What To Do?

I'm on my second day of establishing the habits I need to accomplish my goals.

So I said my prayer and looked for a scripture to address the changes I'm trying to make and I came across this one in 2nd Nephi, chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon

3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. 

All the things I should do:

Waking at 5 am - I didn't wake until 7:30 today but I did wear my sleep apnea equipment so I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for that.

Walk the Cul-va-sac - mission accomplished (Yay me!)

Write-it-down -  I'm writing this blog post so I'd count that as another win.

Water consumption - I have a bottle of the old H2O sitting beside me ready to go. I'll consume it while I'm working on the newsletter for our town's historical society. Which I need to get started on now.

Where I can improve

I'll try to get to bed earlier tonight so that I can get up at 5 am. I think that success is in the set up. So I am going to wash my bedding and rinse out the hoses on my sleep apnea machine in preparation for getting to bed on time tonight.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life.

I have been planning and planning to change my Life. I been deciding what those changes should be, but I don't seem to get to it. So today is the day I'm going to at least make the attempt to do the habits I have been trying to establish.

I got up this morning and took a shower.

I used to (in my youth) shower everyday. Now I shower a couple of times a week, but lately I've been letting it go too long. I don't think I'll go back to a daily shower, but I definitely need to work on a better regimen. 

I took my pill.

My doctor has me taking a pill for my high blood pressure. This habit I do pretty well with if I do it first thing, otherwise I forget. This is almost a habit already, but can use some work. I find that if I have bottle of water sitting next to the pill bottle I'm more apt to remember  take my pill. It's all in the set up that makes it possible to accomplish my goals.

Fed Mike

This is a morning activity I never shirk. My brother, Michael, is the love of my life. Michael is a 41 year old man who has Downs Syndrome. He can do many things for himself, but he is not independent enough to mix a meal. Each morning I get him up and make him breakfast.

Got dressed and brushed my teeth.

Okay, this might seem like a no-brainer to you, but I sleep in my clothes. To me "getting dressed to go out" means I put on my bra and shoes before I leave the house. So this area of my life that definitely needs some more attention.

My teeth are another issue. I have neglected them most of my life. I rarely brush my teeth and I floss only when something is stuck in my teeth and it's driving me nuts. I don't know why brushing daily is such a challenge, but it is, and it is on the list of the changes that I'm making. (I did it! I brushed today! Yay me!)

Walked the cul-va-sac

Walking is one of the "W"s in "Plan W" I've not been doing it. Not even the ridiculously easy goal of 3 minute jaunt around the cul-va-sac that is just outside my door. It requires putting on the aforementioned bra and shoes, so I suppose that is the sticking point I must surmount and I did. Today!

Write-it-down

Another one of the "W"s, Write-it-down originally meant keeping a "Bullet Journal" but is morphing into just documenting my goals and accomplishment s- like in this blog- so this counts.

 

The original "W"s are Water, Wake, Walk, and Write-it-down.

• Drinking water goal has become eating water rich foods while being on the look out for carbs.
• Wake at 5 am has become get 8 hours of sleep by getting to bed earlier.
• Walk 2 miles a day has been reduced to 5 minutes or just get out the door.
• Keeping a journal has expanded too.

But to help me with my plan I've decided I needed to go to the source of all good things. That source being God.

I prayed.

This is part of the set up I need to do to get to my other goals and a resource I need to tap. Which I've broken down into 4 simple actions I need  to take.

• Pray daily
• Read the scriptures daily
• Partake of the Sacrament weekly
• Tithing

So I started this morning and I asked God to help me with my goals and I found this scripture about prayer in the 2nd Nephi, chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon:

8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. 

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.

I think I'm on the right track.

I attended church. 

The 24th of July is Pioneer Day for Mormons. So today my Dad gave a talk about the faith of the Pioneers. It was to commemorate when those Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. 

I also had an opportunity to partake of the Sacrament.

When I got home I set aside $2.59 which I will tithe to the church from the money I got from answering surveys. It's a start.

So I am inviting God's influence into my Plan W to see if it helps.

Drank a bottle of water.

I just finished off a 24 oz bottle of water. Yay me! 

