Being Successful is a choice!

"Failure is necessary, success is optional!"

Tweet

Today was supposed to be: "the day."
I was supposed to be ready to enlist by today.

Unfortunately I have failed, I have been in a funk since I went to see the recruiters back in June, I have not been motivated to push and have not been sticking to my diet or any kind of work out routine. I have actually gained 5 lbs since the recruiter which puts me further behind.




This was an inevitable failure. I was pushing my self really hard and driving too hard toward a goal that I knew was possibly unattainable (Seal training) and then when I failed my vision test I went into a tail spin of binge eating, laziness, and COOKIES!!! (lots and lots of delicious cookies)

I was told that I will be put into the assistant manager training at my current job so that I can go in front of the review board in December.

So here I was presented with two options do the hard thing and work my butt off (literally) and join the military by August 1st, or take the easy route and go through the training for Assistant Manager.

While each choice has its benefits and its costs there is only one choice where someday I can be awesome. I obviously made the wrong choice, and because of it I failed at my goal.

Now it is time to shift gears, revisit my goals, and make my failure a success. I need to follow my own advice and make a list of goals that I need to meet and move forward following a plan geared toward meeting those goals. Also I need to pick a goal completion date that I can realistically meet.

Obesity is a terrorist that does not work alone!

“Obesity is a terrorist that does not work alone!” <- Tweet This! - Don't be a twit

Depression and Obesity work together to take over your life and destroy you! You have to declare war on terror and fight back! The only way to defeat obesity is to lose weight, which is hard when you are depressed; but you can combat depression everyday.

Since I spoke to the recruiters at the beginning of this month I have been depressed and that has set me back. I know I need to lose weight and to reach my goals, but I had convinced myself that my goals were not worth the fight anymore since everything keeps getting in the way. It took me almost a full month to get over this depression.

What makes depression bad

If you Google what is depression you get two definitions

1. Severe despondency and dejection, typically felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy
2. The act of lowering something or pressing something down.

So what does all that mean?

While if you translate definition one from geek speak to Standard English it says Severe sadness felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy.

That is a little easier to track but still could use some clarification to explain why it is bad. To assist in this clarification I will use the example from my own life

I have been sad over the last 2-3 weeks because I am inadequate (not good enough) for the SEALs and my ability to do what I want seems more and more hopeless.

This is bad because it caused me to not want to do anything and become complacent. I have felt like I can never do anything better than my current job, despite my bosses boss thinking I am good enough for a promotion.

I stopped exercising, I stopped eating right, I stopped trying!

I had fun at my National Guard experience, and despite this I put myself in a state of perpetual failure.

How did I overcome this?

I was talking to my best friend that I have known since the second grade via text message while I was bored at work and his failed attempt to motivate me didn’t quite fail!

I commented to him that I was depressed to which he responded:

“Don't be depressed you can always go for corrections with me.”

I was like:

"How is that supposed to make me depressed? Instead of moving out of Arizona, seeing the world, shooting at evil, and generally just being awesome. You get to stay in Arizona be overheated and an overpaid babysitter.”

He of course took offence and said that I should slit my wrists now if I am going to think like that. Drama Queen!

I told him to think about it:

“If I were to become a corrections officer I could be a corrections officer or a supervisor of correction officers. If I were to go into the military I could be a helicopter mechanic, helicopter pilot, or I could go into some sort of computer field like cryptology or network security. Someday I could get vision correction surgery and become a jet pilot.”

At that point I realized that I was being stupid and that even if I can’t be a SEAL I can still be awesome, that I should not be giving up just because a physical issue pushed me out of my goal.

My Advice

Talk to someone: A true friend will never turn you away!

Anyone: Doctors, Teachers, Counselors, Priests, Mommy, Daddy, Security at Walmart!

Pick up the phone book and dial random numbers till someone is willing to help you if that is what it takes.

Don't give up! DO NOT EAT THAT DOUGHNUT!

