Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Life Lessons from Bill Gates

Gotta love it.  Just had to share.  Enjoy!

Life Lessons from Bill Gates

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.


Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, ‘learn from them’..
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Kelly

Sunday, March 14, 2010

My Weight Loss Journey - Month 5

See, I told you I was late with last month's weight loss journey post! I just posted it 10 days ago, and I'm posting the next month now.

The month started with a very slow week, and was a bit frustrating considering I doubled my workout time and saw no results on the scale.  After talking with fellow WW members and my leader, she thought I may not have eaten enough to compensate for my increased workout.  I have kept that in mind as I move forward.

Additionally, this past month introduced a whole new set of challenges for me as I introduced traveling into the mix of trying to eat healthy and exercise. I have a pretty good routine down while I'm at home, I guess it was time to through something new into my journey to health and fitness. My weigh-in after my trip was frustrating none-the-less. But, I learned a lot from the experience.

I traveled to Minnesota for a week for my Uncle Frankie's funeral. The trip started out long on good intentions, but didn't last past day three. I flew in on Saturday morning my bag filled with my trusty Fiber One Bars. Daughter #1 and her roommate, Laura, picked me up at the MSP airport and we headed to Mall of America where I ate at Subway--one point for me! That evening, we went to a Chinese buffet restaurant near my daughter's apartment. I was good and chose items with vegetables and unbreaded meat. I think I ate a full plate of mushrooms. I LOVE mushrooms...they should be their own food group! I did eat two wontons, but other than that, I made good choices.

The next two days, food wise, were filled with hotdishes, various Jello salads, scalloped potatoes and ham--all of which were a throw back to my childhood and were quite tasty. I ate small portions, enough to satisfy but not over due it.

The last three days were a free-for-all. I met friends for dinner, and ordered a steak salad, but also ate onion rings. On the last day I went all out and ate breaded mushrooms and a reuben sandwich, after having McDonalds for breakfast. I think I used all my weekly points that day and then some.

On top of all of this, I didn't work out at all.  Nada, nothing, none.

And all of this was reflected at my weigh-in the Monday after returning to Colorado.  I was up for the first time since joining WW last October.  What did I learn?  That my food choices just were not worth the weight gain.  I've worked hard for these last months to get to where I'm at and don't want to go backwards.  I know the next time I travel, I will better prepare and not make the choices I made this time.  The week after my weigh-in, I went back to basics, and it showed the following week where I lost what I'd gained, and then some!  I also learned that if you go off program, buck up and get back on!  Don't give up!  Life truly is a journey with many ups and downs and you just gotta get back on the path if you wander off.

Time for this month's results...

Month 5 -2.8 lbs
TOTAL -23.4 lbs

Month 5 Details         Weekly     Total
Feb 15 (Week 17)    -.2 lbs       -20.8 lbs
Feb 22 (Week 18)     *in Minnesota - no weigh in
Mar 1  (Week 19)     +1.6 lbs    -19.2 lbs
Mar 8  (Week 20)     -4.2 lbs     -23.4 lbs

Foods that got me through:  1) Fiber One Bars, as usual.  2) Eggbeaters and hashbrowns, and 3) stocking up on fresh vegetables (mushrooms, of course!) and fruit.

Goals for Month 6:  1) Continue with my exercise regime  2)  Back to Basics all the way!

Until next month...

Kelly

Thursday, March 4, 2010

My Weight Loss Journey - Month 4

I'm a little behind on getting this post out.  I have plenty of excuses, but I won't bore you with them here.  Without further ado, let's just jump right in!

Month 4 was very non-eventful.  I lost a total of 3.6 pounds, losing steadily every week.  I continue to workout regularly (4x week H20 aerobics).  I also added 45-60 minutes of treadmill walking a couple times a week, which was one of my goals for the month.  I wasn't too regular about it, but I did do it a few times.  I don't want to hit a plateau--feels a bit like one is coming on.

My other goal was to hit my daily fruit/veg goal.  I did better this month, but am still working on getting them all in everyday.

Time for this month's results...

Month 4     -3.6 lbs
TOTAL      -20.6 lbs

Month 4 Details          Weekly Total
Jan 18 (Week 13)      -1.4 lbs -18.4 lbs
Jan 25 (Week 14)     *no weigh-in Jury Duty
Feb 1 (Week 15)       -1.4 lbs -19.8 lbs
Feb 8 (Week 16)       -0.8 lbs -20.6 lbs
                                 *16 week Stay & Succeed Award  *5 lb star award

Foods that got me through— Fiber One Bars (again) 2 points per bar.  I ran out of these at one point and was going through withdrawals!  Note to self, never run out of Fiber One Bars. Never. Ever. My new discovery this month is Tex-Mex Creamy Dressing.  It was actually a dressing for  a WW black bean salad recipe but I use it on everything.  1/2 cup is 1 point.  Get the recipe here.

Goals for Month 5:  1) Continue to increase my non-H20 activity  2) Back to basics - weighing and measuring everything.  I'm not bad about this, but there were a few things I have started to 'eyeball' and I know that's not very accurate.

This month I leave you with this..

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.  --Harriet Beecher Stowe

Keep at it!

Kelly