What One Great Thing?

What One Great Thing?

It is a question that Bryan Tracy asks on his audio program, "The Psychology of Success."  Here is the complete question:  "What one great thing would you accomplish if you knew you could not fail?  It's not an easy question and requires thought, for someone like I am.  Maybe others, even many, have a quick and ready answer but I wanted to think mine out.  I began working from goals many years ago, in 1987 in fact.  I had set some goals before, and accomplished a number of them.

For example, when I was seventeen and in love and had a terribly crashed romance with my girlfriend, after I struggled with so many things, I quit school and enlisted in the United States Navy.  I was barely seventeen having my birthday in February and enlisting in March.  I went through Boot Camp in San Diego, then Radar "A" School in San Francisco and then boarded my ship, the USS Point Defiance (LSD-31) in December of 1961.  After I left the navy, I had a goal of finishing high school, which I did, in 1967, five years after my graduating class of 1962.  I was married, had a new son and a low paying, hard working job as a truck driver and cylinder gas delivery person.  Then I got a job with Phillips Petroleum Company (after my diploma) and I worked there for 33 1/2 years.  I started college when I was 29 and working for Phillips and as I went along in my career, I acquired college hours, got a better job, more hours, better job, etc.  So I had goals but I never grasped the power of goals until I began to study under Zig Ziglar.  What were my goals?  Well, too many to list here but let me highlight a few.  I set a goal to personally meet Zig, and did.  In fact, I am listed in his book, "Over theTop" on page 106, as Stephen Payne from Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  I set a goal to meet Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and met him.  Then it was to meet Tom Hopkins; did: Meet Bryan Tracy; did.  I set a goal to learn Spanish.  I later became a Spanish interpreter and translator, worked in two jobs as an interpreter, taught Spanish, then I learned French, Italian, German, Russian, Mandarin Chinese and now I am busily learning Polish and I can speak, read and write Polish.  So, you can see why I had to think, "What one great thing?"

Years ago, I wrote out my personal mission statement, which is long, but the nutshell version is this: My mission is to learn, teach and give.  I do that.  I love learning and I've even been called The Learning Machine; I can't help teaching as it's in my nature and I give.  I give books.  I have given over 200 copies of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, around one hundred copies of Joyce Hifler's book, "The Cherokee Feast of Days," a number of "The Magic of Thinking Big" and many other books.  Then I began to give the Marine's Bible to marines I could meet and find.  I began to give the Soldier's Bible, and as of this week, we have given 640 of the Holman Military Bibles.

Could I reach 1,000?  Yes, of course, as we are not so far from that.  We will reach 700 Bibles by the end of 2013 and then next year, more, so 1,000 is hardly a challenge then.  What one great thing?  I decided to set my goal as 10,000 Bibles to give and then some of the things Bryan said came back to me.  What one great thing would you accomplish if you KNEW you could not fail?  

My goal is to give 100,000 Holman Christian Standard Bibles to the men and women of our armed services.  That has now become my one great thing.  As some athletes have said, you miss all of the shots you don't take; as Jelly Bean Jones said, "The girl you don't ask out ain't going with you anyway."  So, I set a high goal, one so high I can not yet see it, but it's there now, carved in ink, and I'm on my way to it.

The photograph I chose?  Yes, that is I, in the tandem jump from 10,000 feet with Andy Beck, my jump master and I had a wonderful time.  I am 69 years of age now and made my first jump.  I did it to deal with my fear of height and it has worked pretty well so far.  It's part of my processes, to learn, to teach, and to give.  

We did a free fall for 38 seconds and it didn't feel like we were moving.  We hung in the air as we talked and I looked all around me, down, sideways, up, and I loved the feeling of sailing through the air, even downward.  Once the parachute opened, Andy taught me how to drive and let me go left, right, even spin us, and then we were down, landing softly, and I feel different today, a week and days since I went out of the airplane.  Jumping was a goal but not my one great thing.  But I know now what my one great thing is, to give 100,000 Bibles, and I cannot fail.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

The New Challenge

The New Challenge

The Last Ten Pounds

I have done well this year, since I began my program back in January and I weighed 204.0 lbs, then actually had a weight gain to 207.0 lbs. as I progressed, but not discouraged by the gain.  I then began a progressive and steady decrease in my weight with a goal of losing at least two ounces each day.  I achieved an average weight loss of over four ounces per day and I continued that through May.  June has been a more difficult month for me as I have been steady between 162 and 165 lbs.  My tracking program in Microsoft Excel has a conditional setting that if I exceed 164.8 lbs, the entry turns red and in bold print so that I notice it and can't deny it.  That is what I call my red flag weight and it means I have failed and it's time for new, desperate means.  That means going right back to work on a low carbohydrate diet and other desperate measures.

The main thing then is to watch my addiction to carbohydrates and make serious corrections in my program. First thing is, I weigh every day.  I have a good scale that I bought last year and then I quit weighing.  I believe that I did not need to weigh, as long as I stayed on my program but then, the truth was that I was getting off of my program.  I probably started by eating ice cream and I've always told myself that it was high in fat but low in carbohydrates so I could allow myself some.  Some turned into too much and then I was not weighing daily so I drifted into bad patterns.

I have a friend who told me that he had fallen off of the wagon, meaning he had erred and eaten too many carbohydrate heavy meals and had gained weight.  He is in the early and critical stages, meaning that he has not allowed enough time to enter ketogenic status.  My comment (to myself as much as to anyone) is that we don't fall off of the wagon; we sort of slowly and gently step down.  A fall will wake us up and scare us, stepping down softly and gently allows us to go into a half stupor.  Weighing every day so that we know our patterns is critical.  Something can't be critical without being important by definition so, yes, weighing daily is important.  My pattern is that Saturdays are always my lowest weight of the week and then I'll go up slightly by Monday.  The remainder of the week is a slow decrease until I get back into my average weight decrease again.  The graphic that I have loaded for June shows how my weight rose, then fell and rose again.  The high of 165 lbs. happened the morning after we had journeyed to eastern Oklahoma on business and having missed lunch, we stopped in a store and got water, coffee and a snack.  I got pig skins, which have zero grams of carbohydrates.  Why did my weight jump the next morning?  I have to conclude that it was likely the higher content of sodium, sitting most of the day in a car, and perhaps something else that I just don't understand.  For the time being,, I'm watching eating pig skins just in case they somehow contributed.  And, I'm still watching carbohydrate intake and keeping them low.

Once in a while, I have a yearning for yogurt and I'll add some nuts to it, cashews, Macadamia nuts, pecans, because I like the addition of a crunch to the yogurt.  I've had a couple of these yogurt treats during June.  I'm at a stable weight now and I can probably maintain that with ease; but I still want to reach my goal of 155 lbs. and I have not yet given up. I will reach it.  In fact, when I write out my goals and affirmations, I write "I weigh 155 lbs. as my permanent, healthy weight."  I was writing that when I weighed 204 lbs.  Notice that it is personal, using "I", positive (as in fait accompli), present tense.  I have reduced each of my measurements of chest, waist, hips, thigh and calf and I am now wearing a 30" waist jean with 29" length.

