Week One

Holy Crap - I'm on the verge of finishing an ENTIRE week of Whole 30! 25% done!

Wow...

What a difference! I feel clear-headed & energy balanced. I can feel a difference in my sleep quality. And I really LIKE what I'm eating!

Has it been easy? NO! I spent most of last week with a headache & grumpy. Most of the weekend I felt like I needed a nap. On Friday when I spilled my Paleo Pac in my Jeep, I nearly lost my mind! Grocery shopping has become a new, expensive, obsessive hobby. Cooking never ends, and if I have to clean my kitchen & run the dishwasher ONE more time, I might scream!

But I like this. I like the W30 support. It's been good to get back into the gym.

I can't wait to see how I feel next Monday, at my halfway point...

Day 6: Update

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with bacon & white potato hash browns. Hot Green Tea.

Lunch: Grilled burger with guacamole & salsa, with brown mustard. Hibiscus iced tea.

Snack: Tuna salad (using homemade mayo!), with mustard & bacon bits, celery sticks to eat it with. Iced tea.

Dinner: Ribeye steak, grilled brussels sprouts, steamed broccoli, and steamed cauliflower.

Dessert: grilled peaches w/ dusting of cinnamon

Day 5: Update

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with ground pork, and hashbrowns from red skinned potatoes. Sauerkraut on the side, hot Green Tea.

Lunch: chicken salad made from grilled chicken & homemade mayo, served in an avocado boat with bacon. Iced Hibiscus Tea.

Snack: grilled burger with bacon bits, guacamole, salsa, and brown mustard.

Snack two: RxBar

Dinner: grilled Salmon w/ steamed broccoli

Notes: This was Saturday, had my first Aqua Fit class in the morning, went well. Dinner was at Outback Steakhouse.

Day Four: Update

Breakfast: 3 hardboiled eggs, 4 sausage links w/ Chollula, and hot Green Tea.

Lunch: leftover meaty spaghetti sauce over two sausage patties, with two hardboiled eggs & iced green tea.

Snack One: (mostly spilled on car floor) Primal Pac & Apple

Snack Two: RxBar

Dinner (not pictured): ate out at The Red Ox in Hampshire, had Shrimp Cocktail (no sauce), Filet Mignon, assorted steamed veggies, dinner salad with oil & vinegar, one baked white potato with Aus Jus. Several iced teas.

Notes: big interview Friday afternoon, very hangry in car on way home, spilled Primal Pac, managed to stay the course & remain On Plan!

Nearly lost my shit

I had a FOUR hour job interview today, and when I was getting into my car I was hungry & headachy, and my hands were shaky, and I freakin' DROPPED my Primal Pac & the contents dumped on the yucky floor of my Jeep.

Ugh!!!

I pulled into a Starbucks & got an iced Green Tea & an Apple, which was good, even if I was still being a bit stompy-stompy.

Day 3: Re-cap

Breakfast: 3 strips of leftover ribeye steak with salsa, two hardboiled eggs, green veggie juice

Mid morning: Apple

Lunch: salad of spinach greens with grilled chicken, cucumbers, bell peppers, hardboiled eggs, broccoli, and balsamic vinagrette. Plain iced tea.

Afternoon snack: Almonds, two apples, iced green tea.

Dinner: awesome combination of zucchini noodles (yay Spiralizer!), and meaty spaghetti sauce made from grass fed ground beef & marinara sauce w/ no gluten or added sugar. Crushed red pepper gave it some zip!

Notes: headache continues, grumpy but not TOO bad, still sore from Tuesday's stupid workout. Spiralizer is great, takes a bit to get used to the 'touch' to get it consistent, shocking how many Zuch's it takes to make a 'serving of pasta' (4!).

Inspiration & support

Every morning of my Whole 30, I start my day with a lovely email that gives me inspiration & support. They know what I'm feeling (literally) as I go through this process, and I don't feel so 'alone' or crazy. It's awesome.

And, yes, I've had a headache for two days, and I'm irritable. VERY. MUCH. SO.

But this too, shall pass...

Day Two: Re-cap

Breakfast: Two Eggs, three sausage links w/ Cholula, green veggie juice, Green tea

Lunch: Salad w/ spinach greens, grilled chicken, red & green peppers, cucumbers, broccoli & balsamic vinaigrette

Snack: Primal Pac, Apple, Green Tea, mixed cashews & almonds

Pre workout: Three thick slices of ribeye steak w/ salsa & Hibiscus iced tea

Dinner: Leftover grilled chicken w/ salsa & one bratwurst

Notes: I was supposed to do my first Aqua Fit class, but found my swim trunks to be missing. After fighting the Day Two headache all day, I lost my shit & had a terrible stompy-stompy fit. Took the dog on a walk instead, and shocked myself by snacking on-plan. Stompy fit seemed to cure the headache, although I was in a foul mood the rest of the night.

