Its time to get serious!!!

Ok, its really time for me to get serious.

I've spent my entire life being over weight, and I was ok with that. The most I've ever weighed was 320 lbs. But when I was that heavy I was also powerlifting so it was mostly muscle mass. Since High school, I have maintained a 38 in waist. Now that I'm married and out of school that all has changed. The kicker was this last week. My wife and mom took me clothes shopping for my birthday, and my waist is now 42 in. Not only that, belly is 53 in which is big enough that I can not see my feet when standing any more, and I'm weighing in at 274.5 lbs. This is way to big.

Because of my weight and size of my belly I have sleep apnea. This is where I stop breathing for small periods of time in my sleep. I snore as loud as a freight train, keep my wife up all night (she has even slept on the couch a few times because of it. That is not good at all), I wake up in the mornings feeling exhausted, and I have really bad heart burn. Recently, I was told that it was sleep apnea that was the cause of my dad having a heart attack that lead to a triple bypass surgery when he was 47 (he is now 60).

About a year ago, I talked with my friend Emilio about my weight and sleep apnea issues (Emilio is a Medical Doctor). He told me that I could get a CPAP machine that will help me get more oxygen at night, but that would just mask all the problems and possibly make them worse later on in life. What he recommended for me to do was to have a life style change when it comes to food and exercise.

What Dr. Emilio recommends for me is that I go on a high protean high vegetable diet, and eat very little sugar and carbs. He said that if it is white to stay away from it. The up side to this is that I can have as much vegetables and protean that I want to. The down side is that I have to quit eating all the breads, pastas, and the sugary foods that I love to eat. Emilio did say that I could treat my self to one meal per week where I can eat the carbs and sugar, I just can't go crazy with it.

I went on this diet back in June of 2010. During a two week span I lost 15 lbs, was feeling a lot healthier, and was still eating a ton of food (it was just healthy food). However, It failed. Two weeks into the diet I took some of my students to church camp where the food was worse than eating McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. It was greasy and loaded with carbs. Half way through the week I started feeling really sick, my sugar level bottomed out, and I nearly passed out because of the food. Dr. Emilio told me not to stay on the diet until I saw my primary care doctor and had some blood work done. Four months later all the blood work came back normal, but I was already so far off my diet that I had gained more weight back that I had lost.

The other side of this is that I need to start exercising. This is something that I have been very bad at. I don't think I have exercised since I was powerlifting back in 2006. So its been about 5 years. It's not that I've been lazy about exercising, it's that I have been so busy that when I get home I just want to lounge around. Emilio told me that I need to start exercising every day for about between 40 minutes and an hour.

I told my wife last week that after my birthday Ice Cream Cookie was gone then I would start trying to loose weight and being healthier. It just so happens that my little brother Jacob ate the last piece yesterday. So today is the starting of my weight loss and life style campaign. It is literally going to take a life style change for me to be able to loose all this weight.

I've been told several different things about what I should weigh. One doctor told me I should weigh 157 lbs. Another doctor told me that if I weighed 157 lbs that I would look sickly and really wouldn't be healthy. The second doctor told me that with my bone structure and muscle mass that I should weigh around some where between 210 and 230 lbs. Dr. Emilio confirmed that I should weigh in the lower 200 lbs range. So that I what I'm going to shoot for.

My goal is to loose about 50 lbs. Currently, I weigh 274.5 lbs and have a 53 in waist. So I want to loose about 50 lbs to get down into the 225 lb range. I would imagine that when I loose the weight I'll also loose some inches around my waist. I hope to eventually fit into a size 36.

Another part of my goal is to work out between 40 minutes and an hour every day. I'm going to start off by walking or riding a bike. One of the things my wife and I have done to help is we got a dog that goes crazy if we don't walk her for about an hour every day.

Starting today, I'm getting serious about living a healthier life style so I can loose weight and be healthy. If you would like to help support me, please send me encouraging messages and/or healthy recipe ideas that I can use on the road to a healthier life style.

Meals
Meal	Serving	Food	Calories
Breakfast	1	1/2 size bagle	110
	1 TBSP	1/3 Fat Cream Cheese	35
	1 TBSP	Peanut Butter	105
	1	Bananna	90
		Total	340

Opryland Hotel

On our 1600 mile journey from Miami to Oklahoma City, we made a few stops along the way. We mainly stopped to see family and friends. However, we did stop at a destination spot in Nashville Tennessee… The Opryland Hotel! This hotel is by far the most extravagant hotel I have ever seen. I will note that we just spend the day there. We did not stay the night. The inside of this hotel was like a botanical garden that was separated into 3 areas, and each area  seemed to be the size of a pro football stadium. It even had a river that ran through the different sections with water falls. It also had plenty of shops and restaurants for people to look at and eat in. For more information go to www.gaylordhotels.com. This is a beautiful hotel, and I recommend that if you get the chance to walk around in it.

Here are some of the photographs that I took while we were there. Please take a look and let me know what you think about the pictures. Note that these photographs don't do the Opryland Hotel justice.

Web Design

Web Design-O-Web Design

The Internet is something I have used for years now, but the coding of it has always confused me. When I look at HTML all I see is tons of letters and numbers that seem to run together in a way that is very difficult to read (especially for someone who has Dyslexia). So I think its time to break down and learn it. I've tried to learn it before, but the coding part was so confusing (Note that this was before Dreamweaver era). I even took an "Intro to Web Design" class when I was at design school.

Now, I think I may have an upper hand at learning web design. I have the programs for it: Flash, Dreamweaver, and Text Edit. I also have a wealth of friends who know about web design, and a computer programer dad who knows the coding side. On top of all that, I also have Lynda.com and a few other web sites to help out too.

So here are the things I want to learn:

1. Dreamweaver
2. Flash
3. HTML (I've been told to learn this first, but I've also been told that learning Dreamweaver first will help me understand it better)
4. CSS (revert to comment on HTML but this comes second)
5. Java Script
6. Action Script
7. PHP

I have been told that if I am able to add Web Design to my skill set that it will help me obtain a good design position, and help me get better freelance assignments. I have also been told by multiple people that they would not hire a Graphic Designer unless they know both Print and Web Design. These are tough times for those of us designers who specialize in Print Design, marketing, and advertising. However, the one thing that will separate me from the rest of the designers is my ability to overcome and adapt to the changing world of Graphic Design.

I hope that this learning endeavor will help to widen the horizon!

If you know of any books, resources, or have any recommendations for me on how to get started or the way that you do web design please comment on this post.

Job Search: Day 11

So its the 11th day of the Job search. I've sent my resume to numerous design studios, corporations, and churches. Thus far, I have only heard from one design studio just letting me know that they have received my application.

I've talked with a few churches about pastoral positions. All of them would love to hire me, but it's just not in their budgets to hire another pastor at this time. However, several of the churches have freelance design and media work that they may be sending my way over the next few weeks.

The goal for tomorrow is to call the places I've sent my resume to.

This coming Tuesday, Beth and I have a meeting with our missions director to receive council about our options and what his recommendations are. I'm really hoping that my we can find  positions by the end of the month. Please be praying for us that God will open the door that He wants us to go through.