Weight Loss update

So....

The journey to lose weight has been for years. I'm talking years.....

• +10 lbs = I was around 185 after getting married. I ran a lot in Austin and once the wedding was over that was the end of that.
• + 5 lbs = So I'm sitting at 195 for a good amount of time. Ally gets born and my sleep and work got nuts.
• +5 lbs = Now I'm 200lbs and in a whole new weight class. I'm buying bigger jeans and filling out.
• +15 lbs = At the start of me going to baker hughes and with nate being born, it took a total of 3 years to stack on this weight. Main reason? I think I just never moved much. Vanpool then just started to eat a lot of buffets. got to the point where I wasn't full until I was stuffed. ---- Drum roll---- I hit 215 lbs at work with my boots.

HOT DANG

So for a good 18 months Franklin and I were betting who could drop below 200. I got close in 4 months to 205 but gave up and he also gave up when he turned 30 yrs old. He was 201 and then ballooned up to 240ish. I find that funny.

So I got the wii fit from some cool friends (nguyen gang) and that knocked off a good couple pounds. When I started the gym I was 210 on their scale with excersise clothes but this was after working out 2-3 times for 2 weeks. I think right when I started the gym I was 212ish. 212 + boots I'm around 214 at work.

so the journey began to lose weight at 214 (with work gear on). This officially started Aug 11.

Aug 11th 214 (work weight)
Feb 26th 194 (work weight)
20 lbs in 6 months

I haven't been to the gym in about 1 month.

I wonder if I can get down to 180 in another 6 months. At most I go to the gym 1 time a week now. The majority of the loss these days comes from walking 2 miles at work and eating better. I try not to eat as much mayo and hold the cheese for the most part.

The last time I was 185 was junior year in high school

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Writing on Hubpages now

Well, I used to write for a Blog on Switchplanet and a product review site on Epinions. I have throttled that down since Switchplanet was only really paying like $5 in credits at the site which I have a lot of already and Epinions takes a lot of work to review a product. I have 29 reviews there and I still only make about $5-$10 there per month. I know it's a residual income since I do it once but considering the time I put on those I would like more return on my time investment.

The whole purpose of writing was to help my think better. At work I was getting writer's block and writing on the blog, switchplanet, and epinions has really helped me think while writing. I'm by no means where I need to be but I am getting better.

So now we have this blog and my business blog. I try and keep the subjects different but sometime it is hard since I know the target audience is different.

So I have started to write on Hubpages which also pays. I chose Hubpages because it's not a Blog or a product review site. It's more of a site to just speak your mind on a certain subject.

I've written 6 hubs in a couple days.

Here is one HUB I know some of you working class gents can relate to if your in a cubicle all day.
3 Ways to Look Busy in a Cubicle Job

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15th Dating Anniversary

I know. I should have made her not count the dating anniversary after we got married. We dated 9 years before we got married.

Today is our Official 15th year dating anniversary. This dates way back to when I was going to be a sophmore in highschool and she was going to be a junior. I know what your are thinking. Older women can't resist me. But it took dang near a year for me to finally ask her out after many nights being driving around by our good buddies like Howell.

Well. Jess tried to trick me into not wanting to see Batman but she actually booked a night for just us and a nice dinner. How nice. I keep telling her I don't believe in buying her gifts. Why? She's going to buy her own things she wants regardless. Why waste money. I'll give her some nice little things but in the end it's just junk. She doesn't like jewelry, never got her ears pierced, flowers stink up the house, and we are trying to lose weight so candies are out of the question.

I just tell her on those days I'm really nice to her and give her a good foot message. The foot message that lasts like 2 hrs. dooooh. I don't think there is a man alive that messages their wive's foot as many nights as I do. That is my trade off to buying her useless gifts.

So I told her I didn't buy hey anything while I was at work and she said "oh really? Okay, not a big deal as I bought myself something". Thanks!

I guess when your a stay at home mom it's hard not to shop and every once in awhile buy something you "think" you need. She deserves it. I chalk it up to inflation and giving her a raise for taking care of my kiddos.

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For your viewing pleasure

Here's a snipit of our summer vacation. Enjoy!

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Wii Fit Post #1

So. the great Cheng and Nguyen clan pulled together and got me wii fit for my bday. That is pretty cool considering I was looking for it but gave up since it's sold out everywhere and I'm lazy about working out.

Does it work? Not really sure. It seems accurate but seems weird I can be losing that much weight. I'm wondering if the standard "light" clothing option of 2lbs is fluctuating for me. I generally wear some shorts and a tank or a tshirt so the poundage shouldn't change so much.

I'm 5'8 and turning 30yrs old in a couple days.

BMI Goal without taking in my frame is:

BMI 25
Weight: 169 (just a side note. last time I was 169 was back in 7th grade. Even for my wedding when I ran 6 times a week I was down to 185lbs)

Try to do a minimum of 30min to 45min each time.

