The one thing I promised myself when I got back into this, is that no matter what happened, I would be real about my experience. So, here’s me being real: I’m failing.

While sending the check off to Free Arts was a great feeling, hoping that our small, collective effort could help, the time lapse has yielded nothing good in terms of my weight. I feel my body changing, and it sickens me. Now, I’ve always been content with who I am, and have mostly been able to carry out my life with a decent dose of confidence, but I’m feeling the great effect of doing nothing.

I’d like to get started with the next fund raiser, and in fact, I’ve got a really unique, small foundation that I have some ties to that I think is very deserving. However, in order for me to pick up where I left off, I need to lose weight.

Yes, you read correctly. I gained weight back. I suck.

I have, however, started running again, though after a few weeks, I managed to find myself in a rut. I am not much of a morning person, so I’ve not been getting runs in. It’s getting way too hot out there…and I need to find away to get up early and get motivated again.

I’m not going to tell you how much I’ve gained back (it’s not much), but I need to get back to my magic number so we can start the dang fund raiser.

It’s time to stop failing.

The past several weeks have been devoted to my doctoral work. Just yesterday I presented and defended my dissertation prospectus, passed my exam, and reached ABD status (or “all requirements completed but the dissertation” for those not familiar with the academic lingo. And though the real work begins now with me finishing my dissertation and finding a job, the time has also come to bring my focus back to my health. It’s time for a new project, so if you have a worthy cause, or a favorite, smaller charity that would appreciate a donation, I would like to know! Just comment below or send me an e-mail at john [at] fitlanthropist [dot] com.

Also, I have decided to make two concrete goals with my wife that are going into effect immediately:

1. Eliminate carbonated beverages from my diet.
2. Eliminate sugar from my diet.

Holli has never been much of a consumer of carbonated beverages, but I have. I gave them up once, and don’t know how I managed to incorporate them so heavily into my daily consumption. In terms of sodas, those were heavily reduced some time ago, and now they’re completely gone. However, in lieu of Diet Coke and other diet sodas, I drank a lot of the calorie-free, flavored sparkling water-type drinks. As “healthy” as they may seem, I just don’t think my body needs them. It’s going to be water, water, water from now on.

And in terms of sugar…it’s just horrible. I mean, I applaud those of you who can regulate it just fine, but I don’t want to crave it anymore. So, Holli and I are going to do a sugar detox first before introducing foods back into our diet that have natural sugars in them (like fruits).

Sorry for the long pause, but I’m back, and Holli, Christy, and I hope to post some interesting and vital posts over the next few weeks!

And again, give me your recommendations for our next fundraiser!!

And the winner is… from The Fitlanthropist on Vimeo.

Congrats, Lexi! Be sure to send me your address so I can send you your prize.

Dance Dance Revolution. Does anyone play/do it anymore? It has a workout mode which I’ve used several times before, though I’m skeptical about most exercise video games. Typically, we had tracked our calories, but at that point, I was running 3+ miles every other day, and any time the statistics popped up afterward showing the amount of calories we burned and the ‘equivalent’ of how much we jogged, I balked outright. There was no way. So, now, instead of calories I am going to do it by time…because I’m fairly certain that a half-hour is a half-hour is a half-hour. And that’s what I did tonight: 30 minutes of dancing on DDR.

If any of you still use DDR as a fitness tool and it’s helped you, let me know. I’d love to hear.

I mentioned some time ago (and have since gotten some feedback) that I wanted to redesign the site. I want it to be a bit more user friendly and more dynamic. Please bear with me as we go through these changes, and hopefully we’ll have a beautiful, more interactive new site.

ALSO: Thanks to those of you who have commented. Remember, leave me a comment on the last entry (or on this one) and you’ll be entered to win a $15 iTunes gift card. As a bonus, if you tweet or recommend this site to friends on Facebook, I’ll count that as an additional entry to increase your chances of winning (just send me a link to your tweet or recommendation).

Okay, gente. The first installment of The Fitlanthropist is over, and I am in the process of collecting my donations. $10. $10. That’s all I’m asking for. I lost ten pounds, and I’m paying $10 into the donation pot for Free Arts of Arizona. I would LOVE if you would join me by donating BEFORE next Friday, January 22 (you can do so by going HERE).

