A Few of my latest colorings

This is one I did for my wife, it is done in pencil and gel pen.

This is my latest it is also in pencil and gel pen. 

I have decided to reopen my blog to show case my art

i will be using the blog to show my artwork

I am closing my blog

Folks I have decided that I will be coping down all of my post that I do not have in my journal and closing this blog down and just doing my writing in my journal for now on. If you would still like to see my writings let me know and I can make arrangements to send you the ones I believe you would enjoy.

I will start this blog with my thoughts

“I believe we are all different, for me once I have learned to except my body's happy weight, and I have really learned what portion control means to me. I am not hungry and I feel full after a meal. I do not eat lunch, but I do eat breakfast and dinner. Also for me it is all about timing of my meals. Now I have to say I do not eat fast foods, or processed foods but every now and then. But I have learned I am happier and satisfied best by eating the foods I enjoy and love to eat, which for me is real foods. Growing up on a farm I love veggies, fresh meat, fruits, and nuts. I do not really care for cakes and pies that much but do love a little ice cream at times. I also no longer worry about the occasional party with family and friends, I know I can enjoy eating what I like and keeping my portions under control. But I have had to except that I can never be the weight that I was told I had to be and I had to except what I have always known to be my body's normal set point weight range or happy weight range. I also depend on my semi-annual health checks and my blood work, and also my blood pressure for gaging myself. This has removed a lot of stress which has removed binge eating and my blood pressure issues. It is all about learning yourself and working with your body's needs.”

Yesterdays walk was not that much fun, I waited to late in the afternoon and it was too hot. I also went to a new trail, this was a big mistake. The trail must be the oldest in the Village and it used the sides of the roads way to much. The trail is very hard to follow and I see it as very dangerous. Sandy was with me and she did great. We walked 4.5 miles on a trail that they say is only 3 miles. Like I said the trail was hard to follow and was not well marked. Sandy is a great walking partner and does keep me moving at a great pace. She also will let me know when she needs to rest or needs water. I take water for her and me with me along with a few treats for her. She is just a baby really but she is very smart and seems to understand a lot more that most people claim dogs can. She is getting better at riding in the car and is less nervous each day. I believe it is due to the fact that when we walk the trails I use a long retractable leash so she can explore the area around her. She has great hunting skills already. 

My weight is holding at around 198, sure I would love to get it back down to around 195 but as long as my waist is still as small as it is I am not worried, and also my blood pressure staying where it is which is great. 

A couple of pictures of Sandy, these were taken after the walk.

I seem to be getting lazier about my blogging.

So what has happened and is happening? Sandy our new puppy is making a wonderful walking partner. I have to be honest I am worried about my weight. I am still well within my happy weight range but I have gained some weight that I am not happy with. Why I am worried is that I am not sure I should be worried about the weight or should be okay with it due to seeing no change in my clothes. My weight this morning was 199 and as I have said before my weight in my 20s and 30s was in the range of 205 - 215 with cloths on. My 199 is early morning before getting dressed but after doing my morning personal bodily dues. I also have to say that my waist is the same now as it was back in my 20s and 30s that is a huge achievement for my age. 

Well,  it has been hot here or so the local weatherman says too me it is warm and humid but livable. I have been taking Sandy to the trials with me to walk. The first day she made it about a mile and just let me know that was all she was going to do, that was a week ago. Monday we went out and made it 1.6 miles without much issue even with the heat. Yesterday we went out in the early afternoon and made it a full 3.6 miles or the full trail. I will take her with me again today and see what we can do. I am thinking about a new trail that has some stairs on it to see if I can get her past being nervous about stairs. This trail is about 3 miles also so it should not be that much of a challenge except for maybe more hills. 

This is Sandy at 4 months old

So what are my beliefs?

I believe in God and that Jesus is God’s Son.

I believe that abortions are wrong in God’s eyes. But I can except abortions in the case of rape, and to save a mother’s life. Abortion for birth control is totally wrong.

I do believe in proper birth control.

I believe in helping the needy, But I do not believe in a free handout except when someone cannot provide for themselves due to illness and being disabled. Being to lazy to work is not a reason for welfare.

I believe in legal immigration, I do not believe in illegal immigration and the illegals should be deported. I also believe if anyone come to this country should be able to present their case to why they want to be here. 

I do not believe in giving new immigrates welfare they should be here to get a job and to go to work.

I do not believe in a woman coming to this country just to have her baby to get it citizenship that should be stopped and no longer allowed. 

I believe in a reasonably priced healthcare, not some pipe dream of free healthcare. 

I believe and was raised to believe that there is nothing in life that is free.

I do not belong or ever intend to below to any political party.

I am a Veteran so I believe in respect of the Uniform even when I do not have any respect for the person wearing it. And I believe that the President wears a uniform in a sense so I respect the Office of the President even if I do not respect the person. 

I believe in our Constitution but I believe that we do not uphold the letter of the Law that is the Constitution. 

I believe that our media is evil and the work of the Devil. 

I believe in truth and I hate the lies that our media is feeding this nation.

I believe in respecting others but I ask for the same respect. 

I tell it like I see it and I believe what I believe. 

I am also someone that will admit I am wrong when it is fully proven to be wrong. 

But it has to be hard prove and not heresy . And to me our media is nothing be heresy and a propaganda tool of the “New world order” that is trying to take over this country. 