Day One: Re-cap

Breakfast: Hardboiled egg, two sausage links (gluten & sugar free), homemade salsa, green cold-pressed veggie juice.

Mid Morning (not pictured): green tea, black coffee, large apple

Lunch: salad of spinach greens, hardboiled eggs, grilled chicken, cucumbers, peppers, broccoli, w/ balsamic vinaigrette (no added sugar), and plain iced tea.

Mid afternoon: three bottles of water, a primal pack, and another large apple. Not pictured - large iced green tea.

After school snack: grilled bratwurst (gluten & sugar free), w/ homemade salsa & iced hibiscus & ginger green tea.

Dinner (late): grilled chicken marinated in EVOO & lemon juice, served w/ sliced avocado & salsa, grilled green tomatoes.

TV snack (not pictured): small banana & water

Workout: upper body weights, shoulders, back, tri's, bi's & chest.

Other notes: slight headache, no mid afternoon energy slump. Breakfast needs another egg & sausage link. Did not do office walk or dog walk - knees sore from weekend & knew it was first day @ gym since 2009 - being cautious!

All in all = Day One was a resounding success!

Onward...

W30 - Day 1 @ Gym

First time in the gym since 2009. You'll notice in the bottom left picture, those were my old '09 numbers. Today I started with uppers, and I started at my old weights, and the reps & sets came in just about the same!

I'm SURE I'll be feeling that in the morning, but it'll be a 'good kind of pain'.

My TV snack was a banana, for the potassium, and before bed I made sure to stretch-out pretty well.

Day One = Success!

Onward...

We manage what me measure

I love that old truth that we manage what we measure!

Goals are good, too, and I've outlined a few...

So far, Meal One of Day One has gone well! 90 meals to go...

W30 - Day Zero

Prep, prep, read some more, then continue prepping!

Really, I think the prep work never ends. For me, Sundays groove best. I'll shop with a list, and prep my week, as an old habit.

This week I added some additional food prep, sorted out some kitchen tools, and totally re-organized my pantry.

'Bad' items have been excised, and I've got on-plan choices prepped & ready to go.

Will it work?

I'm pushing hard for it. In fact, tomorrow is also my first day back in the gym.

I'll keep posting my daily successes, frustrations, failures, and victories.

W30 - Critical Gear

Today the UPS man delivered some goodies!

First - frozen W30 compliant Paleo to Go meals! These will live in my freezer, as a contingency against arriving home "Hangry" & ready to make a bad decision.

(Hangry = Hungry + Angry)

Secondly, I got the Spiralizer my sister recommended, and some highly recommended Paleo & W30 cookbooks.

Lastly, a couple of neat inventions that make mason jars a bit more useful - a few Cuppow 'sippy' lids (yay for Mason jar drinks!), and a number of 'Bento' inserts that allow two items to travel together, yet separate. Think celery sticks & ranch dressing ... or two siblings on a roadtrip in the backseat ...

Whole 30, T-Minus Holiday Weekend

Yesterday was a good day. I 'stayed the course' the whole day, proving to myself I can do this - without feeling deprived!

In other news, rather than start on Sept 1st (Labor Day), while I'm on Summer's last holiday weekend, I'm going to kick-off on Tuesday the 2nd. That way I don't have to haul W30 stuff on vacation, nor will my stressful first day be on the road.

That just feels smart, you know?

Have a great weekend!

Such as it is...

I'll rarely admit this, but I stole one of my favorite lines from George Clooney.

 

It was the 1997 movie, "The Peacemaker", where he & Nicole Kidman have to escape the bad guys in a Mercedes.  They are in a really tough spot, and when he tells her what he's going to try, she asks incredulously, "THAT's your plan???", to which he replies with aplomb, "That's…  MY PLAN!".

 

In other words, it may not be a GOOD plan, but it's HIS plan, the best he could come up with on short notice.

 

So, what's MY latest plan, such as it is?

 

Well, I'm somewhat famous (infamous?) for always being able to distill my intentions down to a simple three point plan.

