Here’s a picture of my mom and our youngest. In case you can’t tell, that’s her on the right

Nearly four years ago (March will be four years), my mom had knee replacement surgery. Something happened during surgery and nerves in her lower right leg were damaged. The result was chronic pain in her right foot. It started immediately after surgery. During recovery she only complained of pain in her foot, not her knee.

Her surgeon repeatedly stated the pain was a normal part of recovery and that it would eventually subside. Well, nearly four years later it still hasn’t. The pain is horrible. I can’t tell you how many places she’s visited or things she’s tried to alleviate it, but no stone has been left unturned.

She was eventually diagnosed with a condition called RSD . . . → Read More: My Mom]]> Get better soon. We all love you and are pulling for you.

Here’s a picture of my mom and our youngest. In case you can’t tell, that’s her on the right

A little history

Nearly four years ago (March will be four years), my mom had knee replacement surgery. Something happened during surgery and nerves in her lower right leg were damaged. The result was chronic pain in her right foot. It started immediately after surgery. During recovery she only complained of pain in her foot, not her knee.

Her surgeon repeatedly stated the pain was a normal part of recovery and that it would eventually subside. Well, nearly four years later it still hasn’t. The pain is horrible. I can’t tell you how many places she’s visited or things she’s tried to alleviate it, but no stone has been left unturned.

She was eventually diagnosed with a condition called RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy), also called CRPS (compartmental regional pain syndrome). The most common description of RSD/CPRS is a chronic, painful, and progressive neurological condition that affects the skin, muscles, joints, and bones. It is characterized by various degrees of burning pain, excessive sweating, swelling, and sensitivity to touch.

Yep, that pretty much describes what my mom’s been going through. The medical establishment, being what it is, thinks it’s all mental. As time progressed and the pain did not subside (and actually got worse), she was diagnosed as depressed and given pain medication. Depressed is not my mom, not before the surgery at least.

Over time, the pain continued to get worse. As this happened, her ability to perform activities of daily living basically disappered. She couldn’t drive anywhere. Hell, she could hardly walk. Wearing shoes was nearly out of the question. Sleeping? Not really. Not with the kind of pain she was experiencing.

Maybe the worst part of all was that as her pain levels increased, so did the strength of her pain medication. One year we all went for a visit and she was basically wiped out from the pain meds. She doesn’t even remember us being there, even though we stayed about a week. SAD! This tears her up because she’s at a point where she should be enjoying her grandkids. Being unable to recall a visit is a little short of enjoying…

There are other things too. When she goes to the store, she has to rent an electric cart. The vibration from riding in a car is nearly unbearable. She’s afraid to walk out of the house and check the mailbox because the sidewalk has an uphill grade! The lack of mobility has led to other problems. Her bones are weak. The lack of activity and mobility makes it harder for her to manage her diabetes. She’s lost so much strength that standing from a chair requires assistance.

She just turned 66, not 86!

Like I mentioned earlier, she’s at a point where she should be enjoying things. Not suffering.

She wanted something special

This year, she was determined to spend quality time with her grandkids, Jordan and Kendall (that’s Kendall in the picture above – she’s the youngest). They love their Momo (and their Popo, too) and always look forward to seeing them. This year, Momo and Popo came down for the holidays. They got here December 22. On the 23rd, my mom wanted to take them to see Tangled. Off they went. My dad dropped them off and was going to run some errands while they were in the theater.

Less than an hour after they left, Jordan called me. She said Momo had fallen and needed help. Jordan (all of 11 years old) sent Kendall (all of 8 years old) out to get an employee from the theater. Despite their ages, they did a great job. By the time I got there (which took about 20 minutes), emergency personnel was already there and had my mom prepped for the ambulance trip to the emergency room.

In the emergency room, I knew something wasn’t right. The way she described the pain in her hip gave me a sinking feeling. After x-rays, the pain seemed to increase exponentially. All the positioning, pulling, pushing and moving…NOT good. When the x-ray tech visited, he said the radiologist would be in contact soon. I asked if he could say anything and he said, "I have a stat read on them."

Umm…stat read is not good news!

As it turns out, she had broken the neck of her femur. This required emergency, hip replacement surgery. Great!

The surgery would be either later that day or first thing the next morning, depending on the schedule of on-call orthopedist. As it turns out, a great surgeon was on call, Dr. Vincet Phan. I cannot recommend him more highly. Other good news was that she’d only need a partial hip replacement. The pelvis wasn’t damaged and the only thing that needed to be fixed was her femur.

So on Christmas Eve day, she had partial hip replacement surgery. We spent most of that and the ensuing days with her in the hospital.

I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the special she had in mind, but the girls did their best to make her feel at home. They drew her lot’s of pictures and made the Momo sign on the right. That helped. And the staff at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital was the best!

On December 30, 2010, she was moved to a stay-in rehab facility. Therapy was slow-going at first (non-existent, actually). A little tip – try to never need medical care on a holiday. She’s progressing pretty well and using a walker to get around. It’s the January 24, 2011 and she’s still there. A follow-up visit with her surgeon is this Thursday (1/27/2011). We should get an idea as to how much longer she will be there and when her hip might be healed enough to make the 8-hour trip back home.

