Thank you, My Mentor _____________

I received some timely advice this morning from a man I consider a mentor and an inspiration. It came in the form of a short email.


Hi Riley: Stay focused. Sometimes it is good to go intense for a week! Try it. Go crazy for a week and take off a day. Love your blog. I want to read new material every day!! Hint.


Peace,
My Mentor


No, no, he didn't sign it "My Mentor." That's my name for him. He signed it _____________, but you don't need to know his name.


The timing of this email was perfect. I am a busy guy, but that's not an excuse. Everybody's busy. And I don't have children … yet. Parenting seems, from my vantage point on the verge, a big, big job. Huge. Think NFL offensive lineman-size huge.


I guess I'll find out soon enough. Nevertheless, I am busy now despite being childless and I don't apologize for that. Most of my awake time is eaten up by a job I adore, teaching English and journalism to high school students. One small addendum to that job is working at high school basketball games, which eats up one or two evenings per week. I love working the games, but on game nights I cannot work out at my usual gym. The school has a nice facility, which I need to make use of on game nights before the games begin.


There were two basketball games this week, Tuesday and Thursday, so it was tough to get in a calorie-burning rhythm. I did work out Sunday and Monday, but I need three to four workouts a week to feel like I'm making progress toward my 100,000 calorie goal.


Feeling sorry for myself, I showed up to work this morning tired and worn out from a long week at work, which has included the two aforementioned games, end-of-semester grading duties, administering of finals and yesterday's 8 a.m. pregnancy-related doctor's appointment at a hospital an hour from our house (a little frustrating, considering a hospital in the same medical family sits about 300 yards from our house).


Then I turn on my computer and see an email from My Mentor, sent at 9:18 p.m. last night. This guy and his wife are world travelers. He might be anywhere right now, possibly climbing a mountain in Fiji or kayaking in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Yet he turned on his computer and took the time to send me an email, letting me know he's thinking about me and my goal to get healthy.


I remember this guy telling me a story when he was my cooperating teacher during student teaching. Actually, I remember a lot of stories. Great stories. One story involved him seeing too many of his close friends dying young, which forced him to take a look at himself. He had been lifting weights a lot, but while doing so he had put on some extra pounds, which had resulted in a weight with which his body wasn't comfortable, which resulted in a doctor visit and the news his cholesterol was higher than it should be. He immediately set out to get in better shape. He did, too, because like no one I've ever encountered My Mentor does what he sets his mind to.


Last night, to my benefit, he set his mind to motivating me. The timing couldn't be more perfect.


Next week is the beginning of a new semester. Beginnings of semesters are generally less stressful than ends. In addition, there's only two home basketball games in the next 30 days, neither of which are next week.


I am going to allot 45 to 60 minutes per day to the treadmill. I am going to, as My Mentor wrote, "Go crazy for a week and take off a day." That "crazy" begins today. Who cares if it's Friday? Crazy starts now.


My schedule has a temporary opening. Once Baby A and Baby B arrive this summer those openings may be harder to find.


I better take advantage now.


Thanks for the shot of motivation, My Mentor _____________.

Hello, my name's Titanic

Nine teachers -- myself and eight others -- who work at the local high school are challenging each other to get fit. The main component of  that challenge is weight loss, although we're doing it on the honor system and using personal weight loss goals instead of generic goals.

We just finished week two. (Imagine that, a weight-loss challenge starting the Monday after New Year's Eve. I know. Cliche.)

Week one, five of us combined to lose 17.3 pounds (not everyone reports ... imagine that, not everyone reporting in a weight-loss challenge). One gained 3.4 pounds, but he's the skinniest man I've ever seen in a weight-loss challenge, so he just have been bloated. I didn't count him.

Week two, the big three shedders from week one -- 5.7, 4.2 and 4 pounds -- lost 1.2, 0 and 0. Maybe it's the natural give and take of a body, but my guess is we lost a bit of focus after our week one feel-good moments.

