Happy new year!! We have new hope, new plans,new goals,new focus.

I opened up the new year weighing 261.2 pounds.My knees were still around an 8 (bad) and I had made them decisions in the December post.So let's get this month going.

I was walking 4 days a week at lunch 2 1/2 miles. I was not going to town for lunch.I was down to one Diet Coke per day and drinking lots of water.My son Mac had been on my ass about drinking so much Diet Coke and telling me it was bad on my joints. I had cut way back on how much alcohol I drank. My knees still hurt and I was still taking 600-800mg of Ibuprofen a day---but hey I'm a welder & I'm tuff.

I was weighing my food and keeping a good food log.

Going over my day book. I see that on 1-8-09 I started taken Movefree and Celation for joint supplement. This seemed to help some after a week.On 1-16-09 I received a Caltrac. This little gadget is better than sliced cheese. The company is owned by Dr.Ellis that wrote the book, Ultimate Diet Secrets Light.This gadget is the size of a cell phone, you program your stats in it and put it on your belt. It will calculate all the calories you burn in a day. This is based on your weigh, height,sex,age. It tells you how many calories your RMR (resting metabolism rate) burns as well as your active calories burned. This thing is great!! No more guessing, damn Sam, now it's down to simple math.

Now, I am kinda like an Airedale dog---I ain't as dumb as I look.Because I now KNOW how many calories I'm stuffing in my pie hole AND how many calories I burn in a day, I can do the math. If I eat 2000/day and burn 3000/day I am deficit 7000/week and that children means I lose 2 pounds that week.

On 1-20-09 I received my Trigosamine supplement and started taking it as well as the Movefree I had left.

The first half of the month my food choices on weekends were poor, but got better.I walked at work and on 1-22-09 began walking 30 minutes on the treadmill at night too.

On 1-22-09 my knee pain was down to 5.

On Monday 1-26-09 I took my backpack to work and put a 20 pound sandbag in it and walked 1 1/2 miles of my 2 1/2 walk at lunch. Man that was a chore. Datgum it was tuff.For the rest of the week, I carried my pack 1 1/2 miles of my walk.

My goal for January was to get below 250 pounds if my knees allowed.On 1-25-09 I weighed 258, down 3.2 pounds.On 1-31-09 I weighed 250.8.

I felt alot better, I had lost lots of fat and gained quite a good amount of muscle in my legs and lower back. The Caltrac,food scale,backpack,Trigosamine all were working.By the end of the month I discovered I had not taken any Ibuprofen since 1-26-09. Could the water, limited alcohol,good joint supplements and walking large be working? Something is AND I damn near reached my lofty goal.

I did lose 10.4 pounds and had gained around a 1000 pounds of confidence.

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL
Read December's Pearl ---well this month I decided the eggs WERE worth the wear and tear.

Don't want to give away the story plot, but today , Thursday(typically the lightest day of the week), I weighed 245.0. That means I have lost 60 pounds of fat since i started my journey.

I'll catch up next with January.

Come travel with me.

The end of 2008 was right on my ass.It was going to be an eventful month.I made several decisions this month that I feel were really important to me. Let me give ya a run down of the month.

I weighed 261 on Dec.6 , this is up from the end of November.But as I have said before I can bounce 3-5 pounds from Sunday until Thursday.I started walking 2 1/2 miles at lunch. I am fortunate to work for a company that has an employee park across the highway from our office with a one mile walking track . I started walking over there and around the track twice, which totals 2 1/2 miles. I walk it in about 45 minutes. And yes my knees hurt like hell.

I have had meniscus surgery on both knees and have no cushion so jogging is out of the question.

On Dec. 6 Janet and I went to a friend's wedding that my son Mac was in and we had a blast, danced up a storm. First time I danced in several years. Knees didn't hurt---had enough Crown so they didn't care about the abuse.

On Dec.10 I found out from my medical records that in 1996 I weighed 288 pounds. This was a surprise because #1 I thought I was not that heavy back then and #2 I weigh less than that now.

Also, this month I came across a story of inspiration on Mr.Low Body Fat's (Muata) site.Go look up www.theantijared.blogspot.com and read about Tony. Damn , you talk about a turn around, what commitment,what will power. Tony is like the pig in the breakfast of bacon and eggs----you know ---in this breakfast the chicken (eggs) is dedicated, but the pig (bacon) is committed.This man has lost over 200 pounds in less than a year.