 

(Boom + Boom + Boom = Success)

 

I'm attempting the Whole 30, and that's no small undertaking.  Regular readers of my material know I've been trying for a long time to eat better & become more fit.  As tough & frystrating as that can be, I've been at it actively for almost 10 years, and I have yet to give up.  I've been making better decisions regarding food & drink for awhile now, but I'm needing to kick into overdrive.  I've not stepped foot into a gym since 2009, so I'm gonna fix that, too.

 

First Point – FOOD

 

Duh.  'It Starts With Food' isn't just the title of the book which is inspiring me.  Food can either be the best medicine you ingest, or the greatest poison.  I'm a recovering/ongoing Food Addict, and that is the crux of my being 'Fat Sick & Nearly Dead' (A great documentary which inspired me a year ago).  If I'm going to be 'on-plan' for a full month, I need to do these three things:

 

-          Try two new recipes every week.  Boredom will eventually lead me down the path to bad decisions, and new recipes will add to my fund of easily made 'on-plan' meals.  Two a week isn't an overload, and the program is only 4 weeks.  This will give me a GREAT repository for easy 'on-plan' cooking AFTER my Whole 30.  This isn't a 'one & done', this is slaying the Sugar Dragon & setting new habits for a lifetime of success.

-          Two crock pot meals each week.  These should be VERY easy for both prep & cooking, which will be a key factor of my success.  Too much required effort will eventually lead to failure.  Doubling the serving size will get me leftovers for easy on-plan snacking, too.  Win/Win!

-          The Daily Salad.  My office has a lunchroom with a salad bar.  This is an easy way to get my daily salad intake w/out buying a ton of individual ingredients.   

 

Second Point –Activity

 

Again, Duh!  Let's burn some calories!  As my body slowly weans itself off the east sugar fuel, it'll have to re-learn how to burn fat.  I want to turn that flame up, nice and bright!

 

-          Gym x 3 per week.  I have joined the LA Fitness near my house.  Twice a week I want to do the Aqua Fit class (water aerobics), and once a week I want to lift weights to energize my fat-burning muscle.

-          Activity x 3 per day.  I have an excellent indoor perimeter hallway at work that is just about a half mile.  A walk around my block with Clyde is just about a half a mile.  One of these will get repeated, for a minimum of three per day.

-          Sport Watch x daily.  Let's track this, and document it.

 

Third Point – Posting

 

Another name for this would be 'Accountability'.  By posting what I do – I'm accountable.  I will document my success, failures, challenges, and triumphs.

 

-          Daily Food Collage.  I will take a picture of everything I eat, and post a picture-collage of it, every day.

-          Daily re-cap.  Every day I will post about how the previous day went.  Good, Bad, Ugly.

-          Weekly activity re-cap.  Each week I'll post about that week's activity, with what went well, and what didn't.

 

You'll note that each of the three points has three sub-points.  Symmetry!  Will this work?  As it stands, I doubt it.  No plan ever survives implementation, but all great plans allow for being tweaked.  I'm sure I'll do a TON of tweaking, but as I start, this is my best guess at what will bring success.

 

Check in on me, cheer for me as I overcome challenges, and call me out when I deserve it.

-Lee

-----------------

R. Lee Putman, Jr.

Email: 

leeputmanjr@mac.com

Phone / Text: 847.687.7291

Whole 30, T minus 2 days

Today was MUCH better! I'm discovering that pre-planning & prep goes a LONG way. I have bought Paleo Pacs for snacks & frozen Paleo To Go meals for emergencies.

I'm committing to a daily food pic & re-cap on my Blog.

I joined a gym, and I'm committing to three visits a week, in addition to two daily work-laps & one daily Clyde walk, to be tracked via RunKeeper. I'll re-cap that activity weekly on the Blog.

Whole 30, T minus 3 days

I am on the cusp of doing a Whole 30 to kickstart my re-entry into Paleo & "clean" eating.
>
> I am reading 'It Starts With Food', and I'm collecting recipe websites & purchasing foodstuffs I'll need.
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> I'm trying to go W30 for the week leading up to my official kick-off, figuring out what will work & what I'll need to re-think.
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> Yesterday, the wheels came off the bus.
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> I had my Whole Foods Sausage with Chollula for breakfast, and I wasn't even hungry when I got to the office.
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> But, donuts!
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> A vendor brought in some lovely, high-end pastries. There was one, a swirl pastry with a honey glaze & chocolate goo covering ... that spoke to my primal Lizard Brain that's a total sugar junkie.
>
> I'd like to say I couldn't help myself, but it went deeper than that.
>
> I had a great salad for lunch, but by 3pm I 'had to' have the last crappy stale donut, and a bag of cheddar sun chips.
>
> By the time I got home I was exhausted, headachy, and VERY grumpy.
>
> Dinner was too late, although I had an on-plan snack of leftover steak & grilled chicken with parm.
>
> Dinner included fries with BBQ sauce, and a mini oreo milk shake.
>
> I went to bed angry & ashamed.

