Fruit trees update

Wow!!! How theses little trees produce, I have lemons,

oranges,

Satsuma,

kumquat

and a monster banana tree.

Last week I picked two Satsumas’….Mmmm they were good. Here is a look at one I picked today…

not bad for a year and half old tree. The Blood oranges are doing great (still a few weeks away from the harvest) the lemons and kumquats too. The Satsuma taste great but we had to add stakes to hold the weight of the fruit.

Now lets get to the monster banana tree,

uncle Ronnie gave me a little sprout a couple of years ago (about 6” tall) now look at it…my guess would be somewhere around 25’ to 30’ tall. The strange thing about banana trees is that you cut them back to about 3’ tall every winter and they grow back bigger every spring…well this year I got bananas…lots of them….

Now for the new stuff…a couple of weeks ago I planted some lettuce

and some arugula

from seeds, here is what I got so for…time to be transplanted to a bigger pot…well see how this works out. Oh yea I forgot to mention the plum trees out front…sorry I forgot to take photos…next update. Many new fruit and nut trees to come.

As for the body experiment…nothing much new to say…it going but just barley hopefully Monday will be a better day.
More to come…
Big Al

Don’t call it a come back!!!

Well after the tongue lashing

I received yesterday, I have decided to stick with the thirty day experiment...15 days to go. THANKS LADIES!!! Quite frankly, I’m a little afraid of MeanDonnaJean http://www.blogger.com/profile/07709592081968646084
Ha-ha….

All kidding aside thanks for the input and to be honest, MeanDonnaJean I think your straight to the point writing is kind of hot….

HA-HA.

Ok on to the experiment, yesterday went well, truth is I was so busy at work

I just did not have time to think about food… a good and a bad thing….while my lack of eating helped me to drop weight the stress of the job is playing havoc on my blood sugar…I had a 191 reading this morning…I honestly did not see that coming…Hmmmm??? Well time to go back to HELL

I mean WORK.

More to come
Big Al

Today was the day I was going to quit the Thirty Day Experiment

Today was the day I was going to quit the thirty day experiment…until…I saw my comments and noticed I had one more comment added to the list. It was from a online friend of mine FITCETERA http://katschisfitcetera.blogspot.com/

It was short and sweet…but straight to the point (see below)

Hi Al, Hope you had a great weekend shrimping :D

Now get back to it, Buddy! I'm counting on you being here.

Sometimes you just need that kick in the ass

to keep going…and I appreciate the note more than she will know…now, don’t get me wrong I appreciate ALL my readers comments…but sometimes for some reason some comments just strike you at you core.

So all that said…THIRTY DAY EXPERIMENT…IS STILL ON!!!!
Big Al

Just a quick post this morning

Just a quick post this morning…heading to Gulf Shores with the family to the 38th annual national shrimp festival…not sure if I’ll have the internet where I’ll be staying (more on that later) this all said because I may not be able to post again until Monday…have a great weekend.
Big Al

I cheated yesterday

I cheated yesterday…

I’m a bad boy…no, no not that kind of cheat, the other kind for you guys and girls that have not been following the 30 day body experiment. Let me tell you when I say cheat…I mean cheat…Let me start my confession. Breakfast…coffee and one slice bread with cheese (it was at least wheat toast. Ha-ha) work mid morning, bag of cheese popcorn with a slim Jim, lunch, large slice of pizza

with chips…and Dinner… homemade tacos

with nachos…

more than I can count.

Why the cheat…quite frankly…I’m pissed off at myself!!!

(Excuse my French) why pissed off you ask? Well a lot of things… One, here I am on day 8 of a thirty day experiment and I have given about 5% effort on my diet and training. I have been taking the easy route and have managed to drop pounds but have not given an honest effort. Two, I changed my diet, instead of sticking to a diet that I know works. Three, tried to change my workout to more of an aerobic type workout instead of a bodybuilding workout like I enjoy doing (thus not working out at all). Four, the biggest…I’ve let my work totally run my life, by letting it stress me out. Life is way to short for that.

