Update Season VI - "A New Day Dawning"

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The events that have transpired are no surprise to me. He isn't walking or looking for a job. He is like a kid again, living at home like a high schooler on summer vacation, which is what I said would happened when he left Utah.

Does this surprise anyone? Just let him be fat and happy and tell his tale. I am over trying to chastise him because he doesn't care. He will always be overweight, lazy, passive aggressive, and stubborn. He won't change. I wouldn't be surprised if he never works again and merely lives off whatever government subsidies his family receives. But that is the way some people are, and it is OK.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I haven't walked today.  I've been out with my mother all day and now at Grandma's waiting for the family to come in.  They should be here between 4 and 5.  It is bright and sunny here in the high 40's, but we'll be busy all month with family and birthdays, so I will walk when I can this month.

Yet from 9:10 - 11:00, you didn't say you had anything to do.  And you've had time to come on the forum... walking only takes 30 minutes, at most.

I made some phone calls and sent emails.  I could have walked, but I didn't.   No big deal.

OK, but you've been making excuses for years.  You didn't become obese overnight just from not exercising once.  Unless you get in a daily routine, you're never going to actually change.

True, I have been making excuses, and I let things get in my way.  I need to stop planning and just do it.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I haven't walked today.  I've been out with my mother all day and now at Grandma's waiting for the family to come in.  They should be here between 4 and 5.  It is bright and sunny here in the high 40's, but we'll be busy all month with family and birthdays, so I will walk when I can this month.

Yet from 9:10 - 11:00, you didn't say you had anything to do.  And you've had time to come on the forum... walking only takes 30 minutes, at most.

I made some phone calls and sent emails.  I could have walked, but I didn't.   No big deal.

OK, but you've been making excuses for years.  You didn't become obese overnight just from not exercising once.  Unless you get in a daily routine, you're never going to actually change.

True, I have been making excuses, and I let things get in my way.  I need to stop planning and just do it.

I believe when I see.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I haven't walked today.  I've been out with my mother all day and now at Grandma's waiting for the family to come in.  They should be here between 4 and 5.  It is bright and sunny here in the high 40's, but we'll be busy all month with family and birthdays, so I will walk when I can this month.

Yet from 9:10 - 11:00, you didn't say you had anything to do.  And you've had time to come on the forum... walking only takes 30 minutes, at most.

I made some phone calls and sent emails.  I could have walked, but I didn't.   No big deal.

OK, but you've been making excuses for years.  You didn't become obese overnight just from not exercising once.  Unless you get in a daily routine, you're never going to actually change.

True, I have been making excuses, and I let things get in my way.  I need to stop planning and just do it.

I believe when I see.

Don't blame you, Kal.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I haven't walked today.  I've been out with my mother all day and now at Grandma's waiting for the family to come in.  They should be here between 4 and 5.  It is bright and sunny here in the high 40's, but we'll be busy all month with family and birthdays, so I will walk when I can this month.

Yet from 9:10 - 11:00, you didn't say you had anything to do.  And you've had time to come on the forum... walking only takes 30 minutes, at most.

I made some phone calls and sent emails.  I could have walked, but I didn't.   No big deal.

OK, but you've been making excuses for years.  You didn't become obese overnight just from not exercising once.  Unless you get in a daily routine, you're never going to actually change.

True, I have been making excuses, and I let things get in my way.  I need to stop planning and just do it.

You realize you say this every time I point out that you've failed to stick to your "plan" (yet you actually follow through on things you want to do - like Kenya), right?  It's not raining now... go walk.

[patrick1]

I haven't walked today.  I've been out with my mother all day and now at Grandma's waiting for the family to come in.  They should be here between 4 and 5.  It is bright and sunny here in the high 40's, but we'll be busy all month with family and birthdays, so I will walk when I can this month.

Yet from 9:10 - 11:00, you didn't say you had anything to do.  And you've had time to come on the forum... walking only takes 30 minutes, at most.

I made some phone calls and sent emails.  I could have walked, but I didn't.   No big deal.

Yes, it is. This is your life, get off your a$$ and live it.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Yeah, I know I say that every time, but I'm not going to apologize for following through on Kenya, because there is no need.  We just got through with a nice dinner and a nice visit as a family.  Tomorrow morning, I don't have much going on, so I will get out and walk for 30 minutes in the morning before I start my afternoon and evening activities.  I should be able to walk Saturday and Sunday afternoon, as well.  With my family in town, my time will be limited, but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying to walk during the time I do have and drinking water when I'm not with them and iced tea lightly sweetened with Splenda for dinner when I am with them.

