Fleetwing1627

Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Million

2008-06-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

[My comments are in bold]

Published: June 13, 2008

AMAGASAKI, Japan — Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.

Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.

But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.

Can you IMAGINE the outrage in America? Sure the "allowed" limits would be higher (because generally Americans come from heartier & heftier genetic stock than Japanese), but the very idea that the government could impose a limit is so Big Brother it's not even funny.

To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.

The ministry also says that curbing widening waistlines will rein in a rapidly aging society’s ballooning health care costs, one of the most serious and politically delicate problems facing Japan today. Most Japanese are covered under public health care or through their work. Anger over a plan that would make those 75 and older pay more for health care brought a parliamentary censure motion Wednesday against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the first against a prime minister in the country’s postwar history.

Unfortunately for Japan, they have a population time bomb on their hands. Japan is aging more rapidly than almost any other country and they will soon have a serious glut of elderly people. Elderly people that consume a lot of health care.

But critics say that the government guidelines — especially the one about male waistlines — are simply too strict and that more than half of all men will be considered overweight. The effect, they say, will be to encourage overmedication and ultimately raise health care costs.

Yoichi Ogushi, a professor at Tokai University’s School of Medicine near Tokyo and an expert on public health, said that there was “no need at all” for the Japanese to lose weight.

Based on their waist sizes, I agree!

“I don’t think the campaign will have any positive effect. Now if you did this in the United States, there would be benefits, since there are many Americans who weigh more than 100 kilograms,” or about 220 pounds, Mr. Ogushi said. “But the Japanese are so slender that they can’t afford to lose weight.”

Mr. Ogushi was actually a little harder on Americans than they deserved. A survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that the average waist size for Caucasian American men was 39 inches, a full inch lower than the 40-inch threshold established by the International Diabetes Federation. American women did not fare as well, with an average waist size of 36.5 inches, about two inches above their threshold of 34.6 inches. The differences in thresholds reflected variations in height and body type from Japanese men and women.

39 inches is decently generous, in my book. I know I'd like to have a waist that size (then continue dieting and move on down through it, of course. Right now I just need to get under my current 48 inch size).

Comparable figures for the Japanese are sketchy since waistlines have not been measured officially in the past. But private research on thousands of Japanese indicates that the average male waistline falls just below the new government limit.

That fact, widely reported in the media, has heightened the anxiety in the nation’s health clinics.

In Amagasaki, a city in western Japan, officials have moved aggressively to measure waistlines in what the government calls special checkups. The city had to measure at least 65 percent of the 40- to 74-year-olds covered by public health insurance, an “extremely difficult” goal, acknowledged Midori Noguchi, a city official.

When his turn came, Mr. Nogiri, the flower shop owner, entered a booth where he bared his midriff, exposing a flat stomach with barely discernible love handles. A nurse wrapped a tape measure around his waist across his belly button: 33.6 inches, or 0.1 inch over the limit.

“Strikeout,” he said, defeat spreading across his face.

Good grief. In America some people would probably consider him malnourished.

The campaign started a couple of years ago when the Health Ministry began beating the drums for a medical condition that few Japanese had ever heard of — metabolic syndrome — a collection of factors that heighten the risk of developing vascular disease and diabetes. Those include abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and high levels of blood glucose and cholesterol. In no time, the scary-sounding condition was popularly shortened to the funny-sounding metabo, and it has become the nation’s shorthand for overweight.

And yet the amusing findings that are turning up right now seem to indicate that overweight people actually consume less health resources because they die earlier and don't tend to linger for years at the very end of their lives in poor health because they tend to die before they reach those ages. At any rate it's a very interesting hypothesis that seems to have some facts to back it up.

The mayor of one town in Mie, a prefecture near here, became so wrapped up in the anti-metabo campaign that he and six other town officials formed a weight-loss group called “The Seven Metabo Samurai.” That campaign ended abruptly after a 47-year-old member with a 39-inch waistline died of a heart attack while jogging.

That's sad.

Still, at a city gym in Amagasaki recently, dozens of residents — few of whom appeared overweight — danced to the city’s anti-metabo song, which warned against trouser buttons popping and flying away, “pyun-pyun-pyun!”

“Goodbye, metabolic. Let’s get our checkups together. Go! Go! Go!

Goodbye, metabolic. Don’t wait till you get sick. No! No! No!”

Now this sounds Japanese.

The word metabo has made it easier for health care providers to urge their patients to lose weight, said Dr. Yoshikuni Sakamoto, a physician in the employee health insurance union at Matsushita, which makes Panasonic products.

“Before we had to broach the issue with the word obesity, which definitely has a negative image,” Dr. Sakamoto said. “But metabo sounds much more inclusive.”

Even before Tokyo’s directives, Matsushita had focused on its employees’ weight during annual checkups. Last summer, Akio Inoue, 30, an engineer carrying 238 pounds on a 5-foot-7 frame, was told by a company doctor to lose weight or take medication for his high blood pressure. After dieting, he was down to 182 pounds, but his waistline was still more than one inch over the state-approved limit.

With the new law, Matsushita has to measure the waistlines of not only its employees but also of their families and retirees. As part of its intensifying efforts, the company has started giving its employees “metabo check” towels that double as tape measures.

So Japanese employers must not only monitor their employees, but their families and the company's retired former employees as well? That can't be cheap.

“Nobody will want to be singled out as metabo,” Kimiko Shigeno, a company nurse, said of the campaign. “It’ll have the same effect as non-smoking campaigns where smokers are now looked at disapprovingly.”

Companies like Matsushita must measure the waistlines of at least 80 percent of their employees. Furthermore, they must get 10 percent of those deemed metabolic to lose weight by 2012, and 25 percent of them to lose weight by 2015.

NEC, Japan’s largest maker of personal computers, said that if it failed to meet its targets, it could incur as much as $19 million in penalties. The company has decided to nip metabo in the bud by starting to measure the waistlines of all its employees over 30 years old and by sponsoring metabo education days for the employees’ families.

SO... who wants to bet that there won't be employees fired because they're too fat and hurt company compliance with the rules?

Some experts say the government’s guidelines on everything from waistlines to blood pressure are so strict that meeting, or exceeding, those targets will be impossible. They say that the government’s real goal is to shift health care costs onto the private sector.

Wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

Dr. Minoru Yamakado, an official at the Japan Society of Ningen Dock, an association of doctors who administer physical exams, said he endorsed the government’s campaign and its focus on preventive medicine.

But he said that the government’s real priority should be to reduce smoking rates, which remain among the highest among advanced nations, in large part because of Japan’s powerful tobacco lobby.

“Smoking is even one of the causes of metabolic syndrome,” he said. “So if you’re worried about metabo, stopping people from smoking should be your top priority.”

Despite misgivings, though, Japan is pushing ahead.

Kizashi Ohama, an official in Matsuyama, a city that has also acted aggressively against metabo, said he would leave the debate over the campaign’s merits to experts and health officials in Tokyo.

At Matsuyama’s public health clinic, Kinichiro Ichikawa, 62, said the government-approved 33.5-inch male waistline was “severe.” He is 5-foot-4, weighs only 134 pounds and knows no one who is overweight.

There are almost no Americans who can claim to not know anyone who is overweight, that's for sure.

“Japan shouldn’t be making such a fuss about this,” he said before going off to have his waistline measured.

But on a shopping strip here, Kenzo Nagata, 73, a toy store owner, said he had ignored a letter summoning him to a so-called special checkup. His waistline was no one’s business but his own, he said, though he volunteered that, at 32.7 inches, it fell safely below the limit. He planned to disregard the second notice that the city was scheduled to mail to the recalcitrant.

“I’m not going,” he said. “I don’t think that concerns me.”

Good for him. Societal pressures and the norms of each culture create an expectation of a general body size. Europeans, for example, clearly feel more pressure to maintain their weight than Americans do, and apparently the Japanese experience to a far greater degree than Europeans. That's not a bad thing, but my libertarian nature says that government should BUTT OUT OF IT.

Pictures I

2008-05-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Everett drove us to Atlanta with a van following behind.

Penguin sculpture outside of Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport.

Here's our plane! I was going, "Airplane airplane airplane airplane airplane!" because I was so excited to finally go flying again (I resolved years ago that I wouldn't until I was under 300 pounds, and I held firm to that).

I was excited to have Jana Riley sitting next to me for our flight ATL-JFK. We had a good time playing trivia and cheating off of each other.

Delta generally grouped us by our last names but scattered us throughout the plane. Here we have Erica and Claire who sat next to me on the 757 flight across the pond. We've just been served dinner.

Our coach in Ireland at the cliffs of Moher. You can see Eunan, the awesome driver/guide on Bus 1. It was strange having the door on the opposite side.

We just boarded our coach in Shannon. Doug is...Doug in this picture.

Our coach's seats were very comfortable and it was hard to stay awake our first day in
Ireland, since most of us hadn't slept very well on the redeye flight. Here Matt and
Beth are seen enjoying the excellent recline of the seats.

The cliffs of Moher were amazing

Magnificent

Kristen, Rob, Brad, Candice, and Davis eating lunch outside of the Moher visitor's center.

Rectangle Down People, or, an Irish emergency exit sign as seen in our Galway hotel.

Chara is posing with one of Celtic Crystal's vases, and even this nearly 100 pound monster was done by hand by Sean, the craftsman who impressed us with his demonstration.

You can see the missing spot where the wineglass that I bought for my mom was.

Panoramic view of Connemara National Park where we went hiking. It was quite scenic
and a nice day for a walk.

Kylemore Abbey, which is currently used as a girl's boarding school and is
run by Benedictine nuns.

I think any of us that were on Bus 1 can talk about peat, how it's made, how to harvest it, the dangers of peat bogs, etc. for at least 20 minutes without stopping.

Andrew (holding the frisbee) brought his frisbee with him and we played ultimate frisbee one night on the beach in front of our hotel on the shore of Galway Bay

Breakfast conversation between Andy, Dr. Huff, and Demario

Breakfast at our hotel in Galway was delicious

Let's just say that Irish coach drivers make full use of all the available space in the narrow roads.

Castle ruins at Clonmacnois

Beth and Greg with Aedh, a pilgrim who died on the way to Clonmacnois in 606 AD.

Panoramic of Clonmacnois which was founded by St. Ciaran in 545 AD. We stopped
there on the way to Dublin.

Our group ate dinner here our first night in Dublin. I had the lamb boxty (which
is a filling wrapped in a potato pancake) and it was good.

Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin

Proof that there are rednecks even in Dublin, Ireland.

Looking down O'Connell Street in Dublin in the general direction of our hotel. The Dublin spire is off in the distance and you can see how crowded Dublin was.

This girl was a really interesting flutist in the Aarhane Community Band who we performed with at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was by far my favorite concert of the trip. The Aarhane band was pretty good and I loved their uniforms. They thought it was so cool that MSU actually had a real marching band that did halftime shows.

Jana is seen here with her favorite brand of Irish bottled water in the Stena ferry terminal.

The Stena Explorer, docked in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, about to ferry us at 40
knots across the Irish Sea to Holyhead, Wales.

Pictures II

2008-05-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

Candice took my picture in the morning with Big Ben in the background

The western gate of Westminster Abbey. Do you see MLK Jr?

Buildings just south of Westminster

Band playing at the inspection of the guard at St. James Palace. They were the Royal Malays from Malaysia.

Choirboys walking across the street heading to St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Buckingham Palace

Royal Irish Band in front of Buckingham Palace

The Canada Gate (which I loved) and some members of our group. The blonde wearing
blue was our London tour guide, Jan.

Walking away from Buckingham Palace with the palace gardens to the left.

The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum

Assyrian art depicting a lion hunt. I particularly liked the Assyrian,
Egyptian, and Greek displays.

Riding a double decker bus, front row, second level. You'll marvel at how the buses manage to maneuver around the streets without hitting anything.

Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery (which was incredible) on the left.

Panoramic view of Trafalgar Square.

Big Ben!

The London Eye (aka Millenium Wheel)

London Eye up close. It's really neat how they cantilevered the structure.

Kensington Palace (Princess Diana lived here). It was only a ten minute walk from our hotel.

Me in front of Kneller Hall at the Royal Military School of Music in London, where
the British military trains musicians for its 29 military bands.

Bugle that was actually used during the Charge of the Light Brigade
(Crimean War, 1854) immortalized by Tennyson.

Strange instruments in the museum (there were lots of these, it was very interesting)

Clarinet played by Charles King who died in Somme, France in 1916. The clarinet is
exactly as it was when he last played it, even down to the same reed.

Giving our final concert in the driest room I've ever played in in my life. It was interesting seeing most of the audience wearing army fatigues.

Clarinet section picture after our final concert

St. Paul's Cathedral seen from the Millenium Bridge (which was London's first new bridge across the Thames since 1894 and was nicknamed the "wibbly wobbly bridge" due to excessive vibration when it opened).

St. Paul's Cathedral up closer (we walked almost completely around it

but we just didn't have time to go in)

Kristyn & Andrew on a windy underground train

At the Majestic Theatre ready to see Phantom of the Opera!

Here's our Delta 767-300ER ready to take us home from Gatwick to Atlanta in
8 hours and 23 minutes.

Jana was excited to be sitting next to me again.

Gatwick's fire trainer.

Lunch was chicken and orzo pasta and it was quite good. Delta's international
service has improved in recent years and it shows.

Shellie & Crystal loved the painting that I got for them in the entrance tunnel to
the Westminster underground station.

British Isles Tour

2008-05-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a good time. Okay, to be honest, we had an absolutely fantastic trip. Here are a few pictures (see above) and a day by day account of the trip (the short version). As far as weight loss goes, am I ever glad that I didn't try to fly when I was 400+ pounds. We had three Delta flights, one 1'45 from ATL-JFK, an overnight flight from JFK to Shannon that was about six hours (both on 757s), and the return flight from Gatwick (London) to Atlanta on a 767. Seats sure haven't gotten any wider since I last flew, but the legroom on all of our flights was pretty good, I thought. And holy cow did we ever walk and walk and walk in Galway, Dublin, and London. I enjoyed having more energy than I would've if we'd gone two years ago but my left knee tended to hurt a bit after we'd been on the go for several hours. Still, I walk much faster than I used to and I had to be careful not to leave whoever I was walking with in my dust (at least before I'd get tired by the end of the day). My favorite part of the trip was traveling with our group, I mean, how often do you get to go to Europe with a tightly knit group of many of your best college friends?

Monday, May 5:
Left the band hall at 6:30am, drove to Atlanta, stopped at a mall and got lunch on the way (for probably the first time ever we didn't stop at the Galleria in Birmingham). Our flight from ATL left around 4:30pm and we had fun playing Delta's trivia game (Dr. Aarhus = Oprah) and I was privileged to sit next to Jana Riley on the flight and we had a good time cheating off of each other playing trivia. We got to New York a little after 7pm and our next flight left at 10:15pm so we had a few hours to kill (Delta's JFK terminal isn't the nicest, but it works). The flight overnight was on a Delta 757 (narrowbody) and it wasn't a bad flight, just over six hours long, but I had a terrible time trying to sleep on the plane.

Tuesday, May 6:
We arrived shortly after 9am in Shannon, Ireland. We met our coach drivers and loaded the buses and drove around Ireland for a bit on the way to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were absolutely spectacular and the weather was beautiful. I had a terrible time trying to stay awake riding on the coach due to lack of sleep (Ireland is also six hours ahead of Central Time, so our 9am arrival felt like 3am to us) because of course you don't want to miss anything. After some more driving we arrived at our hotel in Galway (actually in Salthill, which basically feels like it actually is Galway). I walked around a bit before dinner, then after dinner we all pretty much went out in groups to the downtown area and went walking and pubbing (as Davis and Candice noted, the pubs in Galway were more authentic and much less touristy than the ones in Dublin).

Wednesday, May 7:
In the morning our buses split up and one bus went to Connemara Marble Works and the other to Celtic Crystal, then swapped. I think we all enjoyed Celtic Crystal and watching Sean give an amazing demonstration on engraving and I bought my mom a wineglass for 38.5 Euros which she loved. Afterwards we reconvened and went to Connemara National Park (with plenty of sightseeing and information about peat bogs given out along the way) and hiked for a while then went to Kylemore Abbey for lunch. After our drive back to Galway we didn't have much time before a quick dinner so I changed into my concert black (thankfully not a tux, just black shirt, pants, and shoes), had dinner (which was delicious), went to the Galway's town hall, gave our concert, which was very enthusiastically received by the sparse crowd that attended (what can I say, the people that were there loved us), then went back to the hotel and instead of going out six of us went out and played ultimate frisbee on the beach in front of our hotel around 10:30pm. We were joking about going swimming (like the Irish), but after wading a bit we all agreed that none of us was crazy enough to take the plunge.

Thursday, May 8:
Today we got up and got all our stuff back on the bus and departed Galway on our way to Dublin. Of course we did some sightseeing along the way and we stopped for a while at an early monastic (and by early I mean founded in 545 AD by St. Ciaran) settlement called Clonmacnois. It was very interesting with several buildings and towers and graves and the whispering arch (which worked extremely well) that we all had fun trying. Eventually we got back on the coach and got to Dublin in the afternoon. My group (which tended to be Beth, Matt, Laura, Fred, and I) walked around Dublin for a bit to get our bearings, ate dinner at Gallagher's Boxty House (I had the lamb boxty and it was very good), walked around the Temple Bar area (Dublin's cleaner version of touristy Bourbon St.), walked around the grounds of Christchurch Cathedral, went over the River Liffey, got gelato at Botticellis, went drinking (but not at a traditional pub because they tended to be really crowded with tourists), and finally wound up at O'Sullivans with other MSU students (about 16 of us), where a guy named Brian was playing guitar and he was really good (a mix of Irish drinking songs and American rock). We left at 11:45pm because the pub closed at 11:30pm and went back to the hotel for the night (it had been a long day). Oh yeah, and while Guinness even in Ireland is still nasty, Murphy’s Extra Stout is the bomb.

Friday, May 9:
This was my least favorite day on the trip. I woke up at 5:30am feeling sick, but I felt better by the time we left on our bus tour of Dublin (not the greatest). One of my friends got sick on the bus, but luckily I had a bag with me (because I hadn't been feeling great). We saw St. Michan's Church, where Handel had practiced on the organ before the premier of Messiah (the premier was actually very close to the Temple Bar area in Dublin) and we got to see the crypts underneath the church (not that impressive). We ended the tour at Trinity College so we got to see the Book of Kells (a bunch of old people kept hogging the view and wouldn't move along) and the Long Room of the library, which was spectacular. Afterwards our little group reformed, ate lunch at Supermac's (basically an Irish McDonalds, I ate about half my food and gave up), then we split up because I couldn't handle shopping with the girls (I didn't have the energy for it). I went off on my own looking for a shawl for my sister, and on the way I walked through St. Stephens Park, saw the Natural History Museum (unfortunately the National Museum was closed), the National Gallery (of art), the Dublin Library's reading room, finally did buy Lorena a scarf, and after all that walking I finally dragged myself back to the hotel and laid down for just a few minutes before changing for dinner, which I had no appetite for and barely ate (that's a genuine sign that I was indeed sick). We gave our second concert at St. Patrick's Cathedral that night, which was our best concert of the tour, and it was an amazing experience. St. Patrick's is huge and impressive, and we actually gave a joint concert with the Arthane Community Band, which is a secondary school band and they were pretty good. I got to talk to one of their flutists after the concert and it was a pleasure to have a conversation with her. After the concert we went back to the hotel and went out walking again, getting sandwiches at a convenience store (I was feeling better by then), and a group of us sat in the lobby until we were about to fall asleep (I kept teasing Beth by pretending to fall asleep and she repeatedly command, “Cliff, go to bed!”)

Saturday, May 10:
Basically today was a travel day. In order to save money we didn't fly from Dublin to London (which would've been nice, although we would've missed getting to see Wales, gee, missing Wales versus spending the night in London, gosh that's a tough one), instead we took the ferry and rode on a bus for a freaking long time. The ferry was a high speed vessel (SWATH type) named the Stena Explorer, and lo and behold it actually did rain on us, but only once most of us had already entered the ferry terminal at Dun Laoghaire (which is practically in Dublin). The ferry ride didn't last that long, but it was misty so you couldn't see much. Wales basically had a lot of greenery and sheep, and seemed like a sleepy rural country. We stopped at a town in Wales that has the longest name in the world,
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (although the formal name of Bangkok is actually longer), made a two more stops at rest areas, and finally made it into London pretty late (just before 10pm). Some people went out walking but I checked my email/Facebook/grades for the first time on the trip and then went to bed. I should mention that we were all glad that England's roads are wider and smoother than the one's in the Ireland...and Wales was boring.

Sunday, May 11:
As Jan so cheerfully thanked us for getting up on time, we left just after 8:30am for a tour of London that was actually really cool. Traffic was very light and we got to see a lot of sights, like Kensington Gardens, Harrods, Hyde Park, Tralfagar Square, the courts, the City, drive across the Tower Bridge, saw the Tower of London, etc. We got out and took pictures and walked around Parliament and Westminster for half an hour, then reboarded the coach and drove to St. James Palace. We disembarked again, saw the inspection of the guard (it was the Royal Malays from Malaysia, who brought their own band...felt a lot like homecoming, taking the music around again and again). We got to see the choirboys walk across the street to St. Martin-in-the-Fields, then walked to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard. After that we were on our own, and our group took the underground for the first time to Covent Gardens, had lunch, toured the British Museum (the Greek, Egyptian, and Assyrian exhibits are incredible), then rode a double decker bus to Tralfagar Square (of course we sat on top at the very front), went through the National Gallery of Art until it closed, then ate dinner at a pub (I tried steak & ale pie, not a fan). At that point some of our group went back to the hotel while Matt, Beth, and I wanted to ride the London Eye so we had a very nice walk across the river whereupon we discovered that the half hour "flight" cost 15.50 pounds, which was about $34. No thanks! We walked back across the bridge, with Matt stopping and getting this really neat aluminum sculpture for his sister, and I bought a painting in the entrance tunnel to the Westminster underground station (without trying I got the price down from 20 pounds [$44] to $20). After we got back to the hotel and dropped our stuff off we went back out and got dessert at a cafe and took it back to the hotel.

Monday, May 12:
I woke up early (forgot to close the curtains again), went back to sleep, then finally got up at 7am. I had breakfast with Mrs. McGreevey downstairs then sat in the lounge and finished my postcards and wrote in my journal. I still had a little time before we had to leave so I took a quick walk over to Kensington Gardens and saw Kensington Palace. Both were lovely, of course, and it was a beautiful morning to take a walk. We left at 10:30am to go to the Royal Military School of Music, where the British military trains musicians for its military bands. It was a bit of a ride out there but they had a really neat collection of old and strange instruments (and five floors beneath us in the cellar of uncataloged instruments and other historical items). We ate lunch there and gave our final concert in what may have been the driest room I have ever performed in. It was a bit strange having an audience almost entirely wearing green fatigues. After the concert we went back to the hotel, changed, then set out again. Our group went to the Churchill War Rooms Museum but decided not to go in because we didn't really have enough time, so we got back on the underground and got off at Cannon Street, walked across a bridge, saw the Globe Theatre (reproduction of Shakespeare's theatre), walked back across the Thames on the Millenium something footbridge and got a beautiful view of St. Paul's. We had dinner in a pub (fish and chips is always a safe choice for pub food in London), saw Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre (the Phantom was Iranian and the star of the show), then walked around Picadilly Circus for a while after the show. At this point we split up and some of us went back to the hotel while others stayed out and went pubbing (I went back to the hotel).

Tuesday, May 13:
Woke up way too early. I don't think Russell went to sleep because he had to wake me up at 4:53am after I slept through my alarm clock and our wake up call (I shouldn't've gone to bed at 2:30am, I guess). We left the hotel around 5:30am and drove to Gatwick Airport (thankfully not Heathrow). Our flight home left a little after 9am and it was a much more pleasant flight than our flight over the pond. Jana Riley again was my seatmate but in the back of the plane there were plenty of empty seats so Jana grabbed a center row of three seats and slept most of the way back and I had two seats to myself, which was nice. The flight was about 8.5 hours long directly to Atlanta. In Atlanta it took a little while to go through customs and get our luggage and recheck it back into ATL's system then pick it up again. We arrived home around 6:45pm and we were all very glad to get off the coach. You have to realize that for us, leaving the hotel at 5:30am was actually 11:30pm Monday night back in Starkville, and when we arrived in Starkville, 6:45pm felt like 12:45am then next day to us.

Wednesday & Thursday, May 14-15:
Honestly, it's like these days didn't even exist. The only productive thing I did either day was to post pictures on Facebook. That's it. Getting back onto our own time was harder than adapting ourselves forward in time.

Good news and bad news

2008-05-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

The bad news first.

I really haven't lost any weight since the beginning of March. I've been lazy and plateaued and I have to adjust to the fact that my body burns fewer calories both while sitting around and while exercising. Needless to say, I plan to rededicate myself when I get back from Europe and get back to losing.

Europe? Did someone say Europe? Yes indeed. The MSU Wind Ensemble leaves Starkville at 6:30am on Monday morning to ride on a bus to Atlanta, where we'll board a Delta 757, fly to JFK in New York, then wait three hours and board another Delta 757 at 10:15pm. We'll arrive in Shannon, Ireland at 9:20am their time, which is 6 hours ahead of Central Time. We'll be in Galway for two days, Dublin for two days, then we'll take the ferry across the sea and go to Wales, drive through Wales and England for a day, and spend the last two days in London. Along the way we'll be giving concerts in Galway, in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, and at the Royal Military School of Music in London. Exciting! It's not really a good time to visit Europe right now thanks to the incredibly weak dollar (thanks for nothing, Alan Greenspan), but we're gonna have fun. I'll post plenty of pictures when I return. And as long as I'm below my self-imposed 300 pound weight limit (or I'm not flying)...I'm alright with it for now.

There will be a blog updated while we're in the British Isles by Brian Hawkins, and it can be found at the band's website.

Meanwhile here are a few pictures from last Tuesday at the Department of Music cookout which I helped organize.

My buddy Ross brought his grill, I borrowed a grill from Shellie & Crystal, and I brought my grill, so we had plenty of square inches. Needless to say I've never grilled with charcoal before in my life so while the burgers turned out fine, some of the hot dogs became pretty black because I forgot about them. They tasted fine though.

We have a really nice old pecan grove right in between the president's house, the music buildings, and the band hall. Here we see Erica throwing the football with Caitlin and Bart on the blanket.

Another view of the crowd. It was a perfect day, severe clear sky and barely 70 degrees
with a nice breeze.

Erica, Fred, and I taking a picture. Jennifer, the woman sitting in my chair to the left of Erica, is our Dept. of Music secretary and she helped me plan the cookout. We had fun setting it up although I was running late the day of and she was 'bout to have a cow.

The Mormons want me

2008-04-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not kidding, they really do. The college years are interesting times, aren't they?

Now, if you read this blog and you're Baptist, don't freak, I haven't lost all of my senses. But I do have a provisional baptism date with the LDS Church at the West Point Ward on Saturday, May 3. Why? Let's just say they like me a lot (a whole lot) and they want me to join their church. They believe that it is the True Church and that you will be more fulfilled by being a member than by attending another church.

LDS members are incredible people that I love to be around, and I admire the good works that the LDS church does in so many ways, but it's just not for me. I don't believe that the Book of Mormon (I've read about two thirds of it) is scripture, or that the LDS "scriptures" are equivalent to the Bible (that would be the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price). And if you don't believe that, then why join? I've heard many conversion stories, but I know who I am, and why I am here. I also know that I need to do better.

Now how do I politely and yet more firmly (than I have so far) explain that to my Mormon friends and acquaintances?

Salt Lake Temple

I was an LDS missionary one year for Halloween.
(picture taken fall 2005, before I started losing weight. I'm ~440 in this picture)
The elders on the couch are real LDS missionaries.

Founder's Day & Percussion Playground

2008-04-19T17:43:00.001-07:00

Actually, Founder's Day for the Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi at Mississippi State University is tomorrow, but we usually celebrate it on the closest Saturday, which was today. We were found 85 years ago on April 20, 1923, and today we had our annual cookout at McKee Park. Turnout was a bit lower than normal, but we had a good time. And we discovered that our chapter has a living alumnus from our early years, Dr. Dennis, who graduated from MSU in 1938 and was president of our chapter. I thought this was incredibly neat, since he's got to be one of the oldest living alumni of KKPsi. Even today he still plays his contrabass clarinet in the MSU Community Band. I can only dream of being in as good a shape as he's in when I'm in my 90s. We went and fetched Dr. Dennis from his home in Columbus and he came to the cookout.

Dr. Dennis is wearing the maroon jacket.

L-R: Billy, ReShae, Nathan, Ashley

L-R: Ashley, Jeffrey (aka Biscuit, not a brother), Billy, Kat, Nathan, Kristina, Chris

Meanwhile, before that at 10am (okay, actually slightly after 10, I was a bit late) I met Dr. Damm in Bulldog Deli's parking lot and helped to facilitate the Percussion Playground at the Cotton District Arts Festival. I had no idea that this event was so large, but it was great. It helped that the weather was severe clear with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was perfect, breezy and not hot at all. We drummed with the kids and adults that showed up, and I hated to leave early to get to the cookout (but I was bringing the potato salad, so I had to). The Percussion Playground was a lot of fun.

Other MENC members that were facilitators were Claire (in the green shirt) and Derek (in the M-State shirt).

Bonnie with her dog. She 's student teaching right now and is a past member of MENC.

Linda Karen Smith on the right, former voice instructor at MSU, and one of her friends from France on the left.

It was a bigger crowd than I had expected.

A comparison

2008-04-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Interesting picture, wouldn't you say? I've already forgotten that I used to be that fat.

Fat people don't like having their pictures taken

2008-04-14T00:38:00.001-07:00

Let me show you a fatness progression.

1987 in Connecticut

Here we see my sister and I behind our house in Connecticut. I am not quite three in this picture and despite the puffy clothing I'm wearing, I am not yet overweight.

My first wheels

This picture was taken in the garage of our first house in Athens, which was in the Indian Trace subdivision. The go-cart had actually been won by my grandmother at a Sonic Drive-In. While it only had a 3.5 hp motor, to an eight year-old kid it was fantastic. At the time I didn't really care that I looked like I had a beer belly. I looked like a kid raised on video games who never went outside to play, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. I was simply a compulsive overeater, even though I did get exercise. The nice thing about Indian Trace was that it wasn't a very old subdivison, and thus there were places with trees and various empty lots to play in.

At Cafe du Monde

Now we start getting to where I don't want my picture taken at all. If I remember correctly this picture was taken after my freshman year at MSU, so that would be during the summer of 2003. Obviously I weighed over 400 pounds at this point. This photo was taken while my College & Career Sunday school class at FBC Athens had gone to New Orleans for a few days on a mission trip, which was a great experience. Here we're enjoying some downtime at the Cafe du Monde, and no, I'm not an incredibly messy eater, it's just that a few seconds before this picture was taken Crystal (in the blue shirt on the left) threw an entire plateful of powdered sugar at me. Not a flattering picture from perspective.

With the divas

I am finally at the wonderful point where I now don't mind my picture being taken. In fact, I begged Dr. Sebba to take this picture of us during the intermission on Saturday at the Starkville-MSU Symphony concert "A Bohemian Rhapsody." On the left is Sheri Falcone, who is my clarinet teacher and the principal clarinetist of the symphony. On the right is the fabulous Jan Grissom, one of our voice teachers at MSU and the most glorious sounding soprano that I am personally privileged to know. She has been a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, which ought to give you an idea of her talent. She was the soprano soloist on Dvorak's Te Deum, which was so wonderful. It's not every day that you get to hear a Jan Grissom sing the solos in Te Deum or hear a Scott Ehlers play the English horn solos in the Largo movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony. Glorious!

If you wonder why I'm wearing a black shirt with my tux it's because that to be one of the 160 voices in the choir I had to wear all black. I don't have a black necktie so I just wore my bowtie. The pin I'm wearing is my Kappa Kappa Psi coat of arms.

Music Theory IV

2008-04-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

I swear we are better musicians than you'd think from watching these two videos. Today in Dr. Bahr's Music Theory IV class we had an experiential lesson that consisted of us playing indeterminate music. Indeterminate music results from actions of the performers, who have the freedom to choose how fast, how often, how long, etc. they play a passage. We had a page out of the Burkhardt (the standard musical text reference for theory classes) that had many different motives (something like 25 of them), and you progressed through them at your own pace. It really was an interesting experience because you could feel the constant pulse laid down by the pianists and how we phased in and out of being in tune and in time with each other. I participated in a polyactive way by performing, filming, performing, filming, and finally finishing up with the group. I got a new camera, a Canon Powershot SD850 IS, and so I decided to try making a video and uploading it to YouTube (which takes forever).

In other news here's a picture of me with Claire Stinson at her senior clarinet recital last Sunday. And yes, I have difficulty with smiling without looking like a goofball.

A few more foods that I enjoy

2008-04-04T23:45:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more dietetic foods that I recommend.

