Stearmer » Uncategorized http://stearmer.com/blog Weight Loss, Politics and Life in General Mon, 03 May 2010 23:16:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Overcome: Lack of familial support http://stearmer.com/blog/87/overcome-lack-of-familial-support/ http://stearmer.com/blog/87/overcome-lack-of-familial-support/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:02:17 +0000 stearmer http://stearmer.com/blog/?p=87

Now, just to be clear, this title should not be construed as Janille does not support my working out. She is very support of that. But the problem is that she is 8.5 months pregnant. She’s not exactly eating all the things I am, and she certainly is not working out like I am.

The kids are kind of the same way. Its not that they do not want dad to be in better shape – they just do not want to eat all the vegetables that I’m eating. Frankly I can’t blame them:)

I’ve come up with a few things that make it work for me in the food department. Part of it is just being a little more relaxed, and the other is being a little more realistic.

So on the relaxed part – we do food a little more like a restaurant in our house. The basic mean is generally the same, but we allow for made to order meals and substitutions. The bottom line is that I can eat 75% of the same things that my whole family eats all the time, but I might add more veggies to my plate, and less bread, water instead of the juice etc. All of these small changes let me still enjoy a meal with the family without feeling put out – or the family feeling tortured just because dad is trying to lose weight.

On the realistic side – I have a life. I’m not going to be able to just forgot all the foods I love and never touch them again – especially when other members of the family love to each things that have butter in them for instance. But as I have stated in other posts – making the food yourself and then eating smaller portions will make all the difference in the world. I can still eat everything I liked before. I just small amounts and exercise regularly.

On the workout side, my family likes to watch movies. So a few times a week when we sit down to watch a movie, I will just get on the elliptical. I can still enjoy the show, the family company, and I get a workout in. Another thing that I will do is take longer routes when I walk up to campus. The normal route is 1 mile. But if I walk through a little garden area I can get in an extra 2 miles and it only adds a little bit of time to my day, and no one is worse for wear for it.

Point is it does not take a lot to figure out how to integrate some of your life in with exercise and diet. You will just need to look at your day and ask yourself where you could fit things in without drastic changes. Then start there. You’ll be surprised how a little extra planning will go a LONG way to your success.

Wow – big surprise right! Eat less – Move more! It is a regime that works. I can live like this forever, and my family and actually get behind it and support me.

So you do not have to have everyone all on the same diet eating at all the same times etc to make this work. Just set back and really evaluate what really needs to have and then make a more relaxed and realistic plan for your weight loss goals.

If you have suggestions on how you’ve made it work, I’d love to hear your comments.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer
]]> http://stearmer.com/blog/87/overcome-lack-of-familial-support/feed/ 6 Politics for a day: The prudence and constitutionality of the bailout http://stearmer.com/blog/408/politics-for-a-day-the-prudence-and-constitutionality-of-the-bailout/ http://stearmer.com/blog/408/politics-for-a-day-the-prudence-and-constitutionality-of-the-bailout/#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:29:09 +0000 admin http://stearmer.com/blog/?p=408

In bad times we grasp at straws. The question is – is this one of them? I would like to consider from both a constitutional perspective and a moral perspective what rights and obligations our national government has during this financial crisis.

Constitutional Arguments.
I think there has been a whole lot of hullabaloo over the differences between conservatives and liberals over spending. The former claims to be “fiscally conservative”, where the later claims – well, they actually make no claims that I am aware of.

Historically the last time we had a fiscally conservative president was Eisenhower. He did not believe in going to war without raising taxes and did a fairly good job keeping the government reigned in during his administration. Since that time we have let the federal budget balloon out of control. Both parties are guilty of that.

But that is not what this is about really. That is a spending policy and I think that both parties are wacked – to put it nicely. I really do not care about their spending interests per se, at least not in this scenario. I want to talk about whether it should even be an option or not given the laws of our land.

For all the talk about fiscal conservatism vs. spending programs that we have I think that there is a general feeling created that spending programs are somehow unconstitutional. That is a concern that needs to be addressed before we move forward to whether it is necessary or not let a lone if it is moral or not.

It may be instructive to go over the specific powers of congress. I will emphasis the ones that I believe are most important for this discussion.

Section 8 – Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
 

 To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
 

Now, before going forward, I want to be clear that I’m not talking about taxes here. I know that there is a fair amount of concern of the proper means of taxing. We can deal with that another day. I know some of you other political junkies like me will want to cite section 9 and will want to discuss the tax system. Let’s just leave that for now, and let it be sufficient to agree that the United States government does have authority to tax.

So, now into the meat of the discussion.

The main points for me are “general Welfare of the United States”…. “regulate the Value thereof” [money]….” promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors”

In these three areas I find that congress certainly has the authority look out for the welfare of the nation and those citizens who comprise our nation, to follow polices that will stabilize our monetary system and enhance our economy, and to even at times pay for/invest in technology and science in general.

Free commerce promoters may find that a little distressing that the constitution gives the government power to do these things. It is true that it could be quite invasive into the free market system. On the investment side, if there were not a “limited time” clause it might even look like the government was nationalizing resources and turning communist.

