Go

So, we've been running lately. You know that. And I'm having a great time. Lost 6 pounds. Net. Which, of course means I've probably lost 11 lbs of fat and gained 5 lbs of muscle.

So what I'm wondering is, why haven't I been able to do this before? And why has it always been that when I exercise, I can never exercise more than say, 3 months at a time?

Unfortunately, I can't answer that.

But I'll say two things. One, it's been helpful to have someone to exercise with. Someone I'm not embarrassed to exercise with. Someone I can talk about "exercise" with. And two, I'm realizing now that it gets infinitely easier once I've achieved something. Once I'm impressed with myself. Now that I'm saying, "Holy crap, I can't believe I can run 5 miles (without throwing up)," I want to run 7 miles. And even though I was miserable "training" for that 5K we ran a month ago, after I had actually completed it, all I could think about was going out again the next day.

So maybe that's the secret. Find a way to impress yourself. Feel like you've kicked some ass. And keep finding new ways to kick some ass. (Start with a small ass though, and work your way up.)

Maybe that's it.



PS. For the record, I'm finding that to be a "runner," you don't really have to run that hard. For more than enough people, the goal is just to finish. Run for 30 minutes, who cares the distance. Run 3 miles, who cares the pace. In fact, if you can't talk comfortably while you're running, you might very well be running too hard. So bring a friend. And talk. And go.

Vegans

Grabbed this one off the Chive.

The Neverending Story

I can't figure out why anyone's surprised. They couldn't have been more explicit from the very beginning. The story is neverending. It's right there in the title. Anyway, there are rumors that the Neverending Story is going to be remade. From what I understand, it's intended to be a modernized version of the original, including some sections of the book that were skipped.

Let's just hope this one is better than Neverending Story 3 (a young boy must restore order when a group of bullies steal the magical book that acts as a portal between Earth and the imaginary world of Fantasia). One of Jack Black's finest films to date.

Vandalism: Sometimes It's Funny

Blog Theft!

Now that I don't have Grandma around to inspire stories and humorous anecdotes, I realize, I don't actually have much to say. Spindles and Spices actually has quite a few things to say, but I particularly enjoy one.

International Cat Hats!

"Cats with International Hats" would actually be more literal (since the hats are international, but the cats probably aren't), but hey, it just doesn't have that zing. Anyway, it's what happens when you cross knitting and cats. Here's a sample:


And here's the rest.

The Economy is Affecting Everyone

I found this here.

Obesity

It’s been a while since I’ve actually contributed to my own blog (I usually just steal other people's stuff), so I thought maybe I would write something. That was two months ago. I haven’t had much to say in that time.


Anyway, I was having a conversation with a couple of my work buddies the other day. We were talking about exercise and food and health in general. One of the things that came up was the percentage of Americans who are obese. Paul said something to the effect of, “Aren’t 50% of Americans obese or something?” I felt like I had heard that too, “Something like that."

After clicking around on the Internet tonight, I found some websites with figures as low as 25% and one as high as 60%(!). The website that said 60% was clearly failing to distinguish between overweight and obese. But a majority of websites stated 60-65% are overweight and about half of those (30-34% of Americans) are obese. For some reason, that sounded about right to me.

But after thinking about it a little, why does that sound right? I recognize that there are certain communities where there is a higher percentage of obese people than others. But I can’t imagine 1 out of every 3 Americans is obese. I mean, we’re not talking about a little overweight. We’re talking about “excessively overweight,” says Princeton University’s online dictionary. “A medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health,” says Wikipedia.

And that just doesn’t sound right. What began to bother me was how vague the definitions of “obese” were. Very subjective to say the least. “Excessively overweight”? Over what weight?

Well, upon more research, it’s not as subjective as I originally thought. According to Wikipedia, obesity is defined by BMI (body mass index), which is a number determined using a simple formula (your metric weight divided by the square of your metric height). Theoretically, BMI is an indicator of body fat percentage, said to be accurate within 4%. Once you’ve calculated your BMI, you only need to determine your placement on the following table. Simple and scientific.

