Where Are You Reading This?

Many of you are reading this as a note in Facebook.  Some of you are reading this in an email right now.  You've subscribed to my blog and have it handily delivered to your inbox each time I post.  Others of you might be reading this via an RSS feed.  Or maybe you have just pulled it up in a web browser.  None of this is really the point...I don't know why I'm going on so.

If you are reading this in Facebook, then you might have already read my latest status, giving an update on my weight loss:  40.8 lbs so far!  If you aren't my Facebook friend, then let me give you an update on my weight loss:  40.8 lbs so far!

This past week I didn't get much exercise in because I had strained my Achilles tendon a couple of weeks ago.  However, I got my Cho-Fan Achilles Brace in the mail yesterday, so I can't wait to try it out tomorrow night with a good run-walk!  I think it's going to help.

And hey!! If you aren't my Facebook friend, you can be:  www.facebook.com/aaroneousfindings

Quick Weight Loss Secrets

Would you like to lose 5 lbs a week, each and every week, until you reach your goal?  With no expensive meals, supplements or videos to buy?  No gym membership required?  Do you want a workout plan that's all plan and no work?  A plan that let's you eat what you want and not change your activity level and STILL lose all the weight you want?

Unfortunately, it doesn't exist.  But on the flip-side, there is a super simple 2-step plan that works every time.

1)  Eat less
2)  Be more active

That's the plan I've been on for the past month and a half, and it's working great.  But, like many simple things in life, simple doesn't necessarily mean easy.

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If you're struggling to do one of these two simple steps, allow me to make a suggestion.  Pick one step.  Pick the one that is the most difficult for you.  Now, decide right now one thing you are going to do to take a step in the right direction for that step.  Here are some examples.

Eat a healthy breakfast.
Park further from your office.
Don't drink your afternoon Dr. Pepper.
Go for a walk after dinner.
Don't have seconds at dinner.
Shoot some hoops.
Turn off the TV.

Take a step in the right direction, and let me know how it goes!

110 Days Until Gobble Jog

I just thought I would give you a quick status update.

Last week I pulled my Achilles tendon.  Just slightly, but I did pull it.   I've taken it easy this week, but still tried to do what I could.  It's feeling better.  I'm going to try for a real workout on Monday.

As of this morning's weigh-in (which occurs every Saturday in my bathroom), I have lost a total of 36.4 lbs. from my "official starting weight", which is pretty exciting.

My countdown clock on my computer desktop tells me that I have 110 days left until the Gobble Jog.  That's more than 15 weeks.  If I can average losing 2 lbs a week, I should be down 30 lbs more by the Gobble Jog, which would be about 65 lbs total.  However, my goal for the Gobble Jog is to be down 75 lbs.

Hope to see you there!

I Need Your Help

Hello all my friends out there.  I need your help.  We have two sweet little dogs named Bonnie and Smallville. They need a new home.

Bonnie is a 5 year-old female (spayed) brown and white Jack Russell Terrier.  Smallville is 4 year-old male (neutered) black and white (and a little brown) Jack Russell Terrier.  Both of them are full-blooded, healthy, housebroken, crate trained, and can do quite a few tricks.

They like to be outdoors, but are comfortable in the house as well.  Jack Russell Terriers are notorious for two things:  being one of the smartest, if not THE smartest dog breed, and being hyperactive.  I prefer the term high energy.  They love to run and play, but every evening the come inside, play fetch and tug-o-war a little bit, then turn into lap dogs.  They love people, and are very friendly.

We recently moved into a new house, and that's where our problems started.  They've gotten out of the fence many times.  In Texas, they never got out of the fence.  In our past three and half years, they only escaped a handful of times, and they usually just came around and scratched on the front door.

Monday, they escaped AGAIN, and this time they ended up instigating a tussle with a Maltese that was being walked by her owner.  The Maltese wasn't hurt,  but the lady was pretty shook up.  She managed to catch both dogs (which isn't difficult) and called Animal Control, who came and picked them up.  We received two citations for each dog:  2 "Failure to Control Animal", and 2 "Vicious Animal".  These are not "vicious" animals.

Our fence just can't seem to hold them.  We need someone that would be willing to give them a new home.  They come with a crate!  The person that would be perfect to adopt these dogs would either have A)  a QUALITY fenced yard, or B)  a couple of hundred acres.  They really don't need to be all-day-inside dogs.

Please pass the word on this.  I'll drive 100 miles to bring them to a good home.

Smallville

Bonnie

I'm Something of an Expert

There's few things in life that I claim to be an expert about.  One of those few things is hamburgers.   I know hamburgers.  Home grilled, fast food, and everything in between.  It's absolutely my favorite food.

I have definite ideas on what constitutes a good home grilled burger, and there are a couple of restaurants that make great burgers (Hello, Jucy's!) that should not be classified as "fast food".

I've never tried to do this, but I guarantee you that I could demolish a blind taste test of the most popular fast food burgers.  If you blindfolded me and gave me a bite of a McDonald's burger, a Wendy's burger, a Burger King burger, a Krystal Burger burger (too easy), a Whataburger burger, a Jack-in-the-Box burger, a Sonic hamburger, a Braum's burger, and a Steak n' Shake burger, a couple of things would happen.  First of all, I would be full. Second, I think I could identify each one.

In my opinion, with few exceptions, the best way to eat a hamburger is with double-meat, cheese (which, of course, technically makes it a cheeseburger), mustard, and pickles.  That's all.   If you start adding lettuce, tomato, onions, and other things, it begins to mask the real taste of the MEAT, which, after all  is what a burger is really all about. Do NOT be tempted to put bacon on your burger.  Bacon is perfect by itself, and should not be mixed with any other flavor unnecessarily. 

Then take that burger, and dip it into ketchup.  One bite at a time. Do not put the ketchup ON the burger.  Dip the burger IN the ketchup.  Don't knock it till you try it.  I'm an expert.

Of all the fast food burgers I listed above, my favorite is Sonic's Super Sonic Cheeseburger, which is their double-meat quarter-pounder.  Before I said that double-meat, cheese, pickles and mustard, dipped in ketchup is the perfect way to eat a burger.  This is the one exception:  jalapeños.  Sonic's Super Sonic JALAPEÑO Cheeseburger is a work of art.  Sonic's jalapeños have the best flavor, and just the right amount of heat.

For the past day and a half, I've had a nagging craving for something.  I tried a bunch of different things: strawberries, Cheetos, cheese.  Nothing did it.  It has been six weeks or so since I had a "real burger", so this evening I decided to "jump off the wagon" and get a Super Sonic Jalapeño Cheeseburger.

Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what I'm craving!  Right?

I will admit.  The burger tasted great.  Really, REALLY, great.  The problem?  After about 4 bites, I was over it.  I finished it.  I couldn't waste a Super Sonic Jalapeño Cheeseburger.  I just couldn't do it.

Afterwards, I wished I hadn't eaten it. I didn't feel guilty.  I felt cheated.

The burger was good.  But the problem was that it wasn't good enough for me to justify the calories and fat.  The promise of how good the burger would taste didn't justify the calories.  And the fat.  And the sugar.

I enjoyed the burger, but now I actually enjoy eating healthy even more.  It's not even about taste.  It's that it makes me feel better.  Physically as well as how I feel ABOUT myself.

So when your favorite (not-so-good-for-you) food whispers "eat me" in your ear, ask yourself the following question.  "How will I really feel after I've eaten this?"

I wish I would have asked myself that question.

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One last note...  I know there many other burgers out there I didn't mention:  White Castle, In-and-Out, etc.  I was just focusing on the ones that have been local to where I've lived.  Sorry.