1. Orbit Gum

Orbit gum has three calories per piece and I usually chew two, since just one piece isn't quite enough. Sweetmint is my favorite flavor, and since it's sugarless gum (sweetened with sorbitol), it has very satisfying. I love the sweet taste of the Sweetmint flavor (it's like Wrigleys Spearmint), and it's $2.19 for a pack of three at Wal-Mart (I also recommend the Wintermint and Citrusmint flavors). I actually have a serious reason to chew this gum, beside the fact that is just tastes good. It's not a good idea to eat something and then play a wind instrument, as food particles can become embedded in the interior of your instrument, so I chew two pieces after I've eaten if I'm going to practice clarinet. It works like a charm and is more convenient than brushing my teeth. And sometimes I just chew a few pieces because I want something sweet, yet this gum has almost no calories in it (I still account for every single piece in my food log, however).

2. Publix Fat-Free Yogurt

Now, if you don't have a Publix nearby, then this bit of advice won't do you any good, but I absolutely adore Publix's fat-free yogurt. Typically they have between 110-140 calories a cup and they come in 8oz containers, which is the proper size for a yogurt container. Publix hasn't tried to gyp the customer by reducing the container size without reducing the price *cough*DANNON*cough* like some others. They come in an enormous variety of flavors, and some of my favorites are ones that you don't usually come across in the yogurt section, like caramel creme and cappuccino. They're smooth and creamy and most don't have that artificial aftertaste that many light yogurts have (especially store brands, such as Kroger's). They're sweetened with Aspartame and fructose and I adore them. Seriously, I make a run all the way to Madison practically every time I go home to Athens just to get 9-10 of these yogurts.

3. Philadelphia Reduced Fat Chive & Onion Cream Cheese

For YEARS every single morning my mother had a Lenders' Cinnamon Raisin bagel with Philadelphia reduced-fat cream cheese spread on top of it. Now, in my opinion that's not a very healthy breakfast because bagels are just very refined carbohydrates with nearly no nutrition in them, but that's not the point. The point is that reduced-fat cream cheese is nasty! I never liked the taste (although I am quite fond of the full-fat stuff) and I never ate her cream cheese. However, a number of years ago Kraft started to sell a variety of flavored cream cheeses, and for some reason last year I out of the blue bought a container of the Chive & Onion flavor reduced-fat cream cheese and discovered that it's pretty darn good. It only has 30 calories per tablespoon, so you can slather on a nice layer without killing your diet. I confess that I like to eat it with crackers as a treat.

4. Back to Nature Crispy Wheats

These are some GOOD crackers. They have 130 calories per 17 crackers (they're on the small side). The best thing about them is that they are so darn tasty. I'm not exactly sure why the unbleached enriched flour, expeller-pressed oleic safflower oil, raw sugar, sea salt, etc constitute such a good cracker, but they do. These very tasty trans fat-free crackers that are available at Wal-Mart.

5. Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread

So the truth is that refined wheat really isn't good for you. But we can't get sprouted grain or truly "whole" grain bread at Wal-Mart or the grocery store, so most of us usually settle for the next best thing. For me that's Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat bread. This bread has 50 calories and 2g of fiber per slice and the very first ingredient on the list is "Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour." It's also very mildly sweetened with brown sugar instead of HFCS (corn syrup). That's about as good as it gets at Wal-Mart.

Excess skin again

2008-03-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Earlier I posted that I was worried about becoming slim(mer) and having to deal with excess skin. Well, I found a good example of this on the internet. Here's a guy named David who at his peak weighed 630 pounds but through conscientious effort over only 26 months he got down to 229, losing 401 pounds in the process. Without surgery or drugs. That is unbelievably impressive. He couldn't even walk very far in the beginning without assistance. I encourage you to click on the link and view his pictures. Fair warning, though--some of them are not for the faint of heart (none NSFW, just...real pictures).
186 Kg Weight loss!!! (photos)

David's Story
I still hope that going further than he did and getting to a lower body fat percentage will help the "excess skin" issue, which really is an "excess skin and fat" problem.

Am I suffering from a deflating surface area as much as he did? No, I'm not. But if you saw me without a shirt on, you'd definitely realize that I am experiencing the same thing, just not as severely. I have no problems with having skin reduction surgery, it's just that once I've finally graduated from college I plan to immediately pay off my school debt and begin saving up to start my business. How will I afford $10,000+ surgery in addition to that...and on a teacher's salary?

A totally emo post

2008-03-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

This comic is amusing and yet it makes me so sad
because I strongly identify with the character's plight.

I confess I'm having difficulty continuing to lose. For sure, I will continue to lose. That is not in question. What is in question is how fast will my weight loss happen.

I know what I need to do. I know how to make the magic happen when I step on the scale on Monday mornings. The problem is that I have an old, old habit that I must learn to control. If I can I will not only continue to lose weight at an acceptable pace but I will become skinny. If I can't I'm in trouble.

For a long time portion control has been my mortal enemy. If I'm in public or eating with others (not close family), I'm okay. If I'm by myself at home I have a terrible time eating sensible portions. There are some foods for me that I cannot seem to be able to eat and yet leave some for tomorrow. For example, ice cream is a severe problem food for me. It sounds weak to say this but I simply can't eat half a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, enjoy it, then put the rest away and eat it tomorrow. I could easily incorporate 600 calories each day and lose weight. The problem is that if I buy it I WILL eat the whole damn thing, even if it makes me feel ill. Sadly, this doesn't just apply to ice cream. It applies to a lot of things, even common foods like spaghetti. Some things encourage me to eat way too much.

Another case in point: My stomach is more sensitive to sugar than it used to be. My mom and sister graciously put together a splendid reception for my junior recital. The problem was that the next day the MSU Wind Ensemble left at 5:45am to drive to Memphis for our annual tour. Before the recital I didn't eat hardly anything, but afterwards I ate so many of my mom's brownies and so many of my sister's excellent cookies that the next day I felt fine at first, but after drinking an orange juice on the bus I really thought I was going to throw up. I had to stand in the bathroom on the bus for half an hour in misery because I had abused my stomach so badly. The problem was that with so many sweets and treats around the night before I ate one, then another, then a few more, then some more, and on and on and on my overconsumption continued. In certain situations like that I have almost no willpower. It's one thing to enjoy the delicious fruit tray from Publix that we had, but it's another to be eating so much sugar and fat. And of course I felt guilty when I took the rest of the brownies with me on the trip to give to my fellow bandmembers, who greatly appreciated the snack between our Collierville and Arlington High performances. That is, the bandmembers who got a brownie appreciated it. I didn't have quite enough to give to everybody. Gee, if I had so selfishly eaten so many there would've been enough to go around!

You want to know how someone gets to 400+ pounds by the time he's 21? He eats an enormous amount of food! It honestly is like an addiction. The problem is that unlike some addictions you simply can't quit cold turkey. The best strategy I have right now is simply to avoid trigger foods, the foods that I know I can't keep in the house. But over the long run this is a problem that I must deal with. I simply must retrain myself and change my habits. I cannot answer the siren call of tasty foods in the kitchen that I want to overeat on.

Right now I can't resist, but I've got to learn how.

"Couldn't Ask For Moher"
The AUMB views the cliffs of Moher in Ireland

On a positive note, I am thrilled to report that my friend Alan Brazzell has lost over 30 pounds since I visited the Pi chapter (of Kappa Kappa Psi, the band fraternity) at Auburn in December. He is a superb videographer and I can't get over the fact that he looks so much skinnier in the videos that he took while the AUMB was in Ireland last week for the St. Patrick's Day parade. I remember him saying something along the lines that if I [myself] could do it, he could to. Talk is cheap but the results are evident. Ten pounds a month when you don't have a huge amount to lose is fantastic! I am very proud of my (fraternal) brother. Here are two of his videos, one from Ireland and the other is the AUMB's (Auburn University Marching Band, so good they don't need a fancy-schmancy name) 2007 entrance trailer. Been to a game at Jordan-Hare this fall in the latter part of the season? This is the video that was display on the new HD superjumbotron. He does weddings and other events, check out his website at Brazzam.com

"2007 AUMB Entrance Video"
A better quality version can be found here

Happy birthday MSU!

2008-02-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

Today, February 28, 2008, marks Mississippi State's 130th year since it was established in 1978. Since the Men of Maroon & White impressed the alumni association so much with our 2008 debut performance in the renovated Colvard Union ballroom, we were invited to celebrate MSU's birthday in song. Without much advanced notice, we did a simple Happy Birthday, our version of Hail State, and the Go State cheer (which sounds a bit odd to my ears with a piano instead of the 300 member Famous Maroon Band).

A birthday message from the Men of Maroon & White

I am on the front row, just to the left of center. If you have dial-up or a non-university speed high speed connection, I advise letting the video run with the sound off, then when it's finished click replay so you can watch it without loading interruptions.

In other news I weighed 292.8 pounds this morning and when I went to the health center yesterday for an ear infection (highly annoying to a clarinetist), my blood pressure was 112/71, which is lower than it's been in the past (I didn't have high blood pressure, but I was possibly pre-hypertensive according to the new guidlines of 120/80 or above).

And today I will be enjoying free MSU ice cream on the Drill Field in a convenient, pro-dieter's cup (the equivalent Breyers would be 280 calories, so I budget MSU ice cream containers at 300 calories). Mmmm....Muscadine Ripple...

HE'S BIIIG BLUE

2008-02-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

Quarter-Ton Cop Loses

New York Post article

That is one embarrassing headline.

Paul Soto was a NYPD cop who weighed over 500 pounds and stood 5'7. He sued the city and tried to make his case that a fall he sustained at the doctor's office was "in the line of duty" so that he could claim a "big bucks accidental disability pension," which would be 3/4 of his salary instead of 1/2 his salary.

Hogwash! Naturally, the judge was not fooled.

"There's no dispute that [Soto] is physically incapable of performing his duties as a police officer. He is morbidly obese, suffers from narcolepsy and is hypertensive," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Judith Gische wrote in her decision made public yesterday.

"Mr. Soto was put on desk duty for his own safety," and "was not any less able to perform his duties after the fall than he was before it."

It's a sad tale of woe. Too many donuts, perhaps? New York City does have excellent food and offers overwhelming variety of things to pig out on.

When Soto joined the force in 1993, Gische found, he weighed approximately 250 pounds. He is now 40, 5-foot-7 and over 500 pounds.

A former colleague at the 6th Precinct said Soto's gun belt was an incredible 6 feet long, and his bosses would order him to take walks around the stationhouse for his own good. They would also have other officers shadow him to make sure he didn't pick up food along the way, he said.

Another former co-worker said he was "a sweetheart of a guy" who always got Christmas gifts for the stationhouse, including a TV for the lounge. "The job was his whole family," he said.

At his East Houston Street apartment building, neighbors called him big-hearted.

"He's a very nice guy. He gives everybody chocolate at Christmas," said Natalie Nuñez, 16.

I admit that I like to give people chocolate on occasion, since almost everyone likes it (for example, I gave Mozart Kugel to everyone who performed with me on my recital last Sunday), but I've learned my limits. Dr. Sebba even commented today that I was looking very skinny. Hopefully the scale will bear that out this week because I haven't weighed myself since Tuesday. I was down 151.2 pounds on Sunday, the day of my recital.

As for the cop, well...I feel sorry for him. He shouldn't have frivolously sued the city for extra undeserved dough, but it's got to be really embarrassing to have your story written up in the New York Post (even if it's not the New York Times).

By the way, I highly recommend Mostlychocolate.com. I particularly like the Reber (since 1865) products. Perhaps a dieter shouldn't be giving chocolate recommendations on his blog but oh well...

Update

2008-02-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

I gained weight over Christmas. I gained 16.2 lbs because I was at home, bored, and lonely. I have a very difficult time losing weight when I am in Mom's house, and I was bored and lonely, which are triggers for me to try to combat those emotions by overeating and eating junk food. For example, the Sunday before Christmas when Mom was away I ordered cheesy bread and a large supreme pizza from Dominos, then went and picked it up and rented Rataouille. Naturally, I ate the entire pizza, and the sad thing was that I didn't really even like the pizza (the cheesy bread was greasy and good, however), and that was the first time since Thanksgiving that I stuffed myself so badly I made myself nauseated. Ridiculous! At least I had Diet Sun Drop (instead of Sunkist) and no ice cream. In the past that was a favored binge for me: ice cream, regular soda, and pizza. So the final tally showed that I gained 6.4 lbs, gained 3.4 lbs, lost 3.0 lbs, and then gained 9.4 lbs over the four weeks of my break. Horrible.

But the GOOD NEWS is that as of today, since school started I have lost all of the weight, and today I weighed in at 296.4 lbs, so I'm only a month late on my 2007 overall goal,which was to weigh 297 by December 31, 2007 (which of course I totally blew that one). I've lost 17.8 lbs since school started, and I am right back to my routine of dieting and exercising.

The chief result of my Christmas indiscretion is that I've had to reduce my spring goal. I symbolically originally planned for my goal to be 247 by May 5, 2008, which is the day that the MSU Wind Ensemble leaves for Europe. That would be a loss of 200 lbs, which is very exciting. I remember the first time I told Ms. Lance (director of bands) that I was losing weight, because we had been asked to fill out a card stating if we thought we'd be able to fund this sort of trip (which was originally to China). I remember proudly writing down that I hadn't flown in years because I thought I was too heavy and intruded upon the comfort of other passengers, but that I was down 60 lbs and I looked forward to the trip not just because the opportunity to perform overseas was fantastic, but because it made a great goal for me. My current goal is to lose 49.2 pounds this semester and weigh 265 pounds by May 5. That will be a total loss of 182 pounds (basically accounting for my Christmas fiasco), and will leave me with 100 pounds left to lose based upon my original goal.

My recital is next week!

Dad's flying in on Friday to GTR (Golden Triangle Airport, on 82 between Starkville and Columbus). Lorena and Will are coming down on Saturday with their dogs, Kinley and River, and they're staying with me. Mom is also coming on Saturday, since she and Lorena have to coordinate the reception. Meanwhile, I have GOT to write my program notes, otherwise Falcone is going to kill me (she always proofreads them before the recital programs are printed). The music!

Weber's Second Concerto for Clarinet in Eb, mvt. I. Allegro
Gary Schocker's Sonata for Two Clarinets and Piano, mvt. II (with Candice Godwin)
Saint-Saens' Clarinet Sonata, mvts. II and IV
~ Intermission ~
Jamaican Rumba (with Ross Waguespack)
Kuch's Monolog II (solo clarinet, no accompaniment)
Farkas Ferenc's Early Hungarian Dances for woodwind quintet, mvts. I, II, IV, and V (with Beth, Leigh, Rebecca, and Scott)

Meanwhile, I've been needing to practice and get ready and clean the apartment and do so much stuff....that I haven't been doing. Case in point: On Friday night I go up to the music buildings after the Tennessee game (that we just barely lost) around 9pm, all set to practice for at least an hour and a half. Well, turns out it was one of "those nights," so I spent the next three hours sitting around and talking with a bunch of fellow music majors. Then last night I go up to the music buildings around 11:30pm, and I've barely got my horn together when Cody shows up and we then proceed to spend the next five hours sitting out in the hallway till 4:30am talking about anything and everything (it really did not seem like five hours, but it was). Meanwhile, I have only practiced three hours this week! It's not the not ready for my recital, but it can always be better, so with all I have to do today and tomorrow I figure I can get in two more hours, which is low for me (I aim for ten hours a week but I'm satisfied with eight hours of practicing...and I'm serious about my practice time. It may only be eight hours but it's an intense 8-10 hours a week), but that's how it is. My dress rehearsal for the recital is Wednesday night and I hope everything goes smoothly.

While I can cook, I'm so busy that I hate to make time to cook, so here is a simple, healthy recipe that exemplifies what a college student dieter eats.

1 pkg. Voila Three Cheese Chicken
1/2 pkg. of frozen greens (I use mustard greens or spinach)

Combine in large bowl, heat in microwave on high for 12-13 minutes, stirring twice.

Divide in half and serve with 1 Tbl. of parmesan cheese on top of each serving.

370 calories for a heaping bowl with lots of vegetables. That's about as complicated as I get, and I think it's tasty, especially considering how easy it is to make.

I finally joined the choir

2008-01-11T00:35:00.000-08:00

After years of wanting to do it but feeling like I didn't have the time, last fall I auditioned and I have FINALLY joined the concert choir. Of course, the choir is awesome, and the director, Dr. Lesley, is the bomb-diggety. Seriously, we have an amazing choral program at MSU. I have a lot of work to do with singing hard palate and getting it in my resonator (I am absolutely a throat singer), but it is inspiring to hear such high quality voices all around me. I am in the concert choir, which is the general choir of 140+ voices, and Dr. Lesley also does the Men of Maroon and White, which is the men's choir, so I'm in that too. Singing is just so much more fun than band is.

Other than children's choir (Cindy Haney had the patience of an absolute saint), my only real choir experience has been at First Baptist. I sang in the youth choir Exaltation as a senior in high school, and I've spent a few summers and Christmas breaks with the adult Celebration Choir. Singing in a well balanced choir (the concert choir has almost as many men as it does women) and singing with good singers is a humbling experience. The sound is incredible and it demands that I must become better.