The change WILL HAPPEN TODAY, I am very sorry to my readers and myself for my passed performance, one of my goals of the experiment was to help inspire others with their workouts NOT to show them the easy route and then quit…

Tune in to my next post…I promise you WILL SEE A CHANGE…
BIG AL

Sorry for the no update yesterday…

Sorry for the no update yesterday…my computer crashed…

its still giving me problems this morning so I will make this post short and sweet. Well as you can see by the chart on the left top of my home page I gain two pounds last night…Hmmmm, no, no I did not get off my diet…truth is I’ve been pretty good. My excuse…Work stress…

work and I the last week are so have just not been getting along…my exercise has not been happening either…hope to have everything worked out in the next couple of days at WORK. Don’t give up on me…you’ll see, I’ll get on a roll soon.

On the positive side by Blood Sugar dropped to 130 this morning, that’s a heck of lot better than the 200’s I was in just a few weeks ago.
More to come
BIG AL

My body made the switch…Ouch!!!

My body made the switch…Ouch!!!

Why ouch you ask, well I became terrible sick last night, stomach cramps and….well we will just leave it at that…ha-ha.

Ok, what is the switch…anyone that has dieted before knows what I’m taking about…I guess the best way to explain it is when your body is use to eating a certain way…high fat, grease food…to clean healthy food…I think it kind of shocks your body into a new way of life…this also works in reverse… it kind of helps you keep on the right tract…as sickness will happen when you start back on un healthy foods again if your diet has been strict…don’t worry about it…it just your body’s trying to adjust…NOT AN EXCUSE TO STOP!!!

I feel much better this morning, and roaring to go. No real big surprise in the lack of weight loss, my sugar level is a surprise, I guess I have never seen it exactly the same three days in a row. Due to my illness there was no workout last night…time for that to change…I plan on making tonight the big workout night. I need an outlet right now…extreme stress at work right now, not to mention the small wars I’m fighting at home the last few days…looks like it getting time to make a overnight solo hike somewhere…I NEED A BREAK!!!
More to come
BIG AL

Yesterday, day 4 of the Body Experiment

Yesterday, day 4 of the Body Experiment, Sunday, not much happen today stuck to the diet, with just a small cheat. I did eat a small handful of Cheetos
DAM THOSE THINGS ARE GOOD!!!

BUT, there’s always a but…I did start back at the gym today… (Ha-ha you thought I cheated again) 40 minutes on the treadmill incline set on level 4.

It’s been months since I’ve been in that place (gym); I have to admit I was a little intimidated to walk through the door. Not really sure why but once in I was roaring to get started and I did. Good first workout…many more to come…I hope.

I’m posting a YouTube link on this post of a guy talking about the five lies the diet marketplace keeps telling you to eat and drink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjN0gCZtTwc&feature=youtube_gdata

That is very, very bad for you so beware…

More to come…
BIG AL

MS Transplant for Kids Motorcycle Ride.

Yesterday, Saturday morning I checked the weather online only 10 percent chance of rain. Time to run around like a chicken with its head cut off to get ready for the motorcycle ride for charity that I found out about last minute Friday night, held here in Petal Ms. The ride was to start at the Wagon wheel Steakhouse Inn

just on the outskirts of the big city of petal. Registration began at 9:00am and the ride started at 10:00am. Loaded up my camera rain suit and gave the bike a quick wash, I still had to get gas and needed to make a trip to the ATM for some much needed money.

I reached the parking lot around 9:20am, my guess would be around 35 bikes had already arrived.

I registered 20 dollar fee (that included your poker run ticket, raffle ticket, and a meal ticket for after the ride) and remember folks the money was going to a great cause. They had a nice setup at the wagon wheel no waiting for anything and had a nice setup of photos of the kids to be helped.

After a brief payer by one of the bikers we were broken up into three groups, I join the first group (smallest group) we pulled out at 10:00am on the dot. There were around 25 bikes in my group, we headed through petal

and onto the country back roads not to far from my house.

I snapped as many photos as I could while ridding in such a large pack. It was funny to watch the farmer’s faces as this large group of bike came thundering through unannounced. Wow what fun…you just had to be there.

