On the first day of June I was sitting at 198 pounds.  I knew I was over-weight / obese and needed to make some changes. It really hit me when I went to get a life insurance quote and found I could not qualify for the best rate unless I was at 185 (this is considered out of the obese range and simply ‘overweight’). As of August 29th, I am sitting at 170 pounds.  The best part is, I did not have to buy new shorts this summer because I lost enough weight to fit back into a few pairs I had not been able to wear for two years.

I do not want to sound (too much) like a motivational speaker, but I know many of you out there could use some, well, motivation. I hope I can provide you with a little insight as to the changes I made.

The prayer life

The first thing I realized is, I was sinning.  I let myself be a lazy glutton.  I figure I was consuming about 3000 calories a day with little expenditure. The first thing I had to do was repent of my sin and ask God for the strength to eat better. You may laugh, but it really was a struggle. In reality, I give God all the glory for the weight I have lost. He has helped me to put the fork down and make better choices. He has honored my request and helped me to give up my idol of food.

Praise be to God.

The new diet

I figured it would be worth it to download a calorie counting app for my iPod Touch (the Lose-It app, its free). I entered my stats (weight, height, age, etc) and my goal. It was to lose 2 pounds a week until I was about 160. It told me I could eat 1600 Calories a day. I entered all food I ate into the app and realized I had spent my budget by the early afternoon. I also discovered fruit and vegetables have little caloric impact and I could eat a lot more of them than most foods. One of the cool parts about the app is, it subtracts the amount of calories you burn from your daily intake (it has a huge database of exercises).

The exercise

Diet alone does not get one into shape. It takes exercise. If you have three kids, exercising can be difficult.  One thing I do is wake up early so I can get in 20 minutes in the morning.  This looks like anything from walking, skating, weight lifting, etc. The only rules I have are as follows:

1. I must lift weights three times a week.
2. I must do cardio twice a week.
3. I must not do the same exercises two weeks in a row.
4. Weekends must include exercising with the family (walks, pools, hikes, parks, etc.)

Rule one and two seem kind of self-explanatory. Three simply means I rely on what the pros call “muscle confusion.” If you do the same exercises all the time, your body becomes accustom to them and you stop losing weight. Your body will then hit a plateau where you may find it difficult to drop the pounds. In reality, I tend to hit a three day plateau once every couple weeks. When I do, I change one of my exercises to something completely different. If I was working arms and shoulders a lot, I will switch to squats and dead-lifts.  If I was skating for cardio, I will ride my bike next time instead.

Twice a day

I try to exercise twice a day. Once formally (in the morning) and once informally (in the evening). My evening exercise tends to be things like yard work, cleaning, home improvement, etc. I also aim to “make it hurt” at least once a week. This means I increase either the weight I am lifting, the amount of repetitions I am doing, I try a more difficult exercise. This ensures I feel nice and soar the next day and adds to the muscle confusion.

Finally, the measurements

Here are the changes in some of my measurements:

• stomach went from 40 inches around to 36.5 inches.
• Chest went from 42 inches to 37
• Biceps grew from 13 inches to 15
• Neck went from 16 inches to 15 (didn’t know you could lose neck circumference until now).

I hope this helps anyone else out there who is trying to drop some pounds.  If you have any questions or would like me to pray for you, please let me know.

-Don-

P.S. By the way, once I get to my goal, I plan to start training for something. Maybe a marathon or something cool like that, in case you were wondering.

That was my first day at my new job. It is a great job and I am thankful for it.  One of the best parts about it? My drive went from 45 minutes down to about three. The savings on gas is tremendous, not to mention the wear and tear on my vehicle. My poor car is slowly losing its life one piece at a time. The radio only works if it is above 45 degrees, the cruise control only works when it wants to, the brakes need work, and the muffler is getting a rust hole in it.  Only having to drive 3 minutes is a huge blessing. Hopefully I can coax a few more years out of my vehicle.

What is not so good is, no more podcasts. See, I used to listen to Driscoll, Chandler, Keller and a little Grudem on my way to work. Not so anymore. If I were to put on a podcast now, I would have to listen to it in three minute increments. A 45 minute podcast would take 15 trips to and from work. I could argue it would take more due to having to re-listen to parts I may have forgotten during the week.