It has cost me a lot because I have had to replace all of my jeans and other trousers and I've given away those larger sizes that I took off.  People ask why I didn't put them in the closet.  Several reasons: I don't want to make it easy to gain weight, I don't need them, someone else does, and last and most important, it's a mind set.  My removal of all of them means I am committed to my program to weigh 155 lbs. or less in a healthy fashion; in a determined, healthy fashion.

I expect to weigh 160 lbs. by the end of July and to reach 155 lbs. by the anniversary of the date of the death of my son, September 6.  My son died ten years ago, at age 36 on that day.  He was a victim of juvenile diabetes which slowly took his life.  It is an important date to me and so I chose that date to reach my ideal weight.  

One thing I did recently, June 30, was to jump from an airplane at an altitude of 10,000 feet.  It was my first jump and I enjoyed it immensely.  I would not have jumped at a heavier weight so it was part of my reward system I set up within me for reaching one of my weight goals.

Stephen Joe Payne

Body by Payne

Reaching my Goal for May

Reaching my goal for May, 2013

The graph represents my data for the month of May showing my overall change, and also the bumps that I had now and then as my weight did its usual jump at one or two places. I can not always account for it either.  And then there is a self photograph made with a small camera into a mirror.  Not a before photograph but I am getting close to my goal weight and perhaps will reach it within 60 days.

At the end of the previous month, I set a goal to reach 165 lbs. by the end of May.  I began the month of May weighing 170.2 lbs and completed the month weighing 163.2 lbs., a net change in weight reduction of 7.0 lbs.  For me, as I think in ounces instead of pounds, that is 112 ounces for an average of 3.6 oz./day, which is something I can manage and believe in.  Also, I exceeded my stated goal of 165 by 1.8 lbs.

The main thing in my program, once again, is process.  A process, planned and executed well, gives results.  Also, a process that is not planned gives results.  Eating indiscriminately or the wrong foods is as much a process as planned eating of the right foods.  What are right foods?  They are not what I once believed and even was taught.

After I read the book, "Protein Power," by the Doctors Eades, I began to follow their program and I lost weight.  I do lose weight each and every time that I follow their program and practice what I learned from them.  But it took more attempts and failures to understand how my body and system respond to carbohydrates.  I fall off of the wagon now and then.  Carbohydrates are addictive, and in my case, they are destructive.  Excessive carbohydrate consumption for me creates depression, so it's not an idle and small issue for me; it's life threatening.

After the Eades, I also read Dr. Atkins book and learned that he was teaching almost the same thing.  Then Gary Taubes book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" was published and I read it, more than one time.  Since then, Gary has published "Why We Get Fat and What to do about it."

I try to keep my carbohydrate consumption below ten grams per day.  Carbohydrates are sneaky and creep into many things.  I had a friend who was losing weight and she told me that she was on a low carbohydrate regimen.  She was eating yogurts and smoothies so I asked her how many she consumed and she replied that it was several a day, sometimes four.  I asked her to look at the label and see how many grams of carbohydrates she was consuming.  Some of her yogurt dishes had more than 40 grams in the container; and she was drinking smoothies, also around 40 grams.  She threw all of them out then and restarted with a different perspective.  Carbohydrates are sneaky and often are hidden in what we eat; that is why I try for ten and may actually be consuming twenty; but in general, I consume much fewer than I did and fewer than many other people do.

My goal for the month of June is to reduce my weight by 4.4 lbs. to reach a weight of 158.8 lbs.  That is 70.4 oz. and requires an average of only 2.4 oz. per day, again, something I can manage and believe in.  I have now arrived at that last ten pounds, the difficult part we often say.  But I don't think it will be difficult, as long as I continue with the process of eating low carbohydrate and continuing a vigorous exercise program.  The 2.4 oz. is .15 lbs. per day, barely noticeable on a standard bathroom scale but in a month's time, it should present itself as a visible weight loss.

Stevie Joe Payne
Body by Payne

May Goal of 165 lbs.

May Goal of 165 lbs.

My goal for the month of May is to weigh 165 lbs. or less by June 1, 2013 and to remain on my process for the entire month of May to achieve that goal.

I had assumed that my weight loss would slow to about 2 ounces per day but I have been surprised to find it still averaging just over 4 ounces per day, about 1 and 1/4 lbs. per week.  I began my program around the 20th of January when I weighed 204 lbs. and I actually had a small weight gain to 207 lbs.  My weight loss then, from January 26, until May 2, is a net 34.4 lbs, or 550.4 oz.  I use oz. as a measure because it is more realistic for me to think in smaller units, that is to lose 4 oz. day, but, as I said, that normally slows down as we get closer to a lower number in weight.  I have been on my process for 96 days which results in an average weight loss of 5.73 oz. day, meaning that some days and weeks, I have had a greater loss and then some days and weeks, not much at all.  And, every once in a while, I will have an upward spike; I can not account for it either.  I can try to attribute it to muscle mass gain but that may be a falsehood, just something that I want desperately to believe.  I would rather just go with the numbers.  My average weight loss in lbs. is   0.36 lbs./day.

I began April weighing 179 lbs. and finished at 170.8 lbs. for a net change downward of 8.2 lbs. or 131.2 ounces, averaging 4.37 oz./day for the month.  On the graphic my actual weight is in blue while my estimated goal weight is in an bit of an orange (I think) so my achieved weight was slightly below my goal weight.  I consider this good and consistent progress and I'm pleased with it.  Yes, I'm greedy and impatient and I would like to achieve more and faster but I'm also experience and educated enough to understand the reality of losing weight, especially at my age.  

Again, it's process, how and what I eat from my education and consistency and process properly planned and executed must, and I emphasize must, produce a result.  Overeating and eating the wrong foods is also a process and the assured result is weight gain and illness.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

Body by Payne

Before and After

Before and After

Do you realize that most available log books want you to make a before and after photograph?  Let's think about that.  You weigh 250 lbs. and are defined as clinically obese and you want to make a photograph of that.  Why?  Do you want to remember what you looked like then so that you can cleverly find ways to return to that old weight?  That's what a before photograph is inviting you to do.  Today I weigh 169.4 lbs (2710.4 ounces) and I took a photograph which I thought I might post.  I look much better than I did when my birthday arrived on February 12 of this year when I was weighing 204, but still, I have the places on my side above my hips and I don't like those so, why photograph them?  If I believed that this is the best I'll be, then I would, but my ultimate goal is 155-157 lbs. with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 24.6 (or less).  I can and I will reach that goal.  Then I will make a photograph and post it; and it will be the one that I'll want to keep in front of me, to remind me how I want to appear, to me and to others. And, ultimately, I hope what I have done and posted will help someone else.

