Breaking Bad Habits

 By: Charlie    8:06 AM     No comments

There's a scene in the second season of Breaking Bad that tells my story better than anything I've found. Jesse and his new girlfriend Jane have just been handed his share of Walter White's most recent drug deal - a duffle bag filled with $480,000. After picking their jaws up off the floor they begin to talk of a future together in New Zealand. Jesse wants to see the land where the Lord of the Rings was filmed and Jane just wants to be somewhere else with Jesse. Together they decide to get clean from the heroine and methamphetamine they've been using and then begin a new life together. Tomorrow.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW

A moment later Jesse and Jane walk into their bedroom and see the old life spread before them. His and hers needles and enough heroine for one more high. If you've watched the show then you know how this ends. Jane chokes to death in an overdose and Jesse is crushed. They went back to the old life for one more high and it crushed their dream. Tomorrow. That was all they needed but couldn't make it. And while this is art imitating life and I'm certainly not implying I struggle with anything akin to heroine additions I think the lesson here lies in that word which brings everlasting rationalization - tomorrow.

I've already slipped up on my diet today so I'll eat what I want and get back on the wagon tomorrow. It's not heroine addiction but I can relate. Imagine if we asked addicts to get clean only to release them into a world where they could so much as drive to work without passing 27 stores selling heroine and twice as many billboards and other advertisements. When they got to work their friends would ask them each day if they want to go out at lunch and get high and by the evening, if they've made it that far without relapse, they are so exasperated from fighting temptation all day that the smallest trigger would send them  running for a syringe which would be so convenient and easy to find that home delivery was available.

This is the world I live in. Fast food signs abound; I'm inundated with advertising; and my drug of choice can be delivered in minutes. It's an unfair fight and no wonder this nation is struggling with an obesity epidemic that seems to have no solution and no end in sight. If we treated heroine like we treat junk food then half our country would be junkies and there would be poppies growing in every back yard. My libertarian and some conservative friends would interject here about personal responsibility and no doubt that's a factor. But consider that at least some credible research shows food addiction as powerful in the brain as some opiates If you acknowledge the vailidity of this science then you have to admit we're asking at least some people to fight a battle they cannot win.

Now I'm not about to go all Bloomberg on you and call for bans on fast food or state-sponsored portion control. That's a bit much even for this old liberal. But somewhere the solution lies in between in a new world where food struggles are given the attention of drug addiction and acknowledge to be just as deadly, just as life upending as any other substance abuse. Food is a substance and it can be abused. Just like alcohol there are many who can have a bourbon and Coke and never think twice about another while some can't control themselves. I am one of them. But we each have those things in our lives that fight to control us. For me it is food. What is it for you?

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 By: Charlie    5:30 PM     No comments

Today marks my 36th anniversary on this planet and is a big reason that I'm Pounding Poverty. I was keenly aware that I'd hit the back stretch toward 70 this year when making the decision in late 2013 to pursue this weight loss. My adult life has been a string of rationalizations for poor health habits that relied on youth for validity and was being rapidly backed into a corner. It's a little hard to say, "I'll do that next year," when next year is dangerously close to the midpoint of your life expectancy.

Honestly, this has been going better than expected. I've lost at or a little above 20 pounds in less than a month but, more importantly, my family has begun to incorporate healthy eating and exercise into our routines. That was no easy feat for a family where the mom manages a large retail store (working nights, weekends, and other crazy hours) and the dad is a senior manager in a large organization. Add in two little ones with a competition dance team and you can see how it would be hard to switch from Mickey D's to chopping veggies. But now that we've made the successful switch, how do we keep it going?

Sustainability is one of my primary goals for Pounding Poverty. First, I want to sustain these lifestyle changes for myself and my family. It is beyond time for us to set a healthier example for our 8-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy who would sustain themselves on Gattitown and Skittles if left to their own devices. So far we have found a way to cook healthy meals nearly every evening, relying on the frozen green box "dinners" just to get out of a time pickle a couple of times. Along the way I've picked up some new foods like Mahi Mahi and avacado and so have my kids. After 24 days it's starting to feel like this is something we could do for the long haul. We actually like it.

