What a long strange trip its been...

No posts for almost a year. The last year has been amazing with lots of changes and too much to do. Things are slowing down a bit and I'll be posting regularly again. The newsletters are going to be going out weekly again with different content - so get signed up for those as well.

D-Day

Well, after the bailout I got hugely busy with things here and have been literally too busy to put anything down this month. Lots of air miles and 3 weekend seminars just about did me in. Get to to vote on day two weeks ago so at least that was out of the way.

Today we vote and the talking heads will lets us know who they think (or hope) will occupy the oval office for at least the next 4 years. I'm not ashamed to say I hope its McCain and Obama. All worry about putting someone with no executive experience in that position aside, I'm just not a socialist and Obama is. 'Spreading the Wealth' is a socialist's way of saying th the government is going to take a larger chunk of your paycheck that you worked for and give it to someone who doesn't work so he doesn't have to. We know how well its worked everywhere its been tried - but Obama wants to spread it accross the world.

He also wants to bankrupt the coal industry and the power companies with coal fired (almost all) power plants with unreal taxes. Guess who gets to pay with skyrocketing power bills? Yep - you and me.

If Obama gets in I really hope all those who voted for him can explain why. I hope its not what I've heard so far...'he's black', He's good looking' and 'he's a snappy dresser'. My brain hurts.

We'll see.

My thoughts on the bailout

Well, the House has finally caved in and decided to rescue their friends on Wall Street and in the banks.  This is a disgraceful piece of legislation that I hope haunts all of the supporters in the hunts for re-election.

First off, I'm a smaller government conservative, probably a Reagan Republican type who believes in personal responsibility.   I look at the mess created and see the hog pen we call Washington in this up their eyeballs.  To see the root of the problem we have to look back beyond Bush and Paulsen's mind-boggling mishandling of the crisis beginning 7 years ago to Bill Clinton's era of PC gone wild.  Clinton felt that it would be a great idea to expand home ownership beyond the hard working families that had traditionally gotten (and then paid for) mortgages based on their payment history, job longevity and income to low income families that had little (if any) credit worthiness and little history of even moderately regular payments of charge accounts.  No lender in his or her right mind would touch them with a 10 foot pole.  So they mandated that Freddie and Fannie had to get 50% of their mortgages from low to moderate income and minority borrowers - and that welfare and unemployment payments had to be counted like a regular paycheck!  It worked!  Now you added a flood or people that had little if any experience in either owning the place where they lived or making regular payments for it.  Don't get me wrong - some were disadvantaged, some were deadbeats - but few had any idea about how to care for a home.

Fast forward to the dawn of two unfortunate births - the subprime ARM and The Secret.  Subprime Adjustable Rate Mortgages were simple.  Make it really easy to get an affordable payment by getting a ridiculously low rate to start, let the house appreciate for a few years (while your income goes up too) and then refinance before that rate gets adjusted.  Easy, huh?  Unlessthe housing market tanks and you don't have any equity to roll into the refinance.  Bad news - once the rate adjusts, your payment may triple -- OUCH!!  Bye-bye house.

Add to this a little bestseller called The Secret that was basically selling the concept that what you think, you'll attract to you.  Think happy, be happy.  Think big, new car, attract that big new car.  Think huge new house and attract huge new subprime ARM.  At this point the house 'attracted' was usually WAY more house than they could afford under normal circumstances and when the market tanked, they ended up with a new interest rate and a new payment that was WAY more than they could pay.  Frankly, these guys deserve to lose the houses.

They couldn't have done it without the greed fueled mortgage lenders who just saw a quick, easy profit.  They would refinance in a few years and be someone else's problem...unless, of course, the market went bad.  OOPS!  These guys deserve to have to eat the mortgages.

What about the geniuses that came up with these programs.  They'll fire alot of them but with pre-negotiated severance packages worth up to $20 million or more - who cares?  Ever had someone hand you a few million when you got fired or laid off?  Me either.  These need to be cancelled and recalled.

