How I Lost 80 Lbs

Smaller plates make you eat less?

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 20 May 2007 21:28:00 +0000

I was just playing around with my Google home page and found a gadget that gave a weight loss tip of the day. The tip today was:

"Buy smaller plates. It will make you eat less without feeling deprived."

Hmm, sounds great and all, but there's a few things wrong with this:

Most of us are not fat because of what we eat at home. Fast food restaurants don't give us plates and if a sit-down restaurant gave us a small plate or even a small portion on a big plate, we would feel ripped off and not full. More likely than not, this would cause us to end up at McDonald's on our way home from the restaurant.
We don't over-eat because we portion things out onto plates or into bowls. We eat our chips from the bag and ice cream right out of the carton until we can't eat no more. If we portioned it out in the first place, we would probably end up on the couch with an empty bowl, too lazy to get up and get more. By the time we felt like getting up, our stomach would be settled and we would be full.
I don't know about where you eat, but most buffets (if you notice) give you small plates. Well humans adapt- I know I've adapted to be able to carry at least two of those plates and a drink (or two) back to my table in one trip. It's even easier to carry more than one plate from your kitchen counter to the kitchen table that's 3 feet away.

I could probably go on, but I should stop. I don't mean for this to be a discouraging post, but some of these psychological weight loss techniques are pretty stupid. There are some that work - try standing in front of the mirror naked for some weight loss motivation - but if you purposely buy small plates to trick YOURSELF into eating less, I don't think you are going to fall for the trick.

Subway Veggie Patty Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 20 May 2007 05:46:00 +0000

I'm not a vegetarian or anything- not that I have anything wrong with them, but I've been eating veggie patty sandwiches at Subway lately. I don't even know why I like them. It must be because they're different. Well I hadn't thought much about their health stats, but assumed they were healthy because they were veggie patties.

Well I got a scare when I realized they weren't on the 6 grams or less advertisements all over the napkins and cups, so I went home and checked online. To my surprise, the nutritional info on the Subway site didn't even list that sandwich. I got a little more worried. After a bit more research, I found the nutritional content online and it's not bad at all! Thank goodness.

6-inch Sandwiches Values include wheat bread, meat/poultry, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, olives & pickles.

Veggie Patty

263

1577

377

2.1

1.1

2.8

This is from the UK site, so it may be a little bit different. It shows 11 grams of fat, but notice that that includes cheese, so it's more likely closer to 6 grams of fat- and a ton of protein!

I've been running

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 04 May 2007 23:02:00 +0000

I've been running- well kinda jogging. I went back to what worked for me in the first place. I gave up on the weight lifting for now and I decided to just run. I've been running/jogging regularly again for about a month or so now. I've already gone down 2 belt holes and I only have about 2 to go before I'll be in summer shape.

Not only am I looking better- I'm sleeping better. My heart burn went away. I'm craving healthy food like crazy. I have a ton of energy and I'm getting things done. Man, I forgot how great it feels to not only look like I'm in shape, but to feel like a million bucks too!

P.S.

GO WARRIORS!

Weslo 620 Review

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 18:29:00 +0000

I'd been keeping my eyes peeled, but I hadn't found a review of the Weslo 620. Finally, someone bought it and put this review in the comments. Hopefully it's helpful! Thanks to whoever wrote this! =)

"I bought the Weslo 620 about a week ago. It was $168. You have to put the thing together which is a pain, but afterwards it looks pretty good and works great. I found your blog looking for a review as well--and I still haven't found a review, but hey the thing works. It has 10 levels of resistance and 2 exercise programs. Not much but it does the job. It says after 20 minutes at resistance level 2 that I have burned 220 calories, which is more calories burned than walking at 3.5 mph for 30 minutes. Ellipticals don't damage your feet and knees like walking/jogging does. It's like riding a bicycle standing up and going uphill."- Anonymous

I thought I would move this one up from the comments so you don't miss it.