Its time to be candid right now:  I have had about 4-5 glasses of water a day all week, but my food consumption has not been what it should  I have been pigging out.  I weighed myself this morning for the first time in over a week and I have gained five pounds since I last weighed myself early last week.  I've gone from 264 to 269.  That along with what the doctor told me last Thursday that I've got high cholesterol, weight-induced arthritis in my knees that will travel down to my feet if I don't get this under control, and since he put me on kidney alert because of my mother, has got me concerned.  So, tonight before I go to bed, I'm going to plan out some kind of walking schedule each morning to where I can try to walk at least 30 minutes every day or as many days as I can.  I can't really plan my diet until May as I will be with my family the next three weeks and then have birthdays the rest of the month, but I can at least do what I mentioned above with the water and iced tea.  I'm going to try to go to bed earlier tonight than what I have been which is 1:00-2:00 am, so I can get up a little earlier tomorrow and walk for 30-40 minutes before coming in to get a shower and start my day.  It is time to get serious about this so I can enjoy my time in Kenya among other major benefits that don't need to be mentioned.

One thing I really like about my Indian doctor is he is concerned about my weight.  My regular doctor in Edmond was never really all that concerned about it.  He mentioned it in passing, but never pushed it as a major issue and I am the same size now since when I last saw him last April.

[patrick1]

You don't need a master plan to eat less and exercise more. Control your portions, be active and keep yourself accountable.

You are being a molly coddled, mealy mouth man child.  That said, by all means, please proceed with your whine fest.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

One thing I really like about my Indian doctor is he is concerned about my weight.  My regular doctor in Edmond was never really all that concerned about it.  He mentioned it in passing, but never pushed it as a major issue and I am the same size now since when I last saw him last April.

Yes - I remember when you first went to him you mentioned this and said you'd get in shape because of it... but that hasn't happened.

And part of your old doctor was probably that he was used to you as being overweight.  At some point, he probably realized, "Jeff hasn't lost weight the past __X__ times I've told him... there's no point insulting the man."  That's how some here are.  I'm like the Indian doctor... although a bit more abrasive.  I know you're overweight, and I'll keep reminding you until you aren't.

How about you go walk for an hour tomorrow to make up for today.

Look Jeff, this isn't hard.  I've lost 15.8 pounds in less than 3 months, just by eating less.  I haven't intensified my exercising (which, I'll admit is less than ideal during school, but over the summer, I do get out and jog).

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

This is your life we are talking about. If you don't let that warning concern you, I don't know what will.

I think a lot of us, myself included, want you to get better and we don't wish for you to be sick, but you are, and you could get much worse. You are 31 years old and have problems even my 90 year old grandfather does not have. And you're still making excuses. Family time, birthdays, etc. You're a grown man. You sound like you're 15 years old and have no choice but to stuff your face at all of these events. I get you are home now and your parents do not respect you as an adult, but still.

You've gained 5 pounds in a short period of time, you aren't exercising, working, and you're sleeping in, watching tv all way. I mean, goodness, come on, pal, I don't want you to die so young and that's where you are headed.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Jeff - you sound like my grandma.  I love her, but she's not a normal functioning adult.  (Although she's mostly physically healthy).

But she makes excuses all the time as reasons not to go out: "The cat needs its insulin shot."  "I don't feel good - I have a cold." (I've never seen someone get as many "colds" as she claims.)  "The cats aren't used be being left home alone that long."

She's become a hoarder, and the excuse is that she'll always clean the house later.

Jeff... you have the same type of personality.

[Joe Biden 2020]

One thing I really like about my Indian doctor is he is concerned about my weight.  My regular doctor in Edmond was never really all that concerned about it.  He mentioned it in passing, but never pushed it as a major issue and I am the same size now since when I last saw him last April.

Yes - I remember when you first went to him you mentioned this and said you'd get in shape because of it... but that hasn't happened.

And part of your old doctor was probably that he was used to you as being overweight.  At some point, he probably realized, "Jeff hasn't lost weight the past __X__ times I've told him... there's no point insulting the man."  That's how some here are.  I'm like the Indian doctor... although a bit more abrasive.  I know you're overweight, and I'll keep reminding you until you aren't.

How about you go walk for an hour tomorrow to make up for today.

Look Jeff, this isn't hard.  I've lost 15.8 pounds in less than 3 months, just by eating less.  I haven't intensified my exercising (which, I'll admit is less than ideal during school, but over the summer, I do get out and jog).

I'm not trying to insult my old doctor or question his practices.  He's an excellent doctor and I was under his care for 16 years from 1996-2012 and I never had any real complaints with him.  In fact, I still have his number on standby for major emergencies that I would feel more comfortable with a regular doctor than a tribal   The reason for that is the Indian Hospital is in Ada, Oklahoma which is a good 75 minute drive from my house.  My old doctor is associated with Mercy Hospital which is in NW Oklahoma City.