And then our 'leaders' who saw this coming over 7 years ago and did nothing to stop it then.  We CAN do something about them.  Vote them out of office.  Giving an essentially blank check to a bunch of crooks and deadbeats  and rewarding many of those who bought insane ARMs is utter insanity. 

I remember the Carter years (don't get me started on that idiot!) and the S&L meltdown.  Times were hard, money tight, mortgages in the high teens and banks in Houston (where I was living) were closing at around 2 per week.  People had homes and townhomes on the market they couldn't sell.  Whole subdivisions we vacant due to rampant overbuilding and the amounts that could be borrowed against future revenue projections.  To get a home with no credit check, no money down and a 12 month moratorium on payments was easy just to get someone living in the house and off the non-performing asset list at the bank.

We survived it with Reagan's policies and they kept us going strong almost to the end of the Clinton years (although he wants credit for it).  No big bailout - lots of closings - lots of bankruptcies.  Our leaders today don't have the stomach to do what really needs to be done.  The problem today is that no one running for president has the stones do to it either - certainly not Obama and probably not McCain.  Best hope is an early heart attack or stroke for McCain and let Palin run things.

But the Congress caved in and you and I get to pay for another high dollar, pork laden bill ($3.3 billion for rural school aid - I kid you not).  What a deal - vote 'em out when you get a chance.

Really, Really, REALLY GROSS!!!!

Last night I came up during a break in a staff teleconference and my wife yelled at me to come quick and look on TV. One of the discovery type networks had a show on about some people that were (no kidding) over 700 lbs! I told her to Tivo it and we'd be wrapping up in around 30 mins.

I came back upstairs and we settled in to the story of four extremely (beyond morbidly) obese people. Sad stories but as we watched, a number of points began to drill home.

First and foremost - they had been told and truly believed that they were not at fault. This is PC psychobabble BS! Just like outcome based education, Student of the Month (where you just have to show up), sports where no score is kept and other 'feel good', plastic self-esteem programs. When you continually shovel in excess of 10,000 calories per day of high fat, fried stuff in your mouth every day --- YOU GET FAT!

The first was a black man in Harlem. He weighed in at over 700 pounds! I think his daily intake was in the 14,000 calories per day range. Bedridden - can't get out of bed (later found out to everyone's surprise that he could get up to get to the food).

The second was a man in the UK. Over 700 lbs, hadn't walked in 10 years, even to the bathroom(UGGGH!). This guy looks like Jaba the Hutt from Star Wars. Has eaten up to 33,000 calories in a day. 32 chocolate bars, bags of chips (4 pounds of fat) ... was makiing me sick to envision.

Third was a woman in the UK. Around 500 lbs and 'unhappy' about her weight, knew it would kill her, tried all sorts of diets, you know the drill.

Last was another woman in North Carolina who was over 500 pounds and could barely walk to the kitchen.

The second point and common to all of them was they had enablers. The first man had momma, grandma and sister doing shifts cooking for him. The UK hired a caretaker for Jaba who kept him well stuffed, the UK woman could still work and called in lots of take out and the NC woman forced her 19 year old son to shop for her. The enablers were as bad about ratonalizing as the fat people. Momma and grandma said the guy in Harlem would just call on his cell phone and order food if they didn't cook it. NOT IF YOU TAKE AWAY HIS CELL PHONE AND VISA CARD! He's not walking downstairs to get it. The NC woman's son said he knew the stuff was bad for her but it made her 'happy' and he wanted that. (Neither looked like the brightest bulbs in the box. Why can't the media find anyone of at least moderate intelligence in the South.)

The enablers created the third point - they all kept JUNK in the house. No one had anything green, red (except spaghetti sause), orange , etc on the plates - all white and fried stuff - dripping with fat. Cookies, chips, candy. The NC woman had a whole bag of M&Ms every night. Plates of cookies, bags of chips - someone had to buy Jaba's 32 daily candy bars.