"I just bought the Weslo 620 yesterday and used it for about 30 minutes yesterday and had a great work out. I hope it works well for me as I am trying to lose 30 pounds. And i bought the display just so i wouldnt have to assemble it." - Anonymous

Tension Headaches

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:02:00 +0000

I haven't been to the gym in two weeks because I have had a headache that entire time! It is finally starting to go away. I went to the doctor yesterday and she said it's a Tension Headache and nothing to worry about. She also told me that working out would actually make it feel better. Haha. Go figure.

Weslo 620 Review

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:04:00 +0000

I placed an affiliate ad on my page for the Weslo 620 Eliptical machine sold at Walmart. Now I get a lot of traffic to this site looking for a review of that machine. I contacted Weslo to ask if they had any testimonials or reviews of the machine I could direct people to. Their advice to me was to go to Walmart or Sears and try it out. It's pretty tough to do that because Walmart keeps them up on a platform.

I will check at Sears to see if I could test it out. I will also keep my eye out for reviews and put the links up if I can find any.

Free Obesity and Weight Loss eBook

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 07:47:00 +0000

Hello! I don't have as much time to write these days, but I bought a huge list of eBooks the other day. Some were about weight loss and a few of those were pretty good. I haven't read this one word for word, so I can't really tell you exactly how great it is, but it seems to be packed with some good information.

You can download it by clicking this link:

Free Obesity and Weight Loss eBook

It's an executable (.exe) file. I downloaded it with no problem. You should be able to open it right up and read it as soon as you download it. Let me know if you have any problems.

Fitness is a Journey

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:14:00 +0000

I was reading the back of the Baked Lays bag today and there's a quote from some fitness person (I don't remember). This quote can be used to analyze any diet or weight loss program in about 10 seconds.

"Fitness is a journey, not a destination"

You need to do something that is going to get you fit and keep you fit for the rest of your life. Quick fixes and starvation are really not the answer.

It's been a long time!

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 07:06:00 +0000

Wow. It's been a long time since I last posted. I have been so busy with school, a new business, new apartment, and a lot of food and beer. I'm 23 and I just moved out of my parents house for the first time. Man, what an adjustment! It's tough to sit in your room when your roommates want to go out or stay in and get drunk every night. To make those alcohol calories even worse, they make me do... eat stupid things.

With such little time, I was always finding excuses not to go workout. It's easy to say I'm too tired to go to the gym when I just went to school all day and worked all night. That was until I went back up a pant size again! I went up one, exercised and dieted, wen down one, ate and drank, then went back up one. I'm really taking it serious again though. I kind of took all of the work I put into my body for granted and over the last 6 or 7 months slowly started to get out of shape again.

I haven't gained all that much weight, but getting back into a regular workout routine has been tough. I can now say that I have a solid foundation to work on and some progress under my belt. That seems to be the key to exercising regularly. PROGRESS! Now that I have progress, I have a lot more to lose if I give up now. Working out 2 times then stopping isn't so bad. Working out 4 times per week for a month and losing 15 pounds, then stopping- that's hard to do.

I'm up to about 3 weeks of regular workouts now. I feel great and look great. I even went shopping for new clothes last night =) I'm hoping to get back into my skinny jeans! I can button them up again, but if I keep them buttoned for more than 5 minutes, I will probably have to have my legs amputated due to the lack of blood flowing to them. Ideally, within the next month, they should be fitting loosely on me again! I'm excited! and YES, guys can have skinny jeans too! Even straight guys.

Sorry Guys

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:07:00 +0000

Sorry I haven't posted in quite awhile. I was in the middle of a big move and started a semester of school right in the middle of it. I will begin posting again sometime this week or early next week. I just got my internet connection up today and I have some homework to catch up on first. Thanks for reading my blog!

Walking on an Incline

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:02:00 +0000

Now that it's winter, it's tough to walk or run outside on a regular schedule because bad weather is always popping up. Having a treadmill or a gym membership becomes really beneficial during the cold winter months. When I can't get outside to run, sometimes I run on the treadmill, but oftentimes, I walk on the treadmill for an extended period of time and watch one of my favorite TV programs. I find it hard to run on a treadmill and watch TV because of all the bouncing up and down, so to still burn a lot of calories, I vary the incline and walking speed to give my workout an extra push.