Whole 30, T minus 3 days

Victory

Tax Day

Tell me again, why it is that I live here?

If you write it, they will visit your site

The story of my first Fiat has been immortalized on Petrolicious.com

I'm beside myself!

Starbucks owns me today...

Spring Thaw

My brave new world

2007: Quit Smoking
2009: Quit regular soda
2010: Quit fast food
2011: Quit 'junk' carbs
2013: Quit diet soda & all artificial sweeteners

2013: Began incorporating organic produce, grass fed beef, and non-GMO items

2013: Began drinking daily green juice

2013: Began tracking walking & fitness

In the pictures, you can see a big part of my daily routine at the office. A salad for lunch, with dressing from home. Filtered water. Green tea, which sometime I make into iced tea.

The Friday Footie

Keep Improving / Keep Trying

So...I've been pretty quiet around here lately. Doesn't mean I've been idle!

In the past few months I've quit diet soda, quit all artificial sweeteners, quit coffee, quit decaff tea, and started drinking water, fresh cold pressed vegetable juices, added several pieces of organic fruit to my daily diet, continued with my daily lunch salads (with very minimal dressing), and I've been adding several servings of fermented foods each week.

The results? Absolutely ZERO weight loss, very surprisingly. However, and I cannot overstate this - it's totally worth it! I feel fantastic, and my health has not been this good in a L O N G time.

I'm out of A-fib, the daily walks are going well, and I have only a tiny fraction of the headaches I used to have.

I will continue, I will move forward, and I'll continue to learn & innovate with my plan.

New Beginnings

Lost in the Wilderness

Remember the scene in the Steve Martin movie 'The Jerk' where he walks off, mumbling, taking the chair with him?  I feel a bit like that lately... with too many things going on my brain feels muddled, and an old quest has (perhaps) bit me in the ass.  Most of you know I recently bought a 1969 Spider, which was a very good deal, and was something I'd been looking for ever since one slipped through my fingers in 2008. These cars have always 'spoken' to me, and this one was SUCH a good deal, I just couldn't say "No".  ...but I broke two of my own cardinal rules. 1) Only own one 'project' at a time, and 2) don't get two cars that are too similar.  My '74 Spider is the project that'll never end. Something I never foresaw was that after modification on top of modification, the required little continuing adjustments never seem to end. You modify one thing, then something else has to be adjusted around it, and then a third thing isn't quite what you expected. It's tough to know when it's 'done'.  In the meantime, I have so little time that it's just too easy (and too damn much fun!) to drive, so I end up never WORKING on it. The '74 has a dozen small projects that have been hanging over my head too long, making me crazy. That damn exhaust braket rattle will drive me around the bend soon, and with less time than ever for my Fiat 'habit', I haven't even had time to open a box of parts I recieved a few weeks ago.  With the '74 projects behind, the new '69 needing attention, the 'ole Wagon felt like too much - so the poor thing languished, only to eventually be sent off to be "out of sight & out of mind". That wagon deserves a better owner than me. I collected a number of parts off the '68/'69 series cars for my '74, but I know in my heart it'll never 'really' be an earlier car, and darned if that damn '69 doesn't just have charm coming out it's ass. It is a shockingly different driving experience, and not just because it has a fraction of the power my '74 puts out. That little 1438 motor is surprisingly 'spry', and I can't help but think that after rebuilding the carb & giving it an electronic ignition & good tune, it'll be remarkably better.  The '69 needs a lot of work to bring it up to snuff, but in a VERY different way from my '74. The '69 is sooooo close to stock, it's really easy to measure & list what it needs. That line is VERY blurry on my '74, which will NEVER be stock, and likely never 'done'.  So what do I do?  My original intention was to spiff up & buff out the '69 for an easy flip, early in the summer. The proceeds would help get The Great White Wagon back in service, which would then mean I'd have time to wrench on the '74 guilt-free. (And the clouds would part, and the sunbeams would shine down on me while the angels sang!) ...in the meantime...damn, I love driving this '69...  After all I have done & gone through on my '74 (and all the bruised knuckles of everyone who helped!), can I even imagine selling The Beast? Would it be absolute lunacy to even consider selling the '74, and keeping the '69???  Or do I need to just focus on one project at a time, some day arriving at that mythical nirvanna where all the cars just need periodic maintenance?  Sometimes, that's the part of the Fiat Ownership Quest that always seems to be one step too far...or one step inside the looney bin...

