The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Long, long ago, we had a thread on these boards about a "Death Clock," which would basically predict how long you would live based on some of your life habits.  I joked at the time that my Death Clock response was "What are you still doing here?" Well, about a month ago, I sat down and made a list of the personal habits, from dietary to behavioral, that I felt were contributing to the decline in general health I've experienced as I've gotten older. A small sampling of these "bad habits":

* Smoking cigarettes
* Smoking marijuana
* Sleeping less than 4 hours per night
* Drinking sodas as my primary beverage
* Late night sweet tooth (munching chocolate/pastry types in bed right before sleeping)
* Very little physical activity

I decided to try changing some of these habits, either by cutting back on the amounts/frequency of the particular habit, or by stopping it completely. As a world class procrastinator, I set a schedule of one item per month, and even set reminders up on my computer and iPhone, so I wouldn't intentionally-accidentally forget. I decided that the best way to start was with the one I thought would be the easiest, so the initial success could serve as motivation to continue on to the next. I decided to start by totally give up carbonated beverages. While the easiest on the list, I cannot overstate how much of a soda hound I've been. I normally go through 2 cases of pepsi per week at home, and pepsi/coke with my meal any time I go out. With the exception of coffee and alcohol, soda has pretty much been it.

So, on April 14th, I drank the last soda in my fridge, and replaced pepsi on my shopping list with fruit juices and some iced tea (caffeine is coming, but not this month). I also have a water filter, so I started filling water bottles and drinking water while I worked during the day. Since I was keeping track going in, my height-weight at the beginning of this list assault was 6'4" 315 lbs.

Today marks one month of no carbonated beverages. I haven't lost much weight...I'm down to 309, but I do feel a little better in general, gut-wise, though I think part of that may be the positive psychosomatic effect of having set and accomplished a minor task. I am actually enjoying the juice/water drinking, and plan on continuing a strict anti-carbonation beverage plan, except for the "occasional" (1-2 per month) social beers.

Tomorrow, I'm putting an end to the late night sweet tooth. No sweets other than my juices/teas between the time I finish dinner and the time I go to sleep. I am allowing myself some healthier snacks, like some crackers (no chips) and some fruits/veggies I like, but nothing at all after 10 PM.  I'm a man who definitely loves his chocolate, so I expect this one to be tough.

Good for you. I have been thinking about taking some personal inventory and making some changes as well. I don't feel as well as I did 10 years ago so I recognize that I need to start taking better care of myself. As a fellow procrastinator I have not started yet, not even by setting the actual goals. I just need to buck up and get started so I either succeed or fail.

Bravo, Stroke.  A couple big steps in a good direction.

I've been doing some similar activities, but not nearly as consciously.  I started "no carbs after 5 PM" which includes desserts and sugars.  I make an exception for Sunday dinners at my grandmother's because Italian families need their pasta.  I have tried "no more sodas" and failed a few times, but I'm trying again right now.  I also started "No eating lunch out" which makes me irritable.  This is week 3 for me of that.  Add to that "no more than 2 beers in a day, or 5 beers in a week" and that's my vice reduction plan.  In time, I will find loopholes and then likely fall off the wagon completely.  In all, my reduction plans are pointed at general better health and size reduction.

Awesome Job Stroke...

I found drinking Alcohol was the easiest to give up,but did cost me in unexpected ways...(See Toby Keith :you aint much fun since I quit drinking)..

My love of food,and wanting to eat the hardest.Even with that sooner or later I found little fixes that were better for me..Marinating chicken so it was tolerable,and rediscovering lean pork allowed me to give up red meat.Whole wheat pasta,so I could still have Lasagna (and going with a vegetable lasagne),and other pasta dishes...

I used love Ice cream,I couldn't help my self,me sitting down eating a quart..No shocker.Like most everything I quit cold turkey,Ice cream is still a weakness of mine,even though I've not had it in years....Now I'm taking my Yogurt cups (Walmart brand Light,orange cream 80-90 calories a piece) dropping them in the freezer for a couple of hours,they taste like an orange push up.I do 2 so they're 160 calories...

Lately I've been getting into veggie burgers,( :-[ Never thought I'd ever say that....)

Smoking was very hard,and I still get craving...Food is still a daily struggle...

Keep up the good work Stroke,can't wait to hear about future,better feeling Stroke...

It's weird that you say that, B, because I have "quit drinking alcohol of any kind" on my list, though my drinking is so minor these days that I'm not really worried about giving it up. It does conflict a little with one of my other "bad habits" items, which is to be more "real world" social...hang out with friends, be less reclusive. A lot of my friends drink, so I figure I'll hold off on the alcohol one for a little while.

The cigarettes are going to be the toughest. I've puffed for close to 40 years, and have struggled on my few past half-assed attempts at quitting.

