My Christmas Present

I would like to take this time to share the Christmas present that my daughter gave me. This totally made my day...


Merry Christmas, Everyone!



This is the one she drew for my wife...

Beginning Your Fitness Routine

I haven't written anything about weight loss or fitness lately and seeing as the theme of this site happens to revolve around that, I figure that it's time I jump back on that horse. I know that the last thing anyone wants to think about during this time of year is fitness, but seeing as the New Year is just around the corner and along with it, all those pesky resolutions, I'm going to start at the beginning. Yup, let's take some measurements...

Before you start a weight loss regime, you may want to take a few moments and do a few things. The first and most obvious is to step on the scale and weigh yourself, although that’s probably how you ended-up here in the first place. Next, take a tape measure and measure your legs, hips, waist, (this is the area just above your belly button), chest, arms, and your neck. Why do I need to measure my legs and neck? Well, when you begin to lose fat, the first places where you will see a decrease in size will be the extremities (your legs and arms). Contrary to popular belief, and wishful thinking, the abdominal area is the last place where you will lose the inches.

Now that we have the baseline measurements, I need to talk to you about the frequency of your re-measures. I would suggest NOT weighing yourself everyday. Do all your measurements on a weekly basis. This way you can escape the worst of your normal body fluctuations and not become a prisoner of your scale. To give you an example, when I first started my program, I would weight myself every single day. One day I would have lost a pound or two and I would be ecstatic. The next day I would gain a pound and be depressed. This was especially true after finishing an especially difficult workout; I would even contemplate giving up. Please don’t fall into this trap. Your weight will naturally vary throughout the day, depending on water gain or loss, food intake, etc.

As you progress, you should notice a fairly steady loss of weight for the first 6-8 weeks (in my case it was a total 10 pounds). After this period of time, the amount of your weight loss will become less, usually around 1-2 pounds per week. As you progress in your exercise program and begin to lose weight, your body will have less mass to move, thus it will require fewer calories to burn in order to complete your workout. So, in order to continue to burn the same amount of calories, you will have to work harder (I know, bad news). Also, your body will become adapted to your exercise routine, so you will also have to vary your routine (to see more tips on this, please read my article on Overcoming a Weight Loss Plateau).

To lose weight in a healthy manner is a gradual process. You didn’t gain it overnight, although it certainly seems like it, so don’t expect to lose it overnight. Make your exercise routine a part of your new lifestyle, not a supplement to a diet.

Good luck to you and if I can help in any way, please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.


Here's a handy chart for your measurements... exercise.about.com

The Dough Also Rises

As some of you may remember, several months ago I made my first sour dough starter. From that starter, I have embarked on a tasty journey in bread making. During that journey, I have learned a few valuable lessons which I would like to share with you today. To assist those who may stumble upon my original article, I will also be linking this article to my original posting of Baking with Your Sourdough Starter.

When I first began making bread many years ago, I did it the old-fashioned way and kneaded it by hand. I read that by using this method, it was almost impossible to over-knead your dough. Well, I erroneously carried that belief over to how I prepared my dough using a machine. Once the dough came together, I would let the machine knead the dough for an additional five minutes or more and guess what, I consistently ended-up with a dough that rose very little. Yes, the bread was still very good, but it was not as light and fluffy as I wanted it to be.

The result: I only use the machine until the dough is completely mixed and then I let the machine go for maybe another 30-45 seconds. After that, I shape it into a ball and let it go for its first rise. It took quite some time and research for me to discover this little secret, but since I have started doing this, my dough has not failed to rise.

Next, I was always under the impression that when you are adding the flour, the dough should not be sticky when squeezed; meaning that when you squeeze it, your fingers will come out clean. Now, I would add flour until the dough reached this "dry" consistency and I soon discovered that this was causing the bread to turn-out "heavy". You see, I am constantly working to make sure that my bread will come out as light and fluffy as possible, so once I discovered that more flour meant a heavier bread, I began to research what I needed to do.

It was only few weeks ago that I discovered that the dough is supposed to be sticky. So, over the next few weeks when made the bread, I made sure that the dough ended-up being sticky (meaning that when I handled the dough, it stuck to my fingers). Since I began doing this (along with not over-kneading), my bread has come out lighter and fluffier.

As I continue to make bread every week, I am constantly trying to improve how it turns out and even though I will mess-up every now and then, I will strive to make sure that the dough also rises.