2000 Calories?? I'll Starve!

I am amazed that at the end of the day, a 2000-calorie lifestyle is satisfying, sufficient and perfectly tasty. This coming from a man who could easily consume 3500+ calories in a day, back in the day.

There were many days—sometimes consecutive—when I would eat McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast (2 sausage biscuits, no egg, hash brown, and a sugar-Coke), Burger King drive-thru for lunch (bacon double cheeseburger, large fries, sugar-Coke) and Taco Bell—drive thru, of course—for dinner (6-pack of crunchy tacos, a Mexi-melt and a sugar-Pepsi). Seriously. And I won't mention the DQ drive-thru!

But those days are history for me—52 pounds ago—and I haven’t tasted fast food in months. The closest I come to FF is Chipotle’s barbacoa bowl with extra lettuce, half-the-rice, pinto beans and cheese. And extra hot salsa. We’re talking fancy taco salad with 525 calories. It’s not petite, but it’s better than a 980-calorie cheeseburger, without fries! And it has healthy beans, lettuce, beef and a touch of cayenne-heat to stoke the metabolism up.

A more typical day consists of a breakfast stir-fry of sliced sausage link (Andouille is my favorite), low-cholesterol egg beaters (1/2 cup = 2 eggs), a handful of chopped up arugula lettuce, a sprinkle of cheese and salsa or pico de gallo. And I try to have this AFTER my morning run on the treadmill—research shows that you jump right into fat-burning mode when you exercise on an empty stomach.

A banana with low-fat yogurt makes for a great mid-morning snack. For lunch I'll have a LARGE salad with chopped-up meat—chicken Caesar salad is good with low-fat dressing and a squeeze of lemon juice. I’ve also had a salad with Indian-spiced chicken. And almonds!

One vital ingredient for salads for this former-burger-muncher: Quinoa. Pronounced KEEN-wah, this tiny grain-like seed boils up like rice with lots of flavor—and lots of protein and fiber, unlike rice. It has a nutty, earthy flavor and adds a whole new level of flavor to the salad. And lots of protein and fiber!

Dinner at home can be BIG. Curried chicken on quinoa and turmeric-fennel cabbage. Steak, salad and steamed veggies with a slice of homemade (bread machine) whole wheat bread. On the nights that I work, I usually take a meat-infused salad, yogurt and lots of fruit to lure me away from the snack machine int he break room.

Looking at my food diary, the last few days have ranged from 1918 to 2104 calories. I’m sure that’s a conservative number—I tend to look askance when I measure (or don’t measure) my portions. I usually mentally add 10% to my calorie count. But I know for certain I am well under 3500 calories. And most if not all of my menu is healthy and  balanced (I tried the low-carb route once upon a time and it worked – until I grew sick of it and went back to eating like a human! I'm reserving that plan for when I hit my "last 10-pound plateau").

If anything, I could probably cut down on fruits and up the veggies and fiber intake. But I’m not in a race to lose this weight. I have given myself until October 1 to reach goal weight AND change my eating habits. I’m well on my way to both goals with 35-ish pounds left to go and a newfound love of healthy eating. And quinoa. And occasional “bad days”. But no Fast Food!

I Hate(d) Running!

All my life if I could avoid running, I would. I loathed it. I despised it. If I was being chased by a grizzly I believe after 10 yards I would stop and try to reason with her.

But today I ran the Get Lucky 7K. Not only did I run it, I ran the first 3K non-stop, I slowed to a walk for a total of maybe 2 minutes, and I still finished it in 47 minutes 34 seconds. Me - the fat and 48 year-old guy. Here's the proof:

Notice the cool medallion hanging around my neck? Notice the sweat on my shirt? (and it was under 40 degrees outside!) Notice the beer nearly gone? Notice the fairly slim body - Holy Cow!!! - I just noticed the fairly slim body!! I look gooooood!

