Jeff Blogs

I am not exactly sure why but April Fool’s Day is a national holiday in our house. I blame Trina really. I mean she is always joking around despite how serious the occasion is.

I remember one time when she was a youngster that she stood up in church and yelled, “If there is a God, show me a sign!” then fell to the floor gyrating on the ground. The old people in the congregation freaked out. I think one of the little old ladies may have had a heart attack. It was pretty funny though. Oh wait, that might have been me that did that. It was still funny though.

(continue reading…)

Let me start out by saying I am not a big musical fan. The classics such as Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof are very much lost on me. I grew up in a family that was definitely not musically gifted. The closest we got to music was enduring my parents’ country music station on the radio. That being said there is one musical that I not only can tolerate but I find myself mesmerized into watching it whenever it comes on – The Music Man.

I find myself intently watching as Professor Harold Hill works his sales magic on the River City Iowa citizens getting everyone in the town to eagerly give him money for a chance for their son’s to be in the city band. The performances put in are wonderful and the star power was amazing. From Robert Preston to Buddy Hackett to Shirley Jones to the memorable youngster with the lisp played by Ron Howard; each of these characters was brought to life.

(continue reading…)

Today marks the end of the third week of being on this diet. I am one week away from my four week mark (see even when I am not playing with a full stomach I am still able to do simple mathematical problems). I’ve now started to get into a routine of eating every 2.5-3 hours. I am getting used to the powdered food that make up the meal replacements for most of the day.

I’ve become accustomed to having a protein and green vegetables for dinner and ending my day with a calorie controlled snack. I’m building a pattern of good choices and have remained committed to this eating plan to remain on track. I’m not officially supposed to weigh-in until tomorrow but I snuck on the scale this morning to see I had dropped another 2.5 pounds bringing me under 195 in a long time.

(continue reading…)

When I was first considering going on this diet I was aghast to learn that it required homework. My initial reaction was akin to the reaction Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76’ers basketball team gave when he was benched for missing practice. We’re not talking about weight loss, we’re not talking about losing weight, we’re talking about homework! Not the way I’m eating, not the food, we’re talking about homework! Yeah I know it’s not just about what kinds of food you eat. I know it’s about making a change to my health habits but we’re still talking about homework!

(continue reading…)

When I signed up for this diet I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Being a diet rookie I had no clue what an eating program meant or what the logistics were around my commitment. While my health coach was very good at outlining the program I had no frame of reference to put the information into the proper context.

The first item of business was to order food that is vital to the success of my diet. I was presented a web site with pictures of exciting food that I could choose from. After careful consideration I selected what I would eat for the first month.

(continue reading…)