Books (information) to help:

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.  It has a lot of information and may be technical for some, i.e. hard to read

Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes, the less technical and more easy to read version of Good Calories, Bad Calories

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide to Making the Life-Saving Benefits of Carbohydrate Restriction Sustainable and Enjoyable by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek.  Did you see the words "Life-Saving" in that long title?  I read this book after all of the others and I found it to be an excellent guide on how to do it.  I've added 2 cubes a day of beef broth since I read it.

Dr. Berstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars by Richard K. Bernstein.  On this one, my only child, Stephen William Payne was a type I (juvenile) diabetic and died at age 36 from the complications of the disease.  I have to believe that this book and his execution of the matter in it would have allowed him to have lived much longer with much greater health.  It's a great book, and a great story.

The Inflammation Syndrome: Your Nutrition Plan for Great Health, Weight Loss, and Pain Free Living by Jack Challem.  I was looking for books on inflammation and Google helped me find this title.  It added to my knowledge of my illness.  I develop inflammation quickly from carbohydrate excess and it is painful and limiting.  I can raise my arms over my head now and use both arms and hands well.  I could not do that before I began to realize the inflammation syndrome in my life.

Protein Power: The High-Protein/Low-Carbohydrate Way to Lose Weight, Feel Fit, and Boost Your Health-in Just Weeks! by Michael and Mary Dan Eades.  The Eades' program was my first exposure to health through this diet and I still go back to it often.

The New Atkins for a New Your: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great by Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Stephen Phinney and Jeff S. Volek.  After I had followed the Eades for a while, I went to the original Dr. Atkins and this book is updated with anything that happened since he wrote it.

No before photographs but once I am at goal weight and health, then I will make a photograph which will be the new before and then the old and new after.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

March 2013 and Goals

March 2013 and Goals

 I set the major goal for March, 2013 to lose six pounds between March 1 and March 31.  The six pounds was based upon my program of losing four ounces per day for the month, or 124 ounces for the month, which computes to 7.25 lbs.  But I did not think I could lose that much so I set a realistic goal of 6 lbs. for the month of March.  I began March with a weight of 188.2 lbs. and completed March with a weight of 180.4 lbs. which resulted in a 7.8 lbs. loss of weight; that is 124.8 ounces, so I did better than I thought I would.  I have projected, based upon a loss of 2 oz. per day, reaching my goal of 160 lbs. in 163 days, or October 1, 2013.  The 160 goal is a first target and my true goal is 155-157 lbs. because that will result in Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 25.  This is the number that I am told by physicians that I should reach to be healthy.

I am following a low carbohydrate diet, and let's not be afraid of the word "diet" because whatever we do with food is a diet.  There is the old fashion and famous "See Food Diet" which prescribes "whatever I see, I eat."  A golfer began that one but I forget which golfer now.  If we eat unrestricted food, that's a diet; just not a very healthy one.  When I was a youngster, in high school, and the navy, and then later, I could eat what I wanted to without gaining weight.  My wife could too.  It's a given that for a great number of us humans, as we age, we lose some ability to eat everything and anything without gaining weight.  I see it in many friends and in myself.  From the Doctors Eades, Dr. Atkins, Drs. Phinney and Volek, and Gary Taubes, I have learned much about carbohydrates, insulin, glucose, glycogen, and other tools of our energy provision.

I've had to conclude that I have two issues; (1) carbohydrate sensitivity, and (2) carbohydrate addiction.  Carbohydrate sensitivity means that we respond to carbohydrates easily and produce insulin in over abundance and store fat from that insulin stimulation.  Insulin does several things but it's main function is to store fat in our cells.  Another hormone releases fat for energy.  

Carbohydrate addition is a need to consume carbohydrates, whether it is a real need within our bodies or an imagined need created by emotion, need for comfort, fun--such as popcorn and a Coke with it--or just a habit left over from our childhood.  It can be any number of things.  For example, from my early movie going experiences as a child and then teen, movies meant a Coke, popcorn, often a candy bar, in the proper venue, a hot dog, perhaps (later on) nachos with cheese and jalapeno peppers.  When I was in navy radar school in San Francisco, we could pay extra for a loge seat and smoke (cigarettes only; no pipes or cigars).

It was, for me, a near Pavlovian response; go to a movie, must have Coke and popcorn.  I now go to a movie and have only water, if I have that, in the gloriously overpriced plastic bottles ($3.50 for a bottle last time out).  It took me a lot to get past my staple of popcorn and a soft drink but I managed to do it when I began this program.

One of the things I did, as soon as I was able, was to buy some new jeans.  I wear Lee brand jeans.  I bought eight pair in size 34 waist with a 29 inseam and then, against my wife's wishes, or even her knowledge, I took 30 pair of jeans and slacks to the west side of town and gave all of them to a mission to help others there.  My wife suggested that I keep them "in case I gain weight again."  No; I chose not to because thinking that way sets me up to gain weight.  I refuse now to do so; that is, clearly "Failure is not an option."  Here is why; carbohydrates are more than just addictive to me.  They result in inflammation and in my case, as I am sure in other people, they cause depression.  It took me a while to understand that but I do now.

From Brian Tracy's program, "The Psychology of Achievement" I am learning, once again, to program myself with visual tools, goals and affirmations.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne, April 22, 2013

Goal Setting

Goal Setting

March 7, 2013    Thursday

Weight: 186.6 lbs. BMI=29.66

Weight in ounces: 2985.6

March 8, 2013    Friday
Weight 185.4 lbs. BMI=29.47
Weight in ounces: 2966.4

March 9, 2013    Saturday
Weight: 185.2 lbs. BMI=29.44
Weight in ounces: 2963.2

March 10, 2013 Sunday
Weight: 184.6 lbs. BMI=29.35
Weight in ounces: 2953.6

March 14, 2013 Thursday
Weight: 183.2 lbs. BMI=29.12
Weight in ounces: 2931.2

Here is one of those plateaus.  I have weighed in at 186.6 lbs. for the last three days.  I have been running three miles each day, staying with my process of diet and exercise and it is knowing that I am following a process that prevents me from having emotional issues about not losing more now.  Early on, at a higher weight, my weight loss was quicker but I knew it would slow, and change.  As I reach a lower weight, with the exercise, some of the weight is the change from fat to muscles mass, and that will change again once I stabilize.

I am listening to Brian Tracy's audio program, "The Psychology of Achievement" which is a six CD program with advice.  I first listened to it in 1987, actually when it was on cassette audio.  The technology has changed, and he has updated the program, but the basic program is unchanged.  The essence of his program is success and it is a achieved by setting goals.  I've used the techniques I learned from Brian before, but like many of the things in life for us, I get away from it.  I get busy studying languages and get away from my daily program.