Progress has been good

To finish up, I’ll say this. My mom has made great progress. When she walks with her walker, it’s the best gait I’ve seen her use since her knee was replaced. For that, I’m happy. I’m not so happy about this. My mom is a Type 2 diabetic. The way blood sugar is managed in the hospital and rehab facility leaves A LOT to be desired. I’ll hit on that in the next post – it will want to make you pull your hair out!

If you’ve had any experience with hip replacement surgery (full or partial) or you want to vent about how blood sugars were contolled in someone you know while they were in the hospital, have at it in the comments.

My last post, 2-week hiatus turned into a 2-month hiatus. Yeesh. There are many reasons for this (but two main ones) and I’ll touch on them below.

This was the initial reason for downtime. I had ignored repeated warnings from my host about old and out-of-date software. This came to a head when we needed to upgrade the software for the Becoming Indestructible program. Left with no other choice, the upgrade was needed.

Because the server was completely upgraded, I had to reinstall wordpress. You will likely have to update your feed settings. On a related note, many comments languished in comment purgatory. I’m pretty confident most of them were backed up and recently posted. If you made a comment that wasn’t posted, please submit your comment again. It’s gone now, sorry.

The good news is that everything . . . → Read More: Time to Reset]]> Let’s get going again. First of all,

Happy New Year!

My last post, 2-week hiatus turned into a 2-month hiatus. Yeesh. There are many reasons for this (but two main ones) and I’ll touch on them below.

Server Upgrades

This was the initial reason for downtime. I had ignored repeated warnings from my host about old and out-of-date software. This came to a head when we needed to upgrade the software for the Becoming Indestructible program. Left with no other choice, the upgrade was needed.

Because the server was completely upgraded, I had to reinstall wordpress. You will likely have to update your feed settings. On a related note, many comments languished in comment purgatory. I’m pretty confident most of them were backed up and recently posted. If you made a comment that wasn’t posted, please submit your comment again. It’s gone now, sorry.

The good news is that everything took only about 2 weeks, as I had initially planned. The bad news is some things happened along the way that kept me away.

My Mom

This was the first event (and the main thing). This will end up as a couple of blog posts, because I have a lot to say.

But my parents came for the holidays. They were supposed to be here for 3-4 days and head back. The day after they arrived, my Mom wanted to take the kids to see Tangled. While at the movies, she fell in the bathroom and broke her hip.

This was two days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve day, she had hip replacement surgery. She was in the hospital until December 30, where she was moved to a stay-in rehab center. She’s still there and will likely be there another 2 weeks. After that, she’ll stay at the house until she’s fit to sit in a car for the 8-hr trip back home – probably another 2 weeks.

So I have a couple of posts on this. One on my Mom, the surgery and her treatment overall. The other will be on how blood sugar is regulated in diabetics while they are in the hospital or rehab facility. It makes absolutely no sense.

There may be others as it plays out, but that’s what I have in mind for now.

The Project

This is the second reason. Before Thanksgiving, we came to an agreement with a company to offer the Becoming Indestructible program to their employees. This took a lot of time and behind the scenes work. All of that is done and the contract should be signed by the end of January.

Sidebar: In case you didn’t know , the time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the absolute worst time to get anything productive done – especially if you’re working with other people. It seems like someone is ALWAYS on vacation. This probably extends through the first week of January, too.

We should start implementing within the first two weeks of January.

What’s coming up?

Besides the posts on my Mom, a post on Top-10 generic drugs is in the works. I also have another "You Suck…" article written. I’m debating on whether or not to post it.

There will also be posts detailing the trials and tribulations I come across implementing the program.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned. The first post on my Mom is just about finished – should have it posted by Friday or the first part of next week.

The control panel on my server is old – at least 2 versions behind. I’ve known about some of the things for some time, like the php upgrade requests on WordPress plugins. Just figured … it’s working so what’s the harm?

This is the harm.

Like it or not, my control panel is being upgraded. And because all of my services are so far out of date, everything has to be wiped out. Apparently all those warnings I ignored (ahem) don’t allow me the luxury of a smooth transition.

So, I’ve backed up everything on the server. The upgrades will start tonight. And the full migration will be complete within two weeks.

What does this mean?

In terms of viewing the homepage or blog, nothing – unless you happen to load the page at the moment the change is taking place.

In terms of posting . . . → Read More: 2-week hiatus]]> After ignoring untold warnings (apparently), I’m left with no choice now.

The control panel on my server is old – at least 2 versions behind. I’ve known about some of the things for some time, like the php upgrade requests on WordPress plugins. Just figured … it’s working so what’s the harm?

This is the harm.

Like it or not, my control panel is being upgraded. And because all of my services are so far out of date, everything has to be wiped out. Apparently all those warnings I ignored (ahem) don’t allow me the luxury of a smooth transition.

So, I’ve backed up everything on the server. The upgrades will start tonight. And the full migration will be complete within two weeks.

What does this mean?

In terms of viewing the homepage or blog, nothing – unless you happen to load the page at the moment the change is taking place.

In terms of posting and updating, a lot. During this time, there will be no blog posts, no newsletter and no updates to the website.

So there you have it.

Oh…and I’m working on another “You Suck as a” post. Waiting on feedback from a few folks before going with it. But I think you’ll like it. That depends, of course, on where you live.

That’s a hint

See you in two weeks.

Brian

Not all of the pages are up or finished yet, but “the feel” is there.

something clean and without clutter. Did I get what I wanted? To me, yes. I like the color schemes. It seems nice and crisp.

The hover color contrast on the menu pops out and flows well.

So in a word, I’m happy.

Yes, it took an extra day and many more hours than I thought. I learned more about CSS than I ever cared to .

Now I know why programmers dislike all the various browsers (especially IE). I wanted the site to look the same in Firefox, IE, Chrome and Safari. For the most part, it does. But there’s still a problem with IE. If you load the site in IE and any of the others, you can tell. . . . → Read More: Website re-design]]> The new design is up. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Not all of the pages are up or finished yet, but “the feel” is there.

I wanted…

something clean and without clutter. Did I get what I wanted? To me, yes. I like the color schemes. It seems nice and crisp.

The hover color contrast on the menu pops out and flows well.

So in a word, I’m happy.

Surprises?

Yes, it took an extra day and many more hours than I thought. I learned more about CSS than I ever cared to .

Now I know why programmers dislike all the various browsers (especially IE). I wanted the site to look the same in Firefox, IE, Chrome and Safari. For the most part, it does. But there’s still a problem with IE. If you load the site in IE and any of the others, you can tell. There is a slight top margin in IE, which is not there in the others. Ughhh! Frustrating.

If anyone has a tip for this, please let me know in the comments. 

What’s left to finish?

A couple of things, such as:

• Some of the menu items need drop-downs. This is next.
• The menu strip needs to be inserted into the Log-in page.
• The log-in button above the menu strip needs some work. Something makes it act strange when a hyper-link is added.

Other than that, just other links and various page updates.

What do you think of the new look?

This year I’m doing follow-up posts and we’re starting with this one, the Top 10 non-generic (Branded) prescription drugs of 2009. We’ll start with a simple display, taking a look at the changes from ’08 to ’09. As you may recall, the number one selling non-generic drug in 2008 was Lipitor, with 49.0 million prescriptions and nearly $6 billion in sales. Staggering. So, did we see any changes? Let’s take a look.

Note: I changed the layout of the table. There are now 5 columns, with the two new ones being Rank and Sales. The first column, #, just lists the position of the drug. The second column, Drug Name, . . . → Read More: Top 10 Prescription Drugs of 2009: Non-generic]]> Last year I posted two articles on the top 10 generic and non-generic drugs of 2008. Massive cash flow through the pharmaceutical industry and most of it because the “prescriptions” were for lifestyle related behaviors was a real eye-opener. It was also shameful.

This year I’m doing follow-up posts and we’re starting with this one, the Top 10 non-generic (Branded) prescription drugs of 2009. We’ll start with a simple display, taking a look at the changes from ’08 to ’09. As you may recall, the number one selling non-generic drug in 2008 was Lipitor, with 49.0 million prescriptions and nearly $6 billion in sales. Staggering. So, did we see any changes? Let’s take a look.

Note: I changed the layout of the table. There are now 5 columns, with the two new ones being Rank and Sales. The first column, #, just lists the position of the drug. The second column, Drug Name, is the name of the drug. The third column is Prescriptions and shows the number of prescriptions in millions. The fourth column is total Sales in billions. The fifth column is sales Rank.

Looking at the Crestor data, prescriptions for ’08 were 15.1 million – garnering 11th place in last years poll. This year, they climbed to 8th on the strength of an additional 3.3 million prescriptions. I’m sure some of those were converts from Lipitor. So we have at least a partial answer to the Lipitor question.

Other than that, summary data are disgusting. These 10 drugs amounted to 236.3 prescriptions and $28.6 billion in revenue.

We are SICK (in more ways than one)!

Let’s see, Lipitor, Nexium, Plavix, Lexapro, Synthroid, Crestor and Diovan can ALL be traced to metabolic syndrome. I wonder, collectively, what the incidence of NAFLD might be just in people taking these drugs. With all the fructose, refined wheat and industrial seed oils they consume, not good. Continuing on… That’s 7 of the top 10. For those of you in California, that’s 70%. Further, you wouldn’t have too much of a struggle in convincing me a good portion of those asthma meds are from obesity (or metabolic) related inflammation.

If we do some simple math, those 7 account for 172.0 million prescriptions and $21.0 billion per year. One drug. One single, stupid, little drug, Lipitor, accounts for 24% of the prescriptions and 26% of the sales. Talk about a sledgehammer. Pfizer really likes Lipitor. Based on those stats alone, it’s not a stretch for me to say, “I bet you know someone taking Lipitor.” Maybe several someones.

Ok, soapbox rant…This is disgusting! It was previously and it is now. Most of you probably agree. The synergy between the USDA, FDA and Big Pharma is shameful. The USDA, between the pyramid and subsidies is doubly at fault. They tell us what to eat. We get fat and sick. The FDA approves drugs that only fix symptoms and Big Pharma is only too happy to oblige. Don’t even get me started on the ADA and sponsorship from Nestle’s and Coca-Cola, RD’s and “managing” blood sugar with Coke, ice cream and whole-grains or those devoid frozen packaged foods from any number of weight loss programs. They’re part of the problem! Okay, rant over (Whew, that could have gone on and on).

This synergistic trio is the main reason we’re sick and getting sicker. Keep that in the back of your mind when considering this…Heart disease is the number one killer in America. Cancer is second. Further, you’d have a hard time believing that breast cancer doesn’t even have the highest incidence, what with all the pink ribbons! Prostate cancer has a higher incidence compared to breast cancer (168.1 vs. 125.7 per 100,000 ). Did you know that?