It's late so I'm going to bed. Lets see if I get up a 5 am tomorrow (the 2nd day of the rest of my life)

Yikes! Going Backwards - Weigh in at 331 Thursday,April 26th 2018

I've been going backward all month long and now it's showing up on the scale. I'm supposed to weigh 328lbs by the end of April if I'm to stick to Plan W.

A couple of changes in my life is changing the plan. I've been weighing in on Friday mornings that is going to change to Monday nights. Starting April 30th. I will be participating in what my family calls "Weigh in, Pay in".


What is Weigh In/Pay In?

"Weigh in, Pay in" is a mini weigh watcher type meeting where the whole family gets weighed each week and pays $5 into the kitty. This "Kitty" is literally a cookie jar in the shape of a Lion. At the end of each Month whoever loses the most weight that month gets to choose whether to spend the money on "Something Fun" right away or roll the pot over till the next month for a chance to do something bigger or at least more costly. The "Something Fun" has to be something that the whole family can enjoy or use - like a night out to a fancy restaurant we don't usually afford or Gadget that makes Mickey Mouse shaped waffles. It doesn't matter as long as there is accountability and reward.

Rebooting Plan W

I don't know if I can lose 3lbs by Monday, but what is more important is getting back on track. I have read half of Dr. Schwarzbein's book and will be beginning to apply her "Principle" to my eating starting May 1st.

Plan W rides again!

The Paperclip Challenge

I an taking a 12 week Self Relience Course sponsered by my church. The first week the assignment was to take up the Paperclip Chanllenge. It is a kind of trading game where you take a paperclip and trade it for something bigger and/or better and keep trading it up in hopes of gaining value.

This was kinda started by Kyle MacDonald, a fellow who wrote a book about his exprience in One Red Paperclip:How to Trade a Red Paperclip For a House. (this is a amazon affilite link, so if you buy I get a small comission at no extra cost to you.)

Check out The Red Paperclip Guy 's 2015 TEDtalk on YouTube.

Kyle MacDonald The Red Paperclip Guy

But my odyssey started with a blue paperclip

the paperclip

 That paperclip sat in my pocket for a whole day until my sister took me to a friend's house to make a trade. My friend Linda thought about it for a bit and pulled out brand new pencil. Very remenicent of the fish shaped pen (what pen? see youtube the red paperclip guy).

the pencil

The next morning I went to my neighbor and traded the pencil for a set of playing cards that had cajun recipes the cards' box had a magnet and the autograph of the creator on the back.

the playing cards

My sister hadn't even seen the cards but from the discription I had given her over the phone she said, "I've gotta hav'em!" my first reaction was that this was cheating but after a little reflection  I shugged and decided "why not". But I realized I had leverage and made her give me give me something good. I had rejected a hand crocheted dish cloth and  t-shirt until she found a pair of ear rings she had constructed.

the ear rings

It took my sister a while to locate the ear rings for the trade but in time for me to approach a friend who had dropped by with her husband to help my Dad out with some handyman chores. She seemed actually impressed with iridescent beads. After some thought she remembered she had a pair of what she called "Slippers" that she didn't need anymore and willing to part with them for a pretty pair of ear rings.

the slippers

The next day I received the "Slippers" - my friend had mentioned that they were pink and jewel encrusted. For some reason I had envisioned bedroom slippers, but the "Slippers" turned out to be flip-flops that were indeed pink and jewel encrusted. I was very pleased with the swap.

When we went to the Self Relience class to report on our Paperclip Challenge. My sister was the winner because she had not only traded her paperclip up to something bigger or better. She got the playing cards with the cajun recipes - she convinced one of the participants in the class to trade a cookbook he was not pleased with for her 4 sponges.

My sister also ended up the pink "Slippers" as well. They are just more her style than mine.
So she made out like a bandit.

Weighed in at 326.2 Lbs on March 16th

Lots of socializing this week. Which is a good thing for a hermit like me, but not so good for a weigh loss regimen.
I happy with my progress in other areas I'm stronger in my walking ability, so maybe its just muscle gain... "he he... yeah right,😏"

By the way Happy St. Paddy's Day💚

Weighed in at 323.8 Lbs March 9th

I was surprised by the 3lbs drop. I wasn't particularly righteous in my eating this week, but I did give up caffeine.