Our congressmen and senators are corrupt and are only looking out for the almighty dollar and do not care anything about the citizens of this country. And to be honest our votes do not mean anything any more. They all say what they believe we want to here. But now days the Democrats do not even bother to do that they have their on agenda that is to take down this country. 

I also believe that the “new world order” has been brainwashing our kids for a long time and trying to erase this nation’s true history, and is now leading the act of removing all of our monuments and God from this country. 

I believe we are in a civil war and it will become a lot more bloody before it is over. 

I do read the Bible and I believe the Bible. And I believe we are well in to Revelation’s predictions for the end of the world as we know it.

Am I always right of course not. But I have been right at least as many times as I have been wrong. 

I have Prayed to God and Jesus to show me the way and He has never failed to point me to the Bible for my guidance. The latest place I was sent was to the fact that false prophets will be so numerous in the end times. 

Prophets preach lies

and priests hire on as their assistants.

And my people love it. They eat it up!

But what will you do when it's time to pick up the pieces? -Jeremiah 5:31

It has been a while

I have been busy and have not really had anything to write about. 

My weight is hanging in at 197.4 which is good and well within my happy weight range. My blood pressure is also doing great. I do have sinus issues due to the damp and humid weather.

My waist continues to go down just a little. My pants are fitting even better. If I continue to lose my belly fat I am going to need new pants. My eating habits are do reasonably well. I do have bad days and very good day. It is averaging out nicely. My weight does bounce around from a high of about 199 to a low of 196. With the heat and humidity I really do not want to eat hot meals and in doing so I am eating more fresh salads and fruit. And drinking lots of unsweet tea and water. On my bad days I am eating about a half a cup of ice cream. And I have had a couple of issues with low blood sugar and have had to eat a small snack size snickers bar. 

It has been so hot and we have had almost daily rain so I have not been riding my Vespa as much as I would like. We are working to get the garage cleaned up so we can unload the last POD when it gets here the first of August. Most of what is in it is going to go to charity I a sure.

Thunderstorms again

I am not complaining we need the rain, we are under burn bans in the county and all around us.  Seeing we live in a National Forest we need to be very careful. 

Now on to what I have been thinking about. When I first started to lose my weight back in 2010 I did it by just cutting back on how much I ate, AK portion control. I did that for about 8 months before I found loseit. Sure loseit did help me figure out a lot about foods, but the calorie counting for almost 7 years stressed me out, and I gained weight back while still counting those calories. Why, well our bodies will put up with us forcing it to lose weight for only so long then it will start fighting back and that happened to me big time. I was still eating the same as I had been at the time I lost the weight counting calories but my body needed something I was not giving it so it turned my hormones against me. And I started gaining. Why? Well, I have come to understand that our bodies have a happy weight or set point weight range, and if we force our bodies out of that range it fights back. Now that fighting back can be overridden even more and force us to gain even more by the added chemicals that are added to the so called foods that our food industry uses to get us to eat more and buy more food. Well,  I was not eating that much processed foods but enough, and my body started working on me. I gained back the weight I had lost by using loseit. I finally figured out what was happening and I stopped the processed foods and started to eat really real food again, I did not change my calories but I started to lose the weight again. So what did I do I cut back on calories trying to force my weight down even more, and went below my body’s set point and my body turned on me once again and forced me back up. I am now holding with in my body’s happy weight range by eating real food most of the time. I am controlling my portions, and I am keeping my calories in and calories out balanced. I am in the lower in of what I have come to understand as my happy weight range. I know come winter I will go to the upper end of that range and that is my normal. I have also managed to gain some extra muscle, and lose some fat by what I am doing due to exercise and chores. Also fasting can help you create more muscle and it does not really cause you or in my case me to lose weight, just keep in under control. I do not fast days at a time, only about 14 to 18 hours most days. At first I got really hungry and wanted to eat by now I no long seem to feel hungry on the fast. 

The way it is for me.

What is the right diet and weight management plan?

The true answer is what ever works for me. 

What is the right weight that I should be?

The correct answer is the weight I can manage to hold, and be healthy. It does not have to be by some chart or calculator, it just needs to be a weight that my body is happy with. It will be the weight that my lab work is the best it can be, I will have the best blood pressure I can have, and it will be due to the fact I am eating as healthy as possible and still be happy with what I am eating. 

I am finding and finally understanding that our bodies have their happy weight or set point weight range that it will stay within as long as you eat as healthy as you can. That does not mean to me I have to give up on all sweets, and fast foods, or all processed foods. It means keeping them under control by keeping them with in a limit. Now I am going to add that I am healthy and am not diabetic or any other disease. I do have issues with my blood pressure at times, and I now know it is due to stress and too much salt. I have it under control at this time by controlling how much salt I take in, and managing my stress levels. So if you have a disease that causes you to have to eat a certain way I say that if you want to be healthy then you will have to learn to eat to control or defeat the disease. 

I do believe in eating real food most of the time, that means to me at least 80% of the time all of the time, and whenever possible at least 90% of the time. That may sound confusing so here it is if I am traveling and on the road I eat 80% real healthy food. If I am home I make sure I eat real and healthy 90% of the time. And to be honest if I am out on the road for more than a week eating at 80% then I will return home and for a week I will eat at 100% real healthy foods. I also find that if I am traveling I can go longer between meals due to being busy driving, or doing other things so that works in with my fasting times and helps offset the bad eating. At home with my wife it is harder for me to fast the way I would like to due to her requirements for eating due to her very small stomach, but I still say no to a lot of eating she asks me to do with her. 