Increasing incline and decline have the obvious benefits of burning more calories and working muscles harder, but there are other benefits. It's been shown that varying your walking/running speed and incline/decline increases the effectiveness of your workout. By maintaining the same speed on the same incline/decline over several workouts, your body becomes used to the workout and is less stimulated, burning fewer calories. By mixing things up, your body is stimulated more during workouts instead of finding ways to cover the distance using less energy.

Check out this article from Family Circle Magazine which outlines a beginner and intermediate 30 minute variable speed and incline treadmill workout.

http://familycircle.com/fc/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/fc/story/data/1161182457015.xml

Cardio Exercise Motivation

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:59:00 +0000

When I'm pushing myself during my runs, I think back to when I was much heavier and trying to figure out how I pushed myself so much back then without giving up. Well here are three of the biggest factors that kept me motivated back then:

Music- I remember I had tried to run long before I had lost any weight and all I could concentrate on was my choking and trouble breathing. I thought it was impossible and I gave up. The day I started the journey where I actually lost all the weight I had set out to, I brought along a CD player and listened to music. The CD player ended up skipping the whole time, so I threw it in the bushes and came back for it later.

That night, I went out and spent $10.00 on am/fm radio headphones at Wal Mart. I used these for a good year before I even got an iPod and they worked great. I know it sounds stupid, but I owe a lot of my progress to my $10.00 Wal Mart radio headphones!

Take yourself out of your body- Another big thing that I still do to this day when I'm running is to take myself out of my body. I concentrate on anything but the run. I use the time to think and day dream. It usually takes about 2-3 minutes into the run before I get to this point, but once I'm there, it's 10 time easier to run. It really helps to have zero distractions. Putting the music up loud really helps this because I cannot hear my foot steps and breathing. Running outside at night also helps because it's almost like I'm not even there. I wouldn't recommend running outside at night to everyone though.

Look at yourself go- Think about when you're looking at someone else doing intense cardio at the gym. What do you think to yourself? Wow, they are working their ass off! Well no matter how good of shape they are in, if they're working their ass off and sweating, they are probably feeling just like you feel when you workout, but they keep going. They might be in great shape, but they're running 8 or 9 miles an hour and that's hard for anyone.

Now when you're working out and feeling like crap, look in the mirror or just picture what you look like. You look just like them. You are working your ass off and you should be proud. This makes it a little harder to give up because you want to be proud of yourself and the more you see how hard you're working, the more proud you are!

Apple Nike+ iPod Sport Kit- Quick Tip #2

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:57:00 +0000

I found this out the hard way.

Program your playlist before you leave for your run!

I was running recently and had reached in my pocket to switch songs shortly into the run. When I got back home, I found out I had somehow paused my workout and it did not record most of my run.

Set your playlist before you leave the house and lock the keypad!

Keeping your Apple Nike+ iPod Sport Kit Accurate

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:42:00 +0000

As we train, more often than not, our bodies change. If you are using a Apple Nike+ iPod Sport Kit to measure your runs, it definitely takes some up-keep to maintain it's accuracy. Here are a few tips that might help:

Don't Calibrate your Nike+ iPod Sport Kit using another piece of technology that requires calibration. For example- Don't use a treadmill to calibrate your running/ walking speed! Treadmills require calibration themselves, and more often than not, the ones at the gym are not 100% accurate. Instead, go to a standard quarter mile track. You can find one at just about any middle school or high school. Your iPod suggests you calibrate by running/ walking 400 meters which is a quarter of a mile. Stay to the inside of the track, as the inside of the track one time around is one quarter mile. The further from the inside of the track you run, the more distance you are traveling.
Calibrate Regularly- Unless you've been running the same distance and time forever, you should be improving your walking or running effeciency and recalibrating often will make sure your sensor stays accurate.
Make sure you update your weight frequently so the calories burned value is as accurate as possible.

Healthy New Years Resolutions!

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:03:00 +0000

Does anyone really keep their New Year's Resolutions? Ok, that wasn't the right question. The right question is: how long do they keep them? Most of the time, it's not very long. What is a New Year's Resolution anyways? I think it's just an excuse to set a goal with a solid start date which makes it easy to measure. I also think it's a joke. It is universally understood that New Year's Resolutions are hardly kept for very long.

This year, let's change that! Lets make some realistic goals and surpass them! The following are a couple of goals that are easy to keep and will greatly affect your weight loss! The first one I saw in Fitness Magazine.

Make your New Year's Resolution to make healthier shopping lists!

This is fantastic advice! Think about it- how hard would it be to mess that one up? If you make a resolution to eat healthier and you're sitting at home looking in the cupboards and have nothing but unhealthy choices, it will be very easy to throw your New Year's Resolution out the window.

Now when making your grocery list or shopping without one, you have healthy and unhealthy choices side by side, so there is NO EXCUSE not to buy healthy food! As everyone knows, excuses kill goals, resolutions, and diets more than anything.

Set cardio exercise goals that you KNOW you will be able to accomplish EVERY TIME you perform a particular cardio exercise.

It takes repetitive bad eating and lack of exercise to put on weight and it takes repetitive good eating and exercise to take it off. Pushing yourself during exercise after exercise until you reach your goal is great; but you know what is better? Pushing yourself each exercise and reaching your goal every time! To do this, set time or distance goals. This way, you know you can't fail. Let's say your goal is one mile. If you can only run for 10 feet this time, walk the rest as fast as you can, but keep moving until you reach one mile. Even if you are out of breath and walking slow with your hands above your head, if that's the best you can do, you're pushing your body! The next time you run, increase efficiency by running a little longer or a little faster and reducing your time.

This can also be done with time goals (which is actually a better option). Set a goal of 20 minutes of your particular cardio exercise. So what you can only run for 2 minutes. Keep moving as fast as you can for 20 minutes. If you keep at it, it's only a matter of time before you will be running the whole time.

You have to set goals that you can accomplish every time and then make your ultimate measure the efficiency of how quickly you complete your goal distance or how far you go during your goal time. Set internal goals which you hit every workout and then set an external progress goal. For example, if you run/walk 20 minutes every other day. 20 minutes is the internal goal you hit each workout. An external goal may be- "I want to run 2 miles in that 20 minutes" or "I want to be running for 75% of that 20 minutes."

When I started, I was more like- "I want to be able to run a mile." I would run as much as I could and then walk a little bit, but I should have walked until I hit that mile and then increased the distance I was running, compared to walking, with each workout. Doing burns a lot of extra calories and is a great motivator.

As I said before, excuses kill goals, and I doubt anyone could come up with a good excuse why they can't move their body for 20 minutes straight at the fastest pace possible, even if it's just walking or swinging their arms.

Alcohol and your diet... #2

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 22:00:00 +0000

My girlfriend turned 21 last month and like anyone who just turned 21, she wants to take advantage of her new privileges and go out drinking a couple times a week. Of course I go with her, and of course, being a young guy, I'm not going to go to the bar and NOT drink. But all this drinking made me remember an article I once read in a magazine about how many calories were in alcoholic drinks. I've been researching and thought I would share some important points.

First, I'm sure most people are like me and don't factor their drinking into their diet. Why is this? Well it's obvious. There are no nutritional labels or even ingredient disclosures on 99% of all alcohol packaging. The ones that do have nutritional info are using it to market based on low calories or some other health benefit of their particular drink.

The "reason" for this is because the alcohol producing companies don't want their ingredients listed for fear of people copying their formulas. I think it also has a lot to do with them not wanting people to be turned off by the outrageous amount of calories per serving. Right now, mostly due to people's allergies to certain ingredients, different groups are pushing for legislation which will require a nutritional and allergen labeling system for alcohol packaging. Politics are politics, however, and I'm sure the government has an interest in the alcohol companies making money, so I doubt we will see this any time soon.

