People Don’t Know They’re Fat.

Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011

Me and My 2 Oldest- Easter 2011

According to a 2012 study 35.7% of adult Americans are obese, and 16.9% of kids 2-19 years of age are. Basically it’s like this, if you have two friends and they are fit and not obese…then it’s probably YOU.

The comment is offered mostly in jest, but also with the intent of getting to a point. People really are not aware that they’re fat. For some it might be denial, for some it could be something else. Like an alcoholic who believes their drinking isn’t a problem over-weight people will continue all the bad habits that created their lack of fitness until such time they realize they have a problem.

I know what I’m talking about. At 47 years of age I finally realized that I was fat. I always knew I was overweight, but I would always say I was only 20-30 pounds from my optimal weight and that wasn’t too bad.

My wife and I watched the movie “Flight”, starring Denzel Washington, a couple of nights ago. (If you haven’t seen the movie skip ahead to the next paragraph because I’m about to reveal some aspects of the movie which aren’t a mystery, but that you may not want to know about in advance of seeing it). Washington plays an alcoholic airline pilot who’s drinking has caused him some embarrassment, and a divorce. But for the most part he remains functional, with the help of cocaine. Because he is functional in many parts of his life he continues to deny he has a drinking and drug problem. He says, “I drink because I choose to”, refusing a girlfriends efforts to convince him that he drinks because he “NEEDS” to.

Washington’s character finally does realize he has a problem when continuing to lie about his problem would have destroyed the reputation of someone else. It was then, as his character put it, “he’s free”.

Call 425-687-0100 if you finally realize what I did.

Call 425-687-0100 if you finally realize what I did.

I’m not a psychologist. But in my understanding of the word “denial” that’s not what most people with destructive lifestyles or habits are dealing with. Whether it’s obesity, or drug and alcohol addiction, or slothful laziness; people are not aware they have a problem. A lot of times it’s because they surround themselves with other people with the same problems and they compare themselves favorably to these other people. They convince themselves I’m not fat. Look at so-and-so. Or they say, this is just how I’m made. “I’m husky”. “I have big hips”. Please understand…no you are not. You’re fat. And you are fat because of what and how you eat and probably because you don’t exercise enough. But most probably it’s what you are doing in the kitchen or at the dining table that has led to your lack of fitness.

Sonja Comparison

My wife and I were in the same boat. When I finally tired of my size and feared the threat of dying young like my Dad, my Uncle, and my Grandfather I didn’t think I had much to lose. I was introduced to AdvoCare by a long time friend who told me I could have six-pack abs. At the time I was about 245 lbs. and said I’d just be happy to drop below 230. I still didn’t get it. I swear, I don’t know how my friend avoided laughing out loud at me. AdvoCare opened my eyes. I lost 30 lbs. And even more, though I reached a weight I’d not been in 25 years, I can comfortably lose 10 more pounds and possibly 20. My wife has dropped nearly 40 pounds thanks to AdvoCare and acknowledges the reason she always argued against my efforts to get her to lose weight was that she didn’t think she had so much to lose. From my perspective I hear that and think she must be nuts. But my wife is no more nuts than I am, or any of the millions of other Americans who are oblivious to a condition that will shorten there lives, and in some cases drastically affect the quality of what short lives they have remaining.

Nobody will change the mind or create awareness for someone who is over weight, or dealing with other negative habits, behaviors, or lifestyles by criticism. Criticize the fat person and they are more likely to think you’re a jerk than change anything they’re doing. Be it yourself, or someone else, be kind in realizing or explaining the problem. As stated earlier more than 1-in-3 are not only over-weight, they’re obese. So they, or YOU, have plenty of company. Plenty of enablers. Plenty of excuses. If it’s you please realize there is no reason you can’t be the size and shape you were after high school. Realize it’s possible. It’s lived every day by most, MOST Americans. You can do it too.

We can help. Call us to get started today. 425-687-0100.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Lead your industry with video. Call us.

Lead your industry with video. Call us.

February 8, 2013
Categories: Weight Loss . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on People Don’t Know They’re Fat.

Kids are Spoiled. Do they Know Sacrifice?

English: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, m...

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich

August 1982 my brother and I packed up our pick up truck and I left home for the first time to go to college at Washington State University. We arrived on campus 3 days before the dormitories opened. For two nights I slept on the golf course. It wasn’t so bad, at first. It’s pretty warm, even at night, in August, in Pullman. A dorm administrator took pity on me when I went to visit my soon-to-be home, and let me in to register one day before anyone else in the building. What little money I had was being saved for my books;  and the only thing I had to eat those two days were a couple of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches and carrots I’d packed with me when I left my Mom’s house. I have never been hungrier in my life then when they finally opened the dormitory’s cafeteria three days after I had arrived on campus.