So here is my beliefs and you can take it or leave it. Weight management is not about the scale, it is about being healthy with good medical lab results. Which really means the best they can be for me? I am also finding that I can make my health worse, and my lab work worse by forcing my body to be and stay below the weight it wants to be at. It is also true for my blood pressure I was forcing my weight below what my body wanted and my blood pressure was higher than now. A lot of that is due to the stress I was placing on myself due to trying to stay within a calorie range. I still log what I eat but I do not count calories. I am going from habit now and it is working for me. I still do portion control and size limits for what I eat. I do not eat seconds, and I am eating only 2 meals a day with a snack of nuts. My wife believes in a wide verity of food, and I am someone that could eat the same things over and over most of the time. My wife is a believer in pasta and breads I am not so much into pasta and breads. I do love a good salad and can and do a whole meal out of a green leafy salad. My bread of choice is something I know is not that healthy but I do love homemade cornbread and I have it once a month at most.

To survive the weight management game I have to have a healthy mix of eating healthy real foods and my health allows me to have a less healthy mix of the foods I love but know I cannot eat all to time, but I have to allow myself to have it every now and then.  The main thing that destroys a good eating plan is boredom and eating foods I cannot stand. I repeat the main thing that destroys a good eating plan is boredom and eating food I cannot stand. The next thing is being overly hungry day after day. We can only force our bodies to do things it does not like for so long and it will force us to do what it wants by the use of our hormones. I have seen it happen to me over and over again. 

Live goes on

My wife made it home early Sunday morning, We are trying to get back on schedule. She and I have different needs when it comes to eating. She has a very small stomach due to illness, and surgery. So she does eat more meals and snack at times. I am trying to stay on my fasting schedule and it is hard. My weight is 198.4 which is up about 4 tenths of a pound, more than likely it is just salt. I will do my best to work around her needs for she has no weight she can afford to lose. 

Yesterday was fun we got out and rode our scooters around the area, and had lunch at the Shack again. We rode both inside and outside the Village and clocked about 40 miles. We did it for fun, practice, and for taking care of business. 

Lunch at the Shack

Yesterday was a very long day.

I was up at 6 am and did not go to bed until almost 02:00 this morning. My wife flew in from her trip to Erie Pa, the flight did not get in until 11:30 pm and by the time she found her bags it was almost midnight. It is an hour+ drive to and from the airport. And oh yes just as I was getting ready to leave for the airport I find out that my jeep does not have any low beam headlights so I am sure I made a few people mad as I had to drive with high beams only. 

My weight is morning is down a very little, I am now 198.2 which I find great seeing I had a very bad day with food yesterday. I did not stick with my eat only from about noon until about 4:00 pm, I was stressed waiting for my wife so I did eat more than I normally do. I would estimate calorie wise I did not go over what loseit would allow me to eat, but that is still more that I should eat. I will also have to get back to my fasting again by slowly adjusting my time so I do my fast again. And it will not be as easy with my wife at home. While she was away I would eat my last meal at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. With my wife at home it will be closer to 6 in the afternoon. My wife also believes in breakfast as I believe in breakfast food whenever I feel like eating she believes in eating as soon as possible after getting up. I will still be ok as long as I stick with my normal of eating only 2 meals a day worth of food. I just will not drop my belly fat as fast as I did this past week. 

I have always followed others leads while finding my own way.

So what am I saying? I start out by following others to see what they are doing, I analyze what they are doing and make adjustments to work for myself. Sometimes that only means minimal changes, and other times it means totally scraping that ideal and finding something else to try. I have read most of the popular books on diets and over the last 40 years tried the ones that made sense to me. But I am saying in the end all of them do not work for me for the long run. So I am going my on way now. Yes, I am doing fasting, on my terms. I am eating what I enjoy and know I can stick with while fasting about 14 - 20 hours a day. I love carbs, and meat, and fats and all of the rest. I do not have issues with them as long as I do not over do any of them. So, fasting and portion control is what it is taking for me. Yes, I need to be active and I need to do resistance workouts. But again, I do it my way and it is working. 

I believe to blindly follow others lead is foolish and even dangerous. And am I saying that calories in and calories out does not work? No, not really, it is about eating less than what you are burning. But I am saying that counting calories is a good way to start and learn about food, but it is stressful, at least it has been for me. Stress means my hormones goes nuts, and I end up eating something I should not, and just in general the more I stress the more fat I get around the old belly. So how do I know I am not eating more than I am burning. Well, lets see, I am not gaining weight, and my weight is even going down a little. That is a no brainer. The scale is important in doing this my way. But there is something else that I have had to do, and that is to give up on the charts and the concept that I am not healthy unless I weigh less than a BMI of 24.9. That is just some number that someone or group came up with a very long time ago. Our bodies know what its ideal weight is and it is going to fight tooth and nail to stay in that weight range. I know this because over the last 40 years of my life I have fought my body over this issue over and over. If I lose too much weight my body manages to work me back to where it wants to be. If I gain my body manages to work me back to where it wants to be. I know now that my body’s happy weight range is some where between 195 and about 205, without cloths. It does not matter what I do if I eat the correct foods that are real food most of the time. And if I do not go overboard on eating sweets and drinking alcohol my weight is going to bounce within the 195 to 205 at the limits, and most of the time it will be closer to 197 to 200. 

