The Battle
I arrive
The rhythm of the drums in my ear
It motivates me
I move up the stairs with energy
I arrive
To endure torture for another hour
Feeling optimistic I press forward
I'm ready
A half hour in it starts to taunt me
It laughs at me
It spits in my face
Each number seems so slow or so low
How could this be
My anger grows
I arrive
At the base of the electronic hill
How well equipped I am for this
Silly hill did you think you were a match for me?
The power of my legs,
The beat of my heart
The breath of my lungs
The guitar solo
Feeble foe you are easily defeated
I take all of my anger
Most of which you have created
Reflect it back at you
And I get stronger
Faster
Healthier
I arrive
At the end
I emerge victorious
Head held high
I went into the cave and slayed the dragon
I made the eighty yard drive to score the winning touchdown
I climbed Mt. Everest
I shot the buzzer beater
I crossed the finish line first
All in only one hour
It's been a long time since I wrote on this blog or wrote poetry too for that matter. This has helped me to discover a lot. This is one of the best things I have ever done in my life and I don't think that I will ever be the same. Twenty-six years of walking this earth and I finally go through something that takes me through a dramatic change. I had time to closely examine all of my shortfalls. For so long there was a sense of blind belief. Just going through the motions. To lazy to check the facts. This has been my bite from the tree of knowledge. My Rosetta Stone.
Physically, I am already 34lbs lighter. That is a tremendous amount of weight. At a supposed healthy weight loss rate, I am 240 days ahead of schedule. This is just the beginning though. I still want to cut about 20 more pounds off. That would put me back into my "normal" weight range. The challenge will come when I start to integrate solid food back into my diet. As previously stated, this is the end of fast food consumption. That's going to be the hardest part of this. Ending a tumultuous relationship with a food that continues to do nothing but put health in peril. For what? The comforting feeling of the taste of highly processed ground beef treated in a high pressure ammonia bath, sent frozen through a processing facility and then cooked and reheated in a microwave. I've been hungry during this fast, very hungry at times. Now armed with knowledge of how long the human body can endure without food, the human spirit is strengthened and I have enjoyed my last burger and fires.
Emotionally, this has been quite the roller coaster ride. The highs have been really high and the lows have been really low. It's also a little disheartening that most of the goals that were set to be accomplished from this fast were left on the shelf. The only thing that I did end up living up to is the food part. In a little more than three days, this will have been the longest period of my life I have endured without meat. Upon examining that previous sentence it really speaks to a bigger problem a bigger societal ill. It is no secret that our food system is flawed. America doesn't grow meat. It manufactures it, in order to meet unrealistic demands for said beef and pork products. That is much to the detriment of man millions of animals that suffer a short and sick frail existence only to be slaughtered. It is not right. I feel healthier and better than I ever felt in my life even though over this time period I've consumed about 10% of the protein recommended protein intake. Meat is very appetizing. Tasty. Now this starts a new trend of responsibility and ethical system for me to greatly reduce my personal meat consumption.
Spiritually, my religious views have completely changed. I do feel closer to God now than when I started and I do carry with me the basic tenants of the Christian faith. I don't believe that the Bible itself as a whole, is the word of God and can be taken literally. I can only speak for myself, but after reading from beginning to end, it doesn't make sense. Why after the coming of Jesus would slavery be an endorsed behavior. If you take the Bible literally you can easily use it to oppress and justify the disenfranchisement of the rights of large groups of people. So now I feel closer to God in believing in his teachings, Jesus was one who didn't judge and showed everyone around him love all the time to be like Jesus means much more than what I thought previously. It means letting go of all your prejudices for any group of people and showing everyone around you the same love of Christ. We should do this without regard for race, religion, sexual orientations and social standing. We must look at everybody with love.
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Songs of the Day:
This has been a very trying time and I am glad that this is over as of midnight tonight. I wouldn't have been able to do this without supplementing my diet a bit with juices from the Naked company. Especially during the last week with the outage starting. It is very hard to shop and prepare juice when you have to work 12 hours a day.
Now for the important part.
Final Weight: 200lbs (Down 34 lbs)
Final Body Fat: 19.3% (Down 6%)
Final Waist: 36" (Down 5")
Final Chest: 40" (Down 1.5")
Final Biceps: 15" (No Change)
The Beginning
The blog isn't finishing and I'm starting P90X on Monday. It's a new me. A healthier me.
Songs of the Day:
- Day 31: "If My People" by Fred Hammond
- Day 32: "Meeting In My Bedroom" by Silk
- Day 33: "Californication" by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Day 34: "Damage Inc." by Metallica
- Day 35: "Crazy" by Seal
- Day 36: "Handlebars" by Flobots
- Day 37: "Transformers" by Gnarls Barkley
- Day 38: "Sweet Lady" by Tyrese
- Day 39: "Rusted Wheel" by Silversun Pickups
- Day 40: "Until The End of Time" by 2Pac
This has been a very trying time and I am glad that this is over as of midnight tonight. I wouldn't have been able to do this without supplementing my diet a bit with juices from the Naked company. Especially during the last week with the outage starting. It is very hard to shop and prepare juice when you have to work 12 hours a day.
Now for the important part.
Final Weight: 200lbs (Down 34 lbs)
Final Body Fat: 19.3% (Down 6%)
Final Waist: 36" (Down 5")
Final Chest: 40" (Down 1.5")
Final Biceps: 15" (No Change)
The Beginning
The blog isn't finishing and I'm starting P90X on Monday. It's a new me. A healthier me.
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