I'm not sure why

I'm not sure why it is that I'll write for a while and then die off...maybe it's my short attention span, my ADD, or just that I'm...wait is that something shinny?

It's been a year...my last post was about Bees...well to bring you up to speed, I got about 60 pounds of honey from my hive.  I STILL haven't used it all.  We had wax, and the most incredible garden.  All in all, it was a success, so much so that my Dad now has 2 hives, and I've doubled mine too.  If last year was any guide, we could have well over 200 pounds of honey.

I have a few other projects that I'm working on that I'll bring everyone up to speed on soon...

Bees!

Well I've started a new hobby that's right bee keeping! I have a hive of nearly 10,000 bees living right outside my bedroom window. Not only did I do that but I've started a 24 hour BEE CAM!!! It'll be on this blog on the right. It has night vision and you should be able to see me work on the bee hive when it's time! Let me know what you think!

Day 43...Still no sign of water...

Several years ago my father some friends and I were jeeping and hiking around Canyonland's national park. In Canyonland's there isn't water anywhere...it's sandstone canyons as far as you can see. It's a far cry from the lush forests mountain scene that is Yellowstone.
After a morning of driving through the trails of the park, we got out and decided to go on a hike down into a slot canyon. We made sure and took plenty of water. It was then that my friend Bill started with the narrations.
The best way to describe Bill's one man narration of our hike was like, he was reading out of the journal of Tom Hank's character in Castaway.

Bill: Day 4, there are 4 of us still alive.  The sounds through out the night make it nearly impossible for us to sleep.  Our hope is that tomorrow we can find some food.

Bill: Day 12, We've searched every where, no sign of civilization.  Steve's gotten sick, sure hope he pulls through.  Need to find food and water soon.

Bill: Day 47 Still no water, can't take much more of this.

I tell this story, not simply because it's now a running joke in my family (seriously just say in an exasperated voice, "Day 47..." he'll bust up laughing), but because I think an overlooked part of any nutrition plan is water.  Lots and lots of water.
We're bombarded with advertisements and in the grocery store with ads for sports drinks, and diet sodas and who can forget this guy...



There is a feeling out there that it's just water, and somehow adding stuff to it...is always better.  Now don't get me wrong, there is a place for the Juiceman's wonder juices, and there is even a place for Gatorade, however neither of these surpass water in terms of what it'll do for your body.

Let's look at some of the facts about water.  Your body is made up of about 60% water.  Think about that if you way 200 pounds, more than 120 pounds of you is water! 
According to Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, and author of Power Eating, "Most people are walking around in a moderately dehydrated state."  Remember hearing that we all need 8 glasses a day?  Well according to Dr. Kleiner...that's the bare MINIMUM!!  If you exercise at all...you need more. 

So before I've mentioned this game we're playing.  Part of the game is drinking the right amount of water.  We each have to drink 3 liters a day.  It sounds like a ton, and at first it feels like it, but then it's really not that bad.  In drinking enough water you actually turn of the internal switch that forces your body to store water for fear of dehydration, so by drinking more water, you actually LOSE water weight!  Weird...

The bare minimum is a 8 glasses a day, that's about 2 liters.  The moment you exercise, (and we're all exercising) you need more.  You've increased your metabolism and when you were working out...you expelled 4 cups just by breathing harder, and 1-2 quarts by sweating...all of that needs to be replaced.

The other big plus is that water takes up space.  Yup that's right, it takes up space in my stomach that might other wise be filled with chips or cheese puffs.  It suppresses my appetite.  
I've been drinking 3 L of water every day.  I feel great.  It does take some planning.  I have a large metal water bottle at my desk that I fill up 4 times a day.  Once at home before work, twice at work and then once when I'm home relaxing.

Try it, try drinking 3 liters of water a day.  Give your body some time to get used to it, and see how you feel.  Let me know!

Bear Trap

So my sister sent me this video. It stars a good friend of her's Luke. This is where I live. I'm a lucky man. I want to be able to ski like this...yet another reason I'm getting in shape!

Bear Trap 1-3-11 from Jed Whittaker on Vimeo.

The Game is On! GO A-Team

So I tried the go-it-alone approach, and to be honest...it wasn't that great. Even with supportive comments and calls from my friends and readers of the blog...so I've taken a new tact...a CAGE MATCH OF FITNESS...

That's right we're in an all out brawl of healthly living. I read a book...The Game On Diet by Krista Vernoff. Before I get into the book, let me be clear about one thing, the author is a TV writer, the head writer as a matter of fact for Grey's Anatomy. I'll put it this way...if I was a kid, and used language like she does, I'd have eaten plenty of soap.

Now back to the meat of the book...

I think most of us have taken part of some sort of weight loss competition. Let's see who can lose the most weight, or who can lose the biggest percentage of weight. The question is...is that always the best thing? Should weight loss be the biggest concern in fitness? Or should your fitness goal be based on Fitness. Especially with Isabelle Caro in the news lately, the model who died of anorexia, we're all aware that simple weight loss is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal should be a healthy fit body and a healthy lifestyle.

