Bearlee is ...

[Sloth the Enduring]

I didn’t want to run with a hammer in my neighborhood either, so I took my kettlebell for a walk (only once though). I think that’s a good idea to build grip strength and so that carrying a hammer around isn’t a shock to the system.

The tire flipping machine might be useful for practicing the setup and the start of the flip. I’m sure I have horrible mechanics.

[Bearlee]

Posting not happening as frequently as it should but things are going well. I’ve been focusing mostly on diet and it’s paying off big time. Been going veg-ish now nine days and not that hard. Next week I’m going to transition into a more complicated food format of 1lb of greens, 4 servings of fruits, 1lb of raw vegetables, 1/4C nuts, and 1cup beans. Over the weekend I looked at the size of 1lb of greens and it’s 1 large container of the pre-made salads you can pick up at the store. That’s a lot of greens every day!

 

In honor of the hammer race that happened this past weekend, Monday I walked with my hammer. Did that for about a half hour and my triceps and back of shoulder was getting really tired. Nice I have 25 more weeks to work on that. I’ll have to build it up to at least 2 hours of walking with a sledge hammer. Grip was getting a little loose too.

[Sloth the Enduring]

That’s a lot of vegetable matter. Perhaps you’re not a bear. Maybe a Koalabearlee.


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[Bearlee]

1 hour ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

That’s a lot of vegetable matter. Perhaps you’re not a bear. Maybe a Koalabearlee.

 

Perhaps a PandaBearlee since bamboo is less toxic than eucalyptus leaves. And less climbing in trees.

[Bearlee]

Just realized this week that I’ve actually lost 50 lbs since I restarted my weight loss journey. I still have a long ways to go but f-it I’m going to take a moment to enjoy the accomplishment.

 

Bearlee is ... a Yogi!

Haven’t done today’s yoga but I’m still on track. This week was only Energy and Fat Burner. Next week re-introduces Below the Belt.

 

Bearlee is ... a Walker!

Not of late, but I’ve been ramping up and starting to approach the numbers I was getting during the company walk challenge.

 

Bearlee is ... a Runner!?

While not fast or long I’ve been getting more consistent with actually doing it. I’m more proud of actually doing than being good fast. Like they say, I may not be fast but I’m lapping the people on the couch. Saturday is going to be cold and rainy so probably won’t go to the track to test my actual speed.

 

So while I’ve struggled with exercise these past few weeks my nutrition has been on point. I’ve done so good that I’ve actually gone into the vegan zone (which for me is like going from ludicrous speed to plaid). Sunday I’m transitioning into a wider veg-ish plan for up to 4 weeks. I’ll take it a week at a time to see how it’s going. Then plan to add more stuff back in like eggs and fish and the occasional beef. Fun thing is, I’ve gotten several veg-ish cook books and surprising how many of the recipes have sugar/honey/maple syrup and I wonder “Is this any better for you?” But I’ll try to weed out what I think are the worst ones and if nothing else I’ll get more veggies into my diet.

 

For those who don’t get the plaid reference, plus who couldn’t use a little Spaceballs in their day.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Congratulations Panda Bear!

[WhiteGhost]

40 minutes ago, Bearlee said:

Just realized this week that I’ve actually lost 50 lbs since I restarted my weight loss journey. I still have a long ways to go but f-it I’m going to take a moment to enjoy the accomplishment.

 

That is awesome! 50 lbs is no small feat!

[Shello]

2 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Just realized this week that I’ve actually lost 50 lbs since I restarted my weight loss journey. I still have a long ways to go but f-it I’m going to take a moment to enjoy the accomplishment.

 

That certainly deserves to be celebrated.  Well done. 

 

[Bearlee]

24 weeks till Fall Hammer race. Lots needs to be done.

Bearlee is ... a Yogi!
Missed my first workout Monday. Don’t feel good about that.

Bearlee is ... a Runner!?
Did my second 1 mile on Tuesday. My walk/run routine ended just shy of one mile so I kept going until I hit a mile. Time was bad, but I’m not going to get a very good time where I walk due to the small area and tight turns. I would like to see what happens Saturday if I get to the track.

