WEEK FOUR

Week four was not as successful. I had a harder time getting in the meals on schedule. I let my week get out of control. Partly because of the busy schedule at work, partly because of my own poor planning and partly because I am by nature a "night owl" and having trouble making myself go to bed in time to get a good night's sleep and still get up at 7 am. (which will be a real challenge nest week when my goal will be to rise at 6 am) My net loss for the week was 3 lbs taking the four week total to 15 lbs. But also taking another inch off of the waist.

Week three

Week three we were back on track I followed the plan, planned my meals in advance and had a good binge day with homemade chocolate chip cookies, Promise Land milk, pizza(meat lovers) with a Corona, Ice cream, IBC root beer and some good dark chocolate. Even after a wicked binge day I managed a net loss of 5 lbs for the week bringing the total to 12 lbs in three weeks. To top it off I also was now measuring up to a 1" loss in the waist line. All this and still no exercise.

I'M BACK

I know, I know, I said I would post every week. Between computer issues and a new job(working 60 to 70 hours per week) it's been tough finding time. However, now the learning curve at the new job has leveled out a little there should be much more time. As for the computer issues, while not completely resolved(only a 21st century computer system will do that) I have figured a way around them and will back "on the air " on a regular basis. So for all of you who have been on the edge of your seats waiting to hear more, here it is;

Week two was a little rough, I got a stomach bug(from my loving wife) that interfered with the plan. For three days crackers and tea were about all I could keep in my stomach. Unfortuneately crackers are not on the plan(too many carbs) and eating four times a day (an integral part of the plan) was out of the question. However, I still managed a net loss of 2 lbs taking the total to 7 lbs in the first 2 weeks. I didn't bother with taking any measurements.

WEEK ONE IS A SUCCESS!!!

After 6 days on the new diet I had lost 7.5 pounds. This mind you is without one ounce of exercise. (that starts in week 5) Then came “Binge Day”. I was really surprised. I was supposed to eat as much as I wanted of whatever I wanted. The amazing part was I didn’t want very much. At my favorite breakfast joint, I ate only half of what I usually ate. For dinner we ordered my favorite pizza. I usually eat half of a large pizza. I only managed to eat 2 pieces. I bought a pint of my favorite ice cream, usually a one sitting affair. I ate less than a third. I’m proud to say that I did knock down the entire package of Double Stuffed Oreo Cookies by the end of the day along with a pint of Promise Land milk. I topped the day off with a Cadbury Royal Dark chocolate bar. All-in-all, a great day of eating.

So the final result for week one.

I lost 5 lbs. No measureable change in the waistline. At this rate I could reach my goal in 7 months.

I spent a good deal of Sunday cooking for this week’s meals. I cooked 8 Steaks, 4 beef patties, 6 chicken breasts and 10 chicken leg quarters. Tonight I’ll cook up some lentils and black beans and we’ll be ready to go for the week.

Thanks for all your support.

HAPPY BINGE DAY!!!

Well that’s the end of the first 6 days of my diet. Now I am looking forward to tomorrow,


BINGE DAY!!! Already picked out for the day of indulgence; Double stuffed Oreo cookies, a cold bottle of Promise Land Organic milk, Breakfast at the Rise and Shine café(A big pile of hash browns, 4 sunny-side-up eggs, toast with blackberry jam, OJ and gallons of Gavalia coffee with lots of hazelnut creamer. Then for dinner, Survivor Finale and Meat lovers Pizza washed down with a tall mug of Corona. For desert, Haagen-Dazs: Dulce De Leche Caramel.

Monday morning I will post the final results for the first week of “The Burtis Project”, my journey to success.

HAPPY BINGE DAY!!!

I'm Just A Wannabe Loser

It occurred to me that before anyone would want to read a blog about success, they might want to know that the writer of that blog was successful. So I had to ask myself. Am I successful? As I began to take a look at myself, I changed the question. Am I in control of my life? That to me is true success. The answer? Well, I had to say no!

I looked at several areas of my life and began to pick out the areas where myself picture and reality were not the same. The first and most obvious? The physical me. I AM FAT!!! Fat, out of shape and suffering from a number of self inflicted ailments. How can I take charge of my life if my body is out of control?