I'll definitely get out and walk tomorrow.  It will be a beautiful day, and I want to take advantage of it.

What I really would like to do is try to remember what I did between November 2011 and March 2012 when I lost 25 pounds and go back to doing that.  I do remember I switched completely from Coke and Dr Pepper to Diet Dr Pepper and Coke Zero.  I had several real sugar Cokes in Kenya that got me hooked back on Regular Cokes.  Anymore, though, regular Coke or Dr Pepper tastes fattening and is starting to not taste as well.  Right now, I'm drinking a Diet Dr Pepper since my fish oil capsules taste terrible with just plain water, so I have to have something other than plain water to wash it down with.  Normally, at this time of night, I have some V-8 to take my medicine with, but tonight I decided to have a Diet Dr Pepper.  I know DDP is not necessarily any better, but it is calorie free and still is satisfying like pop generally is and does not taste fattening or sugary.

So, that is my goal, to recall everything I did 2 winters ago and do that.  That would at least get the weight off if nothing else.

[Joe Biden 2020]

This is your life we are talking about. If you don't let that warning concern you, I don't know what will.

I think a lot of us, myself included, want you to get better and we don't wish for you to be sick, but you are, and you could get much worse. You are 31 years old and have problems even my 90 year old grandfather does not have. And you're still making excuses. Family time, birthdays, etc. You're a grown man. You sound like you're 15 years old and have no choice but to stuff your face at all of these events. I get you are home now and your parents do not respect you as an adult, but still.

You've gained 5 pounds in a short period of time, you aren't exercising, working, and you're sleeping in, watching tv all way. I mean, goodness, come on, pal, I don't want you to die so young and that's where you are headed.

At least when I'm with my family, we'll have proper meals (meats, vegetables, fiber, etc) and won't have any fast food.  I will just limit myself to one plate and one piece of pie for dessert and trim the portion sizes just a bit on that one plate so I don't overeat.  Tonight, I made a mistake.  My grandmother made my favorite pie, Pumpkin, and I had one for dessert, but an hour or so later I went back and got another piece of pie with a little more Vanilla Ice Cream to top it off.  I should not have done that.  My mother is having to do the same thing, trim her portion sizes.  She was able to do it this evening and still felt a little hungry after her dessert, but she didn't go back for seconds and did not have anything else to eat or drink the rest of the night save the little swig of Diet Dr Pepper to take her medicine.

I'm still going to enjoy myself while I'm with the family, but I can enjoy myself without over indulging.  In fact, I might enjoy myself more if I don't over indulge.

I might treat myself for my birthday as my Dad will be grilling hamburgers weather permitting, but that's about it.  I'm not going to let my family's company stop me from trying to at least cut down and walk when I'm not with them.  Then, once everybody leaves and the birthdays are over on May 1, I can go full throttle into this diet leading up to my trip to Kenya.

[Mr. Morden]

Right now, I'm drinking a Diet Dr Pepper since my fish oil capsules taste terrible with just plain water, so I have to have something other than plain water to wash it down with.

Rather than cover the taste with water alone, why not cover the taste by immediately eating some small piece of food, like a small piece of bread or cheese or something?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Take them with bread. That's how I take pills.

[Sbane]

I have heard those fish oil pills lead to some smelly, fishy burps. Maybe it helps to take it with some soda?

[memphis]

Do you frequently have dessert with a meal? One dessert is superfluous.

[patrick1]

So I'm thinking and hoping by the looks of it that Zack went out a had a few and Bushie has returned to a full on troll spree.  All is right with the Atlas Forum.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I have heard those fish oil pills lead to some smelly, fishy burps. Maybe it helps to take it with some soda?

That is true, and it helps to take them with soda or fruit juice.  Although, my burps haven't been near as bad as I thought they would be, so that's a blessing.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Do you frequently have dessert with a meal? One dessert is superfluous.

Only when my grandmother cooks do we get a 10 course meal and dessert because that's how she was raised.

When my mother cooks, we don't have dessert and maybe one side dish.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Sugar is your biggest enemy. Everytime you eat it, it spikes your insulin, which tells your body to store fat. Don't eat dessert with every meal. If you're going to do that, you may as well not diet. Just eat a meal. That's it. Does your family always have pie after they eat?

I still have little confidence in a diet because I don't think you or your family knows how to eat properly. You were all raised on "good ole country food" which is heavy on the red meat, fried, covered in gravy or full of animal fat. It's GOOD, trust me, I remember my grandmother used to cook crap like that a lot when I was a kid and I would eat it all the time, but I learned when I turned 16 or so that I couldn't do that forever. My grandmother made the same excuses you made - she gained a lot of weight after she turned 75 and fell. She gave up. She even said she "wasn't supposed to exercise" even though we begged her to get her weight under control. She died at 80 of a massive stroke. She lived 4 years really after she let herself go. She did have breast cancer too during that time, but still, her weight was an issue. Don't let that happen to you.

But I said it before and I will say it again - the only way Bushie turns this around is by becoming his own man, shedding the ways of his parents. But he won't do that because he feels it is insulting to them even when he and his parents are slowly dying because they are so unhealthy. At least my grandmother lived 80 full years of life. Bushie already has these problems and he is 31. I can't imagine what else has to happen for him to get it. Perhaps he will be like my grandmother and continue to refuse. We saw how her story ended.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It's been a very long, but very enjoyable day.  I walked for about 45 minutes this morning, then left for my grandmother's at 10:45, got there at 11:00.  My aunt who is a retired CPA helped me with my taxes this afternoon as it was a lot more complicated than usual for someone who knows hardly anything about taxes.  It's a good thing she helped me because it took 4 hours to complete.  We probably could have gotten them done in 2 1/2 hours, but we had to print some Utah forms out on my grandmother's computer and that took forever to update the Adobe Reader and all of that.  It took probably a good 60 minutes just to do that, then we took a break and visited for a bit.  It was more complicated because I had both Oklahoma and Utah to file.  I'll get a decent sized refund back, so the 4 hours was worth it.  We had dinner at 5:00 which was just Vegetable Beef Soup and Cornbread along with Iced Tea.  I had one bowl of soup and two small cornbread muffins and one small slice of Italian Cream Cake for dessert.  Tomorrow, it will get even busier, because my mother's cousins are coming up from Fort Worth at Noon to visit.  They will only stay until Noon Sunday, but we'll have 9 people for dinner tomorrow instead of 7.  Then, on Monday, my Uncle Alan (Mom's brother) and Aunt Teresa will be coming down from Kansas City around 1:00 or 2:00 and leave on Tuesday.  So, we'll have 9 people over for dinner again Monday night.  My Aunt Sherri, the one who helped me with my taxes, is heading to Florida Tuesday morning for a girls weekend with some of her girl friends.  Her husband will stay with his Dad in Nicoma Park until she gets back next Tuesday, April 16.  When she comes back, we'll have a couple they are friends with fly back with them, so we'll have 9 people again for dinner from Tuesday, April 16 until everybody goes back home on Monday, April 22.  Mom, Dad, Grandma, and I may sleep for 10 days straight...

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

You really need to take up drinking. At least then you'd have a good excuse to sleep for 10 days.

And as expected, your dinner was about as bad as usual. Two pieces of bread. 1 serving of the vegetable soup. And a piece of pie.

Oh, Bushie. You just won't do.

[opebo]

I don't think you or your family knows how to eat properly. You were all raised on "good ole country food" which is heavy on the red meat, fried, covered in gravy or full of animal fat. It's GOOD, trust me, I remember my grandmother used to cook crap like that a lot when I was a kid and I would eat it all the time, but I learned when I turned 16 or so that I couldn't do that forever. My grandmother made the same excuses you made - she gained a lot of weight after she turned 75 and fell. She gave up. She even said she "wasn't supposed to exercise" even though we begged her to get her weight under control. She died at 80 of a massive stroke.

Um.. you criticize some people's habits and then use as an example of what is wrong with those habits the story of some old lady dying at 80 years of age?  I have news for you bub, everybody dies at about that age - in fact she did much better than average.

[patrick1]

I don't think you or your family knows how to eat properly. You were all raised on "good ole country food" which is heavy on the red meat, fried, covered in gravy or full of animal fat. It's GOOD, trust me, I remember my grandmother used to cook crap like that a lot when I was a kid and I would eat it all the time, but I learned when I turned 16 or so that I couldn't do that forever. My grandmother made the same excuses you made - she gained a lot of weight after she turned 75 and fell. She gave up. She even said she "wasn't supposed to exercise" even though we begged her to get her weight under control. She died at 80 of a massive stroke.

Um.. you criticize some people's habits and then use as an example of what is wrong with those habits the story of some old lady dying at 80 years of age?  I have news for you bub, everybody dies at about that age - in fact she did much better than average.

Opie, I'm sure someone with such finely honed epicurean sensibilities as yourself knows there is a difference between mere survival and living well. Taking a bunch of pills and finding a brief walk a challenge, at what is supposed to be your prime, is not a enjoyable way to live.  All it takes is a few simple changes and the quality of life will improve.