BMI is BS but I'll go with it as a way to drive myself from being "fat"

6/8/2008 Day 1
BMI 37
Weight: 205
Status: Obese (doooooooh!)

6/9/2008 Day 2
BMI: 29
Weight: 197
Status: Overweight (better but dooooh!)

6/10/2008 Day 3
BMI 28.6
Weight: 193

6/12/2008 Day 4
BMI 28.4
Weight: 192

6/13/2008 Day 5
BMI 27.9
Weight: 188 lbs

I don't know what the deal is. I try and weight myself at the same time of day and before I work out but still. I dropped almost 17 lbs and I thought my weight was for sure around 205lbs. I call BS. I did have some tokyo one buffett and maggiano's the day before my bday and after and maybe my body is dumping it all out? I don't see my body getting more exercise than when I do 30min elliptical. I don't sweet that much on the wii.

The old scale we got I go between 198-202lbs

----

CORRECTION

So Wii Fit comes with some extra standoffs to lift you higher off of thicker carpet. Didn't think I needed it so I just left them off cause I could slide the wii fit under the couch easily w/o them. Well for giggles I put them on and guess what. I didn't lose jack

I'm still 205 and obese. Dooooh. I think the carpet helped take some weight off of me. I will continue to use the standoffs. So I didn't lose any weight. A duh. I'm drinking beer. but I feel my triceps and and stomache getting tighter.

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Are Wii Fit?

As I'm blogging, Lawrence is getting his daily workout dose on the Wii. Thanks to the Nguyen and Cheng Clan, Lawrence got Wii Fit for his birthday and I must say I am thoroughly impressed with the game.
I've tried doing Yoga at the gym and left after 10 minutes. I just didn't like the class. On the other hand, Yoga on Wii Fit is challenging yet fun. It's really ingenius. I get a double workout when I'm on the board doing the exercises, and then I get a good ab workout from laughing so hard watching Law or my mom do theirs. That's the funny thing. My mom is totally addicted to this game. We tried it for the first time Sunday night, and my mom was over watching Nate since we had gone out to dinner. She stayed over an hour until 10:30pm doing her exercises and Monday night, we had another dinner get together so she was over again. That night when Law and I did our workout, we noticed my mom had set records for alot of the exercises, which means she must have played awhile when we were out.
No one will stick to any exercise routine if there is no fun in it. I think that's why this will help us shed a few pounds. Everyone asks "do you really get a good workout?" No, its not the 1000 calories you burn in my spinning class, but it sure beats the calories you burn sitting on the couch, which is zilch. But I think Law is offsetting the calories burned since he is consuming an alcoholic beverage as he's working out! We have so much freakin' beer in the fridge left over from the party, it looks like a gas station.
Anyways, this comes just in time for us to shape up before our vacation in 2 weeks!

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30th surprise birthday

Okay. Jess got me.

I didn't have a freaking clue. The plan for that weekend was to have ric from dallas come down with tommie and just have some good eating and hit some rockband and wii saturday night. the dinner was to include some tokyo one all you can eat sushi buffet and I figured Ric just wanted to come down without the kids because he wanted to get his groove on for the weekend in Houston. nothing wrong with that.

So we had to wait 30min cause it was crazy packed then I of course killed it. As we were coming home it was all normal and I see Jess's mom inside as usual watching chinese tv. I go inside and hang a left to the kitchen to be greeted by 30+ people yelling "surprise!". what the. The first person I saw was Thuy with a SLR in hand.

The first thing that went through my mind was "who's birthday are we celebrating?". It dawned on me that my parents were in the back of the kitchen and then it clicked. Dooooh. It's my birthday coming up!

How in the heck did they pack 30+ adults in my kitchen and breakfast area?

There were so many people there. People that go way back and my new crowd of buddies from my bible small group. That felt really good. I can't imagine what Jess had to go through to plan all this and also hide it from me. To be able to contact so many people I know and talk with on a regular basis and yet nothing to slip was very impressive. I haven't had a bday party in years. We normally just find a place I can eat for free and call it a night. The one I remember is of my 17th I think and it was at taste of texas and jess gave me a shirt that was a bit small for me but I wore it anyways.

So I make my rounds thanking everyone for coming and that I was truly surprised. It felt really good to know that people actually would show up. It's one of those things where you hope people will show up at your funeral kind of thing. Throw a party and no one loves you. Kinda shocked that that many people would take time out and show up and coordinate so much without jess doing any physical work as that saturday jess was with me pretty much all day with ric and tommie. I would like to thank all those who also helped behind the scenes. All of this would not be possible without your time and effort. Dedicating basically 1/2 your saturday to setup and assemble items is no easy task. Obviously jess would not be able to pull this awesome event without you guys/gals.