The point is most of this is just mumbo-jumbo feel good stuff. If they had any idea as to how to reduce cancer risk (or heart disease risk, for that matter), someone would pull their head out of their backside and realize the connections. It was only 80 years ago that Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize!

Based on that prostate information, I guess it really does suck to be a man!

Smoke and Mirrors

Back to Nexium… Comparing the ’08 to ’09 data, we see the number of prescriptions decreased by 400,000 (26.9 vs. 26.5). But, interestingly enough, total sales increased by $200 million ($5.0 vs. $4.8). Wow, again! It appears they accomplished this wondrous feat by increasing the cost of prescriptions by $10 per prescription ($178.44 vs. $188.68). Question: Does anyone know if drug manufacturers can increase the costs of drugs at their own whim? I’ve contacted both the data source (Drug Topics) and AstraZeneca (manufacturer) for clarification. As of right now, now word yet.

Okay, an exercise in the socialism of prescription drugs (health benefits in general). Let’s say your neighbor takes Nexium (not you, because you don’t take Nexium or Lipitor, right). Further suppose that your neighbor’s prescription drug plan calls for a $35 co-pay. Based on the ’09 data, the co-pay leaves a difference of $153.68. When you extend this out to 12 months (because you don’t just take these for a month), the out-of-pocket (co-pay) expense is $420, while the difference is $1,844.15. Who do you suppose makes up this difference? If you said the insurance company, you’re correct. But think about it, for just a minute. Where do you suppose the insurance company is getting the money to pay the bill?

They get it from your employer. And if you’re a big employer, like Microsoft or Exxon, you’ve got thousands taking these drugs. The result is 10′s of millions (maybe 100′s of millions) in health benefits going out of your pocket annually.

So, how is this socialism? I don’t like to answer a question with a question, but I will in this case. Why should my monthly premiums be the same as yours? I’m not taking prescription drugs. Can’t even tell you the last time I went to the doctor. Part of my contribution is to cover your expenses. What would you do, given this situation but had to pay the full prescription price?

I’m willing to bet you’d try and figure out some way to NOT have to take Nexium.

And if you didn’t know any better, you’d follow the food guide pyramid.

See, they got you!

Wonderful agencies we have, the USDA and FDA.

There you have it…

A sobering look at the Top 10 most prescribed non-generic drugs in 2009. Do your best to stay off the list! You can only do that by following a diet that is diametrically opposed to the food guide pyramid. And don’t give your neighbor such a hard time about Nexium. Just advise a U-turn from the pyramid.

Thoughts?

References

Drug Topics. Top Branded drugs of 2009 by total prescriptions.(pdf)
Drug Topics. Top Branded drugs of 2009 by retail dollars. (pdf)

Editor’s note: This post contains what some might consider offensive language or a serious assault on manhood (yours or others). If you find any of the aforementioned potentially offensive, do not read this post. Remaining in denial or being uninformed is better than being exposed (and if it keeps you from getting in trouble with the wife, all the better). Instead, go here, here or here. If those don’t work for you, try this for comfort. It’s likely part of your current problem.

If you’re a man and have bigger boobs than your wife or wear pants with a waist size bigger than the length, you suck. No exceptions. 

It’s the only conclusion that can be drawn – the introduction of the “sucking man” has led to a decrease in stature, an increase in estrogen and a softness you cannot deny. Prehistoric men were not soft or fat . . . → Read More: You SUCK as a Man]]> And it’s embarrassing.

Editor’s note: This post contains what some might consider offensive language or a serious assault on manhood (yours or others). If you find any of the aforementioned potentially offensive, do not read this post. Remaining in denial or being uninformed is better than being exposed (and if it keeps you from getting in trouble with the wife, all the better). Instead, go here, here or here. If those don’t work for you, try this for comfort. It’s likely part of your current problem.

If you’re a man and have bigger boobs than your wife or wear pants with a waist size bigger than the length, you suck. No exceptions. 

It’s the only conclusion that can be drawn – the introduction of the “sucking man” has led to a decrease in stature, an increase in estrogen and a softness you cannot deny. Prehistoric men were not soft or fat (neither was your grandpa). No, their boobs weren’t bigger than their wife’s (like yours).  No, they didn’t wear 44×32 inch pants (seriously?). No, they weren’t vegetarians. No, and most assuredly, they didn’t jump on an elliptical four or five days a week.

And without question, while most of your body is big – the man-boobs mean your “manhood” is shrinking – it also means your brain is small and getting smaller. 

Sorry, but…

You suck for many reasons, stature, dietary, lifestyle. Regardless, in nature’s view, you’re expendable. That soft, cushy body, those man-boobs and low testosterone mean you can’t and shouldn’t reproduce. It means you’re turning into a woman. When this happens in nature, you no longer matter. You’re here to reproduce and be a man. The good news is you don’t have to wait in line at the vasectomy clinic.

Why you suck.

Tendon insertions reveal prehistoric man (and probably your grandpa) as having serious muscle. They were lean, mean fighting machines – able to kill and eat. And avoid danger. In today’s times, you don’t have to kill or avoid danger. All you HAVE to do is eat. The elliptical part is voluntary, not to mention a waste of time. And nothing in your life counts as danger, unless you’re afraid of your wife because she’s more of a man than you, which just makes my point stronger.  