By the way, Ryan was absolutely right to force the choir to sing without music. Our choirs at MSU do it, and it really does make a tremendous difference because it frees the singers from staring at notes and words and connects them both with the leader and the audience. This enables the choir to sing much more musically, and while I love to have an orchestra, An Athens Christmas (at FBC) this year was the best I've ever seen. The choir was freed so that they could sing out and be much more expressive and moving.

Despite the grumbling here and there about old people having trouble memorizing music and why is Ryan making us do this and whatnot (well, they've never actually referred to themselves as old, but that's what it looks like from my side of 30), he was right in that the choir had become accomplished enough to sing without music and that memorizing all that music was worth it. Believe me, IT WAS WORTH IT.

Back to me. My Mondays are going to be awful, but choir will be the highlight of the day. For example, my Monday schedule:

10-11 am - Advanced Conducting
11-12 pm - Music Theory IV

1-2 pm - Clarinet lesson
2-3 pm - Clarinet choir rehearsal
3-5 pm - Wind ensemble rehearsal
5-6 pm - Concert choir rehearsal
6:30-8:30 pm - Community/Concert band rehearsal (I am required to play a secondary instrument in this because I am in Advanced Conducting).

Meanwhile, on YouTube I happened perchance to venture across some videos of a fantastic men's a cappella group called Straight No Chaser which was a student group founded in 1996 at Indiana University Bloomington (which has one of the finest undergrad music programs in the entire country).

12 Days of Christmas

Straight No Chaser (original theme song)

Lion Sleeps Tonight

At the MSU Music Department Discovery Day, Jan Grissom, our resident opera star (she's sung with the Met in New York) gave me a really nice compliment. I performed that day during recital hour (so our department could exhibit its best music majors), and the piece that I performed was Weber's Second Clarinet Concerto, first movement. Since it is a concerto it has several orchestra tutti sections where I'm just resting and not playing. Just...for fun, really, I looked up and surveyed the audience while I wasn't playing. I guess I did it really well because afterwards Ms. Grissom complimented me on how well I connected with the audience and how she hated to see instrumental majors hide behind their stands and avoid eye contact while playing. Watching the Straight No Chaser videos really made me aware of how much body language and a connection with the audience can affect how well you sell a piece to your audience. This is really wordy and not very succinct but in particular I really thought that their theme song (Straight No Chaser) is a classic example of how musicians who love their craft and enjoy performing can bring that out on stage and share it with the audience.

You can watch more Straight No Chaser YouTube videos here and order their concert DVD here (just doing my bit to help push the viral marketing along).

Meanwhile I gained weight during my extremely lazy break but I am very glad to be back in Starkville and back to my weight loss routine. I'll have the final sordid numbers on Monday. There is one good number that I can report, however. I had a 3.75 GPA lasyt fall, with Bs in only Music Theory III and Ear Training III, but I passed my proficiencies in both classes so I am DONE with all five of my proficiency exams.

Oh yeah, my junior recital is in Bettersworth Auditorium in Giles Architecture Building Sunday, February 10 at 3:00 pm. Click here to find Giles (it's directly north of the stadium). But, for Alabamians that are unable to make the three hour drive to Starkville (from Athens), Greg Glaze has graciously agreed to give a recital with me at First Baptist this summer, probably in the first of half of July.

Good news and bad news and just plain old news

2007-12-11T20:39:00.000-08:00

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS 149 POUNDS.
On Monday, December 10, for the first time since about 8th grade I weighed in under 300 pounds. Monday was the last day of exams at State and it was the last weigh-in for the semester.

Good news:
Weight: 298.0 pounds
Goal: 297.0 pounds and a loss of 39.6 lbs
Actual Result: I lost 38.6 lbs which was 97.5% of my goal

(note, this goal was actually reduced seven pounds from my original goal of losing 46.6 lbs midway through the semester when I realized that I needed to take a new approach to my weight loss and that I was never going to make my original goal).

The new approach that I have taken is to record EVERYTHING that I eat. I record the what I ate, what meal or snack or excuse it was, the time, the place, and the calories (which sometimes have to be estimated). I'm aiming for 2000 calories a day or 1500 if I've had a bad day previously (but I get hungry at the 1500 level)

11/19 - 11/27 - 2749 calorie average, -4.0 lbs (incl. Thanksgiving at Lorena's)
11/28 - 12/03 - 2097 calorie average, -5.0 lbs
12/04 - 12/10 - 2472 calorie average, -3.8 lbs (incl. Music Dept Christmas Party)

Other interesting little factoids:
I swam 27.84 miles this semester
I walked for 57.5 hours.
I lifted weights 16 times (averaging only about once a week, need to do better on that)

Bad news:
After nearly making my goal yesterday I ate way too much food and today I've done even worse. I feel bloated and tired and I am not pleased with myself, but hopefully taking two days off from dieting isn't setting a bad precedent for this Christmas break. I'm overeating, but not particularly awful foods, just too much.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Krispy Kreme (unless they're glazed, hot, and fresh). I've basically given up ever eating donuts (I prefer Dunkins).

In fact, I was proud of myself for one thing. I went to Wal-Mart on Sunday night to get some stuff, and at the end of my shopping I went over the freezer section and contemplated getting some Ben & Jerrys or Häagen-Dazs and a frozen pizza (there's a thin crust one I like that doesn't have a ridiculous number of calories in it)....but I didn't. I just didn't feel like I needed junk food to celebrate a milestone. I did buy a can of Wal-Mart brand Deluxe Mixed Nuts, which are extremely energy dense (but nuts are good for you) and a bar of Hershey's Select Reserve 65% Cocao with Cocao Nibs chocolate bar. But that was it.

By the way, I don't understand why the chocolate bar said it had 530 total calories in the bar, but there were only 2.5 servings of 180 calories each in the bar. That adds up to only 450 calories. I believe that 530 is probably right, so that's what I recorded in my food journal. By the way Hershey's Cacao Reserve: Extra Dark Chocolate (65% cacao) with Cacao Nibs bar is excellent and available at Wal-Mart for $1.97 and is recommended by Consumer Reports (which is where I found out about it). It has milk in it, which is unusual, but it has a very complex, rich taste, and the taste varies, sometimes being almost bitter, other times very fruity, and at all times intense. Very Good Stuff.

Other news:

I am so glad I've lost weight otherwise I would not have been able to be a Renaissance clarinetist today (there is no way I would've been able to get my tunic on). Beth (bassoon), Scott (oboe), Rob (guitar), and Dr. Peterson (MSU's double reed professor) and I played at the Tea Room today for their 12 Days of Christmas series, and we're doing the same thing again tomorrow. The Tea Room is on Jackson Street, just north of the Delta Chi house, and is a charming house built in the 1920s and is really fancifully decorated inside (it is definitely a ladies' kind of place). But we had a good time and the patrons got to hear good music, most of it Christmas carols. And the food was great (especially the spiced iced tea, which was unsweet and didn't need any sweetener), as we follow the undergrad music majors' motto, "Will Play For Food." It's true that having a small plate and a small fork can help you feel more satiated (these plates were even smaller than a salad plate).

"I am not a merry man!" (to quote Worf on ST:TNG)
From L to R: Dr. Peterson, Me, Beth, Scott, Rob

Photo courtesy of Elaine Peterson

Why I never seriously considered weight loss surgery

2007-12-09T20:53:00.000-08:00

I personally support anyone who needs weight loss surgery (WLS) due to health problems or massive obesity that the person can't deal with. For some people it will change their lives immensely for the better. But it wasn't for me.

1. Weight loss surgery is expensive.

It ranges from about $25,000 to $65,000 if you have to be re-admitted due to complications. When I peaked at 447 pounds it's possible that my insurance would have paid for the surgery (unlikely, though, because it wasn't the greatest insurance), but there are still too many out of pocket costs to make it reasonably affordable.

2. The side effects include a very real risk of DEATH.

It's a proved fact that fat people are more likely to die in car wrecks and on operating tables. WLS has improved and become less invasive over the years, and some of the procedures (like lap bands) are less drastic than others, but the list of complications is long and varied and too many people suffer terribly from them. They include a real risk of death, anesthesiological complications, torn staples, infections, blood clots in the legs, gall stones, bleeding ulcers, pneumonia, hernia at the incision site, vitamin deficiency, permanent intolerance to certain foods, and hair loss.

Not to mention that I like breathing and I would prefer to continue in this fashion for a long time.

3. The impact on my lifestyle would be too harsh.

No thanks. I want to be able to eat a pint of Ben & Jerrys if I feel like it or eat a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house (she has taught herself to become a fabulous cook). Why would I want to forever deny myself her outstanding pumpkin cheesecake, her delicious potato casserole, or limit myself to just 2 oz of her flavorful turkey and none of her cornbread dressing? I've read too many horror stories of post-gastric bypass patients eating too much sugar and puking or simply eating too much and feeling awful. That's not for me.

Not to mention the fact that WLS usually results in massive and rapid weight loss. Since I was 22 when I started reducing my skin still had a good deal of its elasticity still intact, but losing weight that quickly is very likely to cause ugly problems with excess skin. That is something that I very much wish to avoid and it's the chief reason why I want to lose weight at a healthy rate.

4. It takes time.

The surgery takes time and the recovery takes time. I suppose that during the summer I could've managed it, but it sure would've been inconvenient.

5. I don't think I would get as many congratulations or as much help from my friends and family as I have gotten if I had chosen that route.

I cannot tell you how much the support that I have gotten has meant to me. From the emails that I got from people in the choir to my aunt Vicki to friends like Marcel, their encouragement has been tremendously motivating. What would they think if I had chosen surgery? Would they feel it was a cop-out and would I be as generously supported as I now am? In the end it doesn't matter what they think, because my weight is solely my responsibility and it's my battle to fight, but their help has been wonderful and I have thrived on it.

Additionally, before I really started losing weight my mother and my sister brought up WLS several times and they both wanted to ensure that I knew exactly how bad the possible complications and side effects of the surgery were. They were very much against it.

But with all that said,

The only person I have personally known who has had WLS was Jeff Bass, and it's done wonders for him. He looks so much better and he seems to have had a successful surgery.

Good stuff

2007-11-28T21:42:00.001-08:00

First, here's a neat documentary made about the Famous Maroon Band preparing for the annual patriotic show for the Alabama game. I'm in it; look for me in a bright orange shirt.

So who else is upset that Coach O got fired? I was hoping Ole Miss would hold onto Shrek for at least another season. Here's another great Youtube video, this time with Frank Sinatra.

By the way, HOW 'BOUT THEM DAWGS?! I was so pissed off during most of the Egg Bowl because I couldn't stand the fact that Ole Miss wanted the win worse than we did and their players were playing the best game they've played all season. But then our D stopped them on Coach O's dumb 4th and 1 decision to go for it, the crowd got back into the game, and I witnessed the most exciting 7:00 minutes of football at Scott Field and the biggest comeback for us since the 1999 Egg Bowl.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the Music City Bowl in Nashville against Florida State so I can go to Matt and Tracy's wedding in Tuscaloosa on the 29th and because I'd get to see the brothers of Gamma Nu, FSU's KKPsi chapter and their awesome band.

I also got some great support from my friends when I published eight notes on Facebook (you can only tag up to 25 people for each note, and since I tagged 182 people, I had to copy & paste a bit). Here are some of the fantastic comments that people left me regarding me passing the halfway point.

"Cliff, I know I probably haven't told you personally, but this is really great! I'm am very happy for you! I actually noticed you walking last year when I would drive around occasionally at night, but wow...look where it's taken you! Keep it up!"
- LS

"Way to go Cliff!! You are such a rock star man!! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help!! Keep Striving!"
- ER

"that's incredible!!!! I know you can do it... look how far you've come!! I'm here for you, and I'll walk with you if you'd like!"
- JR

"Cliff, I am so proud of you! You have worked SO hard, and I hope you reach your goal. Keep up the good work!"
- JS

"This is amazing work. Your smile says it all, and you deserve every moment of pride for this accomplishment. You make me proud!"
- MM, the National President of Kappa Kappa Psi

"This is so amazing. Every day at band, I am just stunned by how much you've changed. You have done such an awesome job for yourself, and I am so proud to call such a strong and inspirational person my friend! :)"
- AP

"I have been in your shoes! You are MAH-velous. I'm so proud of you. After Christmas, I hope you can inspire me to get with the program. Maybe we can "lose a few" together."
- BB

"Cliff, I am so proud of you. You look great. I was driving and saw you walking on campus and almost got in a car accident because I could not believe how great you look. I know you will reach your goal. AEA!"
- KB

"Pardon my French but damn boy, you look good! I'm so proud of your determination and progress!!!"
- AG

"You know, you've lost an entire ME and then some! Absolutely stunning! Hope to see you soon!"
- DC

"i am very proud of you! i think you already knew that tho!"
- TC

"Congratulations man! I'm very happy for you. It takes determination and heart to set a goal that high and reach it. I know you can do it and I wish you the best of luck. If you ever need anything man, just contact me. Anytime man. God bless you and I look forward to shaking your hand when you reach your goal. GO CLIFF!"
- RG

"You make me strive everyday in everyway to be a better person, great job and happy thanksgiving."
- MW

"i'm so proud of you cliff. keep up the great work. thats amazing that you did all that with just diet and exercise. the people who get surgery are cheaters in my book. have a very happy thanksgiving."
- KM

Cool stuff, isn't it? Now I've just got to do my halftime show (drill using Pyware!) final project in Marching Band Techniques, get my last 10 hours of observation for Practicum and make the Powerpoint "Why you want to be in my band program" (also for Practicum), study for my Theory and Ear Training proficiencies, study for my Mythology final, and get ready for my jury which is next Tuesday, and, oh yeah, go to AUBURN TO SEE THE PI!

HALFWAY POINT

2007-11-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

I am proud to announce that I am halfway to my goal. I have lost 141 pounds in about 18 months, since June of 2006. Today, Wednesday, November 16, 2007, I weighed 305.8 pounds.

It is all downhill from here!

Just this week I've also started employing a new weight loss tactic since my overall strategy needed adjusting (I was trying to just wing it too much). I am now recording everything I eat. Absolutely everything, down to the 3 calories in a piece of Orbit gum or the 5-10 calories in a glass of Crystal Light. I write down what meal or snack it was, where/what/when I ate, and the calorie total. Then I add that up to get my calorie total for the week and the daily average calorie total. I'm hoping this will help me to understand what my true caloric needs are and what my daily goal should be. In the past I've been able to just guess and just "try to eat less," but now that's not good enough anymore. My basal metabolic rate has slowed down since I've lost, how much, oh yeah, 141.2 pounds!

Recording my eating is a pain, but on the flip side, it does encourage me to eat less because if I eat something then I have to go record it in my spreadsheet.

Who I was at the 2005 National Intercollegiate Band in Lexington, Kentucky. I'm pictured here with Hayley Canterbury, the first chair bassoonist of the 2005 NIB who is now a grad student at Florida State.

Who I am now at Katy Ballew's senior recital last month.

What terrifies me

2007-11-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

This absolutely terrifies me. This fellow had bariatric surgery, so he probably dropped his weight pretty fast, and he's older than me (by how much the video doesn't say), but just look at how much excess skin he had. Abdominoplasties (a "tummy tuck") can cost up to $15,000! I can't imagine losing an enormous amount of weight and then still, after so many years of shame and so many weeks of weigh-ins, being ashamed of how I looked.

Almost nothing can depress me more than reading about plastic surgery or watching some of these videos on Youtube.

But on the other hand, here are some pictures of Men's Health Belly Off Club members. These guys don't have a problem with excess skin. I suppose being younger and losing weight naturally without surgery (which is what I'm doing) over a longer period of time are the key factors.

Ryan Hubers, 28 years old
350 - weight before
185 - weight after
6'1" - height
36 months - time required to reach goal

Joseph Huber, 33 years old
547 - weight before
197 - weight after
6'2" - height
Note - Huber did have gastric bypass, which got him down to 450, then lost the rest through diet and exercise. He now competes in long distance endurance events.

Josh Samara, 19 years old
280 - weight before
139 - weight after
5'8" - height
12 months - time required to reach goal

You can read more about these inspiring men and others at Men's Health Belly Off Club

The problem is that even now I can feel the excess skin. I guess the only thing I can do is stop worrying about something that I cannot control and just hope that the skin will tighten up as I cross the halfway point and continue to lose.

...but which will it be?...

It's good to see kids getting their exercise

2007-11-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

Dance class ain't what it used to be. These little kids crank dat Soulja Boy (clean version) and they are crunk. Calisthenic exercise is good stuff.

How 'bout them DAWGS?!

2007-11-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

I am just out of sight on the right

Stadium record crowd of 56,188? Check
6 pick return for a touchdown for 103 yards? Check
No offensive touchdowns now for 12 quarters by UA on MSU? Check
The loudest crowd ever recorded at Davis-Wade? Check
A coach dumb enough to taunt MSU fans about their cowbells? Check
Beating Bama under Shula AND Saban? Check

The sheer shellshocked status of Alabama's fanbase right now? Priceless.

Because everybody knows that "Bama is back" and that "the process" is underway. Everyone except Anthony Dixon, Wesley Carroll, Anthony Johnson, Titus Brown, Coach Croom, and the rest of the Bulldogs!

HAIL STATE AND WAR DAMN BAND!

Photo Courtesy of Caitlin Babb

I was down on the sideline and couldn't see too well, but you could feel the rush as the thundering herd of football players led by Johnson ran by and we were all jumping up and down and screaming and the stadium got going and it just got louder and louder and LOUDER and didn't stop even after he crossed the goal line. Unbelievable! I have a witness that right before it happened I said "we really need a hail Mary fumble or interception or something" and by gosh we got it.

Davis-Wade Stadium, East side

Davis-Wade Stadium, West side
(note that Mal Moore misjudged how many bandmembers the MDB was bringing)

I wished I had known that my sister and her husband had come to the game, because she invited me to tailgate with them afterwards, but I left my phone in the car and didn't check it till hours afterwards. I walked through the Junction on the way back to my car, so I walked under the stadium and exited by the team buses (Alabama's). It took several minutes to get out of the stadium because there was an enormous crowd jamming the gates and there were so many cowbells ringing that I temporarily lost some of my hearing.

Halftime with the concert choir for the annual Patriotic Show

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Babb

Here's another good one. And the best poster of the game.

Anthony Dixon hurdles Kareem Jackson

Meanwhile, I am down 136.2 pounds. I'm finding it a little harder to lose weight now that I am almost halfway to my goal (only 4.8 pounds to the halfway point). I guess my basal metabolic rate has dropped somewhat, although I have added some muscle mass. My biceps in particular are noticeably larger now that I've started using my 30lb dumbbells more. So if I have a bad week it's become extremely difficult to have an awesome week to make up for it (like lose 5-6 pounds in a week). Now I'm just glad if I get my 3 lbs per week.

3 month update

2007-10-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have a simple Wordpad file that I use to track my goals, my progress towards those goals, my exercise totals, etc. I also record my observations about losing weight and how other people react to my weight loss. Here are three months of those observations take from my "Weight" file.

8/08/07 - I'm worrying about having excess skin. I feel like I'm deflating like a balloon losing its air.
Band Camp - So many people have given me awesome encouragement: Ms. Lance, Mr. Payne, the Aarhouses, Katy, Caitlin, Brad...I can't even remember everyone who has been considerate enough to encourage me. I am so glad that my feet don't hurt like they used to and I can tell that I've got a lot more wind than I used to have. I still sweat like a pig, though.
8/20/07 - PLATEAU! Over the last four weeks I've lost every week, but my total loss has been only 4.2 pounds! I'm roughly at the weight now that I was for most of high school, so I wonder if my body remembers being at this weight and doesn't want to go below it? I've read Sandra Dalka-Prysby's book numerous times, and I remember her mentioning it. She said you just have to preservere, not starve yourself, and keep going.
8/30/07 - went to the Sanderson and swam 1000 yards for the first time in years! It felt good, and it's obvious that my weight lifting has strengthened my shoulders and the support ligaments around it because I was able to immediately plunge into swimming laps without any problems.

9/02/07 - I've noticed that I can stand up and cross my legs while standing (sort of), with my ankle over the opposite knee, for example when taking socks off. Couldn't do this before very easily, now it seems natural.
9/03/07 - Excellent news! I'm finally back to losing weight: 7.4 pounds gone in the first two weeks of classes alone.
9/04/07 - Saw Mollie tonight on the way to the Sanderson to swim. She said my weight loss is definitely showing in my face.
9/05/07 - at band practice today Brad told me that when I was dressed up for recital hour (khakis and a black polo), he said that my weight loss was really noticeable.
9/10/07 - the belt that I started wearing on 7/29 has now been taken up to the fourth notch. Sure, the belt stretches a bit with use, but it won't be too long before I need yet another belt.
9/16/07 - I'm very pressed for time and I'm finding it difficult to get in three workouts a week. I've decided to cut it down to two workouts a week, but even then I only managed to lift weights once this past week. If I have the energy, my routine takes about 1'15", but if I'm tired it takes longer and I have a really hard time getting motivated to workout at all. My goal of walking four hours a week is being met, and so is swimming twice a week for a total of 4000 yards.

10/20/07 - I was pressing my hands into my lower back (for no particular reason, really), and as I walked around I realized that I could feel my pelvis shifting from side to side, and my glutes contracting with each step. I felt strange to me because before these simple mechanics of walking were hidden under such a suffocating layer of fat (still plenty of fat to be rid of, but less today than a year ago).
10/21/07 - even less flab around my elbow when I hold my arm straight out. I also put on an old belt today that was in the back of my closet and it was about a foot too long!
10/22/07 - my biceps and more forearms are noticeably bigger. Meanwhile, if you stand perpendicular to me and I hold my arms straight out, the cross-section view of my upper arm looks like a triangle. The top part (triceps/biceps) is wider than the fat/skin hanging down. The good news is that there's less Flabby Arms Syndrome, but less does not mean none. I hope that my skin can manage to just suck back up and look better as I get skinnier.
10/24/07 - Mrs .McClellan was absolutely shocked when I told her that I had lost 131 pounds, and she was even more surprised when I said that my highest weight ever was 447 lbs. She said she never would've guessed that I weighed so much.
10/26/07 - at the I-65 State of Kentucky welcome center, I was around the front of the building when my reflection caught my eye. The walls were completely glass, and under the overcast sky were extremely reflective. I could see myself as in a mirror and I looked much skinnier than in the past. It was very noticeable.
10/27/07 - on the way back from our victory over UK (31-14 GEAUX DAWGS), on the bus I discovered that for the first time in probably a decade I could encircle my wrist with my fingers and actually have them touch. For someone who has never regularly worn a watch because most were too big for his wrist, this is a significant development.
10/31/07 - today Chelsea called me over and somewhat cautiously told me (she said she was afraid I'd be offended, which I wasn't, of course) that when I walked out of Music Building A, she didn't recognize me! She did a double take and it took a second. I think it's hilarious.

I've got lots to write about and I really feel bad for not updating much, but I promise to write more soon. I'm down 132 pounds (weighed 315 last Monday), but I'm a little behind on my original goal of losing 46.6 lbs this semester to get down to 290, so I adjusted my goal to lose 39.6 lbs and have a goal of weighing 297 by December 10, which is achievable. That will be 150 total pounds of weight loss.

Gratuitous picture of Teletha and myself at Katy Ballew's house playing Guitar Hero after eating a delicious dinner and while I was trying to do my Schubert Microtheme project for Theory (that's why I have a pencil in my hand).

Photo courtesy of Teletha Coker.

I've been busy!

2007-10-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I have several blog posts that I really want to write on several different topics but I've been procrastinating. This weekend MSU plays at West Virginia, and no one in the band is going, so I plan to write or at least start a few posts and get back to regular posting. We're in the the thick of things (midterms were last week) right now and I am extremely busy.

For example, take last Monday:

6:00 am - wake up, brush teeth
6:40 am - hit the pool, swim 2000 yards
8:30 am - be a little lazy, get breakfast, sit in the recliner and think for a while, read stuff on the internet, clean up a little bit
11:00 am - music theory
12:00 pm - lunch in the hallway (I bag my lunch almost every day), no practice rooms were available
12:20 pm - practice clarinet in one of the band hall practice rooms
2:00 pm - clarinet choir
2:40 pm - massed woodwind ensemble rehearsal on the Adagio for Strings. It was awful, the flute choir was seriously overbalancing the rest of the ensemble
3:15 pm - back to practicing in the band hall
4:30 pm - Caitlin Babb knocks on the door just in case I had passed out. I appreciated her concern, but the reason why I was lying facedown on the floor was because I needed a nap. And some caffeine.
5:00 pm - marching band rehearsal
6:00 pm - went walking for 45 minutes (it was a gorgeous early evening)
7:00 pm - quickly devoured a salad from Chick-Fil-A in Shellie's office
7:30 pm - woodwind quintet rehearsal
8:30 pm - practiced clarinet for about an hour
9:30 pm - walked for another 45 minutes
1:00 am - finally went to bed after doing homework

Mondays aren't even my busiest days (those are Tuesdays). Keeping busy does help me stay away from the refrigerator and when I'm on campus I don't want to leave and go grab fast food or anything. Sleep deprivation can easily rear its ugly head, especially if you have several days in a row like last Monday. For the first time this semester I actually skipped class the day after, missing Marching Band Techniques at 8:30am and then Mythology at 9:30am on Tuesday. I got the MBT assignment from Katy and the Mythology notes from Bart so I should be good to go with that.

I know this is a bit of a lame post, but I've got to study my mythology notes for our test tomorrow and go practice 1'15" on my clarinet as well as get some work done on the music theory microtheme project (rough draft due Friday).

I'm down 130.4 pounds, which is 4.6 pounds behind where I should be on my schedule, so I need to step it up.

MSU-Auburn 19-14

2007-09-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

It has been six long years since MSU last defeated Auburn (there was a four-year stretch, 1997 to 2000, where we beat them every single year). In fact, in the last three games we've had only ONE offensive touchdown. And I almost hate to see Auburn stumble, because I want them to crush the Alabama fanbase's dreams of returned glory under Nick Saban. Six, anyone? But still, after getting shut out in the last two MSU-Auburn games, it was nice to win one. We were on the edge of our bleachers, thinking that we were going to lose until the last minute of the fourth quarter came around and the Auburn receiver missed the last pass. Surely we would find some way to lose (we always do, even to MAINE and post-Katrina TULANE). But we pulled it out, and this somewhat makes up for the victory over Alabama that I MISSED last year because I didn't want to drive my car to Tuscaloosa for the game and deal with gameday traffic, then have to drive up to Athens to play in a community band concert.

I like Jordan-Hare Stadium.

And you would think that I would learn to wear sunscreen for these 11:30am MSU-Auburn games that I (he who "never" burns) always get the left side of my neck and face and left arm sunburned.

Of course, THE best thing about going to Auburn is the AUMB. Auburn's band is so recognized that they don't need a fancy title like Famous Maroon Band (although we justly deserve it after our resounding victory over Alabama's pre-Million Dollar Band in 1926). Auburn University Marching Band will do nicely. They have new uniforms this year that look really sharp and modern, and the drill is clean and pregame is exciting as always. The funniest thing happened at halftime though...a football game broke out at the largest Taylor Hicks concert ever (not a fan). We were disappointed that we couldn't hear the band very well because they played the whole show to the front sideline. But the new sousaphones and the silver trombones looked great. I heard several members of our pep band commenting on how good and uniform they looked.

Dr. Richardson, please bring back the band A!

Allison Helms, President of Pi Chapter, and myself with the flag that Pi gave us.

Photo courtesy of Darren J. Kinnaird.

Of course, the primary reason why the AUMB is so cool is because of its members, particularly those of the Kappa Kappa Psi persuasion. The Pi chapter at Auburn was founded a few years after the Epsilon chapter of KKPsi at Mississippi State was founded, and the brothers of Pi are just AWESOME. I know I really need to write a post about the national convention, which is the week where I truly began to appreciate the sheer awesomeness of their chapter, but I'll get around to it eventually. Their chapter is charging ahead and does great service for their band program (which is the chief purpose of KKPsi), and they were a national leadership finalist this biennium (ten chapters selected as finalists out of almost 200 active chapters. It was quite an honor. Maybe you guys'll win next time). Their chapter gives me the feeling that I would have been as happy at Auburn as I am at State. That's not something that I would ever say lightly.

Jordan-Hare's massive new videoscreen. It was pretty sweet.

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Babb.

It was so nice to see their brothers that I really hated for Auburn to have to lose in order for MSU to win. But a win is still a win, and after Gardner-Webb next week (who? yeah I know), MSU should be 3-1. When's the last time that's happened?

Pi and Epsilon at the 2005 MSU-Auburn game.

Photo courtesy of Kristen Kana.

As always, Auburn truly has just about the best fans in the SEC (I think they tie MSU fans for graciousness and character), and the orange-out of the stadium looked great. It was a long day (we met at the band hall at 5am, and got back around 8pm), but it was totally worth it. Their mega-sized new HD videoscreen looks fantastic as well. And I always enjoy the bus ride down the wrong side of the road going into Auburn (police escorts, of course). It's fun to whiz by the Auburn fans waiting in traffic.

I can't wait to go back down to Auburn for ritual because I have a gift for their chapter that I really couldn't bring to a football game (and that's all I'm going to say about that until the appropriate time). This year they gave us a beautiful blue Auburn flag, signed by their chapter, which is really wonderful because the last flag they gave us was stolen from the chapter. In the picture below I'm holding the banner that their TBS chapter (national band sorority) gave us as well, since we don't have a TBS chapter at State.

Pi and Epsilon at the 2007 MSU-Auburn game.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Lakin.

By the way, I lost 4.8 pounds last week which brings my total loss up to 124.2 pounds. Beat that!

A little MSU eye candy

2007-09-06T16:40:00.001-07:00

You know you're getting old when you'd almost rather stay home and practice, exercise, and study rather than go to New Orleans with 300 friends, spend the night at the Marriott on Canal St., and maybe actually beat Tulane the next night in the Superdome. We leave Friday at 1:15pm and are scheduled to return Sunday morning at 2:45am.

This was actually pretty cool. Christy Chapman, a senior art major, did this as a project last spring and it was built in front of the State Fountain Bakery.

Our university president, Dr. Foglesong, is a retired 4-star Air Force general and he is still T-38 qualified. Here he is (on the right) with the two other pilots of his three-ship formation at Columbus AFB before an MSU game flyover.

Dr. Foglesong and the university PT-17 Stearman that MSU has owned since 1950 (it is a 1942 model) with a 450HP motor. He flew this one in a flyover at a game last year

Bully (currently TaTonka Gold) before the 2004 MSU-Florida game when we shocked the nation by beating #20 Florida 38-31. As a result, Zook got Croomed (losing to us is dangerous for your coaching career).

2007 Cowbell Yell before the LSU game opener. It was a pep rally in the Junction televised by ESPN.

What better way to celebrate your 30th birthday than in Left Field Lounge at Dudy-Noble Field on Super Bulldog Weekend with your six year-old son? They actually make the hair work (some MSU fans try this and look ridiculous).

Bully doesn't look too happy having to pose for his Christmas publicity shots (seen here with his trainer). I firmly believe that we have the best live mascot in the nation (sadly, live mascots are dwindling in number).

And of course I can't forget to mention the MH-01, the world's first all-composite business jet, built by Mississippi State and Honda. Note the forward-swept wings and the unusual engine placement. You cannot know how disappointed I was when I arrived at State as a freshman aerospace engineering major only to discover that this aircraft is now in a museum in Japan and it's not at Raspet Flight Lab in Starkville anymore.

Now Honda is taking orders for MH-01's commercial successor, the striking HondaJet.

M-State on the field, courtesy of the 2006 Famous Maroon Band.

Swimming

2007-09-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

After YEARS of missing out on one of the best forms of exercise known to man, I am now officially a swimmer again! Last Tuesday I swam 1000 yards (20 laps) at the Sanderson Center's pool, Thursday I followed it with another 1000 yards, and then on Sunday afternoon I swam the full 2000 yards for a total of 4000 yards for the week (my new weekly goal). It takes me about half an hour to swim 1000 yards, and an hour and fifteen minutes to do 2000 yards, since some of the strokes are a little slower than others.

Here's what I do: (1 lap = 50 yards)

2000 yards:
5 laps crawl (warm-up)
5 laps breaststroke
5 laps crawl
5 laps side stroke
5 laps crawl
5 laps backstroke
5 laps crawl
5 assorted laps (cool-down)

I plan on doing this twice a week. It feels so good to be back in the pool. My right shoulder was just barely sore on Monday, but I've noticed that since I've been lifting weights the tendons and ligaments and things in my shoulder are definitely stronger than they used to be. In the past, if I began swimming after a long layoff, I could hear my shoulders "clicking" and making sounds and clearly there was something that was grinding away in my shoulders. That doesn't happen anymore.

Swimming is such a wonderful form of exercise because it's easy on your joints (once you've gotten them accustomed to the motions of swimming). It's a good upper body complement to walking or running, and it gets your heart rate up pretty well. I taught myself how to swim more efficiently from reading articles on totalimmersion.net, Terry Laughlin's website. He teaches workshops all over and is a Masters swimmer himself. I also bought his first book, but I found the articles to be more helpful. Swimming also increases your flexibility and balance (at least, it will if you're doing it right). I've got a good crawl stroke, decent breaststroke and side stroke, but my backstroke needs work. I don't butterfly, since I'm too heavy for it.

Superb form (mine's not quite this good). Picture from totalimmersion.net

The key to swimming is to remember that hydrodynamics is everything. You will be much faster and swim with less effort by focusing on reducing drag and swimming with good form rather than doing drills and laps through brute force. You should swim quietly since splashing is merely wasted effort and energy. I admit that I take pleasure in outswimming many fit-looking people who go to the Sanderson to swim but don't know how to swim very well (or at all, really).

The Sanderson pool is showing it's age since I last regularly swam laps at least weekly there in the spring of 2003. Back then my goal was to swim 8000 yards a week (M/W/F and either Sat or Sun), but since I ate too much I didn't really lose any weight. It's not not as "brand spanking new looking" as it used to be, but it's still an excellent pool. They use bromine to keep it sanitized instead of chlorine, and I prefer it because while the bromine still dries out my face a bit and gets caked up in my hair, it's still less of a hassle than chlorination.

Sanderson Center Natatorium

Back to school

2007-08-27T11:39:00.001-07:00

And it is good. Very busy but good. I'm worried about getting my hours in for practicum (we have to get 40 hours of observation in actual classrooms this semester), because I hardly know where to begin, but that will get done. Eventually.

The good news is that I'm back to being incredibly busy AND losing weight. The scale was down 4.4 pounds this morning after the first week of class. Yes, thank you, thank you, I know I'm awesome.

MSU and LSU open SEC play this Thursday. Would it be State's biggest upset ever to beat #2 ranked LSU in the season opening game? Since 1990 we've only beaten LSU TWICE in 17 years! Even in the 90s when LSU was terrible and we were pretty good they still were able to beat us. I think we all know what the outcome of this game is going to be, but wouldn't it be nice to win for a change?

Oh crap...didn't mean to do that

2007-08-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, like last year, The Drill didn't seem to be terribly well organized. It was nice to introduce some of the lady Bulldog athletes, and I always enjoy hearing Coach Fanning speak (unfortunately the speakers were turned away from the band and we couldn't hear very well), but it was too LONG.

I felt fine when I walked to the band hall (through the mud) from the music buildings, where I parked my car. I still felt fine after all the wind players of the FMB had gotten lined up on the steps of Swalm, ready to perform. I'm not sure when I started feeling lightheaded, but I pretty quickly realized it would be a good idea to sit down, because if I fainted can you imagine the domino effect that it might have caused? People could've gotten hurt, and I would've really hated to take down Jacob and Greg, the two freshman clarinet players in front of me.

So I sat down and was feeling awful. I'm not sure if I actually passed out or not but I came pretty close to it. Jacob went and got me water, which was really nice of him, but it didn't help. Greg then went and got me a Coke from the Swalm lounge, even though I had left my wallet and phone back at the car because my shorts are too big (Greg I owe you a buck). After a while that started to help. It was a good thing that we were on the steps, because it hid me (mostly...thank goodness I wasn't down in front), but I couldn't really lean back and lower my head, which would've helped.

Apparently the band just about fell apart during the alma mater because the tubas were in the back and apparently not paying attention, but all I heard was the opening measure and then the rest of it was just noise. At one point Ms. Lance FLEW up the steps (having to go around me) hauling it up there to conduct the tubas (so I was told later). She was literally almost just a maroon and black blur because my eyesight was so grayed-out that I couldn't see hardly anything.

After The Drill was over several of the clarinets were fanning me with their flipfolders (don't worry, to whoever hit me in the head, trust me, I didn't even hardly notice), and Katy said I scared her because my lips were blue. But by that time the high fructose corn syrup had kicked in and I slowly walked down the steps and into the Swalm lounge, with Kristina carrying my horn for me. I laid down for about ten minutes, drank my Coke, and felt better. I was a little depressed about the lack of weight loss over the summer, so all I had for lunch was a Lean Cuisine and some peas, and I had drunk a big glass of Crystal Light lemonade around 3pm, and I thought I was fine, but I guess I was dehydrated and had low blood sugar. Ironically, I remember in high school that it seemed like it was the skinniest people who tended to get light-headed during practice, and not those like me (smaller than me, too).

This was the first time in awhile that I had had Coca-Cola Classic, and I didn't really care for it, but I needed to drink it so I did. Kat was kind enough to bring me a cup of Dr. Pepper, and I carried it with me all the way back to my car, just in case I needed it, but I took a sip of it and just couldn't stand to drink it. My taste preferences have definitely changed. But thank you Kat and Greg and Jacob and the girls that fanned me (I'm not really sure who all it was besides Katy Ballew). Thanks guys, you made it much less embarrassing.

Now I just have a terrible headache and I'm going to bed. Good night.

Summer Failure

2007-08-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Well, today was weigh-in day for Summer 2007, and I got the first D of 2007.

My goal?

Lose a measly 20.8 pounds (over the same time period in the spring I lost 45 pounds).

The actual loss?

14.2 pounds, which was 68.3% of my goal.

I just haven't been disciplined enough on the eating side, although I've been doing fantastic with the walking and pretty good with the weight lifting. I have no excuse, but I did realize that I am now at the weight where I was for most of high school, and I wonder if my body remembers being at this weight for a while? I have definitely plateaued, and I've got to get back to losing. I'm almost despairing looking at how well I did nearly every single week during the spring, and then comparing that to how poorly I did nearly every single week during the summer.

Time to get back to work.

My goal for the fall is to lose 46.6 pounds and be at 290 lbs by the end of school, December 10. My overall goal for 2007 still is to lose 150 pounds before 2008, and I will achieve that goal.

Me eating an ice cream cone at Andy's real ice cream social instead of dieting.

Photo courtesy of Caitlin Babb.

BUT, on a much more positive note, I thought my tryout for wind ensemble this morning went pretty well, and Ms. Lance was quite complimentary, saying "you've improved in several areas." I'm also glad I've lost weight because there's a back to school newer tradition at MSU called The Drill, which is basically a back-to-school pep rally. The president's band called Bark plays, Dr. Fogelsong (the president) gives a speech, Coach Croom gives a speech and gets our hopes up (only to cruelly crush them later), and the marching band plays. Well, we've been getting The Drill shirts to wear for the last few years, and this year the sizes only went up to 2X. Generally I still wear a 3X, but I'm so glad that this 2X shirt fits and isn't embarrassingly small. It shrunk a lot in the dryer after I washed it but it is wearable.

Band Camp, Then and Now

2007-08-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

This week has been my sixth band camp at Mississippi State, and it’s been the best yet. I’ve had cause to look back this week and reflect what my first band camp was like in August of 2002.

FMB Band Camp schedule (then and now):

8:30am – 11:00: outdoor marching rehearsal
lunch break
1:30pm – 4:30pm: indoor playing rehearsal
dinner break
6:30pm – 9:00pm: outdoor marching rehearsal

I was heavier then in 2002 than I am now in 2007, by probably 30-40 pounds. I didn’t walk regularly or lift weights then, so for me band camp was like it was during high school: incredibly taxing. At the end of the day my feet would hurt so bad that I could hardly stand. I’d get in the car, drive back to my dorm, and by the time I got there I’d hardly be able to get up the stairs to my floor because my feet would have cramped up so badly. My ankles would also protest (but my knees were fine). Now I feel SO much better. No more hobbling around in pain.

My feet don’t really hurt at all like they used to. On Monday and Tuesday the arches of my feet were really bothering me, which has never happened before, and I caused me to wonder if my arches had “fallen,” but now they’re fine. I have so much more wind now than I did in the past as well. It’s a good thing that I’ve marched the clarinet for the past seven years, because I had a very poor VO2 max and I had to breathe much more than just about everyone else on the field. That meant that I was contributed less to the band because I just couldn’t play as much with taking breaks in the music to breathe. During band camp we always learn a warm-up drill, and we march it every day to practice the fundamentals, like slides, transitions, and adjusted step marching. Since the warm-up we’re playing this year is the same as it was last year (it’s titled “Mr. Bully’s Warm-Up’), I can really notice the difference between last year and this year.

Speaking of feet, there’s another great thing about being less heavy (‘cuz I’m definitely not “more skinny”…yet). I can stand at attention with my feet firmly pressed together, like they’re supposed to be. I used to underpronate (lean towards the outside of my shoes) when I stood at attention just because I couldn’t get my legs close enough to one another. I also hated to mark time for long periods of time (when working fundamentals) because my legs rubbed together. Now it’s not a problem anymore. I’m still definitely not the band’s best marcher, though. I never will be because I’m just not that naturally coordinated, but being overweight limits how well you can do things like to-the-rears and handle quick step changes. And I still hate jumping jacks during the stretching in the morning (I do 76 jumping jacks at every workout, but that’s in private. There’s just nothing dignified about a fat man bouncing and jiggling all over the place in public).

At the beginning of band camp, I walked into the new band hall (which is beyond glorious) and went through registration, which was very well organized. Ms. Lance was sitting down behind the squad leaders manning the registration tables so we saw each other at about the same time. We shared a moment as we both realized how much weight each of us had lost. She is definitely skinner as well. So of course, since we get fed dinner almost every night of band camp, I had to tease her the night that we had KFC chicken. “Don’t eat the skin, Ms. Lance!” Neither of us did, of course (KFC chicken is so incredibly greasy).

During this band camp I also did something that I haven’t done in about 5-6 years: I went rollerblading! That may sound like a pretty pedestrian thing to do, but for me it was special. My rollerblades had been lost for years (literally) in the garage, and when I cleaned it out last Christmas I finally found them. I brought them back to Starkville with me, and last night, I went skating for the first time in years and worked up a sweat doing it (for the third time that day. It’s been hot outside).

There’s one last thing that I’ve noticed about this band camp, especially when compared to my first. I am a much more mature person and I have much more self-confidence (not to mention much more tact, even though I still like to shock people sometimes [good grief, Teletha does NOT have fat legs!]). It’s been great being a part of Ballew’s Crew (I am not a squad leader, but I have and will thoroughly enjoy marching next to Katy Ballew). I am definitely going to badly miss her next year.

5 foods for dieters

2007-08-11T23:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since I've had a meaningful update (and my Pi post is going to have to wait), so here's a few foods that I've found to be useful as a dieter.

1. Edy's Fruit Bars No Sugar Added (Strawberry, Tangerine, Raspberry flavor). Oh law these are good. They only have 30 calories apiece and the Strawberry flavor is the genuine thing and the Tangerine flavor is nicely tart. An excellent choice for something cold and refreshing, but not caloric. Heck, have two or three.

2. Kashi TLC Chewy Granola Bars, Cherry Chocolate Chip flavor. Generally speaking granola bars aren't good for you. They're basically nothing but sugar and simple carbs, and they have almost zero nutrition. Kashi (who advertises "Seven whole grains on a mission) uses their special blend of seven whole grains in a variety of products, and these granola bars are quite tasty, yet somewhat nutritious. Each bar has 120 calories, 5g protein, and 4g fiber. That's a lot better than your average Quaker granola bar.

3. Daisy Light Sour Cream. Growing up I didn't like sour cream at all, because Mom always bought Breakstone's sour cream, which is ultrapasteurize and tastes terrible, in my opinion. Daisy sour cream is not ultrapasteurized, and the taste is lightyears beyond the ultrapasteurized stuff, and this generally holds true for all dairy products. Regular pasteurized milk is okay, but ultrapasteurized Horizon organic milk tastes metallic and nowhere near as good. Daisy Light has only 20 calories per tablespoon, so it has 1/2 the fat and 1/3 the calories of regular sour cream, and yet it's made of only cream, skim milk, and Vitamin A palmitate. I hardly ever use sour cream, but it's good on tacos (which I hardly ever make, either...tacos used to be a real problem food for me. I would make 10 tacos and eat every single one of them in one sitting, even if I had to absolutely stuff myself to do it. I just couldn't keep myself from doing it, unless I was physically overstuffing myself so badly that I had to stop. Then I would finish them off the next day).

4. Hebrew National Reduced Fat Beef Franks. Hot dogs are another food item that really don't benefit your body. They have a large amount of preservatives (and you really can't be sure exactly what goes into the cheaper brands, either), including nitrites which really aren't good for you, but as a very rare food they're not too bad. These Hebrew National franks are basically their normal beef franks cut with a bit of soy protein. Only 120 calories per frank and 10g of fat. Pair it with a Nature's Own honey wheat hot dog bun (100 calories). Just don't do it every week.

5. Caffeine-free Diet Sun Drop. I confess that I drink too much diet soda, but I must say that Diet Sun Drop is THE bomb. Now I just need to get my teeth whitened. Sometimes drinking a flavored noncalorie soda helps me refrain from eating, because I get the taste of eating something without actually consuming any calories. Regrettably, Sun Drop is not sold in Mississippi. A good alternative is Crystal Light Lemonade. I love that stuff, and it's only 5 calories for an 8 ounce glass.

UPDATE ON ME:

August 20 is the first day of classes and my deadline for my summer weight loss, which is supposed to be at least 20.8 pounds (117 lbs total lost). So, in the next week I need to lose 7.something pounds. The good news is that it's the week of band camp, and as Betty Dean said, if I can't lose it during band camp, it's hopeless. My wind ensemble tryout is also on August 20 (it's a big day), so I think we should know by Tuesday what the chair placements are, so I will definately be updating that day.

Amazing

2007-07-29T20:17:00.001-07:00

I'm tired, so I'm going to bed soon (it took me 12 hours to drive from Orlando to Athens), but first, here are a few pictures. The NIB (60th anniversary) was the best yet, the convention was the largest in history, and the Pi chapter is just awesome. And weigh-in is tomorrow, which should be positive.

2007 Kappa Kappa Psi & Tau Beta Sigma National Convention:

L to R: Jeremy, Rebecca, Sarah, Allison, & myself waiting outside the Hard Rock Cafe.

Photo courtesy of Allison Helms, President of the Pi Chapter of KKPsi at Auburn

Weight Lifting & Men's Health

2007-07-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Weight lifting has so many benefits that everyone really ought to take part in it. It increases your raw strength, increases the durability of your tendons and joints, increases your metabolism so that you burn more calories for up to 48 hours after your workout, it protects against some degenerative diseases like osteoporosis, and of course it makes you look better. We've all seen people that are skinny but who don't look healthy because their muscle tone is poor.

To jog aside for a moment, if you're a man losing weight then I highly recommend subscribing to Men's Health magazine. The magazine has excellent standards and lots of information on weight loss, fitness, and health, and I've really learned a lot from the in-depth articles on health (like articles covering proper running technique to prevent injury, heart disease, depression, and Omega-3 fish oil). Typically there's one of those per article. I also really enjoy the Belly Off Club column which I plan on applying to when I reach my goal. Every month it features a different man who has lost weight, anywhere from 30 pounds to 300 pounds. Their stories are very inspiring.

Belly Off Club

Men's Health is particularly appropriate for men because it focuses on us...many diet books and magazines are written for women, and often they aren't always very applicable to men, who generally have higher caloric needs and would rather read about working out than face the emotional side of overeating (which is very important, and is covered well in Dr. Phil: The Ultimate Weight-Loss Solution).

So, the weight lifting routine that I currently use comes from a special issue of Men's Health that focused on fitness. The article was titled The Last Dumbbell Workout You'll Ever Need. I like it because I can do it at home in privacy. Even though I used to go to a gym in Athens in high school (the Wellness Center) and MSU has a fabulous gym (the Sanderson Center), right now I feel most comfortable working out by myself. Plus, since all I need are two pairs of dumbbells (20 and 30 pound pairs), my workout is portable and I take my dumbbells home (to Athens) with me when I'm going to be there for a few weeks. This routine also works for me because I can do all of the exercises...I can't do regular pushups, for example, because my back isn't strong enough, but I can do girl-style pushups.

So this is my full-body workout that I try to do three days a week:

Current Routine:
25 jumping jacks
16 body weight squats
25 situps
13 girl-style pushups
13 overhead presses (20 lbs)
13 biceps curls (20 lbs)
13 bent-over rows (30 lbs)

Then I repeat the circuit a second time, and then I repeat it for a third time, and I add one rep to each exercise (just because). So in total I do

76 jumping jacks
49 body weight squats
76 situps
40 girl-style pushups
40 overhead presses (20 lbs)
40 biceps curls (20 lbs)
40 bent-over rows (30 lbs)

And that's three days a week. If I rush I can do it in an hour, but usually it takes me an 1'15" or 1'30". I've even taken up to three hours to do it, when I've wanted to get in my workout in "that day" even though I started at 11pm and finished at 2am. I also try to follow the rule of raise quickly and lower slowly (especially with the overhead presses [hold dumbbells in each hand, with your hands by your ears, then push straight up to full elbow extension and lower slowly], biceps curls, and bent-over rows [bend over at waist, arch back slightly, pick up weights in hand with arms extended, pull up as high as you can, lower slowly]). Now I wish I had 25 lb and 40 lb dumbbells because I feel the need to increase the weights.