I guess I will have to find a different time to listen to them.

-Don-

The photo is courtesy of this guy.

• Became members of a new church
• Welcomed a baby sister into the world
• Lost 21 pounds to date (me, if anyone else in my family had 21 pounds to lose, they would end up sick)
• Started playing bass intentionally
• Started making coffee by French Press
• Started writing for Church IT
• Started a new job closer to home
• Planted a garden
• Joined a new community group

And that is just the list off the top of my head. I think it is safe to say twenty-ten has been action packed and momentum filled. We have already talked about intentionally educating our kids this fall / winter as well as starting some new family traditions. The year is only a little past half over and already so much has happened.

I’m excited about what God has been doing with our lives. I heard a pastor once say (paraphrased):

If you want to find out God’s call for your life, abide in Him by doing what everyone is called to do through Scripture

I am finding this to be completely true. I am not saying I have gotten to some elite level of holiness, but I have been more intentional about spending time praying and reading Scripture. This has lead to more prayerful decisions and the willingness to take risks. In all this, all I can say is, praise be to God.

I love it.

-Don-

Photo Courtesy of Travis S. via Flicker.

Just a couple months ago, I was ready to kill my Facebook account. I never used it. Then something happened, my entire high school found me on here. This is only a slight exaggeration. Because of this, I elected to stay around. I thought it might be cool to see what people where up to, maybe explore some profiles, etc. To tell the truth, I have not really had a chance to do that either. While I could bitch and moan about Facebook, it actually has been useful. I would have not known about the passing of the man who took over as a father figure during my formative years had it not been for this stupid site.

What I am about to say is probably the most controversial thing one could say in this day and age. About ten years ago, I surrendered to the God of the universe and became a Christ follower. In reality, my life was seriously screwed up. I was trying to find something to worship at the bottom of many bottles of alcohol. This was after my search for a god among women, money, power, expensive clothes, and credit cards. All I was left with was an emptiness I could only describe as abandonment. I am hear to preach to anyone who will listen. I am still a sinner. As the apostle Paul would say, you can count me among the worst. This is because I know Jesus Christ and still take time to spit in His face and turn my back on Him. I am no better than anyone else. But I know there is hope because of the torture, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While life is not a bowl of cherries, and everyday brings challenges, I know in the end there is only one thing that matters, Christ.

My prayer is this, that those of you who have questions or would like to open up a civil dialogue would feel free to do so. For those of you have felt Jesus calling you closer to Him, I pray you would surrender to His irresistible grace and start the most wonderful of relationships. I know for some of you this will mean you will most likely block me or cut me off as your Facebook friend. After all, I have just revealed my not-so-secret identity as a religious, fundamentalist nut job.

Before you “de-friend” me, just think really hard about what I have written here. For those of you burned by religion, please understand religion and Jesus have nothing to do with each other. Jesus hated the religious to the point of beating them with a whip. Being moral never gets anyone anywhere. Jesus did not preach a message of morality, but one of life. A life He freely gives to those who call Him Lord. Thanks for reading this.

I pray you all understand. -Don-

At the end of it, I was feeling down. I auditioned on bass and guitar. I felt out of place and uncomfortable as it had been almost two years since I had played with a band. I had also neglected any serious practice in the last year or so. This left me rusty and worse than mediocre.

I talked to (read: whined) to my wife about how I am never good at anything. I’m a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy, master at nothing. She verbally put me in my place with one sentence (paraphrased):

You are not good at one thing because you try and do everything.

I never thought of it that way. I took her advice and re-prioritized how I spend my time, and what I spend it doing. I set up a guitar / bass practice schedule and I am making it a practice to cut out other things. In turn, I traded in some gear for a new bass and a bass amp, something I have never owned.

I have also decided to work on my preaching and writing more. I hope to be preaching once every couple weeks (at a local rehab / homeless shelter) and to get back to writing daily. In turn, I am going to guard my time a little more in terms of hobbies. While I would love to take up photography, geo caching, kite flying, racing cars and raising farm animals. But that will just have to wait.

I’m a little busy right now.

-Don-

PS. The pictured bass is the one I bought.