Then we got to the fact where i almost needed to duct tape my head to keep it from exploding! Each one's food bill was over $500 a day!!!!! $3500 per week and $182000 per year! How do they do it?? Easy - you and I buy it for them. These guys are working the system. Harlem guy is on welfare (no job) - disability (can't get out and work) - momma and grandma and sister are on welfare each since they have be primary caregivers to the disabled fat man. UK is more of the same. So is NC.

The final point were the doctors that were continually talking about the 'addiction' to food they all had, how they might have the obesity gene, or this or that. Simply put - its not their fault - they can't help it. Simply solved - quit shoveling enough food for 2 weeks (literally in Jaba's case one one in Harlem guys case) down you face every day. 3 big meals and all the raw brocolli and cauliflower you want. Constipation won't be a problem, for sure!

They were also all still gaining weight. NC woman - 2 to 3 pounds a day. Jaba was, of course, eating up to 33,000 cals/day and gaining 5 to 6. Since it was just their basal metabolic rate burning calories they needed about 12 days to burn off each days intake.

A few years ago, I tipped the scalles at roughly 300 lbs. I'm 6' 5" but 300 lbs is fat. Doctor was putting me on new high blood pressure meds, diagnosed with low serum testosterone and a lot of things I loved to do were just too much work. Final straw was my doctor giving me a blood glucose meter so I could check my blood suger 'just in case'. I've seen diabetes and wanted no part of that.

I wasn't always 300 lbs. As a kid I had trouble gaining weight and was skinny as a rail. Played sports all through school and got into martial arts at 9 years old. At 30 I ran a 5 mile interval training course in the morning and evening and played in 3 competitive raquetball leagues. But after 25, I needed the exercise to stay at around 200 and eat what i wanted to.

At 32, I got married and moved from Texas to the deep South. Demands of family ate into exercise time and Southern food helped me eat myself into progressively larger pants. I found myself 20 years later with an extra 100 lbs that I needed to lose.

I realized I was in bad shape and to hop into a gym was a recipe for failure. So I began to walk. First 30 mins then an hour then and hour twice a day. Gone were the 2 Whopper and King size fries lunches, the eggs, sausage, grits and pancake breakfasts, replaced with high protien meal replacement shakes.

I'm now in the gym, working with a trainer off and on, several times each week. I eat right (six meals/day), experiment with a few nutritional supplements (not stimulants but aminos, herbs and such), see what works and make most of what I take myself using bulk supplies (way cheaper and more effective).

Many of us are faced with being overweight and the associated health problems (and shortened life expectancy). Motivation to change is hard to find. The conscious mind has spent years accepting the overeating and reinforced the belief its OK through the pleasure derived. Massive Weight Loss includes a subliminal program that overcomes the negative behavior beliefs and installs a set of healthier choices that make motivation easy. The whole package contains 6 programs (11 tracks) of high powered subliminals and I guide to help you on the journey. As a bonus - through Oct. 15 only and only offered on this blog - I am offering six months free email consultation and support for your weight loss journey. Ask questions, share experiences and get periodic emails on special items I feel would be of interest such as what supplements seem to work and where to order supplies to save big $. You didn't get overweight overnight and you need someone to guide you on the path back.

Check this out and get on with it. I was hugely overweight - It was my fault and I did something about it. If you are overweight then this offer will beat out the diets and pills by a long shot.

It's Football season and that means snacks

Which is not a good thing if you're trying to drop some fat.  Big games are fast approaching and I want more than a bowl of broccoli, cauliflower and celery on the table - I at least want some dip.  Then I look at the 'nutritional ' label on the side of most dips - 60 to 100 cals per 2 Tablespoons with 2/3 of it in fat!  Loaded with Salt too!

I tried the Lite dip and found that although it lacked some calories (35-50 cals - 2/3 in fat) - it was also lacking in flavor - BIG TIME!

My wife suggested we make our own and off to the store we went and picked up some Kroger Fat Free Sour Cream - also some from Publix and Breakstones.  These have decent flavor as sour cream and only 20 cals per 2 tablespoons and NO fat. 

