the new initiative!

New year, new resolutions, yes? Is March too late to have a new year's resolution?

This year is a repeat of the last - get leaner. Ultimate goal is single-digit body fat %. However, that's going to be a long road, so the first step is losing 18 pounds to get to an even 220 (I'm very tall).

I have two not so secret weapons in this fight, my food journal and traineo. For the first time I've started logging everything I eat. This works two ways - writing it down makes you only eat what you're willing to write down, and I'm educating myself about my calorie intake. I've always just winged it in the past, but now that I'm paying attention, it's been an eye opener seeing where all those hidden calories are coming from. If you've never tried a food journal, I strongly recommend it. I'm going to keep mine until I hit 220, hopefully in less than 6 months.

And of course traineo. If you haven't heard of it, go to traineo.com and give it a try. It lets you track your weight, calories burned, calories consumed, and 3 custom logs (I use waist measurement and body fat %) and graphs them for you automatically. The best thing about traineo however, are your motivators. You can select friends, family, workout buddies, etc. who get a weekly email summarizing your performance. Then they can congratulate you or bust your chops when you slack. Great way to motivate yourself, or form your own personal support group. Most of my motivators like it so much they've signed up too. After all, who doesn't need to lose a little weight?

Wish me luck. 5 lbs down, 13 to go!

Hot Chix indeed...

I have to say, I've never seen so many tree-hugging hotties in one place. Certainly enough to make me break a sweat.

Beautiful women, doing beautiful things for the environment. There's even a calendar so you get a different hot chick every month along with ways to save the planet.

Eco-friendly? Green never looked so good. Check it out!

Hotchixdig.com

Better body, better brain...

New data reported by the New York Times shows how exercise makes for a bigger, faster brain as well as a better body. So get out there and work that brain!

fru-fru drinks are good for you...

No wonder all those girls look so good... and here I thought it was just the beer goggles...

Fruity cocktails count as health food, study finds

You Go Girls!

Women are pumping more iron, with nearly 1 in 5 doing twice-a-week workouts


Increased bone density, lower weight, stronger muscles - what took so long...

metrics

Not much point of having a goal if you don't measure your progress towards that goal.

I was doing well for a while, but have been slacking the last couple weeks, and it shows. I've created a spreadsheet on numsum that I'll be updating on a weekly basis.

Everyone ELSE is fat. Not MEEEEEEEE!!!

After yesterday's news, this caught my eye. How typically American.

"90% of Americans see others as overweight, but only 39% consider themselves overweight."

Just how stupid are we, really? I mean, really? I realize this is the typical over-confidence bias inherent in much of human thought and perception. But people, puh-leez. It's one thing when everyone considers themselves an "above average" driver. It's kinda hard to measure, yes? But come on. When you're fat, you're fat. Guess what? Can't see your feet without leaning forward? You're FAT! Keep having to buy bigger clothes sizes? You're FAT! You can't hide it. Is there a fat equivalent of a comb-over?

This reminds me of the comedy club scene in the Eddie Murphy remake of the Nutty Professor. "Your momma's so fat, her belt size is equator!" Don't get me started.

Sometimes I think this country, this race, is doomed.

How depressing. Better go hit the gym - that makes everything look better, and at least you won't be fat...

Talk less, sweat more.