Sometimes pushing yourself to be more awesome… to keep striving for the goal even though you cannot obtain it will still keep you motivated and push the depression out.

Keep yourself on track no matter how much you want to give up, cry, or die.

If you give up then the terrorists win!

Do you want to let the terrorists win?

If you said yes to that you are on the wrong blog!

Are you shaking a box of Chihuahuas? No? Then Follow Us!


Follow @Fordorth
Have a Happy and Healthy Week!

Thomas Gould!


Images provided by RaccoonGirlDesign

"Don't Let Anybody Poop on Your Ice cream!" ~Thomas Gould

~Thomas Gould

PRELUDE

At every junction of your life you have a choice.

• When your alarm goes off in the morning do you get up or hit the snooze. 
• If you hit the snooze then you are greeted with that same choice all over again. 

Each decision has benefits and consequences that you have to weigh when you make your decision.

• If you hit the snooze 
• get a few more minutes of sleep
• no time for the three "S's" Shower, Shave, and Poo

• If you do not hit the snooze 
• lose precious minutes of sleep 
• don't smell like booty at work (this is not the kinda booty you find in a pirates chest)

Every decision you make boils down at some point to a true or false statement
in our snooze button example it is complicated yet easy:

• Do I hit snooze? Yes/No - Easy but complicated by other questions
• Did I get enough sleep? Yes/No - Easy but again complicated but by a definition or another question
• Definition: How much sleep is enough sleep - answer may be as simple as a predefined constant 8 hours. Then - did I get that much sleep? Yes/No
• Question: Am I still tired? Yes/No - Again a yes or no question (starting to see the pattern.)

Not all decisions are as easy to break down into a intelligent yes or no answer. example:

• Do I love my girlfriend/boyfriend? Yes/No - You may be able to answer the question but not the why of the answer - this a place a lot of fights start.
• Does (s)he have the right color hair
• Is (s)he in the right age range
• Is (s)he mature enough
• does (s)he have/make enough money - this is a question a lot of people ask themselves

THE POINT

Everyday you meet hundreds of people.

You pass them in the street as you walk or stand behind them in line. No matter the case they all have an affect on your life

YOU have to decide how you will let those people affect you.

Do you risk a bad day on that turd in the grocery store, or do you pretend he does not exist and have a happy day?

Do you let the fight that your spouse started over breakfast this morning take over your day, or do you resolve the fight and put it out of your mind?

In every minute of your life you have to decide how to deal with what has come, is upon you, or will come. How you have dealt with what has come or how you deal with what is upon you may affect how you deal with what is to come.

Example:

Your boss is a jerk and you feel over worked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Your boss just spent the last two hours lecturing your team for missing a deadline and your team leader blames you. Now your boss wants to see you in private. He begins to yell at you for your portion of the project not being completed and then pauses for a response.

You have some choices at your disposal and each one has benefits and consequences that need to be included in the decision making process. I am not here to say which one of the choices is better or worse because in each situation that options may not have the same effect.

1. Apologize for your portion being late and if possible give an estimate of completion.
• Benefit: you MAY not get shouted at anymore
• Consequence: You are accepting responsibility for a project being late.
2. Point the blame somewhere else (the team leader is always a popular choice)
• Benefit: You are no longer solely responsible for the failure
• Consequence: Making excuses is frowned upon by most management and will probably not get you into the team leader position in the future.
3. Call your boss out saying that it was impossible to meet the deadline
• Benefit: You feel better (for now) because you got your frustrations out
• Consequence: if you are the only on the team that feels this way then you may not have a job in the near future.
4. Quit! I don't need this turd
• Benefit: You no longer have a project to complete, boss to deal with, co-workers to compete with.
• Consequences: YOU DO NOT HAVE A PAYCHECK (seems like I made that into a bad option, huh? - not so... rich people do not need to keep menial jobs)
5. Say Nothing <- DO NOT DO THIS
• Benefits: Hopefully you are having a stroke and you probably won't need this job in a few minutes anyway
• Consequences: You will look like an incompetent ass and assuming you're not having a stroke you should start looking for another job because (if you do not get fired) your boss is going to be on you like dirt on the ground
• Yes that is a horrible decision, you should never not say anything (Unless you are having a stroke)

The point of the point is that no matter what you do in life (even if it is to have a stroke in a meeting with your angry boss) you have to do what will make you happy yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Sometimes that decision is to just do what you have to while you look for something better.

