This commercial came out right around the time I got my Jetta and boy did it make me feel cool like the cool people in these commercials. I will say that 14 years and 170,000 miles later I think I have gotten my money’s worth. I hope the R32 does as well. (It’s at 6 years and about 60,000 miles.)
Vitamin Water Zero – tasty beverage
Not only have I obivously dropped sodas with sugar from the diet, but I’m also trying to avoid carbonated beverages and see what that does. For a long time I’ve enjoyed Propel, even in it’s new Propel Zero form, but I haven’t liked any other flavor than grape. Now I’ve got a new zero-cal beverage that I like and it comes in many tasty flavors:
All the names are cutsey. And they have little text on them trying to be cool and funny. But hey…the stuff is tasty. More so than the generic “grape” of the Propel I’ve been drinking. I’m buying it where I can and stocking the fridge.
PB2 – Awesomesauce in a powder
So far I’ve only been having chocolate shakes on my diet, since fake vanilla has never really worked for me. And I do like chocolate. But having 3 shakes a day starts to get old pretty quick, so we’re given all sorts of suggestions on things we can add to the shakes that are still “in the box” – meaning that they’re safe for us to use. I’ve tried some of the sugar-free Torani syrups and they’re just not really working for me combined with the chocolate.
However we’ve got a new seasoning “in the box” and it’s crazygood:
Yeah, that’s right, powdered peanut butter. It’s way lower in fat and calories than “regular” peanut butter. 1 serving is 2 tablespoons and is 45 calories. However, I have found that only 2 teaspoons are necessary to turn a somewhat bland HMR shake into a frozen peanut butter cup. I’m only using it once a day right now to avoid burning out on it, but if you like peanut butter (and I am rather fond of it) I bet there’s all sorts of things you could do with this stuff.
HMR Week 2
Yeah, this is late.
The good news: On the second week of the diet I was again “in the box” (meaning I didn’t cheat) all 7 days. I even got in my first workout.
The bad news: I only lost 3 pounds.
Some folks might say “Hey, 3 pounds is good!” And on a normal diet I would be happy with that. However this diet isn’t “normal”. It is supposedly so intense that I’m taking a drug to avoid gallstones because I’m supposed to lose weight so fast. It’s so hardcore that I need to get blood work done every two weeks. It’s expensive. I was expecting better.
And here’s the thing – at 3 pounds a week average I will have to be on the plan an extra 7 months longer than the advertised (and hoped for) 5 pounds per week. Now maybe that number was unreasonable to hope for but if it the diet ends up performing at a 3 pounds a week rate then that’s only 1 pound a week more than the “safe and sane” 2 pounds a week. And I’m not sure that’s worth all the sacrifices necessary for this plan (such as having to carry their food with you everywhere, like on vacation).
I haven’t given up yet – I’ve committed to doing at least the “core program” which is 12 weeks. And I have higher hopes for week 3, as I will have gotten in 3 workouts during the diet week. (That’s the max I’m willing to do right now until I get more weight off and take stress off my knees.) We’ll see how it goes.
My first week on HMR
I’m not going to blog about every week on HMR – those who are insanely curious can follow the hilarity over DailyBurn. This is just a recap of my impressions.
First, the good news. According to my scale this morning after 1 week on the diet I am down 13.2 pounds. (HMR weighs in the evening and their scale said 12 pounds, but I’m going with my home scale for now.) I tend to post huge results on the first week of any diet, and I’m sure a lot of that is water weight, so while it’s a good number I will wait and see what next week brings before I get too excited.
Now, the not-so-good news. I got blood work done this week and I’m a little concerned about my uric acid level. In December, during the screening, I was at 6.6mg/dL. This week I was 7.2mg/dL. And the reference range is 2.6 – 7.2. *sigh* Unfortunately for the folks at HMR I got my test results via the Sutter/PAMF online system before I went in, so I knew something was up and was prepared to discuss it. While technically this isn’t hyperuricemia it is going in that direction and I wanted to know what I could do other than trying to drink more water. I was told this was not unexpected – when you’re on a low calorie diet it’s like being on a high purine diet. This number could go up, fluctuate, or does who knows what. Clearly I’ll be keeping an eye on it.