In setting a goal, it must be personal, positive, specific.  President John F. Kennedy said, "It is our goal to place a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of this decade."  There it was, clear, visible, specific.  He did not say someday but before 1970, by the end of the decade of the 1960's.

When I began to lose wait for my program, I used what I knew about medical science, weight for a male my age, and I determined my weight should be 160 lbs.  I then subtracted that weight from my existing weight, multiplied that weight in lbs. by 16 for ounces per pound, and then divided that weight in ounces by 4 for my intended weight loss of 4 ounces each day and projected that information in time and allowed myself a reasonable time for errors.  So, I could then state my goal as:

My goal is to weigh less than 160 lbs. by October 1, 2013 by healthy choices and actions.

Brian Tracy says that we should have a present tense statement such as "I weigh 160 lbs." no matter what the weight is at the moment.  These are actually affirmations.

I weigh 160 lbs.
I earn $350,000 per year
I drive a new Subaru Outback

Affirmations are powerful tools.


I did not finish writing this at the time and I wanted to finish the goal statement before I moved on and began new entries.

Stephen J. "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

Day One of Thirty-One

Day One of Thirty-One

"I hear and I forget.  I see and I reminder.  I do and I understand."  Attributed to Confucius, a Chinese Philosopher

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Weight: 187.0 lbs. BMI=29.73

Weight in ounces: 2992

Is it day one or day two?  If I started my March goal yesterday then it's really day two but it doesn't matter much, as long as I keep my goal in mind and stay on track with both my diet and my exercise program.  I learned a lot from Gary Taubes's book "Good Calories, Bad Calories".  Of course, my first exposure to the idea of restricting carbohydrates came from a program by the Doctors Eades called "Protein Power."  I still have the book from that and I read it periodically, but the bulk of knowledge is contained in "Good Calories, Bad Calories."  

Food is nutrition and nutrition is what we take in to fuel our bodies. Nutrition comes in the forms of fat, protein and carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are organic compounds formed from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which tells us chemically what they are but does not tell us much.  Our best examples of carbohydrates are sugars, table sugar, and other products that we don't think of as sugars because  they do not appear as sugar.  Carbohydrates appear in the forms of rice, breads, pastas, potatoes, in fact, carbohydrates are ubiquitous and for many of us, can be addictive.  They can become addictive because a lot of the flavor of foods we like is generated by some form of carbohydrate. Candy bars, soft drinks, rich fruit drinks, all have many grams of carbohydrates present.  Loseit.com reports that a 12-oz. Cocoa-Cola contains 27 grams of sugar (carbohydrates), and it's easy to consume three cans on a hot day, for 81 grams of sugar.  I try to keep my carbohydrate intake less than 20 grams per day for a variety of reasons.

Through experiences, I have learned that carbohydrates cause me to gain weight.  Worse than that, once I begin to gain weight from them, I also have other things begin to happen with my chemical changes and the worst one is that I begin to get depressed, and it gets complicated.

I may be on one of my plateaus.  This is Sunday now, March 3, 2013 and my morning weight was 187.0 lbs.  I ran three miles yesterday and I just finished my run today.  The weather was beautiful, sunny and 61 F degrees.  I ran three miles today, over three, actually, and I burned about 323 calories.  I also took a nose dive as I stubbed a toe, went airborne and was unable to catch myself.  I fell on my knees and skidded, got my knees skinned well and a part of my palms (I was wearing gloves) and put a bump on my left forehead about the eye; but, it was a great run apart from that.

I look forward to tomorrow to see if my plateau stays or if I move on down.

Stephen J. "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

"

The Goal for March 2013

The Goal for March 2012

"I won't say I'm no better than anybody else, but I'll be danged if I ain't just as good."  Aunt Eller (played by Charlotte Greenwood) "Okahoma!"

Friday, March 1, 2013

Weight 188.2 lbs. BMI=29.92

Weight in ounces = 3011.2

I am on track even though my weight loss has slowed suddenly at the end of February, 2013.  I set this goal for March: To lose 6 lbs. between March 1 and April 1, 2013.  Six lbs. is equal to 96 ounces so my goal is to lose 96 ounces in 31 days, an average weight loss of only 3.1 ounces per day, a reasonable goal that I believe I can reach and continue to be healthy.

A second and subsidiary goal is to run three miles each day of that period for a total of 93 miles, possibly more.

I grade my progress each day.  If I eat meals according to my plan and do not have a snack, that gives me a B grade.  If I exercise for one mile, it increases to an A-, two miles is an A, and three or more is an A+.  I have been successful with the B grade on a daily basis since I began but I'm getting an A+ only two out of three days.  But, there has  been a lot happening, much of it to do with weather.

The goal of a 96 ounce weight reduction calculates to 2884 ounces or or to reach 182.0 lbs.  The 3.1 oz. daily reduction also results in a 21.7 oz. weekly loss which is 1.36 lbs. per week, so I have the numbers worked out and a very specific goal set.  A specific goal with a way to measure results is easy to track and see if I am on, ahead of, or behind the progress metrics.  And, when I reach that goal weight, I can see to set the next goal which means being below 180 lbs. sometime in April.

I ran and walked for 51 minutes, 3.19 miles today, in the daylight for a change.  I burned 322 calories.  I ran for 1.72 miles and was forced to walk then with my left hip hurting but after a bit I had walked it out and ran the last half mile.  It was a pretty good day overall and I hope to weigh 187.0 lbs. tomorrow morning.

Stephen J. "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

Back on Track

Back on Track

Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Weight: 188.4 lbs. BMI = 29.95
Yesterday's weight was 190.0 and BMI was 30.2

After a minuscule weight increase yesterday, I am back to my rhythmic decrease in weight of about 4 oz. per day.  From my previous experience, I know several things in advance.  I know that my weight loss will vary and may even reverse and increase now and then.  I know that my weight loss will slow down and that I will hit one or more stubborn plateaus.  A plateau is a level, flat field, and, for example, I may hit the weight of 180 and stubbornly stay at that 180 for several weeks in spite of staying well on my process.  I know not to get emotionally involved with the process because failures can lead to thinking I am a failure. Failure is an event, not a person, I learned long ago.

Still, there is so much programming in us as human beings, from our childhood on through all of school and probably the worst period is from the first grade on until junior high school.  Our parents are telling us things, our siblings, our classmates, and then we pick up things from movies, television and songs.  Many of the things we are told are not positive things.  That's not true for everyone, of course, but it is for many of us.  We have a parent saying things like, "Don't drop the milk, you always drop the milk."  We may have actually dropped the milk, perhaps one time, but that combination of a warning (Don't) with the status of "always" programs us to live in fear of dropping the milk and guess what we are likely to do?  Right; we are almost guaranteed now to drop the milk.  I literally had that experience.

I was raised by my mother and grandmother, two women, and I had no men in my immediate family.  My mother and father separated before my birth and divorced shortly after.  I had an older uncle living nearby, my grandmother's brother and he tried to teach me some things, such as fishing, for which I have always been grateful.  But my principal role models were the two women.  My mother was very critical, especially with me, and the "Don't drop the milk" was a very real programming that took me many years and life changes to overcome.  I did believe I was a failure then, in those early years.  I had an inferiority complex.  We called it that then, in my formative years of the 1940's and early 1950's.  Later, in the 1980's, it would be identified as low-self esteem.  It matters not what we call it, I had it.  I overcame it and now I am sometimes accused of having a superiority complex or excessive high self esteem.  Go figure.

Thursday, February 28, 2013
My weight is the same as yesterday, 188.4 lbs. but I weighed at 01:00 when I woke instead of at 08:00 as usual.  Tomorrow is March 1 and I will reset my goals for March.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

The 190 Marker

The 190 Marker

February 26, 2013

Weight is 190.0 lbs, a slight increase of 1.0 lb. from yesterday's 189.0

When I started, or restarted, my program, I weighed 204 and went on up to 207 briefly.  I've been a runner for many years, about 36 now, and I love to walk but I like to run even more.  If I've been off for a while, I know better than to begin to run right away, so I set the 190 lb. marker as the point where I would begin to run again.  I could not resist the temptation to run, however, and as I walked, I found find myself breaking into a compulsory run; I just couldn't help it.  Now, I have reached the 190 marker and I'm doing more running, being more consistent with it.

Yesterday was a very wet day here in Oklahoma and I'm not complaining.  We desperately need rain.  Our ponds are dry, stock and wildlife are struggling, and plants and trees are dying.  It was so wet and cold that I did not try to run outside, which is the only place I like to run, during the day.  But I was thinking desperately and I was considering going to the mall and walking three miles.  I didn't get to do that and soon it was evening.  At 9:14 PM (21:14 hours), I suited up and went out for a run.  My goal was 3 miles (300 calories) and I did not achieve that, but I did run 2.2 miles and burned 210 calories, so it was not a failure, just less of a success.  My rain gear leaked and my Motorola Electrify got wet.  I pulled it apart and removed the battery to let all of it dry so it's on life support at the moment and I don't know what will happen with it. I hope it can be rescued.

And the verdict is in and the telephone has expired.  I took it in to US Cellular as soon as they opened their doors and a couple of quick checks confirmed that the telephone is gone, so we called the insurance unit and had a new telephone on the way to me. I had to pay my deductible or $100.00 and I'm limping by on a loaner telephone, other than that, all is well.  (Grin)

I expected to weigh about 188.5 lbs. today and I was indeed surprised to weigh 190 lbs. so I hope for a better result tomorrow, 188.5 lbs.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

My Goal

My Goal

Monday, February 25, 2013

My goal is to weigh a healthy 160 lbs. by October 1, 2013 and then to maintain that weight for life.

I weighed 189.0 lbs. this morning, down 0.8 lbs. from yesterday morning.  In ounces, that is 3024 and my goal is to lose 4 oz. each day, which is 1 1/4 lbs. per week.  My starting weight was 204 lbs. and I gained for a few days to 207, then began a good decline in weight.  I weigh daily, first thing in the morning, and I record the weight, first in a real notebook just for that, then on a device; it may be on my laptop or on my telephone where I have an application for that.  I use an Excel spreadsheet where I have detailed my goal changes from 204 to 160 using the 4 oz./day model, which led me to the detailed goal date of October 1, 2013.  My goal for today was to reach 196.25 lbs. (3140 oz.) so I am ahead of my goal by 6.7 lbs.  My rate of weight change will slow down as I get closer to my goal, but for now, I have good progress.

Years ago, when I was in the United States Navy and aboard the ship USS Point Defiance (LSD-31), our mission required us to spend six months at a time in the Philippine Islands.  After our stay there, we finished with a sea cruise to Japan.  I've always liked to point out how we got to Japan.  First, we had to know where we were, then where Japan was.  Then we had to "see" Japan, that is to clearly see where our goal was and make a plan to arrive.  Our plan was to steam at a specific speed in a specific direction, our course, until we arrived.  Did we go straight to Japan without changing anything?  No; that is nearly impossible.  Over that great a distance, our navigator, as good as he was, made minor errors.  Each day at 08:00, 12:00 and 16:00 he and an assistant went on deck on the port side of the 03 level and with a sextant, took a fix, i.e. a bearing, on the sun so that he could know our location.  He reported to the Captain, they conferred and made any minor course changes to put us back on the path to Japan.  One day, I saw our navigator worried, and I mean very worried; he was in almost a make a grown man cry state and he was a very good man, very good at his job.  Why was he so worried?  He was afraid that we were significantly off course and that day the sky was so badly overcast with clouds that he had not seen the sun, not at 08:00 nor at 12:00.  Finally, he was able to get a fix on the sun and we proved to be not as far off course as he feared.  Weighing every day is getting the fix on the sun; it is the standard by which we can measure.  If I have a trend, I can tell if I am on or off course.  Of course, the speed and course is my plan.  If I follow my diet plan daily and exercise daily to that plan, then I am on course.

To accomplish anything we must have a goal.  We must be able to see that goal, clearly, if not in reality, at least in our mind, our imagination.  We must have a clear idea of what we need to reach that goal and how far it is.  We must know where we are and where we are going, set a course and stay the course.  We must have a determined plan to reach our goal and we must allow for the hard reality of course changes, if we must make them.  And we must allow for and accept failure at times.  When we fail, we must begin again immediately.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

Body by Payne

Surprising Progress

Surprising Progress

Today is Saturday, February 23, 2013 and it is significant because it is my son's birthday.  He would be 46 years old today.  Stephen, as we usually called him, although I had my own nickname for him of "Sparky", was born February 23, 1967 and died September 6, 2003 at the age of 36.  When he was 14 and we were living in North Dakota he seemed to acquire an unusual odor to his breath and he was urinating frequently, so much so that I noticed it, and he had markings on his hand that seemed to not be healing.  Our visit to our family physician that day revealed that he had diabetes.  I informed his mother that evening and we both had the feeling of, "Oh, we caught it early."  There is no early with Juvenile Diabetes, sometimes called Type I Diabetes.  Juvenile Diabetes is the result of the failure of small cells (called Beta Cells) in the pancreas to produce insulin.  Insulin is the hormone that allows our bodies to regulate our metabolism and use the food we consume as fuel.  It escorts food into our cells and without insulin we basically starve to death with food in our system.  At 14 Stephen had to begin insulin injections and remain on insulin for the rest of his life.  The diabetes would eventually lead to his blindness, then kidney failure and finally, that morning, heart failure which led to his death.  He died in the city of Tyler, Texas, where we had lived after our transfer from North Dakota.  He is buried in Pawhuska, Oklahoma where he requested to be buried.  It is near to where I live and I am able to visit his grave often.  I continue to place a birthday card each year on his grave.

My weight over the last three days has had small and unexpected changes.  It was like this:

February 20 191.8 lbs.
February 21 190.6 lbs.
February 22 192.4 lbs.
February 23 191.0 lbs.
February 24 189.8 bls.

Notice that on the 22nd, my weight increased to 192.4 lbs, up slightly.  It is easy to have an emotional breakdown because of a reversal, think we are failing and fall into a binge.  I've done that before.  I used my best intellectual tools to realize that this was a temporary failing and probably not a trend.  The reason I realized that was because, when I looked at my process, i.e. my plan and its execution, I had not failed.  I had not changed anything there.  In fact, the day before my weight increase, I had eaten little, due to my cold, and exercised well with a four mile walk so I should not have gained weight, but I did.  I could look at the change as muscle mass but I don't think that was the case; I can't account for it so I won't try; I'll just accept that my weight increased on a temporary basis, stay with my program and expect a lower weight within the next few days to a week.

When I worked in the chemical industry, we had a process.  For example, we would add precise amounts at precise times for ethylene, catalyst, iso-butane, hexane, etc. and physically treat it in a prescribed way over a specified time; that was process.  The result of a process is a product.  Our product was polyethylene plastic.  A perfect process always produced a perfect product, without fail.

A program, diet and exercise in combination is a process, and if I adhere to my process consistently, the product will be me at a lower weight and a healthier weight.

And you can see that I began this on the 23rd but I have not yet completed it on the 24th as I watch the Academy Awards so I have added today's weight of 189.8 lbs.

My progress has been amazing since I have lost just over 17 lbs. in 29 days which is an average of 0.58 lbs. per day, about 9 oz. each day.  All of that is the result of following what I have learned mostly from "Good Calories, Bad Calories" and the program I have designed for my own use.  The major key has been eliminating the evening snack from my day.  And I have been very tempted a few times to give in to something and have a snack of, perhaps cheese, olives, a chicken breast.  It would be something that would not produce a negative insulin effect, something with less than 5 grams of carbohydrates.  But I've been good.  My only exceptions have been just a cup of hot green tea or coffee, sometimes with a spoon of honey if I really want or need that taste.

My goal was to reach 190 lbs. and to begin running then but I had actually begun to run earlier, just lightly, about a quarter of a mile.  Last week I had a very bad cold (head/chest cold) and I kept walking, dressing warmly and some of that was in snow and ice, some in a bit of rain.  Today was sunny and bright with wind, 55 degrees F.  I wore leg tights, a shirt and a jacket with gloves and a good pair of running shoes.  I ran 1/4 of a mile and then had a problem with my music so I stopped and fixed it and walked a 1/4 and then ran a full 1/2 mile; then I walked 1.5 miles and then ran the last 1/2 mile in.  My heart rate was from 135 to 150 beats per minute; it was good exercise. My total distance was 3.03 miles in 50 minutes, 43 seconds and I burned 323 calories.  So, everything I have done in reducing my weight is with diet and exercise only, which makes me feel good.

Time and again I have looked at and considered things that might assist me and make it go faster but my goal is not to just lose weight but to make a complete lifestyle change and be healthy, to not fall back into the patterns that have caused me to fail.  It took me several tries to quit smoking and my last time, 36 years ago, was a success.  With so much more knowledge now and recognition of my failures and knowing why and where I failed, I hope this will be as much as success.

I saw the Sensa advertisements, right, and I did research on Sensa; it may well work for some people, but, what I learned suggests that there is something wrong with it in that it doesn't teach you how to be healthy; it teaches you take an aid and continue to eat in an unhealthy fashion. I rejected it for that reason and also because I am cheap.  I did not want to pay a monthly fee for it for life just to eat anything and everything, etc.

My goal is to follow my process to a product of 160 lbs. by October 1, 2013 with a Body Mass Index (BMI) number of  24.44.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne
Body by Payne

A Story of Personal Struggle

A Story of Personal Struggle

(With weight)

My weight yesterday morning was 191.8 lbs.
My weight this morning, February 21, 2013 is 190.6 lbs.

As I have said earlier, I am a 69 year old male.  When I was about ten years old I was heavy but I lost that weight and I pretty well stayed within a certain weight for many years.  I quit school when I was 17 and I enlisted in the United States Navy.  Through my navy years, I was about 117 lbs. and a lot of that had to do with navy food.  I just often could not eat what was offered, and I was sea sick often.  So, I would go through the mess line with a tray and often exit with very few things on my tray and then I would eat only a portion of that.  Oddly enough, I could eat pork chops, as greasy as they were, so when we had marines on board, I frequently talked them out of their chops giving me plenty to eat.  I also doused them with ketchup, that wonderful concoction from Heinz 57 which has allowed us to disguise and make palatable unwanted foods from child hood on.  And, one of my personal favorites then was Vienna Sausage which I had hidden in different places on the ship; those and World's Finest Chocolate bars prevented my starving to death.

Just after I left the navy I married Connie and we struggled with making a living, eventually leaving the promised land of California and returning to Oklahoma where I struggled with low paying jobs.  In the summer of 1965, I returned to high school and graduated in 1967.  I then went to work for Phillips Petroleum Company where I completed a 33 1/2 year career before being retired.

But this is the story of the struggle of my own weight.  Along about 1971, we had visited California and surfed and swam.  I was showing our photographs at work when one of the older men said, "I see you're beginning to get some love handles there."  I panicked and stopped eating and lost that weight, but as soon as I had, I began to gain again.  I lost that weight again and kept it off for several years before my next weight gain.

I should mention too that I had smoked cigarettes since I was about 15 years old.  I was still smoking when my weight struggle began and I was addicted, no other word will suffice, to cigarettes. I had tried different approaches to cutting down, such as smoking a pipe and then cigars.  The cigars were great because I cut down on cigarettes alright, becoming addicted to cigars and smoking them all day long.  I also chewed on one a bit before I lit it.  Smoking cigars cost about the same as cigarettes but it was much more inconvenient and I eventually went back to cigarettes and then I quit, in 1968 and I was off of them for a while before I made the mistake of smoking one cigarette.  I've learned that we addicts, no matter the addiction, can't play that game of, "Oh, I'll just have one."  I eventually quit smoking completely in January, 1978, first day of that year in fact.  And I have been a non-smoker for more than 35 years.  And that has a point.  When you quit smoking, you find yourself getting away from friends who smoked, away from the environments and haunts of smokers.

