Shriveling Down to Nothing - My Downward Weight Spiral

I still feel strong - always have. That statue above looks like me coming home from a bar late at night with a "new acquaintance"....back when I was 22 or so.

Anabolic steroids have nothing on 14 Yuengling Lagers plus hormonal adrenaline...

However...

In 7.5 months of London-living....I've now lost 17 lbs.

Early this morning I weighed in a new all-time(?) low - 159 pounds!

This summer, after my Sicily trip, I gave up carbs and sugar which took me to new weight depths.

But then I experimented with Tim Ferriss' "cheat day". That's one day (Saturday) where I could eat whatever I wanted, and however much of it I wanted.

But that didn't stop me from losing weight.

Then I went back to eating sugar. First a little here and there, and more recently almost back to my usual 1.5 candy bars per night.

Still no weight gain. In fact, I kept losing a little!

Even after adding bread a few times per week....nothing.

Then I stopped working out (down to 2 days per week) AND I stopped my morning protein shakes because the price, ON AMAZON, is $55 per cannister - it's only $22 at supermarkets in NY!

I'm in a downward weight spiral and nothing seems to be able to stop it.

Interesting...

I'm starting to look and feel "runty" and I don't necessarily like that.

Anyone else ever have this problem?

Doctors Causing Mass Violence?

Doc - the drug isn't working? Okay. We'll just up the dose...

Oxygen For Mouth-Breathing Morons

Remember this guy - Dean Karnazes? Remember I read his book? See - Running Insanity.

He's freakin' totally ripped, obviously. Guy would run 50, 60, 100 miles straight!

His feet would blister so bad....they'd just shoot super-glue in-between his toes! For real.

Anyways when I run I try to think of his abs/bod. I have always hated distance running, going all the way back to childhood. It was just brutally painful. So I tried a Tony Robbins mind-over-matter thing while I jogged - you know, positive thoughts. If I kept going my abs would approximate his...

It didn't work for more than a minute or so.

But yesterday I joined a health club here in London and jumped on the treadmill. I hadn't run at all since at least Christmas or so - and probably not since Thanksgiving before that.

Nonetheless I got on the treadmill and promptly ran my personal longest (best) - a little over 5 miles!

Don't laugh. I could beat any of your a$$es in a dead sprint, or once around the track. But I always pooped out at about 1/4 of a mile.

So how'd I do it?

No, there wasn't some amazingly hot broad running on the machine next to me that I was trying to impress or anything. On the contrary, such a scenario would probably make me trip, over something.

The way this 39.5 year old set a personal best distance, despite running on ZERO ACLs, despite my botched, ill-advised back surgery, and despite being theoretically pretty out of shape....is that I finally figured out how to breathe, diaphramatically, through my nose.

It turns out I have "flimsy nostrils" - which I discovered on this website with this test:

Starting from the tip of your nose, the first thing you must do is to find out if you have flimsy nostrils. If you have a very narrow nose, or if your nostril openings are very narrow and slit-like, then you may be prone to having flimsy nostrils. Try this experiment: Take both index fingers and press them just besides your nostrils on your cheek. While firmly pressing on your cheeks, lift the cheek skin upwards and sideways, pointing towards the outer corners of your eyes. Take a deep breath in. Can you breathe much better through your nose?

I swear that when I manually lifted up the skin around my face....my nostrils flared open and I felt a gush of oxygen, instantly, like I've never felt before. Apparently, it's like throughout my entire life someone has been pinching my nose shut and depriving me of vast amounts of oxygen.

I would encourage y'all to read up on the benefits of "nasal breathing". Its advocates spare no exaggeration when touting it. According to them....it can bring about world peace and whatnot.

And I can attest that the effects of all this fresh, nasal oxygen were not only physical but mental too. I became far more relaxed with my flaring nostrils, immediately.