Bearlee is ... an Amateur Astronomer!
I’ve been sad about this because it’s been nothing but overcast for what seems like a month. Venus finally got high enough above the horizon that I could finally see it in the early evening. Season has changed and Orion isn’t in the sky anymore so I’ll have to find a new focal point for finding other constellations.

[The Most Loathed]

46 minutes ago, Bearlee said:

Bearlee is ... an Amateur Astronomer!

I ordered Turn Left at Orion and some binoculars this week in prep for our Yellowstone trip. Living in the city as I do, I doubt I can do much start gazing day to day though.

[Bearlee]

21 hours ago, The Most Loathed said:

I ordered Turn Left at Orion and some binoculars this week in prep for our Yellowstone trip. Living in the city as I do, I doubt I can do much start gazing day to day though.

 

First Scouting and now star gazing, I didn’t realize I had such a big impact on you ;P. I’m a little jealous about you going out to star gaze in a remote area. Watching the sky in the city would actually be pretty good training since you’ll only be able to see the brightest stars and the brightest constellations so you can get your bearing. It’s surprising how big the actual constellations are and it’s nice to identify them without having the other interference around.

 

Turn Left at Orion is an okay book but I’ve found more use out of a book called Night Watch by Terence Dickinson. I was hesitant to mention it since I know so little about astronomy but in one of my astronomy podcasts they said that book is the go to that every beginner should have, so I can now feel more confident recommending it. Perhaps check it out at the library first to see if it’s useful to you. That book is where I learn how to identify other constellations by using Orion and the Big Dipper as sign posts and it also has a handy (pun intended) way of using your hand to figure out degrees in the sky for a quick and dirty way of knowing how high in the sky to look (or how many degrees from another point like a bright star).

 

If your apartment has a Western view you should be able to see Venus well in the early evening. Or if you’re up later and have an Eastern view you can easily spot Jupiter. Jupiter is the only thing I’ve been able to see in the sky for the past month, even on cloudy nights.

 

I might also recommend getting an app called SkyView that you can get for free that uses your location to show you what’s in the sky. It’s been really handy for me to find the planets, plus it shows you what the constellations are supposed to look like because sometimes it’s hard picturing anything with 5 dots in the sky.

 

Plus don’t forget a red flashlight or red cellophane rubber banded over the flash light to preserve your night vision.

[Bearlee]

Really focusing on my diet and it’s really not that hard other than making sure I have items on hand. The only problem I’m having is eating salads. Greens and dressing by themselves is not very exciting. I always keep wanting to add tuna/chicken, olive oil, cheese, nuts, and/or some kind of calorie heavy salad dressing. Then I realize that would make the calorie counts 8-10 times higher than just the greens by themselves. Tonight I finally broke down and added a can of tuna and a quarter cup of crushed cashews to my 1.5 quart of greens and it was so much better. The nuts I was going to eat anyways and I figured how much damage could a can of tuna do. No regrets.

 

Bearlee is ... a Runner?!

Actually got a second run in this week. Tweeked my run walk times again and added two more run/walk sets to my routine and actually ended up going 1.13 miles. Slowly working my way up to a 5k, very slowly. I chuckle sometimes when I write about me running because I remember in high school, many years ago, how much I tried to avoid running a mile and now I’m voluntarily trying to run more than that. Perhaps if I knew about run/walk back in those days I would have done more running then. But it seemed like it was maximum effort until exhaustion was expected back then. But I was also probably a teenage twerp and still wouldn’t have done it.

 

I’ve also noticed with my walk/run that I have no idea what pacing is, but perhaps I’ll pick it up as I go along. Back in high school days I tried training with a friend that was in cross country and he made the comment about that. We didn’t train for long before I got discouraged and never ran again (till now).