The book, proposes a competition, fitness competition based on a healthy life rather than simple weight loss. It takes place over 6 weeks and is designed to change living habits. The problem you'll find with Jenny Craig, or Nutrisystem is that while they may be effective, they don't teach you anything about healthy living so in order to maintain the progress that you make while on the plans, you must stay on those plans, indefinitely. Clever business model, but not a Fit life.

You start with two teams roughly equal in size and designate a score keeper for each team. You get points each day for meals eaten, taking time to sleep at night, drinking water, even starting a good NEW habit and stopping an old BAD habit, and no those habits don't have to be health related. My bad habit I'm trying to break is being sarcastic.

What really intrigued me was the communication point. Yup communication with the players on the team. You get points for communicating with the opposite team. What a cool concept. Now I have built in support from everyone on my team...and a bit of built in trash talk with the other team.

In addition to getting points you get penalized for certain bad behavior. For example you get a penalty for snacking. You're allowed to step on the scale once a day, every time after that, penalty. (remember weight isn't the goal here...but it will just happen.

Each week you submit your scores to your scorekeeper, your teams scores are averaged and the team with the most points over 6 weeks wins.

Pretty simple really but so much fun. I'm excited to kick the other teams trash...

We started the game with my family. I set up the teams and took the liberty of naming the teams. We're playing boys vs girls. I named the guys team "The A-Team. The girls...I named, "Team Edward." All of the women on the team HATE

Twilight. I'll make sure I keep everyone updated...I sent the following text message to a member of Team Edward...

"Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Team Edward Will lose
And the A team is so Awesome that this line doesn't even have to come close to rhyming...

Light and Darkness

The Status of the Battle

Melissa's Snowmen Pops...there's cake in there..

Alright time for a review.  As I've stated before, I'm trying to lose weight during Christmas time.  I realize that this is quite possibly the WORST time to start a fitness plan, however, I couldn't bring myself to wait until January 1st again!  I've been pretty diligent in some things, and need to work in some other areas. Most importantly I've learned and I've been able to apply what I've learned to making me stronger!

I think I need to clarify one thing first.  I believe that this is an especially difficult undertaking for me.  You see my wife, enjoys cooking, and she's good at it...I mean REALLY good.  Perhaps cook wouldn't be the right word.  I'm thinking a more appropriate word would be a "culinary artiste."  So far she's made dipped chocolates, snowman looking cake pops (these are both a feat of flavor and engineering), caramels,  and meringues.  That does not even take into account the regular food that she makes.  The thought of turning down anything that she makes should be considered an act of treason.

So when this INCREDIBLE food is in the house, what do you do?  Well I've learned to be picky.  I've learned sometimes it's best just to taste the food, enjoy the food, rather than gorge on it.  Because I eat these special foods in small quantities, I want to make sure that everything that goes in my mouth is quality.  What I've found is that although the quality of the food I eat has gone WAY up, because the quantities of food I'm eating have dropped, I'm actually saving money by eating a higher quality food.  And my wallet thanks me.

I've always dreaded working out.  It's always been a hassel.  Maybe it comes from a jack-wad of a High School swimming coach, who felt it was better to mock a guy trying his hardest rather then encourage him to do better.  My coach, John, made work outs painful, and not in the I'm building muscle sort of way, rather the you are a waste of space kind of way.  Ever since then, there has been deep seeded hatred in my mind associated with going out, and lifting weights.  I know that if I'm going to be successful, I'll need to put on my big boy pants and get over it.

So I've tried to change things up with the way I work out.  One thing I'm trying are more intense but shorter work outs, basically a 20 minute interval work out.  That one practice has eliminated the major excuse that seems to find in the morning, that is I look at my clock and notice that it's 6:30 and way to late to go work out.  Nope that's plenty of time to get out of bed, throw on my biking clothes and hop on my bike.

The second thing I've tried is to try different activities for a work out.  Last night for example, I went with my brother in law and played Dodgeball.  I forgot what a workout dodgeball was.  If you've read my posts you've also found that I'm trying Rugby.  I'm fascinated with that sport.  If you get a chance, watch the video I posted on how the sport works.

I've increased my sleep time.  I'm making an effort to get 7 hours of sleep per night.  I can't believe what a difference that's made.  I have more energy in my workouts, I'm thinking more clearly throughout the day.  Some may call me lazy, but I'm calling it smart.

Finally, I'm drinking a lot more.  Yup that's right I might as well say it, Yes My Name is Steve, and I'm a drinker."  Of course I'm drinking water...a LOT of water.  I'm drinking about 3 liters a day.  It sounds like a ton, and it is, but it's been so good for me.  I've found that I feel better.  If you doubt me try reading this 11 benefits for drinking water...  DRINK WATER