Thursday, September 29, 2011

Quoting Morality

The other day, there was a quote from Dr. Robert Schuler, founder of one of the "most successful" mega-churches in the world. As I heard the quote, I was thinking, should we really be quoting from this man? Just because he is a leader of a church, he gets a pass on the hate he spews from the pulpit and we can cherry pick certain things he says? So let us analyze some quotes from the supposed moral Dr. Schuler.

1. "I'm very proud of who I am. I am innocent. I have not broken a single one of the Ten Commandments. I have not broken any of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and so I'm proud of my faith and message," (http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/schuller/general.htm)

Wow! Hmm, I thought pride/hubris was a deadly sin. The third sentence, not to break a single commandment is near impossible. How about #4? Remember the Sabbath day. Says you should do no work, I'll overlook the fact that it is your job to work every Sunday, you do get paid as a pastor don't you? But how about washing dishes, doing laundry, mowing the lawn, household chores, etc. Well, you are probably so rich you can afford people to do this for you...again, still breaking the Sabbath because you shouldn't hire workers to do thing for you as well. So, no shopping on Sunday, no restaurants, no purchasing gas. Are you saying you have done none of these in your life? Oops, that brings us to number two.

2. By virtue of number one, you have just broke #9 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Lying! The big one! Everyone lies, lying is necessary sometimes. Let me give you an example; you are hiding a Jewish family in your attic from the Nazi's during World War II. The SS comes by and asks you questions, "do you give up the family because the commandment says so? Or do you lie to keep them safe and out of harm’s way?" I know what I would do as a moral person, but is faith in the bible and god more important than the life of that family? So back to Schuler, is he being moral when he lies about not breaking any of the commandments? Is he being a good person? Yes, I believe that he believes he is doing something right...but continuing to preach lies, such as there is creationism instead of evolution. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/robert-a-schuller-godtube-co-founder-team-up-reveal-new-ministry-plans-38904/)

So now, should we be quoting morality from just anyone? From someone who themselves is not moral? How should we determine whether this person is moral or not? Here is an example of what I mean. The quote "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."
sounds like something that you may hear from any conservative, republican or Christian these days. Now, would you be surprised that this quote came from Adolf Hitler? So now, if even I could cherry pick a quote from Hitler about morality, would it be okay to use it in a public forum? I'm guessing there would be much outrage.

Truly, when I think that quotes are cherry picked and people do no research about the people making the quote. I also think that quotes from Christians are very dubious and really have no place in a public setting.

-SB

Monday, September 26, 2011

Healthy Living 2.09 - Inspiration

Life as a teacher, father, and husband is very busy.  Sometimes too busy.   As a result, sacrifices must be made.  For me this past week it was food that was sacrificed.  Time was non-existent to cook healthy meals, the only thing available to me were foods that were not good at all.  So, I had a choice, have an unhealthy meal...or no meal.  I chose no meal.  As a result, for the second consecutive week my calorie intake was way too low.  I had two days when I had less than 1000 calories, about 1000 calories less than I should be eating.  Ugh, it is so difficult to plan to eat healthy, but I am doing the best I can because of my inspiration.

The good news from are the statistics for this past week.

BMI - 41.9  (down 0.3 down 4.6 total)
Calorie Intake - 1375/day
Calories Burned - 3479/day
Net Caloric difference -2104/day
Water - 72 oz/day


Proteins - Carbs - Fat distribution -- 50% - 41% - 9%

On this journey to healthy living, I am finding inspiration an important part of my life...no not from some fictional fairy monster living in the sky, but from friends, family, acquaintances, and from deep within myself.

I have said many times, that my wife is my best friend and the greatest, kindest person I know.  If I could only be a small percentage as wonderful as her, I would accomplish great things.  I could watch her all day, she makes me smile.  And I think to myself more and more that she deserves more than this obese lard ass here.  I look at my daughter, and I hope that she will not follow in my obese footsteps, parents are the only true role models and she sees my bad habits no matter how I try to hide them.  This will not happen!

Friends and acquaintances are great!  My fitness team formed by JT Eberhard is great.  It is good to know how other people watching you calorie intake can make comments and care for you and worry for you despite not even knowing you in person.  I am truly honored by this.

Finally, inspiration must come from within.  It is just difficult sometimes to get it out.  It arrives when I check the scale and it shows a loss, it arrives when I have an aggressive workout, it arrives when I achieve a goal/milestone, it arrives when I use my willpower to overcome unhealthy choices.  I just can't wait until the moment it arrives when I can see a difference in my body.

-SB

Monday, September 19, 2011

Healthy Living 2.08 - Clothing part 2

Last night I asked my wife, "how long do you think it has been since I started doing this 'healthy living' thing?"  Her response, "I don't know, 14 weeks!".  Yup, feels that long, but in reality it has only been 8 weeks, not even 2 full months and it feels a lot longer.  Yes, I love the results, but oh, I miss my favourite food of all time, pizza.  I don't dare eat a slice because I know one slice will lead into a whole pizza, I just don't have that will power. 

In any case, here are the statistics for this past week. 