[Shello]

6 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Turn Left at Orion is an okay book but I’ve found more use out of a book called Night Watch by Terence Dickinson. I was hesitant to mention it since I know so little about astronomy but in one of my astronomy podcasts they said that book is the go to that every beginner should have, so I can now feel more confident recommending it. Perhaps check it out at the library first to see if it’s useful to you. That book is where I learn how to identify other constellations by using Orion and the Big Dipper as sign posts and it also has a handy (pun intended) way of using your hand to figure out degrees in the sky for a quick and dirty way of knowing how high in the sky to look (or how many degrees from another point like a bright star).

 

I'm not really that much into stargazing but I think this summer I'm taking the kids on a road trip and we'll camp for a night in this place in Michigan that's on the list of the of darkest places in the US for stargazing.  Maybe I'll grab this book from the library for our trip. 

 

6 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Really focusing on my diet and it’s really not that hard other than making sure I have items on hand. The only problem I’m having is eating salads. Greens and dressing by themselves is not very exciting. I always keep wanting to add tuna/chicken, olive oil, cheese, nuts, and/or some kind of calorie heavy salad dressing. Then I realize that would make the calorie counts 8-10 times higher than just the greens by themselves. Tonight I finally broke down and added a can of tuna and a quarter cup of crushed cashews to my 1.5 quart of greens and it was so much better. The nuts I was going to eat anyways and I figured how much damage could a can of tuna do. No regrets.

 

I think you're a lot more likely to eat the greens if they are jazzed up.  They get boring fast.  There are likely tons of ways to do that without increasing the calories too much and some healthy fats and protein in a salad make them more filling.  Tuna seems like a great choice.  Fruit added to greens seems to be quite the trend too. 

[WhiteGhost]

19 hours ago, Bearlee said:

I might also recommend getting an app called SkyView that you can get for free that uses your location to show you what’s in the sky. It’s been really handy for me to find the planets, plus it shows you what the constellations are supposed to look like because sometimes it’s hard picturing anything with 5 dots in the sky.

I just downloaded this app and it is freaking amazing!  I can't wait to try it out next time I am in a place with visible stars

[Bearlee]

18 hours ago, LadyShello said:

I'm not really that much into stargazing but I think this summer I'm taking the kids on a road trip and we'll camp for a night in this place in Michigan that's on the list of the of darkest places in the US for stargazing.  Maybe I'll grab this book from the library for our trip. 

 

I think you're a lot more likely to eat the greens if they are jazzed up.  They get boring fast.  There are likely tons of ways to do that without increasing the calories too much and some healthy fats and protein in a salad make them more filling.  Tuna seems like a great choice.  Fruit added to greens seems to be quite the trend too. 

 

Michigan keeps popping up as places people go. I’ve never given it a thought before, that may have to change. Try checking it out now since it takes time to learn the constellations even with a guide.

 

Jazzed up and slathered in crap is a very fine line that most people cross. But if I can keep the sugar and unhealthy fats out I’ll be happy.

 

5 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I just downloaded this app and it is freaking amazing!  I can't wait to try it out next time I am in a place with visible stars

 

Glad you enjoy it. It would be nice if it lined up better with what you are actually looking at but it’s still a good program. Plus I’m a little jealous of you now as the Orion constellation should be popping up on your side of the world now. I sometimes feel bad talking about what I’m seeing in the sky since I know you can’t see any of it. But the other followers are all straight North of me and can see what I do, even Emma in Cali can see the same things.

 

Hope you enjoy the program and let me know what you find.

[Shello]

2 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Jazzed up and slathered in crap is a very fine line that most people cross.

True.  This applies to more than just salads. 

 

I had never really given Michigan a thought before either.  It popped up in my Pinterest feed and it seems like a family vacation I can do for less money and a shorter time than some of the other's I have planned.  

[WhiteGhost]

2 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Plus I’m a little jealous of you now as the Orion constellation should be popping up on your side of the world now.

Don't be too jealous.  I am in a city of about 30m people so even on clear nights (which are rare) we don't actually see many stars because of all the lights.  On a good night I can only see 10-15 or so.  Still it will be nice to know which ones they are.