Anyway, the whole point of this post is this: as much as I hated running most my life, after 2.5 months of training for this, I have discovered that my muscles actually want to run. Hard. Fast! Unfortunately, my lungs are still trying to keep up - but I'll give them the practice they need. Eventually they will be able to keep up.

I know this because I know Who is in charge. And since He can make my muscles want to run, He can make my lungs want to supply the oxygen needed to run that hard. I'll just keep practicing while I wait on Him to provide the lung power to keep up.

This is me living. Not giving up. Getting healthy - I'm down 32 pounds since January 1! I am so enjoying the life God gave me to enjoy.

Even enjoying running.

Here's another picture of me - with my muse, Minda:

More Falconry

I realized today how badly I'm chomping at the bit to "put the glove back on". Maybe it's the cold, overcast days that are my favorites in winter. Maybe it's the perched Redtails every 1/4 mile on I-94 I saw today: at least 5 RTs in 10 minutes. Or maybe it's the 30 squirrels I see everyday just waiting to play with a trained hawk!

My favorite bird, a breeder-produced Harris’ Hawk named "Nicole", earned early accolades from the St. Louis falconers during her inaugural year. Seeing her hard-hitting style (not typical of her species) and the result of that style on her captured game, she was re-monikered "The Hammer". Despite her

gung-ho attitude toward game, she was a pleasant, albeit noisy bird to be around. Sweet natured comes to mind, if a bloodstained, rapacious predator can be called sweet!

This photo was taken after her first rabbit catch. (That bearded, longhaired and fairly skinny guy is none other than me again.)

I had quite a few adventures with Hammer. She once captured a former fiancée’s dog—twice in less than 2 minutes. The dog was fine but the relationship suffered. She nailed a feral cat whose bite to Hammer’s wing put her out of commission for 2 months. She was a great squirrel hawk; she ended her first season with her first squirrel—a nearly 3 pound fox squirrel. The following year saw her put 3 squirrels in the bag in 45 minutes on several occasions.

Hammer seemed to believe anything was fair game. She chased deer, coyote, groundhogs, quail, and woodcock. In Minnesota she mastered the art of car-hawking crows and chased and rolled her first ever white-tailed jackrabbit. The jack left her standing in the field shaking her head! But the Minnesota cold was too much for her. She now resides in a breeding project in Valdosta Georgia. I miss her.

There are several Minnesota falconers flying Harris' Hawks these days, so maybe they are more cold-tolerant than we once thought. I'll have to check into that for future reference.

In the meantime, I'll continue the dreaming, research and planning for a big, Minnesota-born female Redtail ready to tackle squirrels, rabbits and perhaps a nice rooster pheasant.

What if I...Put the Glove Back On?

The over-riding incentive to lose 80 pounds is for my health, which of course enables me to live to see my son grow up and have children that my wife and I can enjoy being grandparents of. I can also have a higher quality of life without pain in my legs, a need for a CPAP machine to sleep, a daily dose of Prilosec for heartburn, not to mention the energy to keep up with my energetic son!

But I also want very badly to return to my other passion in life, FALCONRY.

Hunting with a trained hawk is what I was meant to do. I am right with the world when I have a hawk on the fist, tense and ready for a fleeing rabbit. Or high in a tree, laddering higher and closer to a dodgy squirrel intent on surviving this unfortunate run-in with a winged predator intent on filling its crop with warm meat.

Besides complicated and time-consuming, falconry is also a strenuous activity. Walking through knee-high snow for hours on end looking for a rabbit for the hawk to chase is no walk in the park. After only a short time, that 2.5 pound bird on your left fist gets HEAVY!  Fighting the brush tangles in the woods while keeping a squirrel in constant motion—and therefore on the hawk’s radar—is also hard work.


Eighty pounds lighter and in vastly better shape, I have no doubt I will be able to handle the demand on my energy, strength and endurance. Fitting it into my schedule—which is why I sidelined the sport in the first place—is another story. But, I shall burn that bridge when I get to it. First things first: Burn 76 pounds.

A skinnier and younger (and hairier) Scott and my first redtailed hawk, Damian: