ARTIFY

There are a lot of apps available for download in the itunes store. Every once in a while I discover a new one that I like to share. My most recent discovery is artify.

Artify is an app, that transforms photos into famous fine art paintings. What if Pablo Picasso painted your portrait? What if Vincent Van Gogh painted Manhattan as a starry night? 

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I have provided same samples of what artify can do. You might have fun with this as well...
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Your Food Diary For:

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Omelette - 3-egg Omelette With Cheese	425	0	21	28	650	2
Korean - Beef Bulgolgi	400	12	16	46	467	6
Rice - White Rice, 0.91 cup steamed	200	41	0	4	2	0
	1,025	53	38	77	1,118	7
L U N C H
Butternut - Whole Grain White, 4 slices	280	54	3	10	540	8
Lucerne - Mild Cheddar Cheese	180	2	15	11	285	0
	460	56	18	21	825	8
D I N N E R
Kroger - Sweet Peas	240	40	2	16	60	20
Kroger - Corn, Golden, Whole Kernel	240	36	6	8	800	28
Old Trapper - Terriyaki Beef Jerky	600	60	0	110	4,900	50
	1,080	136	8	134	5,760	98
S N A C K S
Whole Cashews	160	9	12	5	0	2
Banana Chips	150	17	10	1	0	10
YOGURT ALMONDS	440	44	28	8	40	38
Add Food Quick Tools	750	70	50	14	40	50
Totals	3,315	315	114	246	7,743	163
Your Daily Goal	2,871	359	95	144	2,300	107
Remaining	-444	44	-18	-101	-5,443	-56
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 941 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking	73	884
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	57
Daily Total / Goal	74 / 30	941 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	421 / 210	4,028 / 4,130

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Yesterday was a travel day. I was certain that I would not get to Ohio in time to enjoy enough daylight for an evening walk. I chose to walk my daughter to her junior lifeguard beach camp which is only one mile away. I stretched the walk to five miles before I returned home, had a quick early lunch and took off for Ohio.

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Apparently it is going to take a long time to discover all the apps on itunes....There are currently two million of them, and they are still increasing faster than carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Maybe the increasing number of apps are causing global warming. Maybe global warming is a hoax. Speaking of hoaxes... Maybe equal justice under the law is a hoax. If you didn't hear about the press conference given by FBI Director James Comey on July 5th, you might not understand what I am speaking about. If you don't understand what I am talking about and you are an American - then you are a dumb dolt. If you are from outside the United States, I will explain. In America we have a major candidate for president who broke numerous laws with reckless abandon which would have imprisoned a 'regular' American - this candidate was allowed to skate free. This reminds me of a quote from George Orwell author of Animal Farm.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

BITMOJI

I guess I am becoming a modern man.  I have started to occasionally experiment with adding an emoji (or two) to emails and texts. Since I have started using emoji's, I just discovered an application that help you design your own avatar (which one designs to look as one likes)  The application is called BITMOJI. It is a free app available on itunes (and android) and once you create your own personal avatar, there are scores and scores of personalized emojis that one can use in an email or text message.  This is how I have been feeling lately.  

This captures the way I have been feeling recently.

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Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, March 6, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Kirkland - Pre-Cooked Bacon, 6 slices	240	0	18	18	1,050	0
2 Egg Omelette With Ham and Cheese	383	2	21	32	810	2
Essentially You Vanilla Almond Cereal	440	100	6	8	600	36
	1,063	102	45	58	2,460	38
L U N C H
Cabbage Soup	264	27	1	6	207	15
ORGANIC DATE PIECES w/OAT FLOWER	120	30	0	1	10	22
	384	57	1	7	217	37
D I N N E R
Chicken Breast, 6 oz	240	0	3	52	126	0
Classic Deli Pasta, 4 oz (113 g)	220	19	16	3	390	2
CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA	240	40	7	5	60	15
	700	59	26	60	576	17
S N A C K S
Essentially You Vanilla Almond Cereal	330	75	5	6	450	27
	330	75	5	6	450	27
Totals	2,477	293	76	131	3,703	119
Your Daily Goal	4,877	609	162	244	2,300	183
Remaining	2,400	316	85	112	-1,402	64
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,947 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,536
Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace	9	89
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	62	1,020
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	302
Add Exercise Qu
Daily Total / Goal	164 / 30	2,947 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1215 / 210	17,309 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2477 calories

total calories burned (elliptical) 2556 calories

total net 79 calorie defecit

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fitbit day 186

24255 steps  
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This is supposed to be me.

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This, of course, is me.

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WEIGHT LOSS MYTH

Recently I have been saying that I had two hobbies: Losing weight and blogging about it.  A third hobby is developing, that is, listening to diet and/or weight loss podcasts.   One of these podcasts that I recently discovered is the CUT THE FAT podcast.   On the CUT THE FAT podcast,  episode 16, Aerobic Exercise on Trial - Does Aerobic Exercise Promote Weight Loss (originally released April 13, 2010)  I learned something very annoying.  It is only annoying because it appears to be true.

