've lost 30.  I think that's pretty impressive.)  The fads out there might help for a minute, but utlimately once you start shying away from it, the weight comes back.  The secret to keeping the weight off is making a lifestlye change.  Once you stop taking pills, or shots, or starving, or whatever...you have to change your life to keep off the weight.  That's the secret.  There are no magical pills.  It all boils down to determination and making sweeping changes to your lifestyle.

~Kim