New things coming!

Hello everyone!

I know it’s been forever since an update, however that is finally going to be changing. I have finally graduated this past May with my Master’s Degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology. Lot’s of people ask me what that exactly is, and to save a little time and webspace simply click here.

I have new things in the works now that I have “free time.” Some of the new things that are going to be happening:

• Site Redesign
• New Content
• New Sections
• Better Forums

So, hopefully these things will happen more quickly. So keep checking back!

Later,

Jerry

Watching My Weight

Since my last post I have joined the Weight Watchers Community online. I have been using the points system for about 2 months now, and have lost 5lbs using the system. Now at 240 I am somewhat disappointed with the results. However, I am not going to give up, and will be altering my diet even more cutting way back on carbs and sugars. From everything I’ve read online excess carbs and sugars are stored as fat in the body.

My exercise regimen has grown from 30 minutes a day to about an hour and a half a day. I’ve just started this regimen this past week. Hopefully in a month I’ll be able to tell a bigger difference.

Despite the frustrating weight results I have lost inches around my waist! I have went down a complete pant size, and even though the pounds are not melting off as fast as I would like the inches seem to be inching their way off.

There’s something to be said for a little dedication and ALOT of patience when losing weight. It’s about smarter choices such as skipping that candy bar and eating some yogurt instead.

I will continue on, and there some other exciting posts along the way! Keep checking back!

Back on Track

Hello everyone!

It’s a new year, and time to get back on my weight loss journey. Through a hectic semester at grad school, and remodeling the house I have veered off my journey drastically. I have thundered up to 255lbs, and have been working out and doing weight watchers for 1 week. I am now back down to 245lbs. Not bad for a first week of getting back on the journey.

This is starting my last semester of grad school, and hopefully this semester I’ll have more free time to update the blog more often.

Weight Loss Journey Update.

     Well everyone, the weight loss journey is exactly what it is, a journey. I’ve had ups and downs these past few weeks, and finally am making some steady progress.

In the past two months my weight has really been fluctuating. At mid-July I came in at a thundering 252lbs. I had gained 10 pounds since I began! A little scary, but do to some family tragedy, a hectic schedule, and other factors exercise fell by the wayside. Overeating was becoming a bad habit yet again. It was so easy to come off my routine, and foul up I was afraid I would never get back on track.                

However, I am back on track yet again. I am back to counting my calories, and making sure I burn all the excess calories I do not need. I even made a little booklet to keep track of my daily caloric need, calorie intake, calories burned, and caloric deficit. If you would like to do the same I have made it available for download as a word file. It was created in Word 2007, and you will need some form of office software to open it. You can download the Weekly Diet and Exercise Log here. If you are good at double-sided printing making the little booklet is a breeze. As for me I got one master copy printed and will make copies that way.               

I am currently at 248lbs! I am excited that I am continuing to lose the weight despite getting off track for a few weeks. I am still taking a daily multi-vitamin, making sure my diet consists of all the right foods, and exercising more. I am also taking a supplement called Hydroxycut. I take the caffeine free version since I drink coffee in the mornings. I found taking any other kind while drinking coffee really gave me the jitters. If you do not drink coffee you may be able to take the regular formula or even the hardcore version of this supplement. I really find it gives me the energy boost I need to make the most of my work outs. I do not take the recommended dosage. I take one or two a day depending on my energy level. Everyone should really consult a physician before beginning a supplement, especially if you are on any current medications.                

 One thing I have noticed, even though the pounds are not falling off as fast as I would like, the inches are going away! I am starting to feel the difference in my clothes, the way I look in the mirror, and other things that are so reinforcing I can stay away from McDonald’s.                

I can see this is a never ending road, and a form of discipline. I can tell you though feeling healthy and energetic beat feeling lazy and tired.

Career Development Part I

The Beginning        

      It is a known fact that in order to maintain any sustenance in the world we must be able to have a few essential items such as air, food, water, shelter, and maybe love for some. In order to obtain these essentials, with possibly the exception of air, the rest cost money. Well, in order to have the money we need in order to afford these life sustaining necessities we must work in order to obtain the money to maintain a life style.            

Career Development is a broad topic that includes many subtopics that be covered in this ongoing article series. Career Development cover topics such as: education, skills, abilities, interests, cover letters, resumes, job searches, interviewing, and job retention. Even those topics probably just scratch the surface of this broad area. The importance of covering these topics is very simple, since we have to work we should consider these things in order to make a good “fit” in an organization, and we will spend a good portion of our waking lives at the workplace. Therefore, it is very important we find and keep work that meets our needs, as well as the employer’s, and can help us maintain a lifestyle. When one enters the workforce they must have an understanding of their knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics. Knowledge simply means having the information to perform a job, skills means do you have previous training for a job, and ability is being able to learn the job. Other characteristics include things such as your personality, life at home, and anything else in your environment that has an affect on your job.            

