Have No Fear . . . Of Frostbite

Here in Chicago after between three and four solid months of freezing or near freezing weather spring sprung this week. I can't guarantee it is here to stay, but who am I to waste an opportunity. I have been walking on a treadmill since I started my weight loss journey and the chance to get out there and enjoy the view in some cool but comfortable weather allowed me to spend a pleasurable 45 minutes walking along the lake front, which is amazingly close to my apartment. It is times like today when I say a thank you to Daniel Burnham. Here are a couple of pictures I took on my trip out-of-doors. They were taken on my iPhone, so the image quality is not the greatest, but as they say the best camera is the one you have with you.



You can see the skyline off in the distance, but it looks much bigger when not through a lens. These next two show just how recently winter had us in its icy grip.














It is really nice to see signs of life.


Finding My Balance

The last week has presented me with some interesting challenges. My boss's birthday and a Oscars party presented me with quite a few of the foods I had been avoiding for over a month. I have said before that I refuse to turn food into my enemy. So I indulged a bit, but not nearly as I would have in the past. It probably was a bit of a drag on my weight loss, but I am still doing pretty well. I have also found a couple of new snacks I really like. One was introduced to me by my friends Mike and Aubrey Ryan and gives me that crunchy fix we all need: Veggie Chips. They had Terra brand, and I found some at Trader Joe's today that were cheap and almost as good. For those unfamiliar the chips are made from Sweet Potato, Taro, Parsnip, and Batata sometimes one of which is died with beet root juice. They are naturally sweet and very lightly salted. They are still fried so they don't save me much in terms of calories from traditional chips, but they are extremely low in sodium and have over 10% of your daily requirement of fiber, so the nutritional benefit is much higher.

The whole goal of my journey and this blog is not really to lose weight, although I definitely need to do that. I am looking for the kind of balance that brings health and happiness, or so I hear. I have taken this philosophy and have tried to do more things for myself. I started guitar lessons this week and today's walk was a good start. I enjoy cooking and in lieu of an acting gig it has been a nice release in a semi artistic way, but I am definitely ready to get to a few auditions as well. It is an interesting change from my usual, and more comfortable, way of doing things; namely to sit back and let the world happen to me. I am taking control and making things more like I want them to be and it truly is character building. The more I take control the more I own the way my life takes shape. When things don't go my way I know I have the responsibility for my situation, but I also know I am able to make the changes I want. Hooray for maturity.

That's all for this edition. Tune in next time to see if I can get under 400 this week (it'll be tough).