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Tag Archives: Thoughts

In My Head

Crazy tiger dogI spend a lot of time in my head. Most of the time it is pretty good and I am fairly positive. A while back it wasn’t so good. At least these days I see it as its happening but its hard not to let the monkey do its thing and take me down some crazy ass thought directions. Taking it off rails is tough. Sometimes you can enjoy the ride. Right now I am just trying to be the observer and figure out what triggered it and how can I get things back on course. Sometimes I’m just a dog dressed in a tiger costume.

New Year

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Its a New Year and it has ben a while since I posted. This year the blog will see a slight shift. I will still be posting about my health and fitness but I will also be posting about my life a little more too.

A tradition of mine is to name my year. Last Year was that Her of the Golden Butterfly, I didn’t really know what I was going to get out of my year but I knew it would be grand. It was definitely a change for me. A transformation. I lost 60lbs. I learned better life skills and ways to take care of myself. I found happiness. I smiled more. I proved I could do things I never tried before.

2014 will be the Year of the Grinning Tiger, A year inspired by strength and happiness. I will seek strength in  a great many forms and happiness as well. So far this year I have maintained my weight of 220 but I am determined to drop that. I will be doing more strength training. I will be adapting my diet a little. Staying close to Paleo but perhaps more primal. There are still a grate many things I am glad I have removed from my life and will continue. However I realize that I understand my body and diet better over the last year and know when I can indulge a little in something’s but in moderation.

So keep an eye out for more updates and changes. Thanks for reading,

Where I am at.

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I feel bad for neglecting this space so I will write a few things here.

As I said in an earlier post I got a fitbit. I will post more on that soon. So far I love it.

I was on vacation and was a little bad about eating. However I have gotten back on track. I am very happy with what I am doing.

Right now besides eating Paleo I am counting calories and watching my intake. The great thing is I really dont have to but to give myself a better idea of how I eat and how it affects me I am logging it on fitbit.

I realized contrary to my earlier belief dairy does have an effect on me. So I am cutting out my chai latte. I may have one once in a while but I was lying to myself that I could have one every day. Besides being 320 calories I also wasnt feeling great after drinking them. Now that I listen to my body more I am making sure to listen. So chai latte out.

Walking to work and home from work everyday now. The walk is getting better back home. I still feel like I want to die a little but I get something like 25 flights of stairs on my fitbit from doing it. So win.

I stopped stairs at work up from the bottom floor but decided to try it after lunch today. It wasnt awesome but it wasnt awful. We didnt end up moving to the 5th floor so  I am still on the 9th floor. That walk is a beast but it is good for me. I will work harder to sneak it in.

Still no Yoga. Need to work on that.

Buying a fitbit scale this weekend so I can actually track my weight and not guess.

That is all.

Don’t Call It A Comeback

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I wanted to check in because I haven’t posted as often as I started and need to get back at it. I have been going strong living Paleo. I have cut down on the number of snacks I need to eat during the day. I eat a solid breakfast with lots of protein. I have a few pieces of fruit once I am at work. For lunch I usually have a baby spinach salad with some protein. Dinner is a small portion of meat and vegetables. The last week was a little bad of indulging in Chai Lattes, I had a tiny tiny bag of popcorn one day and a couple of regular french fries. The Chai really wasn’t so bad I just can’t have one every day. I need to make it more of an occasional treat. My body doesn’t freak out from the whole milk so I know it isn’t that bad but it isn’t that good either. The popcorn and fries however felt like bricks in my belly and just made me feel sluggish and blah. It was good to see that though and really listen to my body.

I started in February and now it is June. That makes 4 full months of awesome. I posted a picture to some friends from about 3 weeks or so ago and got some really great comments which is always inspiring. I went back to doing some Dance Central in the morning for some light cardio. I admit since moving to the 9th floor and having the plague I have stopped taking the stairs as much at work. 9 floors is kind of over kill for me. Good news is I move to the 5th floor this week so I will recommence with my stair walking then. I do continue to walk to work and will start looking at walking home now that the weather is super beautiful here. Plan is keep on eating like I do, increase cardio activity, and look into some strength training. That is all for now. Keep on being Awesome.

The Art of Happiness

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Today I had two interesting moments that led me to make some realizations. Besides losing weight, and getting healthier I have made a few other changes in my life and all of them have been for the better. So first off I lost weight and changed my diet which I have already talked about and will continue to talk about. I can see it in the mirror and feel it in how I carry myself. I feel a hell of a lot better. I sleep better, I have more energy and what little stomach issues I had before are non-existent. I have started to dress better. I bought nice dress shirts, shoes and a sports coat. Looking more professional has helped change perceptions and in turn improved mine as well of myself. I even took on a new position at work that keeps me busy but makes me feel accomplished and happy. Each of these things have helped contribute to my happiness.

I hadn’t realized how much I was putting into other things in order to be happy. Whether it was drinking, women or hobbies I was seeking happiness outside of myself. When those didnt work out or didnt bring me the happiness I sought I became more depressed. I wasnt happy with myself nor was I happy with life. But now I have so many things to be happy about, I don’t stress about one thing going wrong because so many things are going right.

It was really great to run into my leadership coach today and tell her about all the things that have changed since 8 months ago when I had my last session with her. At that time we discussed culture shock and I realized I was suffering from it but wasnt doing anything to change it. I finally did 4 months ago and now I cant imagine I was there at all when I am where I am now. I thanked her for advice. She was one of the many great people who are in my life that helped make me who I am today.

I still have a ways to go but I am taking the steps each day and not taking steps back. My life is on the right track. My Art to happiness is redefining my life.

“If you can’t change the world, change yourself”

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I heard this quote while playing Dragon Age from a character called Sten. Now regardless of the source of the quote it was one of the phrases that really resonated with me while I was considering going Paleo and changing my lifestyle. It goes well with another quote on the definition of Insanity “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” from Albert Einstein. I am pretty sure I was the living definition of insanity for a while. I was upset with my life but I was doing nothing to change it. Even when all evidence pointed to the common denominator being me. I was the thing that needed changing not the world.

I find the only difference between a miserable person and a happy person is what they put their focus on in life. The miserable person dwells on the bad in their life missing out constantly on the good that they experience everyday while the happy person dwells on the good that is in their life and let the bad that happens fall to the way side. Sure some people have it better or worse than others but their perception and how they deal with their experiences is what compounds it all.

Since going paleo, becoming more active, taking better care of myself and just changing my perceptions to focus on the positive I have become happier. I have  many of the same problems I had before but they don’t seem so overwhelming. Being able to see physical change is always a great motivator and a positive reward for my actions. In the end I am becoming the person I want to be and in turn I have changed my world.