Back to that tendon insertion thing. The bones of men “who do not suck” are thicker and stronger at KEY skeletal muscle insertions, like in the thighs and hamstrings, chest and back, which means they had serious muscle mass. Where are your bones thicker? In the hips and low back, which means you’ve got serious baggage yanking on them all day. It also means…

You suck because your life (and everything else about you) is soft. You get up early; tired because your sleep habits are horrible. Stumble through a shower, brushing your teeth and the bagel (if you eat breakfast) and coffee. Don’t forget statins, metformin and Lisinopril. You fight traffic or take public transport to your job where you sit behind a desk for hours, pretending to work. Lunch is a  sandwich and a bag of chips. Don’t forget the diet coke and cookie for dessert. 

However you make your way home, you either stop off at the gym to abuse an elliptical, run your kids all over the place or go home for a “lite” dinner, chicken and pasta, maybe a glass of wine, and ice cream for dessert. Then you make your way to the chair, where you doze and nod until 10:30 or 11 before going to bed for more crappy sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

Is it any wonder you suck?

A bunch of You cants…

You can’t stop sucking when anything more vigorous than abusing an elliptical causes serious injury. Like a sprint or squat jump. The likelihood either of these rips a hamstring or pops a tendon is high. Too high.

You can’t stop sucking when the only way you could do 10 pushups is by finishing the last 8 in the modified position, like a girl – remember, you’re turning into a woman. Should I elaborate?

You can’t stop sucking when you eat low-fat, no protein, and whole grains (any grains, really), like pasta, wheat bread and Cheerios. Or snack wells. Or M&M’s. Those food groups jack with your manliness, bind up testosterone, increase body fat and reduce muscle tissue (not to mention a bunch of other things). The elliptical doesn’t help here, either. Can you say Cortisol? 

You can’t be a man and eat like a gorilla – either quality (vegetarian) or quantity. Relatively speaking, herbivores have small brains and large digestive tracks. Carnivores have large brains and smaller digestive tracks. Why? It can get technical, what with the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis and all, but suffice to say, you and a gorilla have more in common than you care to admit (*ahem*). Your brain is shrinking and your gut is expanding – it needs more room to digest all the crap you’re shoving down there.

You can’t stop sucking by going to a restaurant and ordering from the “lite” menu. That’s code for low-fat, which means two ounces of chicken breast and three pounds of pasta. No thank you.

You can’t stop sucking when victory in your suburban life is beating some guy off the line at a 4-way stop. This is like the pushup thing, no explanation needed.  

You can’t stop sucking when you’re a douchebag. There is no way to justify your doucheyness. And no matter what you change in the “How to” list below, if the douchebag remains, you still suck.

You can’t stop sucking when you drink “lite beer” because it has fewer calories. Beer is made with wheat. And wheat sucks.

You can’t stop sucking when you’re 5’ 5” and have little man’s disease. This just sucks. Really. You’re more like a gnat than anything else. NEXT!

You can’t …

There isn’t enough space on the interwebs to hold all the reasons. As a man, you suck and it’s embarrassing.

How to stop sucking in 4 easy steps.

Can you ever stop sucking? Maybe. For your sake, I hope it’s not a lost cause.

Here is my very own “How to stop sucking” list. Even if you don’t completely stop sucking, you’ll embarrass me and others who don’t suck a little less, which is bigger than winning a race at the 4-way stop sign.

1. Things you can’t change.
You can’t change your height. Being shorter than average doesn’t mean you’ll completely suck forever. Just partially, unless you can’t shake that “little man’s disease” syndrome. You can’t change your age either, but age has little to do with you sucking. Seriously. Just consider it a confounding variable. See Exhibit A, your grandpa. Who at 80 could wipe the floor with you.

2. Crank up the intensity
Ditch the elliptical. It just sucks. Besides, no self-respecting male that doesn’t suck would be caught dead on one. One or two days per week, crank up the intensity. Do something hard and intense. Get out of your comfort zone. Run some sprints. Do some jump squats or burpees. Go to the park, put out markers and do agility drills. Do real pushups. Go until you can’t go anymore and then do a few more next time.

Go for a nice, leisure, SLOW walk 2 or 3 days per week (more if you’d like). This is more about keeping the sensitivity of your metabolic hormones than caloric expenditure. Remember, back in the day, a walk, at the very least, was a requirement before any food or drink could be consumed. Note: stumbling to the shower or kitchen does not count.

3. Ditch the fake foods
Eat some meat – real meat, like steak, pork, chicken or seafood. Grass-fed, pasture-raised is always preferable. But starting with these at the grocery store is better than what you’ve been doing. And please, ditch the pasta, bagels, chips, breads, most fruits and 99.9% of foods that come in plastic bags or cardboard boxes. They’re inflammatory, they ruin your digestive system and they’re full of hormone disrupters.

They are not good for you, I don’t care what your wife, the food guide pyramid, the guy from CSPI, Dr. Oz, Kelly Brownell, some know it all down the street, “weight loss” programs sending food to your home or counting points say. Even when you don’t suck, they aren’t good for you.  

Take all that fake food and throw it away. Don’t eat it. Instead, put the meat on your plate and replace the stuff you’ve thrown out with vegetables – preferably the above ground variety.

