Facing the Music

Sometimes we excuse the sucky parts of our life.

Today's Menu

When I was in 7th grade my father asked me to diet.  I said "If God didn't want me fat, he would not have made me fat!"

Humans tend to rationalize their shortcomings or failures or bothersome conditions by passing the blame to God, karma, circumstance, Luck, or other external forces.  Women say "Of course he is a drunk and he hits me but...I love him!"  As if their 'love' was somehow forced upon them as a yoke to an ox.   See, they MUST stay because of "Love!". 

Love is not fear.  Fear cannot exist in Love.  Love is gentle.  Love is Kind.  I think the Bible talks about that stuff, too. 



I am a member of MyFitnessPal.com.  As a member I can post photos to my online profile. Others browse my photos and quite honestly-if-embarrassingly, most of my feedback from the opposite gender is positive.  Upon my mantle are bestowed names such as "handsome" or "cutie" or "Why does a chick like YOU have a Beard and call yourself Darin?"

Tonite things change. 



Today I visited the fitness center and measured my body fat; same machine, same settings, similar time of day.  While my weight has stayed very close to the same the past couple of weeks, the machine tells me I've lost another 1% of body fat since 8 August.    3% loss over six weeks and two days.

A friend from MyFitnessPal crunched the numbers for me:

"Aug 8: 230*0.293=68.54 (Percentage of fat in pounds)
Aug 31: 224*0.278=62.272
Sept 21: 224*0.269=60.256 (You said your weight hadn't changed recently)

Difference: 68.54-60.256 = 8.284 Fat lose

Weight: 230-224=6lbs weight loss total

But you lost 8lbs of fat, so your weight should be 222. If you still weight 224, then the other 2lbs are lean body mass (i.e. muscle).

So you lost 8lbs of fat and gained muscle."

When I got home from work I decided I wanted to compare where I am with where I was.
So...I am terrified to be doing this but I NEED to do this.  These photos are my progress report to myself, and the lovely Miss Erin - this will be her first time seeing me shirtless, btw.  Sorry Erin! :-p

These photos - the progress shown are the direct result of Erin's muscle-building and fitness program, my calorie tracking and support from friends. 

If I had to pick a goal, my body fat will be less than 16% when I reached the goal.  With the 'another 25lbs' of fat I will lose, I think I can reach that percentage.

Here goes....this is me "In process"