Now I've been (half-heartedly) trying to change my breathing, make it more nasal, for some time now. A few of you might even remember. Of course it's hard to break some of these deeply ingrained habits. I think it was just over the summer when I figured out how breathe a little better while running. I was quite happy to start doing 3+ miles here and there.

But yesterday I not only ran over 5 miles, but I wasn't even the slightest bit winded. I could have kept going if I wasn't worried about how my knees would react to this sudden "rudeness". (Indeed they did bitch and moan at me today!)

It's just like in golf...many hackers know what they are doing wrong, BUT they have no idea how to correct it.

Telling myself to breathe more through my nose wasn't doing anything....not with my flimsly nostrils shutting down my airways. Again, I had to manually open them in order to feel exactly how much air they could take in.

And I do disagree with the nostril opening suggestions on that website. I think that if one breathes diaphragmatically and probably does some sort of facial exercises they can open up their nostrils organically.

Can you say "Smile Therapy"???

Sweating Your Gut Off

Recently I mocked Morons and their thermostat habits - freezing up north, and AC'ing it too much in the south.

In fact one Floridian jabroni confessed to me that his heat goes on at 72 degrees!

One thing I can't stand is the way everyone down here blasts their air conditioner at all times. The worst offenders are, of course, bars and restaurants! (The waitstaff is hot from running around....so to arctic hell with the customers, apparently.)

It's so effin' cold in these eateries. Tonight at Pincher's I demanded a seat in the warmer climes of outside, far away from the darn AC.

There's no way that all this *conditioned air* is healthy, right?

I was sure it was right and one Google revealed that, yes, air conditioning at least make people FAT.

You see heat is a natural appetite suppressant....

So you do the math.

Of course AC also makes people *sicker* from germs and whatnot too.

Father Nature's Stairmaster

Up in Arctic Massachusetts this weekend...

My wife and I decided to tackle the *most climbed mountain in the world* yesterday morning.

It's only 3,166 feet, but ascending and descending Mt. Monadnock (in NH) at a brisk pace is quite the workout. It took about 3.5 hours of motoring on the popular White Dot trail.

My wife is still a little sore, but I feel energized and fantastic.

I wish I could figure out how to get that kind of quality vigorous exercise in more often. For some reason lifting weights, running, yoga, and other stale activities don't deliver the same uplifting results.

Maybe I need to start playing basketball or something again???

That pic is a little misleading...

The leaves have not changed up there, yet.

But just give it a week or so!

The kids, I left at my parents' house...and my wife is en route to Zurich on a work trip.

So I'm here alone in New York this week with my lengthy HomeschoolDad.com to-do list...

Weighing In

I'm tipping the scales at an all-time record of 173 lbs right now.

Only 6 months ago I was at my personal low of 161 and annoying family members were saying I looked *emaciated*.

I myself am shocked at this sudden reversal. My busy schedule has limited my short bursts (20 minutes of the elliptical) of aerobic exercise AND it has induced a lot of *eating out* for lunch and dinner (burritos and pizza)...

But still I am somewhat surprised and frustrated by the weight gain. I still do the kettlebells and 30 grams of early morning protein from The 4-Hour Body.

Added muscle? Maybe - but certainly not all of the bulge.

So right now I'm finishing up Day 2 of a serious diet (if I make it through bedtime!).

No pizza. No burritos. No ice cream. No candy. No soda. No bread. No pasta. And tons of fruits and vegetables.

My goal is to purge for 10 straight days.

I pretty much suck at avoiding sweets so these experiments never last long.

But this time I'm more motivated - not only by the *all-time* number, but also from reading about Tony Robbins and his ninja mental tricks. I'm really interested to see if I can pull this, a major behavioral change, off.

I'll weigh in again the morning of July 12th, shaved, naked, and post-defecation.

See also - Breaking My Vows.

Self-Help, Health

Last year I discovered self-help guru Tony Robbins - a guy whom I like to describe as the *mind over matter* dude.

