100 Days of Counting Calories

One-hundred (100) days ago, I started logging my food and calorie consumption.

Since then, I've dropped about 12 pounds, which is an average of a pound every

eight (8) days.


Now, I want to issue a BIG caveat here: I am not advocating.  I think people --

individuals -- need to decide individually what each wants to do about weight. I know what

I want, but I have a wide window of acceptance about what other people do. And weigh.


But I'm happy to share what I am up to and how it's working. If you like it or you want

to join me, great. If you want to talk but you don't like my plan, I'm fine with that, too. If

you'd rather never read a word about it, hey, no prob! Even arguments are welcome.



When I started back in early November of 2011, my weight was threatening to

reach 140 pounds. As a small framed woman under 5' 4", I dread the number 140!



With the temptations of Thankgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah directly ahead,

but the support of winter retreating to Florida also in view, I downloaded a

calorie tracking app to my phone, IPad and computer and got serious about the

weight and fitness issue.



Should I explain more about the Florida part? Each winter for several years now

my husband Lee and I have rented an apartment in south Florida and spent as much

time as possible away from the snow and ice of our northeast Illinois home.

Florida as become our other home.



When in Florida, we walk. That's right. We rent a lovely, small apartment, but

we don't have a car. We can use public transportation; we can hop a cab or even

rent a car if we want to see friends on the other side of the state. But day in

and day out, we walk. I have noticed this has a very desirable effect on my

fitness and weight.



Okay. So, when I started to track my calories back in November, I planned to do

it all winter. I don't remember if I started with a goal; obviously, if I had

one, I don't remember what it was. But maybe six (6) weeks in, I read "The Fat Trap".  

A key message of "The Fat Trap" is that the human body has profound biochemical

mechanisms that trend to defeat successful weight loss, assuming success means

taking it off AND keeping it off.



The article generated a lot of comment and reaction, even some thought. I

thought, this reminds me of the whole 'set point weight' theory from the 1990s

and the diet suggestions that came on the heels of those initially discouraging

observations. (Turns out that that theory actually began to show up in the 80s;

you know how fluid memory is.) After reading many articles (should have done a

bibliography but it didn't occur to me until just now), I concluded that just

possibly something above a 10% weight loss triggers the biochemical processes

that make it so very hard to maintain the new, lower weight. Possibly a 10% or

lower loss won't set in motion the process almost guaranteed to undo the entire

effort and worse. Possibly.



A 10% loss from my starting point will put me at 125. My weight fluctuates about

1.5 - 2 (one and a half to two) pounds around a center point, so taking 125 as

the center point, I want to get in the 124 to 126 range. That means I have 2 to

3 more pounds more to lose.


While the early loses showed up every few days, more recently I've often

persevered as long as 16 days before settings a new record. Even taking all of

that into account, I have pretty realistic expectations of hitting 125 before

the end of March or at least in early April.



Then I will attempt to maintain 124 - 126.



If that all works, I'll need a new summer wardrobe!

Let me tell you about Charlie Brown (a true Joplin hero)

 ***************

Support Charlie Brown of Joplin

Just 1 week of voting left! Keep it up, we are doing great!
Thanks so much for everyone's support!

http://www.examiner.com/adoptive-families-in-joplin/an-unlikely-hero

*************************** 

Last May, my hometown was almost blown to smithereens when an F-5 tornado buzzed through town, taking thousands of homes, dozens of churches and schools and over 150 human lives.

Shortly after, a memorial service attracted national attention and attendance, including, on the positive side, the President of the United States.

On the negative side, however, the bizarre and hateful Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) announced plans to protest the memorial service.  Westboro Baptist Church's web address is godhatesfags.com. The group despises the United States of America and pickets the funerals of US soldiers.

While many Joplinites were concerned about WBC, the organization is a particular anathema to one complex man named Charlie Brown: a Christian, a patriot and a gay man with a heart even bigger than his energetic, 6'3" self.

Using Facebook, Charlie set up a page to recruit people to counter demonstrate and shield the memorial service from the effects of a WBC event. Along with other formal and informal efforts, Charlie's plan was so successful that almost no one from WBC even showed up.

At the time, Charlie Brown knew roughly what any thirty-something man in 2011 knows about social media; no less but not much more, either.  But the WBC effort set in motion a learning process that has turned Charlie into an expert in the use of Internet social media for mobilizing advocacy and charitable action.