In addition to all this Janet and I went to Las Vegas, yippee. We had never been and wanted to see the sights. We had fun, saw some shows, Hover Dam and lost a total of $3 dollars. We are not much of a gambler.We walked a lot and my knees were really hurting.We ate quite a bit and drank too much. But we got er done and that is that. You other folks can have the rest of Vegas, cowboy Bill does not need to go back unless it is to the rodeo or the PBR.

Santa Claus came and brought me a food scale, because I wanted to be able to count my calories with more accuracy.I found out I was doing just exactly like Dr.Ellis said in the book---under-reporting.Now I have a real good way to add up my calories for $50.

When we got back from Las Vegas I could hardly walk my right knee was bad off. As in fall down at work the first day back trying to step up on the curb. I figured I would have to have at least one knee replacement in 2009. I found some joint supplement and ordered it. I have used several over the years and they never helped much. This product is called Trigosamine. It came in in January.

The bottom line in December was, I ended the month at 261.2, no loss, no guilt but I will admit I did have some doubts. I wondered if I could ever break below 250 pounds. I wondered if I would be able to walk much and do some of the things on my bucket list.I wondered if I would far ever more be a grouchy pain ridden asshole.

I came across a note in my day book on Dec. 18---I wonder if drinking alcohol is making my joints hurt worse? Some people on the web think so.

At the end of the month I made some decisions
#1 cut way back on alcohol
#2cut down to one diet coke per day
#3walk 2 1/2 miles 4 times a week if knee allows
#4 eat some fruit

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL
Sometimes the eggs ain't worth the wear and tear on the chickens ass.Sometimes they are. You decide.

Ok , boys and girls, if you are just tuning in I am catching up on my Fat Loss Journey a month at a time. I started in July '08 and this post will get me thru Nov.'08.

I started off the month weighing 263.4 of country logic and down home opinion.My goal for the month of November was to get down to 257.8. This is another odd amount of fat loss , but hell, I am odd.

One of my minor goals ( I have said I have several goals)was to do Turbulence Exercises 4 times a week and walk in the pasture 4 times a week.

Another goal was to eat better(smarter) on the weekend and to cut down on the amount of whiskey I drink on the weekend. Now I am not a drunk but I do like 2-3 drinks on Saturday evening.I have been noticing that the empty calories in whiskey lead to a gain from Saturday to Monday, but the loss from Monday to Tuesday makes me at or below Saturday's weight. Well , I am not a doctor but I figured if I consume no-or less whiskey I might lose more.Anyway, that was another goal for November.

During the month my Turbulence Exercises were helping quite a lot. I felt the muscles in my legs, back, shoulders and butt tightening up. Although I was losing some weight I felt I was gaing muscle. Also, I knew I was burning fat because my pants were continuing to get lose and my belly fat was getting loser and softer.

I saw a link on Muata's site for www.ihavebones.com This is another amazing story of weight loss. Motivation,Inspiration, Education----man what a world I broke into.I have gained so much from these people and their journeys.

And then the turkey bird came-----THANKSGIVING, turkey , dressing,corn, yummy. I did not gorge like most years and walked the day before and the day of the big feed.I also made some notes about Thanksgiving and being thankful. I usually think about these things but never really tell anyone, what a shame. Anyway, I was (am) thankful for a healthy family, a fine wife, two wonderful (sometimes pain in the ass)kids, a Mom in good health. I am also Thankful I came across Muata's site.I am thankful for my continuing education. I am eternally thankful I live in a free country and can make my own choices-good or bad-as long as I am willing to pay the price.

At the end of the month I was down to 257.1 ! Crap if I can subtract right I beat my goal.This education thing is working.

Pearl of Wisdom form the mind of WEL
Opportunity knocks on the door, the trick is to have enough sense to open the damn door and let it in.

WOW, I got thru the heat of summer. If you are not from South Texas July,August and September are hotter than the hinges of hell.But most years we are blessed with sunshine,humidity and mesquitos.

I started off feeling down, not sick, just down, not enthused---depressed. Don't really know why but I was. I felt I was not getting any place fast.