THE SUMMARY

Live life in a way that will make you happy. Do not let other people do the things they do that creates a poop on your ice cream. Finally try not to have a stroke while discussing your failures with your boss... there are much better times to have a stroke... in an ambulance or hospital, in front of a paramedic or doctor, or on the toilet... to name a few.

Thanks for reading!
Be sure to follow us on the right! ===>

Have a happy and healthy week!

"Don't let anybody poop on your ice cream!" ~ Thomas Gould
"Don't poop on other people's ice cream!" ~ Thomas Gould

Thomas Gould

A Healthy Snacker is a Happy Snacker!

Nature Box - Happy Snacker

For father's day my kids gave me a Happy Snacker Nature Box.

What is a happy snacker nature box?

it is 2 bags each of five healthy snacks.

What? You want to know what I got in my nature box?

Well here you go :)

• Whole Wheat Strawberry Figgy Bars
• Seaweed Rice Pops
• Citrus Chipotle Chickpeas
• Sourdough Cheddar Pretzels
• Country Ranch Sunflower Seeds

Not very helpful?

I don't think so either so I included pictures and some general information below.

Whole Wheat Strawberry Figgy Bars

These are my favorite part of this box, I tore through an entire bag in the first day.

 They are a little dry but that comes with being Whole Wheat.

Each bag contains 5 1.2 oz bars

Important things to consider:

• Serving Size: 1 bar
• Calories per serving: 130
• They are made from the most amazing fruit ever grown STRAWBERRIES

Because of the small serving size and the number of calories that each bar is worth and how hard it is to stop eating them you can quickly consume all of them or to many for one day. Luckily there are only five in a bag.

Seaweed Rice Pops

Theses are my second favorite Item out of the box. They are cute little balls of crunchy rice with little seaweed patches on them. When you first put them in your mouth they are kind of sweet and by the end of chewing them you get the tart savory taste of the seaweed.

Each bag is 5 oz of Seaweed Rice Pops

Important things to consider:

• Nutritionist Approved
• Vegan
• Serving Size: 1/3 cup
• Servings per bag: ~4.5 (~ means approximately or about)
• Calories per serving: 130

It is possible that you end up eating the whole bag but I do not think they warrant more than a handful or so every couple of hours. A serving suggestion on the bag is to add them to a wrap which actually sounds pretty delicious.

Citrus Chipotle Chickpeas

My wife thought I would like these because I like to spice it up sometimes. I was actually quite disappointed, I was expecting a fiery pop in each bite but there was no really spice it was just the kind of bland taste of the chickpea with the kind of rustic taste of a pepper. 

each bag is 4.75 oz

Important things to consider:

• Nutritionist Approved
• Vegan
• Serving Size: 1/3 cup
• Servings per bag: ~4.5 (~ means approximately or about)
• Calories per serving: 130

There is no way I would this entire bag in one sitting. If I decide to eat anymore of them I will probably only eat a few at a time. I do like chickpeas but not in a roasted covered in peppers form.

Sourdough Cheddar Pretzels

I love sourdough and I love cheddar cheese but I hate pretzels so it was a toss up if I would like these.

Can the two goods outweigh the bad?

Not in this case! I do not like these and could not eat more than... luckily my kids like them :)

Each bag is 5 oz

Important things to consider:

• Nutritionist Approved
• Hint of Beer
• Serving Size: 9 pieces
• Servings Per Container: ~5
• calories per serving: 120

If you like these little sour cheese beer bombs then watch your calories as you scarf the whole bag down. I fortunately do not have this problem as this is one of very few foods that make me gag.

