Jeff Blogs

From a very early age I found myself setting goals for things I wanted to accomplish. Whether it was learning a new skill, getting better at playing baseball, or managing my time more efficiently, there was always a goal. As I grew older that formal goal-setting sort of fell by the wayside. I don’t really remember why that happened. Perhaps I thought I had outgrown the process or maybe I had gotten frustrated when the goal was not realized. Whatever the case I stopped doing it.

During this week’s diet homework the chapter was all about goal setting. As I read through the material I began to understand why setting goals was important, especially for me. I am very results oriented. This is both a positive and a negative. On the one hand having a goal with measurable results gives you a way to track your progress. On the other hand, having defined measurable goals can also cause you to become frustrated when you do not reach them.

(continue reading…)

It’s hard to believe but I have now officially been on my diet for one month. On January 13th I made the decision that I needed to make some changes in my life. I had steadily gained weight over the past 30 years and had gone from 175 when I got married to just over 210 pounds a month ago.

I don’t really remember the weight gain; but looking at recent photographs and at myself in the mirror one month ago I was shocked to see the transformation. I was once an athlete who could run tirelessly and eat whatever I wanted. Suddenly I was plump around the middle and had a hard time catching my breath after walking up a flight of stairs.

(continue reading…)

Today marks the end of four weeks having been on this diet. I have to admit, I am pretty impressed with myself. It hasn’t really been as bad as I thought it was going to be. Before I began this diet I had assumed that before the first month was over I would have gone all Donner party on my family after eating the majority of my meals from water and powder. I can safely say that at no time during this first four weeks did I ever sneak into the children’s bedroom in the wee hours of the night and test if they were plump enough nor did I refer to any of them as Hansel or Gretel.

Overall it’s been ok. Yeah there were days that I wondered whether I was making any headway and I really questioned whether all of this reading and homework was necessary but then I would step on a scale or catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and think, “I think I am starting to see a difference.”

(continue reading…)

For as long as I can remember I have struggled with having patience. Some of that struggle is self-induced and part of it is environmental. We live in a society where instant gratification is not just expected but demanded. No one these days wants to wait for anything. Whether it be traffic on the freeway or service at a fast food restaurant we expect results to occur immediately.

Being impatient is not something I have just come to realize I’ve known I have this personality defect for quite some time and I have wanted to immediately fix it but that never seems to work. Before beginning this diet I needed to reach some sort of agreement with my subconscious that I would not freak out if I didn’t get results quickly.

(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…)