[The Most Loathed]

On 4/26/2018 at 4:55 AM, Bearlee said:

If your apartment has a Western view you should be able to see Venus well in the early evening. Or if you’re up later and have an Eastern view you can easily spot Jupiter. Jupiter is the only thing I’ve been able to see in the sky for the past month, even on cloudy nights.

 

Plus don’t forget a red flashlight or red cellophane rubber banded over the flash light to preserve your night vision.

we do have a western view, everything but North. I'll try to look for Venus.

 

I'll double check but I think my headlamp has a little flip up, red filter.

[Bearlee]

On 4/27/2018 at 8:36 AM, LadyShello said:

True.  This applies to more than just salads. 

 

I had never really given Michigan a thought before either.  It popped up in my Pinterest feed and it seems like a family vacation I can do for less money and a shorter time than some of the other's I have planned.  

 

I can’t offer much info on Michigan but I know TML goes there fairly often and I think Sloth has been, so you may want to hit them up for information.

 

On 4/27/2018 at 9:07 AM, WhiteGhost said:

Don't be too jealous.  I am in a city of about 30m people so even on clear nights (which are rare) we don't actually see many stars because of all the lights.  On a good night I can only see 10-15 or so.  Still it will be nice to know which ones they are.

 

Even with the lights you should be able to make out Orion and Sirius. Now that they are gone I haven’t been able to make out anything other than a planet or two (which is still cool).

 

On 4/29/2018 at 7:44 AM, The Most Loathed said:

we do have a western view, everything but North. I'll try to look for Venus.

 

I'll double check but I think my headlamp has a little flip up, red filter.

 

Most of the cool objects are in the Southern sky or I should say the most change happens in the Southern sky so it should be fun for you to track things going from East to West over the seasons. For example I’ve been watching Jupiter and the Moon dancing in the sky together for the past week and it’s fun to see how their positions change relative to each other from day to day and even from evening to morning.

 

Another object you might consider, which I never thought about until I heard a recent podcast, is a sturdy tripod to mount the binoculars on. Not for tracking purposes but just for stability since objects you look at are so far away that the slightest wobble you will lose what you are looking at. Then again I don’t know how much stuff you take with you and if you would have room for a tripod.

[Bearlee]

Another week gone and I’m left reflecting on what I’m doing. After my initial success with my new diet, I’ve found out that I’ve gained back 6lbs and wonder how that is possible when eating mostly fruits and vegetables. Now Friday when I watched the Avengers I did have a large popcorn and medium soda. Saturday a burger and fries when I had lunch with my sister. And Sunday I had sushi and sushi rolls on Sunday to thank my cousin for rescuing my kid’s retainer from the lake while fishing. But does that equal a gain of 6 pounds?

 

I’ve also been having a crisis of identity lately. I like my format of “Bearlee is ...” because it makes me pause and define what I want to become but lately I don’t know if those labels are accurate of hopeful wishing. I was thinking of adding a few new labels of Bearlee is a Fisherman but I’ve only been three times this year and haven’t caught a thing and don’t know how often I will actually go. Or Bearlee is a Gardener but I only planted three planters worth of plants and probably won’t be doing anything other than not kill the plants.

 

Then there are my normal labels that I haven’t lived up to lately and I wonder if I’m a fraud for saying I’m that thing. I haven’t done yoga for a week and a half, so am I a Yogi? Ever since the company walking challenge has ended I’m barely been walking more than I was when I didn’t even think about walking, so does that make me a Walker? I’m barely getting my runs in and I’m not showing improvement and I’m not getting to the track on weekends to run, so does that still make me a runner? And I’ve all but forgotten my Bearlee is a Cook label because we are already in the 5th month of the year and I can’t think of anything new that I’ve cooked. I actually cook but it’s the same 5-8 dishes that I always cook. And I’ve read tons of cookbooks but none of them really interest me in trying something new. I just want simple like knowing what temperature and time to roast a certain vegetable. I just want the simple things, so does that make me a cook?