You can do it!

Good stuff.

I think that some of these will lead to others.

Have you considered diet/zero alternatives to soda?  I think that Coke Zero is basically the same, but hate diet coke.  Smoking will be tough and will likely make you want to eat more.  Try exercise.

^^ I drink Diet Coke exclusively.  If you were to drink Diet Coke, you'll never go back to regular.  Its gross.

But, even still, its got bad stuff in it.  Chemicals and such.  It has no sugar and supposedly no calories but its still pretty bad for you.

I found out a lot about myself,and "friends" when I quit drinking.My cousin,seeing his friends accept him not drinking was the turning point...

One of the Girls in the office brought in brownies for someone's birthday,I thought about what Stroke said about chocolate,and remembered seeing a cooking show that did healthier chocolate things...(I thought it was on the cooking channel,it was the show I watch on youtube...Nicko's!)

I can't vouch if these are good or not,I have done a few of his recipes,and surprisingly liked them.I typically skip his sugary videos,but sugar free peaked my interest.......Tofu/and applesauce brownie ??? yeah,but for someone who loves chocolate,might be a way to have some healthier options to satisfy those cravings,occasionally...

Brownie-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQqOI7Ni9mM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQqOI7Ni9mM)
Fudge - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny8TBHJ6vCA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny8TBHJ6vCA)
Chocolate bars -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pAgGjgbMUs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pAgGjgbMUs)

^^^ copied those links...thanks.

I didn't crave the chocolate too bad last night, but I did have dinner fairly late. The Rolos and mini-Snickers are probably waiting for a sneak attack though...

ok, Stroke,It's the 4th day of the month....So can we get an update on the changes you've implemented?

 Is this the month where you try to improve your sleeping habits?

As Someone that does have problems with sleep,how are you trying to attack this change?

This month (which started May 14th) is the banishment of the "late night sweet tooth" habit, and it's gone pretty well so far, though nowhere near the "perfect score" I gave myself on the "lose the sodas" habit. There have been two times where I ate a sweet snack shortly (within 30 min) past my 10 PM cut-off, and several others where I allowed myself a healthier "late snack" like saltines, cherry tomatoes or a little cheese. In all instances, I broke out the "I just didn't realize it was getting so late" excuse, and most times, I partially believed myself. ;)

On a coincidental note...I believe that part of why I am actually struggling a little with this one is because of my abnormal sleep schedule that you're asking about. I may need to move that one up to this coming month (6/14) in order to provide a more stable platform from which I can accomplish some of the others more easily.

Still no sodas...it's gotten to the point where I don't even think about it. I just naturally order water when I go out, or juice/iced tea if it's a place that I know offers them.


Really not sure... This will be a tough one, and one that has a "self-inflicted" root to the problem. When I was younger, say from my late teens into my late 20's, I really didn't sleep very much, and often had nights where I simply didn't sleep at all. Despite the lack of sleep, I seemed to get along just fine. By the time I was sent to Germany for my first duty assignment, I was pretty much convinced that was just the way things were, and I simply didn't need the same sleep considerations as everyone else. I decided to set up a schedule to try to control the pattern, and for the next 3 years, I would sleep 3-4 hours per night on every night except Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, I would simply stay awake all night and not sleep at all. I kept myself busy with a lot of reading and other nocturnally acceptable pursuits. I even found a local athletic club that stayed open late and would often work out at 2 AM. On Thursdays, I would extend my sleep to 5-6 hours (set alarm for 6, often woke up shortly before). After "roughly" 3 years, I gave it up, just because people started actually telling me that I looked tired. I went to sleeping 4-5 hours per night at that point, and twenty-something years later, I'm still at the 4-5 hour per night mark.

The tough part isn't going to be in forcing myself to lay down in bed earlier and stay there longer...it will be in getting my mind to actually sleep for a longer period of time while I'm there.

I myself have tried to remove all sodas and fast food. It is not easy.

Stroke, I went through similar inventory about three months ago.  Now my list looked a little different from yours as I never really smoked marijuana (the two times I did were both disappointing and a minor disaster).

The best advice I can give you is to do one or two things at a time and focus on those.

I've just passed the 100 day mark for Sobriety (and I never set foot in an AA meeting). 

I gave up soda as a primary beverage about a week ago, but if you like fruit juice (and I do) be careful how much you drink of it.  Sometimes a bottle of fruit juice has as many calories as the soda.  I really like the Arnold Palmer half and half that you can get at the store or I'll drink the shit out of some Country Time Lemonade mix/Tang. 

The most important thing I learned during all this is that you've got to WANT to do something.  I had to WANT to quit drinking before I could actually quit drinking.  Just keep motivated.