I am not quite at the point where I’m ready to evaluate how this went (because I still need some donations), but I would like some preliminary input from you all…and you’ll get the chance to win a $15 iTunes giftcard compliments of the Fitlanthropist. Here’s what you need to do:

Leave a comment for me with your name and tell me how I can improve what I’m doing with The Fitlanthropist.

Be brutally honest. There are a decent amount of readers (I check the stats once in a while), so I know some of you must have something to say. I need to hear it, else there’s no way I can improve, nor will I reach future fundraising goals! After you leave your comment, I’ll assign you a number in the order you post and next Friday (Jan. 22), I’ll use a random number generator to “draw” our winner. And again, you’ll get a $15 iTunes gift card.

Neato, right? You don’t even have to pay for postage.

Go!

Weigh-In Wednesday – Jan. 7, 2010 from The Fitlanthropist on Vimeo.

Well, friends, it’s over. I set a goal of 15 pounds and lost 10…and frankly, I’m pretty happy about that. I had a few doubters going into this, and rightfully so. It didn’t seem logical to some that I might actually be able to lose weight over the holidays, but miraculously, I did.

So, what does this mean? This means that I am in need of DONORS. $10 is all you have to commit, and you can pledge your donation by going HERE. That page details all the ways you can contribute. Once you pledge your support, I will contact you individually to solicit your donation. Once all of the donations have been collected, they will be sent to Free Arts of Arizona. However, time is of the essence. I need these donations in ONE WEEK, so that I can start building the next project, which will most likely last longer, and have a higher goal. So, again, please pledge your $10 donation HERE, and I’ll be in touch. Some of you have already done so, and one individual has made a sizable flat donation, and for that I am grateful to all of you…but we need more.  Wednesday, January 14th is the last day I’ll accept any pledges for Free Arts of Arizona, so please sign up today…

I was instantly impressed with what I saw on the site. As someone who has, in former times, caved in to fad dieting or other gimmick-like health programs, I found Well, Then to be a realistic, refreshing alternative driven by individuals who all have a common goal: to be well. Now, while I’m specifically targeting my weight, Well, Then is so much more than that. Any visitor to the site will at some point read, “Wellbeing isn’t something we are. It’s something we do. Something anyone can do.” People can sign up for a free account (in the same vein as Facebook or Twitter) and post stories, videos and status updates about what they’re doing to be well, and this is something I’ve really enjoyed. I always hesitate to point out what I call “gimmicks” in terms of health and weightloss, because I never know if someone I know uses a certain product or takes cartain supplements…heaven knows I don’t want to offend anyone, but Well, Then seems to be full of pragmatic, sensible ideas that I’ve enjoyed reading and look forward to incorporating into my daily lifesytle.

I have been asked to be an activator for Well, Then, and I’m honored an excited to do so. While I’ve found several unique stories to help me better my health, there’s so much room for growth on the site, and surely someone out there is looking for your healthy stories. I would definitely encourage you to start an account and share your stories with others. Part of my hope with the Fitlanthropist was to inspire others, and I think that many of the folks on Well, Then will be very inspirational to others, as well. Also, under the terms of my agreement as an activator and for transparency sake, Well, Then and Harvard Pilgrim have ‘compensated’ me with a Flip MinoHD Camera valued at approximately $199 to help me make better use of my video weigh-ins and other video updates on the Fitlanthropist, as well as the videos I will also be uploading to Well, Then.

You can view my Well, Then profile HERE.

I hope you guys will take a look and sign-up. I realize that there are probably more social networking sites than necessary out there, but trust me, if you care about your health and want to find a new, innovative community full of people with similar outlooks on health and wellness, it will be worth your time.

(And, just so you know, Well, Then has accounts on Twitter and Facebook, as well!)

Weigh-In…Tuesday? – December 15, 2009 from The Fitlanthropist on Vimeo.

Double Weigh-In Wednesday – November 18 & 25, 2009 from The Fitlanthropist on Vimeo.

In the meantime, I’m just going to try and validate my blog through Technorati:

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