You can't do that with food.  Many of us have a food addiction of some kind and we have habits that we have created or learned which form around that addiction.  Snacking is a habit of that ilk. Many of us snack, late and probably eat something that goes against our system too.

The same year I quit smoking I began to run.  I felt that running would help me to stay off of cigarettes because I did not feel that I could run and smoke at the same time.  I later met men and women who did both smoke and run.  Amazing.  An unexpected side benefit from running was that I could eat without gaining weight; in fact, I lost weight and gained muscle mass.  I stabilized at a weight of about 137 lbs. and I stayed there for years, with heavy running.  Remember that my navy weight was about 117 lbs. but in 1978 I was nearly 20 years older and we gain mass so our weight changes upwards even if we remain slim.  Today, my weight should be ideal at around 157-160 lbs so I have set my goal at 160 lbs.

I said heavy running.  I began running in place, in the house and I would run for 10 minutes and I added to it each few days until I could run in the house in place for 40 minutes.  "Now I am ready to run outside," I said to myself one day, and I said it to Connie who said "Good".  She was tired of my running in the house.  So, one day, out the door I went, impress the neighbors, run 2 or 3 miles and show them, surprise them.  I started out too fast and I made it quarter of a mile; thought I was going to die right there, so I walked, and after a walk of a quarter of a mile, I ran a quarter.  I did that daily for a week and then one day---I finished a mile. Then I was running one mile every day and within a week, I tried to run for two miles and succeeded.  I was overjoyed because I had never been an athlete, certainly never a good one in my stabs at football, baseball, basketball and anything else.  Boys have to try all of it to find our niche.  Within a month I was running three miles every day, all after I got off work and before we had dinner or went out to eat.

If I missed a run, I felt horrible, so I had traded the addiction to cigarettes for an addiction to running; a bad addiction for a good addiction.  Addicted runners, which are most runners, feel akin to Catholics in that they must confess:  Forgive me father, for I have sinned.  I missed two runs in a row and I am humbly contrite, and we seem to hear, "Your sin is forgiven and for your penance you must run twice two days in a row within the next week and make a cash contribution to a fund for shoes for underprivileged runners.  Go in peace and sin no more."

I kept a detailed log of my runs, where, when, how, who with, routes, splits (time in minutes for each mile) and total time.  In 1978 I began to run races at the first Tulsa Run, a distance of 15,000 meters (9.3 miles) and, of course, all of that kept my weight off.  I ran about 700 miles that first years, more than a 1,000 miles the next year and then 2,000 miles one year.  And I honestly believed I would never gain weight again.  That's a euphemism for get fat; I believed I would never get fat again.  Wrong.

More to come.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

The Distant Goal

The Distant Goal

February 19, 2013

My weight this morning is 192.2 lbs., down more than ten lbs. and ahead of my goal schedule.  But, it is easier to lose weight when we are heavier.  The last ten lbs. is the most difficult and the slowest.  It is also the time when we get frustrated and fall off of the wagon.

The goal is distant, yes, but I can see it in the distance.  Partly because I have been here, and there, before.  When I was a boy I sometimes had a struggle with weight.  Perhaps in the fourth grade or something along in there, I had gotten heavy and I didn't weigh then or even have a scale in the house.  My mother had always seemed to have a weight problem that I noticed and people being unkind as they sometimes are might ask, "Is your mother the fat lady who works at the telephone office?"  That was later mollified to "Is your mother the heavy set woman who works at the telephone office?"  I always answered yet, but i was a child and had the self confidence of a child so I did not say to them any of the things I thought.  And, looking back, I recall some of these kind folks being the sames size as my mother.

I did not know my own heritage then since my mother rarely talked about it, but when she did, it came in glimpses, small windows that opened and let me see into her life, and mine too. My mother died in 1993, November 1.  Her death was attributed to heart failure but, it was set up by type II (adult onset) diabetes, some call "old age diabetes" but that is not fair to just label it so; people thirty years old develop adult onset diabetes.  After her death and as I became the defacto and default keeper of her records which I must share with my younger brother Charles, I discovered photographs that I could eventually identify.  Several were of my grandfather Max Benjamin Harris; others I found were of an older man and woman playing with my young mother.  I had met the older woman in Oklahoma City and I was told to call her Nanna.  I thought Nana was her name but, a few times, when my mother was invited to go shopping with my aunt Mae Dean Payne, or my cousin Lynette Payne Cox,, she said, "Oh I can't go because I promised Lena that I would go by and see her and take Stevie Joe."  But we didn't go to Lena's, we went instead to Nana's.  Years later, with an adult mind and more knowledge, I understood that Lena Harris was Nana and she was my great grandmother.  Also, my wife was doing some work in genealogy and had started on my family, which is fun because it is not neat and clean, like some.  

I used www.ancestry.com and through it I made many of the links and learned that my great grandparents, Sam and Lena Harris, were Polish Jews who had immigrated to the United States.  In the early 1900's, they owned and operated a hotel in Ada, Oklahoma called the Harris Hotel and later becoming the Juliana Hotel.

I am mentioning genealogy because it is linked to DNA and my mother inherited hers from the Harris as well as her other side. I am 50% Payne and I am also 50% Harris, so I have inherited some properties in how my  system and my metabolism process nourishment.

And just a brief mention then, the obvious, I am from Polish Jewish stock.  I was raised Christian rather by accident but there is my Polish connection.  And, Uczę się języka polskiego.  In the 1950's, my mother once took me to Froug's Department Store in Tulsa to see an uncle.  He was Uncle William Froug and he was the owner of Froug's.  I saw him only that one time and I struggled over time to find out how he was my uncle and then through www.ancestry.com, I found he was married to Rita.  My grandfather Max Harris had a sister named Reta and due to spelling problems on genealogy, I am betting that the Rita/Reta was my aunt.

Briefly, on my Payne side, I have traced the Paynes to Virginia in 1607, before the United States was the United States, and found my several American Indian grandmothers so on Payne, I am at least English and Cherokee, so all said and done, yes, I am a mutt.

Is that good, that I know my DNA and legacy now?  Sure, because I am now gathering more knowledge and more tools to fight fat. But what I know about my own DNA and my genealogy is nothing compared to what I have learned, and continue to learn from Gary Taubes book "Good Calories, Bad Calories."

I'll get into what I learned about the role insulin plays in our life later.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

My Diet Plan Specifics

My Diet Plan Specifics

Stevie's 160 Diet Plan

Low Carbohydrate

Forbidden foods or not allowed

(1)  Rice

 (2)  Bread

 (3) Cereal

    (4) Potatoes

(5) Sugar

 (6) Sweets

Foods allowed

               (1) Meat, fish, fowl

(2) Eggs

   (3) Cheese

                 (4) green vegetables

                        (5) Cashews, up to 1 oz.

My Program

Breakfast: Coffee, eggs (2) with occasional mushrooms (cooked) and cheese garnish.

Lunch:: Salad, usually spinach with 2 oz. tuna, cheese (1 oz.), cashews (1 oz.) and dressing, usually Bleu Cheese or just mayonnaise. 

or

Chicken breast, beef patty, small steak or pork chop, fish (all up to about 8 oz.)

Dinner: Beef, chicken, fish or pork with salad, coffee or tea and/or water.

No snacks after my evening meal except for coffee, tea, water, hot tea with a spoon of honey.

The Difficulty of Snacks

For many of us, snacks can be a problem.  Even when I eat snacks that I feel are negative in effect (i.e. won't add to a weight problem), such as protein, I'm still eating a snack, and often late at night, just before I go to bed.  I've tried to make any snacks that I eat something such as cashews with a small cheese and, perhaps a few olives along with it.  And, there is often if not always, the ubiquitous soft drink.  I liked having a Coke Zero before I went to bed.

I made a couple of decisions regarding snacks, and I honestly did not know if I could live with them.  If we don't try, we are doomed to failure; you miss 100% of the shots you never take.  And, as Jelly Bean Jones always says, "The girl you don't ask out, ain't going with you anyway."  I set a loose goal of no snacks after my evening meal.  Once I had gotten past three days without any snacks or real food, I seemed to be able to do it.  How?  I have no clue.  I've tried a hundred times before to do this very thing, cut out snacks after my evening meal.

In my past, it has been such a struggle for me and a few times I have gotten a couple of days without a snack and then I would get hungry at night and get something.  I always thought it was not a problem and it filled me, keeping me from waking up hungry during the night.

I have gone over two weeks without a snack.  Except for hot green tea and I may add a teaspoon or two of honey to it.  My goal is to consume less than 20 grams of carbohydrates each day.  Many carbohydrates are a tad hidden from us.  They are not, really, but we either don't read labels or know how to.  For example, I had a female friend online, whom I never met in person, but she was eating a lot of yogurt daily.  She insisted she was on a low carbohydrate diet but, she was eating three or four of the cups of yogurt and each one had two servings.  The yogurt she bought had about 22 grams per serving but some yogurts have up to 46 or more grams of carbohydrates, either in a cup or as a serving.  Here are some values I found on a web site:

http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/food/yogurt/carbohydrate

Also, I thought I had to have the Coke Zero or Sprite Zero.  Zero means they have no calories and the company claims that they have the same taste.  I thought the taste was good, not like the early diet drinks that always tasted like medicine to me.  It doesn't matter the sweetener, Splenda, Truvia, Sweet n' Low, Equal, etc, we are still adding something that is not quite natural.

Also, I've drunk coffee with cream/creamer and Splenda for a long time.  I often said that I liked coffee but I did not like the taste of it.  I began to drink it black when my last 50 package of Splenda was exhausted and, lo and behold, I've learned to like black coffee.  I'm cheating a bit because in the middle of all of this, for Christmas, my dear sister-in-law, during her courageous battle with ovarian cancer, bought us a Keurig coffee maker.  We did not and do not have the space for it but, before I mothballed it, since it was a gift, and from someone struggling with money and life, I set it up and began to use it.  I love it.  Charlotte does not, but perhaps she'll get used to it.  The jury is still out.

Here is what I have done then:  I am following my diet plan daily, eliminated soft drinks of all kinds, learned to drink coffee black and ice tea without sweetener and I exercise daily with long walks.

I am doing well and losing weight by my goal plan.  It is now 225 days until my goal target of 160 lbs. by October 1, 2013.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

The Beginning: Where I Started From

The Beginning: Where I Started From

My goal is to reach the weight of 160 lbs. by October 1, 2013.

The name of the blog is "Body by Payne" and it is a bit of a play on words, i.e. "Body by Pain" as we don't succeed in weight management without some changes and sacrifice, i.e. "pain"

Where I am now is a statement, not a question and it means where I am to begin with and where I plan to go.  My weight this morning was 193.6 lbs, which is where I am.  A few weeks ago, I hit a weight of 207 lbs. although I was there only briefly. Here is short table to detail my weight in lbs.

Date	Weight, lbs.
1/26/2013	204.00
1/27/2013	204.60
1/28/2013	204.60
1/29/2013	207.00
1/30/2013	205.20
1/31/2013	204.80
2/1/2013	205.20
2/2/2013	203.80
2/3/2013	202.80
2/4/2013	201.80
2/5/2013	200.20
2/6/2013	200.40
2/7/2013	199.00
2/8/2013	200.40
2/9/2013	200.20
2/10/2013	198.40
2/11/2013	197.60
2/12/2013	197.00
2/13/2013	196.20
2/14/2013	195.20
2/15/2013	194.80
2/16/2013	194.80
2/17/2013	194.60

2/18/2013                               193.60

I am a 69 year old male, just turned 69 on February 12th and the fact is that the longer we live, for most of us, the more difficult weight management is.  I have learned what works for me but I still have to plan and work my plan, to follow what I know.

I have been a runner since 1978 and in that time of 35 years, I have run more than 35,000 miles.  I used to keep a carefully detailed log of each run but I got out of that habit due to a lot of things happening in my life and with friends and family.  My principle tool is knowledge and in about 1998 I became aware of the Doctors Eades with their program called "Protein P:ower".  Following it and exercising, I lost weight.  After that I also learned about Dr. Atkins, who had been around for some time, but he was new to me.  The two programs are very similar.  In 2007, Gary Taubes published his book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" which, I feel, has the most complete story of why we gain weight.  From what I have learned, I have designed my own plan.  I do not like to call it a diet plan but that is the stupidity of calling a janitor (the word I grew up with) a "sanitary engineer" to raise his self esteem.  I can't find a better word than diet.  I can say "control, fast, therapy, regime, regimen, etc," and the worst, "starvation", which I certainly don't want to do.  So, all said, I have designed my own diet plan and I'll post it later.

I set my goal in this fashion.  I have known my ideal weight for some time and it is around 155-160 lbs. so I set that number as my goal.  I subtracted my goal weight of 160 from my starting weight of 204 resulting in a 44 lbs. net change and multiplied the 44 by 16 oz. per pound for 704.  I set my daily goal at a net loss of 4 oz. per day, which is about 1.75 lbs. per week of change and reasonable to do.

I weigh each day, first thing in the morning after I wake and empty the bladder and I weigh naked for consistency.  Cowboy boots add to my weight, and my doctor usually has them weigh me with my boots on; go figure.  On the other hand, they won't let me weigh naked at the medical office.  I calculated the number of days it would take me to reach 160 and set my goal as October 1, 2013.  My weight loss will show down as I move along and I can make meaningful adjustments.

The first step of any plan is to begin.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne