When I started IQA – I thought the blog would give me the extra motivation I needed to lose weight – it didn’t.  Before IQA – I tried cycling – I rode my bike three times a week when my commute to work was just under 20 miles each way!  I did that for months even in the Phoenix 110 degrees everyday for months summer and In 2007, I even completed a 735 mile ride from here to Texas, taking 11 days.  I titled the ride “D-Tour” (thanks goes to Aaron Delong for the title).  Still, I never got below 280 lbs.

What’s changed?  I don’t know… I don’t know that anything has changed… I don’t know if this is short term… I don’t know if I will quit again.  Regardless – this morning I looked at the scale and it read 279.6 lbs.  And I haven’t been under 280 lbs in a very very long time.

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

I had a vendor meeting over lunch today – which happens a few times a month in my field.  Most of the time, its at a restaurant where there are always healthly options (for me to ignore) – but today it was an in-house lunch meeting and the vendor brought pizza.  Ugghhh… I can’t eat pizza and I know it but even that fact and my recognition of that fact isn’t the change I’m talking about.

I went downstairs and purchased a salad from the cafe – that’s right I paid for food when free food was available -But even that isn’t what caused me to write a post.  What surprised me was my reaction to the pizza.  Before, I would have either A) eaten the pizza and felt guilty later OR B) Gotten a salad from downstairs while I wished I was eating pizza.

You may think – ok, Dale – you picked B.  But that is not the case.  I saw the pizza – and was immediately put off.  Almost like one of those skinny health nuts that turn their nose up at junk food – I smelled the pizza and thought – ugghh, there is no way I’m eating THAT!

My tastes seem to have changed – if only for this single meal.  I’m going to take it as a win – if only for this single meal.

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

I know its an extra $10 a month Evo Tax imposed by Sprint and I know I will have to pay $30 in addition if I want to use the phone as a hotspot legally… but I don’t care.  This isn’t just a phone – its a blog enabler, a kid cuteness capturing device, a geocaching GPS, a navigation system, an email reader, an mp3 player, a radio (yes, it plays the radio!), a video conference enabler, and a swiss army knife!

Anyway – I wanted you to know, I may already have it in my hands by the time you read this!!!

The study was a long term one attempting to see what the outcome would be for those children that were able to deny themselves for now in order to get what they wanted more in the long run.  A much larger scope than food – but I’m certain for me the two go hand in hand.  I’m an overeater and I would have eaten the marshmallow before the instructor left the room.  Maybe that is where I should start my weight loss journey over – self-denial everyday until it becomes a part of my culture.  Just a thought…

http://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet.html

So – if I uploaded vlog entries – would you bother watching?  I’m not sure that I can maintain any level of content worth watching.  I am a conversationalist.  I enjoy sharing my life through short stories and entertaining those around me.  But, would it be easier for me to create a video blog entry than it is to create a short post?  Maybe.

I have thought about sharing my weight loss struggle in a video journaling fashion, but is that TOO personal?  When I write, I often labor over the right words, the best phrasing, the exact description.  I’ve even changed the wording of a post based solely on my inability to spell a word close enough for spell checker to even understand what I was trying to say.  A video removes all of that dynamic.

Well – I’m sure I will still attempt some level of word smithing.  The worst part of vlog entries is that unlike conversations, I have the ability to rewind and try again.  Seriously – this is a bad thing because it causes me to spend a lot of time scripting my post – something I never do in casual conversation.  And I think a good blog entry looks like a casual conversation.

Anyway – my question is – if I film it, will you watch it?

I don’t even know that I’m closer to understanding the reason for my weight issues (emotional, genetics, thyroid gland, just plain lazy, etc).  I’m active – I work out although its not consistent.  I’ve cycled, ran, walked, even recently started a martial arts class.  I think I know the best way for me to lose weight will involve dieting (or more specifically, changing my diet).  I can work out for an hour and burn 500 – 1000 calories but in as little as 5 minutes I can consume twice that.

Anyway – there is no new ‘umph’, no new push, no new direction.  Not even the frustration is new!  I would say that I want to lose weight like I want to play the piano; Enough to dream of how great it would be, but not enough to actually put in the time and effort required to accomplish the dream… At least I can console myself with mp3′s of great piano solos and think that could be me!

Ok, I didn’t tweet my breakfast – but the rest of its true.  As I’m looking at the HTC EVO (which isn’t out yet), I’m thinking “THAT is my next phone!”.  Then I came across the Sprint Premier members only contest allowing 10 people to WIN an HTC EVO phone AND year of service - all you have to do is give FAST FACTS regarding what I can do really fast in no LESS than 150 words!  Sounds like a blog entry to me, so why not?  But what can I do really fast?

1. I can type about 50 words a minute – but I can cut and past thousands of words in a nano second; does that count?
2. I rode my bicycle over 700 miles in 11 days; I only actually averaged around 10 mph on the bike – but I once took a plane ride from Charlotte to Phoenix in under 5 hours; does that count?
3. I have three kids all under 7 years old – but we used in vitro fertilization and I actually did my part in creating 23 embroyes in one ‘shot’; does that count?
4. I wrote this entire blog post in under ten minutes – but I stopped to play with my kids and didn’t actually hit the post button until over an hour later; does that count against me?

What does any of this have to do with my wildly popular “I Quit Again!” weight loss blog?  Nothing.  Does that count against me too?

As long as I’m here, I may as well give you an update – I have worked out three days this week during my lunch hour and once at football practice.  I’m still thinking about weight loss, but I can’t say I’ve made any progress whatsoever.  I have actually put on 5lbs since I started football 4 months ago.  I truly believe my problem isn’t my activity level, its my eating habits.

Will I ever get my eating under control?  I don’t know but I think its safe to say you will not likely be updated daily in a blog – I have three abandoned blogs at the moment; the family blog, this weight loss blog, and my Bible reading blog.  The truth is, I would do better to find a co-op blog of writers that I would jump in and publish a post on occasion rather than continue hosting my own blogs.  Any thoughts?