She split the sour cream out into little 1/2 cup Glad containers like I mix supplements in and we began.  One got paprika, dried onions, garlic salt and a few other seasonings, another Cayenne pepper, pepper flakes, dried onions, Mesquite Seasoning (Kroger) and garlic, another Stevia, cinnamon and some other stuff to provide a sweet dip for apples and fruit.  Used some almond milk to add moisture as the dried onins began to rehydrate.  Popped into the refridgerator for a few hours to let them work and then around 9 PM decided to tried them on some broccolli.  I can't tell much difference in the first from regular onion dip except a bit nicer flavor (less salty) and not as heavy.  The second was WOW! About took my head off with the cayenne but excellent once you're ready for it.  Maybe a touch less cayenne next time but a real winner.  The fruit dip we tried with apples and celery - it was also very nice.  Smooth and easy to get to stick to apples. 

We figure the 1/2 cup servings are around 60 cals each with brocolli and cauliflower not needing counting - apples not needing counting on many diets either. 

So now we have at least 3 and soon more dips that I can put out on the football or holiday party table to replace the ones that we shouldn't be eating.  In an average game, if you ate 2 cups of dip on the veggies, total calories from the dip would be less than 250.

And if you like guacamole, make it with avacados, lemon juice, very little salt and some seasoning for a god dip as well.  Avacados are high in good fats and as long as you keep track of how much you eat, some is very good.  The average avacado is 250 - 300 cals.

Am I going to publish the recipes for these here.  Not right now.  These are still works in progress and my Texas/New Mexico raised and deep south (Alabama/Georgia) cured tastes may not match what you find pleasing.  Experiment with what sounds good.  We stayed away from the prepared soup mix approach due to the high salt content of the soup mix.  Dried onions, spices, some minced or powdered peppers, whatever sounds good to you - or any old dip mix you used to have - just use the fat free sour cream.  Let me know what works for you.  Just send me an email.  Once i get and test enough of them, I may share them all here.

So get to the store, get the fat free sour cream and give it a try.  I'm also taking a small container of the sour cream with me next time we go for steak and using it on a baked potato!  Gave those up a good while back if I couldn't load it up with at least the sour cream. 

Winning the Mental Battle

You've heard coaches talking to the team and saying that "Winning is 10% perspiration and 90% inspiration". Plainly put - If you don't see yourself winning the game before you start, you've already lost. Sure - you may be outmanned, outskilled and outplayed but underdogs come out and whip much tougher opponents all the time - because they SEE it happening.

Our lives are much the same. Whether we are about to take a performance review, meet with a new client in sales, interview for a new job or promotion or start a new project; our mental attitude going into it will greatly affect our effectiveness and overall performance.

So how do we get the right attitude? Life is tough sometimes. Bills to pay, family issues, job stress, doc says we need to lose weight and exercise more, one promotions slots and six others in the running...oh - did I forget the morning and evening commute?

Let's deal with the commute first. Turn off the radio. There is nothing important going on - your GPS or phone nav can guide you around any avoidable tie-ups, listening to the news channel makes your head want to explode and the music channels are mindless drivel - all with 60%+ ads to make you spend more. Listen to either some music (I recommend Sarah Brightman's 'Symphony' - I love her voice!) or a motivational/subliminal programs (Not brainwave entrainment if you are driving). If you attend a church or synagogue that has recordings of the sermons available, get one and listen again, you'll hear new things the second time around. Avoid loud, angry music or most rap - find something easy and life affirming.

At work, keep a subliminal program in the background or some music. Again - avoid the radio. Good subliminal choices at work might be Success Mindset, Staying Motivated, Managing Stress, or Managing Your Time.