I personally do not see that happening, but you could probably make an argument to the affirmative and I think that would be good honestly. It is the very fact that there are those who voice their worries that will prevent it from happening to a large extent.

I am certainly not an expert on all the jurisprudence that has been established in the ensuing years, but the point is that I believe the government is well within it’s constitutional rights and even within it obligation to intervene in the economy at this time.

Now the question is should they, and if so in what way.

I personally believe that the government should intervene. To not intervene in a time of depression economics would be even more disastrous.

Yes, this will increase the national debt.
No it will not be possible to balance the budget for the next several years.
Yes, taxes will need to be raised.

No one really like any of these effects, but if you look at the bubble bust cycles of the past there are good things that can come from this. But right now we are not shaping up to well.

In past bubble busts we ended with more roads than we needed, more dams than we needed, more telephone lines, more internet infrastructure etc. These booms created a litany of resources that would not have been built as quickly in regular investment cycles and even though some companies do not survive they do leave a healthy legacy that future generations can build on.

This bust is not the same.

What is left behind is overvalued homes, empty lots, and excessive personal debt. None of which is particular useful to build a new economy from. This is where intervention can be critically important.

Let’s look at the auto industry. Yes, the Big 3 have made monumentally disastrous   decisions. In my opinion they have been wholly unfit for their office. But to let the companies completely fail at this point would be prodigiously more catastrophic.

It is estimated that there are over a million jobs connected to the auto industry. Now, it would take a larger crisis than we see now to make them all go away – but to risk it would be very foolish.

To let the auto industry remain as it is would be equally foolhardy. One of the major reasons the we are in the mess we are in now is because of the power of the auto industry lobby that has ensured their crack addiction continued to be supplied.

The US congress should act now to break that addiction and move into new technologies. This would be both a constitutionally legal investment to make and a very prudent investment on our behalf.

There will be layoffs during this retooling. Make no mistake, moving to “green” technology is going to be a major shock to the system. But if the government will then also use its authority to invest in good infrastructure projects then we can move any of the displaced into other projects of national importance. By investing in this industry for a time the government will help create an asset where little to none existed before.

Also by taking this step the government will ensure that it is not just keeping people off the dole. To make no moves into the economy will ensure that tens of thousands, if not into the hundreds of thousands, will be unemployed. Through no fault of their own the economy in the short term will not be able to absorb them. They did not set the policies. They did not have a voice in the lobby. They are stuck in many many ways. Yes, over time they can get a new education. They could have chosen a different path to begin with, but it is not their fault that the companies are failing now. Morally I feel we are obligated to assist in a way that will give them an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the economy. To use their skills which do have value still. And to help protect these families from the glut that has been the American auto industry.

All of this these moves in my opinion are both constitutionally legal, financially viable, and morally responsible.

Be Healthy – Enjoy life

Matthew Stearmer
 
]]> http://stearmer.com/blog/408/politics-for-a-day-the-prudence-and-constitutionality-of-the-bailout/feed/ 8 I ran a marathon (miles wise anyway) and now I’m dying – any help for the recovering body? http://stearmer.com/blog/359/i-ran-a-marathon-miles-wise-anyway-and-now-im-dying-any-help-for-the-recovering-body/ http://stearmer.com/blog/359/i-ran-a-marathon-miles-wise-anyway-and-now-im-dying-any-help-for-the-recovering-body/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:20:44 +0000 stearmer http://stearmer.com/blog/?p=359

I’ve wondered for awhile how much I could push myself. I’m not sure that I found the end, but I sure did find an upper bound.

On Saturday I played football for about an hour. I ran 1.5 miles in wind-sprints. Then I played a tag game with the kids for about 40 minutes that afternoon. And in the evening we ended up watching two movies.

I had initially decided to just get on the elliptical for the fist movie. The Veggie Tale movie was only 1.5 hours long. But when that was over everyone wanted to watch Iron man too. So I just kept going. 3 hours and 40 minutes later I completed a 22 miles. Add to that what I ran earlier in the day and I was pushing 30 total miles.

I felt good at the time, exhausted, but good.

Sunday – I could barely move and today – it is a little better.

Someone suggested a ginger (the spice) bath. I’m not sure if I’m going to try that or not, but if anyone else has suggestions I’m willing to try just about anything now:) I am one sore puppy.

But I now know I can push my body a lot farther than I imagined before. In a few more weeks I may try a two movie marathon again with 2 full length movies. That would put me over 4 hours and maybe close to 5.

And I think that I will try one huge one while watching the Lord of the Rings series when I’ve reached my target weight.

I don’t think that I could do it without the movies going. I need the distraction I think to keep going. But at least I am going.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer



]]> http://stearmer.com/blog/359/i-ran-a-marathon-miles-wise-anyway-and-now-im-dying-any-help-for-the-recovering-body/feed/ 10 feedback loops http://stearmer.com/blog/227/feedback-loops/ http://stearmer.com/blog/227/feedback-loops/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:23:32 +0000 stearmer http://stearmer.com/blog/?p=227

I’ve been thinking about feedback loops. I know, its kind of a random topic, but hear me out. I think that it is very important. In our body we have neurological feedback loops. If you touch a hot stove – you do not think, ‘wow, that was hot, I should remove my hand now.’ Before you can even think your body just reacts.  These reactions are governed by the emotional part of the brain. We do not have to think about it, the body just does it. If it did not every 4 year old in the world would be literally scared for life.

More of our body and life are like that. We respond to the stimulus around us. Often without even thinking. It is just what we do. And if we can control the stimulus, or use that emotional reaction to our favor – we will win the weight loss game.

From a weight loss perspective this blog is an immediate consequence for me. I know that I have to post my performance on a regular basis, so I modify my life styles more naturally now that the whole world can see and comment on it. I don’t really think about it any more. It is just what I do

Some foods offer the same thing to me. If I eat chocolate I get sick. That feed back loop ensures that certain things will not tempt me to break my regime.

As my body has become more sensitive to good foods, I crave the bad much less, and I can feel the immediate consequence of indulging.

Unfortunately we have modern medicine that helps us cover up the feedback loops. Here I am thinking mostly of the anti-acid pills we can take to “enjoy” whatever we want to eat. If we let the body suffer the consequences I think that we would be more apt to listen to our body’s feedback and that, I believe, is one of the best keys to weight loss that I can find.

I think that I will post more on this over the next few days – or write an article on it. It is a good topic to continue. If you are interested let me know.

From a weekend goal perspective, I’m going to just live a normal as possible. I’ll get in some good exercise, drink lots of water, try to get some sleep and if I lose some more weight that will just be great.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matt Stearmer

Matt Stearmer

I’m testing a new photo upload tool here. It works pretty good!



]]> http://stearmer.com/blog/227/feedback-loops/feed/ 9 Second Law of Weight Loss Dynamics: You will eat whatever is on the plate – so control the plate. http://stearmer.com/blog/233/second-law-of-weight-loss-dynamics-you-will-eat-whatever-is-on-the-plate-so-control-the-plate/ http://stearmer.com/blog/233/second-law-of-weight-loss-dynamics-you-will-eat-whatever-is-on-the-plate-so-control-the-plate/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:51:33 +0000 stearmer http://stearmer.com/blog/?p=233

This video is just a quick visualization of the concept, but I sometimes think that we do not realize what we are doing to ourselves simply by picking a certain type of bowl. I know that if I pick the large bowl I will be sorely tempted to fill it. And psychologically, I do not feel as full if I eat half of a large bowl vs. all of the small bowl.

Maybe it is just me, but this is one of the simplest ways to help the weight loss along. I just chose the right bowl/plate for the meal, commit to just one serving, and go from there. And easily enough the pounds start to melt off.

Movie example

Also working to our detriment is hearing our mother saying the back of our mind – if you do not eat everything on your plate you’ll be grounded for a month! Not exactly the best way to develop a healthy relationship with food. I do not have any great psychological help here. I’ve not figured out how to beat it in the mind. So that is why I chose to beat it on the plate.

If I want to lose weight, all I have to do is pick the smaller plate!

That has a nice ring to it.

Matt Stearmer



]]> http://stearmer.com/blog/233/second-law-of-weight-loss-dynamics-you-will-eat-whatever-is-on-the-plate-so-control-the-plate/feed/ 8 Weekend goals http://stearmer.com/blog/260/weekend-goals/ http://stearmer.com/blog/260/weekend-goals/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:48:46 +0000 stearmer http://stearmer.com/blog/?p=260

For me this is going to be one of the hardest weekend I will have to face. I’ve been making good progress, but the General Conference weekend is a time for lots of sitting, lots of eating and although I really enjoy it, it is not the greatest for weight loss.

Spiritual Upliftment  = 10, Weight loss = 0.

Well, this weekend I’m going to change that.

I’m going to get up early on Saturday and make sure to get in a good hour of exercise before everything even begins.

Saturday afternoon I will do 20 minutes of wind-sprints to get me up and going after sitting for 2 hours

Saturday evening before the last session I will do another 20 minutes of wind-sprints.

Sunday and Sunday are both going to be rainy, so I will not be able to get out much, but the kids like the rain, so I’ll take them on a walk on Sunday between the sessions and then one afterwards. It will not be a fast walk, but it will get them out of Janille’s hair for a little which will help her relax and enjoy a little peace and quite.

From a food standpoint this is what I am going to eat

Saturday

Breakfast: Isagenix shake

Lunch: One of my super salads

Diner: Shrimp Scampi

I’ll do one other shake, and a snack of an apple and peanut butter

Sunday

Breakfast: Isagenix shake

Lunch: Whatever Janille wants me to make:)

Diner: My perfected baby back BBQ pork

I’m really into apples and peanut butter right now, so I’ll do that again for a snack and a shake.

I’ll post these recipes for you as well this next week.

If I end the week the same weight as I begin I will honestly be happy. There always seems to be extra food that gets snuck in. And since I will not have as much time to exercise I hope to just keep it a net 0 weekend. So we’ll see how I do.

Sleep wise I really need to get more. I starting to feel sick. So I will attempt a feat of 8-9 hours of sleep again. We’ll see how I do.

Have a great weekend.

Matthew Stearmer



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