BMI - 42.2  (down 1.1 down 4.3 total)
Calorie Intake - 1484/day
Calories Burned - 3675/day
Net Caloric difference -2156/day
Water - 72 oz/day


Proteins - Carbs - Fat distribution -- 43% - 47% - 10%
I'm extremely worried about my calorie intake, it is at this point that I feel binge opportunities available.  Yes, I'm making all of my meals, and should really eat more...but have the feeling that I am eating too much.  This week I'm going to increase my protein and reduce my carbs even more.  It means more chicken and fish.  But will, I promise to make a concerted effort to increase my caloric intake to around the 2100 range.

Clothing - Part 2

Last week I talked a little about sizes, this week it is more about the looks and effects of clothes on the obese person.  Clothes, no matter the style always look terrible on obese people and never fit properly (I really don't know about properly tailored clothes).  From a male perspective, the only one I can give is this.  No clothes for obese people fit well and as a result there is an ugly result to this on an obese persons body.

I love wearing Polo's, golf shirts, whatever you want to call them, and getting a size that fits correctly a XXL or XXXL is possible, however, the what happens is that chaffing of the worst kind occurs under the arms and feels absolutely terrible!

Directly under arm, hurts so bad!


Pants, whether jeans, shorts, khakis, whatever, must be cinched up tight with a belt to prevent showing an enormous plumbers crack.  The result is unsightly lines across the belly.  So disgusting and absolutely nothing you can do about it.  I'm wondering if this will be the same 12 months from here.


Clothes in general, big, bulky, hanging off our obese bodies, no matter how, never look good.  I love my friends for they see me as the good person I am and not the person wearing these terrible clothes.  I know it doesn't matter, but there is some vanity in all of us.  And yes, I have some.


-SB

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Healthy Living 2.07 - Clothing part 1

What a month it has been for a commuter cyclist in Maryland.  On August 23rd, there was a magnitude 5.3 earthquake that hit the region.  At first I thought it was one of the construction vehicles at our school smashing into a wall.  Next up was Hurricane Irene from August 28th to August 30th.  Then this past week, which really sucked for a cyclist was over 11 inches of rain.  There was flooding everywhere. But oh my, it is very exhilarating feeling the rain stinging your eyes and face as you peddle hard into the downpour.  However, I was really getting tired of being soaking wet upon arrival at school and getting home.  Oh well, it will only make me appreciate the fall and winter season coming up.


The statistics for this past week.

BMI - 43.3  (down 0.7 down 3.2 total)
Calorie Intake - 1658/day
Calories Burned - 3692/day
Net Caloric difference -2035/day
Water - 72 oz/day


Proteins - Carbs - Fat distribution -- 40% - 50% - 10%
This extremely wet week has made me go in search of a new rain jacket for cycling.  Well, I know that a good rain jacket is a speciality item.  So, I go to REI and take a look at the biking jackets.  I find a couple of makes, and way cool, they have a couple of XXL in two different styles.  There is one in particular, in an awesome florescent green, I try it on, I could barely put my arm through it.  XXL, in what world?  Oh yeah, the biking world where most people barely weight more than 150 lbs and are extremely tiny. Grrr!

This has not been my first encounter with crappy sizing, unfortunately, getting quality and plus size clothing is extremely difficult.  I suspect it is because clothing has never really been designed properly for obese people.  But that is another posting.

-SB

Monday, September 5, 2011

Healthy Living 2.06 - Online group help

Thought these things are supposed to get easier as time goes on.  You know, developing new habits, I am doing that, but no way it is not easier, it is just as difficult.  Just have to keep on going.  The Livestrong site is very cool for showing progress and trend lines, at this rate, I'll be at a healthy weight sometime around December 2013...that makes this journey very daunting and very long.


The statistics for this past week.

BMI - 44.0  (down 0.2 down 2.5 total)
Calorie Intake - 1735/day
Calories Burned - 3978/day
Net Caloric difference - 2287day
Water - 72 oz/day


Proteins - Carbs - Fat distribution -- 42% - 48% - 10%

I mentioned here about Binge Eating Disorder and how I was sort of inspired by two of my favorite bloggers who wrote about their challenges with psychological disorders.  First off was Jen McCreight of The Blag Hag blog, writing about what must be a truly embarrassing disorder.  Then having the courage to piggy back on Jen's bravery is JT Eberhard writing on his very good blog What Would JT Do?  JT has been battling anorexia nervosa and doing very well, until recently it has morphed into anorexia athletica, you can read about it here.

JT has formed a group called Fitness Saturday...errr, Friday, err, whatever day of the week it is supposed to be on.  In any case, there are six of us in this group and we post our results, accomplishments, encourage each other.  We are extremely different, each person has their own goals, their own battles, and their own reasons for doing this.  I have yet to get to know Conrad, Sid, Brandon, Nikki, Tanya, or even JT  (I just know him through his blogs).  What I do know from the few e-mails we have shared is that we are all dedicated to becoming more fit.  It feels good to be part of a group.  It feels good to have the support of people you hardly know who are going through a similar journey and we can see each others goals.

Thanks to all for the support so far, I estimate that I have completed approximately 10% of this journey.  It is a long way to go but I'm sure it will be worth it.

-SB