The Palmer is one of my go-to drinks lately. I buy the sweet tea by the gallon, and keep a small pitcher with some lemonade (country time powder) on the top shelf. Half a glass of ice, two parts sweet tea, one part lemonade...total quenching of thirst achieved.

On the alcohol...I learned that lesson in my 20's, and I've never had an issue with it since. My three biggies are going to be pot, cigarettes and sleep.

Has anything religious become involved in this just out of curiosity?  I know right after I got saved is when I quit drinking.  I'm not going to advocate religion or try to talk you into it or bore you with how I became born again, but in my case it helped.

^^^ No, not at all... I honestly have no interest in organized religion at this point in my life.

Just a little catch-up... I've gotten a little casual on the specific dates to start certain changes lately, but my first two (no sodas and no late night snacking) are still going strong. Haven't lost much weight in the last few months...10-12 lbs, max, but I have tackled one of the biggies on my list...the lack of sleep. I've increased my normal sleep by almost 50%, from 4 hours to 6 hours every night. Started about 2 weeks ago, and it's starting to feel comfortable. My problem with sleep is that I have to have some sound on while I go to sleep, but when I watch TV to help fall asleep, I just end up watching TV and not sleeping, and when I listen to music trying to fall asleep, I end up singing along in my head and not sleeping. If I turn off all sound, it's even worse... I decided to turn off the TV, and use my iPhone and Pandora while plugged in on my bedside table. I have 6 channels of different music with no vocals, from classical to contemporary piano, jazz, Spanish guitar, etc... My David Lanz channel (contemporary piano, heavy mellow) has been really good lately, and I tend to spend less than 20-30 minutes listening before I fall asleep.

The extra snooze time has definitely helped from a mental alertness perspective...I simply feel more rested.

I am a terrible sleeper and on top of that I have tinnitus pretty bad. A fan no longer is good enough. My wife doesn't sleep well with noise so I have to use the sleep timer on the tv. I usually set the sleep timer for 1 hour and turn it to TV land or Nickelodeon and turn away. I know pretty much all of the old shows so I don't get too invested in listening and will fall asleep.  When i wake up at night I do the same thing.

I get horrible sleep so this is something that I'm really working on. I have to turn off the tv around 10ish. Then read for an  hour. I also have to have some sort of noise. Either my fan or my ambient noise app on my iPhone.  No booze. No caffeine after noon. Drink some tea and start winding down around 9 ish. Helps if I get decent exercise, too. But not too close to bed or I'll be up all night.

If I REALLY work at it, I can get decent sleep.

I was on Ambien for a while to help, but it just made me cook in my sleep.

Great ... I can hook you up with some disorganized religion!!  :D

This is exactly why I am fearful of taking these kinds of things. My wife sleeps through everything and there is no idea what I would do in my sleep. As a kid I would actually leave my house and go next door so not sure how bad that could get under the influence of something.

I actually am an extremely light sleeper (to the point that I don't sleep), so had never experienced anything like it. I was waking up and finding brownie pans and stuff around the house. I also bought a bunch of HIDEOUS clothes in my sleep. They wuold just randomly show up at my house and I wouldn't remember buying them.
 
Also, ambien left me really out of it the next day if I didn't take it early enough to get a full 8 - 10 hours. It was fine at first, but then it just got bizarre.

I like noise in the room to an extent,I do use the T.V. on sleep timer...Public T.V is awesome...

My biggest problem when trying to get to sleep is getting the noise out of my HEAD.I think about everything while laying in bed.What I have to do the next day,what happened during my day,things I'm working on,planning things in the future,etc,etc...Every night no matter how exhausted I am, or what I'm thinking about,there is a period where a wave of stress,negativity,depression hit me. Usually it hits right as the noise of the room fades,the mind noise starts taking over,and I'm about to fall to sleep.If I can't block it out quickly it will snap me awake,almost like a nightmare type feeling...I then have to try to go back through the whole process again,or end up getting up and watch T.V. for 30 minutes to an hour before trying again.

In recent events,I have turned off my police scanner at night,not because of falling asleep,but if I got up to use the water closet during the night...I'd hear a chase,robbery,something going on...Rather than sleep walk to the water closet,do,my business,and back to bed.It seemed as it would wake my mind up...

Lately,an added problem has been one my dogs actually hurt his back leg 3 weeks ago. (He's a massive faker) He pulls an injury,illness once a month that lasts about 12-24 hours..So when he started crying so much,and the limp didn't mysteriously disappear after a couple of days...I'd open the door,ask him to go out for 2 hours,nothing,keep asking ,nothing...Then all of the sudden he would start crying,stand up and pee a river. Well as he's heeled it's been much better,but every time he walks into the bedroom, I jump up you got to go outside? It's thrown his normal routine out of whack...

This is why my little girl is trained to ring a bell when she needs to go. No guessing!