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Day 37 - Temptation

As I write these words, my wife is in the kitchen making a peanutbutter pie.  Oh man!  Do I love me some peanut butter pie.Now, the old Ted would've gone in the kitchen and licked the bowl...licked the spoon...and then ate 2 big old pieces of pie when it was done.But the new Ted....I'm not even tempted.  I ate a great dinner...1 cup of WHole Wheat Pasta - with 4 ounces of Chicken Breast w/stir fried onion-zucchini-garlic - I feel g...

August 12, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 36 - Being Abnormal

As a Financial Planner, I have the fortune of getting deep inside people's heads.  I have to in order to learn what makes them tick...so I can make appropriate financial recomendations for them.  I also learn A LOT about the family dynamics of each of my clients.One thing I can assure you, there is no such thing as a "normal" family.  EVERYBODY has weird stuff happening inside their families...and the more normal the...

August 11, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 35 - Hope You Had A Great Day

I wasn't very good today...it was my free day and I probably overdid it...but it was a really fun day.Took the family to church, then we went out for lunch.  Came home, rested up, then we went and saw the movie Journey To The Center Of The Earth.  Really neat 3D visual effects.  The kids loved it.  The wife and I enjoyed it as well.I'm getting to bed early tonight...I expect to break through 260 this week...which wil...

August 10, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 34 - Do Good Work

I've just about completed 5 weeks of this Transformation and one of the htings that I'm most pleasantly surprised by is how much more energy I have...and how much better work I'm able to do.I have an almost manic approach to planning my meals and excersise for the week...and that habit of planning is rubbing off in other parts of my life.  I'm setting worrk goals for myself everyday, and not completing them feels like missing a workout ...

August 9, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 33 - Don't forget to Smile

Since the begining of my Transformation some 33 days ago, I've been very focused on my goals.  I'm very serious about making permanent changes in my life.The thing is, it's like I have 2 personalities.  One the one hand, there is this part of me that wants to shove a cheeseburger and fries down my throat and then sit around on the couch and watch TV.  On the other hand, there is another part of myself that wants to rise above ...

August 8, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 32 - Perfect Is The Enemy Of Good

One thing we all have to get over is that we're never going to be perfect.  It's just not going to happen.  I'm especially bad about this.  If I can't do something perfectly in a pretty short amount of time...I tend to give up.This Transformation has reached a critical point.  I'm seeing some results, but I'm starting to question whether I'm doing everything I can to change myself.  I ask myself negative questions:  ...

August 7, 2008 | comments (3) | Uncategorized

Day 31 - Whiter Teeth!

This subject is a little whacky...but at 43 years of age, my teeth were really begining to get yellow.  I bought a pack of Crest WHitestrips at Sams Club (cost about $30 for a 14 day supply) and I'm amazed how well they work!My smile is much whiter after 8 consecutive days of use.  I highly recomend them if you want your smile to be a little brighter.I've lost about 12 pounds and my teeth look better.  That makes me happy!Hope you'...

August 6, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 30 - Using Food As Medicine

One of my weaknesses is I tend to use food as an emotional crutch.  In the past, when I'm under a lot of stress or if I'm nervous about something, I tend to try and relax myself by eating...and I wasn't eating celery sticks and an apple; it was more likely ice cream and potato chips...or a Double Bacon Cheeseburger with fries.The really bad thing about this kind of eating, is that it worked for me...at least temporarily.  Eating somethi...

August 5, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 29 - DO NO CHEAT!

YEsterday was my free day...and I took full advantage of it.  In fact, I went overboard.  The day started easy enough...I made a Breakfast Pizza, striaight from the EFL cookbook.  Lunch is when things went downhill.  For Lunch, I took the family to a Mexican Resaurant...my plan was to have a couple of chicken fajitas.  Unfortunatly, my wife orderd cheese dip and I ate 3/4 of the bowl.  I also put ...

August 4, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 28 - Four Weeks In

Today marks the end of four weeks into this transformation and it's my free day.How do I feel? I feel great!  I've lost about 11 pounds and while I havn't retested my body fat percentage, I can feel the muscles ni my arms and legs getting slightly bigger.More than anything, I have a lot more stamina...I'm able to get a lot more done versus a month ago.Proabably the best thing about the transformation is it feels like something I can sta...