I made the decision to arrive on campus three days early in order to find a job before all the other students arrived. It worked. I was hired to work in the dormitory cafeteria. It was a job that barely paid my living expenses during my time in school. I wonder how many kids today would make such a sacrifice today.

Years later after leaving college, attending and graduating from a broadcasting-vocational school I was hired for my first radio job in a little town called Raymond. It paid me only $600 per month and I was paid only once per month. During the one year I held this job I lived on my own. I had no phone because I couldn’t afford it.

Beef Top Ramen Contents

Obviously there was no internet back then, so I had virtually no contact with my old friends and family. I lived on Cheerios, Top Ramen, and Mac & Cheese.

Tesco now carrying Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!!...

Having meat of any kind was maybe a once a week treat. Months later the first time I returned home my Mom cried when she first saw me saying, “You’re so skinny!”. During this time I sold all of my ski equipment to pay for food and rent. I was very lonely. I went to sleep by myself listening to one of the only 3 radio stations that could be picked up in far-away Raymond. Dave Niehaus was my Summer-time pal as I drifted to sleep in my room, in the dark, listening to Mariner games from far away.

A box of Cheerios breakfast cereal.

I made the decision to work in this low paying job in this tiny far-away town because I wanted to work in radio and they gave this squeaky voiced 21-year old a chance. After they agreed to let me be the broadcast voice of the high school football and basketball games I know I couldn’t refuse. It was a tough year, but I was living a dream come true. I wonder how many young adults would make the same decision in order to reach for their dreams.

It was a few years later when I was working as News Director of an AM/FM radio station in Moses Lake, WA when I was asked to make another huge sacrifice. I was 24 years old and had moved up in income and stature in the radio business and was truly on my way to making a career. But my life had taken on the responsibility of two others. I was now married and my wife and I had a baby daughter. During one of her weekend trips home to Seattle my wife had been offered a good paying job at a Seattle TV station. It was for more money than she and I could make combined in Eastern Washington. Though my resume was still pretty sparse and I wasn’t confident in my ability to get a job in the big market of Seattle I quit my job and moved back to Western Washington. The three of us lived in my in-laws basement for about 4-5 months until I could find work. When I finally did get a job it wasn’t in Seattle. It was at a radio station in Mt. Vernon, WA. We got an apartment in Lynnwood and for nearly 2 years I commuted North, while my wife commuted South.

I made the decision to derail my private career path in order to help build a better life for my family and to cure my wife’s home-sickness for her family and the city in which she grew up. Though I loved Eastern Washington and really liked my job and my career trajectory it wasn’t a hard decision. I knew it would make my wife happy. I wonder if today’s young people know to make similar sacrifices on behalf of the spouse to whom they promised a life together.

One of the most selfish things I ever did was start my own company. I left a job in which I had struggled to build an income that had grown to 6-figures. It had taken 13 years. Upon leaving the job I was faced with zero income, and no immediate clients. My family, which was now a family of five, had to learn to do without a lot of things to which we’d become accustomed. It took a couple of years of sacrifice before my company brought my income back toward previous levels.

I made the decision to start my own business because I knew I didn’t want to work for someone else the rest of my life and knew that I wouldn’t be able to leave anything behind for my kids when my time came to an end. I also wanted to give my wife the opportunity to get back to doing what she loved, radio voice work. She’d moved away from her talent in favor of jobs that paid well and provided a security the radio industry never has. She is now our primary voice talent for Total Broadcasting Service. official-logo-jpeg-document-size.jpg

My life has never been easy. My parents were lower-middle-income at best, poor at worst, and never provided me with anything outside of the bare necessities. After graduating high school they determined that I was a man and they never provided me anything else, ever. I know others have had it a lot tougher than what I have. Nevertheless, I’m proud of building a life that has allowed me to raise my kids and be happy; to enjoy some niceties.

They say 26 is the new 21. The same as 21 used to be the new 19. Twenty-six is now the age in which kids are becoming adults. Twenty-seven is the age Obamacare no longer allows parents to keep their “kids” on their health insurance plan. And 27 is now the average age in which guys and gals get married for the first time.