BMI
less than 18.5 = underweight
18.5–24.9 = normal weight
25.0–29.9 = overweight
30.0–34.9 = class I obesity
35.0–39.9 = class II obesity
greater than 40.0 = class III obesity

Except, not really. First of all, it’s accurate within 4% (which is a scientifically unclear statement by the way). I’ll assume that the statement means plus or minus (+/-) 4%, which is what that statement usually means rather than +/- 2%, which is what that statement actually says. So even if my BMI is 22 (normal weight), I could actually be underweight (22-4=18), or I could actually be overweight (22+4=26). And that’s just stupid. And unhelpful. Moreover, the Index is also known to be inaccurate for people of certain body types, like pregnant women and bodybuilders. But where do you draw the line between bodybuilder and casual weightlifter (there's probably a pretty clear line between pregnant and not pregnant)? And if that’s not enough, some studies have shown that high BMI can have a more negative effect on Asians. So Japan sets the obesity bar at 25 BMI. China sets it at 28. And doesn't this sound a little arbitrary and subjective?

Anyway, I just wanted to say I have my doubts that one-third of all Americans are obese, at least not by a definition acceptable to most individuals. And as a whole, I think a lot of what we hear on a daily basis about health is hooey (more on that in another post).

By the way, the whole reason I decided to write this was because Onaona and I have been running a lot and I thought it would be interesting to buy a scale to see what effect the sudden influx of exercise might do. It’s one of those new scales, so in addition to weight, it measures body fat percentage using BMI (according to the manual). I guess it figures out my BMI and then converts that number into body fat percentage. Turns out, I have 20.4% body fat, which according to bodybuildingsecrets.com and the International Sports Sciences Association makes me obese. I decided it was time to investigate.

Saved by the Bell Reunion

Apparently, Jimmy Fallon has been pushing for a Saved by the Bell reunion on his show. As such, he recently interviewed Zack Morris. Not Mark Paul Gosselaar. Zack Morris. Here's the clip.



From what I understand, Tiffany Amber Thiessen and Dustin Diamond are the only ones who haven't signed on yet.

10 Most Fascinating Twin Stories

I recently came across a website called Oddee.com, which has lists and lists of the 10 or 15 or 12 weirdest, or coolest, or most unfortunate whatever. I thought this compilation of "Most Fascinating Twin Stories" was particularly interesting, so below is one of the ten stories. And if you want to read the rest, the link is at the end.


"The stories of identical twins' nearly identical lives are often astonishing, but perhaps none more so than those of these identical twins born in Ohio. The twin boys were separated at birth, being adopted by different families. Unknown to each other, both families named the boys Jim. And here the coincidences just begun. Both James grew up not even knowing of the other, yet both sought law-enforcement training, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, and each had married women named Linda. They both had sons whom one named James Alan and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their wives and married other women - both named Betty. And they both owned dogs which they named Toy. Jim Lewis and Jim Springer finally met in February 9, 1979 after 39 years of being separated."

Read the rest of the stories here.

Blog Theft!

A year from now, I'm going to look back at all the Blog Theft!s and count how many actually came from blogs. Anyway, this Theft! is from the blog-like list of 15 More Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped, appearing on Cracked.com. I really like some of the stuff on Cracked. It's consistently funny, and if you can get around the endless penis jokes, it can surprise you with it's intelligence. Anyway, this wasn't photoshopped.Here are the other articles in the series:
15 Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped
16 More Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

Hairdo/Hair-don't

This is actually from a month ago (or so?). But I only realized tonight that I never posted it.


PS. I'm really curious about that wire that randomly connects to the back of her head. Maybe if she plugs in, the propellers spin?

Amazon Bestseller

This is Amazon's #1 Bestseller in the Apparel department. I'm not kidding. To see why, you have to read the customer reviews. And then look at the customer images. Find them here.

And if you still don't get it, read this article from the Washington Post.