And quit drinking beer. Drink some wine or liquor, like scotch on the rocks.

No more gorilla like tendencies for you.

4. Get some discipline
I’m talking about discipline in your diet and exercise program, and a couple of other areas, which have contributed to your current condition. 

Follow the three steps above for food and exercise.

The other part, sleep. Go to bed earlier. Turn off the lights, TV, computer and cell phone. It can wait until tomorrow. Sports Center is not that important. 

Make sure your room is completely dark and a little cool. Shoot for eight hours. Soon, you won’t be stumbling to the shower or kitchen.

What’s next?

So there you have it. My simple, 4-step process to being a less sucky man. How will you know when you’ve made it? A couple of things to look for…are your man-boobs disappearing? Is the waist of your pants getting smaller than the length of your legs? Can you do more than 10 regular push-ups? Have you stopped abusing the elliptical? Do you have less in common with a gorilla than when you started? You know the drill.

Report back here in 30 days. We all want to see your results.

Sorry if it hurt. Someone needed to say it.

References

Cohen PG. Obesity in men: the hypogonadal-estrogen receptor relationship and its effect on glucose homeostasis.
Cordain L. Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double Edged Sword. 
Cordain L., et al. Fatty Acid Composition and Energy Density of Foods Available to African Hominids.
Diaz-Arjonilla M., et al. Obesity, low testosterone levels and erectile dysfunction.
Live Science (accessed 10/04/2010). Obesity Linked to low testosterone in men.
Lunenfeld B., Testosterone deficiency and the metabolic syndrome.
Yassin AA, et al. Metabolic syndrome, testosterone deficiency and erectile dysfunction never come alone.

Those are the opening lyrics to a song that helped me through my workout today (actually yesterday by now). If you know the artist and title of the song, put it in your comment. First one correct wins a prize. Should be easy, what with the interwebz and all.

I thought it was appropriate to start the post this way for several reasons. First, it’s been a while since my last post – March 17, to be exact. Time flies when you’re having fun! Second, I’ve been working on a project that literally took every free ounce of time I had. Finally, and most importantly, some crap is behind me that just had to be dealt with.

What is the . . . → Read More: I’m back!]]>

I’m back (back), the fog has lifted. The earth has shifted and raised the gifted. You knew I’d be back so pack your bone and hit the road, Jack, cause daddy’s home.

Those are the opening lyrics to a song that helped me through my workout today (actually yesterday by now). If you know the artist and title of the song, put it in your comment. First one correct wins a prize. Should be easy, what with the interwebz and all.

I thought it was appropriate to start the post this way for several reasons. First, it’s been a while since my last post – March 17, to be exact. Time flies when you’re having fun! Second, I’ve been working on a project that literally took every free ounce of time I had. Finally, and most importantly, some crap is behind me that just had to be dealt with.

What is the crap that I had to deal with? All I will say is that it’s not for the internets. If you see me somewhere and want to know, a scotch on the rocks will likely do the trick. Maybe two. I’m not too picky, but I’m partial to this.

So why this song? Other than it popping up on the iPod and being a good workout song, I don’t know. But the lyrics sounded appropriate, since things are getting back to normal. And just like the song says, it does feel like a fog has lifted. There was more stress going on than I thought.

On to the project
Over the last six months, I’ve reworked my main offering, the Metabolic Performance Program. No, I haven’t changed the foundation of the program, just the deliverability. Previously, I’ve only offered this program in-person, either individually or through small groups. I’m still doing this – especially through my Church, where I donate 2-3 hours of time per week helping the sick (like individuals with stage IV cancer). The main change, however, is that I’m offering the program over the internet.

And that’s part of what I was doing over the previous six months. I was surprised at the amount of work it took. Without overstating the obvious, offering a program online is completely different. Writing guides, more detailed instructions, figuring out ways to deliver the material, anticipating any and every question, etc… I never thought it would be such an undertaking.

The good news is, I’m done. Yeah! To culminate changes to the program and a new start, I’ve changed the name. Metabolic Performance is no more, may the name RIP. The new name is Becoming Indestructible. I’ve also secured the domain, becomingindestructible.com. A free wordpress template serves as a placeholder. Soon, posts will be going up there.

Last thing…
The very first edition of Becoming Indestructible online starts October 4, 2010. Slots are still open. I’m also looking for a few people interested in marketing the program. If you are interested, please visit the professionals page. All of your questions should be answered there, if not, send me an email: email at briansekula dot com.

As a heads up, here are some posts I’m working on…

1. You SUCK as a Man – a swift kick to the you know where for all the men turning into women.
2. Top 10 generic and non-generic prescription drugs of 2009. This is a follow-up to the same from 2008. I’m sure it won’t disappoint.
3. And then there are some posts about Kelly Brownell, the guy from CSPI and more…

Stay tuned…these will be posted soon.

Gladwell, on the other hand, was excellent. I furiously took notes on my Blackberry and emailed them to myself – see image below.

As you can see, I gave the email an appropriate subject line: “Gladwell Lessons.” As anyone can attest, typing on a Blackberry can be challenging, but done so like this is typos galore. This is without mentioning my Blackberry seems to have a mind of its own, or at least some of the keys do. The 1, 2 and A seem to only work when they want.