As I made my way to the back of the kitchen thanking people I told them "thanks for coming but I'm sorry we don't have any food as I just got back from dinner". What a dummy. Don't I know that jess plans like a military general. The backyard was decked out with 3 projectors and a giant spread. Tiki torches all over the place and more food you can possibly eat. Rockband and 2 stations running wii. NICE

In total I believe at my house we had like 3-4 wii, 2 xbox 360s, and 1 ps3. Jess of course goes above and beyond and gets a cake that has chocolate mousse. Man, I love me some mousse. Mousse and cream puffs can keep me alive for months. Cake consisted of a rockband guitar and I gotta say everything just looked awesome. Everyone pooling resources to get 3 projectors (would have been 4 but people don't know where I hide my cables for my ps3) and setup for some serious gaming.

Fantastic way to go into my 30s and I'm so glad I got a wife that takes care of me.

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Mow Mow has passed on

I believe we have had the cat for 18 yrs. She has grown bigger over the years but has taken up a nice residence at my parents house. Eating her soft canned food every day and shedding as she pleases.

She is old and happy. Well, long story short. My dad let both front and back doors open to air the house out and didn't know until the next day that the cat was missing. Couple weeks go by and we have had posted signs, called the pound, talked to neighbors, sent out a community e-mail, and Liana actually called the police I believe to file a report.

Well, today the cat was found to be hit by a car or something and was badly injured. My parents went to the clinic this morning to see how she was and she had passed. I was kinda hoping mow mow would just take a nap and sleep off a nice life being saved from an apt dumpster by Lyndon.

Being hit by something and feeling pain until you pass as an old person is not the way to go. She was found a distance off. A lot further out than I would have expected. My parents have decided to cremate her.

She was our typical cat that would claw the heck out of you if you were to rough but she has been with our family more than half my life. Shoot, I've known here longer than I've known Jess. Kinda sad that the times we drove around the neighborhood shouting "MEOW MEOW" didn't get her to safety soon enough. At least she was able to live at least 10 years more than if she was stuck in that apartment complex.

I do believe my dad will be in the "cat house" for a long time as I'm assuming my mom is going to be pretty sad. It's sad to see a family member go but again for some reason I don't tear up. Jess calls me the tin man. I cry over retarded movies like Frankenstein yet losing a pet over so many years doesn't make me tear up. If I had a 40 oz I'd pour some for her in my cube.

To my kitties

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nathan fell on his head ;(

so i had the kids sat and sunday as jess went to a nikon photography school.

for the most part i'm not hurting or that tired but that saturday i was just metnally/physically out of it. From the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed. for some reason it was just one of those days.

Nate was on the top of the slide in our backyard. he has learned to climb the back ladder and would slid down. I was there to support him for 3-4 slides. Jess comes home and I take a seat cause I'm just out of it. Nate goes to slide and jess is still on the backside of the house and I'm watching from a chair. Nate this time doesn't sit down and jess yell "nate, sit down!" and he turns to look and tries to sit down but I think his foot gets caught on something.

He fall over the side of the slide and falls on his head.

You know those times when your kind of in shock? not sure if it was the fatigue or the shock of seeing my son fall on his head onto some grass did I just freeze.

Jess runs around the house and picks him and and he cries for 1 min.

Dude, I don't know what the heck was wrong with me. I just felt so out of it and didn't react too much to it. Thinking about how it looked and how I used to hawk my kids everywhere I go that just seemed so out of character for me to not be there and not care so much about him falling.

Pisses me off that my mental state prevented me from watching him closer. Dude, I would would behind my kids in the sugar land mall play area and there you can't really fall from much. I guess I need to step it up now and just be more hands on again. I got too used to nate being able to walk through doors and climb onto chairs. I as a parent, got too relaxed with him.

I'm messaging his head, neck, shoulder, hands, and forehead to make sure nothing is broken. Nate doesn't flinch so it looks like nothing is broken and he seems normal but we are thinking about taking him to the doctor just in case there is internal damage. I keep playing with him and he seems okay but man it looked bad as he fell directly on his forehead and it made his neck snap back.

Praise the Lord that the grass did buffer some of that fall and we haven't mowed in 1 month but it could have been thicker. Maybe I should stop mowing around the play house and just use a trimmer to make it really thick and tall for cushion.

I don't think I can forgive myself if nate got hurt. Now i feel i have to baby him more since he's such a trooper. Alright! i'll keep the wii for you Nate. He loves running around with my wii remote. Maybe I can teach him to play with the

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6 year anniversary

So what do people usually give for that? Traditionally it's Candy or Iron but I like to make it our own. Ours was a Rockets game vs Kings, Nachos, and some marble slab ice cream to top it off.

I can't believe I've been with this women more than half my life. 6 yrs married, almost 15 years dating and I'm a tender 29 yrs old.

I'm just glad I "locked" her down before someone stole her. I'm glad I'm so smart to invest my time and little money to woo her early on. Most women can't resist my long bangs back in the days, the secret was the finesse shampoo. haha

Here is to me to be a better husband and hope to one day be a romantic. wait. that ain't happening. How about a hopeless romantic? naw, I'll just try and be sweet and surprise her with my humor.

She did get me 3 pimped out shirts I can't wait to wear! goooo jess

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