So how have I screwed up this balance in the past and gain the weight that I did? In a nutshell I was drinking way to many diet cokes, I was eating way too much snacks and desserts. But worse than that I was eating processed factory created foods all the time, and the more I ate the crap the more I was wanting to eat it. Processed foods are created to make us want to eat more of it.  It has been created to screw with our hormones that make us want to eat and it turns off our hormones that tell us we are full. 

And while I am at it why do you thing we are being told to eat small meals 6 times a day? It is not because it is good for us it is because it makes the food industry more money, and the more overweight we become it makes our doctors, the drug companies, the diet industry, and the fitness industry more money. Our being over weight as a human race makes everyone rich but us. 

I know you more than likely do not believe this because you want to believe that your doctor would not stir you wrong and your government would not do so either. Keep believing it as you keep losing and gain your weight over and over. I have done so way to many times and I am calling it quits as of now. 

Yesterday was a better day

It tried to rain all day but never did here. This morning my weight is down to 198.4 pounds. I made it past a 16 hour fast. My goal today is 20 hours. I ate what I wanted within a 4 hour window yesterday and it really felt great. I was never hungry and did not want anything sweet either. It really does feel good to be free from counting calories. I cannot explain the feelings I have about not worrying about how many calories I eat. I am finally understanding again that calories do not define me. Sure I am still writing down what I eat, and it amazes me what I can eat now that I would have either not eaten before or I would have stressed over eating it. Due to the fasting I do not believe I am eating anymore that I was before I just eat the same amount  in a shorter time frame. I am still very much doing my best to only eat real and healthy foods. I still do not eat very much or very often processed or fast foods. I do not drink sugary drinks except for 6 oz of juice with my first meal of the day. I do not eat low fat or low carb. I have whole milk with whey protein, I have cereal or toast or bread in a limited amount. I have my fruit, veggies and nuts. The nuts are my main stay when it comes to a quick snack.  It is very important to stay busy and entertained while fasting so you do not think about food, it is also very important to stay out of the kitchen and pantry. My exercises are very important, and resistance workouts are the most important part of my exercises. 

Am I saying this is for you? No, I am not but if you are healthy and wish to try it I would recommend it. I was very resistive to fasting for a long time, I believed that with my low blood sugar I could not do it. I believe I am seeing that my eating way too often was causing me more issues than helping me. Life is an experiment and we should not be afraid to try new things. I will go back to a saying that is stuck in my head:

“Only a fool keeps doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Ok back to diet and weight management.

First I am going to say that my weight is up to 199.2, which is down from 201. So what happened I have been on the road traveling and eating out so salt has been an issue. I have noticed that if I get too much salt I crave sugar, this I do not understand. For me the two together is an issue. Now for some good news my waist is down another inch, my chest measurement is up an inch, my thighs are down an inch each, and my shoulders are up an inch, as are my upper arms. The resistance bands seem to work better for me than the dumbbells, and curl bar. And what is nice about the bands are they travel well and can be used almost anywhere. I am also as of this week back to walking the hiking trails here in the Village. I am getting two benefits at once, the exercise from walking and a sauna treatment due to the heat and humidity. 

Now for a little rant, I am noticing now that I am not counting calories that no one wants to even give me the time of day on Loseit. It is like as long as you are doing it their way you are great and if you are not then you are the enemy. All I am trying to do it figure out what works for me. And I am finding out that fasting 16-18 hours of the day and eating when I feel like it and what I feel like the other hours of the day, and not all of them either that I am managing to do what I have been wanting to do. Yes, my weight is up a little, so what I am still within my body’s happy weight range which I am coming to understand as about 196 - 204. This by the way is what I weighed while I was in the Navy for my service time. It is also where my weight always tries to return to after me forcing it down, and it will even return to this range if a gain above it. I just have to come to understand how to eat to keep it in this range and still enjoy eating, and socializing with my friends and family. I am coming to understand something else. If you listen to your body, pay attention to its rhythm, and pay attention to what it is telling you it wants and needs you can find that happy weight range. I am also finding that my body has a time frame that it wants to be fed in. And it is not morning or evening it is in the middle of the day just around noon and or a little after. I am also finding that the hungry pains that I get are much less as long as I keep the sugar under control. This does not mean I eat nothing with sugar it means just enough to help my body. I am by the way someone that is close to being low blood sugar. I seem to need the sugar at times. It does not take but a bite of a snickers bar to get be back on track, I am talking a bite one time a day is all I need. 

I am happy with my results and I am happier not counting calories. I am still writing down what I eat so I can see what is happening. I am finding that while I can eat most anything. I just cannot eat certain foods in the same day or at the same meal. I am also finding that I have to keep my salt down but not completely out, I have to have some salt due to the heat and my walking and other activities. 

I believe if more people would learn to listen to their bodies, and work with their body’s needs, and rhythms they would be better off. I am also finding that doctors do not understand this concept either. My doctor just looks at my like this is some strange concept. But I have to say that my dietitian does take notes and even ask me questions about how I am doing and what I am finding to work and not work.

More questions than answers

I have more questions than answers: How can a people say they are a Christian and support abortions? 

How can a people say they support any type of illegal activity say they are Christian? 

Both of this go against to word of God.

I also this question, what is illegal and what is not?

It says in the Bible to obey the government, but do we obey the government if it goes against the true word of God?

I was raised to believe in God, and at the same time to obey the laws of this country.

What do you do when to do so you are disobeying one or the other? And how do you know which truly is the correct way of life? 

I do believe that in God, that is the higher being and the Creator of the world. I also know this our Bible has been interpreted by man, so how can to be sure it is still God’s true words?

Does this mean I know long trust the Bible? No, it does not. I just ask God in my prayers to show me his way. And He has been doing so. 

I still have to say with my believes that abortion is wrong and against God’s word. How can we destroy God’s creation? While I believe that immigration is good, I believe that doing it illegally is wrong, we still have to obey the laws of this country as we fight to get them changed. 

I also believe that we need to protect the children of this world. But we also have to put the blame where it belongs it is the parents decisions that are hurting the little ones that being dropped on our borders. And what about the ones, so many of them are coming here without parents at all. I call this child trafficking at its worse. Why are we not going after the ones that are doing this instead of welcoming them with open arms? 

And my last question is this who’s God is the true God the Christian God or the Islamic God. 

Well in my sole I knot there is only one true God the God that created me. While I am more closely a believer in Christianity, I still feel that organized religion is the creation of man and not of God. To do God’s will is to love everyone, yes I do my best to do so. 

While I have my beliefs I still do my best to let others have their own beliefs. For you see I myself do not really know anymore if God may be giving them different instructions than he is giving me. God is the only one that knows what his big pictures is. 

My last question is this am I right or wrong? I believe that if I pray daily and follow my heart I am doing what God has for me to do. That is all I can. And I must be doing it mostly right for I have no trouble sleeping at night, how about you?

One the road

Spent Tuesday on the road, I drove from home to DeSoto, Texas. It was about five hours of driving time.

My weight yesterday morning was just about back to normal after eating out on Saturday. For me it is always the salt that gets me. The good thing about being here is that I can fast longer and my wife will never notice. I will be traveling back home on Friday, I guess.
My sister in law Margaret pasted away early this morning from cancer. She and I haven’t talked in years due to me remarrying. I would like to go to the funeral in respect for the family but I am not sure I can or should.

The key to anything in live is that you put yourself into in with all of your heart and soul.

This is true for weight management too. You believe in what you are doing completely. If it turns out it is not working you find a new way and you believe in it heart and soul until it works or it is proven to be a bad decision. This is my way of thinking and my way of living. But I am always studying, researching and like a chess player planning my next move. This is all part of putting your heart and soul into it. Never just decide this is the way it is and never be welling to change.

Do you believe your doctor really wants you healthy?

I have read so much and researched so much that it proves to me that if we are healthy then there would be no need for as many doctors, nurses, diet companies, fitness companies, and the factory food industry would be dead. So big money is paying doctors to not tell us the truth.

Doctors have known for many years the truth about the obesity, and diabetes that plague this country and now the world. Doctors know that what we now eat and the fact that the factory food industry has created chemicals that trick our hormones into telling our brain to eat more. Doctors know that calories in and calories out does not really work. Doctors know about what insulin does to our bodies but they keep giving diabetics insulin to lower blood sugar until really telling us the truth. If they told us the truth they would be losing money from the kickbacks they get from the drug companies. 

Obesity and diabetes is a symptom and not a disease. Both of these symptoms can be reversed by eating correctly for most of us. Face it, it is not about the number of calories we eat, it is about what we eat and how often we eat. Our ancestors did not eat food out of boxes and they did not eat three meals a day plus snacks. They were luck to eat a single meal a day and they had to go out and hunt and gather what they ate, they did not go down to the local fast food store and get what they wanted when they wanted it. We eat too often, and we eat so called food and not real food too often. 

I grew up on a farm in the late 1940s and 1950s I was a skinny kid, and my parents, grandparents where also slim. We ate good but we ate what e grew. We did not go to the local fast food store to eat, hack the closes grocery store was about 30 miles from where we lived. We ate home grown veggies, fruits, and meat. We processed our on meats. We did eat home baked breads. And my grandmother, and mother made sure we had a dessert a few times a week. We also did not eat any snacks and we always had a large breakfast and a large lunch, and dinner was a smaller meal. We worked the fields, took care of the animals that were our source of meat, milk, and helped do the work on the farm. Yes, we still worked the fields with horses and mules at that time. We made sure the animals were well fed even before we would eat. What I am saying even as a child I never ate as much as most kids today do and I worked the fields and helped take care of the animals from the time I was able to walk good. 

I could go into a lot of the reading I have read and reprint a lot of data that says that our doctors really know what is happening today and have chosen not to make it public and even call the ones that are doing so quacks. But that is beyond what I want to say here. 

What I do want to say is that our food, diet, drug and fitness industries are doing is spending big money paying off our doctors and our governments to keep them quiet and to even tell us what these companies want us to believe. How else can these doctors afford to pay off their education loans, have their big homes and drive their big fancy cars. The doctors or no better than our elected congressman, and others in government that are getting rich off of the companies that buy them out. How else can they get rich on a government paycheck and the doctors get rich on what they get paid by our insurance companies that always under pay what the doctors charge. 

You can lose the weight you need to lose, you may not ever weigh what you are told you need to weigh, but you will lose to the point that more than likely you will not need medications. You will not need knee and other joint replacements, etc. I was told that I needed a knee replacement but they would not do it until I lost some of my weight. Well I lost the weight then even more doing it my way, and I no longer need a knee replacement because I ate mostly real foods that helped my body to rebuild my knee joint. Yes, our bodies are all the time removing old cells and replacing them with new ones. That even includes our brain cells. We do not have to lose our memories as badly as so many do if we only ate correctly. Yes, I said it brain loss is due to eating wrong foods, and eating way to often along with a lot of the medications that we are being given. 

Why am I claiming this I have family that are diabetic that have gone from taking a boat load of medications to not needing any medications by changing what they eat and how often they eat. I have gotten off all of the medications I was taking by losing the weight. I am now lowering my blood pressure by not eating so often. I am also losing fat and gaining muscle by fasting just the minimal amount. 

I know most of you will say I am crazy and I know why you will say that. You believe in what you see on TV ads. You also believe your doctor has your best interest in mine when he tells you what he does. And I bet you even believe your elected officials really do work for you. Well, I am here to tell you the only way that would ever be true is if you paid each and every on of them hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars a year. This world runs on money and if you do not have the money to give them.  Then they will tell you what the ones that are paying them wants you to hear.

Beautiful ride

My wife and I just got back from a beautiful ride. The only problem my wife got out into the lead and I could not get her to stop so I could get pictures. I promise I will take the ride again and I will stop for pictures. I do love following my wife because I see how she rides and I learn. It has not been that long since she was riding a lot and I have not ridden but very little since about 1972. But I have to say this was my best ride by far, and for the first time out I was only having to use my brakes for stop signs. I was managing to control my speed for the corners by using the throttle. We also were riding faster and I was not having the issue of holding the scooter in a straight line. 

Also I have a new decal for my scooter it is the Presidental Service sticker. For which I served at Camp David under the White House Communications Agency from August 1973 to Feburary of 1977.

It has been a month

Today makes it a month without counting calories and my weight has been more stable than I can ever remember in the past. I have had to much salt at times, but it seems that taking the apple cider vinegar and water a long with ginger in my morning hot tea has really helped to stabilize my water weight too. I have to admit my weight is still higher than it was when I started not counting calories but by less than 2 pounds. I also have to say that my belly is smaller, and my thighs are also smaller. I was carrying about 2 inches more fat around my belly and my thighs at the time I started not counting. And since I am doing resistance workouts my arms, chest, and shoulders are a little larger. My weight at this time is 196 and my percent of body weight is down to 17%. I am using the calipers and my weight and hight to figure my body fat percentage so it is not that accurate I am sure, but it is still down from what it was. 

I have not really changed much in the way I am eating, I am just not snacking like I was. I am not eating as much that can spike my insulin. I still eat the same things. I do wish I can eat less carbs, and more fats, but I have to live with my wife and I love her too much to force her to change her diet seeing it is hard to get her to eat enough in the first place. So I am just working on balancing myself as much as possible. Also I am working on making my time of not eating anything longer. I do not eat after the evening meal, so I am not eating from about 5:30pm until around 9:00am, and I do not normally eat lunch so I do not eat after my breakfast until I eat the evening meal around 5:00pm. My wife will be in Erie PA the week of July the 4^th that week I am planning on doing a few longer fasts just to see if I can. I also will be limiting my carbs that week. 

Why managing my weight is so hard for me

Let me start out with this my wife Linda is five foot six and 125 pounds fully dressed. She has a stomach the size of about a coffee cup. Why you ask? At Christmas time in 2012 she got very sick and ended up in the ER. They really did not find anything wrong until they did an upper GI, they found her stomach was twisted like a Barbers Pole. She was sent to a Gastrologist, who determined that she needed surgery and ASAP, but the insurance company refused the surgery saying it was for weight control even though my wife was weighing only 135. It took 3 more trips to the ER and a call from my company’s lawyer before they would approve the surgery and by then my wife’s stomach and died, and my wife was very close to being dead too. The surgery was successful and my wife is doing great now but I almost lost her. The surgery did not take place until early March 2013. Well, that is a little background now for the reasons of my issues.

My wife is under weight and more than likely will never be able to gain the weight she needs. She loves pasta, bread, anything Italian. Than means she loves carbs, and potatoes. I have gotten her to understand that I cannot control my weight by eating the high amount of carbs and potatoes. But she still gets upset when I refuse what she wants to eat. I refuse to fuss at her because at least she is eating enough to hold on to the weight she has. This is the reason I have such an issue, and the reason I am finally going to fasting. I can at least give my body a rest for the extra insulin, and I can cut some calories. And my wife is old school and refuses to except that carbs and potatoes, and bread are not that great for any of us.  She is a great cook and she does cook what I need along with what she wants, but she will not at times give in and just let me not eat the carbs and potatoes. For me eating out is a two sided sword. I can choice the foods I want to eat which is great but the other side is the extra salt in the foods. But I am finding that apple cider vinegar and ginger helps me get the extra water weight off faster. 

For me fasting is trying not to eating between meals and only eating breakfast and dinner, and never eating after dinner or at bedtime. It is normally 14 - 16 hours for me between dinner and breakfast the next day. If I need a stack then it is nuts, mostly almonds, and walnuts. I do not drink sugary drinks, except a very small amount of fruit juice with breakfast. Breakfast was the largest meal but I have lately manage to cut it back to about half of what it was. Dinner is mostly salad, meat, and other veggies. The only time I have bread is at breakfast. Sometimes dinner will be pasta and or potatoes. I do my best to keep it to as small amount as I can. 

We do what we have to, to keep our spouses happy. 

A simple question

I have to ask a question of the bleeding hearts for the immigrants that are illegally taking over this country. Where is your bleeding heart for the homeless, the Veterans, the elderly, and the sick in this country that are real citizens of this country and in great need of homes, medicine, and food? I understand the immigrants are in need so are our citizens in need. But you have turned your back on your own citizens. This is so true not only of the liberals, which is the democratic party, but even the so called conservative republicans. Our own government and media, has taken up the cross of everyone but the citizens of this country. Please think about it. Then tell my why. I should not be feel this way in my own country. Also, if I felt like my concerns were understood then I would feel so much better about helping the immigrants that needs help. But when my own country and my fellow citizens are more worried about citizens of another country than its own citizens then I feel this once great nation has lost its way and no longer deserves to call its great. I was raised to believe that charity starts at home, in this cast home is the USA. 

It is a rainy day so I my brain is working overtime

I have been thinking about diets, dieting, forced exercise, and just being plan active. I am 70 years young and I have seen a lot in my day. I grew up on a working farm, that we ate what we grew and very little else. My great grandparents, grandparents, and my parents and myself were not over weight. I fact I was the skinny kid. So when did I get fat? Believe it or not when I went in the Navy and was eating the food that was there for me to eat. The day I went into Navy bootcamp I weighed 168 pounds, the day I graduated from boot camp I weighed a whopping 210 pounds. Sure some of that weight was muscle, but most of it was fat around my belly that I have carried for the rest of my life. So why did I gain so much in bootcamp I want to say it was for the most part being force feed, and also the foods we where fed. Before bootcamp we ate mostly farm fresh veggies, fruit, and meat. Sure I had some grain in bread, and a few desserts. But I was never fed cereal, rice, not that many potatoes, and never bread the way we had it in bootcamp. I also ate way too much, and too often. The rest of my time in the navy, I managed to keep my weight at about 210 by only eating 2 meals a day instead of 3. I also did not eat in the chow hall that often. But that a lot of times meant that I was eating pizza and other junk foods. At just over 4 years in the Navy I married and my first wife did cook for us and I even lost a little weight for a while seeing I was eating mostly real food again. While I was in the service after I got married I was traveling a lot and very busy on the road. There would be times that I would eat a very quick small breakfast or maybe no breakfast and not even have time to eat until evening. I managed to not gain and maybe lose a little more. 

Then I got out of the Navy. I took a job as a field service person. But before going in to the field I had to sat in a class room 8 to 10 hours a day for about 5 months and there was always food for us and drinks heavy with sugar. Man oh man did I gain weight in those few months. Then I went in to the field and was very busy but doing a lot of work at night and sleeping in the day when I had time to sleep and you would thing I lost weight but no I gained even by not eating that much, but I was not eating that great when I ate. Also my stress level was very bad and it caused my blood pressure issue. I was put on medications that caused me to gain weight even more. Then I lost that lost that job due to the company giving up and just died off. I managed to get another job in short order but stressed and ate too much while looking for a job. The new job meant that I was on the road at about 5 am to get to work by 7 am., then I would work 8 to 12 hours a day sometimes 7 days a week. I was again not getting enough sleep and there was always the wrong types of food around to eat. And I started gaining again and I got acid reflux. 

Then about 1979 or 1980 I read about the Atkin’s Died and my wife and I both went on it, I believe when I started it I was about 230, and over about 9 or 10 months I went down to 163, but life goes on and I could not continue the diet mostly due to my wife having real issues with it on her health. So I went off of it and I gained all of the weight back then some. 

Fast forward to 1999 I left a job that was stressing me out so bad that my doctor was even telling me the job was not worth it. So I found a new job that I wanted so badly but again it was a stressful job but rewarding in that I was helping people with their problems. I was on the phone 8 or more hours a day. Some weeks 4 days a week 10 hours a day, and some weeks 5 days a week 8 hours a day my day would start a noon and go to 9 or 11 at night. There was alway food to eat most of it donuts, and soft drinks or pizza.  My weight was climbing again my acid reflux was there again. This continued for way to long. Then boom 2002 my first wife and my first love was killed in a car wreck, and my kids were all out of the home. What else was there to do but eat, and work. I did not even want to be home. When I was home I would have the TV on and something to ease my pain there to drink. For me luckily one of the kids I knew asked me to take his mom to the homecoming game, he had lost his dad the year before and his mom just did not want to go to the game by herself. I called Linda my wife now, and we talked about it we had always treated each other as brother and sister and had never thought about being really together. I took Linda to the game and after the game we sat in the car and talked for a very long time. We were both scared of the thoughts of dating and dating each other even scared us more. Then I walked her to the door to say good night. I am not sure why but a voice told me to give her a good night kiss so I kissed her on the cheek and I believe we both felt something at that same time. The next day was a parade in town so I called Linda the next morning and asked her if she wanted to go to it with me seeing I just did not want to be home alone, and did not want to go to a parade alone either. She said yes and the rest is history. We have been married for over 15 years and we have never regraded it. I believe it was God’s voice that night that told me to kiss her. 

Why that information? Linda is the reason for me losing my weight and keeping it off. She is a very good cook and she loves cooking and knows how to cook for someone with weight and health issues. Now I did not lose weight at first I even gained a lot more weight due to life and jobs and stress. But on our birthdays in 2010, it was also Thanksgiving, I could not fit into my dress cloths and I made my mind up then to lose weight. And even with it being the holidays I managed to lose 10 pounds by the first of the year. How was I doing it portion control only. I was not eat different food, I was just cutting back on what I ate. It was March of 2011 that I gave up diet coke finally, and I started walking, only a quarter mile at first. Then the end of July 2011 I found Loseit and calorie counting that carried me forward to lose down below 200 pounds for the first time since the Atkins diet. By January of 2012 I was down below 200 and I managed to keep at about 200 or less until the end of 2013, then I started slowly gaining, and I had not changed what I was eating and I had not increased my calories. So what happened? I will try to explain it to you. I was snacking almost all day trying to eat very small meals. This was screwing up my insulin production and my digestive system. I have only figured this out over the last month or two. 

So I am going to explain something to you that goes against the lies that our food industry, even our doctors, and government are telling us. We should never snack all day. We have to give our digestive system time to rest. When we eat to often we are increasing our insulin levels and too much insulin in our system makes the fat that we carry around. It is not eating fat that cause us to be fat. In fact eating good fat can cause us to lose the fat we are carrying around. Also, I am going to say this calories in and calories out is true and not true at the same time. The calorie is only a theory. Over the last month I have stopped counting calories, but I am logging what I eat, I have not gained any weigh but I also have not lost weight. I have also stopped snacking. I am only eating 2 meals most days and every now and then I will eat a 3 meal at lunch. I fast for about 14 hours a day from the end of the evening meal to the next days first meal. No bed time snack, no in between meal snacks. I am giving my digestive system time to digest the food I eat then have time to rest. I am feeling so much better. I have more energy, and my thinking is so much clearer. Also as I have said before I sometimes have issues with low blood sugar, I have not had an issue this last month, and my blood pressure is down to the point I no long need the medication. My belly and thighs are down a couple of inches too. I am very active but not forcing my self to exercise the way I was. I do some resistive training which I am finding I am enjoying. My chest and my shoulders have increased by about 2 inches, and I have even noticed my skinny arms are up about an inch. This is not fat it is solid lean muscle. 

I am planning to do longer fast in the future but more than likely I will not go over 18 to 24 hours as I really do not see the need. I am neither really overweight or diabetic, so I do not need to force myself that far. Fasting is not starvation by any means. And it is very good for the body, mind and soul. Why do you think it is being done by religious groups.  No you will not hear about it on TV due to fasting does not make the food industry, the diet industry or even the exercise industry any money. 

So what am I eating? Real food for the most part. I do eat lots of veggies, and small amount of protein, in the way of all types of meat. I eat nuts for the extra fat I need. I drink whole milk and not low fat milk. I also mix whey protein in my milk for breakfast. I eat eggs, bacon, ham, and every now and the I eat a slice of bread. I also eat pasta, at times. I do eat a small amount of potatoes and rice at time. I do not drink diet soft drinks or other soft drinks. I drink water, and unsweetened tea. Mostly I am doing protein control. I stay away from as much refined and processed foods as possible. And I stay away from fast foods almost completely now. 

My feelings on the state of this Country and the children and the people caught up in it

Folks here is my feelings about the issue with the kids of the immigrates or illegals or our citizens kids that are all separated from their parents. It is not fair to the kids I agree. But all of the parents made decisions that effected their kids. I am sure most made the decision thinking things would be better for the kids, I know I always wanted what was best for the little ones and still do. I also know that life is not fair, and best laid plans seldom work out to the plan. We have kids in this country with parents in prison, we have kids in this country and over seas with parents in the military, we have kids here an else where that their parents are trying to make a living and are separated from their parents. And we have parents that have walked off from their kids and never looked back.
We also have parents that have chosen to abort the little ones, but too many in this country and else where do not see to even think of these little ones as even human. That is the biggest sin of all.
If we lived in a perfect world none of this would be happening, and the truth is too much of this is out of control of what most of us can do. Is our government doing everything it should do of course not? Or we doing everything we should as fellow humans of course not too. But we have others in this country that are encouraging this issue to happen for political reasons and that is the biggest human failure that there could ever be. Also I am going to add if you believe in God and the Bible and have never read Daniel and Revolutions then you do not know God's full intent on our lives. So what is the answer. Stop fighting each other and for a change lets work together to get this worked out. There can truly be an answer to all of this but it will never be found as long as we fight about. And believe me this fighting is just playing in to the devil's hands.

To my thinking this is all part of a plan to over throw the government of the USA. It is  being staged and financed by the big money that is truly the shade government that wants to take over this country and the world. Am I crazy? I wish I was but there is just too much evidence to back this up and it has been in play for a very very long time. The school system has brainwashed so many denying our true history. And forcing the removal of God, pray and even the pledge to our flag and country. There has been a movement in this country and the world for many years to go to a one world or global economy and global government. This really would be great if it was the right type of government but it will not be it will be a type of government where the people have no say, in the government, and will be no better than slaves. We have been moving this way for so many years and each and every law that is created is taking more and more power away from the people of this country, and we as a people are so stupid that we are not seeing it. I fell for it too for way to many years. I am also afraid it has gone too far to turn back. I hope I am wrong but I just have that feeling the movement has way too many people in its grip.