Happy Thanksgiving!

@aarongleeman tweeted yesterday that he wondered how many people would have turkey for dinner on the night before Thanksgiving. He completely ignores me these days, so I didn't bother tweeting back, but yes, I had a turkey sandwich last night. I really rely on the old bird as a staple for my diet. Today, I'll partake in our Thanksgiving meal, but I'm not going to go crazy. Rather, I'll probably eat about 600 calories. An extra few ounces of turkey, some taters, maybe, and I suppose some stuffing. We are going to make a wild rice stuffing and we'll see how that turns out, but I am reasonably sure that it will be relatively low calorie.

Yesterday, I wrote about my toe dip into the waters of interval training. Last night, I plunged in further and really worked hard. I was talking 502 calories in 50 minutes on Tuesday night. Wednesday night, it was 677 calories and by the end I was pretty spent. So, that was a significant increase in calories burned after I was reported a breakout. I also did a little hydration experiment yesterday. I had a little coffee, but primarily, I drank water and I consumed about 12 pounds of liquids yesterday. I know there's such a thing as too much water, but I don't have any evidence of kidney problems and it's possible that improved hydration helped the workout. Another thing I've added is a 20 minute nap right before the workout. I set the phone timer to 20 minutes and I lie down. I think, hell, I'm not going to fall asleep, but I've found that when the timer goes off, I am sound asleep and probably have been for about 15 minutes.

Day 121
Weight: 227.1
Total Loss: 57.4
BMI: 28.01

I've now lost 20% of my body weight and significantly more than what my daughter weighs. I was basically carrying her around at all times and then some. That's quite a lot to lose and it has made a big difference, as I'm sure you can appreciate. On this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful to have found the strength to translate a desire to get into shape into action. For the last decade, I've told myself that I have to shed this weight. For whatever reason, I was unable to act on that desire, but this summer I really became inspired to move beyond wish into do. A big part of that was the fear I had of dying young and the shock wave of Twayn's situation. Still, though, it was a few days after that until I googled 1800 calorie diet and started this program. I immediately set a very aggressive goal -- 85 pounds in five months, not knowing if I would still be on the diet in a week. It seems unlikely that I'll get to 85 pounds lost by Christmas day -- that would be 27 more pounds in just over a month. However, I'll be within shouting distance of that goal, which is in itself something for me to be proud of. Well, proud isn't quite the right word, after all, I got myself into this mess. The more appropriate word I think is relieved. I am relieved that I have been able to move in the right direction. I feel determined to continue beyond the weight loss program and into a strength and conditioning regimen, along with a balanced diet that I can stick to for the future.

Something else, though, has happened in my life over the last several months. If you will pardon my foray into the forbidden zone for just a moment, I would like to discuss something. I have been a Catholic all of my life. I was baptized at seven days old and I've pretty much been a regular churchgoer ever since. I spent five years in the seminary, trying to discern whether I was being called to the priesthood. I eventually decided that that wasn't the life for me. As an adult, I have struggled with matters of faith and tried to work on squaring what I learned from the Church with what I have observed in this life as well as what we collectively know about our world and how it came to be. Nevertheless, one thing that has always stuck with me is the idea that I should be my brother's keeper. In the past several months, I have been subjected to political discourse from the pulpit, primarily in SBGville, but now, sadly, in my own parish. I see the bishop spending money contributed by me and other members of the faith community to endorse political positions. This has saddened me, but it has also spurred me to action. My response has been that money that would otherwise will be contributed to the general diocesan fund will now be contributed to charities that help those less fortunate than me. I should note that helping one's fellow man is not an activity limited to those of faith. Certainly, there are many, many people who have contributed hugely to the betterment of their fellow men without being a part of any faith community.

When I started the old site, I was a big Twins fan, of course, and I still enjoy the game as well as the NBA. But, I have to be honest -- I enjoy it a lot less than I have in the past. Perhaps it's because the Twins have kind of sucked the last few years, but I'm not sure that's the case. I have always been someone whose interests have shifted over time. For example, I used to love music, now I don't really care about it that much. That's not to say that I think that music isn't worth much or anything, it's just that I'm not feeling it anymore. Same with baseball. I think this has been coming on for some time, but the confluence of the politicization of the pulpit, my own feeling of mortality and my decision to try and be more proactive about maintaining my health, the general malaise of the local nine, etc. etc. has really prodded me to seek out something different. Oh, and there's one more thing. I have that little finkle dinkle in kindergarten now. Her school is really into service and the kids are called not just to study, but to give of themselves. So, maybe it's her as well that has spurred these feelings inside of me.

So, anyhow, I've taken the first step to move into the world of working with charities. It's kind of pathetic, really, that a person of my means (I'm not rich, but I'm also not worried about making next month's mortgage payment) has not done more to help others. Just as it's kind of pathetic that I left myself go until I was 285 pounds. I can and have changed that. I can change this, too. For the first time, I have signed up to help at Feed My Starving Children. I intend to do this on a regular basis. I know some of you do things like this, Rhu_Ru, I know you are very generous with your time. I feel bad that I haven't done more to help others, but I'm going to change that. My family and I will start on December 26th with a two-hour shift. FMSC asks that we make a financial contribution and we will. I tell you this not because I want you to know that I'm contributing to charity, but rather because I haven't done enough, but I'm going to change that. For those of you who have already been involved in such activities, I sheepishly join you at this late date. I hope that just as I am searching for a better way of eating and taking care of myself, I can find a better way of helping my fellow human beings. I also kind of hope that maybe someday this community can have events where we work together on some of these things. I'd love to be a part of a bike outing or two next summer. I'd also like to be part of a group that does work for FMSC or other similarly focused groups. Maybe this can happen, or maybe it won't. We'll see. (Oh, and I promise that I will get the posters for the pop-top project out this weekend.)

Every day should be Turkey Day for me. I have been given a lot.