I’m 54 years old, at 6’1”, I weigh almost 300 lbs and to jog around the block would be the equivalent of the average guy running a marathon. I have a hiatal hernia, acid reflux, IBS, sleep apnea, a bad back and bad knees. I wear slip on shoes because I can’t reach my feet to tie laces. I work from home and office chairs last about as long as a haircut.

On our recent trip to Maui, while sunbathing on the beach, a Hawaiian State Wildlife Preservation Team thought I was a beached whale and kept trying to roll me back into the water.

My belly is so big it has it’s own zip code.

I’m the reason they invented double doors.

I’m so fat when I go to a restaurant, they don’t bring me a menu, they bring me an estimate.

I’ve been banned from most of the “All You Can Eat” joints in town.

So, maybe it’s time to do something about it.

Instead of telling you how “Success Is Like A Journey” I’ve decided to take you on a journey. My journey to “success”. Instead of telling you what you should do, I’m going to tell you what I am doing and share the results with you. We will actually be taking in several “tours” simultaneously. We’re going to start with:

DAN’S RADICAL BODY MAKEOVER.

Here’s where the first leg of our journey starts.

START

Weight 295 lbs

% Body Fat (approx)55.9%

Fat Weight 164.91lbs

Base weight 130.1 lbs

Chest (relaxed) 49"

Chest (Flexed) 51.5"

Waist (at Navel) 55.5"

Hips (Largest point) 54"

Biceps (relaxed) 16"

Biceps (flexed) 18"

Thighs 29"

As we all know, the healthy way to lose weight and keep it off is to permanently change your diet and exercise regularly. So I set out on that mission. I sucked at it!! When you weigh 300 lbs and are trying to lose 100 of it, 1 to 1 ½ lbs. just didn’t work for me. I get discouraged and cheat. Then there is the inevitable binge day which would set me back 2 to 3 weeks so I’d get discouraged and quit. All told I think I’ve lost 300lbs in spurts of 10 or even 20 and then I’d gain it back plus. So, (as I eventually do) I decided to do something radical. It all started with the book “The 4 hour Body” by Timothy Ferris author of “The 4 Hour Work Week”. At this time I am not endorsing his ideas, I am putting them to the test.

The gist goes something like this. For 6 days I eat something from each category (Meat, vegetables, Legumes) and the 7th day is binge day. Anything I want as much as I want. You can read the book to find out the details. As I progress I will be adding in some exercise (not much) and a few other techniques to aid the process. I will add these other methods one by one so as to see how much each speeds up my weight loss. You can judge for yourselves if it works.

Above is where I am at the start. My goals are lofty. I want to lose 140 lbs of fat and gain 45 lbs of muscle. This would put me at about 200lbs with 12% body fat. It all starts today. Monday 5/9/2011. My goal date is 12/31/2011. HERE WE GO…

Breakfast today –
Omelet (4 organic eggs, 1 ½ cups chopped broccoli, herbal seasonings)
1 cup mashed black beans w/fajita seasonings
Gavalia Coffee (black)
32oz water (room temp)

Lunch
Grilled chicken breast (lrg)
1 cup fresh spinach (slightly Steamed)
1 Cup red beans mashed with ½ avocado
32 oz water

Dinner
2 Ground round patties
1 cup sauerkraut
1 cup Lentils & avocado
32oz water

Evening Snack
Raw veggie plate
Herbal tea (no caffine)


I Wannabe A Big Fat Loser

SUCCESS IS LIKE TAKING A JOURNEY

You have heard the expression “Success in not a destination, it’s a journey”. This statement presents us with a very useful parallel. "Success is like taking a journey." In the following series of blogs we will look at how we can successfully reach our goals with the simple formula we would use to take a trip. Now don’t confuse simple with easy. Everything worth having in this life has a cost attached to it. The more worth having the more the cost. Simple means it’s not rocket science. Anyone can achieve success if they are willing to pay the price.

Success, in any endeavor, whether personal, social, spiritual or work related, requires motivation. Usually that means self motivation. We all get discouraged and lose our motivation at times. The amount of motivation required is determined by the amount of sacrifice and pain we must endure to reach the goal or goals we have set. With each step I will include some techniques to help you stay motivated so that you can persevere and reach your goals. Enjoy the trip.