August 3, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 27 - Never Forget What We Are

Last night I was put in one of those situations that has the potential to derail my Transformation.  My 6th grade son had a little league football game.  It was an exciting game...won my just one touchdown.  Fortunately, my son was on the winning side.  The game didn't finish until 9:45 pm.  So afterwords, my boy was pretty hungry.  Not much is open that late in the smallish town we live in, so we ended going to a lo...

August 2, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 26 - Annoying People

I work with a guy who is one of those people I can't stand.  Up until this point, the guy has pretty much been able to eat what he wants, without gaining an ounce. A couple of years ago he turned 30 and I guess his metabolism slowed down and he's been packing on a little fat.He looked around and decided the best way for him to lose weight was the Atkins diet...or a shoot off from Atkins.  There are entire food groups he cannot eat. ...

August 1, 2008 | comments (5) | Uncategorized

Day 25 - Watching the Kids

I'm really scared.  My wife is flying to Alabama this weekend to attend her 20th high school reunion...AND I'M WATCHING THE KIDS ALL BY MYSELF!!!Actually, it's going to e great.  My son has a couple of football games to play in and we'll probably do someother activities to make the time pass.One thing we won't do is follow the old habit of eating to pass the time.  Used to, when Mom left, we would go to McD...

July 31, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 24 - Having A Plan

It is impossiblke to undersetimate the importance of having a plan for any goal you wish to achieve.  No matter how motivated you are to achieve any partidular goal, if you don't have a plan, you will face an uphill battle.I'll give you a couple of examples.  I am hyper-anal about my plainning for this transformation.  I know before the week ever begins  exactly what I'm goin gto eat and when...I know what work-outs I'm going&...

July 30, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 23 - Being Selfish

One thing the stewardess tells us during the pre-flight safety talk is if the plane loses pressurization, always put your own oxygen mask on before you put on your childs.  At first glance, this seems terribly selfish.  We're all taught to put the needs of our children, spouse, parents, employer, friends, pets, and complete strangers before our own.This is one of the cornerstones of Christ Gospels...to love others as you love yours...

July 29, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 22 - Tired

Man, we still have another 99 days to go until the presidential election...and I'm already tired of it.  Things are starting to heat up with personal attacks, unfortunatly it's only going to get worse.One thing I've noticed is all national politicians want to come in our homes, through our TV sets, and tell us all the wonderful things they're going to do for us.  They tell us we'll never have to worry about our jobs, our homes, our heal...

July 28, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 21 - Being Thankful

Today I stop to reflect on a few of the things I'm thankful for:1.  My family - my children are healthy, my wife is great...we're still in love, nothing else is as important.2/  My health - I'm too fat, other than my blood pressure being to high, I'm in pretty good health.  Nothing wrong that can't be fixed by putting the fork down.3.  American Citizen - I'm so thankful to live in a country where I'm free to choose the outcome...

July 27, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 20 - Energized!!

Here I am on Day 20 and I'm not sure what is happeneing, but all of a sudden, within the last week or so, I've found that I have much more energy.  I made a to-do list at the begining of the week...things that I've been putting off for months:  letters that needed to be written, stuff around the house that needed attention, and myriad of other things.  Normally, it would take me a couple of weeks to get through all of it...but this...

July 26, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 19 - Response-Ability

I was listening to Dr. Stephen Covey in my car today.  He was talking about the first of his 7 Habits of Successful People:  BE PROACTIVE.  One of the points he made was that we have very little influence on society.  We do have some...but it is very small.  On the other hand, we have a HUGE influence over ourselves.  If we're not happy with our lot in life, we have a great deal of control over changing it.No where i...

July 25, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 18 - A Challenge

I just found out I'm goin going to a professional baseball game on Saturday.  This is our local minor league team.  I love going out to the ball park...the smell of the grass, the crack of the bat, and the roar of the crowd.  It's like a giant summer party.  In the past, the ballpark has been a place that I've tended to overeat, as well.  I used to order hot dogs, penuts, popcorn, real coke, pretzals with cheese, fun...

July 24, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 17 - Addiction

I know a lot of people who participate in this web site are folks who aren't in that bad of shape and simply want to look and feel better.  I applaud those people for taking positive action in their lives.On the other hand, there are people like me who have a food addiction.  In my 20's, I used to literally quit eating for a while, lose a lot of weight, and look great for a little while.  Of course, as soon as I hit my goal weight,...