Country Ranch Sunflower Kernels

Sunflower seeds can be fun to eat especially if they are in the shell and you like to spit. These sunflower seeds are not in the shell but as long as you are eating them by themselves they are still fun to eat. 

The ranch flavor is very subtle and easily over powered by anything else. 

Each bag is 5 oz

Important things to consider:

• Nutritionist Approved
• Serving Size: 1/4 cup
• Servings per Container: ~4.5
• Calories per serving: 190
• Non-GMO Sunflower Kernels

1/4 cup of sunflower seeds is a lot of sunflower seeds but since you're not having to shell them orally as you go small handfuls or just dumping the bag into your mouth will add up. at 190 calories per serving it is the second highest costing food in the box this month.

I love my Nature Box there is only one problem with it... there is not enough food to last me the whole month and when we get next months there will definitely not be enough for all four of us.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy week.

Thomas Gould

Where am I today?

Current

Before

Transition Progress

When I started this blog I looked like the picture on the left. On May 30th I look like the picture on the right.

I look and feel like a completely different person and I have been getting comments from my co-workers and mom about how much weight I have lost and comments from my wife about my muscle gain and weight loss.

It has been so hard to get to this point, before I started all this I would drink 6 x Mountain Dew, 20-Ounce  Bottles or I would buy a 52 oz QuickTrip cup and fill it with Mountain Dew or Sprite and then either way on my way home I would get a 52 oz cup and fill it with sprite. Also I would eat just about anything I could get my hands on especially Hershey's Chocolate Creme Pie's the whole pie by my self.

Also I would be on my ass as much as possible watching TV, playing on a game system, or working on my computer.

Since I started my nutrition and fitness programs I do not eat red meat or pork, I do not drink anything but water and juice, and I do not eat desert at all. I try my damnedest to not sit down unless I have been up on my fit all day. I actually get stiff and have to stand up so that after sitting for extended periods of time. I want to get a treadmill that I can use my laptop on so that I do not have to sit down when doing blog posts or playing video games.

I need to lose 2" in my waist to be able to qualify for the delayed entry program and 3.5 inches to qualify for basic.

My current measurements

Height: 5'8"

Neck: 17.5" or 1' 5.5"

Waist: 42" or 3'6"

Required measurements
Height: 5'8"
Neck: 17.5" or 1' 5.5"
Waist: 38.5" or 3' 2.5"

Formula for circumference
Waist - Neck = Circumference
42 - 17.5 = 24.5

		Height (inches)
Circumference Value*		60	60.5	61	61.5	62	62.5	63	63.5	64	64.5	65	65.5	66	66.5	67	67.5	68	68.5	69	69.5
	13	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9
	13.5	9	9	9	9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9
	14	11	11	10	10	10	10	9	9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9
	14.5	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	9	9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9	<9
	15	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	<9
	15.5	15	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	10	10
	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	12	11
	16.5	17	17	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	12
	17	18	18	18	17	17	17	17	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	14	14
	17.5	19	19	19	18	18	18	18	17	17	17	17	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15
	18	20	20	20	19	19	19	19	18	18	18	18	18	17	17	17	17	16	16	16	16
	18.5	21	21	21	20	20	20	20	19	19	19	19	19	18	18	18	18	17	17	17	17
	19	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	20	20	20	20	20	19	19	19	19	18	18	18	18
	19.5	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	21	20	20	20	20	19	19	19	19
	20	24	24	24	23	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	21	20	20	20	20
	20.5	25	25	25	24	24	24	24	23	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	21
	21	>25	>25	25	25	25	25	24	24	24	24	24	23	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	21
	21.5	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	25	25	25	25	24	24	24	24	23	23	23	23	23	22
	22	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	25	25	25	25	25	24	24	24	24	23	23
	22.5	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	25	25	25	25	24	24	24
	23	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	25	25	25
	23.5	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25	>25

My circumference is just off the the chart for my height but I am like at 26% bmi

Have a fantastic and healthy week see you next Friday!