I’ve had many questions about his lecture and wanting to implement some of his ideas, I . . . → Read More: Learning from Malcolm Gladwell]]> While in San Diego last week, the biggest highlight for me (other than my talk, of course) was the keynote, Malcolm Gladwell. Chris Berman of espn also gave a keynote, which I did not attend. But by all accounts, underwhelming would be a compliment.

Gladwell, on the other hand, was excellent. I furiously took notes on my Blackberry and emailed them to myself – see image below.

As you can see, I gave the email an appropriate subject line: “Gladwell Lessons.” As anyone can attest, typing on a Blackberry can be challenging, but done so like this is typos galore. This is without mentioning my Blackberry seems to have a mind of its own, or at least some of the keys do. The 1, 2 and A seem to only work when they want.

I’ve had many questions about his lecture and wanting to implement some of his ideas, I set about deciphering. So, here goes.

His talk was a combination of Blink and Tipping Point. In other words, if you want to have something spread throughout your world in a Blink, you need to identify the Tipping Point. Gladwell calls this a revolution.

To accomplish this, three things are needed. You need to:

1. Leverage your skill,
2. Frame your message and
3. Employ social power.

He made this point through an example with David Sarnoff and RCA broadcasting the first ever, live boxing match between Jack Dempsy and Georges Carpentier in 1921.

First, Sarnoff knew radio. He was working for RCA. He knew how to get the fight broadcast (even if he had to have help). It helped him leverage his skill.

Second, he framed his message. “See what else you can do with a radio?” “It’s not just for news.” “It’s for entertainment.”

Third, he used social power from every store selling RCA radios. He contacted each one of them and had every radio tuned to the station broadcasting the fight. He wanted as many people as possible hearing the fight.

Some estimates were as many as 300,000 people heard the live broadcast. Amazing, 300,000 people in 1921. Within six months, RCA radios were flying off the shelves.

So, if you are in the health/fitness industry, how are you going to create a revolution? One of the things mentioned over and over again (at the meeting and from others), is that we do a good job with those who seek our services. What about the other 60% of the population?

How can we connect with them? How can we draw them in?

How can you leverage your skill to help those that need it most? How can you frame your message so they hear it? That was one of the main points in my presentation. It’s not that the energy balance equation is wrong. It’s the pervasive mis-application of it. For those needing our help the most, we don’t see the problem.

They (patients, clients, customers, etc…) fail because we blame them. It’s all their fault. So we shift. Our focus now is the behavioral aspects of weight loss. They’re not motivated enough. They didn’t write their goals down correctly. They’re eating too many/ not enough meals per day. The list goes on…

It’s why someone like Dr. Phil, who doesn’t know ATP from ketchup can write a best-seller weight loss book.

It’s also why nearly 100% of weight loss books say the same thing, eat less and exercise more, while differing in their approach to behavioral strategies. If it weren’t so ridiculous, it would be funny. All the while, all of this has underhandedly laid the failure of weight loss at the feet of those trying to lose weight.

Finally, how will you employ social power to spread your message? Twitter? Facebook? Email? Local meetings? Local experts? I’ll tell you this, however you do it, you need to have a better understanding of why people fail at weight loss attempts before you use your social power. Otherwise, it will be more of the same.

The last things I want to point out are mavens and connectors. According to Gladwell, mavens are information deciphering machines. They take it all in and make sense of it. Connectors help mavens put it in the right place.

Are you a maven or a connector?

How are you going to start a revolution?

So back to the forum. There were four speakers (including me), each presenting on a topic related to nutrition and wellness. I think the forum was well-received. I listened to all presentations and only one other excited me. Amy Blansit works with obese people in Missouri and she gets it. Her presentation was excellent and she’s doing a bang-up job. The other talks seemed . . . → Read More: San Diego Presentation]]> On March 10, 2010, the Medical Wellness Association sponsored a Medical Wellness and Nutrition forum as part of the IHRSA convention in San Diego. As an aside, Sunny San Diego? Are you kidding me? It was sunny, but, man, was it cold! The wind was blowing. Hard. Felt it to my bones. Probably not cold to someone from Minnesota, but to a Texas boy it was. And can you do something about the homeless people? The only place I’ve been where it was worse was downtown Baltimore.

So back to the forum. There were four speakers (including me), each presenting on a topic related to nutrition and wellness. I think the forum was well-received. I listened to all presentations and only one other excited me. Amy Blansit works with obese people in Missouri and she gets it. Her presentation was excellent and she’s doing a bang-up job. The other talks seemed rather fluffy.

In order to gain more attention, I badly titled my talk: “How to increase revenue with weight loss programs.” IHRSA is not the most scientifically rigorous organization. A more appropriate, but boring, title would have been: “Misapplication of the energy balance equation.” That was the focus of my talk, but no one would have attended. I spent nearly half of the two hours building this up and why weight loss programs fail (or, the misapplication idea).

For more on this, check out Dr. Eades’ blog, Protein Power, more specifically, this recent post. You can also read this post by Robert McLeod on energy balance, it’s at the bottom of the post.

The gist of the talk centered on the pervasive notion of eat less, exercise more. For overweight and obese, hyperinsulinemia equals metabolic domination, efficiency at fat storage and feeble efforts in fat mobilization. Simply eating less does not fix this and leads to failure.

Oh, and before you chime in with ASP, leptin and all the others, don’t bother. ASP is a toothpick to the bat of insulin. While the research on leptin and leptin resistance is fascinating, I have yet to work with someone where it was a problem. I know it’s there, somewhere, and I know it exists. Just haven’t run across it in my day-to-day business.

