Friday, January 29, 2010

14 Pounds, 9 Days And The Garden Of Life

Yesterday morning I awoke to find that I had lost a total of 14 pounds in 9 days and today I had eaten breakfast and filled up some so no weigh-in. Still, 14 pounds in 9 days is pretty darn good. One thing I neglected to mention before about Jordan Rubin's cleanse is no caffeine. I recommend this cleanse highly. This is the third time my wife and I did the cleanse and in my experience it gets easier every time.

Then on Facebook I received a message from the Garden Of Life!

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Subject: Garden of Life

Hi Charles-

I couldn't find a link to get a contact e-mail for you so I wanted to touch base here if you don't mind. I work for Garden of Life and we came across your blog post that mentioned you losing 11 pounds partially due to doing Jordan's cleanse.

We would LOVE to sponsor you in any way! Please contact me via e-mail directly at xxxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com and we can get this started!

Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you! And don't forget to become a fan of our FB page!

Have a great weekend-
Ursula Zamora
Garden of Life
Media & Public Relations

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I became a fan of Garden of Life on Facebook and we'll see how things develop next week.


Keep walking!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Down 11 Pounds In 7 Days!

If you're reading this in January you'll notice in the upper right a graphic for the World Blogger Championship Of Online Poker(WBCOOP). If you have a blog over two months old, you can ask Pokerstars to give you a ticket that gets you into several tournaments for free. Since a free Pokerstars tournament is how Marianne and I got to go to the Bahamas last year, I had to say yes.

After getting the start time wrong on the first day I just finished 15th in a field of 1634 players and that got me a ticket to another tournament. I won't go into a big explanation as I'm a little tired from over 5 hours of playing and I'm frustrated that I didn't win or even reach the final nine. So, about my weight loss...

Actually, I've lost the weight mostly because of being on Jordan Rubin's cleanse, but not completely. I did lose 9 pounds in 6 days and then I got a little pain that my wife thought might be early appendicitis. Yesterday I was enjoying some yogurt with honey - finally! Then I saw Dr. Duck (his real name) at 11:00 and he had the lab draw some blood. Just in case he told me to stick to a clear liquid diet and I decided to stick with chicken broth and tea, which is even more strict than Jordan Rubin's cleanse.

Today he called to say it wasn't appencitis and now I'm back to the early stage of the cleanse. You can read the previous couple of posts for more details and click on the title of this post for more information on Jordan Rubin's diet. If I can do this, so can you.

I have walked* 95.5 miles in 2010.

Keep walking!

Friday, January 22, 2010

I Lost Over 6 Pounds In 3 Days

Anyone who has read my blog a while knows that I like Jordan Rubin's cleanse and right now my wife, Marianne, and I are in (not quite) the middle of it. You can click on the title of this post or scroll down to read about our start.

If you are wondering about the impact of exercise, don't. Days before the start of the cleanse I burned 977 calories in 65 minutes on the elliptical trainer at the Y and haven't done much beyond a nearly 4 mile walk in Big Bear over the weekend. Because of the rain over the last three days I haven't gotten much exercise in - walking or otherwise.

When I started 3 days ago the scale read 123.6 which means I have lost 2.9 kilos because this morning it read 120.7 kilos. You multiply by 2.2 to get pounds so that equals 6.38 lbs. By the way, you can do this cleanse. All you have to do is get over any impulse you might have to say, "How many times do I eat chicken soup?"

While I didn't purposely set out to not exercise much over the last week, one thing led to another. A busy day Thursday before I gave blood meant at least two days off since the San Diego Blood Bank admonishes you to not workout for 24 hours after donating. They found that I have iron-rich blood and hooked me up to give a double donation of red cells. I'll go back in 16 weeks.

Before my 24 hours were up I was driving us up to Big Bear and it was dark and cold when we arrived. We got our stuff inside and then ran around outside turning stuff on (like water and heat). After getting instructions over the phone from our friends ( which led me UNDER the cabin) I found myself alone putting the last tool in the stand-alone garage on this cold, dark night and successfully fought off the sensation/ambiance in the garage of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie or as our son perhaps more accurately suggested, The Strangers, and then I semi-hurried back inside. Soon I found myself waking up from a 3 hour nap and joining all those who had arrived while I slumbered. With 9 people in the cabin I forgot all about the little bit of creepiness I had imagined earlier and sure enough, the neighborhood looked like a friendly mountain getaway in the pristine light of the morning.

More next time...

Keep walking!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

From Big Bear To Jordan Rubin

My wife and I came home earlier than we expected on Sunday to stay ahead of the coming snowstorm and we listened hopefully to the Chargers - Jets playoff game on the radio. We had a nice time in Big Bear for a day and a half with a few other teachers and their loved ones. The plan was to leave and go to a sports bar in Redlands, but when we thought we could get home in time we hustled to clean up the cabin. On the way home we took a route I have always wondered about and the Chargers were still ahead when we arrived at our friends' place in Vista. The excellent dinner and yummy snacks took some of the sting out of the stunning loss.

Once a year at the end of October or beginning of November, our church has a retreat at Forest Home which is in Forest Falls above Redlands. It's really beautiful there with lots of trees and a big creek and awe-inspiring views. Near the end of the journey to Forest Home there is a fork in the road and I have veered to the right nearly 20 times over the years. If you asked Google Maps to give you a route, you'd probably miss using the 38 out of Big Bear because it keeps wanting to send you down the 18 to the 330. But, if you asked to go from Big Bear to Forest Falls, it will outline the route. This drive was beautiful and there were fewer winding roads. Technically it may have been longer, but not time-wise. I recommend it highly over the "Rim of the World" route, which to me feels like a much more treacherous route. I felt a lot more comfortable coming down from Big Bear than I did going up. Not only that, but there seems to be less traffic taking the 38 all the way down (and up?). One of the tough parts driving up on Friday as it was getting dark was all the headlights coming down at you on the somewhat narrow and at times very winding road. To be fair, it was early afternoon with plenty of sunlight on the way home.

Now we've been home for a day and a half and this morning we are starting Jordan Rubin's cleanse which you can read about on another blog by clicking here or on the title of this post.

You cook it through the night so be sure to turn the heat down enough after you bring it to a boil or you'll have less broth. You can have it at least 5 times a day if you want, but nothing else on the first day except distilled water. November 30th, 2008 was also the first day of this cleanse near the end of a very successful year health-wise. Read about the start of the cleanse and the beginning of the end of 2008.

Right now I am the same weight that I was on December 31, 2009. I am 271.92 lbs or 123.6 kilos. I'll call it 272 lbs. Read BigManWalking and watch my progress!

Keep walking! (And have some chicken soup!)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

New Year, Haiti & U2

Incredible Events.

How many hurt or killed in Haiti?

I expected to share how things are going for me in 2010 and now I definitely have to say that things are fantastic when compared with what people are going through in Haiti right now.

Whatever your orientation, please send out your thoughts and prayers for the people of Haiti and all the rescue workers, medical personnel and anyone who is helping this poor country. If you can't help directly, send what money you can.

As for me, I am exactly where I was weight-wise on the morning of December 31, 2009. But, I feel good as I've been doing lots of time on the elliptical trainer at the YMCA.

This weekend I'll be away and give more detail when I get back.

I've found the U2 song, "40", to be helpful right now. Click the link below or on the title of this post to hear their version of Psalm 40.

U2's 40


So far I have walked* 79.5 miles in 2010.


Keep walking!