Some sources, such as Blue Zones, tell you to weigh yourself every day. Others, such Weight Watchers, tell you only weigh once per week. I tend to get excited and want to weigh often, but thankfully I've been too busy to do that. Either way, I was one of the zeros, the non-losers, this week.

Then came Sunday and I was ready to go to the gym. Turned on the TV while I had a bite to eat about 3:30. Gym's open until 5. Plenty of time. I'll leave by 4 and get a 45-minute treadmill walk in. Then I see what's on: Titanic. Before I know it I'm into this cheese ball movie, which is on one channel or another almost daily. 3:45, 4, 4:15. I didn't get to the gym twice on Saturday like I had planned. In fact, I didn't get to the gym once on Saturday. The disappointment was building. My health kick, like the Titanic, was sinking.

Finally at 4:17 I decide I have to work out. I get a half hour work out in and burn 253 calories. Not many, but better than none. If not for Titanic (excuse of the day) I could have burned double that ... and now I have proof.

Last night I went back to the gym and worked out for one hour. Actually 59 minutes and 59 seconds. I burned 573 calories.

I arrived home in time to see the end of Titanic, but decided not to watch it. The ending is so sad, and I no longer wanted Titanic to represent me.

Not as a reference to my bloated size.

Not as a reference for its sinkableness (yes, I am an English teacher, but making up words is so fun)

Not as a reference to the movie's sad ending.

TOTAL CALORIES PARTED WITH: 12,464

Slower week but still most defintely progress

I haven't worked out since Sunday, although I plan to work out twice tomorrow. On top of that I felt lazy and tired last night, and it seemed to correlate directly to my higher level of snackiness.

But, I am not discouraged. You've got to remember my baseline ... 2010 ... was pretty base. Snackiness was an every evening occurrence. So to say I spent one night snacking is not something I'm proud of, but the way I look at it I spent the first 12 nights of 2011 NOT snacking. 12 of 13 ain't bad, although my friend Clay Anderson said it takes 20 days to form a habit.

Guess I fell short of non-snackiness reaching habit-forming status. Guess I have something new to shoot for.

Positive thought for the day: I went to make copies just now, right after finishing my lunch, and there were cupcakes sitting by the microwave, which sets next to the copy machine. I wanted one as a sweet treat to top off my meal, but I resisted.

I've never walked by that microwave and not taken one of the treats brought in my a staff member. Not even once.

So I used this cool new thing called the World Wide Web and looked up how many calories are in a cupcake. It varied from difference sources, of course. A bakery cup cake, according to http://www.eatingwell.com/, has 585 calories. Zoinks. But these cup cakes by the microwave were mini-cupcakes, so I'm going with 290 calories saved.

For the year: 11,638 eliminated.

Zebra extinction

Since my goal is NOT to quit being a fat slouch cold turkey but instead more about seeing how many calories I can eliminate, I write this on the remainder of my 25-minute duty-free (yeah, right) lunch on the heels of housing a chicken fried steak and mash potatoes, a meal I fell in love with during my two-year college tenure in south Texas.

I am not eliminating lunches, nor even making them more healthy … yet. Strictly calories, and my caloric decimation needs to jump start, so I’m going to cheat just a smidge. But it’s not really cheating. You’ll see what I mean.

I have vowed to eliminate Little Debbie Zebra Cakes from my 2011 life. My wife and I figured out I average about 25 Zebra Cakes a year. While I’m not going to share with you the mundane details about how we came to this conclusion, I will say I don’t even really much like Zebra Cakes. They just became the one thing I always got when I filled up with gas at a station near our home or when we were on long road trips and stopped for gas. Besides, they’re cheap. About 75 cents. And there is something magical about a creamy-filled center. Similar to coming down on Christmas morning and seeing your stocking filled with Santa’s gifts, a feeling adults need to replace with something else. I replaced that sensation with Zebra Cakes’s creamy-filled center.

I need to stop here for a moment and give credit where it’s due. About a year ago Amanda and I were dining out with some friends. A friend of a friend who I hadn’t met prior was eating with our group. He said he ate as many as six Little Debbie snack cakes a day. They were his thing, I guess. I can’t recall his cake of choice, but their calorie count is similar in all their yummy goodnesses. He said he shed a bunch of pounds simply by eliminating that one thing from his life.

So to that dude, whatever his name, I want to thank him for his inspiration.

Zebra Cakes have 380 calories. I know because I went to the same store where I always buy them (yes, I have heard about the Internet and its amazing information capabilities). Cruelly, they were out. But being determined to stare down the Zebra Cakes and walk out empty handed (except for the calorie count), I returned to that scene of so many crème-filled crimes.

So 380 calories X 25 Cakes = 9,500 calories eliminated.

Last gym workout was on Sunday (this is Wednesday). I burned 557 calories, which gives me 1,848 calories burned through working out this year.

With the elimination of Zebra cakes added in, that’s 11,348 calories eliminated from my 2011 self. I’m already one-tenth of the way to my 100,000 calorie goals. Of course, I have to actually abstain from Zebra Cakes for 11½ more months now, that being the hard part.

NEXT ELIMINATION: Perkins sugar cookies. L Shucks. I actually like those.

Small victories

Last evening, after finishing my fish sandwich and fries from McDonald's I claimed a small victory, small being the operative word. It was made especially diminutive in the face of having just housed a McDonald's meal.

One of many selves is that of Site Manager for the high school boys basketball team. A site manager is like a rental Activities Director. I do the jobs of meeting and taking care of the game referees, the table workers, meeting the teams and getting them into their locker, etc. Basically, all the behind-the-scenes details. Well, one of the behind-the-scenes details is setting up the concession stand and training in that night's volunteer workers. Usually, as per routine, I would start the night by buying myself a candy bar. Generally, that would lead to a piece of pizza later in the night and often a hot dog, just because they smelled so good every time I stopped by to check on things.

And that was always after my dinner, which, admittedly, was never salad and often something fatty. Essentially, on the dozen nights a winter I worked the basketball games I was generally consuming two dinners, both calorie heavy.

Last night was the first basketball game since I started the 100,000 calories challenge, and I avoided the pizza and the hot dogs. Admittedly, as the night ended there was leftover popcorn, heavily buttered and salted, and I ate a bag of that.

So my victories are not mammoth, but minute. Yet victories they are.

UPDATE: My last workout was Tuesday night. I burned 394 calories. TOTAL CALORIES REMOVED: 1,291 (through work outs only). I plan to add in the calories removed via eating habit changes in my next blog about Little Debbie Zebra Cakes (yum). I want one now. … And again now.

This time I remembered

For the second consecutive day my wife and I went to the gym to exercise. Of course, we went to Pizza Hut first.

But in my convoluted quest to cut 100,000 calories from my life that's OK because I traditionally have pizza once a week for dinner (and once for lunch as leftovers) anyway, so that's not out of line. While some of my competitors in our Coaches' Challenge (will explain in another column) are bragging about how little they are eating, I am not going there yet. I simply want to add in exercise and remove a few unnecessary sweets and treats (another blog topic idea).

As it turns out a lot of women in great shape also work out where we work out. They always seem to jump on the tread mill directly to my left. When they start running fast in their long strides it can make my pace look rather loathsome. That's OK. They are trying to get in shape, while I'm simply cutting calories. That's why college football and basketball players don't work out together. They have different goals. In fact, it can be dangerous.

When I was a young a basketball player from my hometown played basketball for Cincinnati. After his freshman season he spent some time working out with a football player. He collapsed and nearly died as the workout was not right for his body. That guy is now a doctor, and I'll bet a damn good one, so I'm sure he knew what he was doing. But it just wasn't right.

These long-strided runners to my left may be me someday, although I doubt it. But for now a briskly paced walk is fine with me.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I did draw enough inspiration from these runners to my left to run for a few one-minute stretches. I have to admit it felt good. I've only been a runner two other times in my life (another blog topic idea). Now is not the time for me to run. I'm still finding my stride.