I started the month off at 269 pounds.My knees continued to hurt. I was still taking 800-1000mg of Ibuprofen walking 3-4 times a week in the pasture and doing some Turbulence exercises. My goal for this month was to lose enough fat to get to 263.8. Why would my goal be an odd number? I don't really know, but at the time I thought my loss was being offset by gaining some lean muscle so 5.2 pounds of fat loss sounded good.

On Muata's blog a came across Mr. Maxwell's Joint Mobility Exercises, The Daily Dozen.These were not hard to do and I could do them in my office (with the door closed) at lunch. After a couple weeks I began to feel better. I sensed I had more flexiblity and was to gain some muscle mass in my legs and back.

I was stilling eating an average of 2000 calories a day. I had quit going to town with Janet for lunch and was bringing my lunch to work. I found the smells at any cafe made me want to eat the wrong food and way too much of it. I could get gas across the street from Popeye's chicken and getting instantly hungry from the smell.

By the end of the month I could tell I was begining to gain momentum. Things were coming together.

The nuts and the bolts of October were #1 continued education #2 better choices #3 building muscle and MOMENTUM.By then end of the month I felt better and weighed 263.4.
Goal met!!

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL
You can do anything you want to , if you work hard and are willing to pay the price.

Education came full force in September '08.

My goal for September was to lose 6 pounds of fat, gain some muscle, move more.I started the month off at 275 pounds of humble opinion wrapped up in a cowboy.

To reach my goal of moving more I walked in the pasture 3 times a week and was doing Turbulence Exercises 4 times a week. I tried to rest my knees on Wednesday. I thought I was getting plenty of exercise on the weekends with my choirs.

I was cutting my calorie intake to around 2000 calories with very little carbs 30-40 grams.By the third week of the month my legs felt dead, not sore really just dead.We had a little Hurricane around called IKE, that was a real thrill. We missed the blow here but our neighbors to the northeast in Galveston were hard hit.

I was continuing reading and researching, I re-read Ellis' Diet Secrets Light. I felt I was still missing something but could not quite put my finger on it.Around Sept.18 I decided I was not getting enough carbs and increased the amount I ate to 100-120 grams. I also settled on eating an AVERAGE of 2000 calories a day each WEEK. On days that I walked I would make sure I got in 22-2300, days I rested (no formal exercise)I would eat 17-1800 calories.

In looking back at my day book, I found a few of interesting points--#1 the walking did not hurt my knees MORE but no less #2 my legs quit feeling dead 3 days after I bumped up the carbs to 100g #3 I cooked rib eye steak and baked potatoes in the last week and without thinking about it before hand , cut the steak and potato in half for supper. I saved the rest for another meal----what a damn good concept---PORTION CONTROL----crap I was really learning something.

I finished off the month at 269 pounds of lovably wonder, at 54 years old, I was beginning to feel like a fawn in the forest of life.LOL, but I hit my goal for the month right in the mouth.

More another day.

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL
There are no free lunches,you will pay someday.

My goal for August was to lose 8 pounds of fat.I started out at 280.2 pounds and went out and bought me a new scale. I started weighing myself just before bed and first thing in the morning. I also wrote down each weight in my day book. Over time I learned several things from this routine.#1 I weigh .8-1.4 pounds less in the morning than the night before. #2 I will typically weigh the least on Thursday morning for the week. Some of this is from being the most regimented on food consumption during the week. On the weekends I am usually running around the ranch and doing chores and eat more than during the week.

I also enjoy Crown Royal over ice, sometimes with some water. If I have a few drinks on the weekend I will "bounce" up on my weight 2 pounds from Sunday morning to Monday morning.As I have said before, I ain't no doctor but I feel this is fluid and by Tuesday fall back to Friday morning's weight.

I also learned that by starting the Turbulence Exercises my weight loss would slow BUT my muscles were increasing. I knew I was losing some fat because of the fit of my clothes.

So, August was very important to me because of how much I learned. I finsihed the end weighing 275.2. I did not meet my goal, but I did not feel bad. In fact, I felt real good. I had learned alot about calories, fat,weight,exercise and most important of all---ME.