1. Before you start your journey you must know your destination. Where is it you want to end up? Be specific. “A nice hotel on the east coast” sounds good but more information is needed. What city, which hotel, what is the address? Try programming “A nice hotel on the east coast” into your GPS and see how fast you get there. “I want to go to New York, NY and stay at the Plaza Hotel by Central Park.” Now that’s something your GPS can work with.

If you are trying to lose weight: what do you want your final weight to be? If you are saving for retirement, how much money will it take to retire? If you want a new car, what car do you want? What options do you want on that car? How much is this dream house going to cost you? If you don’t specifically quantify the goal, you won’t know how to get there and you won’t know it when you make it. A vague dream is not a goal. To be a goal it needs to be much more specific.

FOR MOTIVATION you should specifically visualize the end result. What will I look like when I reach my goal weight? What clothes will I wear? What will I be able to do then that I can’t do now? What color will my new car be? How will it make me feel to drive it. Where will I go in my new car? Who will I take for a ride in my dream car? Close your eyes and visualize it. Cut out pictures that represent your goal and make a collage, a “Dream Board”. Use pictures that invoke positive feelings when you look at them. Place your dream board in a prominent place where you will see it every day. Have several. Put pictures on the bathroom mirror so you start everyday visualizing your dream. Use the picture for a background and a screen saver on your computer, your iPad and your cell phone. Drive a lot? Then put pictures in your car. Put them on the wall or on your desk at work. Carry a couple in your wallet or purse. Get a keychain with a digital slide show on it.  If you visit my house you will have no doubt in your mind what my goal and passion are. I even bought music that invokes visions of my dream. Do whatever it takes to keep the dream, the goal alive and on your mind as often and as much as possible.

Does Dude Have What You Want

We all have our own cabinet of trusted advisors. Your BFF since the 3rd grade, pastors, parents, brothers and sisters and others who have played significant roles in our lives. It’s to these “wise sages” we turn for advise when facing decisions and dilemmas . We seek them out because we trust them to look objectively at the situation and to advise us with our best interest in mind, seeking no personal gain or hidden agenda.

While trust and forthrightness are important when seeking out guidance, are they enough? Should you be asking you friend who just had his car repossessed to help you set up a personal budget? Should you ask your uncle who has lived in the same apartment for 40 years for Advice on buying a house? While my father could probably give me great guidance on how to get across to a problem student, I probably wouldn’t ask him the best place to drill an oil well.

If you have something you want to accomplish in life and you want to do it well, then you should seek out the most successful person you can find at that task and ask them how they did it. When I went into sales I started by reading books by people who had been leaders in the field. Then when I would start a new sales job I would find the top dog and sew my pant leg to his/hers. When in the Army, I talked my way into a job I had no clue how to do. I then went to the post library and checked out a couple of manuals on the subject. Every time I was assigned a task I had never done, I went and asked my counter parts in other units how they would do it. As a result I received awards for superior performance including a perfect score on a major annual inspection. All on work that was mostly plagiarized ideas from other individuals who had “been there, done that”.

Most things you are trying to do in life have already been done by someone else. When heading out on a trip, do you just start driving cross country or do you get a map and follow the roads others have taken? Remember this quote I heard from a really good salesman: “If you do what “Dude” says, you will get what “Dude” has. Does “Dude” have what you want?”

HEALTHY COMPETITION

I am by nature, a very competitive person. I like to win. I have found the older I get the more I realize, my favorite person to compete against is.....well, ME. I find we're pretty evenly matched, he knows how I think and he reads everything I do. Makes for some pretty fierce competition, but beating him is sooooo much more satisfying.

Little Ideas can mean BIG MONEY

You've seen them. All the stupid little gadgets that sell for a few bucks or less. Sure, some people will buy them but there appeal can't be big enough to make any real money. Or could it?  There on the infomercials, in the stores, in all those little specialty or novelty catalogs you receive.  You think, I could have thought of that or maybe even "Hey, that was my idea." But it was such a silly little niche item you didn't do anything with it. Well, these people did.

The Koosh Ball


You probably don't know who Scott Stillinger is but you probably have one of his inventions – the Koosh ball, which made millions of dollars. He came up with the idea when he tied rubber bands together to create a smaller, easier-to-catch ball for his young children in 1987.  The Koosh ball was born. He founded OddzOn Products Inc. to distribute the small, simple toy, and within just 12 months it was flying off of store shelves as that year's hottest Christmas gift.

