Bear here...   
​
I'm betting you are wondering what weight control has to do with homesteading. I'm thinking that if you are in better shape and comfortable in your body it will be easier for you to go outside and do things homesteaders do. I also think that after a hard day's work you want to be able to move around the next few days with little to no pain. Am I right? Hope so...

So... I am going to get a page on OTH and blog about my successes AND failures with weight control. (Nobody wins all the time.) It will help me stay focused and hopefully it will have the tools to inspire you to take control of weight issues you may have. The page will be a one stop spot with lots of info and stories. It will be updated many times this year. I am hoping to have it "done" within a year. The blogs will be my progress and small chunks of the big picture. It will be a mixture of many types of books I have read and programs I have been through. No weight control program or diet works for everyone. Those who say one plan fits all are full of crap, just sayen. I'm going to give you a wide variety of tools and you can choose and experiment and see what works best for you. I'm hoping it will help and inspire at least one person.

Why am I calling it weight CONTROL instead of weight loss?  In short, here is my story...

In 2000, when I moved to Wisconsin I weighed around 416 lbs (I am 6' 4" tall). In 2012 I was at my lowest weight of 298 lbs. My weight has gone up and down. I now weigh around 340. By my "Bear math" in the last 20 years I have lost around 950 then gained back around 900 of them there pounds.  

My main short term goal is to get down close to 280 lbs. by the end of April or May. (Partially, so I can button my cooking vest, below.) My long term goal is, once I get there I will NEVER be above 290 lbs again. If I can do that I am in CONTROL of my weight and most of my health. If I can inspire people to do the same and feel better about themselves, even better...

(By the way, I curse in real life to highlight and to get my point across sometimes, not to offend. I am a blunt guy and there will be a little cursing in the weight control page and blogs. We don't swear on our other OTH pages, at least I'm not remembering any at the moment. I hope this alerts you without causing offense.)

Let's get started with the first three basics...

1.  ATTITUDE:  YOU NEED TO LIKE YOURSELF!  No one feels the need to help someone if they feel that person is an a--hole. PAY ATTENTION & ENJOY THE PROCESS! It is easier to do a thing you want to do instead of have to do. FIND WHAT WORKS! There are a lot of resources out there. Give what seems right an honest chance. Keep doing what works and discard what doesn't. Don't be afraid of change.
   
2. INPUT:  This means calories and commercials. Commercials make you want what you don't  need or something that may be bad for you, that's their job. Calories are countable energy markers that we take in and burn off. If you eat too many calories your weight goes up. If you reduce the calorie intake your weight will slowly go down. If you starve yourself your body will go into emergency mode, meaning it eats itself to survive. Over time that can f-ck you up. Just sayen...
   
3. OUTPUT: Energy (calories) you burn getting through life. You don't burn enough, you become a fat person. You burn too many, you become a stick person. Most athletes who are very active, possibly too active, burn out their bodies. They are amazing in their prime but are in a lot of joint pain by middle age (late 30s) instead of old age (mid 70s). 
   

Tools to help:

The best tools you can use are HONESTY and a JOURNAL. If you lie to yourself you are screwing yourself over. End of that discussion. The mind can play tricks on your memory. A journal will keep an accurate history, as it happens, that you can go back to, of what works and what doesn't. If you experience and write it down you are paying more attention to what is going on in your health and life. Honest journaling can be as good as mental therapy. You are not alone- good journaling can be a partner in discovering issues about weight control. If you discover you need help, someone to talk to, journaling gives you a head start on the issues after you learn to trust your therapist. Win, win...