July 23, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 16 - Why Do It

Today is day 16 and for the first time, I felt just a twinge of burnout.  I really didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning at 6:00 am...I didn't feel like going through the effort of making my breakfst and packing my lunch.  I just wanted to roll over, go back to sleep, and buy a Sausauge Bisquit on the way to the office.But I'm committed, so I supressed that feeling, hit the gym...and while it wasn't the best workout I ever ha...

July 22, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 15 - Feeling Good

For the past couple of years, Monday's have been brutal for me.  I don't know why, but for some reason I am usually exausted about an hour into my work day.  I struggle to stay awake...when I finally get home I usually order a pizza for the family and crash.  I do better on Tuesday and the rest of the week...but Monday is usually a lost day.Today, for whatever reason, I felt great.  This is probably the most productive Mo...

July 21, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 14 - Thanks For Free Day

There are many things about this transformation process that are different from any other weight loss or diet routine I've used in the past.  Most notably, I'm really trying to change from the inside out...verus trying to just drop a few pounds.As far as the actual nuts and bolts of losing the weight goes, I'd have to say one of the things that is going to allow be to stay on this diet for the rest of my life (but one day at a time) is the F...

July 20, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 13 - Excellent Book

I havn't seen anyone make mention of it on this site, so I wanted to give you an exsellent book to read as you go through this transformation.The Book is called Finally Fit at 50 and is written by past BFL champion Porter Freeman.  Porter was one of the winners profiled in the Body of Work video Bill Phillips produced.  The book is available on Amazon and cost about twenty bucks.Instead of covering basic tr...

July 19, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 12 - Secret Eating

During the work week, I have no problem sticking to my tranformation diet and excersise plan.  I get in a routine:  Get up early and hit the gym, come home and make a healthy breakfast, shower and drive to work.  Mid-morning I have a Myoplex Ready to Drink Shake.  At noon, I eat a healthy lunch...then at 3:00 or so I have a Protein Bar.  I drive home from work around 4:30...when I get hom I start getting dinner together f...

July 18, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 11 - Being Paient

One of my major challenges is being patient.  I want all this weight off of me right now...I don't want to have to wait.  I'm tempted after 11 daya and a moderate amount of success to go on one of my old "crash diets".  You know the kind...drop down to about 800 calories a day...the weight used to just fall off.  It feels great and it's exciting.But most of us have been down that road havn't we.  We know we can ...

July 17, 2008 | comments (8) | Uncategorized

Day 10 - Feeling Shame

One of the first Transformation excercises Bill Phillips gave us was to take a picture of ourself, tape it to a piece of paper, then all around it we're to write how we feel.  I wrote several comments:  I felt heavy, slow, tired, ugly, unmotivted, trapped, sad...but perhaps most of all, I felt a deep sense of shame.  I simply can't believe I've allowed myself to get as fat as I am.  I really believe a lot of the problems ...

July 16, 2008 | comments (4) | Uncategorized

Day 9 - Feeling in a Groove

I'm really feeling like I'm settling into a groove with my new nutrition and excersise routine.  Today was a great day...had a super cardio workout at 6:45, then a great breakfast, ate good all day and now I'm gong to go to bed in about an hour.I actually felt like I had a burst of energy todaya when I was gettingup from my desk.  That is something new for me.  Under normal circumstances, liftin my 270 popund ass out of my com...

July 15, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 8 - Need Rest

SHort blog today.  For some reason I was unable fall asleep last night.  I layed down at about 10:00...tossed and turned until around midnight.  Got up and watched TV for a couple of hours, then went back to bed and fell asleep somtime around 3:00.  When I went to bed I decided to do my workout after work instead of first thing in the morning...to allow myself a couple of extra hours of sleep.  Instead, I woke up at 6:30....

July 14, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 7 - Good First Week

I had a successful first week on BFL.  I weighed myself this morning and I've lost abaout 5 pounds from my highest point a couple of weeks ago.  I know alot of that is water weight and excess food inside me, but it's progress in the right direction and I feel good about it.  I could also swear my pants felt just a tad looser...that may have more to do with my gut not pushing out (because it's so full of food) than with any real wei...