The thesis of the two hosts, Dr. Ray Hinish and fitness expert, Blythe Alberg is that AEROBIC EXERCISE DOES NOT SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE WEIGHT LOSS.   This seems contrary to everything that I have heard, or read in the past.  They make the case, backed up with scientific studies that the body tries to replace the 'fat' used during steady state aerobic exercise.  Aerobic exercise can be defined as walking on a treadmill, using an elliptical machine or stair climber.

The two hosts of this podcast stress that aerobic exercise may provide other benefits, including cardio-vascular health, stress reducer or simple enjoyment.

I think back to the week when I 'walked' 80 miles on the treadmill and had the expectation of losing 10+ pounds that week and I could not understand why I 'only' lost 3.5 lbs.  In fact, if the calories 'burned' were really negating a similar amount of calories consumed in food - my results should have been far in excess of what they already are.

These two hosts did claim that aerobic exercise is important to maintaining weight.   It is my plan to continue my aerobic exercise as I do enjoy it.   Perhaps I should be more clear, I feel a great sense of satisfaction once I complete an exercise session.

In my case, it does appear that I have had some beneficial weight loss from my exercise - but the math did not add up anywhere near where is should have been if a calorie burned in exercise was truly equal to a calorie consumed.  I will certainly continue my elliptical training as I am enjoying the sense of accomplishment that I feel as I continue to improve.

I am in desperate need of meeting with the personal trainer at the YMCA who can guide me to other exercises that I should be contemplating.   Hopefully that meeting will take place sometime within the next week.

I have decided to relearn the lesson that I tried to teach myself a few weeks ago.  LESS IS MORE.
I will continue exercising each day, but I will (mostly) limit myself to once per day.  In addition, two days ago, I increased the 'resistance' on the elliptical machine, making each 30 minute segment much more difficult and challenging.  On Tuesday morning, which was the second day that I had increased resistance, I found that my 30 minute workout was (allegedly) burning more calories.  It does make sense that as the 'resistance' increases the energy needed to overcome the 'resistance' will increase as well.   As it is every week, my weigh-in this Saturday should be interesting.

TUESDAY MENU

calories consumed

breakfast     oatmeal w/prune, 1/2 salmon burger, two poached eggs                   350 calories
lunch           JIMMY JOHN'S Bootlegger Club Unwich w/Provolone                  290 calories
dinner          PANERA BREAD Soba Noodle Bowl w/Chicken                           390 calories

calories consumed     1025 calories

calories burned
6AM elliptical machine 32 minutes        475 calories

net calories consumed   550 calories

(Based on the aerobic calorie burning myth that I exposed today - I now know not to place too much faith in the net calories that I report each day with regard to weight loss - although I will continue to do so.   I guess you could say I am reporting this for entertainment only)

MyFitnessPal

Yesterday I downloaded an app from iTunes: MyFitnessPal.   Among the things that it does is allows you to enter all the food you eat in a day.   Psychologically this is a very good idea.   Fat people like me don't like to eat in front of friends and family.  It has always been more enjoyable to stuff my face in privacy.  This cuts down on the shame and guilt - sadly it does not cut down on the waistline.  This app destroys the privacy factor - now as long as I use this app - privacy is gone.   Today, Saturday, I woke up late and by 10AM - The App alerted me to the fact that I hadn't entered my breakfast yet and asked if I wanted to do so.   It appears forgetting to think about this app is also out of the question.   There is a 'game' component to this which may be enjoyable.   It will be a challenge to see how little I can eat without being hungry.   Hunger is an interesting thing.   The 'secret' to ballooning to 315lbs is to always be hungry.   Always be eating. Non-stop eating never cured my false feeling of hunger - I might as well be a little be hungry and be losing weight instead of being constantly hungry and piling on the pounds.   Truth is, I don't think I was any hungrier yesterday than I  have been on any typical day - in fact, I might have been less hungrier during most of the day.  At the conclusion of the day, the app indicated that I consumed less than 900 calories.   It is not my goal to go through life on only 900 calories per day - it is completely unrealistic - but I see no harm in going a bit overboard in the very beginning of this new lifestyle.   Part of the new lifestyle is to think about everything that I stuff in my mouth.   I certainly was not giving that much thought prior to three days ago.
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I am a salesman who spends an average of 10 nights per month on the road in hotel rooms. This is a good place to commit to admitting what a pretty typical breakfast has been for me 'on the road'.    Two (2) Bacon, Egg, Cheese Bagels from McDonalds (620 Calories EACH) followed by a package of Three (3) Hostess Ho Ho's (120 calories EACH) all enjoyed with a DIET COKE! Total Calories for an extremely common breakfast that I had been eating recently 1600 CALORIES. I knew I was eating poorly, but as God is my witness, I never did the math until this very moment.
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I will reserve a future post to reveal my typical lunch and dinner.    It won't be anything to brag about.