I think its sad. Kids have there colleges paid for by either their parents or by our overly generous (and broke) Federal Government. If they get work they expect a middle income lifestyle right away. Too many don’t seem to have any respect for authority. They believe every night is Saturday night. And I wonder if todays kids even know what sacrifice really means.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

February 6, 2013
Categories: Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Kids are Spoiled. Do they Know Sacrifice?

Immigration Reform Sounds Great, But Get It Right

English: Benjamin Franklin National Memorial i...

Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

Immigration Reform is finally front and center in our national debate, no thanks to a feckless President unwilling to show his hand in this controversial debate. A group of republican and democratic Senators have come forward with a framework for a bill they hope to write, then pass on to the GOP controlled House by Spring. It’s a noble effort that will only become law if priorities are straight. And so far I’ve not seen evidence that their priorities are straight. So far, the only priority I’ve seen bantered about is the news medias claim the Republicans might come on board due to their desire for Hispanic votes. How’s that sit with you for integrity?

Estimates place the number of illegal aliens in this country at 11 million persons. 40% of these immigrants came to the country legally and over-stayed their visas. 80% of these illegals came from Mexico or some Latin nation. All of them place heavy burdens on our countries resources; jobs, welfare, schools, hospitals, justice system, etc. It’s a blight on the country and a serious threat to both economic recovery and deficit spending. And unless the problem is solved there is no hope of it getting better. It will only get worse. So some compromise, in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin, seems in order.

One of our countries greatest statesmen was the Philadelphia printer who almost singlehandedly brought the French into the Revolutionary War, and through an established aura pressed authors of our Federal Constitution to accord. The 81-year old Franklin urged his fellow delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention to be willing to sacrifice, not their principles, but their overwhelming urge to be right.

Franklin said that day that through his long life, he had often been forced

“by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions . . . which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.”

Details of the proposed immigration reform plan can be read in detail here, in the ABC News story: Details of the Immigration Plan.

What has always been the sticking point is what to do with the 11-million illegals already in this country. Hard liners insist they not get “amnesty”. But lets face it. Such a stance is both un-American and cruel. Americans grant amnesty all the time. It was written into the Constitution that Franklin worked so hard on. But Liberal Democrats have never wanted to face the reality of Republican priorities first: secure the border and remove the magnets. Granting illegals a path to citizenship is absolutely fine with me. But first things first. The border must be secured and allowing illegals to suck-up every welfare and entitlement program this country offers will not diminish the uncontrolled flow of illegal immigrants into this country. It will, in fact, accelerate it.

I’ve never understood why Democrats failed to understand that the jobs and benefits taken by illegals more drastically affect people who statistically tend to be Democratic voters. When you employ a Spanish-speaking person to cook your hamburgers, lay your carpet or install your new roof you aren’t taking a job from some college educated intellectual. You are taking a job from the least educated in our society, and far too often that person is black. When you provide a Section 8, or welfare home, to an illegal Mexican family you aren’t shutting out that home from a Stanford University grad and their kids. The American family who needs the warmth and security of that shelter is poor and ill-educated.

The current compromise proposal calls for more border agents and security monitoring using unmanned drones before any amnesty is granted. This sounds like a step in the right direction. It also proposes stream-lining the legal immigration process to make it easier to come into this country than the current nightmarish system. It also allows for more immigrants to legally come during times of economic growth and slow immigration during times of no or slow growth. Again, good ideas.

American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, has already come out against a registration plan allowing background checks for employers to see if potential new hires are legal residents in this country. They have an excellent point. A national ID card program, which this plan would certainly require, is an infringement on the implied Constititional right to privacy. But the problem can be easily solved by making the Federal Background check program and registration voluntary. If employers choose not to use it and are found to have hired illegals penalize them with such severe consequences that they would be unwise to not use it.

At the turn of the 20th Century and just before, this country was being overwhelmed by new immigrants. But at that time you were not allowed into this country without a sponsor and without a desirable skill. That too would seem to be a standard in our own national interests.

I don’t expect this bill to go anywhere. Because while I hope and expect Republicans to compromise on the “path to citizenship” issue; I expect Democrats to use the poor Hispanics/Latinos in this country as they continue to use the blacks in this country as political footballs with which to perpetually bash the GOP and subsequently remain in power. It’s not solutions they want. They’ll paint the Republicans reasonable positions regarding border security first as too tough and inhumane. And in doing so the complicit media will again drive more Latinos into the hands of their overseers, the Democratic party.

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January 28, 2013
Categories: National Politics, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Immigration Reform Sounds Great, But Get It Right

Banish these in 2013! Words and Phrases that Don’t Apply

The following words and phrases should no longer be uttered, printed or even thought about. If they ever applied they no longer do. Being that we’re starting a new year now is as good a time as any to rid ourselves of the bullshit. These words and phrases constitute just that.

“The rich need to pay their fair-share”                                                                                              I wanted to vomit every time I heard President Obama or Senator Patty Murray or any other divisive Democrat utter such words. Never in all the time these BS words were being uttered did I ever hear them answer the follow-up question which naturally is, “If the highest 53% of income earner pay 100% of all federal income tax how are they NOT paying their fair share?”. English: President George W. Bush and Presiden...

Well Congress finally passed into law a “permanent” change in Federal income tax rates raising to 39% the rate paid by those earning over $400,000 per year. So the President essentially got what he wanted. He stuck it to the rich. Now, lets not hear any more of the claims they aren’t paying their fair-share. They’re paying more than Republicans wanted them to, and exactly what Democrats say they should.

“Obama is a Muslim and a Communist.”                                                                                           I didn’t vote for Barack Obama in either 2008 or 2012 and I think there is abundant evidence that he’s a lousy President and will continue to be so in the coming four years.

But claims by his haters that he’s 1. Muslim or 2. Communist are ridiculous and do absolutely nothing to better this country or this government. Worst of all they poorly taint all Conservatives and Republicans as hateful and racist further driving away moderate votes. There is a reason Republicans have lost 5 of the past 6 Presidential election popular votes. What I would ask those who make such claims is, where is your evidence? And, what difference would it make if you were correct? The fact is Obama is Christian because he says so. His father was Muslim. But so what? Jesus was a Jew. But all his followers aren’t. And Obama is not a Marxist/Communist. He may be a Socialist, which is different. But at best he’s the most Liberal President since Roosevelt.

“Obama was born in Kenya”                                                                                                         Again, like above, those who continue to make these silly claims are idiots and hurting the Conservative cause by looking like idiots and through association making us look so. Like above I would ask, “Even if you’re right, what difference would it make?” Obama is President, twice elected. And he’ll be our President for the next four years. Besides even if you’re right it makes no difference. Obama’s mother was an American citizen. So Obama could have been born on Mars and he’d still be an American citizen.

“The Mariners are Rebuilding”                                                                                                           I never want to hear this phrase again because…1. No they’re not. And….2. You have to have been “Built” in order to be “RE-built”. The Mariners haven’t been built, a contender, for more than 10 years. That’s half a generation. They’ve been to the playoffs only four times in their history and join the Washington Nationals as the only remaining teams in Major League Baseball to have never been to the World Series.

Seattle Mariners

Watching them whiff on Josh Hamilton one year, Prince Fielder the next, and every big name free agent who comes on the market every winter is no longer hard to stomach. It’s not hard to stomach, because it’s too easy to ignore. The Mariner’s President is Chuck Armstrong. He’s been at the helm continuously since 1992 and for 2 more years before than in 1987-89. And Howard Lincoln has been the team’s Chief Executive Officer since  Hiroshi Yamauchi bought the team in 1992.

“The Seahawks are Rebuilding”

QB Russell Wilson in the Pocket

QB Russell Wilson in the Pocket

The Seahawks are no longer rebuilding. They are rebuilt. They have a good coach. A franchise quarterback and young-enough Pro Bowl running back, and basically one of the youngest rosters in the NFL. And yet, they led the league in fewest points allowed, they’re 11-5 and they are unquestionably this year’s winner of the title “The team no-one wants to face in the playoffs” award. No more excuses. We expect this team to win and we will be disappointed if they lose. They can beat anyone at home or on the road.You may say…”Next year…not this year”. But that’s the typical Seattle way. And I’m rejecting that way. Sure winning three road playoff games might be hard. But can they beat Washington? Yes. Can they beat San Francisco? They just did 42-13. Their third playoff game (if they get that far) would be in either Green Bay or Atlanta. Both would be tough. But we already beat the Packers.

“This economy is in recession”                                                                                                        No it’s not and hasn’t been for a couple of years. Will it be in the near future? I think that’s definitely possible. But they are not in recession now. Continuing to act like we are in recession I believe is part of what keeps us in recession. Why go back to work when Congress just extended the two-year unemployment comp plan for another year. It’s embarrassing. Were unemployment benefits cut off in 3-6 months as they normally are I assure you our unemployment rate would be lower, more people would be working, tax revenues would be higher and we could talk about taxes and the deficit in serious ways instead of as a necessary evil while “the economy recovers”.

Kim Kardashian

OK…ya…she’s beautiful. But beautiful women are a dime a dozen. She has never done anything in her life to justify her news exposure and it makes me ill. And while we’re banishing her lets banish all the faux celebrities out there who have no talent and no earthly reason in the world for being on the checkout stand magazine cover.

“Fiscal Cliff”

The news media was at its most annoying best (worst) with the continuing reference to the tax hikes and budget cuts Congress imposed on itself two years ago as the conclusion to the “sequester” negotiations. We were not ever going to go off our fiscal cliff. It was a faux news story…like Paris Hilton.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

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January 2, 2013
Categories: Business, National Politics, Sports, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Banish these in 2013! Words and Phrases that Don’t Apply

Conservatives look in the Mirror

English: Seal of the President of the United S...

 

Americans have re-elected a President presiding over 7.9% unemployment and GDP growth below 2%. These are by far the worst economic numbers overcome by a President winning re-election since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936.

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933. Lietuvių: Fra...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933.

 

It’s not too difficult to figure how this happened.

 

There are currently 47-million Americans on food stamps. Just how many of them voted for Mitt Romney? Seriously…can you really expect a dog to bite the hand that feeds it? President Obama received a total of 58-million votes. And if 95% of food stamp recipients voted for him then all he would have needed was 12-million non-food stamp recipients to vote his way to overcome Romney’s total. Obama has created this dependency. It’s not likely they’ll vote against the person who keeps giving them their candy.

 

In spite of the Federal Government-gives-candy-advantage Obama held; Romney still could have won this election had Conservatives not self-destructed. The most obvious failing comes from the selfish, masturbatory Libertarian voters who sent nearly 1.2-million votes to Gary Johnson.

 

Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson 

 

Add in the 0.1-1.4% (depending on the state) of “voters” who wasted their vote on the Constitution Party candidate and you have just enough Conservative voters to match Obama in the popular vote. There’s no doubt in my mind that had this 1-2% of voters not bashed Romney as equally and vociferously as they did Obama over the course of the past year we’d be celebrating a Romney victory this morning. Florida is still too close to call and Virginia, Ohio and Colorado went to Obama by less than 2%. That’s the whole ball game.

 

What troubles me now and did so throughout the campaign is the foolish, bigoted, and hateful comments about Obama and his supporters that continuously poured from Conservative corners. The “birther” issue was and remains idiotic. And it was clearly racist. What I never understood was the point of it. Obama could have been born on Mars. Because his Mom was an American citizen so was he. The end result was the extreme side of Conservative politics continually gave Liberals all the ammunition they needed to once again paint those with our point of view as angry, mean, and bigoted.

 

Since the 1930s more Americans have identified themselves as Democrats than Republicans. And over the past 20 years more and more Americans are identifying themselves as independent. Overall, it’s roughly 1/3 Democrats, Republicans and independents. Polls show Romney won independents. But he didn’t win Democrats, not enough of them anyway. If scary, angry, bigoted Conservatives (what few of them there are) scare-off even a small percentage of independents and all Democrats,  Republicans don’t have a chance…not in 2012, and certainly not going forward as our country increasingly becomes less white and more brown.

 

Karl Rove correctly points out that there is no reason Republicans shouldn’t enjoy more support from this countries Hispanics. Generally speaking they are more religious and focused on family values than the overall populous. With such values they should vote for the GOP. But they don’t. Yesterday and in 2008 they vote close to 70% for Democrats. Why is that? Only one reason: too many Republicans allow  hateful xenophobic attitudes to exist within our own political discourse without justly shouting them down. And I for one am sick of it.

 

It makes me mad as hell to have Liberals who don’t know me constantly assume I’m a bigot. It happens all the time. And it diminishes me in the eyes of my kids, my black kids. It’s important that my values are passed on to my kids so that they may pass them on to their kids, etc etc. But like all young people my kids are influenced not only by me but by what they see and hear in society. And if I’m less trusted and less understood simply because I’m associated with people who espouse bigotry I’m naturally going to be hurt in my efforts to stand as a good example to my children. I worry about this constantly.

 

Republicans have to bring people to the party and not repel them. With a country that is increasingly made up of people of color we’re going to have to see to it that we not only attract them but repel and reject the angry bigots. They don’t make-up a large percentage of Conservatives or Republicans. But they don’t need to in order to chase away any chance the party has of winning in the future.

 

God Bless America.

 

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

 

November 7, 2012
Categories: National Politics . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 24 Comments

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