Starting a new webcam series called At Home with Joey. This is first installment. Subscribe and/or enjoy!
May 30, 2011
Check out my new weight loss blog: http://1morelb.wordpress.com
You can lose weight! You really can! One pound at a time!
May 24, 2011
Weight Watchers PointsPlus in Tandem?
Posted by Joey Mustain under What I Think (as if it mattered)Leave a Comment
I don’t think I’m ready to just say that this day or that one will be a Q & A day for Weight Watchers. They don’t call me an authority so I won’t call myself one. However, as I get questions that may pertain to the masses (and that I can answer) I’ll post them here.
A friend on Facebook asked the following:
“Joey-do you recommend doing WW on your own or in a group setting?”
My answer (with a load of extras infused for the blog):
It’s hard to make that call for someone else. I view the online version as one for the loner, and the meetings version as one for partners (even though that’s not what WW would say). That’s certainly not the rule of thumb. My parents are using the online version together, and Karen has seen lots of success by doing the meetings by herself. All that said, I do better by using WW Online basically by myself, and Karen attends meetings.
Though Karen and I do it at the same time, we aren’t the best partners because males and females have dramatically different points allowances and weight loss momentums. It didn’t take long to realize that it can be discouraging to the one who sees results more slowly if all the tracking is completely transparent. In fact, Dr. Oz addressed this in a recent couples episode. Women, because of menstrual cycles, body composition, etc., simply lose more slowly, and it can create a bit of a jealousy issue if you keep track together. Karen and I are no exceptions. I lost more quickly, and it frustrated Karen. We remedied this by not disclosing numbers, and simply letting each other know about positive or negative progress.
Karen has also said that it was really difficult to cook for both her diet and my diet back when we did separate things. When I was doing Sugar Busters, my perfect meal would be a huge pile of points for Karen, and her perfect meal would be a heaping helping of carbs for me. When I switched, our home diet-life was a breeze!
It makes sense to me that the majority of people would do better with an accountability partner. Whether that’s a spouse or not is really up to you. It’s a touchy subject to try and steer your spouse aright concerning health issues, though. It’s too easy to take something personally or misinterpret good motives.
If you look at the meetings vs. online as partner vs. solo (again, that’s not what WW would say), then here are a few pros and cons:
The online version is more accurate and more interactive. As long as what you are searching for is in the databse, you can add something to the tracker and it will already be calulated both points-wise and in your daily tally. If you’re e-inclined, then the interactive cheat sheets and trackers will be a great motivation.
The meetings’ major pro, in my opinion, is the online version’s major con: you can become a Lifetime Member at meetings. Because there is no way to know if you’re telling the truth online, you’ll always have to pay to be member there. Once you hit your goal and maintain for a specific period of time in the meetings, however, you’ll never have to pay again! That’s pretty big.
It’s very easy to convert to meetings if you start online, so you might try that flow to give you a taste of both. I don’t want it to sound like a cop out answer, but it really just depends on where your unique will-power is given the best shot at success.
This whole thing is based on being a realist. Don’t try to do things that you know you cannot sustain.
A few DOs and DON’Ts:
1. DO give WWPP a try.
2. DON’T try to take on more than you can realistically accomplish.
3. DO make a long-haul decision so that you can give trial-and-error its proper time in order to figure out what’s best for you.
4. DON’T try to go solo if you aren’t disciplined enough to hold yourself accountable.
5. DO share you success with friends.
6. DON’T commission a partner to hold you accountable and then become defensive when s/he holds you accountable.
7. DO take advantage of the perks available to both WW methods.
8. DON’T choose a method based on perks.
9. DO choose a method based on the most realistic possibility of your success.
10. DON’T choose a partner who will give up too quickly, and certainly don’t give up just because s/he does.
To blog readers: The biggest thing for you to do is most likely to stop analyzing the details of starting, and just get started. If you’ll fool yourself into thinking you’re just researching, you’ll probably fool yourself into thinking that a food item is worth less than it really is. Be honest with yourself, and take your life back!
May 18, 2011
Weight Watchers PointsPlus Hints
Posted by Joey Mustain under What I Think (as if it mattered)Leave a Comment
I wasn’t looking for a change in my diet. In the summer of 1999, my weight topped out at 260 pounds and there was no end in sight. I found comfort in overindulgence, and, in some manner of speaking, I had become addicted to food. With the encouragement of my roommate and best friend, Jeremy Lile, I embarked on a weight loss journey in the fall of that year using a low-carb diet and exercise. I found myself weighing 155 less than a year later.
Because of my success, no one on planet Earth could have talked me out of my Sugar Busters (that was the book we used) mentality. Still I wasn’t prepared for the 12 years that would follow. I roller-coastered from 180 to as much as 220 pounds, and couldn’t figure out how I could get back to the shape I was in after I had first begun the diet.