Many people no doubt scoff at Robbins, the *informercial* guy from the late 90s but I just read another of his books - Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement - and came across some fascinating heath/body stuff that I'd never read before.

Ever hear of *food combining"? I certainly hadn't.  It's a digestive theory that asserts certain foods (e.g. meat and potatoes) shouldn't be eaten at the same time because some necessitate a stomach acid for proper digestion....while some foods demand a stomach base (alkali?) for proper digestion.  For example, the American staple combo of meat and potatoes is to be avoided.

Why?  Because the acid and bases supposedly neutralize each other and make your body work harder to digest.....leading to bloating (ever felt that???) and other stomach issues (*out of your brains* farting!) In his book Robbins even said that eating a ton of incompatible sh*t food can even lead to a bad night's sleep if you eat late and your body is working overtime (several hours) to digest while you are sleeping.

I'm sure that those overweight doctors and the medical establishment have a study that debunks this....

BUT if anyone has stomach issues they'd be crazy not to experiment with separating their foods according to this *quack* theory.  I myself don't think I have but am willing to give it a whirl and see what happens.

There's also a snippet in the book about the lymph system, body cell waste products, and proper breathing.

Now I myself have been unable to stop shallow, mouth-breathing for quite a while now.  But Tony has a method that seems to be clicking with me.  Breathe in deeply, hold your breath for 4-times as long, and then breathe out slowly for twice as long as your inhaled.  When I do this....I can really feel the inhale get deep down into my stomach.

Okay we're still here on the beach (Ocean City, NJ)....and I just missed the sunrise writing this post. As my son would say, "WHAT AN EPIC FAIL!!!"

See also:

Moronic Respiration

Breathe-Right?

Wage Slave Hazards - Sleep

When I was an addled youth....I used to get horrible headaches.

Then one day I read in a science periodical that *getting up early all week and sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday* could cause headaches. Aha!

But I could never really avoid the cause.

I got so much school work - to the point where I was pulling 1-2 all-nighters per week - that on Friday night I could barely stay awake until 9:30pm.

Then of course I'd sleep in a little, which pushed me back late on Saturday night....and I'd sleep until 11am on Sunday, then stay up all night doing homework. And so on...

The other day some article was going around on the web calling this *social jet lag*. Check it out - here.

Notably, they link irregular sleep patterns to obesity. I don't want to argue that point, but would like to point out that wage slaves trapped in offices and burdened with tedious, un-stimulating work are also very prone to eating unhealthy food and a lack of exercise.

Poop Like A Dog?

Apparently it's healthier to *squat* above a hole in the ground while you defecate...

Who knew?

Seems to be another one of these 4th World habits (like bare feet, raw food, etc.) that's making a comeback among the healthy set.

Apparently squatters even do their thing atop conventional toilets.

But it can be somewhat dangerous.

Now, I'm going to WARN y'all. The following link is one of the most graphic I've ever posted. If you've just eaten....wait a little bit at least.

SQUAT TOILET ACCIDENT

I believe she was squatting atop a porcelain toilet....but it toppled and shattered. There are worse pics of this injury if you want to Google.

Now go try it!

Big Medicine, Making Us Sicker

From Natural News,

Between 1960 and 1980 - children were subjected to 24 and 25 doses of vaccines. As of 2010, infants and children are exposed to 70 vaccines in the same time period. To put this in perspective - a child born today will receive more vaccine doses by the time he is six months old than his mother did by the time she went to college. With the addition of vaccinations to the adult schedule; a person will receive close to 167 vaccine doses over their lifetime. It is interesting to note that Alzheimer's rates are also increasing as more vaccines are administered to senior citizens. Subsequently vaccine manufacturers are now wallowing in a 27 billion dollar a year industry.

So, what to do?

Well, wait until the kids are a little older, spread the immunizations out more, skip some of the more controversial ones,....or opt out altogether!

The Hypocritic Oath

Hah! Just imagine what the results would have been/said if *doctors* were truly honest in their answers...

Of course it's understandable that doctors aren't totally forthcoming in delivering bad prognoses, in disclosing financial bias, etc. After all it's not like real estate agents, financial advisers, politicians, and the rest are pure by any stretch...

But in my experience, doctors do have an EXTRAORDINARILY LOW OPINION of their patients and the lumpen masses in general.

Why so arrogant and condescending?

Well you have to remember that they have been anointed by Big Education more than just about any other group. Medical school has been, by far, the most competitive and popular destination for *school nerds* over the past 30+ years - if not longer.

I myself haven't been to a doctor in MANY, MANY YEARS. A bunch of them messed me up with horrible advice/surgery after I suffered a car accident some 13 years ago. They actually all told me NOT TO DO precisely what eventually helped!

The idea that a physician can make YOU healthy remains ludicrous. Only individuals that accept their health as a personal responsibility will ever *look like me*.

Google your ailments. Find your own self-help regimens. And emulate the habits of the fittest people on planet Earth....that's all anyone has to do.

Oh yeah....and throw away that poisonous armchair and color TV!

The Splits Too?

That's the Russian Kettlebell guy - Pavel Tsatsouline. Read my prior post.

He's got another book -Relax into Stretch : Instant Flexibility Through Mastering Muscle Tension - which is informative and fascinating.

Pavel asserts that most men CAN do the splits and that the only reason the only thing holding them back is purely *pschological*!

He says that most people can stand up and stretch one leg out 90 degrees on a chair....and they can do this also with the other leg.

So why can't they stretch both legs out 90 degrees at the same time?

Anatomically there is no connection from one side to the other - so raising one leg SHOULDN'T preclude raising the other.

Pavel says that our fearful brain is the culprit - NOT THE MUSCLES, NOT THE LIMITS OF OUR FLEXIBILITY.

Check out his book if your interest is piqued.

One warning - his hacks are time-intensive. He wants you to stretch until these involuntary, reflexive contractions/restrictions tire out.

Unicycle - A Killer Ab Workout!

Alright I mentioned in an earlier post that unicycling might be an *ab hack*.

Well I took my kids to a unicycling sort-of class today and had the opportunity to jump on myself.

Actually I jumped on a unicycle with training wheels (4 of them!) and even riding that misnomer, for only about two minutes, activated my abs to the point where I can still feel it a little 12 hours later. (I did have some problems trying to turn the dang thing!) I'm definitely tempted to give this doohickey some more consideration.

It was 20+ kids from our homeschool group. Here's the demo video from their website:

Thankfully, being mid-December, they have a nice indoor space too!

The guy who started this business has a great story.

He had Crohn's disease something fierce - surgical removal of much of his large intestine...

I didn't get the full story, but apparently he started unicycling and this fitness kick brought back his health - relieving him of the 23 pills a day he had to take.

We'll be back to his place soon for another session. I may come back a bit bruised as there's NO WAY I'll wear a helmet (or kneepads!).

Six Pack Abs Hack?

Like most earthlings, sit-ups, leg raises, and crunches kill my back and neck.

But I recently heard that there is a way to do them which not only protects those weak spots but also really hits your abs.

Apparently the key is to *flatten your lower back* all the way to the floor while doing them.

And now that I Google this a bit I can see that it's hardly a secret among the workout cognoscenti.

I'll have to give this a whirl now. Technique is everything in life!

Moronic Respiration

A few times on this site I've discussed my congenital mouth-breathing problems. For the most recent reference - click here.

Well last week Tim Ferris ran an interesting post on the importance of nasal breathing.  See - The Painless Path To Endurance.

A few years ago I read how Goethe would only breath through his nose. Apparently the guy never caught a cold.

And now you've got Tim Ferriss' super-athletes also asserting the health benefits of nasal breathing...

Unfortunately I've been unable to really improve the quality of my breathing.