In the mean time, we can use some basic info to see what we're drinking. When it comes to 100% pure alcohol, you're looking at:

Alcohol- 7 Calories per gram

compared to

Protein- 4 Calories per gram
Carbohydrates- 4 Calories per gram
Fat- 9 Calories per gram

Since most people aren't drinking pure alcohol, the amount of calories a drink has in it is going to vary depending on the drink. If you're a beer drinker, the following web page lists the calorie amounts for several popular beers:

http://www.brewery.org/library/AlClbinger.html

*This site lists calories per 100ml, so just remember 1 US pint = 473.176475 ml so if the beer has 50 calories per 100ml, one pint of that beer has about 237 calories. There are about 3.38 ounces per 100ml so a 12 ounce bottle of that beer would have about 178 Calories.

For those of you who prefer wine, there are so many wines that a lot of the nutritional information on the Internet is conflicting. For estimation purposes, this site does a good job at listing nutritional content for wine:

http://www.wineloverspage.com/wines/nutrition.shtml

*Pay attention to the serving size. This site calculates calories based on 5oz for Red and White wine and 3oz for Dessert Wine.

Spirits and Hard Liquor really vary in calories due to the different styles and ingredients. For the basics; gin, rum, tequila, vodka, and whisky, the calories in one shot (1.5oz) vary between about 50-150 depending on the proof of the liquor. The higher the alcohol concentration, the more calories it will have. Alcohol packs more calories per gram than anything other than fat, and these liquors don't contain fat. For different flavored and specialty liquers, do your own math and expect them to have a little less calories per shot due to a lower alcohol concentration (but a lot more carbs because they are usually heavily sweetened).

When it comes to mixed drinks, I wouldn't even know where to start. The variations are endless and so are the variations of calorie counts. Approximate the calories based on the hard alcohol in them and the calorie content of the mixers. If the calorie content of the mixer is not known, it's safe to just assume there is a LOT of sugar.

With all that said, just remember that no matter what alcoholic drink you are consuming, it's most likely that you are consuming nothing but empty calories- alcohol and sugar calories. These provide very little if any nutritional value for your body in the way of vitamins and other nutrients. On the flip side- numerous studies have shown that moderate drinking is healthy for your heart because it reduces stress and lowers your blood pressure, among other things. For more info on this debate, check out the following link:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/alcohol.html

Now, if you've gotten this far, I'm sure, like most people, you enjoy an alcoholic beverage on occasion. For that, I will give some of the ways I drink with my diet in mind.

Low Calorie Mixers- if you like mixed drinks, mix them with diet sodas, sugar free juices, natural juices, or pre-packaged low calorie mixers
Low Calorie Drinks- Like every other category of calorie we consume, the alcohol industry is capitalizing on our new health conscious mentality. I can't list them all here, but there are a bunch of light beers and artificially sweetened light liquors. Two good ones off the top of my head are Budweiser Select and Bacardi Island Breeze. Scan the aisle for them next time at the store.
Drink Moderately or Drink to get Drunk- This one may cause some controversy, but here's my philosophy: If you enjoy a drink or are drinking for health benefits, drink moderately. Have no more than 1 drink a day. If you are drinking to feel intoxicated, go out once a week and get drunk! Sitting at home every night and having 2 or 3 beers to get buzzed is just making your belly get bigger with little benefit, if any. As with anything you do, weigh the benefits and the consequences before you make a decision.
Increase Exercise- If you are young and like to drink or are just an alcoholic, increase your exercise to counteract the extra empty-calorie intake.
Step Away From the Food!- I've learned this the hard way many times. It's been shown that drinking alcohol increases your appetite. I just think it makes you let your guard down and forget about your diet. Either way, when you're giving your car keys to the designated driver as you take your first drink, designate that person to make sure you don't pig out. Or better yet, don't go to bars that serve food...or peanuts!
ADD YOURS HERE- Leave your suggestions in the comments!

Alcohol and your diet...

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 09:02:00 +0000

Here's some good advice for myself and others:

Don't go out drinking at restaurant bars or other bars that serve food. The calories in the alcohol are bad enough, but most of the time, I use my drunken lack of judgement as an excuse to order a lot of really greasy food! The sliders, pizza, and deep friend onion straws really did me in tonight. And I must add, this was 4 hours after I already ate dinner. Luckily I ate my first dinner from the Weight Watchers Menu at Applebees.

More on this tomorrow!

Problems with the site...all fixed!

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 19:32:00 +0000

UPDATE- everything is now fixed!

Sorry for anyone who came here expecting the blog and got the old sales page for my book. My host had some problems with their server and my site was down half the night last night. When they restored the server with their back up, it put my old site up. I'm not sure what they're doing over there, but they haven't backed anything up in several months. Luckily I'm using a third party program to write my blog so they keep a back up of my template and posts.

What this means:

The before and after picture page is down.
The download my book page is down.
My contact page is down.

I am aware of these problems and I will try to get them fixed by the end of the day, but I just realized the other sites I have hosted with this company are messed up too and I have to figure out what is wrong with them so I can e mail my programmer.

I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause or may have caused anyone. Please let me know if you notice anything else that needs fixing!

Thanks for supporting my blog! =)

Mike

UPDATE: It looks like they are going to be able to recover my files from the server. I'm not sure how long this will take, but everything should be back to normal soon.

Burpees Variations

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 06:05:00 +0000

I wrote a post recently about a full body workout that prisoners do without any equipment (called burpees). You can read it here:

http://www.howilost80lbs.com/2006/12/complete-full-body-workout-you-can-do.html

Since then, my workout had gotten a little stale, so I searched for some new variations of burpees to mix up my workout a little bit. I came across this video on a message board and I thought I would share it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seHiBvgxwCE

When I went to You Tube to get the link for the video, I also found there is a second video from the same guy with more variations. Also, I noticed a bunch of other amatuer instructional workout videos.

Magic Bullet Blender Review

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 21:54:00 +0000

This review will be pretty short, but I feel this product deserves some love. For Christmas, my girlfriend wanted a Magic Bullet Blender so she could mix up cocktails quickly without the hassle of dirtying the blender. Because the magic bullet is one of those infomercial products, I was skeptical of it, but when I saw it at Linen's N' Things, I figured it had to at least do what it says.

If you want to know everything it does, you can check out the website at:

http://www.buythebullet.com/

For the purposes of this blog, I will just tell you what I mostly us it for. In the mornings, I can throw in some ice, fruit, and protein powder and make a smoothie in about a minute. Then I can clean everything up with one hand while I drink my smoothie. When I used to lift a lot of weights, I would to fill up on protein a few times a day, but every time I did, I would have to get out the big blender, put it all together, then break it down and clean it up when I was done. The best thing about the magic bullet is that the cup you blend everything in can be used to drink your smoothie when you're done. I think I paid $59.99 for it and I'm sure I will get more than my money's worth by the time I'm done using it!

Back To Basics Egg & Muffin Toaster Review

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:32:00 +0000

Another Christmas present I got this year was a Back to Basics Egg and Muffin Toaster. This thing is great! You put in your toast or English muffin and an egg, and it cooks both so that they are done at the exact same time. You can also add pre-cooked ham, sausage, or bacon to a tray above the egg and it will heat it for you.

How the Egg and Muffin Toaster Works:

When I first saw it, I was confused about how it worked, but it is really simple. You drop in your toast, add water to the egg cooker for steam, spray non-stick cooking spray in the egg dish, crack an egg and drop it in, push a button, and wait. It takes about 4 minutes to cook the egg and it delays the heat in the toaster so your toast is done at the exact same time. Like any other toaster, you can choose your darkness setting on the toaster.

The best part of all is that it makes a pretty healthy breakfast sandwich (as long as you don't add bad stuff to it). It poaches the egg, which is one of the healthiest ways to eat a whole egg, and I like to add ham or Canadian bacon which is very low in fat. You can use butter substitute, low or non fat mayonnaise, or even ketchup if you want, but I like mine dry.

I've used this thing every day this week, except for one, and I'm loving it! Today, however, I found out the one and probably only negative about the B2B Egg and Muffin Toaster. We tried making sandwiches for the whole family. At 4 minutes per sandwich, and only being able to make one at a time- we gave up after 2 and just cooked some eggs on the stove.

One bonus feature on the Egg and Muffin Toaster is that it can boil up to 4 eggs at a time which will be nice for egg salad sandwiches =)

If you want to see where to get it or learn more about it, check out the Back to Basics Egg & Muffin Toaster Website.

Next I will review the Magic Bullet Blender!

Apple Nike+ iPod Sport Kit- QUICK TIP

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:17:00 +0000

One thing I've found I've been doing a lot with my Nike+ iPod Sport Kit is taking my headphones off my iPod and throwing it in my pocket when I walk the dog or even go to the mall. I put it on the basic workout setting just to track my distance and see how many calories I burn doing things that aren't even a part of my workout. This has made me be more active in doing some things simply because I now realize how many extra calories I can burn. Some examples are parking farther from the store and not cutting across the grass to get somewhere faster.

Apple Nike + iPod Sport Kit Review

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 05:05:00 +0000

Tune your run. Transform your iPod Nano into a personal workout coach with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. Only $29.00.

This Christmas I got a pair of Nike+ shoes and the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit from Apple. For those of you who haven't heard about the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit, it is basically a pedometer that you put in your shoe and it transmits a plethora of data about your walks or runs wirelessly to your iPod. It's an awesome piece equipment for only $29.00, but that's where the Nike+ shoes come in!

When I first looked into the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit, I thought the reason it was only $29.00 was because Apple already got you for the $200.00+ dollars you spent on your iPod Nano. I was wrong, and I should have realized it much sooner because accessories for iPods are rarely cheap! The reason they are able to sell this product for so little is because it can't be used with just any shoe. You have to buy the new Nike+ Shoes with a special pocket for the sensor. These will set you back at least $100.00.

This was a pretty clever collaboration on the part of Nike and Apple. In order to use the $29.00 product, you will have already had to spend about $350.00 for an iPod Nano and Nike+ running shoes. I already had an iPod Nano, and I needed new running shoes, so things worked out pretty well for me. If you don't like Nike shoes, or don't want to buy new running shoes, there is an alternative- I think. The following is a link to one blogger's post about how to use the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit without having to buy the Nike+ shoes (I haven't tried it, so I can't tell you how well it works):

http://podophile.com/2006/07/14/shoe-hacker-nikeipod-sport-kit-shoe-mod/

Once I had my iPod Nano, Nike+ running shoes, and the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit together, it was finally time to test it out! I opened the box expecting to find a software CD for the kit, but there is no such thing. When you plug your iPod into your computer, it checks for updates. The most recent update gives your iPod the capability to run the Nike+ Sport Kit. Once I realized that, I put the transmitter into the special pocket in my shoe, plugged the receiver into my iPod and I was ready to go.

Once the transmitter has been plugged into the iPod, you get a Nike+ iPod option on the menu. You click this and at first it asks you some questions about your weight, etc. so it can calculate calories burned. Once that information is entered, it remembers it, but you can always change it in the settings. Now, it gives you three options:

Basic- it records time, distance, calories burned, & pace.
Time- you choose how long you want to run and it tells you when you're done
Distance- same as time, but with a distance goal
Calories- same as the other two but a specific amount of burned calories is your goal

Once you choose an option, you push a button to start your workout and you're on your way. You control your music and your iPod just as you would normally, but along the way, a male or female voice (you choose in options) gives you verbal updates of your status when you reach different milestones. At any time, if you want to hear your current progress, all you have to do is push a button. That is one of the features I really love. Once you have reached your goal, it lets you know- but it keeps recording data in case you want to keep going. If you want it to stop recording, all you have to do is hit a button.

Another thing I love about this product is the history feature. It stores all the data from your runs or walks so you can see increases or decreases in your times, distances, etc. It also gives your best times and distances and total times and distances from all your runs or walks. As if this isn't enough, once you plug your iPod into your computer, it is able to automatically transmit all of your data to your free Nike+ account where you can look at the data in several different ways. This site also allows you to set several different variations of goals and interact with and challenge other runners from around the world to races.

I have been playing with this thing for almost a week now and I haven't been able to find anything negative about it besides the cost of acquiring the three components to make it work (iPod Nano, Nike+ Shoes, and the sensor itself). One thing I was really worried about was the accuracy of the sensor when it comes to distance. I did some investigating and found that this problem is easily solved by going into the settings and selecting "sensor" then "calibrate". This feature allows you to calibrate both your walking and running pace separately by running or walking a known distance. Once I calibrated it, I checked it's accuracy by walking and running on a few different treadmills at the gym and it turned out to be pretty darn accurate.

The last thing I will leave you with is another article about this product. This article talks about security flaws in the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit that allow stalkers to plot your footsteps from up to 60 feet away, but after reading the article, I'm not really worried. I run in the park or on a treadmill. If someone wants to plot my steps, they're more than welcome to. If they're following me, they can see where I'm running without plotting my steps and if they have hidden their recording device, I will be more than 60 feet away from it for 95% of my run (unless I'm running on the treadmill, but it's pretty obvious what good plotting my steps on the treadmill will do them). Here's the link to the article so you can read it if you care:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72202-0.html?tw=rss.index

All in all, I would highly recommend the Apple Nike+ iPod Sport Kit if you already have an iPod Nano, or are looking into getting one.

One Key to Weight Loss Success

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:12:00 +0000

Losing weight requires habits and repetition. Think about a person who is in perfect shape. Eating one ridiculously unhealthy meal may make them bloated for awhile, but once it is digested, there will be no noticeable gains. Now if they make a consistent habit of eating these unhealthy meals and not burning off the calories, within a few months, there will be highly noticeable results. Now turn this around. If you're in bad shape, and you eat healthy and exercise for a day, you may feel better, but you will not see physical results. Make these healthy activities habits, and trust me, you will thank yourself!

I think patience is one key to losing weight successfully. Fortunately, for people without patience, it still can be done easily. I am not very patient and I did it! Here's how: Let's say you were really excited for something that was happening at 6:00 and the current time was 5:00. If you sat in front of a clock and watched the hands move, it would seem like it was never going to be 6:00! Now let's say you didn't occupy yourself with the literal measure of time and instead you went and watched something interesting on TV. Before you knew it, it would be 6:00! Time would pass either way and it would pass at the same rate, but the second option would require a lot less patience and 6:00 would seem to come a lot faster!

Apply this to weight loss now. We are creatures of habit! Bad eating is a habit, so replace it with a habit of good eating. How to form a habit? Repetition! In the beginning, you will have think about it, but eventually it will become a habit. Once you have your habits of good eating and increased physical activity in place, the hard part is over. Your weight or fat percentage is the clock. If you constantly obsess over it, and you're not patient, you will not see results quick enough and will give up easily. If you just forget about it, continue with your habits, and occupy your time with something more interesting, within a short period of time, you will realize you've dropped a pant size! By this time, you will know what is possible and you will have the momentum to continue your healthy habits!

Specific information about weight loss processes...

noreply@blogger.com (MM) — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:13:00 +0000

I have had my blog up for just a few weeks now and I've gotten a lot of good feedback. When I was losing my weight, I did a lot of research, but I did not write a lot about specific processes in my book and my previous posts.

Now that everything is up and running smoothly, I will be doing a lot more research and begin posting accurate simple explanations about a lot of the body's processes as they pertain to burning fat and building muscle. My girlfriend is a Biology major at the university and she knows quite a bit more than me about this stuff. She's promised to help me write clear and accurate explanations of these processes and also add more female specific exercise and eating posts. I'm pretty excited to have her on board! Look for these new posts this week!

Thanks for all your support!