A truly shit day

After a delay in Feb, (due to being laid off after nearly 12 years with CEC & dealing with COBRA & whatnot), I went in for knee surgery today.  After being put under General Anesthesia, I was the 'exciting patient of the day' when I went into Atrial Fibrillation.  

(Please forgive spelling & terminology issues, as I'm still in the hospital, posting via free wireless.)

Atrial Fibriliation means that the top part of the heart is fluttering around, which could cause blood pooling, or a risk of clots.  This isn't uncommon in the elderly (which I am not), those with chronic high blood pressure (which I don't have), those with chronic sleep apnea (which I've not been 'diagnosed' with), and it can be...hereditary.

Ding!  We have a winner!  

My (almost) 91 year old Grandfather has it, and...well....this isn't what I'd choose to inherit!  However, we have two BIG! FUN! tests tomorrow to figure out 'next steps'.  

Medication may help, they may shock me back into submission, or we may have to live with it.

THEN .... we can decide when to go back & do the darn knee surgery!

So....amidst the tests, pic-cushion-practice, and inevitable Hospital Food, I get a whopper of a headache going, just in time for a phone call.

From Allstate.

You know, where I had a GREAT interview, which went almost twice as long as scheduled, and where halfway through she began interviewing me for the position ABOVE the one I'd been brought in for!  A week later I had a phone conversation with her boss, as I'd "be part of his management team".  It went VERY well.  They even asked about my availability!  They were supposed to call me yesterday, and the implication was that it'd include an offer letter.

No call yesterday.

In fact, for the last week, the recruiter never followed up on my question regarding the higher level job's salary range, and in fact, never called after the initial "It went GREAT!" phone conversation.

...but I didn't expect him to call and say the positions had evaporated.  BOTH positions.  One to fresh budget cuts, the other to a recent new hire.

It really caught me off guard.  

Something about it stinks, but it's a moot point, it's gone.

So, it was a double-barrell-shit day, and rather than compensating by grilling a good steak, and having a nice bourbon with a good cigar ... I'm up late & unable to sleep in the cardiac ward of St Alexis.

Nothing Fancy Here

Interesting stuff?

Looking at this picture on my wall, for some reason today it caught my eye.

Thunder Bay Falls

No more understrapping!

Mr. Booze-hound

Clyde's new collar spells out "It's 5 o'clock somewhere"!

Snow Removed

Prepared for snow removal

American Heritage Shopping

The other customers were 'real' American working men - Tire Shop employees, and various construction types. When I asked about the Iron Rangers and some of the other boots in the heritage line, I was told "Those are for poser 'office-types". It was a beautiful store, with experienced & knowledgeable sales staff. I didn't stay long.

Aloha Friday

Bourbon & Ginger Ale, with a chicken, bacon, and avocado flatbread.

Good for the soul...

The Barn Coat

Waxed canvas, plaid lining, brass zippers. Stand up collar, a bit thin for truly cold weather, but a nice timeless design

Randolph Engineering Aviators

The new interview outfit

It's not 'standard issue' East Coast Navy Blue Blazer & khaki's...but it's still very traditional...

-Lee

Thumb typed on my iPhone

Preferred method of contact:

Email leeputmanjr@mac.com

Next best method of contact:

Text me at 847.687.7291

The Ups & Downs

It's important to mark the occasions of our lives, even when times are tough.

In fact, I think it's even more important to do so when life is challenging.

It's easy to celebrate when things are good, but during times of stress it can feel difficult to be 'up for it'.

...But the effort is worth it. In the same way that the spirit of giving is what brings us happiness, celebrating the good things reminds us that no matter how dark the hour, we all have things to be thankful for.

The Pink Slip

I always thought 'pink slips' were supposed to be...PINK?

In this day & age, apparently not.

Eleven and a half years has come to an abrupt end. I've had at least six different positions with CEC, moved halfway across the country for CEC, I've had some wonderful opportunities & I've met a lot of really great people.

I keep reassuring the people who reach out to me that this is...ok. It's the best version of a shitty thing.

It'll be ok, because I'll MAKE it ok. I don't know how that'll happen, and while that's a little scary, I have faith in myself.

I've been through worse times, and comparatively, I'm very lucky.

...but you're right. It still sucks...