The 1949 classic The Fountain Head, starring Gary Cooper.
With President Barack Obama demeaning individual business owners, and entrepreneurs; saying we didn’t do it on our own, this video seems incredibly important, at this time.
If we are to go forward as the country we were founded to be we must re-learn to respect the individual and their right to succeed on their terms AND their right to fail.
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See my progress before the 24 Day Challenge was complete.
The fact that I’ve written about my efforts to lose weight twice in this calendar year is not something I would have ever expected of myself. It was just not a subject I cared too much about. That all changed in May 2011 when I got on my bathroom scale and it barked back at me 245.3 pounds. It was the heaviest I’d ever been. That combined with the fact that I didn’t feel particularly good, things had to change. Little things like bending and stooping became difficult. And recent photographs of me were quite un-flattering. Like this Easter pic from 2011:
Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011
Notice the round belly, and the double chin? Not my best moment.
So I took steps to lose weight which I wrote about last January in a blog I called, My Weight Loss Frustration. The writing of it was prompted by a holiday season of mostly regular indulgence resulting in no weight gain, followed by the first week of the new year filled with exercise, light-healthy eating and a gain of five pounds. Grrrrrr.
In the six months since that writing my weight has remained fairly steady…though gaining slightly. I may have started the year at 233 lbs. But by June I was again approaching my heaviest, about 240 lbs. And while I never would have thought so prior to my weight/size awakening in May 2011 I can REALLY feel those extra pounds. And it’s not a good feeling.
I think perspective is important when discussing an individuals weight. In my case even at my worst I’ve never considered myself obese. Just heavy. Since the weight of an average man is 160-195 pounds, according to Wikipedia, it might be easy to think I’m way over weight. Here’s my history in pictures since my full height of 6′ 1″ and High School.
15 years old, 6’1″, maybe 165lbs.
In this pic I don’t remember how much I weighed. But I would guess around 165 lbs. It was July 1979. I was 15. I know I was already my full height of 6’1″.
My High School Senior Portrait was shot in August 1981, when I was 17 years old, 6-foot 1-inch, 181 lbs. I have a clear memory of my weight at that time because I was trying desperately to gain weight for the upcoming football season. I still harbored hopes of playing in college. But try as I might, I couldn’t put any meat on a pretty skinny frame.
21 years old, 6’1″, 195-200 lbs.
In May 1985 I was 21 years of age and through natural maturation and some weight training I was a fit 195-200 lbs. And since attaining legal drinking age I had begun drinking alcohol, BEER, pretty regularly.
This pic below came as a result of a funny story. I was fishing off this dock you see me standing on with my buddy Rob McBride, and my daughter Arica, who must have been 6-7 years old at the time.
So that would make me 30 years old in this picture, and based on appearance and memory I was about 220 pounds. I’m soaking wet because my daughter had dropped her brand-new fishing pole into the water and was crying. Not wanting her to be sad or have a bad memory from fishing, which is something I LOVE, I decided to dive into the water, where I retrieved the lost pole. Feeling quite proud of his friend, Rob rewarded me with a Budweiser.
Never posted this pic anywhere at any time for any reason until now; for obvious reasons. It’s not very flattering, and shows me at close to my worst. This shot was at Steamboat Rock State Park in July 2010 at the age of 46 when I weighed about 240 lbs.
June 18, 2012. 48 years old 240 lbs.
Really wasn’t looking forward to posting THIS one…ever since the pic was taken. Obviously I don’t look very good. I weigh 240 lbs. I don’t feel particularly good. I’ve gained back the 8-9 lbs I lost the previous year. This picture was shot the day I began the Advocare 24 Day Challenge, June 18, 2012.
At my worst I’m just 35 pounds heavier than the 210 lbs. I weighed when I married my wife at age 23 in 1987 and was in pretty good physical condition. No pot belly. Not even any love handles. Pretty firm, regularly playing basketball, and doing other physical activities. A 35 pound weight gain on a 6-foot 1 inch frame is not good. But the story of my weight loss frustration isn’t my weight or how much I’ve gained since any point in my life. The real story is how I felt, how I looked, what physical limitations I was encountering, and what health time bombs I was planting in my body. My Dad, Grandpa, and his brother, my Uncle, all died in their early 60s due to health reason that were largely preventable. They were all over weight. And they were all over weight for a considerable part of their adult life. The thought of dying young (60s) like them scared scares the hell out of me. I have too many things to do.
So, the Advocare 24 Day Challenge seemed logical to me. The ONLY time I’d lost weight in the 13-14 months since it became important for me to do so was in July of last year when I took a couple of friends advice and did the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse program. At that time I lost about 6-7 pounds, and felt great.
What might surprise many of you is how avid an exerciser I am. Underneath this round belly and chunky figure is a rock solid body waiting to get out. I stretch, lift weights, run treadmill, and do some bicycling and other cardio five days per week. I’ve done so pretty religiously for 8-9 years. 14 months ago I began eating all my meals on salad plates, rather than dinner plates so that I would be eating less. Still the weight wouldn’t come off. Not until Advocare.
Its great to get back to a body that has some muscle definition.
A real frustration for me was 230 lbs, which I bumped into several times in the past year but could never break through into the 220s. I finally cracked 230 lbs. 6 days into the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Because of the muscle gain I’ve achieved with weight-training and natural aging I’m not sure I can get down to 210 lbs. again, and I know the final 15 pounds will be the hardest. But I know with Advocare I can do it. I’m down 15 lbs. to 225-pounds at the conclusion of the 24 Day Challenge and feeling much better about my health, my appearance, and my future. It’s the only thing I’ve tried that has worked.
My lovely wife of 25 years has been on the 24 Day Challenge with me and has also lost 15 pounds and says she now weighs less than she has since before the birth of our 13-year-old daughter.
Sonja lost 17lbs on Advocare. Call us for info.
In the course of a lifetime I hope to have last 80+ years, 24 Days is just a tiny blip on the radar screen, and the minor sacrifices I had to make in this short time frame were infinitesimal compared to the tremendous benefit I have gained.
Contact me about Advocare. I’d be happy to give you the whole scoop.
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Can spanking your child on the butt be cause of mental illness as those kids become adults? This study claims that to be true. But in my mind the study doesn’t go far enough.
As pointed out in this news story its long been understood that severe physical, mental or sexual abuse does lead to mental illness among victims.
Spanking Kids Leads to Adult Mental Illnesses – ABC News.
If this study is to be understood should participants also be tested or judged on all that they’ve become as adults? The assumption by this author is that all of us, even the most well adjusted, are mentally challenged in some form or another. All of us have certain quirks, worries, anxieties and occasionally depression (be it mild or more pronounced).
Let a study report on what percentage of those spanked in childhood become more disciplined, harder working, physically fit, and generally well-adjusted versus those who didn’t face stern discipline in their youth. In order words, focus on the positive not the negative. Then we can better judge how to best parent the next generation.
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The following was forwarded to me from a church friend in a mass email, like we all get. Like all of them it challenged me to forward it to my email contacts. Since I never do that, I thought I’d do one better by posting this incredible man’s story on my blog. It’s short and worth the read. Furthermore, it’s worth sharing. Please post this to your social media sites so this man can be remembered by all of us.
May you
Rest In Peace!
Van T. Barfoot
died at the age of 92 on 2 March 2012 .
Remember the guy who wouldn’t take the
flag down?
You might remember a news story several months ago
about a crotchety old man who defied his homeowners association
and refused to take down the flagpole on his property
and the large flag that flew on it.
Now you can find out who, exactly, that old man was.
On June 15, 1919 ,
Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg , Mississippi
— probably didn’t make much news back then.
Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944 ,
near Carano, Italy , Van T. Barfoot,
who had enlisted in the US Army in 1940,
set out to flank German machine gun positions
from which fire was coming down on his fellow soldiers.
He advanced through a minefield,
took out three enemy machine gun positions
and returned with 17 prisoners of war.
If that wasn’t enough for a day’s work, he later took on
and destroyed
three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions.
That probably didn’t make much news either,
given the scope of the war,
but it did earn Van T. Barfoot,
who retired as a Colonel
after also serving in Korea and Vietnam ,
a Congressional Medal of Honor.
What did make news…
was a neighborhood association’s quibble
with how the 90-year-old veteran
chose to fly the American flag
outside his suburban Virginia home.
Seems the rules said a flag could be flown
on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum,
items such as Barfoot’s 21-foot flagpole
were unsuitable.
He had been denied a permit for the pole,
erected it anyway and was facing court action
if he didn’t take it down.
Since the story made national TV,
the neighborhood association has rethought its position
and agreed to indulge this old hero who dwells among them.
“In the time I have left I plan to continue to fly the American flag
without interference,” Barfoot told The Associated Press.
As well he should.
And if any of his neighbors still takes a notion to contest him, they
might want to read his Medal of Honor citation.
It indicates he’s not real good at backing down.
Van T. Barfoot’s Medal of Honor citation:
This 1944 Medal of Honor citation,
listed with the National Medal of Honor Society,
is for Second Lieutenant Van T. Barfoot,
157th Infantry, 45th Infantry
My thoughts on Father’s Day seldom drift toward me and my kids. They always tend toward my Dad. He died November 30, 2001, the cherry on the sundae of the worst year in my life.
My dad and brother, Jerry and Jeff.
My Dad was a unique character. Jerome Mathis Schuett was born in Bellingham, WA in 1937, Grandson of a German immigrant; and son of a logger. While he frequently spoke lovingly of his father’s industry he was the only one of the three son’s of Shelby and Delores Schuett to never work in the timber industry.
My Dad left Bellingham for Washington State College in Pullman in 1956. Like all WSU grads he was a Cougar through and through. And he infected all the rest of his family with his love of all things crimson and grey.
My Dad’s temper, alleged philandering, and complete and total disregard for anything my Mom cared for led to their divorce when I was in the 4th grade. By the time I was in the 5th grade he had successfully sued for legal custody of my brother and I. He was one of only 17% of divorced men in the 1970’s to win custody in a court of law over mothers.
And thank God he did. He raised my brother and I to be very independent. By the time I was 13 years old I was cooking or preparing all my breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I was doing my own laundry. And if my Dad ever asked to see my report card….I can’t remember it.
My Dad was flawed in so many ways. In fact there were long stretches of my adulthood, months and on one occasion years, where I didn’t speak with him. He was often crude. He was almost always devoid of any knowledge or care of hurting another human beings feelings. He was the macho man, only NOT.
Jerry Schuett made a lot of friends. But not a lot of close friends.
He left an impression on me that has been so deep and so lasting because he was there. Twenty-five percent of all Dad’s aren’t even present for the raising of their children. In the black community statistics are abhorrent. More Dad’s aren’t there than are. So knowing my Dad attended all my soccer, basketball, baseball and football games through high school puts him above a lot of Dad’s. Knowing he wanted us to be raised by him rather than our mother means a lot too.
Knowing his many flaws and that he and I clashed a lot, some have questioned why I miss him so much. My only logical answer is that he was always there. And now he is not.
At bare minimum, I know I have provided my kids at least that.
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M Schuett blah blah blah 