Paleo Diet: Day 1

When I first learned that LeBron James had gone on the Paleo diet, I thought to myself, "why would LBJ need to go on a diet?"

For a while now, I have noticed an increase in my body's weight over the years.  I'm simply not as young as I used to be (now 31-years-old) and my metabolism probably isn't as fast.  And for anyone, as you get older it just becomes more difficult to exercise as easily due to life's other priorities, or perhaps your body just can't handle vigorous workouts as often as it used to.  I measured myself on the scale the other day and I now come in at 190 lbs and my waist measures 36.5" (+/- a half inch). In summation, I feel like a Fatty McFatty. :/ So I've been thinking, if the greatest athlete in the world feels the need to go on a diet every once in a while, why can't I?

I didn't spend too much time researching diets.  Over the months, I've read enough about the gist of these new era diets (gluten free, wheat belly, Atkins, etc) to understand the simple concept: cut out the crap and eat healthier.  Enough of my friends have tried some variation of some diet and it's worked for them in whatever way they chose.  And so begins my time on the Paleo diet...

DAY 1:

First things first, I had to make a list of the things I could eat and the things I couldn't and put it on my fridge so that I was reminded every time I got hungry.  This is my first time ever attempting a real diet, so it's a little intimidating at first.

DON'T EAT:
• wheat, grains, pastas, breads
• dairy, cheese
• potatoes
• soda, sugar, salt
• BEER
• vegetable oil

DO EAT:
• meats, fish, poultry
• eggs
• vegetables, fruits
• olive oil

This list is based off the Paleo website and is altered slightly based on foods I personally enjoy eating.

All of the items in the "DON'T EAT" section were hard to give up.  I noticed right of the bat that salt is in almost everything: my seasonings and my sauces. :(  And of course, beer is going to be tough to abstain from drinking, but I've gone weeks without drinking to prove to myself that I could, so it shouldn't be that bad.

Day 1: side view- 190lbs, waist 36.5"

Day 1: front view- 190lbs, waist 36.5"

On my first day, I had pork chops for lunch and a steak for dinner.  I used pepper and parsley seasoning, so fortunately it didn't taste bland.  I had a couple fried eggs using olive oil and then raspberries for my late night snack.  I then steamed enough cauliflower and broccoli to have for a few days to be added to the leftover meats I'm bringing to work for lunch.  Orange slices for breakfast, banana for afternoon snack.

I'll continue to maintain my normal workout schedule at the gym, which consists of lifting weights twice a week and running/playing ball another 2-3 times the rest of the week.  My goal is to knock off 10 lbs and at least 1.5" off my waist and do it all by December 20th, in time for the holidays back in Scottsdale, since maintaining the diet would be tough to do at my parents' house and there will be several of festivities where I'll want to enjoy an alcoholic beverage.  I'll return with updates after the 10th and 20th days.  Wish me luck!

Enabling Do-Not-Disturb on my iPhone 6!

For those of you who know me well, you know that I work flexible hours and prefer a later schedule in life.  In general, it's rare that I'll be in bed before 2am and even more rare that I would be up before 10am on a daily basis.  I maintain a pretty regular sleeping schedule for both weekdays and weekdays and I almost never set an alarm clock.

I'm thankful that I have a job that allows me to work a flexible schedule, but at the same time if my job needs me earlier in the day, I will make myself available.  One way of maintaining a flex schedule is leaving my cell phone on while I sleep so that my manager can contact me if they need me early in the morning.  However, it's challenging when someone else contacts me while I'm sleeping and being a light sleeper, if I receive a text message I will wake up from hearing the sound.  It's analogous to someone calling you at 4am in the morning if you usually get up around 6am...

In the past I had to tell my friends not to text me before 10am, but it would continue or happen with new friends who didn't know this.  Fortunately for people like me, there is a Do-Not-Disturb feature with iPhone 6 (or maybe it's just the iOS, whatever)!  I started using it and it works perfectly!

"Do Not Disturb" is accessed via Settings and I've set mine to automatically enable between the hours of 2am and 10am, my usually sleeping period.  One thing I had trouble with is making it so that just a select people (like my manager or my family) can contact me.  The default options are Favorites, No One, and Everyone.

 

So I found this app called "Groups" that is free and you can make groups and add contacts to them.  I created one called Emergency and it is now an option that is selectable.

Already Do-Not-Disturb has helped, as I received a text from my friend on the east coast at 4am but didn't hear it. So wonderful!  Sleep (especially uninterrupted sleep) is so invaluable for a stress-free life.  Thank you iPhone!!!

Raytheon Basketball A-League: Playoffs!

NEW UPDATE ON 11/10!

Last year, Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson invited IBM to play in their basketball league.  Raytheon is the largest employer in Tucson, supplying over approximately 10,000 engineering-related jobs.  Their basketball league is therefore a formidable one that must be separated into 3 leagues: A, B, and C.  In 2013, Raytheon invited us to be a team that plays occasionally teams from both A and B league.  We were simply a filler team and thus they asked us not to send an all-star team and implied that we wouldn't be eligible to actually win their tournament.  As such, we sent an average team and went about 50% playing mostly teams from both A and B league.

This year, Raytheon told us that there was a full spot open in A League, their highest league.  There were no restrictions this time, so at IBM I invited everyone who wanted to play a chance to play, and we ended up sending a lot of better players this time around.  The A-League in Raytheon is still very challenging (I'd say it's as good as your average city league) and the challenge most of the season has just been having all of our players available to play each night.

Tonight begins the 3-week single elimination tournament in Raytheon Basketball's A-League!  We'll already be down one key player, which makes it tough, but it's now win or go home.  Good luck to team IBM representing in the Raytheon League!

FIRST ROUND RESULTS:

Unfortunately, team IBM was not only without it's starting power forward but also it's starting point guard on this night, leaving us without 2 of our top players and scoring options.  IBM fell into a double-digit hole in the first half.  A good run by yours truly hitting three 3-pointers in a row cut the lead down to single digits with minutes to spare, but the opponent hit their free throws to close the game out and IBM lost 44-54.  Thus ends our run in the Raytheon A-League. :( It was still a lot of fun for me to be able to play alongside my friends when I don't usually get the opportunity to!

Jeremy's Wedding in Scottsdale

This past weekend I attended Jeremy and Alyssa's wedding, which was held at the McCormick Ranch Golf Resort in Scottsdale.  I've been friends with Jeremy for over ten years, meeting him through my friend Sam who was in his wedding.  While I wasn't in Jeremy's wedding, I attended his bachelor party last month in Phoenix and I was good friends with most of the people that were part of his wedding party.

It's been a while since I've attended a wedding in Arizona, so not having to travel far was a plus.  I've actually never been to McCormick Golf Ranch before and it's gorgeous venue.  It was early October, so the weather was not ideal and it was a little warm outside for the ceremony on the golf course with the sun shining in everyone's eyes.

They kept the ceremony fairly short, lasting about 25 minutes and then it was off to cocktail hour!  I've never seen Cornhole or Bocce Ball at a wedding before, so when they had both I had to get in on the action!  About an hour later we were seated for dinner and I got seated with all the groomsmen, who I had known for as many years as Jeremy.  It was a nice perk because I was second in line to the buffet for dinner. :)

The rest of the wedding was pretty standard.  Open bar, photo booth, dancing, and desserts!  Unfortunately I didn't get to stay too long for this wedding.  Congratulations to Jeremy and Alyssa and best of luck to the newlyweds!