Since May of 2011, Charlie has spearheaded or significantly assisted about a half dozen separate on-line undertakings, raising the equivalent of over quarter-of-a-million dollars for restoration of public and private property in Joplin. The efforts and outcomes have now spread well beyond the Internet, but Facebook, Twitter and the Internet continue at the center of much Charlie is accomplishing.

In June, for example, Joplin was named "Tea Town USA 2011" by the Midwest deli chain, MacAlister's. The title, based on on-line votes, came with a $7,500 award. Using the network he'd begun building in response to WBC, Charlie helped bring this one in for Joplin.

As the hot-hot summer of 2011 wore on, Charlie and his colleagues recruited more area residents, Joplin 'Expats' and sympathetic friends everywhere. The next big project was Coca-Cola company's annual park grant. Also based on an Internet voting effort, the project brought in $25,000 to help restore Joplin's Cunningham Park, a key venue destroyed by the tornado.

Working with others, Charlie and his nearly angelic followers have contributed to a Craftman Tool contest, helping win $10,000 for a companion town in North Dakota. They spearheaded a major fundraising success involving the Oscar Mayer company, Homes for Hope Joplin and Christian Associates of Table Rock Lake that raised $100,000 to be applied to building new 'green' homes in Joplin.

Homes for Hope Joplin as opened a thrift store in Joplin, offering great bargains for area shoppers while generating additional revenues to support redevelopment.

Currently Charlie and his ever-growing group of responders are vigorously pursuing positions in two significant on-line contests, one sponsored by Examiner.com and the other organized by Reader's Digest.

Examiner.com

Examiner, an on-line magazine with broad U.S. coverage, is conducting a search 

for heroes national-wide in several categories. Charlie is a strong contender in 

the leadership category. If you'd like to join the effort on Charlie's behalf, follow 

this link, register, click the Leadership link and click the block next to Charlie's 

name -- obviously! 

A WIN FOR CHARLIE IS A WIN FOR JOPLIN.

Support Charlie!

Reader's Digest

'We hear you America 2012" by Reader's Digest will provide $10,000 grants 

to numerous communities and a $50,000 grand prize to the top vote getter.   

Repeated and unlimited voting is not only allowed, but encouraged!  If you've 

not voted yet and want to support Joplin, go to 

Reader's Digest, We Hear You

Enter the zip code 64801. Then register and start voting.

***********

You can follow Charlie on Twitter at CharliesCharity

Third Try Does the Trick! (Ok, unofficially)

At about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, a racketing hubbub woke me. I went to an open window to listen.

"Do I smell something burning?" my drowsy mate mumbled.

"I expect all the jack-of-lanterns are lit up now and we are smelling the smoke from them."

Several blocks from our house, the small suburban community of Highwood, IL was, once again, attempting to take the world record for jack-of-lanterns. Since the city of Boston, MA has been the reigning title holder, little Highwood's efforts are a study in determination and community spirit!

Three years ago, as the local chatter tells it, Highwood held a Pumpkin Festival featuring over one-thousand jack-o-lanterns.

Then the town got bigger ideas. Last year, they tried to set a world record for the most carved and lit up pumpkins in one place at one time. I tracked that effort here.

Last year, the total counts hit about 26,000 lit lanterns. But the record is about 30,000.

This year, Highwood set its target at 32,000. And to make things even more fun, they challenged the town of Keene, NH to a friendly competition.

Ever since Monday morning, I've been hearing that, while HW fell short of the goal, they beat the world record.




30,919!

Apparently the final word is officially still out ... but the excitement is all in!

Helping Restore of a Treasured Joplin Park

The May 22nd tornado that destroyed 25-30% of Joplin, MO, took this treasured park along with everything else it took.

[Pre-tornado image of Cunningham Park, Joplin, MO from Google Earth]

That is what Cunningham looked like before the tornado. Here is what it looked like on May 23, 2011, the day after the tornado.




The spirited people of Joplin, MO -- with the help of many others -- have worked through one of the hottest summers on record to put their town and their lives back together.

Now they are asking friends and supporters everywhere to help a bit more -- this time with some clicks of a mouse!

Coca-Cola is running a grant contest this summer to assist park improvements. The Coca-Cola grant could be worth $100,000! -- if we take first place.

The winners will be determined by an on-line show of support. Here is how we can win together: follow the link below and click as directed to vote for Joplin's Cunningham Park.