The company expanded, and in 1994 Stillinger sold OddzOn to toy manufacturer Russ Berrie and Company Inc., which in turn was bought by toy behemoth Hasbro in 1997 for more $100 million

And it all happened a mere 10 years after the first ball was created.


Lucky Break Wishbones


Are you still a little bitter that, at last year's Thanksgiving dinner, you lost out to your cousin Ned in the annual fight over the lone turkey wishbone? Well, thanks to Ken Ahroni, those days are long over. In 1999, he had something of an epiphany at his family's Thanksgiving dinner table: a family with multiple people would like multiple wishbones. He shuttered his previous consulting business and launched Lucky Break Wishbone Corp. in 2004, in order to sell his one-of-a-kind breakable plastic wishbones. Within two years, the company was generating nearly $1 million in sales through distributors in more than 40 states nationwide.


Antenna Balls

You've seen them; maybe you even sport one on your car. Those ubiquitous, yellow smiley-faced balls perched atop antennas in parking lots nationwide have made Jason Wall a very wealthy man. Inspired in 1997 by a commercial for the fast food chain Jack in the Box, Wall created some antenna ball designs and began selling them locally through auto stores in California in 1998. Within a year, he had earned more than $1.15 million in sales and quickly won major accounts to sell his product through national chains, including Wal-Mart. In 2009, the multimillionaire is president and CEO of In-Concept Inc.

 
You don't have to be a genius or an engineer to have a million dollar idea.  If it is something you would use, then chances are so would a few hundred thousand others.  I always have a pen and paper with me some I can make notes when I have an idea or when I see someone else's idea I like.  Chances are, if you don't develop your idea. Then you will one day see it on the store shelf or on TV or maybe in your favorite catalog with someone else's name on it.  Keep reading and one day you may read the story on my Blog.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well..

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

.

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Okay my friends, the new year is here. I know some of you are facing some real challenges in your lives. Many are unemployed or have had your income greatly reduced. Some are facing physical Challenges or family crisis. Many things can derail us from reaching our goals.

I just want you to know that you have a choice. You can use these challenges as excuses for not achieving your goals or you can turn them into the motivation for achieving even more. For everyone of the very real challenges I mentioned above, I know of someone who, facing those same challenges, turned them into their "why" for pursuing their goals even harder.

I know of a guy who was living in his car with a busted out window in Canada in the winter, with 2 children and selling pizza door to door to survive. He now owns a very successful business because he used his problems as motivation.

I had two friends a few years back We'll call them Ron & Steve. Both had lost their legs to a land mine in Vietnam. Both the same year. Both had the same injuries, the same surgeries and both ended up in wheel chairs. I met them 20 years later. Steve was defeated. His lack of legs kept him from enjoying many of the things he loved. He could no longer play football, run or r ride his Harley. He had gained weight due to his lack of running and physical exertion. He was unkempt because it was very difficult to dress himself and get in and out of a shower or bathtub. He always complained because there weren't enough handicap parking spaces or someone parked in the handicapped spot or over the line making it hard for him to get his wheel chair out of the car. He was broke because his disability limited the jobs available to him. After an hour of being around him I would feel depressed, sorry for him, even angry that we had allowed such things to happen in such an unnecessary war.

Then there was Ron. Ron was living life. Ron could no longer play football, so he started a wheel chair basketball team. He could no longer go running so he worked out in the gym with his upper body. Ron always looked perfectly groomed and professional. If the handicapped spot was filled or someone parked over the line, he found a spot and dealt with it or waited for a spot to open up.He had a good job. On the side he taught veterans and others how to live life in a wheelchair, coached a wheelchair basketball team and raised a daughter. Being around Ron was renewing. Not because it was inspiring that he overcame his lack of legs,(although it was) but because he was such a force of positive energy. You didn't even notice the wheelchair(unless he was popping wheelies). Being around Ron made you want to be more, help more and live more. He went out of his way to make others feel better. If you wanted something done, just bet Ron a guy in a wheelchair couldn't do it.

Remember, life isn't easy, it isn't fair and there is no such thing as spare time.

In 2011, you can make excuses or you can make it happen. It's up to you.