July 13, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 6 - Temptation Island

I've made a lot of mistakes this week, but one thing I managed to do correctly was stay on course with BFL.  All week long I've been thinking about my free day tommorow.  Last time I tried BFL, I only lasted about 10 days.  On the free day, I went absolutley crazy.  I started eating early in the morning and didn't quit until bedtime.  I'm really serious, I gorged myself.  I kept eating long after I was stuffed, just ...

July 12, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

Day 5 - Control

I got up early this morning and hit the gym at 6:00.  Today was Chest-Arms-Shoulders day.  I had a great workout, my muscels were screaming at the highpoints.  Afterwords, I returned home, ate a killer breakfast, took a shower, and hopped in the car for my morning commute.  I was in a great mood...I had a perfect morning going...then I made the mistake of turning on XM Radio and listening to the various news shows.In case...

July 11, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 4 - Temptation

The first part of this week has gone really well.  I had a very organized plan and it was easy to stick my feeding schedule.  Today, however, I ran into a major challenge.  I decided to invite a really good client of mine out to lunch.  She happened to want to eat at one of my favorite restaurants.  CODE RED, CODE RED, CODE RED...DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!!!This place has very good food that is VERY fattening.  Be...

July 10, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 3 - I Don't Understand

Here's something I've never understood about myself or my fellow human beings:  We all want to be skinny, healthy, and in great shape.  I've never met a single person who said they liked being an out-of-shape-tub-of-lard.  I certainly don't like it.  So given that fact, how come we allow ourselves to get fat? Seriously, we KNOW what we need to do to be skinny...the problem is not lack of education or lack of knowledg...

July 9, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Day 2 - Reality Slap

I went and had my body fat percentage measured this morning and I was shocked to learn that I'm at 36% body fat.  That is astonishing to me.  THis means that my body, in its current state is composed of about 97 pounds of FAT.  I was also suprised to learn that while my waist is "only" 42 inches, my belly is pushing out at 50 inches!!I've never really admitted I've got a weight problem before.  I always thought I was...

July 8, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Day 1 - The Effect of Gravity

I was listening to a Steven Covey CD on the way home from work today.  He was talking about the effects of gravity - both positive and negative - in our lives.  This isn't actual gravity...like the kind studied by Isacc Newton.  The kind of gravity Dr. Covey spoke of was our habits.  Our habits are like gravity because they can be VERY difficult to break free from.Some habits are very good and neccessary.  For instan...

July 7, 2008 | comments (1) | Uncategorized

I'm Ready For Lift Off

I've done everything I know to do to get ready for this challenge.  I've made a spreadsheet menu with all my meals for this week.  I written down exactly what workouts I'm going to do.  I've reread the original BFL, I'm almost finished with Porter Freeman's book, and I watched Body of Work a coupe of days ago.  I went and told my doctor what I was doing and I set t aitme to have my body fat tested on Tuesday.Perhaps most impor...

July 6, 2008 | comments (3) | Uncategorized

My Reasons For Losing Weight and Getting Fit

I sat down this afternoon and typed out some specific reasons for why I'm going to tranform my body.  I'm starting the challenge tommorow...I'm just about all set.  I guess the reason I typed this list out was to remind myself when the going gets tough.Reasons to Get In Shape·       I want to be a good father and husband.  I want to be able to get up the stairs and tuck the kids in at night...

July 6, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

Happy Independence Day

I've been busy preparing for Monday, when I'll officailly begin my 12 week journey.  I accomplished much today in getting prepared:  I had my wife take my 'before' pictures this evening...UGHHHHHHH!!  I uploaded them to this site...look if you must.  I also picked up my lab results from my doctor.  I have high blood pressure which I'm treating with medicaiton...the blood test showed my triglyceryides to be over 200; which...

July 4, 2008 | comments (0) | Uncategorized

Getting Set For Lift Off

It's July third...the day before our great country delared its independence from the British Monarch some 232 years ago.  Our forefathers started this little experment, called The United States of America, on the basis that all people are created equal and each of us is FREE to pursue our verision of happiness.  The results are astonishing:  America has grown into the most powerful Economic and Military civilization in the history ...

July 3, 2008 | comments (2) | Uncategorized

TedBell

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