This article is going to focus on the beginnings of career development, and oddly enough this begins within yourself. The thing one needs to figure out first is what their interests and abilities are. This can be completed in a number of ways such as school counselors, career services at colleges, and even on a website that offers an aptitude and interest inventory. A good example of a free interest and aptitude survey can be found at LiveCareer.com. Once you figure out what you like, this always surprises people, and what you are good at you can now research career options based on those results. This leads to the next step.           

Do you have the necessary knowledge, skill, and ability to obtain a job that you would enjoy? If not you may think about going to or back to college to get the education necessary to qualify for those positions, and you could always take a part time job, while going to school, at an organization that offers those positions, so you get a first hand look at what type of work you could be doing after you get the education you need. To get the education you need there are a variety of places that offer continuing education. Local community colleges, universities, and trade schools are some of the most common places to obtain a higher level of education in order to qualify for jobs. To find about training and education institutions all one needs to do is contact their local office for employment and training, usually listed in the government section of the phonebook.            

 Now skip forward weeks, months, years, or however long it takes to obtain the education or training needed to get the jobs based off your interests and abilities. This leads to the next step in career development and that is applying for work.  

Continued in Career Development Part II.

Career Development (Intro)

The coming posts on this blog will primarily deal with careers development. What do I mean by “career development?” Career development encompasses a wide range of work related issues such as finding the right job for you, see if you are earning what you need to be, and retaining employment.

             If there are any certain topics you would like to see discussed please let me know!

Coming Off Alli

Well everyone, it’s been a weird week while on Alli. You have heard alot about the “treatment effects,” and now I’m here to tell you about the effects that are less talked about.

While on Alli I started feeling extremely fatigued, and found no support on their website for such. The only thing they comment on is taking a multivitamin every night, because Alli can block some nutrients as well as fat. I can probably attest to which nutrient it most effectively blocks, and that is vitamin B12. I started feeling numbness in several areas of my body such as my fingers, legs, shoulders, and other various places. I researched this on their message boards and found nothing. I did research the same effects on Xenical the prescription strength version of Alli. Their website stated Xenical can cause a deficiency in vitamin B12.

Well, to clarify my symptoms I went to WebMD, and checked my symptoms and sure enough it pointed directly to a deficiency of vitamin B12. I have concluded that this is what was causing my symptoms, and starting taking a vitamin B supplement, which included B12 and other B vitamins. Guess what, my symptoms are gone!

After taking this product I offer this brief review:

• Alli is great if you intend to eat your full extent of allowed fat grams at each meal.

• If you are over their safe BMI listings.

• Can withstand a vitamin deficiency.

• Can be in constant worry about treatment effects when you must eat out at restaurants that are not in their food guides.

For me I do not like eating my extent of fat grams, which was 19 grams of fat per meal, and felt so horrible from the vitamin deficiency that the nightly vitamin did not replenish my loss. Therefore, I must refrain from finishing this weight loss program, however I am continuing my weight loss journey. I will continue counting calories, exercising accordingly, and trying new supplements to see if they have an effect. In the two weeks I used Alli I noticed no significant weight loss, just my normal 2-3lbs a week.

Everyone is different and this product may be right for you and I urge you to research not just Alli, but also Xenical the prescription version because I experienced the effects of Xenical as well of those of Alli

The Alli Shuffle.

This past weekend I began taking the “FDA” approved weight loss supplement Alli. I said in a previous post that I would tempt fate, and see what the “treatment effects” are, and boy did I ever. This past weekend I ate at Olive Garden, and consumed chicken marsala and a side dish of fetticine alfredo. This should have caused me to squirt like a fountain, but no effect. Thinking, Ha! I will be the lucky one who does not experience this, I continued to eat relatively low fat, but ate at least one fatty meal a day.

Yesterday for lunch I went to Penn Station, and got the “small” philly cheesesteak sandwich and a bag of baked lays. A couple hours later no problem and I was feeling extremely confident. That all changed once my co-worker went home.

I was making a mad dash to the toilet. I felt my bowel move, thus I moved to the bathroom as quickly as possible. Sure enough, enough fat came out of me to cook bacon for the military. Thank you Lord, for allowing me to catch this otherwise, possibly embarrassing, treatment effect, and I was extremely lucky I did not make that mess in my pants. The scary thing was is that I barely felt a movement at all, it was a soft gentle belly gurgle, and I had no clue what was going to creep out of me. Being extremely cautious I knew I need to go sit on the toilet. I’m glad I did, and can say with great confidence DO NOT EAT MORE THAN 15 GRAMS OF FAT WHILE ON ALLI!!!

