Thursday, March 11, 2010

End Of Full Day One - Aches and Pains

Disclosure: If you are tempted to try a diet and exercise routine please clear it with a doctor first. I don't want anyone dying because they were doing something that they were not physically up to.

I woke up at 4am had three eggs, a can of green beans with lemon pepper sprinkled on them and a big apple for breakfast. I am trying to get off coffee so I only had one 16 oz instead of my usual 64 ounces. I did my newspaper posting and was out the door for the short two miles trip to work walking slightly up hill most of the way. I was wiped out when I got to work and I am thinking if the diet doesn't kill me the walking will.

I had about 8 smoked almonds on break and water at work. For lunch I had a lb. of salad loaded with eggs, turkey, and cheese with balsamic vinegar dressing. I was getting the shakes because of not enough coffee so I had another cup of coffee.

After work I took the long way and walked two and a half miles home. I was aching in my hips and knees as I have not done much walking this winter.

For supper I had another can of green beans and a can of sliced mushrooms sprinkled with more lemon pepper and a small can of tuna with milk.

So I avoided most carbs and so far I am not feeling deprived.

I purposely went to the Elgin Image Awards late to avoid most of the snack hour. I want to congratulate all the winners and those who were nominated as well. I got an inspiration as to who I will nominate next year or what group.

It was not easy to find a seat but I managed to sit at a table with one of my favorite councilman Dave Kaptain and his wife Sandy. I saw Laura Dion Jones who is our Biggest Loser Weight Coach and her husband Elroy. She was very pleased with what I had accomplished for day one.

This weight losing contest is just what I need to prepare for the coming election campaign season.

Government has an obesity problem at all levels and it is going to take more people with common sense and independence to help government stop the binging on taxpayer dollars so the taxpayers have a chance to fatten their wallets for a change.

Common Sense, Independent, Clarence Hayward

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Day One of Biggest Loser Weight Loss Contest with WRMN's Laura Dion Jones Coaching Common Sense Clarence Hayward

Hello Elginites and others who are following the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Contest that is being coacheded by Laura Dion Jones and her WRMN radio program at 1410AM or www.WRMN1410.com.

If you are a reader of the online edition of the Elgin Courier News, www.dailyherald.com Elgin or Kane County editions or www.elginite.org you probably have read my posts as either Common Sense, Independent Clarence Hayward or Common Sense Clarence Hayward and wondered just who is this strongly opinionated person? What makes him tick? Why is he now in a weight loss contest?

I am a 56 year old, big bellied baby boomer who tipped the scales at 197 lbs. for our official weigh in at the Taylor Y in Elgin less than 8 hours ago. I don't look fat on my 5ft. 6 inch frame EXCEPT for my belly.

After 33 years working for Eagle Foods as a produce manager who was running miles around the grocery store daily and getting a weight lifting workout putting away my produce deliveries Eagle went bankrupt. The last six years I have been an inbound call center rep sitting in a cube for 40 hours a day taking phone calls and looking at a computer all day long.

It is quite stressful and when I get home I just want to chill out on the couch, close my eyes and listen to the History Channel to recharge my batteries. So my lifestyle has given me this big baby boomer belly.

The stress of one phone call after another gives me a tremendous appetite and I crave carbs, junk food, and sweets.

My routine in the early morning is drinking lots of coffee as I spend about two hours a morning before work reading the online newspapers and giving my two cents worth of what I consider common sense.

The longer I live the more fed up I get with all forms of government - federal, state, county, and even our own local Elgin City Council or some members of it from time to time. I worry about the reckless debt we are building up and the what many times what I consider wasteful spending. So I blog at all the local newspapers and post my common sense.

Blogging is the best low cost way for the average man to hold our elected officials accountable for their past actions and to try and prevent some bad future actions if possible. It is not enough for me though and I someday hope to hold an elected office in some form of local government so I will have a vote in how our taxpayer dollars are spent. That is what has in part motivated me to begin this Biggest Loser Weight Loss Contest.

I can envision campaigning for local political office by saying I recently slimmed down in the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Contest and now if you will please vote for me I will do my best to try and slim down local government so that we might try and keep the taxpayer's wallets fatter for a change.

So now it is all on the line. So far my game plan is to try my best to motivate myself to walk both ways to my job as it is a two and a half mile walk one way. I am going to try and diet. I will get more coaching on the diet as we procede.

The walking won't be that much of a challenge but I am always hungry. Hopefully I ate my final big dinner last night of Chinese Hunan Triple Delight from China Wall next to Walgreens on Mclean Blvd. in Elgin. I try to have that every Friday so for my last splurging on rice and Chinese that is what I had. Oddly enough 8 hours later I still feel full from that but I am worried about what is going to fill me up in the morning. I am thinking I will try a couple or three eggs and an apple. I hope that gets me by until break time.

Walking is going to take almost an hour out of my morning blogging at the newspapers.

It looks like I need to stop the caffeinated coffee so I am going to slowly try and get off that. Normally I would have two 16oz. cups of Walmart's finest and after that I would just keep brewing with the same coffee grinds and have a couple more cups before work.

I briefly got to meet some of my competitors. I really like people and I am told we are going to have some group events so I hope I get the opportunity to get to know all of them better. Unfortunately a lot of the events are going to be on Saturdays and I work Saturdays. I believe there are 31 of us. I am told it is easier for a man to lose weight than a women.

The winner will be the one who loses the largest percentage of weight. I wonder just what percentage of weight it will take to win over an 8 week contest?

Good luck to all my competitors. I hope I will get the chance to get to know all of you better by the end of the contest.

It's 1am and 4am comes very fast. I already had a couple hours of sleep and then I woke up feeling like I had slept for about 6 hours so I am so happy I have more hours to sleep.

Common Sense, Independent Clarence Hayward

"Please consider voting for me someday for elected government office so I will have the opportunity to try and slim down government so us taxpayers might have fatter wallets for a change."