You can also view the presentation at slideshare.net.  Don’t know why, but the embed code has jacked up the first slide. It’s normal at slideshare. Below the presentation are links to a reference list and white paper.

Click here to download the references.

Click here to download the white paper. Note: I can’t find my white paper. It’s somewhere on my laptop. I’ll hunt it down and post the link in the next day or so. 

Jeff Garlin, co-star and executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm, has written a memoir about his lifelong struggles with weight. In an interview for ABC news, Garlin talks about his addiction to food and his new diet. You can read the interview and watch a video here.

This is sad. Really sad. He said he’d eat and eat and eat and never feel full. Stand-bys included gourmet sandwiches, pop-tarts and Cap-n-Crunch cereal. In the video, he talks about donuts and milkshakes. Also, knowing that a single donut or any sugar-filled food would send him over the top, meant these foods were forbidden and that moderation was not possible.

He alluded to his lifelong struggle with weight. Although not prominent, I’m sure there were never-ending attempts to lose weight. Well-wishers like Larry David, his wife and others, I’m sure, encouraged him to lose weight. I’ve never met a person that was overweight . . . → Read More: Jeff Garlin: finding success but still struggling]]>

Jeff Garlin, co-star and executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm, has written a memoir about his lifelong struggles with weight. In an interview for ABC news, Garlin talks about his addiction to food and his new diet. You can read the interview and watch a video here.

This is sad. Really sad. He said he’d eat and eat and eat and never feel full. Stand-bys included gourmet sandwiches, pop-tarts and Cap-n-Crunch cereal. In the video, he talks about donuts and milkshakes. Also, knowing that a single donut or any sugar-filled food would send him over the top, meant these foods were forbidden and that moderation was not possible.

He alluded to his lifelong struggle with weight. Although not prominent, I’m sure there were never-ending attempts to lose weight. Well-wishers like Larry David, his wife and others, I’m sure, encouraged him to lose weight. I’ve never met a person that was overweight who didn’t want to lose weight. Really, I’ve never known an overweight person that hasn’t tried every diet under the sun.

At age 37, he suffered a stroke. At his heaviest, he weighed 320 pounds. Through various changes he’s down to the upper 260’s. I’ll talk about those changes in a second. 

So what’s going on? What’s the problem? Why can’t Jeff Garlin, et al just buckle down and lose weight? The answer lies in the ubiquitous message of energy balance. Accordingly, you can eat what you want, just eat less and the weight will disappear. Not in Jeff Garlin’s case.

Despite the fact he’d eat a half-dozen donuts and a milkshake, he was never full. He talks about stopping at In-N-Out Burger on the way home from work to get two double cheeseburgers because dinner at home would not be enough. He also mentions the ability to eat an entire pizza and wash it down with five boxes of instant pudding, topped off with graham cracker crust. I wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t fill him up, either. 

The problem with the energy balance equation is that it assumes we can simply restrict calories and lose weight. Completely ignoring the real issue, insulin, of which Mr. Garlin could not be a more perfect example

As Gary Taubes eloquently pointed out in Good Calories, Bad Calories, hyperinsulinemia  drives fat storage and dictates cellular starvation, regardless of food intake. This is spelled out specifically in Chapter 22, The Carbohydrate Hypothesis. More specifically, on page 399 (paperback), he discusses the role of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and fat storage. As insulin levels rise, triglycerides are preferentially stored in adipose tissue.

During caloric restriction (as I’m sure Mr. Garlin tried, you know, eat less, exercise more?), weight loss becomes more difficult and even problematic. Fewer calories lead to decreased muscle mass and smaller organs (brain and kidneys, for example), in the face of hyperinsulinemia. It’s a feedback loop, driven by insulin, that works to maintain body fat levels, even in the face of decreased organ systems.

So Jeff Garlin likely went on a typical diet of eat less, without changing the types of food he ate. Since his insulin levels were still high, it only made him hungry. Probably hungry as hell. And he could only hold on for so long.

One thing those foods will do is elevate insulin. All that glucose has to go somewhere. I’m sure he Jeff wasn’t exercising. Even if he was, there’s no way in Hades he was depleting his glycogen stores, so that glucose went somewhere. It got converted to fat and stored.

All of this brings me back to his new approach. I wish him well, but I have my reservations. Here’s what he’s doing. He meditates daily, 5:30am. He cut out sugar, fast-food and binge-eating. He doesn’t eat salt, chicken, turkey, red meat or ham, although he does still eat fish. He eats fruit, vegetables and whole grains. “It’s all very boring,” he says. Giving up sugar was, “really, really hard.”

He’s done pretty well. Lost about 50 pounds. Gave up sugar, salt and most forms of protein and he meditates. I think he’s been successful so far because of sugar elimination. I have no idea how much sugar he was eating, but with milkshakes, pizza, cereal and donuts, it had to be a boatload. I’m guessing 400-500 grams, minimum.

The problem I see, however, is the whole grains and fruit. His insulin is down, which helps the cravings. For the long run, however, it’s not down enough. He’ll find caloric balance soon and will get stuck, probably several pounds away from his goal weight. Then what? Probably try to eat less, again.

What will be the culprit then?

*Photo courtesy of abcnews.com.