Weighed in at 326.8 Lbs. on March 2nd

The day before on March 1st I went to a doctor appointment at the VA medical clinic and weighed in at 325.9. The last couple of weeks my eating has been poor - too much diet soda. March 1st I comitted to give up caffine in an effort to curb my consumsion of it.

Weighed in at 327.6 Lbs on February 23rd

I've been going to a class that teaching me how to use CorelDraw and having a lazer printer cut the drawing into a piece of wood.


This last week I made a plaque with my personal mantra.

This is a piece of Walnut wood that Michelle a fellow classmate gave me instead of using the plywood that is supplied for free in the class. I will cherish this little plaque as it reminds me of my mantra as well as the kindness of others.

Weighed in at 329.3 Lbs

Hectic week with a 3 day road trip cramed on the back seat of a Dodge Caravan.

Valentine's Day got me off track a little too.

On the up side, got some walking in this week.

 Moving forward on the wealth portion of  Plan-W. Sent off for my Fictitious Business Name (FBN) Statement and got it back. So the County of Santa Barbara of California knows I'm going into business.

I went online a got EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS. So Uncle Sam knows I'm going into business.

On Monday (2-19-18) I will publish my FBN or DBA (Doing Business As) Annoucement in the Lompoc Record newspaper. So the whole world will know I'm going into business!

Then I will go to Lompoc Community Bank and open an account for that business.

Then I can get a PayPal account, so I can start selling stuff on Ebay to raise capitol for the business.

Which will enable me to have the funds to get a Seller's Permit from the State of California and the City of Lompoc by June of 2018 in time for the begining of the fiscal year. So I can collect and pay sales tax from my business.

So by July I will really be in business!

That's the plan anyways,

Plan-W!

(I will be announcing my business next week. Stay tuned!)

Weighed in at 328.4Lbs.

Over the last month I've gone up and then back down in weight. I haven't been very strict on the Keto style eating.
I however have gotten better at waking up early in the morning. I sometimes wake before the alarm. That is progress.
I still need to get walking. I have no excuses.

Weighed in at 330.1 lbs.

I'm down 2.7 lbs. from the last time I weighed in. I haven't been doing Ketogenic Diet for the past two weeks. I've been exploring the Schwarzbein Program and I've even cheated a little bit with bread, beans and even cookies (yum!).

The Strangest Secret

"You become what you think about"

-Earl Nightingale

from this book

The Hidden Secrets

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway."

—Eleanor Roosevelt.

"You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage."

—Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

This Book

 "The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has been before."

—Albert Einstein

Square Meals Joke

Hello World!

6 was scared of 7
because 7,8,9

But why did 7 eat 9

Because you're supposed to eat 3 squared meals  a day.

Plan-W is all about Squaring your Meals!

Diana Schwarzbein

I'm a Fan

I really enjoy Dr. Diana Schwarzbein's speaking style.

I know this because I watched 2 hours of her lecture that was upload to Youtube (linked  below)

Survival of the Smartest Part 1

Survival of the Smartest Part 2

I'm not talking about a tightly constructed 20 minute TEDtalk.

These are a lecture with complicated power point slides, scientific jargon and medical stuff, which usually puts me to sleep.

I watched it and when it ended I wanted more. That's how I know I'm a fan.

I think that makes me pretty Smart, so I plan on Surviving by adopting the philosophy of the Schwarzbein Principle



Plan-W: survival of the Wisest!

Weighed in at 332.8 lbs.

After my holiday merry making I'm only up 8/10's of a pound. I had a good time and I'm still 3 month ahead of schedule. I'll count this as a win.

Schwarzbein's Take On The Old Classic Bacon and Eggs

The Next Recipe in The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook  is "Bacon and Eggs" on Page 14.

Bacon and eggs have been a staple of my ketogenic diet since the beginning - mostly a 2 egg cheese omelette with 3 slices of  bacon on the side.

Schwarzbein, like so many of the other proponents of healthy eating, touts "nitrate-free" bacon and "unsalted" butter. I, however bounce back and forth on these stipulations depending on what is available to me. I'm not always the one buying the groceries and some stores simply don't stock these items.

What am I doing different because of Schwarzbein's principle?

How I cook bacon.

There is instructions in the Cookbook on how to cook bacon on low heat.

A gray box at the bottom of Page 14 of the cookbook refers to chapter 27 of "The Schwarzbein Principle" book for a "complete explanation of damaged fats." But in my copy of the book, chapter 26 on "What Not to Eat" has the information about Damaged Fats.

On page 277 of my copy, it states that the cells of the body don't recognize or metabolize damaged fats.

That "damaged fat molecules become cellular debris, clogging cellular compartment and, in turn damaging those cells." (that can't be good.)

At the end of chapter 27, "Planning Your Meals" which is pretty much the end of the book (I read it though before I realized there was a typo) there is a parting paragraph that says:

"By reading this book you have received an education in metabolism, physiology and nutrition that you can use for the rest of your life."

Dr. Schwarzbein doesn't promise "quick fixes" from her program and she acknowledges that it will take adopting small steps toward the healthy lifestyle to make them into healthy habits.

So my first small step is to slow down and cook my bacon at a low-heat "to avoid damaging the fat contain in the meat."  This is something that I do have control over and all it costs me is a little time.

Plan-W: the Willingness to Change!

(Full Disclosure: the above are an affiliate links so if you buy I get a small fee)

My plan to use the Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook

Plan- W and my year of Cooking not so Dangerously

I've started using the Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook for ideas of what eat. My plan is to try a recipe a day for about a year. (I loved that movie "Julie and Julia") The back of the book touts that there are more than 380 recipes, but more than 30 of them are what the book describes as "Chutney, Compound Butters, Mayonnaise, Pestos, Salsas and Sauces". So I Should be able to cover it in less than a year.

The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook
(Full Disclosure:this is an affiliate link so if you buy I get a small fee)


I started with the first recipe, Annette Matrisciano's Cheesy Eggs. It is eggs scrambled with cream cheese and garlic mostly and those 2 ingredients is where most of the texture and taste comes from.

It was okay. (I'll let you know when I find something yummy, but full disclosure I'm not much of a connoisseur.)

Plan-W to the Rescue!

My plan to implement the Schwarzbein Principle

As of 12-26-17 I am 332 lbs, my April of 2018 goal.

I did it with keto type diet. I took a Holiday from that diet for the past 3 weeks during the Christmas season. But beginning today (1-2-18) the holidays are over and I'm going to get back to limiting my sugar and starch.

Although I am having success with the ketogenic diet, I'm not convince it is all that healthy in the long term.

What happens after I deplete my excess fat stores?

That question lead me to The Schwarzbein Principle.

What is the Schwarzbein Principle?

I'm glad you asked.

It was a program developed by Diane Schwarzbein, M.D. in the 1990's when she was working with patients with Type II Diabetes. She discovered that following the American Diabetes Association's guidelines was not helping them. So she had them eat lower carbohydrates than guidelines prescribed and introduced some fats back into eating.

The result was healthier patients.

Now Dr. Schwarzbein is quick to point out that The Schwarzbein Principle is not a high protein - low carb weight loss plan like Atkins or  the South Beach diets and she warns against Paleo, Ketogenic and intermittent fasting regimes.

What she  does advocates is a balanced nutrition plan, with stress management, and exercise. She maintains that her program isn't a weight loss diet at all, but rather it is metabolic healing system that promotes longevity and proper body composition is just a byproduct of being healthy.


I am currently reading "The Schwarzbein Principle" book and trying out recipes from her "Cookbook" that compliment my present Keto diet.

(Full Disclosure: the above is an affiliate link so if you buy I get a small fee)

I'm easing into the Schwarzbein Principle way of eating. Dr. Schwarzbein's writings acknowledges  that sustaining the lifestyle is more likely if the changes are gradual. I'm hoping that by the time I've used a significant amount of my fat stores I will have the habits I need to succeed with her program.

Plan-W rides Again!

Happy New Year!

Hello, World.
It is a new year and I'm starting over on my commitment to this blog. I am going to post everyday even if it is only to say "Hello, World!"