When I started weightlifting I couldn't do that much, of course. I only did two circuits, not three, and did less reps.

Original Routine:
10 body weight squats
15 situps
10 girl-style pushups
10 overhead presses (20 lbs)
10 biceps curls (20 lbs)
10 bent-over rows (20 lbs)

Musical Goals 2007-2008

2007-07-15T10:36:00.001-07:00

I have become a goal oriented person, because for me that’s the only way I seem to get anything done. One thing that I think separates music education from most fields of education is that we get generous feedback, and sometimes it’s near instantaneous feedback (this can be positive but also negative if you screw up). Watch this video of Paul Potts singing Nessun Dorma from Puccini's opera Turandot in the first round of Britain’s Got Talent. Talk about immediate feedback from the crowd!

So here are my goals for the near future:

1. Get my chops in the shape for the National Intercollegiate Band. The 2007 NIB meets on the 22nd! My lips hurt, my jaw muscles hurt, my teeth hurt…why oh why have I not been practicing like I know should’ve been? The NIB is a national program that began in 1947 and it is run by Kappa Kappa Psi (the band fraternity) and Tau Beta Sigma (the band sorority). There have been many famous conductors and composers (like Carmen Dragon, William D. Revelli, Philip Sparke, Alfred Reed, David Holsinger, John Whitwell, Paul Creston, Lt Col. William F Santelmann, James Curnow, etc) associated with the NIB, which meets every two years, and I have been blessed to be in the 2003, 2005, and now 2007 NIBs.

2005 National Intercollegiate Band in Lexington, Kentucky

2. Make first chair clarinet in the MSU Wind Ensemble. When I was a freshman engineering major I never dreamed that I would EVER have a chance to be first chair in the top group at MSU. After three years of lessons, if I can beat out Ronnie, Claire, and Katy, I can make it (and that’s only after Chris, Marcus, Katie, Cindy, and Michael have all graduated). I have played third part in the wind ensemble for five years and I’m tired of it. It’s time to move up.

3. Give a great junior recital. I am planning a recital for the very end of February or the beginning of March next spring. It will be a junior recital solely by me, and it will be a full hour.

4. Win the Concerto Competition. For a number of years now MSU’s Department of Music has hosted a concerto competition in April open to MSU students to compete for the chance to perform their concerto piece not with a piano reduction as accompaniment, but the SMSUSO, which is the Starkville-MSU Symphony Orchestra. I didn’t make it past the first round in 2006 (won by Katie Ingram playing the first movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto), did make it to the second round this spring (I was one of four finalists, and it was won by trombonist Derek Taylor & the second performance winner was soprano Bonnie Wimmer), and I want to win it next year (2008). I badly want to play Weber with a real orchestra.

5. And last but not least, please Falcone. My teacher is tough, and getting a compliment from her is rare, so you treasure it when she tosses the slightest word of approval your way. It doesn’t happen often (consequently, we defy one of the divine laws of existence: our clarinet studio is more internally competitive than our trumpet studio at MSU).

Sheri Falcone: Clarinet/sax instructor at Mississippi State University

Fat people sweat, Bob!

2007-07-14T00:40:00.001-07:00

My mom has one of the best neighbors that anyone could ever have. If you are lucky enough to ever live next door to as fine a person as Bob McWilliams of Athens, Alabama, you’d better thank your lucky stars that you are so fortunate. I could go on and on, but I won’t, except to say that Bob is more than willing to come feed the cats when Mom’s away on a trip (Lucy takes a pill twice a day), and when Lucy required an inhaler (she basically has feline asthma), he would come over and give her the inhaler when Mom couldn’t be there. Can you imagine that? A neighbor willing to come over and force an inhaler on a cat that doesn’t like it? A cat that has a downright terrible reputation with the vet’s office, no less.

So, back to Bob. His lawn service quit on him earlier this summer and since then I’ve been mowing his lawn. It’s a fantastic way to earn $40, because I’m basically getting paid to exercise (while Mom has a luxurious John Deere riding mower, I use the people's mower, a 5hp Murray push mower). Bob asked me to weedwhack some weeds in one of his flowerbeds, so I got the weedwhacker out and went at it. I actually enjoy cutting down the weeds, and it’s really not hard work, it just hurts my back a bit because the weedwhacker isn’t quite long enough and I have to slightly bend over to use it (thanks for letting me borrow it, Mr. Reeves! Mom has got to get an electric one like yours).

I'd rather be weedwhacking.

So I’m out there having a good old time whacking those weeds, when Bob comes out there and sees me sweating away. I was wearing a light gray colored shirt, so any moisture was immediately visible. It was a super humid day, about to rain, actually, and I was sweating. What’s the big deal? Bob thought I was working too hard and tried to get me to quit, but I kept at it. Eventually I ran out of string and it started to rain, so I had to come back the next day. I was able to weedwhack some more until Bob finally came and pulled the plug on me and told me, “That’s enough, no more!” He just didn’t want me working that hard, but to me, it really wasn’t hard work at all. It’s easier to hold a lightweight weedwhacker than to push a mower, for
example.

Katy, Geny, and Katie modeling our stylish summer uniforms

Photo courtesy of Katy Ballew

Skinny people probably don’t think about it much, but it’s a fact of life that fat people have to sweat to stay cool. To give an example, I hate wearing the “summer uniform” in band, not only because it doesn’t look as professional as our regular uniforms (it’s a polo shirt, khaki shorts of 432 different shades, white socks, white band shoes, and a FMB cap), but really because you can see how much I sweat at a football game. With the regular uniform, you can’t (ah, the magic of a polyester/wool blend), even though the long pants and long sleeves make for a significantly hotter uniform.

Script State

I am tired of being fat and being drenched in sweat from physical exertion even when it’s not that hot or humid outside. The upcoming Band Camp 2007 is going to be my last fat band camp ever.

Encouragement from the choir

2007-07-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

The number one reason why I ever go home in the summer is because I get to sing in my choir, the Celebration Choir of First Baptist Church of Athens, Alabama. It simply is an awesome choir, and it brings more genuine joy into my life than anything else I do. Eating is such a transient, fleeting pleasure, but choir participation, I can assure you, is not.

I am quite sincere about this.

I am a pretty decent clarinetist (but I wish I was just half the musician that Greg Glaze is), but playing in wind ensemble, marching band, orchestra, clarinet choir, woodwind quintet, etc, is fun, but it doesn't touch my soul on the gut level like singing does. I really don't have a very good voice, and you'll never hear me sing a solo (although Dr. Sonya Gable-Wilson tried her best to improve me during my semester of voice lessons), but I truly love singing in choir and fortunately I have a good ear.

For me, I enjoy the clarinet, but I'm at a level where I have to focus so much on improving and getting better and playing everything just right and monitoring my intonation and releases and avoiding grunting and playing with a pretty tone (I try to sound as good as Cindy Wharton; sometimes I succeed) and increasing my range up to the stratospheric super C and preventing the lowest of the chalumeau from sounding buzzy and playing in tune and selecting a good reed and working that reed and putting up with Falcone when she makes faces because I sound so awful and it's a lot of stuff to think about. Choral singing is much simpler for me.

Have you ever seen a more handsome choir than this bunch?

We have a superb choir director named Ryan Leffel, who inspires me (and I aspire to be as capable a teacher and musician as he is), an unbelievably talented pianist named Greg Glaze (who could give Dr. Sebba a run for her money and he even ADDS extra notes to his music to improve it), and real organist named Jane Barnett (one of the funny ones, like Betty Dean. I just wish she had a real pipe organ to perform on), and as a church we're pretty traditional and we sing the good stuff. My favorites are too many to list, but here are some of them: God's Choir, The King is Coming, Do You Hear What I Hear, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Take My Hand Precious Lord, God Is Able, Days of Elijah, The Highest Place, and Battle Hymn of the Republic.

And of course Brother Aaron always used to say that there was no song that the choir sounded better singing than the Hallelujah Chorus and no song the congregation sounded better singing than what I suspect was his favorite hymn, Victory in Jesus.

At the end of choir on June 27, Evelyn Culberson read my prayer request card aloud to the choir, which included a prayer request for Geny Kimbrell as she serves her mission in Lithuania this month, and an authentic Praise The Lord, a progress report that I had lost 103 pounds and I requested prayer support as "I still have a long way to go" (do I ever). The choir broke out into applause! Unbelievable. This was severely encouraging, and I was grateful for it. The first 50 pounds I lost hardly anyone noticed except for my astute friends Shellie and Crystal. As you can imagine, that lack of reaction is discouraging, since as the dieter you're feeling so pumped and proud of yourself but you're so heavy and still so large that people really don't notice.

As always, thanks be to God for His tender mercy and lovingkindess and His decision to lead me to FBC Athens. I wasn't born Baptist but I became one as soon as I was ready for the truth.

Goals

2007-07-08T01:35:00.001-07:00

This is a list of my goals that I have created in my progress chart (using Wordpad, since Word takes too long to start up). My first weight loss, over the summer of 2006, was not recorded until after the fact, and my Fall 2006 weight loss didn't have a specific end goal in mind or a weekly goal. I didn't formulate those until January when I began my progess chart at 396 lbs on 1/9/07.

You'll notice that my goals are arranged around the school calender, since I've had my best success losing weight while taking classes, and also commemorating certain special events. Because I have different reasons for different goals, they overlap somewhat.

W/TWL = Weight & Total Weight Loss

Weekly Goal: Lose three pounds per week.

Spring 2007 Goal: Lose 46 pounds (May 7): FAILED - 45.2 lbs which was 98.3% of goal.
Summer 2007 Goal: Lose 20.2 pounds (August 20). W/TWL = 330/117 lbs.
Fall 2007 Goal: Lose 45 pounds (Dec 12, 2007). W/TWL = 285/162 lbs.
Christmas 2007 Goal: Lose 8 pounds (or at least not gain!). W/TWL = 277/170 lbs.
2007 Annual Goal: Lose 99 pounds to reach 297 by end of year. Total weight loss to equal at least 150 pounds (Dec 31, 2007).

Spring 2008 Goal: Lose 42 pounds (May 5, 2008). W/TWL = 235/212 lbs.
China Goal: Lose 103 pounds from 350 to 247 from May 7, 2007 to the day we leave for China (May 5, 2008). TWL = 200 lbs.
2008 Goal: Be under 200 pounds for the first time in lo these many years: weigh 199 by Dec 31, 2008. TWL = 248 lbs.

Senior Recital Goal: Weigh 189 or less for the recital. TWL = 258 lbs.
Graduation Goal: Weigh 165 by the time I graduate from MSU (December 2009). TWL = 282 lbs.

How I became so fat

2007-07-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

When you see someone that is my size at my age, you have to realize that he has been gaining significantly for years because he's been overeating nonstop by a tremendous amount. For most people that would like to lose 10 or 20 or 50 pounds, that's not what happened to them. It's possible to gain just 5 pounds a year, and go from weighing 150 when you're 25 to weighing 275 when you're 50 without hardly noticing the gaining of the extra weight. Gaining less than one pound a month can over time pack on serious pounds.

But that's how most people realize at 40, 50, or 60 that's they've become obese. It's not my situation.

I have a background of eating like someone who could eventually weigh 500, 600, or 700 pounds, barely able to move. I am fortunate that by grace I managed to reverse the steadily gaining trend. I was skinny as a preschooler, but by kindergarten I was the heaviest kid in my class (60 pounds, and I remember the lightest was a girl named Heather, about 40 pounds).

Obviously, to become like this I ate and stuffed myself and overate and binged and pigged out...you name it I did it. The question is, why?

Yeah, I was cute. When I was seven.

For me, overeating is like being addicted to drugs. It makes you feel good. I do not believe that being overweight is a disease (how can something that is largely a habit be a disease?), but often it seems that it is a sign of emotional problems. For me, I ate to make myself feel better. Eating tasty things was a quick, instant gratification that was pleasurable and never failed me. When I was younger I occasionally had guilt about eating too much, but it didn't generally bother me (for example, one of my most vivid memories of guilt was when I shoved an entire Almond Joy candy bar into my mouth and I immediately was embarrassed and felt so guilty for being such a pig, even though I was alone and no one saw me do it [a recurring theme for me]). I knew that I was gaining, and it's a terrible thing to be overweight from about third grade through college, but I was too immature to do anything about it.

The consequence of habitual overeating, night after night (a time of weakness for me), month after month, for years was something that was so ephemeral, so far away that I was able to dismiss it. It wasn't until my brain physically matured when I was 21 (boys' brains don't stop growing and changing until they're 21 or 22) that I was able to forsake my immediate desire for gratification for true long-term fulfillment later. Years later. Hopefully before 2010.

For example, let's say Tuesday night and I'm at home alone (Lorena's in college, I'm in high school, and Mom's gone dancing) and lonely. Sometimes I solved that problem by calling Dominos, taking advantage of the "2x Tuesday" special and ordering two large Feast pizzas, usually a Hawaiian and a MeatZZa or Bacon Cheeseburger Feast. Typically I would order takeout, then go to the grocery store, pick up some nice sugary soda like Sunkist and get some ice cream, then pick up the pizzas and go home and stuff myself until I couldn't move. I could eat an entire pizza at once. Over the course of an evening, I'm pretty sure that sometimes I ate both pizzas. I can't do that anymore, since my stomach has shrunk a bit, but I used to manage it. This made me feel good, at least for the few seconds that I was actually chewing my food and swallowing. After that I just felt stuffed and bloated and very, very fat.

In the past I could make a big pot of spaghetti and it would be gone by the next day (with just two people eating it). I could make a batch of tacos and eat the entire meal in one sitting (then I would have to hide the evidence that I had cooked, because Mom would despair when she'd come home after work hungry and I hadn't saved her anything).

Starting to show a belly (why the red socks?!)

Of course, this was expensive. My mother didn't really pay much attention to how much I spent, but eating too much is not cheap. Even if you avoid going out, junk food and fast food (I would probably weigh 50 pounds less if no one had ever invented the drive-thru window!) costs money, and I had a credit card based on Mom's account, so I never lacked for money. One month it was so bad that Mom finally noticed and was upset about it; turns out I'd spent $500 that month on food alone and she was complaining (she still shopped too).

Normal people don't do that.

Normal people are able to have someone else's desirable food in the refrigerator and not steal it. I almost couldn't bear to see something good and leave it alone (to my roommate: that's not a problem anymore). I remember one time being tremendously embarrassed by my aunt Lynn about this. We had all had a big family dinner at Old Heidelberg and Lynn had something leftover, so she took a doggie bag home. I was playing the piano when I heard my sister say to Lynn, "better go tell Cliff not to eat that or it'll be gone by the morning." Lynn, you have to understand, was a schoolteacher used to dealing with 3rd and 4th graders, so she marched right into the living room, got in my face, and sternly told me not to eat her food (and of course she didn't mean to make me uncomfortable or embarrassed, she just wanted to protect her leftovers). You can't imagine how embarrassed I was (for something I hadn't even done...yet). Naturally, the next day they left and went home and she forgot her leftovers, so I ate them anyway. Guiltily. Not that that's ever stopped me before.

Helping with FBC Athens' Mission MyTown the summer after my senior year of high school

I've been able mostly to stop overeating due to emotional pain and loneliness, but that still leaves habit. I am very much a "clean my plate" kind of person. Also an "empty the bag" or "devour the entire damn thing" eater. I'm still that way, and it causes me problems. As I mentioned before, my solution mainly is to keep it out of the house. Habit plays an enormous role in how your eating habits/style determine your health and your weight maintenance (or past lack thereof, in my case). I've improved my habits, but I still have a long way to go in that department. Wildly overweight people are generally stereotyped as being weak, and I am. Good food for me is like beer for a drunk or crack for a drug addict. It's not true that I lack willpower entirely, but for so many years I almost had no willpower to resist overeating, and it still troubles me today.

There is a quote that I now try to live by:

"Man was made improvable, not perfect, so strive for the highest."

- James C. Floyd

Founding Member of Epsilon Chapter, 1923
Captain of the Famous Maroon Band, 1924

Walking Part II

2007-06-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Of course it's obvious to everyone that you need to have good shoes if you going to be a walker or a runner. Shoes do wear out, and if you tend to wear yours long enough that a new pair of shoes feel like cushiony blissful heaven when you put them on...maybe that's too long.

Today I went out and walked, thinking I could beat the rain. Naturally, I didn't, and got poured on while walking back to the car (who knew that the Sanderson won't let you in during the summer despite paying $5000+ per year to the university?). So I went home, took my shoes off and put them on top of the water heater to dry, and changed clothes. By the time I managed to haul my lazy self back outside to walk for 32 minutes and complete my hour, it had stopped raining.