I finally read the little pamphlets, and it states you should already be on a low fat/low calorie diet when you start this regimen. I know why now, this way there is less fat in your colon when you start. If you start right away and do not take this step, Alli will clear out the existing fat in your colon along with anything new you eat.

Now, for the good news, I have lost an extra 3lbs since Sunday without exercise! I can live with a little messy toilet when I lose 3lbs that quickly. I can say this stuff works, and works well, just adhere to the directions religiously and anyone would do fine on this product.

I will continue to update everyone on my experiences, and wish me luck!

Knocking out Fat with ALLI

Ok, this is a twofold post.

First an update on my weight loss journey. I have lost 6 lbs since May 30, 2007. However, as most people I need to lose at least 5 more rather quickly to fit back into some of my summer clothes. I am toning up, and starting to see minor results. I have yo-yoed quite a bit these past few weeks. I went up to as high as 252, but now I’m back down to 247, and starting to see a steady decline in weight.

I have been told by doctors that this was normal as I’m building muscle back up, but that the good ol’ muscles would start burning the fat and I should start losing weight. Talk about scary, working out hard, and eating right only to GAIN weight. At any rate I’m starting to feel alot better, have more energy, and I haven’t bought any special diet food or supplements. I simply take my multi-vitamin, and eat a normal 3 meals with two snacks during the day. I do slip up some and eat late snacks, and eat dinner past 7p.m. I mean who can keep their busy life in such routine that dinner is at 4:30pm everyday? Anyway, I’m off to a good start, and wish it would get faster.

Next, to supplement my weight loss, I like many other Americans, rushed out to the store and bought the newly F.D.A. approved ALLI to aid me in my battle against the bulge. Now, keep in mind I have not been eating fatty foods for close to a month now, and I should not feel the “treatment effects.”

What are the treatment effects you ask? Quite simple, eat more than 15 grams of fat at a meal and you will be the anal explosive, instead of retentive, person you’ve dreamed about. Actually, every time you have flatulence you will expel the fat you did not digest into your underwear. I hope I do not experience this, however being the curious George I am I’ll probably tempt fate some weekend to see what these effects are all about.

Since Alli is FDA approved I feel “safer” about taking it. In other words if I get screwed up taking this stuff I have someone I can point my finger at. Before Alli I’d lose about 2lbs a week, and now I want to see if this miracle pill will speed the process. I will post about any “interesting side effects” as well as any results I may notice. Once again, wish me luck, and hopefully this stuff will do what it says.

Portion Size Savings.

    Raising gas prices, rising food cost, and stagnant wages are thinning everyone’s bank accounts these days. There is a way however to accomplish lowering food cost, and as a benefit you may see a shrinking waist as well. One of the things I noticed that drove our food bill up each month is when we cook, or snack no one ever ate the suggested portion size listed on the food nutrition label.

In addition to my diet journey, I also started buying healthier foods and noticed that healthy foods cost WAY more than unhealthy foods. This could have been why the jump in the food bill was so large, because in order to get the same quantity of food you buy more food than before. So, I started watching what I ate in accordance with the portion size listed on the labels. I asked everyone in the family to do the same and I noticed a couple things. Not only was the food bill shrinking, but out waistlines are too! By eating just the portion size we were obviously also consuming less calories, which equals a smaller waist line. This is most easily accomplished at breakfast and lunch, but dinner is a bit trickier.

To get started you need to first look at your nutrition label. Here is a sample one:

Notice the Portion Size. Also pay attention to the nutrition contents, this is the easiest way to count calories for those who do this to control their weight. Remember, calorie counts don’t need to be exact, as long as you average the right amount daily. The next part is the tricky part for some foods. For out of box ready to eat foods it is easy to eat the portion size, however for foods like soups, vegetables, fruits, and other such items you will need to measure your food. It’s a pain the first few weeks, but after a while you can eyeball the right amounts of what you eat. The measuring part is usually needed the most at dinner time when you prepare foods that probably contain more servings than it takes to feed. This lends to over eating. The best thing to do is measure out what you need, and store the rest for later that week.

Doing this your food will stretch further, your grocery cost will go down, and if your eating the right things your waist will start to shrink. I can already see a $200 reduction in food cost over the past few months. Take that money and save it since your used to spending it anyway, and you can watch your savings account grow or get some good investments going.

Hope this little idea helps everyone, it has certainly helped out here, and is a great way to kill to birds with one stone.