In August and September I began to come to grips with several facts. And you may get tired of hearing this but---Go to Muata's site and get an education.He is not the only one that has and gives this knowledge freely, but for me he was the first person that related to me as a---I BEEN THERE DONE THAT GUY. And he does not talk down to me.One thing Muata said in a post was that I would need to learn why it was I over ate -it was not because I was hungry. This is as important to me as finding out how many damn calories was in a glazed doughnut.

Well that is the whole sack of potatoes for August, I am gonna try to update my blog by going thru my day book month by month.

I will try not to stray too far from the calendar but I will add a few things that happen to me in real time as I catch up to date.As anyone can tell, I am not an author but I try to get my point across.I started my bog on 2-5-09. Hells bells, I had a comment from a reader, and it was a real thrill.I can tell ya I am glad Janet( my squeeze) encouraged me to start a blog. Also, Muata sent me an email and made me feel like a king, what a treat.

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL
The only thing worse than being ignorant , is being old and ignorant.

Janet has told in ---no encouraged me to start a blog, because of how much several blogs have inspired me. If there is ever anyone besides me that reads this and is motivated---I just got off the treadmill and thought I would post another PEARL for today----------
"Get up off your ass and do something worthwhile for yourself and the people around you."
More another day.

GOALS---they are a wonderful thing. I have been setting goals for a long time and actually made a few. On my fat loss trip I set some goals.I wrote them down in my day book.My day book is where I write down what I eat, how my knees feel and what type of exercise I do.

On July 1 I started "cutting calories", this means I was calorie deficient in my diet.I chose to do some cycling with what I ate. I would cut my calories in half to around 16-1700 a day for 5-6 days and then bump up to 2500 for a day or two, then back down to 15-1600 a day. I planned on doing this for July.

My goal for July was 20 pounds of loss. This may seem like too much, but I have lost 20 pounds several times. And as half of it is going to be water I made this goal with no trouble.At the same time I was continuing my education with Muata and his body weight exercise friends.

After,the end of July, when Janet and I had had a nice vacation with her brother and his wonderful lady friend, I relooked at what I had learned so far and where I wanted ot go. I set several goals.
#1 lose enough fat to reach 220 pounds(I have not weighed that amount since the 70s.)
#2 lose 8 pounds in August
#3 I will tell no one what I am eating or what I am losing until a get be low 250pounds--this goal may seem odd to someone, but hell I AM odd. My point was I have gotten to 252-254 twice in the last decade and gained it all back. There is a real wall set up at 250. In my mind , if I could get below 250 , I could reach any goal I set.

Well, I got to go. There are some goals, not all, but that is where I started.

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL
Read a book, it's good for you.

Ok, at this point I knew I wanted to do something permanent about my weight. I was reading Muata's blog everyday. In his blog site there were lots of links to other inspiring stories, useful training tips and many articles on nutrition and exercise. I read everything I could on all the above.

What path I settled on was to dertermine how much I ate. One of the links had a computer program in which you put in how much you weight, height, age gender, etc. and it will tell you how much you have to eat to maintain your weight. I put in all the stuff and pushed the button ( ain't technology a wonder). AND THE ANSWER IS---3400 calories a day to maintain my beautiful body. Now that was bull shit!!!! No way in hell I eat that much!

Now I had been reading Dr.Ellis' book and he keep saying about us fat asses UNREPORTING what we ate and how much. SO the next step was to write down what I ate. I went to Walmart ( I hate Walmart as much as any Democrat would) and I got a day book. I started writing down what I ate. Janet ( my lovely wife) told me where to look for a 25 year old book that had calories values for food. For two weeks I wrote down everything I ate and tried as best that I could to figure how many calories was in the food.

I tried to be honest with the food log. At the end of two weeks I was floored. The computer that told me I ate 3400 calroeis a day was right. In fact one day----just one day --- at work I ate 5000 calories. That is right boys and girls 5000 calories. Most of these were in the form of glazed doughnuts. Damn but I love glazed doughnuts and I am damn good at eating them. I remember when I was about 10 years old I ate 14 on the way to a scout camping trip. I was so proud and the scout master told everyone about it ,so I got lots of attention. Any way I found out that I was eating alot and not burning nearly enough calories---but how could I burn more , it hurt.

My back hurt, my feet have always hurt (real flat) and I have had knee surgery on both knees (left 3 years ago, right 10 years ago).