...And Homework. In the journal write about...​

1. ATTITUDE: Start with current health issues and weight, then a reasonable weight goal three months from now. Here are some questions to get you to know yourself. If you come up with more or better questions for yourself write them down and answer them. Why do you want to lose or gain weight? What are your goals? How do you feel about yourself? How do you want to feel about yourself? How do you feel about what others think of you? What has worked before? How do you feel about food, and exercise? What motivates you to be better? Do you self-sabotage? Why? What does being happy/content feel like to you? YOU... DESERVE... TO ... BE ... HEALTHY... AND... HAVE ... A ... GOOD ... LIFE!    Just sayen...
2. INPUT:  If you remember, log all you consumed last week. This week and next week, keep track of what you eat, how much by volume and/or calories. (A good calorie counter book helps with this, get one.) Keep track of what you drink and their calories. Keep track of how much water you drink. You don't need to change, just write it down. Learn and pay attention to what you consume. Pick one day a week to weigh yourself in the morning and journal it.
3. OUTPUT: (On an example scale of 1-5: 1 = almost no movement, 2 = 20% of time moving not rushed, 3 = up to moving 50% of time and sometimes rushed, 4 = some high speed movement or lot of time rushed 40% to 60% of time, 5 = very active most of time and rushed or high speed.) How active are you?  How active is your job? How active are your hobbies?  How active do you want to be? What do you want to be able to do?

AND... Small steps for feeling and being better...

1. ATTITUDE: As needed, or every day, look yourself in the eyes in the mirror and say "I like you. We deserve to be healthy, happy, and have a good life." If you come up with something better for yourself that's positive, even better...
2. INPUT: Are you keeping track of what you eat? Good... If you are dropping a pound or two between weigh-ins, GOOD F-CKING JOB! WELL DONE!!  If not at least 1 pound every other week that's OK. You are keeping track of it. Good job. Here are a few helpful hints: Be a little hungry and your stomach will shrink, reduce portions, and leave some food on the plate. (EXAMPLES: Be aware if you start feeling full and stop eating. IT IS OK TO LEAVE A LITTLE FOOD UNEATEN ON YOUR PLATE. Someone tells you you have to eat it all, tell them politely to piss off. You are trying to lose weight. Use smaller plates, bowls, and glasses, which makes less food look like more food. I used to eat a large pizza with a 2-liter of soda. A medium pizza with a liter of soda is less calories and when your stomach shrinks and that feels like a lot you can cut back further. Watch your liquids, most bottles hold more than one serving, read the labels, lots of calories can go down quick if you aren't paying attention. Water is your friend. A doctor told me we should drink 1/2 our body weight in ounces of water a day (if I weigh 300 lbs I should drink 150 oz of water) to stay hydrated, more in the summer. A simple test is: If your piss is darker than light yellow you are not hydrated, you need more water, not diet soda or milk.)
3. OUTPUT: If you can, be more active. Create more movement in your life. Working out is advanced movement. (An example of each: Theresa and I walk a 1/4 mile, take breaks, if needed, and enjoy our time together- that's more movement. We go 1/4 mile at a decent pace with no stops, still have a good time- that's a workout. BOTH WAYS WILL HELP YOU BUILD STAMINA AND LOSE WEIGHT. Take 5 minutes when you wake up to stretch and walk in place, even in the shower if you need to. Create ways to walk more. (Theresa has the van she carpools in drop her off further away from her office building so she can walk.) Park further away from the store when you go to shop. Lay on the floor, get to standing position and back down quick as you can 5 times. When that is easy go up to 10 times. Dance or do martial arts forms for 10 or more minutes. Sweep all your floors with a broom. Find a hobby that requires you to move more. Get creative with activity and journal about it. You and I know you can do it.

That's enough for now. It's a good start. Send me questions or comments if you want to. Do what you can until next time, I will too.
​
Type at ya later...

THE FUEL...  I know what is going into my meals. I get to choose the ingredients...

THE FIRE.... Here is what I use to test and improve my skills. Like the vest says, "Backyard 2 Kitchen" and a few other places.

GIVING ME THAT WHICH I DESIRE... a great meal... when all goes well.

So, why do I like to cook when I don't have to? Look at what I can do when I try... Enough said.

​type at ya later...

We decided to do two of the four categories of sandwiches (the classic plus one ingredient and the classic plus extras/any ingredients). We went through a lot of different cheeses, breads, and toppings testing different combinations.  Many of the cheeses are still unopened in the refrigerator- I didn't even get around to tasting all of them.

Simple is my friend, so is bacon. I used White Jasmine Tandoori Gouda cheese and Roth Butterkase cheese, with pit smoked bacon and home made dill pickle relish for my extras sandwich. For the plus one I used Tandoori Gouda with our home grown and homemade red currant jelly (gotta love sweet with heat). Unfortunately, the judges were not showing me any love- my scores were low.  The VIPs, though, who paid extra to actually taste the sandwiches the competitors were making, were showing me a lot of love. I counted at least five different people who were waiting to sample my sandwiches and some of them came up to ask me about them. (People asking about, wanting, and liking my food... THAT is what makes me happy.)

We had a good time and got to meet a lot of cool people with a lot of ideas about cheese sandwiches. If you need some ideas for making your own championship sandwiches, see my Cook of Anarchy Grilled Cheese page.

Type at you later,
​Bear

Here's a humorous look at Bear and Theresa's different cooking styles and the  
Division of Labor at Our House
as we spend our Sunday afternoon cooking. Enjoy!

Bear here.... Last weekend I had a good idea, and bad timing. I am a grill guy, I usually don't have the time or patience for BBQ. I have done some briskets and I was in the mood to try barbecuing venison. I thawed a venison shoulder for smoking/ BBQ. The shoulder was about 10 lbs. so would take around 8 to 10 hours, and I started around noon. (First mistake.) I decided to use bonfire wood to cook in my grill for better smoke and heat control. Did you know it takes around 1 1/2 hrs. to get coals? I relearned that fact. I also started with lump charcoal so I wouldn't be cooking in the dark.

The forecast on Thursday was for warm, muggy  weather on Saturday, no problem. (Second mistake, I should have looked Saturday morning and realized STORMS were coming to an area near me!) Everything was set up and rolling, I put the venison on the grill and before I could close the lid I heard thunder.  

... I can do this. Here are some pictures and commentary for that day.

Overall... it was an interesting day and the meat turned out OK. It made great sandwiches. Soon I will be doing this again.

Type at ya later..

Bear here... Ever wanted to improve some pasta, butter, and lettuce, but didn't want to buy extras at the store? Here is another EAT YOUR YARD blog from the Shelf Chef. Enjoy.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

There you have it. Anybody think grass is the only thing that should be grown in a yard? Heh... look up.

Type at you later.

Grill Bread:

Saturday morning's breakfast was grill bread from Friday night's leftovers reheated in the oven. For instructions on grilling bread, see my Grilled Pizza page. This is Friday's grill bread:

The herbs were fresh from our garden and the ambrosia was from our freezer. We made it last summer by baking chopped tomatoes and garlic, tossed in olive oil at 375 degrees. Bake until all the liquid from the tomatoes is gone, then use or freeze. 

This is the first time we tried reheating grill bread (there aren't usually leftovers). For a crispier crust, reheat at 400 degrees. For a softer crust, try 350. Theresa recommends the crispy crust.

5. If your fire is hotter, turn the eggs more often, and cook for only 10 minutes. 
Don't worry if the shells start browning.

Theresa noticed I even got grill marks!
(Next I have to work on the diamond pattern.)

What can you do with these eggs?  Use them like any other boiled egg. 
Theresa posted a great deviled egg recipe on our site.

If you're interested in learning more about eggs and the equinox, 
also see our Celebrate Early Spring page.

Look at what the Spring rabbit laid- purty blue eggs.
(See how to use cabbage to make dye on our Celebrate Spring page- link above).

EQUINOX 
12 and 12,
Tomorrow day is longer than night,
Winter is about planning for Spring
Equinox starts the time to act on those plans,
Thank the people who share their chicken's bounty,
More eggs coming soon.
Thank a chicken.

- Bear