Fat Man UnleashedA Weight Loss Blog with Fitness, Health, and Diet Tips

Diet Delusions47 lbs LOSTso farJuly 8, 2008 by Chato B. Stewart | 14 comments

Thanks for the warm welcome To FMU! This was going to be my big week to just start right into the a plan and attack my weight issues head on! But, as we all know, life sometimes throws you a curve ball. Sunday I started out in a better mind set. I think that is where weight loss starts. We have to have it in our heads that we are going to do it and we are going to stick it out… That day I started drinking my water… I will shoot for a gallon a day and my goal was to do that every day this week. I guess I thought it would clean out my system a bit. How did I do? Well, no so good… This week I found out one of my members of my mood disorder support group I ran died… The cause is still under investigation.

This helped start the week at a low point and just added to the depression I’ve been in the last 5 weeks. Come hump day (Wednesday), I got another blow, I found out a business associate and friend died back in April. I did not find out because I was just getting out the hospital and so self-consumed with my own problems I forgot about everyone else.

All This triggered emotional eating and a lot of self-loathing. Added to this the financial stress I’m already under and you have your self a bad week to start any type of diet or weight loss plan.

All week I did, however, think about what I can do to improve and make little changes. I did some exercise in my chair while I worked. So, one positive in a week of negatives but I’ll take that and build on it and make this week better! What about you? How was your week? What kind of obstacles did you have and how did you overcome?
Thanks:
Chato B. Stewart
Mental Health Advocate - Cartoonist - and a few other things!
http://www.mentalhealthhumor.com

“Using Humor to Heal and Educate with badly drawn cartoons.”

Start Weight: 356 lbs
7/5/08 week 1 : 365 Lost: 00 Total: 00

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Wine Expert Unleashed47 lbs LOSTso farJuly 7, 2008 by Israel Lagares | 8 comments

This weeks FMU shirt sighting was at a very well known wine experts web show. I first met Gary Vaynerchuk in Las Vegas during the Affiliate Summit West 2008. He was on a panel for video and the internet. It was rather interesting. Before that I had never heard of him, but I could tell he was passionate about whatever he spoke about. We later met in the hallway when he saw I was wearing a Chad Pennington Jets jersey (Poor Chad…that’s for a whole other post).

I recently sent him an FMU shirt and he wore it during one of his Wine Library TV shows. It looks awesome! It doesn’t stop amazing me how down to earth this guy can be. He has tons of things going on, but still manages to respond to individual emails, tweets, and annoyances like requests to send a picture wearing a shirt (I’m guilty). He took my request a step further and wore the shirt during a filming. Pretty cool, huh?

Aside from running a million dollar business, touring the world, appearing on national television shows, having a family, and changing the wine world, he has a blog at Gary Vaynerchuk dot com. Like most of his Wine Library TV shows, he is extremely passionate on his personal video blogs. I’m not a fan of wine, but I watch Gary’s shows anyway. I think I can watch him talk about anything. Maybe we can get him to tell us, from his opinion, the health benefits of wine. Wink, wink Mr. Vaynerchuk…

Thanks Gary. Keep changing the wine world!

If you would like a Fat Man Unleashed shirt don’t hesitate to buy one. If you see anyone with a Fat Man Unleashed shirt let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email. You can even take a picture of it and send to me (with the persons permission of course). I’m interested in knowing!!

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Psychobabble Introduction47 lbs LOSTso farJuly 6, 2008 by Rock Star Jen | 10 comments

Editor’s note: Rock Star Jen is a new contributor to Fat Man Unleashed. I would like to welcome her with open arms as she focuses on the mental health part of being healthy. Rock On!

Wow. Believe it or not this is my first introduction to the Blogging. I guess you can call me a late-adapter. I’m okay with that. Even though this site is mostly about getting healthy and fit on the outside, I’d like to start a discussion series about getting healthy on the inside. I believe every action, failure and success starts internally.

For me, I consider myself pretty healthy. I try to maintain a healthy life-style because I want to be around for a long time. I’m a nurturer and a care-taker by nature so having someone do the same for me, feels a bit unnatural.

I’d like to pose a few questions:

What steps do you take to get motivated to get healthy?

Why is getting in shape important to you?

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4th of July Diet Splurge or Keep it in Control47 lbs LOSTso farJuly 4, 2008 by Israel Lagares | 19 comments

It’s a national holiday, you’re eating healthy, and working out. What do you do when Independence Day here in the United States is often celebrated by going to the beach/state park, barbecuing up some delicious food, and watching fireworks at night? You have two options. You can either take today as a splurge/cheat day or you can keep your inner desires at bay. Either way, you’re going to need to get over it tomorrow and continue on your regular healthy habits. Today is an anomaly to most folks. It’s a day of celebration, so I can see why some people are not sure how to handle it when it comes to the eating part.

You should probably do your workout routine, that I definitely suggest. Maybe even kick it up a notch in intensity to make up for potentially drinking too many beers full of empty calories or that extra barbecued piece of meat. I for one will be at the beach and then head over to my uncle’s house for some barbecued meats, hot dogs, and potato salad. Ah, I can taste it now. I’m really looking forward to it actually.