Secondly, it's important to me over the next 8 weeks or so to find a way to sustain this project. The positive feedback we have received from the community has been overwhelming and it's easy to sense there's a hunger for this activity. So what would Pounding Poverty look like beyond the end of March? Do we recruit someone else to carry the mantle and keep losing? Do we start a Pounding Poverty 5K that raises funds for community action while engaging neighborhoods in training and healthy eating along the way? I've always wanted to see a 5K race through lower income neighborhoods that engaged residents in training and participating (and allowed them to run for free).

Somehow in the coming weeks I'm going to make these decisions and would like your input. How do we keep this going beyond my own weight loss project and, more importantly, grow it into an opportunity to help others improve their lives? I'm hungry for ideas so please submit your thoughts to me on this blog or via e-mail and I promise they'll be seriously considered. I can't promise we'll all like what we come up with but we'll certainly have fun trying.

For the record I am hitting the gym today and even have an appointment with the trainer. And while I have earned a night out and some dessert I was especially careful to choose a restaurant - Cheddar's - where I can get a relatively healthy meal with my family while celebrating my birthday. Later, Cathy has made a special cake from our weight-loss cookbook so I can avoid my old friend the Mondelli's birthday cake that is so delicious but sooooo stuck around my middle from previous birthdays. I'll miss you my old friend but it's a new day.

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Pounding Poverty hits the road - literally

 By: Charlie    8:56 AM     No comments

Pounding Poverty was pounding the pavement this morning where exercise meets justice at the city of Lexington's annual Freedom March. This was my ninth consecutive year attending the Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., Unity Breakfast along with 1,500 of my closest friends. If you live in Lexington and have never attended these events then you are missing an inspirational tradition that truly honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was an excellent week, from the Pounding Poverty perspective, with my weekly weigh in showing I lost another 6 pounds. That's a grand total of 19.4 pounds lost since we began this journey! But today is not about me and I want to make sure this blog honors the dignity of this day to celebrate peace, justice and nonviolence. However, I do want to share with great pride that this morning at the Unity Breakfast I was able to walk past the eggs, sausage and bacon to fill my plate with just fruit. I can tell you, since this was my ninth such breakfast, that I had never done that in the past.

This morning's Unity Breakfast celebrated our youth and featured some inspiring words and performances from students in Fayette County Public Schools. Among other things, each year the event includes four speakers who each share their thoughts in the areas of education, spiritualism, civil rights, and humanitarianism all to honor Dr. King's teachings. I was especially struck by these words, from the student who spoke about education: "My teachers open the doors to learning but I am the only one who can enter." That is so true about education but also about other things.

Teachers open doors for us every day and that's also true of our health and nutrition. I have always known what I should eat and that I should exercise. People before me have opened that door by showing or telling me what is right. It was I who chose to ignore that teaching and gained weight and suffered health consequences. I am choosing to walk through that door now and so far it has cost me 19.4 pounds that I am glad to be rid of.

Do something for someone else today and honor Dr. King's legacy of service. Another student shared this morning that, "In order to truly serve others you must be willing to give up a part of yourself." That means giving up your time, money, convenience, comfort or other things that we allow to control our lives. If it doesn't hurt then you haven't done enough. If you have plenty then you haven't given enough. If you are entirely comfortable then someone else is not.

Thank you for reading and supporting Pounding Poverty. I hope this project inspires each of you in some way and today I humbly hope that you are inspired to give back to someone else.

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Standing on the gray box of doom

 By: Charlie    6:10 PM     No comments

I never rushed a fraternity but heard tell of something called "Hell Week" that I'm sure was less than pleasant. On Week 2 of this journey I have experienced something that can only be described as Hell Week. Enter the gray box of doom.