As far as the actual diet program itself that hasn’t been too bad. The shakes are ok, and I am more than happy with my fancy new Blendtec blender. The instructions for the shakes say to add water and powder, blend on low for a bit, add the ice one cube at a time, blend on low for 90 seconds, etc. Well screw that. I put everything in the jar, and hit the “smoothie” button. 25 seconds later I have a very smooth shake. (And the cats are hiding somewhere.) Yay Blendtec. However, as far as making shakes on the road the recommended BlenderBottle is just kinda meh. Not a tasty shake. I will need to work on figuring that out.
The real surprise has been the entrees. They are rather tasty. There is a strong tendency towards tomato-based stuff as far as sauces, but so far they are pretty good. They’re on the small size, of course, but 60 seconds in the microwave and they’re done. If I’m really hungry and it’s time to practice “More Is Better™” then I’m more likely to grab one of them than a shake. Except for the risotto. I traded my leftover one back in.
The bars are good, and I’m trying to limit myself to no more than 2 a day although they are “in the box”. They taste very familiar – I know I’ve had the same exact product under a different label.
The last two things I tried were the cereal and the “chicken soup”. Firstly, yes, the Blendtec will heat soup. That’s crazy, and I will not do it again because it was insanely loud. The blender runs at full speed for 90 seconds. No, I’ll just use the stove. The soup itself was kinda nasty. I’m gonna try adding some bullion to it and seeing if that improves it. As far as the cereal goes – it’s nice, just incredibly bland. I had to hit it with some Splenda/Stevia to get some flavor. I will also try adding salt and cinnamon.
So far the first week was pretty easy, but then it always is. Now we’ll really start to see how things go – it’s not so new anymore, and I’ll also start to get an idea of how much weight I can really lose. Also, at this point, I haven’t tested myself on the diet. I didn’t leave my apartment last weekend. I got home on Friday night and didn’t leave until Monday morning. At some point I’ll need to be able to go out into the real world but for now I’m just trying to get up to a good solid start in order to get some motivation.
So, I’m…uh…starting a diet.
You know, after just having published a post trashing the “diet industry” I can understand that WTF look on your face. Didn’t I just rant about how they’re all a bunch of liars and stuff? Yep, I did. And so now I’m saying I’m starting a diet? Yep, I am. Much of the frustration in the post about the diet industry came to a head when evaluating this program.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big guy. And the fact is that I’ve been very lucky as a big guy. I’m not diabetic (although I am pre-diabetic at this time – readings have been stable for 5 years), my cholesterol is pretty normal, and generally I don’t really yet have any of the life-threatening complications of obesity. I do have knee pain however which is impacting my daily life.
The motivation behind starting this program is twofold: one is I would like to be more mobile and active. I want to do more fun things. Secondly I am deathly afraid of diabetes. I’ve seen too many stories about people needing dialysis or having limbs amputated. That stuff scares me to death. I really want to avoid that. And studies have shown that diet and exercise is VERY good at keeping “pre-diabetes” from becoming diabetes.
The program I am starting is the HMR Weight Management Program. HMR is a national company but the local program (which I’ve linked to) is run by/affiliated with the health group that I go to, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
I chose this program for a few reasons. Firstly, I like the fact that it’s closely aligned with PAMF. While the “HMR” company does make money off of the stuff I buy the fact is that PAMF itself doesn’t. The profit motive here just didn’t feel that high. I didn’t feel pressured.
Secondly, the program I am doing is medically supervised. I will see a nurse every week and will be seeing a doctor once a month. Blood work is done every two weeks. They keep a very close eye on your health during this program. And since PAMF/Sutter has a pretty good computer system it means that they have access to all the data and results from my PAMF primary care doctor and my PAMF doc will get to see the data/lab results they collect in the HMR program. I like that sort of integration. It will help them “realize exigent synergies”. *snicker*
The program is a “VLCD”, or Very Low Calorie Diet. They have 3 basic levels of the program: weekly doctor visits, monthly doctor visits, or no doctor visits. The amount of supervision also ties in to how many calories you get. The good news is that I’m healthy enough to only need monthly doctor visits. (This saves money.) And although I only see a doctor monthly I do see an RN every week to get my vitals checked and to discuss how things are going from a medical perspective. But I am still doing a level that requires medical supervision because I want it to be rapid and effective. The program gives you a “minimum prescription”, and on the monthly supervision plan that is 800 calories a day. Yeah, that’s pretty damn low. (800 calories is the point between a Low Calorie Diet and a Very Low Calorie Diet.) Every dietician I ever talked to said I shouldn’t go that low. But the idea here is that it can be safe when you’re being closely monitored. That’s why the program is medically supervised.
