Chuck’s Home World

Many people don’t realize it, but your body burns calories all the time. When you eat, your body must burn calories to get the energy and nutrients from the food you’ve eaten. Eating every three hours or so keeps your body’s furnace going. If you don’t eat and your stomach goes empty, your furnace goes into stand by mode and your burn fewer calories. Depending on your calorie budget, you should eat about 100 – 300 calories between meals… roughly every three hours or so. Make them good calories though, not a couple of doughnuts, but an apple and some nuts (or other healthy snack).

If you’re trying to control your calorie intake, you should not drink your calories. Avoid sodas and sweetened teas and other drinks. Water is your best best, or if you must, use an artificial sweetener such as Splenda. You can have 3 or 4 apples for the same amount of calories (or less) than having a regular 20 oz soda!

Instead of drinking a glass of orange juice, eat an orange. Instead of apple juice, eat an apple. You get so much more out of the fruit than just the juice.

How Can You Adjust What You Eat and Do Unless You Know It?

You need to know what you’re currently doing so you can know what you may need to change.  Even without starting a “diet” you can record what you eat (at least calories, fat, protein and carbohydrates. Knowing how many calories per serving is great, but you need to pay attention to the amount of servings you consume too.

Recording What you Eat

The only way you’re going to know what you eat is to write it all down. I mean every bit of it. It does take some discipline but you must do it. A simple piece of paper or a journal. No need to go out and by a food log book. Just a simple spiral bound one will do.  If you cook a lot, you may need some help in figuring it out. If you eat a lot of packaged food, use the nutritional information on that. Above all, you can use the internet to figure out how much you’re eating. I use Diet Pro 2005 (Google for it).

Create a column for the food, amount of protein, fats, carbs and calories.  And if you eat a package of food that contains more than a single serving – calculate it out to what you’ve eaten!

FF: Did you know that the Nutritional information on packages can err from 2% to  25%?

Recording What you Do

Besides know what you eat, you need to know how you are burning energy. One quick way is to get a pedometer and record the daily steps it shows. There are some really good ones out there that will allow you to record things onto a computer. Of course, just record the activities, even if you don’t know how much calories they’re using up. For example, if you take a 30 minutes walk, write that down.  Use your food journal to record activities too. Later, you may discover that walking a steady pace of 3.5 MPH for 30 minutes can burn 250 calories or more.

Try to be as fit as you can be, regardless of your diet. When starting off, the first thing you need to do is get fit. If you’re 5 pounds overweight or 150. Start exercising and get those muscles working. Start small and work your way up. If you lose your breath walking 150 feet, then you should walk 300 feet extra every day. The 600 and keep going. In a few week’s time you’ll be walking miles.

Of course you may need to check with your doctor to find out what kinds of exercising you may be able to do.

Well, it snowed yesterday. It looks to be about 3 or 4 inches so it’s not too bad. Thankfully it’s happened on the weekend as well, and I’ve been sick so I had no reason to go out.

Anyway, today I’m actually feeling pretty good. I hope to get a few miles in, but we’ll have to wait and see how things go. I sure do need to start burning more calories, so I can continue to drop the weight. I have a follow-up on Feb. 23 and want to be lower than last one by at least 5 pounds.

I decided to see if I could speed up the Netbook. I’ve ordered, for Monday delivery, a new hard drive. I’m going to try out a solid state drive (SSD). I went with a drive that was not quite as large as the one I have, but I could have gone with one that was half the price (and half the size), but decided to go with the extra storage.  The SSD should give me a bit more battery life (but its lasting all day when I put it to sleep when not needed), but it couldn’t hurt to get more out of it.

Windows 7 Pro does boot pretty fast on the machine, but there are a few applications that I’d like to make run a bit faster and these are disk related applications (a couple of database and Lotus Notes based).

I should run some benchmarks before and after.  I’ll have to find some good free software to help me with that. I’m sure one or more of the computer mags I get will have one or two that I can use.

I guess I’ll end this post and talk about the Apple iPad that was just announced this past week. My overall feeling is “ho hum”, but if I got one for free then perhaps I’d be more excited. I mean, the iPod Touch was one of those things that I felt I didn’t need, but now that I have one (free from 2008 Christmas party) I really like it.  I think the only thing I really like about it is the ability to have something quick and fast to browse the web while watch TV. The netbook is OK for that, but the screen resolution on the netbook leaves a lot to be desired.

Yeah, I couldn’t think of a title for this entry so I just went with that…

Its around 3AM as I write this short posts. Its been a little while since my last post so I thought I’d throw a few things up here. I’m sick and its tough to sleep right now so I figured why not take advantage of the time. I’d actually try to do some work, but I know I won’t be able to focus on getting anything done so I’m not going to!

In my previous post I mentioned a new work laptop and BlackBerry. I’ve received both. I’m pretty happy with the laptop so far (Dell e6500) but haven’t really needed to use the phone yet. It’s not active on the BES yet, so I can’t use it. It’s a Storm 2 so I can compare it against my original Storm. Its OK, but I don’t like the call buttons being under the glass. I like my Storm’s separate buttons.

I’m still in the process of getting the necessary tools installed in order to start developing a bit for the BlackBerry. I was thinking of going with Adobe Dreamweaver, but it’s so expensive and I can do what I need to do with free tools.

Work continues to keep me very busy. A newer high priority project has begun… it’s tough because I can’t seem to get some existing projects done because something of higher priority always comes along.

Final entry note – I weighed in this morning and I’ve dropped a few more pounds. I know I’m somewhat dehydrated though so I’m sure its not a great a loss as the scales are showing, but I’ll live with it for now. I just hope it continues to drop instead of hovering around the same readings…

I’m just getting over a quick cold. I’m surprised that I’m feeling better already. Still have some stuffiness in the head (more than normal) but I’m definitely feeling better.

Saw Dr. Dua yesterday (Tuesday) and it was a good visit. I was down to what I was visit before last and have dropped the couple of pounds I gained over Christmas. I’ve reduced my daily calorie budget to 1600 cals, and will continue that until I’ve dropped a few more pounds. I really hope to get into the gym this weekend. It will be the first time back in a few months and I really need to get in there. Hope I feel up to it.

Work is still keeping me very busy. There is talk of me getting a new laptop and a blackberry (IT Spare) for some development work. That will be nice on both accounts.

That’s all for today. I’ll try to post more later.

I have found a new nutrition and fitness show on the web that I’ve been catching up on. I’ve only watched about 8 of his shows so far (during cardio workout on the treadmill), but I’m sort of hooked. I like his approach and he has the physic that I can aspire to reach. Check it out at The Dr. Clay Show.

Dr. Clay Hyght

Dr Clay Hyght, DC, CSCS, CISSN, is a recognized authority in the areas of nutrition and exercise. Residing in Danville, CA, Dr Clay spends much of his time helping others enhance their physique through nutrition and exercise. He also treats patients, utilizing chiropractic and soft tissue therapy to optimize physical function and quality of life. His clients/patients range from competitive bodybuilders and figure competitors, to professional athletes and busy working people who simply want to look and feel better.

Not one to sit on the sidelines, Dr Clay practices what he preaches and has been competing in bodybuilding contests for over 15 years. To learn more about or to contact Dr Clay, visit his website.

I saw Dr. Dua this morning and I’ve lost another 7 pounds. That’s great, a little over a pound per week. The milestone I’ve reached though it that I’m no longer considered obese. I’m just over-weight! I’m still about 20 pounds away from my current goal weight, and hope to reach it sometime by the end of this year.

About a week ago I saw Dr. Dua for a weight management follow-up to go over a recent body composition test and blood work. The body composition was a bit disappointing, but the blood work was great shown good improvement in my numbers all around.

The body comp showed no movement in body composition except for a little bit of muscle loss which is expected since I’ve stopped going to the gym for a while. It has computed a new end goal with my current muscle mass of 198 lbs. I’m currently around 223 – 225, so I need to roughly lose another 27 pounds. I’ve actually started seeing more movement on the scales in the last few weeks than I have in a good while. I’m just hoping that its the fat going away and not muscle.

For those who don’t know, my weight loss efforts started strong in June of 2008 when I started seeing Dr. Dua after a physical. At the time of the physical I weighed in at 288 lbs and wore a “fat man’s” size 44. As of this writing I’m weighing in (home scale) at 223 lbs and can wear size 38 – 40 waist, and a single X large shirt. I’m slowly going through my clothes getting back into the ones that I’d not worn in years. Its like shopping for new clothes, but not having to spend any money. Of course there are some clothes that I won’t even try to put back on due to styles, etc.

As I said above, my blood work turned out great. The only problem was my vitamin D levels were much too low. Dr. Dua gave me a prescription for a once per week dosage of 50,000 IU. That’s a huge number, but it is only once a week. This of course has sparked a new interest in learning as much as I can about vitamin D and how it works. I’ve downloaded a few podcast about it and nutrition in general. So many people are deficient in this vitamin and drinking two glasses of milk per day isn’t really enough to get your levels up. Apparently you must consume lots of fish and meats or take a daily supplement. I’m hoping that when I have my levels tested again, they’ll be good.

By the way, the possible side affects of taking the dosage I’m taking include aches, constipation, loss of appetite, nausea, weakness, and weight loss. There are two listed there that I think are slight benefits (loss of appetite; weight loss) but that may not be as good as it sounds.

From what I’ve been reading and learning is that Vitamin D helps to get your calcium into your blood stream, which is important for good nerve communication and such. I don’t know if it is psychosomatic or not, but I have felt better and a bit more mentally alert in the last week since I took it.

My other blood work numbers were great. My lipids were very good showing a decrease in the bad cholesterol and an increase in the good cholesterol. Blood sugar was great too.

Enough about that.

I spent a good bit of time the other day reading my blog posts from the start – at least the ones that have been saved in this system. It was like reading an old diary. In the beginning I posted quite a few jokes and and pictures of funny things that I saw. I think it was just my way of getting some content up here. I also wrote about the various events going on like leaving old jobs for new ones, selling and buying my homes and such. It was an interesting walk down memory lane. I’ll have to do it again in a few years to see what the new decade brings.

For over a year I have been working on losing weight and getting healthier. I’ve succeeded quite a bit in my goals, but still have a ways to go before I’m going to be happy with myself. Since I started working with Dr. Dua and Gina at the Maryland Weight loss Center – part of my old doctors office in June of 2008, I’ve lost about 60 pounds. In the last 8 months or so I’ve been going to the gym pretty regularly and have been getting more and more into shape. Its a long road, and the journey can be challenging but I’m going to make it. I am hoping that by this Christmas (if not sooner) I’ll have reached my goal weight and will be in maintenance mode.

I’ve been recording food intake since June of 2008 and using a pedometer to track the number of steps I take in a day. The same software that helps me track my steps also helps me track my blood pressure which I’ve been monitoring for a couple of years too. Recently I’ve picked up a couple of more devices to help record what’s going on. For example, I now have a heart rate belt that can record my heart rate while I workout and chart out the results.

I’ve been gathering all this information which I can use when I meet with Dr. Dua, but I don’t always remember to take it with me. So I’ve decided to “publish” certain health stats at http://ChucksHealth.com/ (or http://ChucksHealth.net/).  I’m doing this for several reasons. First, I’m using various technologies and techniques so I’m learning new stuff. Second, its providing me with more information that helps me make smarter decisions and to get a better and more realistic look at how I’m doing. Third, its providing an easy way for me to get the information to the Doctor who should be able to browse the web easily to see my information.

It has been too long since my last post. I’ve been busy and have tweated a lot, but haven’t really taken the time to write a new post. So I’m taking a few minutes this Sunday morning to write a bit.

Yesterday was the first time I’d been to the gym in two weeks. I didn’t go mostly because my back had been bother me more than usual. Its calmed back down and yesterday’s workout was pretty good. I held back a bit and was really warn out when I was done but felt good. I’m going to try to go at least twice more this week since I’ll miss all next week due to my upcoming trip to HI.

For the last few weeks I’ve really wanted to take my blood pressure log and post it to my web site for easy access. I’ve forgotten it the last couple of times when I went to the doctor and really need to have it handy. They have internet access in all the rooms (for their use) so it made sense.

First some background on my blood pressure log. I use an OMRON HEM-712IT device to take my blood pressure once or more a day. It uses a USB port to attach to my computer and the Health care software that came with it reads from the device. It’s pretty good, but it only allows exporting of CSV files in its own format. I wanted something better and discovered that it was an Access database. I have MS Access 2007 and was able to crack the password on the database in order to get to the data.

Over the last couple of weeks I was able to explore the data and create a report or two that I thought I could publish to the web. I couldn’t quite get the results in the way that I wanted so I decided to switch to another type of project.  Since I have been working in PHP for work and for my own website, I decided I’d prefer to have the data in a mySQL database. I created a bit of VBA in MS Access to create the necessary SQL Replace statements. I then manually imported that file into mySQL tables. Then using Apatana, I wrote the “front end” code to display the results of my blood pressure in a simple table format. That was fine, but being a lazy guy, I wanted a single step solution.

I updated my code to use pscp.exe to transfer the file to my website directly and then to call an import script on my site. That worked OK, but I still had to open MS Access to run the script. Having Visual Studio 2005, I decided that I could do a command line utility to perform the function that the MS Access script was doing. Yesterday I was able to complete my VB application to do just what I wanted. Today I’ve tweaked it a bit more.  I now have an icon on my Windows 7 desktop that all I have to do it double click and it does all the work. The end result is the browser opening to show me the import status with a link to the report. The next thing I want to do is make the application call the import script and then simply show the results without actually opening the browser. I may have to hold back a couple of weeks to do that. For now its working great as is.

You can get to my report by following the blood pressure information link at the top of this page and then scrolling to the bottom or by clicking here.

In just over a week I’ll be heading out to Seattle, WA where I’ll be meeting up with my friends Chris and Carol. On Monday, we fly over into Honolulu for a couple of hours before heading over to Maui for a whole week! My upstairs neighbor Cathy will be watching over things and feeding my girls. I’m really looking forward to the trip.

Today I hope to get a bit of shopping done. I need to pick up some shorts and perhaps a pair of shoes. I also need to get a few more groceries. I’m out of fresh fruit among other things.  Uncle Jim is coming over for a couple of days to work in the area.  Its alway nice to have him visit.