Shutting Down

This will be the last post that I make on this blog. I have 4 blogs in total and they have been a wonderful experiment for me, but it takes too much time to have 4 quality blogs. I have neglected this one enough so I will be shutting it down.

I will be shutting down one of the other ones as well; leaving only Rookie Mormon Apologist and Rookie Political Commentator up and running. These two I expect to keep going for years to come.

Thanks for visiting.

Is this True?

Swimming For Dummies

I decided that to start my training for next May's Half-Triathlon I would begin with swimming. My reasoning has to do with my being overweight combined with poor knees. Swimming is so soft on the joints that it is nearly impossible to do any damage to my joints when swimming the short distances that I will be swimming.

I started the swimming portion of my training by taking 3 Aqua Aerobics classes last week at 24 Hour Fitness centers in St. Louis and in my hometown. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. My knees did feel better, almost as if the exercise increased the joint's lubrication. And all of this was done without any joint pain! What a relief!

I called my son who is a swim coach in Arizona and asked him for his recommendation on a training regimen. Although I swam competitively in high school I have forgotten what we did in the form of workouts. He recommended that I start out by swimming 100 yards six times, starting a new 100 yards every three minutes. He was extremely optimistic I discovered.

Last night I decided to try his approach since the 24 Hour Fitness Centers here on Oahu do not offer the Aqua Aerobics class. I only found one center that had a lap pool so last night I started off for the interior of the island to find this one center. After my first 50 yards I realized that my son's plan was not going to work for me and I immediately changed it to six 50 yard swims on the same three minutes. Sadly, I couldn't even do that.

My first 50 yards I swam freestyle. When it was time to start my second 50 yard swim I was still so tired from the first one that I switched to breaststroke. I then repeated that freestyle/breaststroke pattern for my third and fourth 50 yard swims. At this point I noticed that there was a clock in the pool area that was large enough for me to see the second hand so I timed my fifth 50 yard swim, using freestyle. I was very disappointed to learn that it took me nearly a minute to swim 50 yards. In high school I used to do that same distance multiple times in about 40 seconds. We would swim 10 - 50 yard swims on the minute (meaning we would start out at the top of every minute, the faster we swam, the more rest we got).

My last (6th) 50 yard swim was done using backstroke and it took a minute 10 seconds. I was tired and slow. Its a good thing I have 8 months to get in shape. I looks like I'm going to need most of it just to survive the swimming.

8 Pounds, 8 Days!!

In the first 8 days of my Isagenix nutritional cleansing weight loss regimen I have lost 8 pounds in the first 8 days. This is surprising to me since I was already trying to lose weight and the easy pounds that occur at the beginning of any weight loss program tend to be water. This wasn't water. My wife took my measurements before we started this and I've lost about an inch in all of the places that one measures weight loss in those same 8 days. I think I've found something!

24 Hour Fitness Sport

My wife, son, and I joined 24 Hour Fitness on Saturday. It was more expensive than I expected but our membership includes a lap pool which is going to be essential if I am to survive the first of the three events in the half-triathlon in May - swimming. I was a swimmer in high school so going 880 yards in open water doesn't sound too intimidating - we used to warm up with 10 100-yard swims, but that was over 30 years ago!

Last night I found a 24 Hour Fitness Sport in the St. Louis area and went there for water aerobics and swimming. Since I had tickets to the St. Louis Blues pre-season opener I only stayed long enough for the class and 100 yards. I'm not sure I could have done much more than 100 yards even if I had more time. As it was I barely made it to the arena before the end of the second period.

This is the first serious exercise I've undergone in this process. Sure I ran a few times and I regularly do a few stretches and exercises in my hotel room; but this is the first time that the exercise lasted more than 10 minutes. As readers of this blog know I have been waiting until I lost more wait. Since the water is so gentle on one's joints, I can get started in the exercise part of my program earlier than what I originally planned.

The nutritional cleansing regimen continues, now supplemented by a little exercise. This should be fun!

3 Pounds in 2 Days!

This nutritional cleansing weight loss program I am on really works! And I am not hungry! That last part is the best of all. I have a shake in the morning; eat a regular lunch, which for me is a 6-inch Subway sandwich, and a shake in the evening. I make the shakes with milk and crushed ice in a blender and it is very satisfying! Then I take a cleansing drink before bed. In between meals I make sure that I stay full drinking plenty of water. I tried drinking flavored water, and zero calorie sports drinks, but those drinks do not cleanse. And the goal here is nutritional cleansing, not simply weight loss. All diets work, that is why this isn't a diet - it's a change of lifestyle. Isagenix might be what I've spent the last 25 years looking for. It is starting to look that way.

New Plan Starts Today

Yesterday I received my supplies from my new plan - Isagenix. Isagenix is lifestyle change for me, not a diet! It has a great history of helping people lose weight (practically every diet can say that) but once the diet is over, the weight comes back on. As successful as Jenny Craig and other diet plans are, they aren't a lifestyle change. You aren't going to buy food from Jenny Craig for the rest of your life. I read somewhere that 99% of diets fail if you check back in five years. Sure weight is lost temporarily but everyone who starts a diet doesn't intend to be back where they were in five years! They think they are going to lose the weight and stay there for five years. Since that doesn't happen, the diet is ultimately unsuccessful.

My intention is to be part of the 1% who succeed so I am not starting a diet. I am starting a lifestyle change. This morning I weighed 305 pounds. My plan is to get below 290 by the end of September and then add in exercise starting in October as explained in previous posts. With Isagenix I am convinced I can beat my weight problem of the past 25 years once and for all.

If you want to check it out further click on this link. There are dozens of videos on the website sharing the science behind this lifestyle change. The videos are very well done with some people sharing their personal stories, others sharing the science behind the solution. After watching a few of them you may want to talk to a live human being. At that point please contact me by leaving a comment along with your best email address. Without the email address I won't be able to correspond with you. I hate spam as much as anyone so you have my promise that I will never sell your email address to anyone!!! (If you aren't comfortable leaving your email adddress then I will give you mine - jrauma@gmail.com).

I will then get back to you by email and get you the information you seek. I'll be glad to share with you what I know or put you in touch with someone who knows more than me. But please do not sign up without communicating with me first! This solution is a personal one - the science is cutting edge, but the solution is personal. Your success is dependent on both.