Thursday, April 2, 2015

Weight: 201.8 pounds.

One of my co-workers started a weight lost program last weekend. It’s one of those programs based around purchasing a nutritional power, alternating the “nutrient drinks” every two hours with small snacks of vegetables or fruit. Caffeine and alcohol are eliminated from the diet. My co-worker, who was essentially the same weight as I am (within a pound or three, according to the balance scale at work), has already lost ten pounds. Ten pounds in a week!

He said he’s starting the plan because he had reached the point where he wasn’t feeling well and had to do something about it. And so far, he’s doing great! He says the caffeine withdrawal (mostly coffee, and some soda) was mild and only lasted a day or so. He hasn’t felt lethargic or tired.

One thing he didn’t like: whatever the program is – I can’t remember the name – it’s one of those that “encourages” participants to sign up their friends and become distributors. He said that almost turned him off to the program. He simply wanted something that would enable him to drop some pounds. He’s just buying the concoction right now, and following the plan, and has no interest in becoming a sales rep.

Another of my co-workers apparently used this program a couple of years ago and found it effective. She liked the “purge and cleanse” aspect of cutting the junk out of her diet.

I looked at the ingredients list on the compound. It’s mostly powdered grain products – rice, primarily, along with oats and wheat, I think. Definitely not “gluten-free,” and certainly not Paleo.

I have totally fallen off the Paleo and any other health, diet, or fitness plan I may have been toying with. I might have to start up again – just so I can drop the same kind of weight as my co-worker while eating steak and bacon; his plan calls for basically eliminating meat from the meal plan. It was funny – today he said he’s already starting to worry that ultimately he may not even want to eat the foods he used to love!

Meanwhile, on the house front: nothing to report. forty-five days on the market, a half-dozen or so showings, no serious interest. But because of the nature of the house, I realize it will require a “specialty” buyer – or a stupid buyer, like we were.

I wish I could just pay the d@mn thing off. Then I wouldn’t worry about whether I sold it or not. So, all these bloggers who write vague lifestyle blogs about starting their own online businesses and making tens of thousands of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars a month while living a location-independent lifestyle – what is it that they’re actually doing to make all that money? And how many of them are lying about making all that money? Some of the blog sites I look at certainly don’t receive very many comments. Are these people, like, dealing drugs on the side, or what? Other than the people with tech skills who market “apps” for smartphones, and maybe a few of the people who publish self-help eBooks (while probably writing sasquatch-pr0n on the side under a pseudonym), I find it hard to believe that a lot of these people are even eking out a living, let alone traveling the world while raking in the Big Bucks. Tim Ferriss, Chris Guillebeau, yeah, they’re probably making the dough. The Tropical MBA guys are probably legit. I would love to be pulling in a “six-figure income.” I’d have my house paid off in a couple, three, or four years. But according to statistics I found online, fewer than twenty percent of U.S. households make over $100,000 a year. That’s households, not individuals.

Apparently most of the Lifestyle Bloggers are in that category. Twice. They gave up six-figure incomes and now make even more money without being chained to a cubicle.

I need to turn this blog into a vague, repetitive “success” blog.

Actually, I need to go eat supper. It’s spaghetti tonight. Not Paleo.