Also, HMR has a slogan: “More is better”. If you’re hungry you’re supposed to have another shake. So the 800 calories is truly a minimum – it will probably not be actually what I take in. I will be curious to see what my actual intake is. I may not end up on a VLCD at all, at least not technically.
The shakes come with vitamin pills in the box, not something you have to buy separately. (That was one of the things that made me feel nice – they don’t make you buy any “extras” – it’s all built in.) Also I have been prescribed ursodiol to avoid the formation of gallstones. Apparently before they started prescribing this drug to their patients they say about 1/3rd of them getting gallstones. With this drug they saw that drop to 4%.
I won’t say that I’m not concerned. Dig some of the possible side effects:
- Constipation/Diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Cold intolerance
- Temporary hair thinning
- Gastrointestinal distress if you go off plan
- Leg cramps
- Gallstones (see above)
Holy crap. I’ve never had a diet list side effects like that before. It seems a bit scary. Part of that may be why I’m doing it – if it’s this intense then it had better work.
They also include exercise in the program. They want everyone to start with walking – hopefully they’ll listen to my Ortho doc and be sane about it. I’ve worked myself out to the point of having to spend days off of my feet before. I don’t intend to do it again. I will be very careful about exercise until I start to see some real progress (and hopefully less knee pain).
The good news is that I at least bought a new toy for the diet. (Anyone who knows me knows I love a good excuse to get a toy.) I got myself a Blendtec blender. Yep, from the “Will It Blend” folks. I am now prepared to mix the hell out of those shakes, yo. (And keep quiet all you VitaMix nazis. They’re both fine blenders.)
I will also continue to use DailyBurn to track both my diet and exercise. (Interested folks can see my public profile there.) I will also be tracking my weight there. I won’t be using their weigh-ins since they are done with clothes on and such. I also plan on getting a Withings scale once I’ve lost a bit so that I can get my weigh-ins automagically uploaded to DailyBurn.
I have high hopes for this program. It is “decision free”. None of the food I eat will be from a store, so I’m hoping that by taking shopping and other decisions out of the equation for a while I will be able to get a handle on things. I know that these types of rapid diets have a tendency to also involve rapid regain, so I know I’m signing up for a “lifestyle change” here. But my hope is that the positive results will reenforce the lifestyle changes. Wish me luck!
I wish the “diet industry” would just die.
Let’s say that you want to lose weight. You might have health concerns, you might just want to look better – there are many reasons to want to drop some pounds. But if you’re looking for a way to get your weight under control and you try to approach this rationally, what should you do? You’re going to end up running into John’s First Law of Dieting.
John’s First Law of Dieting: ALL DIETS ARE ABOUT YOU BUYING CRAP. Often it’s a book – they all want to sell you books. Lots and lots of books. Weight Watchers, one of the more reasonably priced diet plans out there, tries to sell you food scales and points books. When they change their points formula you know what that means: BUY NEW CRAP. (Disclaimer: My mom was dragging me to WW meetings when I was 12 or so. Not happy memories.) Jenny Craig/Nutrisystem: BUY OUR FOOD (and other crap). They are always trying to sell you something. Never forget this. This is perhaps the source of my biggest grip about diet stuff.
The fact that the “diet industry” wants to part me from my money, and often does so in ways that I feel are less than honest, automatically sets my teeth on edge when someone comes along hawking a way that’s guaranteed to shed pounds. The second thing that works against me is that I really really really hate pesudo-science, especially when used to sell something, even if it’s just an idea. My BS sensors are *very* sensitive.
So let’s say you’re trying to figure out how you should eat. Let’s say you want stuff that is backed by sound science, and hopefully the science is further backed up by published un-biased data that at least partially proves the science. What do you find? These days you’ll basically find two camps:
On the one hand, we’ve got the “thermodynamics” folks. This are the folks that go by the (traditional) view that if calories in are more than calories out you gain weight. It’s a pretty simple idea and it’s rather intuitive. Of course it also says that if you’re fat then you’re just a lazy slob and why don’t you go work out fattie. (I may be exaggerating, but not much. News flash: a lot of people are mean to fat folks. Including their parents.) They don’t really care *where* a calorie comes from they just care how many you take in. And because, as most folks know, fat has more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein these folks usually end up pushing a low-fat high-carb diet. They will also point at data regarding the link between fat intake and heart disease. This advice is the “standard” advice – it’s what you’ll hear from nutritionists, your doctor, etc.
Then there are some folks who are saying it’s not how much you it it’s what you eat that causes the problem. They’ve also got a simple idea: insulin makes you fat. Carbs make your insulin spike, which takes the blood sugar and then turns it in to fat. As long as you keep your insulin levels low then the actual number of calories doesn’t matter – your body doesn’t metabolize it. Then tend to push a high-protein/high fat diet. These guys are already somewhat in a corner because they seem to think that the advice of the majority of medical folks is wrong, for whatever reason.
What’s a respectable geek supposed to do when given people pushing two opposites? Even the New York Times has commented on how these two sides are diametrically opposed. You’ve got the head of Weight Watchers giving away fruit baskets as gifts (isn’t fruit supposed to be healthy?) and you’ve got another guy saying that the apple in your hand is “just another serving of fructose”, and fructose is the type of sugar that your body converts to fat the easiest. Thus that apple is bad for you.
Let’s take a specific example. I have some friends who are way into CrossFit. (On the one hand those guys scare me – I haven’t seen an exercise program described as a “cult” before. On the other hand one of these friends got hit by two cars while on a motorcycle and his survival was credited, in part, to his conditioning.) The CrossFit guys tend to start advocating the Paleo Diet – it’s very popular with the CrossFit crowd. One of my friends in particular has been discussing it with me.
In general I don’t see anything terribly new presented with the Paleo diet. It’s basically a more restrictive form of the standard low-carb fare. But I can’t help but agree with this guy:
“I have no opinion on the actual recommendations of the fans of paleolithic culture. Maybe we would be better off eating more meat or having random bursts of intense exercise; I have no idea. However, I object to the pseudo-scientific rhetoric used to support the recommendations. I also object to the implicit assumption that it would necessarily be good to emulate the lives of paleolithic humans even if we did know how they lived.”
That’s pretty much sums it up. It *might* work. But even if it does work I don’t think it works for the reasons they say. The whole “caveman” part of it just pings the BS meter way too high. It’s just annoying. Give me hard data about the plan working and actual science as for why and I might start to be interested.
However when you ask for hard data you find out an awful truth: there isn’t a lot of completely unbiased research out there about diet. A lot of it is funded by folks with something to prove (and money to make off of what they’re proving). For example on the website for the “official” Paleo Diet book there is a published research section – and from what it looks like the author of the book is one of the investigators on all of the published research listed. That seems kinda bogus to me.
I don’t want imply that I specifically hate the Paleo diet or whatever – it just happens that since I’ve had someone evangelizing it to me I’ve been researching it and debating it with him. And he’s got a lot of anecdotal reports of people that it is working for. However anecdotal reports are just that…anecdotal. But this criticism can apply to many diets – just take a look at all the pro- and anti-Atkins data out there. One study will say it’s the best diet ever. Another will say it’s crap.
This all ends up providing nothing but frustration. I am VERY reluctant to trust someone when it comes to weight loss. I’ve tried too many things and had them fail to believe folks at this point. I’ve spent a lot of money. It just angers me a lot because I see my health being toyed with to make someone money
. I see my fellow fat folks being put on reality shows for the amusement of America. (Given a chance I would love to do cardio boxing with Jillian Michaels so that I could “accidentally” punch her in the face a few times.) I’m an angry fat man that’s tired of being lied to.
. I see my fellow fat folks being put on reality shows for the amusement of America. (Given a chance I would love to do cardio boxing with Jillian Michaels so that I could “accidentally” punch her in the face a few times.) I’m an angry fat man that’s tired of being lied to.
Oh, by the way, there’s a third camp. Bariatric surgeons will tell you, to your face, that the only long term proven solution for weight loss is bariatric surgery. The only thing that will fix you is chopping your guts up. I’m not saying that it doesn’t work for some, but the way it’s currently being marketed is worse than anything I’ve ranted about here. But since I’ve dismissed it as an option I’m not really focusing on it. I told my doctor I’d rather die fat than spend the rest of my life worrying about malnutrition.
Getting my hamsexy on.
Back in April of 2010 or so I began to develop an interest in one of the geekiest of geek hobbies – amateur radio. I went out and got some books and did some studying and took a couple of tests and got an amateur radio license.
My first radio was the Yaesu VX-8DR.
It’s fairly small, rugged, waterproof, and does APRS. It looks military. It makes me feel cool. I R taktikul. Yeah.
Shorly after that I was going to local club meetings and I won a Yaesu FT-1900R. That was pretty cool to win. It may be very basic but it *is* a 55W 2M rig – and most of the stuff around here is on 2M. Yay me.
Of course it didn’t stop there. It never does.
Next I decided I needed an HF right. And when Metaweb got bought by Google I took *some* of the money and decided to buy toys. (The rest was used Responsibly.) So I bought myself an ICOM IC-7000.
Perhaps the most functional and certainly the most bling mobile HF rig out there. It has a color screen! I pair that up with a Buddipole and I can go operate from a lot of places.
Of course it hasn’t really stopped there. I wanted a better mobile/APRS rig for the car, and I so also got myself a Kenwood TM-D710A.
It’s basically the super-duper 2M/70cm rig. It will do all of the APRS functions that my Yaesu does, plus it lets me use the built-in TNC for packet radio if I want to.
Dammit, I need cheaper hobbies….
So what does Metaweb…do, exactly?
For about 3 and a half years I worked for Metaweb, Inc., the creators of Freebase. And while I really enjoyed working there, it was almost impossible for me to explain what it was we did. Well, the folks finally got around to making a cool video that explains it really well. So for those of you who always were trying to understand what it was we were up to at Metaweb, I give you:
which explains it really really well. This video is awesome. Hell, I wish we had made a video like this two years ago.
Meanwhile, Google bought Metaweb. Which is kinda ironical with me (and my former Metaweb boss) at Yahoo! now. But congrats to my peeps. I hope more people get it now
Best 419 scam EVER.
I got this one the other day. This is amazing. Sir, I applaud you.
Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building,
Telephone Number : (206) 984 – 0470
Attn:
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have
thoroughly completed an Investigation with the help of our Intelligence
Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $800,000.00 USD
from a Lottery Company outside the United States of America. During our
investigation we discovered that your e-mail won the money from an Online
Balloting System and we have authorized this winning to be be deposited into
an ATM CARD which you will use to withdraw funds anywhere of the world. You
now have the lawful right to claim your funds.
Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been involved in this
transaction, you are now to be rest assured that this transaction is
legitimate and completely risk-free as it is our duty to Protect and Serve
citizens of the United States Of America. All you have to do is immediately
contact the ATM CARD CENTER via E-mail for instructions on how to procure
your Approval Slip which contains details on how to receive and activate
your ATM CARD for immediate use to withdraw funds being paid to you. We have
confirmed that the amount required to procure the Approval Slip will cost
you a total of $200 USD which will be paid directly to the ATM CARD CENTER
agent via Western Union Money Transfer / MoneyGram Money Transfer.
Below, you shall find contact details of the Agent whom will process your
transaction:
CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: MR JOHN BRUCE
EMAIL: [email protected]
Immediately contact Mr.John Bruce of the ATM Card Center with the following
information:
Full Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Direct Phone Number:
Current Occupation:
Annual Income:
Once you have sent the required information to Mr.John Bruce he will contact
you with instructions on how to make the payment of $200 USD for the
Approval Slip after which he will proceed towards delivery of the ATM CARD
without any further delay. You have hereby been authorized/guaranteed by the
Federal Bureau Of Investigation to commence towards completing this
transaction, as there shall be NO delay once payment for the Approval Slip
has been made to the authorized agent.
Once you have completed payment of $200 to the agent in charge of this
transaction, immediately contact me back so as to ensure your ATM CARD gets
to you rapidly.
FBI Director
Robert Mueller.
NOTE: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming
to be in possession of your ATM CARD, you are hereby advised only to be in
contact with Mr. John Bruce of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful
person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any
emails you get from impostors to Mr. John Bruce so we could act upon and
commence investigation.