CALORIES BURNED IN TODAY'S WORKOUT: 477 (yes I remembered to look this time). ADDENDUM: I "guesstimated" yesterday's calories burned at 500 (see column to see why I "guesstimated"). I want to change that to 420 calories as my guess. I definitely went harder today and only burned 477.

TOTAL CALORIES REMOVED:
897

My best guess

The exercise portion of my 100,000 calorie plan – the only quantifiable piece this haphazard plan includes – began today. My wife and I, for the second time in two weeks, showed up at the place where we exercise, only to find out for the second consecutive time we didn't know the Sunday hours. Last time we were too late, this time too early.

We filled the time by preparing some New Year's letters. Yes, yes, I'm perfectly aware most people send Christmas letters, not New Year's letters, but we are not cliché … at least in this facet of life. Regardless, we used our time wisely, and now the gym was open and we were on our way.

My wife and I are exercising for vastly different reasons. She's been advised that being in good shape offers a higher percentage chance of having a less painful labor. Pain avoidance always seems like a good motivator.

Meanwhile, my motivation is all over the map. Impending papa status. Feeling winded after climbing 16 steps on the way to bed. Having to sit down to tie my shoes. Spilling on my shirts each day when my belly inevitably bumps the table in front of me.

One admittedly odd motivator is this blog. I came up with the idea to change my caloric intake by 100,000 calories and record the stories here, whether successful or unsuccessful, and the number one way to accomplish that will be involving exercise in my weekly routine.

Well, here's a story for you.

We arrive at the gym, and it's been open less than an hour, yet the room we're in is packed. My wife and I bump into a fellow teacher and discuss going back to work tomorrow and the guaranteed chaos that will ensue with the students who have lived less structured existences for the past 10 days. Next I wave at a parent of a few former students. He's listening to music and in the middle of his workout so I skip stopping to talk to him, although it's always fun hearing how his kids are doing.

Next, we head to the treadmills. I type in my weight, age and a few other details the machine requires so as to give me an accurate reading of my calories burned. I want an accurate reading, as this is my only empirical data, my lone statistical evidence that I'm on my way to ridding myself of 100,000 calories. I type in 45-minutes, which should be enough to burn about 500 calories. My favorite part of using the treadmill is that it gives you an exact distance walked and exact calories burned.

I set my Time magazine on the treadmill and begin to read Joel Stein, one of my new favorite writers. I've used blurbs from his columns to help teach writing to my students. This column, much like all of his columns, is not only hilarious, but poignant and a great comment on society. I look down and I'm one-third of the way through, 15 minutes and 166 calories burned. On pace for 500 calories burned, but as previously mentioned I'll get an exact number at the end and record it here.

Next, I read a story about a Burmese rebel leader fighting for peace in her country. An amazing story, although the hope for peace is not bright, which sends my thoughts elsewhere momentarily.

Suddenly, I am brought back to the here and now by a man standing next to my treadmill. It is the guy I saw earlier, the parent of two of my former students and he's come over to say hello. I always enjoy talking to him, not only to hear about what his children are up to, but also because he's an avid golfer, which is one of my passions, too.

We talk for awhile, mostly he talking, me listening. He tells me one of his kids will be graduating this spring and may go on to pharmacy school. Another is applying for a summer internship in Europe. A third child is competing on the college rowing team, a Division I athlete. All three go to the same school.

He mentions a golf excursion he's hoping to pull off this summer, which is about when I realize my time on the treadmill has finished. I grab some paper towels and wipe off the machine, end the conversation with my friend and say good bye.

As I walk to the coat rack and put on my coat I realize something: I never looked to see how many calories I burned. I race back to the machine only to realize it's already reset for the next walker.

I don't even have to tell my wife what's happened. She knows me well enough.

The only quantifiable portion of my 100,000 calorie experiment will have to be a "guesstimate" for exercise session number one as I forgot to record it. We'll chalk this up as an unsuccessful story, but in the end it's still success as I know I've burned calories and feel good about it J. I just wish I knew the exact amount. L

EXERCISE SESSION #1, calories burned: 500 (my best "guesstimation").