There is strong competition for the funding. But the winning strategy is to have as many people as possible vote as frequently as possible. There are no limits on the number of times you can vote.

Vote for Cunningham Park

A kind and thoughtful friend of mine worried that he might be acting unfairly to vote over and over for Cunningham. "Aren't there other parks worthy of the funds?" he asked. And I told him what I will tell any of you who might share the same concern: yes, we have worthy competition -- but worthy in every respect.

Yes, like us, they have projects to fund that mean a great deal to the people involved. Yes, in at least some cases, they have sustained losses through no fault of their own, like we have.

But, like us, they are using every tactic and working every angle in this most honorable and vigorous competition. They, too, are power voting. They, too, like us, are asking for the support of family and friends throughout the country and throughout cyber-space.

It's like a game we are playing with very real prizes for the winners.

So as our kids are asking --

from
http://www.facebook.com/CokeVoteJoplin

Vote for Cunningham Park



More?

Check out the Facebook page for our voters: Coca-Cola Voting Marathon for Joplin! Online

Or read about the contest at Coca-Cola's Live Positively website.

Seeing It

We've always heard how a picture can communicate so much more than words alone and many friends have asked to me share or show or email or post my photographs of my hometown, Joplin, MO, in the aftermath of the May 22nd record-setting tornado.

Yet, despite the value of photographs, I want to tell you what my brother told me before I returned to Joplin about two weeks after the disaster: no matter how many photos or videos you see, pictures cannot compare to seeing it yourself. After two days of driving and walking the area and taking pictures, on the late afternoon of the second day, I went out again and felt as stunned by the sight as I had when I first saw it.

Nothing can do this justice, but here are about twenty of my best shots.

Close Calls

On Friday, May 20, 1988, a very disturbed woman named Laurie Dann went on a rampage which included shooting an eight-year-old boy to death in a Chicago suburban elementary school.

On Wednesday, December 21, 1988, a bomb explosion on a Pan Am Flight from London Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport killed everyone abroad and several people on the ground in Scotland as well.

On Sunday, May 22, 2011, a massive tornado set itself down and parked over Joplin, MO, killing people and destroying property beyond historic Missouri records.

Except for the human tragedies, these events have little to do with each other.

Unless you happen to be me.

On the day Laurie Dann shot and killed a second-grader at a Chicago north shore school, I HAD a second-grader at a Chicago north shore school. The Pan Am flight that was taken down was the same flight my husband's daughter took from London to Chicago just a couple of days before. And sixteen relatives of mine live in five households in Joplin, MO.

In each of these events, my beloveds were potentially in harms' way. And in each case, my own were spared while others were not. Each time, my attention was consumed for some time by the awareness of what others were suffering. My joy at 'dodging the bullet' was restrained by something like 'survivor guilt' -- pain for those who took the hit.

Human life is an admixture of luck and accomplishment, failure and crises and plenty of day-to-day routine. The big events, extreme events, for better or worse, sometimes are humanly caused and sometimes beyond human control. But the victims are generally innocent, so whether a crazy woman shoots a child or a crazy storm takes someone's brother or sister and their homes, we know: who is taken and who survives is utterly random.

I believe that.

I don't think I've been spared the crushing pain of losing my beloveds for any reason or because of any plan. I believe it is random.

But I also believe it is a reminder to all of us to live as fully as possible, to love every day of our lives – to love the people we care for and the lives we are blessed to live.

The Question I Cannot Ask

Each week I pose a question via Twitter and Facebook in hopes of engaging and entertaining my friends with interesting conversation.

Sometimes the question concerns the way we use important words. For example, we've discussed how we use the words 'envy' and 'jealousy.' Sometimes I ask about particular types of experiences. I asked my friends to reveal the bravest thing he or she had done. Sometimes the question concerns wishes, whims, desires, thoughts or feelings. Recently during the Wisconsin teachers union action, I asked my friends how they feel in general about unions.

I keep a running list of new questions as they occur to me. There are a couple of questions that come to mind over and over. I write them down. Then when I consider using one of these question, I realize it is not a question most people would choose to talk about in public, with attribution. Since the answers are mostly posted on Facebook, in public, with attribution, it doesn't make sense to ask such a question.

But I just discovered that someone else has posed at least one of these questions in a format that allows people to respond anonymously. I've often consider asking: What is your greatest regret?

Want to get it off your chest? Check this out: http://www.secretregrets.com/