I decided I would start by walking. I would do this at home. Janet and I have gone to Victoria and joined the gym in the past. I enjoyed going but after awhile there seemed to be more excuses not to go than desire to go.I took my tractor and shredded a path around the inside of our pasture , down the hill, across the gully and back. This path may be a mile or just over. I would try to walk 2-3 times a week. When I would get back I would be wet with sweat and out of breath---but hey no need for an excuse, the path is here and so am I.Anyway, I'm a welder and I'm tough.

At this point I am taking 800-1000mg of Ibuprofen so I could sleep and walk. My knees hurt bad.

Muata had a link that took me to some body weight exercises called Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne. What I really like about this article is he does not pretend you are a body builder to do these. If you are fine he has a routine for you if not he has a routine for a lard ass too. I started the BEGINNER Level. Now at one time a could hold the neck of an oxygen bottle at arms length and pick it up and HOLD it. That was 30 years ago and about 25789 doughnuts ago----lesson here is --I had not let myself go---I had turned lose and stampeded myself.

So I started the body weight exercise---I had plenty of weight--in my room, no need for anyone to watch.I could not do one pushup but then when you are by yourself a kneeling pushup works too.

See, so far I had not spent any money, had not joined any excuse filled gym,had told no one what I was trying to do.But I had begun something , quite frankly, I did not know if I would succeed. I thought I would never be able to overcome where I was at,at this point. I thought I would never be able to do a lot of things on the Bucket List. I wrote down goals--- I will shared some in my next post.

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL and from a Sacket book (i will borrow a Pearl now and then)------
There is no stopping a man that knows he is right and keeps on getting up.

Good night John Boy

Flash back to April or so 2008

As I have said in my profile, I got real sick of being fat. By FAT, I mean lard ass,morbid obese, can't do crap cause it hurts fat. I always wanted to be outside , really like working, sweating and getting something done. It came to the point that I couldn't do anything without being out of breath, knees hurting and generally feeling like shit.

Then I had a bit of good fortune. I had been in the habit of getting on Fox News and CNN News at lunch and reading the sad state of affairs we seem to be in. On CNN I would occasionally see weght loss success stories. I would read them and always say WOW.

On this day , I happen to see a spot on some guy in California that had lost 100 pounds. I read the clip and clicked on his "Blog Spot". Hell i didn't even know what that was. This link provided more education and inspiration for me than i could imagine. At this point, I would encourage everyone wanting to educate themselves in Fat Loss to log onto http://www.mrlowbodyfat.com/ and get started. Muata' a great educator in more ways than one.

More later.

So---I went to reading, I had already done Nutrisystem and lost 44 pounds and gained back more.I have done Atkins and lost 46 pounds and gained back more. Crap, I never thought I would tire of eating ribeye steaks and bacon, but I did. I read several books Muata recommended and found each one had some merits but were not "the anwser". I read The Ultimate Diet Secret Light by Dr.Ellis and things began to make sense to me----calories in VS calories out. I keep reading links on Muata's site , anything about nutrition and exercise.

A couple of things keep coming up over and over----#1 calories in VS calories out #2 your have to know how many calories you are taking in and how many you are burning.

The quest was beginning to start.

Pearl of Wisdom from the mind of WEL----Unless you are a stone cold moron you will learn a lesson a day, if you just keep your ears/eyes open and your mouth shut!

Well here goes.

Flash back in time---July 1, 2008
I weighed 305 pounds, I am 5'9" tall and at that time had a BMI ( Body Mass Index) of 45.0. This puts me squarely in the MORBID OBESE category.

February 4,2009----I weighed 249.0 and my BMI is 36.8, still obese but better.

this seven month trip cost me next to nothing. In fact , as i will expand on as time permits it was free.

The trip is not over, my goals are not meet because they are changing---but I know a lot more than I did when I started. In my posts i will not tell anyone what they should do.I will try to tell you what worked for me. i will share where I have gotten inspiration from.

Mostly i want anyone interested to know how much power they have to control their body and their health. If this helps one person then it is icing on the cake, because I think it will help me to write these things down.

Pearl for the Day----
Two rules to live by
#1 don't worry about the little shit in life.
#2in the vast scheme of things most everything is little shit

this is the first attempt at a hick from Texas blogging.