I just keep forgetting to breathe! Seriously.

The only time I actually remember to breath properly (through both mouth and nose) is when I'm working out.

I probably need to post sticky-note reminders at my desk, on the bathroom mirrors, on my steering wheel...

Harvard Morons, On Video Game Morons

Game Reviews - E3 2012

The Harvard nerds conclude that NOT playing video games makes kids more violent. Seriously.

Of course it's suburban nerds that play video games and poor urban minorities who can't afford them.

So their *conclusion* is meaningless. Did you expect anything different from those Cambridge idiots?

I love how Harvard researchers - with all the taxpayer funding - are out there studying something as frivolous as video games.

And I love how they are positioning themselves to be lobbyists for Big Video Game!

Whether video games make kids more violent or not is beside the point - considering that they fry brains and fatten mid-sections to a far greater extent. It's not simply that one mind-numbing game is worse than another.

Windows - Bringing The Outside In

It's been unseasonably warm the past few weeks - 60+ degrees for late November.

Aside from squeezing in a few more rounds of golf, I've been running around the house opening windows.

In fact all winter long I do this on warmer days. Get that stale air, get those germs (and I'm hardly a germaphobe) out!

I'm no scientist (a feather in my cap!) but I believe that it's not so much cold weather that makes everyone sick in the winter so much as it is a lack of fresh air.

I've heard that Catherine The Great never got *sick* - even though she was constantly getting lymphocyte injections from random, scared-to-death studs - and that the main reason for her persistent health was the fact that she slept with the windows wide open every night. Realize she lived in ARCTIC Russia.

So open your windows when you can. It definitely can't hurt (outside of your heating bill).

What do I know? Well the Nut goes years between catching colds...

See also - Sick Streak Snapped.

Sick Streak - Snapped

This weekend my son came down with a cough for a few days; his sister had a runny nose over that period; my wife was out of commission for a day; and on Sunday I experienced a sore throat for about 24 hours - although that might have been from carrying my 40 lb golf bag, 12 miles this past weekend at Bethpage Black!

I'm not sure about my wife, as she's more often run-down from work...

But my kids and I were working on an impressive streak of health. None of us had been *sick* since December of 2008 - if memory serves me. So another two months would have made it 3 full years!

No school = No germs!

See also - Sick Of/From School.

Another New Body Hack?

Today somebody lent me a so-called Bulgarian bag. It's 27 lbs and homemade - a tire tube filled with sand and rubber mulch, ducktaped shut. (The name brand online this size is $175!)

I haven't tried it out yet but will do so soon. I guess it's supposed to be another Communist-Bloc *ab ripper* a la kettlebells.

I'll try anything other than crunches and running!

The Prince Fails An Important Test

So I'm, most reluctantly, at the doctor's office the other day. The kids NEED physicals in order to go to camp.

But I was disheartened to learn that my son is blind as a bat.

He failed the eye chart from 20 feet miserably. I mean he got stuck on the second or third row for crying out loud. I know that I can't see worth crap and even I could clearly make out most of the chart without my glasses (which I stubbornly only wear when driving). So the poor kid must be really blind.

The doctor asked if he was having trouble in school. Haha, he most certainly is not! He doesn't go to *school*. What do you mean?

"He might have(!) been having problems seeing the blackboard," she said.

Oh, I guess that makes sense as a normal indicator anyway.  I myself can't read the menus at fast food restaurants until I'm right up at the front of the counter.

Now I think I have to take him to an eye doctor to *rule out astigmatism* or something.

And my wife and I can't help but think all his reading, often in poor light, might be responsible for this development - even if it isn't. The lighting in our house, no matter how many lamps we add, just isn't that good. Really those tall halogen lights are the only ones that really work but I'm too afraid to put them in the kids rooms - given how big of a fire hazard they are.

Of course in the larger scheme of things *glasses* hardly constitute a health disaster but still...

See also - The Prince Can't.