What about the extra 30, 40 or 50 lbs you've put on over the years. I mean, after all, your spouse loves you regardless of the extra baggage and the reduction in frequency and quality of sex (and your desire and ability to perform) is only natural. What BS! I know - I was there. Make the decision to get back what you've lost.There are skinny 80 year olds in nursing homes having more and better sex than you. Almost 3 years ago we published Massive Weight Loss that provided a sustainable fat loss program for seriously overweight (over 20 pounds) people based on my own experiences in the fight to drop 100 lbs. We've recently completely revised the program, added a lot of content to the guide and included 4 more additional subliminal programs. See it here. Is it hard? At first it is but it gets easier fast. No being hungry, no special foods,; just more energy, a better body, heightened libido and lower blood pressure. Everything you need to win the mental battle and prepare for the physical battle. Did I mention that thin people make more money and get promoted faster than their overweight counterparts? Look at pictures of the Fortune 500 top execs - not many fat slobs there.

At home, Listen to Get Happy!. This is one our most successful programs and can change your whole outlook in just a few weeks. There is one track to listen to in the background all the time (including sleeping) and a seaparate one to listen to when you get up in the morning. That's right, no radio or TV - just a rehash of last night's 11 PM bad news. Don't listen to it - just gets you in a bad mood to start.

10% perpiration and 90% inspriation. Still takes getting off your butt and doing it but the mental battle can be a lot easier to win with a little help and some good choices.

Losing Fat and the BMR

I was talking with a weight loss client the other day about nutrition and the subject of BMR came up. He had been to a website and used the calculator to figure his BMR and as the website said, set his daily caloric goals to slightly less than what his BMR was. The gains he was making in the gym stopped, his weight loss slowed and his body fat percentage started going up while his energy level plummeted. He was understandably upset - and wanted to know what went wrong.

The BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories that would THEORETICALLY be burned by a person of a certain gender, hieght, weight and age if they stayed in bed all day and did NOTHING.
I say theoretically because it doesn't account for muscle to fat ratio, HGH or other metabolic factors that may be in play... basically your milage may vary.

Conventional wisdom says to take the BMR for your target weight, eat slightly less and you'll magically lose weight toward that target... and you do. Unfortunately its mostly muscle you'll lose and not fat causing your metabolism to get slower as the muscle gets burned for energy.

So why isn't the fat getting burned? Because the body believes there is a famine in progress and it needs all the fat it can get its hands on for long term survival. You need to figure out what your REAL caloric needs are considering your target weight, age, gender and other body factors as well as your workout routines (they don't have to be rigorous - just consistent). Any certified trainer at most decent gyms can figure this out. They will also be able to tell you how much of those the calories need to be fat, carbs and protiens. Most will tell you no starches after lunch - some allow a high glycemic snack after a hard workout to recarb quickly along with a big shot of protein.

How you eat is another key. If you are still packing in the calories as 3 big meals - cut that out! Spead it over six small meals taken every three hours or so. This keeps the metabolism going digesting the food and breaks the 'famine response' by showing the body you have plenty of food available.

An example of this is my BMR - targeting around 220 lbs for a 6'5" man - my BMR is around 2000 calories per day. However I do 3 major strength followed by 15 mins aerobic and 3 aerobic (30 mins at a VO2 of 65% for fat burn) each week. My actual needs are 2750 cals/day with 224g of protein needed. Split into meals of around 460 cals each. Breakfast may be only around 300 with a bit heavier lunch. After a strength workout, I have 500 cals as 3 scoops of whey protien and 2 100 cal packs of cookies to recarb on. This also helps with my fat requirements - yes you need fat too - should be good fats mostly.

My client is back on track and once again dropping more fat than lean tissue. His actual needs for calories were over 50% over his target weight BMR. Be wary of supplements that kill your appetite like hoodia and others. Many times your body may need help in breaking a gorging habit or the all day grazing behavior but long term use of these will lead to a very high fat body with almost no muscle and a super low metabolism. You may not actually be as hungry as you think, you may be hungry for real food. You are what you eat and if all you eat are Donuts and Wh*pp*rs then your body will reflect it. (If you can't give up your fat burger then use your once a week cheat meal for it).

Eat right, exercise at the right level and live healthy. All areas of your life benefit.