Diet splurge for today only. It’s often recommended by trainers and dietitians to reward yourself once a week by either giving yourself a cheat day of cheat meal. I’ve done this. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It really depends on how the rest of my week is going. On occasion if I’m having a particularly awesome week, workout and nutrition wise, I tend to give myself a cheat meal. What usually ensues is a splurging of calories which often leads to me feeling like crap, physically and mentally, and not rewarding myself a cheat meal for months. As weird as it sounds, I like that route actually. It forces me into not splurging for long periods of time, which I will take any day over splurging weekly.

So do you splurge today? I wouldn’t say splurge. Don’t binge eat today. Just, if you feel like it, have that extra hot dog or beer. It’s okay. The world isn’t ending. It’s just one day out of 365 that you decided to relax. You need to go into this knowing that this is only for today, not tomorrow or the day after. ONLY today. Tomorrow you are going to work out and go on with your life like if today didn’t happen. Make sense? Good. So go eat some hot dogs (Nathan’s are my favorite), burgers, chicken and throw back some beers. It’s okay. Besides if your body is used to eating healthy and in control, it won’t let you do too much damage today. It’s going to self regulate, which is good. You’re going to get full pretty quickly. Don’t believe me? Try it. Let me know how it goes. Seriously, let me know how it goes.

Keep the eating in check. So you decided you wanted to keep it in control instead? Are you one of those beginners or weaker people that once they let go, they lose control? No worries, like I just said the body will self regulate if you have been eating healthy for the past few weeks. It won’t let you stuff your face too much before you start feeling like crap physically. Still don’t want to take the chance? That’s cool. Just make sure you stay away from the barbecue pit, the food table, and anyone that is going to be throwing food in your face. Grab your piece of chicken, or meat, and enjoy it with some salad. Add some water to the mix and you will be just fine. Just keep drinking water and conversing with other people at the party. It’s crucial that you don’t skip a meal. If you do you are going to get hungry later, and that may lead to binging or bad choices in what you consume.

Anyway, I need to head out to the beach and enjoy the sun while I can. You be safe today and remember: today is today, tomorrow is tomorrow.

The last few weeks have not been as good for me nutrition-wise, but I will rant about that in a different post. Today I ‘m just going with the flow and will probably be consuming more calories then I would like, but I’m gong to make up for it tomorrow and the rest of the year.

Live a little, it’s Independence day for crying out loud!!

*Photo Courtesy of Mr Magoo ICU

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Smoothie King First Impressions and a Contest47 lbs LOSTso farJuly 2, 2008 by Israel Lagares | 32 comments

UPDATE: Contest has ended. The two random winners are Terri Wells and Luisa. Emails sent. Congrats!
My First Impressions of Smoothie King
I love giving stuff away, I just love it. Especially when it’s not mine. I’m not likening myself to Robin Hood or nothing. I’m just saying, I like giving stuff away. Recently, Smoothie King contacted me about trying out their brand of specially blended smoothies. I had never tasted one and figured this was the perfect chance to see what all the smoothie fuss was about. Note: I say fuss because I have been seeing and hearing about smoothie-madness for quite some time.

Their representative sent me a thank you card and a $25 King Card gift card that I could use at any Smoothie King. I’m in the Florida area and decided to have a smoothie for lunch. I originally wanted to record my entering the store, all of the inside and the staff on camera as they prepared the drink, but the store manager was too scared to let me record without the owners permission so I didn’t get to do that. Little did they know that I was going to give them a shout out, with address and everything. Oh well. Moving right along.

The store is packed with a bunch of health supplements, protein powders, weight loss pills, and of course, smoothie making materials. It’s a huge cross-sell factory, which isn’t necessarily bad considering they are catering to health conscious folks. I can now see why they have smoothie stores next to gyms. It’s a one stop shop for protein shakes and supplements. Forgot to take your creatine? No worries, hop into your neighborhood Smoothie King after your workout for a shot of creatine, or whatever supplement you need. It’s a smart concept actually.

Okay, so after I tried my very best to decipher their menu, I just gave up and asked the girl behind the counter to give me something with protein and chocolate. She said The Hulk would be good. So I had a Chocolate Hulk. Now the ingredients in it made the drink have way more calories (approximately 919 calories for their 20 oz cup) than I would normally allow for a shake, but it was my lunch and 2 snacks replacement for the day. It doesn’t help that it’s their weight gain shake either. No worries. I lived to tell about it. And after you see my video below, you will tell it was well worth it. It’s one of the best tasting protein shakes/smoothies I have ever had. Not something I would do often though.

After buying the shake I still had some extra money on the gift card so I purchased a few Pure Protein bars and called it a day. It’s important to keep in mind that I purposely did not order a shake with fewer calories. I could have easily ordered a “skinny” or something with a lot less calories like a Low-Carb Chocolate. Smoothie King has a list of nutritional information on their different smoothies that is worth taking a look at. It’s also important to note that you should always ask about what you are about to consume. In this case I didn’t really care because I was excited about tasting the smoothie, but if you are not sure about ingredients or calories…just ask the staff or ask for a nutritional guide. Do your research and stay informed.

The Smoothie King Contest
So, either you managed to get through my way-too-long Smoothie King nonsense above or you skipped right down to this part because you only care about the contest. Either way, thanks for visiting. Time for the contest right? It’s pretty simple.

The video explains it. Watch the video. Watch the video, now. Please buy my product.

For the video impaired, the contest is short. It will last one week from today and all you have to do to enter is leave a meaningful comment below. Two lucky winners will each win a $25 gift card to Smoothie King. I will choose the 2 winners based on who I feel left the best comments, sprinkled with a little bit of randomness. Thanks!

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