 

Just minor existential crisis for the moment. Onto better things. Tuesday I finally got around to mowing my back yard which I haven’t done for half a year and it shows. After I finished my neighbor across the street asked if I could look at her mower so she could mow her 5’x4’ patch of grass that is growing. After fiddling with her mower for 20 minutes I couldn’t get it going. So I thought what would hero @Sloth the Enduring do, so I took over my mower and mowed her front lawn for her. Well he would have either done that or did his kettle bell work out in her front lawn shirtless and stomped the grass into submission, I opted for the former.

 

Bearlee is ... a Runner?!

I didn’t get a run in over the weekend. But I did get a run in Tuesday. 1.13 miles in 20 minutes with an average pace of 17’33”. Disappointing, now I’m just hoping to break the 17 minute barrier instead of the 15 minute.

 

Bearlee is ... a Yogi!

Nope, not lately.

 

Bearlee is ... a Fisherman!

So I bitched about this above, but screw it I’m declaring myself a fisherman. I help my wife and her cousins catch a fish and got them both their fishing license so score one (or two) for me. Would be nice if I or Cub1 would have caught something though. Hopefully more of this label in the upcoming months.

[WhiteGhost]

39 minutes ago, Bearlee said:

Even with the lights you should be able to make out Orion and Sirius. Now that they are gone I haven’t been able to make out anything other than a planet or two (which is still cool).

I think you are seriously underestimating the amount of light this city generates   I think he maximum number of stars (in the whole sky) I have seen (from within the city) is 7. Maybe 8...

 

9 minutes ago, Bearlee said:

So I thought what would hero @Sloth the Enduring do, so I took over my mower and mowed her front lawn for her. Well he would have either done that or did his kettle bell work out in her front lawn shirtless and stomped the grass into submission, I opted for the former.

The latter wokd have epic, especially if you took your hammer, but I suspect you were probably right to go with he former

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Michigan is cold, bring a light weight puffy jacket even in summer.

I would guess that the weight gain has more to do with pausing your exercise habits than it does with sushi and popcorn.

[Bearlee]

I’ve not been having the best week. I’ve been eating like an A-hole and not moving very much. Due to discouragement of weight gain?

Monday I was driven into more frustration when I took Cub2 to doctor and found out he has a fourth ear infection of the year. He’s been on almost none stop antibiotics for the year and from what I’m reading that is bad for his biome and good bacteria which may have developmental issues down the road plus I worry about speech development. Doctor is finally recommending ear tubes to be implanted.

Doctor also thinks Cub2 has allergies and has him on a nebulizer. Three times a day I have to grapple with a 18 month old to try to keep a mask on his face while he breathes in his medicine. I have to do that three times per day for about 10 minutes each session. It’s stressful but I try to frame it by thinking how others have it much worse with their own medical issues. But Monday there was not enough sugar that I could cram into my body to put me at ease.

The good that might come out of this is when I get stressed I tend to get focused on the things that I can control. It hasn’t happened Tuesday yet but I’m still in my pity stage.

[Emma]

You have my sympathy re: cub 2. It is very hard to do that. Sometimes it helps if you can  accept that it's going to be difficult and  just has to be done. Gird up your loins and plunge into the battle. Find a non sugar reward for winning the battle of the toddler and look forward to it. Maybe a half hour walk all by yourself would be possible when Mrs. Bear gets home?

No pity allowed here (but, yes, sympathy), you are a good parent doing what needs to be done.

[Emma]

Non stop antibiotics is a bad idea. It does affect munchkin's growth. Nephew was on antibiotics for his first five years because the bean counters didn't want to pay for the kidney surgery he needed. I told his mom to collect his records and get a second opinion from another doctor. Munchkin was admitted to Stanford for the surgery in a couple of weeks. Grown now, his older and younger brothers are 6'4 and he is 5'8. A respectable height but nowhere near what he would have been without the antibiotics those five years. His smarts are fine. I would go with the ear tubes.

Random thought. Is there any way to turn the nebulizer into a game? Like the clown noses that pediatric dentists use? Distraction is also good with that age. Hold him in your lap and distract him with a toy or tv show?

You will win this battle one way or another!