Shoeless (I could've sworn that I had other shoes in my closet but I couldn't find them), I went walking around the Drill Field and down by the Junction. It really made an impression on me just how much force even plain walking puts on your feet. Without the cushion of a good shoe's sole, walking on concrete sidewalks is very jarring and you notice it after a while. It puts more stress on your ankles in particular and I could feel my lateral ankle ligaments being unusually stressed. While I enjoyed walking barefoot on the Drill Field (the grey stone pavers that line the newer walkways feel particularly nice underfoot), it's really not worth it.

This is also why you generally won't see me wearing flip flops or sandals, because they don't provide enough support, even though it's been said that in the summer in the South it's actually better for you to wear open-toed shoes. I favor the New Balance 991GL running shoe, which is the most comfortable shoe I've ever worn and I'm on about my fifth or sixth pair. Both of my parents have wide feet, so I like my 991s size 12.5 and 4E width (I was wearing New Balance long before New Balance was cool).

Don't scrimp on your shoes. You only get one set of feet, ankles, and knees, so you gotta make them last.

Walking

2007-06-27T20:21:00.001-07:00

For fat people, it can be unpleasant, but it becomes somewhat easier over time. It is CRITICAL for weight loss. I cannot stress enough that it takes diet AND exercise to effectively lose weight. And one great thing about exercise is that it really does suppress your appetite, at least while you’re exercising.

I have mostly used walking and weight lifting as a two-pronged approach so far (a post about weight lifting will follow). I walk for long periods of time (usually in 15 minute increments, and often for an hour) to help enable fat loss. I measure my walking by hours spent walking, not by mileage accumulated (I have a quality pedometer, I just have never calibrated it). I do tend to amble a bit, and I probably really need to speed it up, but I’ve found that I can make three complete circuits up and down my home street in Athens in an hour, and since one circuit is about 0.9 miles, that means I walk at approximately 2.7 mph. I have an 2GB Black iPod Nano, which fits nicely in my pocket, and I absolutely love to listen to it. I also use Sony MDR-EX51LP earbuds, which are super-comfortable in my ears and have excellent sound for $40. In fact, I grew to enjoy walking around campus so much that sometimes I would have to force myself to practice my clarinet or bassoon first, then walk.

The benefits of walking are numerous. Even though I don’t walk very fast, I’ve noticed that my stamina has been much increased. If Ms. Lance ever reads this I hope she’ll forgive me, but one year I had to drop out of the Starkville Christmas parade. I had forgotten my shako (hat), ran home to get it, and had to park far away and race to the beginning of the parade line-up in order to march with the band. We had almost made it to the church at the end of the route by the time that I dropped out because my back was killing me and I felt like I was genuinely going to faint. It took me about 45 minutes to make it back to the car because my back hurt so much that I could barely walk. Talk about a mortifying experience…

When I started walking, I had a route that I walked near my apartment that took me exactly 34 minutes to walk, and I was out of breath and ready to go in after that. Now I routinely walk for an hour and feel great doing it. My goal is to walk six hours a week (an hour a day every day with one day a week off), and during the Spring 2007 semester I averaged 4.77 hours a week after I established the six hours a week goal, and overall I walked for 71.5 hours that semester.

If you see me walking on campus, one unusual thing you might see me doing would be walking backwards. I’ve been in marching band for longer than I can remember now, and those of you that have also marched know what it’s like to move in every possible direction. Sometimes I walk backwards while I’m out walking because it feels good. It works the muscles in the opposite directions, and when you turn around and walk forward again it feels like you’re a computer that’s been rebooted and has a fresh start. I recommend it, even though it’s a little embarrassing at first (now I don’t care who sees me).

In the past I became terribly winded so easily while climbing stairs. Even just one long flight of stairs, like the one at the south entrance of the Union, caused me to become embarrassingly out of breath by the time I got to the top. I remember one band trip during the 2002 football season when we decided to walk up 10 flights of stairs to our hotel room (that’s about 100 vertical feet) before going to dinner because when 250 (now 300+) people check into a hotel, we tend to clog the elevators. I remember Olin calling after me, wondering how I was doing. He sounded a little worried, but I made it (long after my skinny friends did). It’s been fun to experience how climbing stairs has become easier.

Last spring, some of my friends had a class in Allen Hall at the same time that I had a class, and since this group tends to be chronically early, it became my habit to walk up the stairs to the fifth floor to talk with them before class. At first I could only make it three flights before I had to catch my breath, but now I can walk up all four flights of stairs without stopping, and I recover more quickly once I’m up there.

There has been one downside to walking, and that is that I sometimes get stiff after walking. If I’ve gone a long distance, afterwards my feet, ankles, and knees tend to be stiff and a bit painful. But on the other hand, before I started losing weight I often felt the same stiffness when I woke up in the morning, simply because I was putting so much stress on my joints because I was so fat. That morning stiffness has now gone away, and I don’t always feel stiff after walking. Sometimes I feel so good and I have so much energy that I really want to run (okay, slowly jog), but generally I don’t, because it’s hard on your knees, and there just ain’t a dignified way for a 350 pound person to jog. Your fat bounces, and it isn’t attractive.

If you want to lose weight, you simply must WALK! If you’re severely overweight, it may hurt at first, and if it really hurts, then go talk to your doctor. But I think most people can safely start a walking program since it is a low-impact exercise that’s easy on your joints. Even if you can’t go very far or very fast in the beginning, any start is better than none.

Fear of Flying

2007-06-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

My mother is a pilot and both of her parents were pilots. Grandpa rebuilt a J-3 Cub (which they kept in the barn and flew out of the cow pasture), and he built a brace of ultralights (powered by twin-chainsaw motors driving one prop), so I actually love to fly, and one of my dreams is to become an aviator (hey, it’s the family tradition), but right now I am afraid of flying. Afraid of overloading a light aircraft and afraid of not fitting into the seat aboard a commercial airliner. It may seem silly, but to a fat person these are real concerns.

The last time I went flying with Mom was in 1996. We flew out of the airport in Tupelo, Mississippi, the day that Mom got current with her BFR (biennial flight review). The airplane she wanted to rent, a 200hp Piper Arrow (with controllable pitch prop and retractable gear), had landing gear problems, so we flew in a Piper Archer, which was basically the same plane but with fixed gear, plain prop, and 180hp. We only had half fuel, but with Mom, me, Grandpa, and my sister, we had to have been at or near gross. Did I mention it was hot because it was July in Mississippi? Mom said she could only get 200-300 fpm climb performance, and that’s scary because that is not very much. We flew for about 45 minutes and landed, and I haven’t been in a Cessna, Mooney, Piper, or Beech since then. It’s been way too long.

Piper Archer III

One of my real regrets is that I haven’t flown on a commercial flight in years either. I’ve missed out on a few opportunities because I feel like I’m too big to fly. Last summer I would’ve loved to have gone out to Utah with two of my good friends to see the sights of Salt Lake City and visit our friend Derrick and learn more about the LDS Church. But I didn’t go, even though I really wanted to. I don’t want to board an airplane and be “that guy,” the one you see walking down the aisle and you pray isn’t going to sit by you because you know he's gonna overflow the arm rest.

The last commercial flight I took was with my dad to Dayton, Ohio, where we visiting the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB (a great museum). That was about 2001, I think. We were supposed to fly on Comair jets on the way up, and on mainline Delta jets on the way back, but from Cincinnati to Dayton our plane was changed and we flew on an Embraer Brasilia, which is a 30 seat turboprop. It took me about five minutes to buckle the seatbelt because I really was too big for it. Luckily the flight was only about 30 minutes long because it was a relief to take off that slightly painful seatbelt. I would’ve been mortified if I had had to use a seatbelt extender, especially since I’ve seen flight attendants give the safety demonstration using extenders that were bright, vivid yellow.

It seems silly, but I really used to worry about whether or not I would have to use a seatbelt extender. When considering flying to Utah with Shellie and Crystal, I actually found a website where you can buy your own extender. I think the heaviest weight that I ever flew at was about 330 pounds, and I was able to keep the armrest down and not be too uncomfortable, but I want to get below 300 before I fly again. Maybe for Christmas I’ll fly up to visit Dad in Connecticut since I hope to be at 285 pounds by the end of the fall semester.

100 pounds!

2007-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

I vowed that I wouldn't start my blog until I had lost at least 100 pounds, but I just couldn't wait and I jumped the gun a little. Yesterday, thanks to the Famous Maroon Band exercise plan and a near-total fast, I was down 98 pounds in the morning, 100.4 in the afternoon, and now, on the morning of my birthday, I weighed in at 344. That's 103 pounds lost! I did manage to make 100 pounds by my birthday.

Oh, and Mississippi State's new band hall is 18,000 square feet of glory. Thank you Dr. Lee and Ms. Lance.

Don't bring it in the house.

2007-06-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Just don’t bring it in the house.

This has been one of the chief factors of my success so far, and it partially explains why I have had trouble losing weight when I’ve been home in Athens (Mom, who doesn’t have a weight problem, doesn’t tend to think about this principle too much when she’s shopping). When I’m in Starkville, I do my best to keep foods on hand that are low in energy density and not overly caloric overall. I find that I have much better willpower to resist buying something unhealthy or too caloric when I’m in Wal-Mart or Kroger than I do to prevent myself from overconsuming when I’m at home.

The simple truth is that I have very little to no willpower to regulate how much I eat when I’m confronted with something tasty, particularly things that I am fond of, like sandwiches or ice cream. I also have a strong compulsion to finish things off. I have a real problem with eating part of something and then putting the rest away. In fact, just an hour ago sitting here at the computer I ate way too many fresh cherries. I knew I shouldn’t have taken the whole bowl with me from the kitchen to my desk, but I did and now all of those cherries are gone and I’ve gone past the point of satiation. Fortunately it’s not the end of the world because fresh cherries are about 90 calories for 20 cherries. So maybe I consumed 60 cherries…not a big deal.

If it’s not in the house, it’s much less likely than I’ll overeat on it. It takes time to go out and run by a fast food place or run to Wal-Mart, and that extra effort is much easier to resist than it is when food is only a room away in the refrigerator. For me, I can manage to go to Wal-Mart and fill my cart with generally healthy things, although sometimes stuff tends to build up (like frozen vegetables in my freezer that I buy and then don’t consume…I’ll get around to them eventually).

Of course, if there’s nothing to eat in the house (or nothing that you want to eat, which is a whole different story), it’s easy to go get fast food, which I still do too much when I’m in Starkville, especially since I’m often pressed for time. Strangely enough, I’ve been here in Athens for six weeks now and the only fast food that I’ve had was when Mom and I went to Corky’s in Collierville. I guess that goes to show that habit plays a big role. I used to habitually pig out on fast food. How I ate really was disgusting and embarassing, but thankfully, I’ve stopped doing that.

So give your willpower a boost: if it's a problem food for you (like ice cream is for me), just don't buy it. Out of sight, out of mind (unfortunately this doesn't seem to work when there's Ben & Jerry's in my freezer).

Sabotage

2007-06-19T11:36:00.001-07:00

For the most part everyone that I am around on a day-by-day basis is very supportive of my efforts to lose weight. However, saboteurs still lurk and yesterday (and the day before yesterday) I was struck as close to home as is possible for anyone to be hurt: my own mother was (unintentionally) sabotaging me!

I am addicted to food like many alcoholics are addicted to the drink. I have triggers that I have to stay away from because even though I’ve progressed a long way, I still cannot resist them. Ice cream is one. Whether it’s 1.75 quarts of Breyers (preferred flavor: Caramel Praline Crunch; won’t last more than a day or two if I’m in the house) or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s (consumed in one sitting, of course), I just don’t seem to have the willpower to portion it out over time so that it won’t wreck my diet. I can lose weight, but I have to take a different approach than simply resisting the foods that I shouldn’t eat, because once I get a taste, I have an overwhelming urge to consume the whole thing or overeat until I’m stuffed. My successful strategy for dealing with this is simply DON’T BUY IT! I can resist temptation in the store much better than I can resist it when it’s in the freezer or out on the counter.

So what did Mom do? On Sunday my two aunts (Mom’s sisters) were here, and we had a very nice lunch out on the screened porch with Mom’s neighbor Bob. Mom grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, which is perfectly appropriate, and we had salad and fresh cherries to go with it. I just had a desire that day to eat too much, period (I was even wanting to eat bananas, which is not normally something I lust after), and I ate past the point of comfortableness at lunch, and then proceeded to pig out on leftovers that night. So for the week, when I weighed in on Monday morning (which is my normal weigh-in time), the scale refused to budge and I weighed exactly what I did a week ago: no progress. This was understandable, but what Mom did that night was just not understandable.

She does not wish to keep me from losing weight, but why was she so thoughtless? I was outside mowing Bob’s yard, so I didn’t hear the phone ring when she called to see if I wanted anything from the grocery store, but she stopped at Publix on the way home and stocked up on the most caloric food imaginable. Nothing sweet, but she bought a four-pack of Hebrew National 1/4 lb. hot dogs (these are enormous, with 350 calories apiece and 15 grams of saturated fat per dog), 4 hamburger patties (she grilled all of these today), another package of regular Hebrew National hot dogs, a big container of Publix’s potato salad, and a loaf of Chicago Italian white bread from Publix. None of that stuff is healthy for you and it is all caloric (the bread is caloric because I cannot eat one or two slices; I eat eight in one sitting…at least that’s what I did last night).

I haven’t said anything to Mom yet about her sabotage yet because earlier I was so mad I was ready to say some awful things and really blow my top about it. It’s cruel because it’s like knowing someone is trying to quit smoking and instead of giving them a “go-for-it” gift like a package of Nicorette gum or some nicotine patches, you give him a carton of their favorite brand of cigarettes. I didn’t have a terrible day yesterday, although I did eat half a pound of hot dogs at dinner and later I plowed through eight slices of bread that made me feel mildly stuffed. Calorie count for yesterday was 2607…bad, but at least not off the scale.

So what to do about the fact that Mom has inadvertently sabotaged me? I calmly mentioned it to her, but she wasn’t very accommodating, actually. She said that hamburgers and hot dogs were the only things that she knew how to grill, and she said that I was free to cook myself! Which I don’t mind doing when I’m here, but why buy all of that fattening food? She’s not overweight herself, and although she often complains about wanting to lose a few pounds, she gets compliments from other people who say she doesn’t look as old as she really is.

Greetings

2007-06-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

My name is Cliff Rybick, and I am addicted to overeating.

I will turn 23 next Saturday, and I am pursuing a music education degree at Mississippi State University that will take me five more semesters to complete (yes, in the past I was a dumbass). I'm writing this blog to give people an idea of what it's like to be massively overweight (I hate the term morbidly obese, especially since it applies to me), and what it's like to lose a massive amount of weight.

My personal goal was to lose 100 pounds before starting this blog, but I have floundered the last few weeks and I haven't quite made it yet. Today I weighed in at 352.2 pounds, which is down 94.8 pounds from my personal high of 447 pounds in January of 2006. I lost 16.6 pounds last summer without really trying to in an organized way, but that gave me the inspiration to really start losing for real, and why I began succeeding last fall when so many times before I would lose interest and fail after a week or two, I can't really say at this point. But starting from 8/28/07 I went on to lose 36.2 pounds in the fall semester, gained two pounds over Christmas break, and then lost 45.2 pounds in the Spring 2007 semester. My goal was to lose 46 pounds, which was three pounds a week for the 15 weeks of classes, and one pound over spring break; I didn't quite make it, but making 98.3% of goal is pretty good. Since then I've floundered. I hit a low of 350.8, and right now, six weeks later, I'm at 352.2. I didn't take measurements using a tape measure, but I have gone down eight inches in the waist size of my favorite jeans, Levi's Carpenter jeans, from a 60 to a comfortable 52.

Hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on what it's like to lose massive amounts of weight, what it's like to be massively overweight, why some people get that way, and what others can do to help those that are morbidly obese (trust me, nagging doesn't work). My current goal (reduced twice already) is to lose 20.2 pounds this summer to wind up at 330.0 on 8/20/07, the first day of the Fall 2008 semester at MSU.

Here's a picture of me nearly at my heaviest weight marching in pregame at a MSU football game in 2004. That uniform was one of the largest the band had, with a size 60 waist. I've worn that same uniform for five years now, but thankfully, this fall will be my sixth year in the Famous Maroon Band, and this year I need a smaller uniform.

Here's a more recent picture of me on the right, cropped from the group of MSU winners at MMTA 2007 (the Mississippi Music Teachers Association collegiate competition). I was at 367.4 (in case you haven't noticed, my digital scale is accurate to the 2/10th of a pound). This picture was taken just before the woodwind ensemble's concert, and since I was playing bass clarinet in the clarinet choir I didn't have my horn with me, so the clarinet I'm holding is not my LeBlanc, it's Katy Ballew's lovely Buffett.