Personal training in Week 2 of this challenge moved into high gear when Warren the Trainer introduced me to a simple, gray wooden box, about 2 to 3 feet tall and asked me to step up onto it. And then off. And then on. And then back on again. And then off. And then on again. Yeah, it was that obnoxious.

This gray box routine continued until my upper thigh muscles excused themselves, walked out the door, down the street, and jumped off a nearby bridge. That's when Warren the Trainer handed me a 15-pound medicine ball and said, "OK, let's go again." My response was less than polite as I looked at the sweat now beginning to accumulate on the gym floor between me and the box. I believe I quoted Q-bert - #$%@!*&!!!

And so I have met my nemesis - the gray box. This story took place on Wednesday and I must admit to avoiding the box when I worked out this Friday morning. I could see it from the corner of my eye while doing some bicep curls. I saw you over there you $%@*&. Tomorrow, though, I will face this demon and take a few more steps toward my goal.

This past Monday's Week 1 weigh in found I had said goodbye to 13.4 pounds and while I can't sustain that rate I'd like to see a continued decline when I weigh in for Week 2 on Monday morning. Today I received my first "Have you lost weight?" question from a colleague who didn't know about my work here so the loss must be starting to show. Already I am feeling better and motivated to continue.

You'll get tired of reading this but I can't thank you all enough for your support for Pounding Poverty. Pledges continue to grow and we are now up to $86.50 per pound for Community Action Council. That is unbelievable! I knew I had lots of wonderful friends and family but your generosity blows me away. Thank you and stay tuned for Week 2 numbers.

P.S. - Sorry for the long break between blog posts this week. My wireless router at home hasn't been working but appears to be on the mend.

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Everybody is good at something...

 By: Charlie    12:04 PM     No comments

We are good at lots of things in my beautiful home state of Kentucky. Nobody outshines our passion for basketball, bourbon, and horses, for example. Those are some of the more famous Kentucky icons but we are tops in lots of other great things like natural beauty (caves, hikes, lakes, gorges), food (fried chicken and hot browns), and fishing holes (Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake are the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi). Unfortunately, from a health perspective, bragging about how your state is best at fishing and fried chicken is like arguing that Miss Congeniality is the real winner of the beauty pageant.

Kentucky is fat. And not just a little fat. We rank fifth among the fifty states with the highest percentage of obese residents. Yup, it turns out all that bourbon and beer cheese has gone straight to our waistlines and 31.3 percent of us are obese. Maybe that's why our Governor was so determined to get the Affordable Care Act rolled out quickly and efficiently in Kentucky. With obesity numbers like that we need all the health care we can get.

Another interesting statistic is that four of the five states with the lowest obesity rates - Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado - are western states known for their natural beauty and a culture of appreciating the Great Outdoors. So why isn't that the case for us in the Commonwealth? We have as much natural beauty as any of those posers out west. I'd put Red River Gorge up against the Wasatch Range any day. Yeah, their mountains are bigger but ours our older, more accessible, and home to greater biodiversity. We should be out every weekend hiking at Natural Bridge State Resort Park or canoeing on the Kentucky River. Lack of access to the outdoors is no excuse.

So what is it then? Are we lazier than our western counterparts? We are a busy people, deeply committed to our family units. We take kids to t-ball or dance, we attend church multiple times each week, and we even visit our elders (well, most of us). Add to that our strong work ethic and there isn't much time for working off the calories from that Friday fish fry with the neighbors.

Changing our place in that ranking of the fifty states is going to take a cultural upheaval. Starting with one of us and then ten of us and then 100 of us we have to decide as a people that health is a priority. That's one of the reasons I'm Pounding Poverty - because somebody has to be first. People keep telling me that I'm brave but really I'm just desperate. I'm dying (literally, if I don't change my health) to see a change in myself but also in my community and my state. We can do this. We have the infrastructure and the work ethic. We just have to make health a priority. Maybe your child doesn't have to be at all four baseball practices that week if it gives you time to hit the gym. Maybe you can spare the extra 20 minutes it takes to cook a meal at home instead of hitting the drive through on the way out. So many people tell me they can't afford a gym membership but spend $100 a month on TV and more than that on phones in their household. Priorities.

It has to start somewhere so why not with me? Why not with you? We can do this, Kentucky. Let's show those westerners how we roll in the Commonwealth! And please, don't eat the roll.

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The hike that changed my life...

 By: Charlie    7:10 AM     2 comments

Ask not for whom the dinner bell tolls; it tolls for me. After a couple of weeks of preparing, soliciting donations and talking a lot of smack about how much I'll lose the time has come for me to stop putting my food where my mouth is and start exercising. Hopefully none of my sponsors will be too offended by my waddling out of the starting gate a couple of days early. That's right, we've bumped up the starting date for Pounding Poverty to today, December 30. Here's why I made that decision:

On Saturday, December 28, I had promised my two children that we would go hiking so long as the weather was pleasant. Unfortunately Mother Nature called my bluff and it was freaking beautiful that day. Innocently thinking it couldn't be that bad I loaded them up and we went to Raven Run (a true Lexington treasure) for a short hike.

I've been hiking at Raven Run since I was a kid. Just about anyone who grew up in Lexington took school field trips there and knows the short hike to the Kentucky River overlook without even looking at a map. I'd done this a dozen times or better although not for a few years. But just a third of the way down the mile or so trek we hit a mud pit comparable to the La Brea Tar Pits. For at least a quarter of a mile my kids and I slogged through the kind of mud that eats your shoes and houses creepy Scooby Doo monsters.

By the time we reached the beautiful overlook I was too tired and out of breath to stand.  I sat on the famous limestone cliffs hating myself. I'm sure there was a tear somewhere among the sweat rolling down my face. How did it come to this? How did I ever let it get this bad? No one ever wakes up and says, "I no longer care about my body. I'll just let it go and to heck with fitness, appearance or overall health." Life doesn't happen in one of those magical moments from the movies where proud or ominous music marks some life-changing epiphany. Life is a series of small decisions about whether to eat broccoli or burgers and the consequences smack you in the chest one way or another.

The return trip to the parking lot took twice as long and I nearly had to lay down in a grassy meadow for a while just to make it back. The kids, always positive and cheerful, urged me on with smiles but I could tell they knew something was wrong. They knew Daddy should be better at this than them. He should be stronger, faster, an example. And so, ankle deep in mud and doubled over in the middle of a Kentucky wood, I decided it was time. Pounding Poverty starts now.

The next day involved two hours of recipe hunting and shopping as I prepared for the big day. My awesome wife made special muffins with fresh, organic ingredients for me to eat for breakfast. My pantry has traded Little Debbie for a cornucopia of fresh fruits and veggies. And I am now a proud member at a gym near my home and have an appointment this week with a personal trainer.

So today, Monday, December 30, 2013, is the day my life changes. It's 10 a.m. and all is well (muffin for breakfast and a healthy lunch waiting in the fridge). I'm not so naive as to think it's always going to be this easy but I have each of you with me, cheering me on. We have now have $42 per pound in sponsorships and it's not too late to join in if you want to be a part of the Pounding Poverty team.

To each of you I just want to again say Thank You. Regardless of how successful we are in this endeavor it is so encouraging to know I have friends, family, and colleagues like you who have my back. This is going to happen. Stay tuned for dispatches from the dining room...

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10 Things I Won't Miss About Being Fat

 By: Charlie    10:19 AM     1 comment

Everyone knows the obvious reasons for losing weight. Be healthy, live longer, look better, feel better, yada, yada, yada. But what about the less tangible things that actually impact your daily life? Here's a list of things I won't miss about being fat...

1. Airplane Seats - Every time I board an airplane I think there are hidden cameras and Ashton Kutcher will pop out any minute to tell me I've been Punk'd. Surely this is a joke and those aren't the actual sizes of the seats, right? I've never been big enough to need the Seat Belt Extender-of-Shame but I am big enough to hope and pray that Delta has seated a 30-pound tween next to me and not someone like me who hit Sbarro on the way to the gate.