First stop Sumrall Mississippi;

we made a brief stop (15 minutes) to mark our poker run cards and time for a quick snack. Twenty five bike at a little gas station in a small town sure draws some looks, but all of a sudden the second and third group came riding into town…

sounded like a server thunderstorm. Wow! Now there was something like 200 bikes invading the small town. Well time for our group to head out while the other groups took a break, to the next destination as we rode out of the small town of Sumrall.

We entered Purvis Mississippi the same way…LOUD!! Ha-ha. Same story stopped

to get a small break, poker stamps, and waited on the other group to show up. Then we were off to the wagon wheel to eat some burgers. We had a short trip down hwy 49…I was able to snap a quick photo of the southern MS. Sign

as we roared back into the wagon wheel for lunch. After a little small talk I was back on my bike heading for home; reaching home around 1:30pm…Great day of ridding.

Ok now on to my diet yesterday…it went well but I did make several mistakes. The big one was lack of planning... I had a nice healthy breakfast but did not pack anything to eat while on the ride above. The ride lasted a little longer than I expected so my next meal did not come until around 2:00pm once I got home…and you guessed it I was starving and a little dehydrated. I did well and only ate healthy but had a LOT of craving to fight off…that’s a problem with not eating every few hours. Second mistake was I drank a LOT of diet drink too as I had not had a drop of water on the whole trip…my body sucked it up and is hanging on to it. I also got a little sunburned while riding…this will also cause your body to hold water while trying to repair itself… any how, all this said I’m sure this is some of the reason for the lack luster one pound drop and a little rise in the Blood Sugar number yesterday…time to get back in the gym today…if I want to keep making progress….

More to come…
BIG AL

Yesterday, Day two of the body experiment.

Yesterday, Day two of the body experiment. Hmmm, made some progress yesterday dropped another 4 pounds, still not back in the gym yet

but getting the diet down. Moved up to six meals a day again…three main meals and three snacks...The snacks consist of fresh raw fruits

and mixed nuts and plain almonds.

I'm still using my trick of sausage and eggs at night for my main meal…tonight should be my last night for the late night meal; I’ve found for myself that for the first few nights if I eat a high fat high protein meal at night it helps me drop water weight. Works for me…but by Monday I should be totally on healthy foods and back at the gym full time.
More to come
Big AL

Yesterday, Day One of the Body Experiment

Yesterday, day one of the Body Experiment…Hmmm looks like I was on the right track if you look at the numbers (see chart top left hand side of this blog home page) dropped 3 pounds blood sugar went from 227 to 160…Wow what a start, RIGHT?...WRONG!!! Truth is I did almost everything wrong yesterday, I don’t want to kid myself into thinking I did anything right, here’s why.

FIRST the diet, woke up had a cup of coffee, no breakfast did not eat another bite of food until lunch. Lunch went ok tuna on whole wheat…then back to work, not another bite till I got home around 5:00pm. I was starving…walked in and my baby girl Allison was heating up some left over spaghetti

for her dinner…so in my starving state I grabbed a fork and had a bite or two or three or four….OUCH!!! My guess is that in a minute or so while still standing in my work clothes, I put away at least 500 to 800 calories…these are the kind of sneaky calories that kill a diet…COME ON NOW…you know what I’m talking about…the kind calories that make you lie

to your friends the next day when you say all I had to eat was a tuna sandwich…truth is you don’t even mean to lie it just that its not a sit down kind of meal, so it does not count…RIGHT! WRONG!!! It counts…and if you are like most people you do this two or three times a day without realizing how many unwanted calories you take in, in just minutes…Quch!! It can be thousands. Ok enough about that, after the spaghetti Opps…

My baby girl volunteered to cook me 3 scrambled eggs and some sausage for dinner.

(I know, I know, sounds strange but I’ll get more into my diet in the next few days…and NO it’s not the No-carbohydrate diet)

SECOND: the exercise…

are should I say the lack of…unless you count sitting (laying) in my chair watching TV exercise…Hmmm sounds good, but trust me it does not work…I’ve tried. Ha-ha. I did NONE yesterday. Second Ouch, of the day.

Well to say the least I was very much unprepared yesterday…but today WILL be a better day you will see. Oh yea I forgot to mention the wife went grocery shopping last night (thanks honey) so the house is now full of GOOD things to eat

along with the BAD.

MORE TO COME

BIG AL