2. Clothes Shopping - Men of my...ummm...girth are caught in a black hole of clothing sizes. My waistline teeters on the precipice of "normal" sizes but if I try shopping in the Big and Tall section I end up looking like Jared from Subway with his jeans that could double as a 8-person tent. There's no in-between for the fat but not yet THAT fat guy. It'll be nice to get back into sizes that are actually found on the shelves in most stores so I can stop ordering clothes entirely online.

3. People Saying 'You're Not Fat' - Although, I imagine they'll still say, "I never thought you were fat." See, I think the reason we have an obesity problem in this country is that fat is OK. It shouldn't be. It's not OK to smoke or do drugs or other things that destroy your body so why is it OK to inject yourself daily with french fries and chicken grease like it's some kind of edible heroine? At any rate, you don't have to lie to me. I know I'm looking at a normal Body Mass Index in the rear view mirror.

4. Hating Myself After a Meal - I can't say this will never happen again but most of you know what I'm talking about. It's that feeling you get after you hit the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral. For the second time. After you already ate three plates of fried chicken, fried shrimp, and steak. My self-esteem drowned long ago in a big bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy.

5. Being the Fattest Guy in the Room - You don't notice this until it's you. Then you suck in your gut and tell yourself that you're fat but you wear it well because of your muscular build and baggy clothes. It's not true but it takes your mind off the fact that, should you all become trapped in that room, you are the person who could feed the most people if it comes to that.

6. Sore Feet and Back - Fat Charlie does not understand why some people feel the need to walk to lunch when there's a perfectly good car outside and a parking lot at the restaurant. Or why take the stairs when there's an elevator right in front of you? Constantly pushed by friends, colleagues, and myself to walk more or take the stairs I am then rewarded for my "exercise" with a sore back and feet that feel like I just climbed Everest.

7. Pill Organizer - I was barely 30 when I got my first pill organizer. To be honest, my obsessive compulsive side kind of likes having something that neatly arranges my multiple medications for blood pressure, cholesterol, vitamin D deficiency, etc. Of course, I'm far too young to be needing these things and I'm hoping at least some of these meds will go the way of the buffalo wing.

8. That Awkward Moment When You Order a Double Quarter Pounder and a Diet Coke - Yeah, I'm that guy. I switched to drinking diet soda years ago and lost a bunch of weight. The weight came back but my taste for regular soda did not. So now I'm reduced to ordering the double-burger meal with large fries and a diet soda and then watching the employees try not to smirk or roll their eyes. It's the reason Grimace should have punched Ronald in the face years ago.

9. The Shirt of Shame - As the father of two young children I am regularly dragged to the pool, especially on vacations. This leaves me with few options. I could join my kids at the pool but not swim. Anyone with a 5-year-old knows how much he's going to love that (sarcastic eye roll). I could refuse to go to the pool (my preferred tactic). Or I could cannonball in like the fat kid in The Sandlot while wearing the Shirt of Shame. You've seen me and others like me. We wear our shirts in the pool to cover up chests that rival about half the females in the vicinity but without the shirt we look like an albino wookie that ate Jabba the Hutt.

10. Spendin' All My Loot - In my field you hear a lot about how families can't afford to eat healthy and there's truth to that. It shouldn't cost more for some broccoli than it does for bag of Grippos. Still, for me, it's been eating out that's been a primary culprit and this healthier lifestyle is bound to save me some cash. I've always envied the guy in the office who is perfectly content eating hummus on sprouted bread. In fact, I often discussed this with him while eating The Caniac with extra toast and Cane's sauce.

Here's hoping you have a Merry Christmas and Pill Organizer Free New Year! Remember, if you haven't formally pledged your support please click on the link above to sign up and join the Pounding Poverty Team!

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