To make a long story short, in February of this year (2011) my wife suggested that I do Weight Watchers with her, and since they’d switched to the PointsPlus program, I was a little more keen on the idea than I once would have been. For so long WW seemed like such a sugar-heavy diet, and I’d had nothing to do with it. The new plan, however, finally took into account carbs and protein, and I was much more open to it.*
I started the plan at 178 pounds and made 165 my goal. Within 2 months, I was eating more than I’d eaten in a long time (both content and quantity) and had hit my goal. At this writing, I’m in my 4th week of maintenance, and still loving every day of it.
With that in mind, I not only want to encourage my readers to try WWPP on for size, but I’d also like to give you a few helpful tips for keeping your sanity during the transition to WW. Keep in mind that I am not a doctor, and you should certainly check with one before you begin any diet plan.
Nothing is as cut-and-dry as the ads make things out to be. These tips are basically just a few things that I wish someone would have shared with me combined with what I did in order to get where I am. I am confident that if you tuck even half of them away as you do WWPP, that you will reach your goal more quickly, and you’ll feel less like you’re on a dreaded deprivation diet and more like you’re savoring your life tastefully!
Here they are:
1. Start the day with oatmeal. – 4 points well-spent. It’s very filling, and you can doctor it up with non-fat spray butter, splenda, and cinnamon without adding any points. Not only will it easily fill you till lunch, but it’s a power food, meaning it’s not only nutritious, but fat-burning, too.
2. Snack on fruit. – On the new system fruit is free (0 points). A banana will fill you up nicely and you can save points for something else.
3. Plan your meal. - I’m not saying you have to map out the week, or even the day, but try not to order, eat, then count. You’ll be point-poor far too quickly that way. Instead, use the WWPP app’ on your phone or dwlz.com. You’ll find that a cheeseburger at McDonald’s is just as satisfying as the McDouble.
4. Do NOT deprive yourself. - Seriously. I eat a Twinkie (4 points) almost every day. You can really help de-guilt your eating life this way. Nothing is off-limits as long as it fits in your point plan.
5. Count your points as you go. – Do your best to enter your points right after you eat them. With the tools available now, it’s very easy to keep up with everything. The longer you go without recording your day, the more overwhlemed you’ll be at trying to remember everything. Besides, if you’re like I am, it can be tough to remember everything too far after the fact.
6. Write points on packages. – It will be increasingly annoying to you to figure all the nutrition facts data each time you consume. Instead, keep a few 2-, 3-, and 4-point snacks on hand so you can just go to the pantry and get what you’re looking for quickly. The more time you spend living your life instead of living the diet, the less overwhelmed you’ll be.
7. Make the diet fit your life, not vice versa. – I like to keep a little snack bank aside in my points allowance for the evenings. I’m a realist. So the idea of not snacking on a little popcorn or something similar while I watch TV at night is a little goofy and unlivable. If you like a snack while you drive home from work, or a stop by Starbucks while you’re enjoying your evening with your significant other, keep that snack bank set aside.
8. Use your flex points according to your results. – They aren’t there as a punishment allowance or an indulgence. They are as much a part of your point plan as the normal daily allowance. However, if you use all 49 and you’re not losing weight, cut it back. Try leaving 5 or 10 on the table and see what happens.
9. Be strict. – You aren’t changing the point value on your body by changing the point value in your records. Purposefully lying to yourself is really a character issue. However, sometimes you can inadvertently enter an incorrect number by being unaware of how the system works. This most often occurs in the double portions. For example, a crunchy taco from Taco Bell is 4 points, but if you eat two then it’s actually 9 points (total). That occurs because of the rounding in the single-serving WWPP figures. If you’re doing your plan using WW Online, it’s a lot easier to stay accurate because their tracker takes care of this for you.
10. Settle in and take your time. - If you came from a low-carb diet, like I did, you’re probably used to losing weight more quickly. Of course, you’re also used to gaining it quickly, too. WWPP is meant for 1-2 lbs weight loss weekly. Half of a pound is as much a victory as 2 pounds. Think of this as a life move as opposed to a short-term goal. Short-term goals can be easily derailed by missing important milestones, but lifetime changes give you all the time in world to stay on track. You’ll get there when you get there, and not a moment sooner or later.
If it sounds like I like Weight Watchers PointsPlus, good. I do. If it sounds like it’s a breeze, well, that’s kind of good. No diet is effortless if you’re used to eating what you want when you want. But the effort (whether it feels like a little or a lot) truly spills in to other parts of your life. You really will be happier and more fulfilled by living your entire life on purpose. For those of you who are doing that with every part of your life except your diet, this plan is your ticket. For those of you who feel out of control in most parts of your life, this plan is a great way to start reigning it all in.
Enjoy!
*It’s been reported that folks who are used to a low-carb diet can take up to a month or more to get their bodies used to taking in more carbs the way you will be with WWPP. While that makes sense, I was low-carb when low-carb wasn’t cool, and I experienced weight loss on at every single weekly weigh-in. I’m not saying you will see the exact results I saw, but don’t let that report hold you back from trying the plan.
April 9, 2011
No, the title doesn’t mean anything. Just a Seinfeld quote. 
So 2011 has wasted no time buring its brand on my mind. With the loss of Gary Miller, founder and member of Vocal Union, it’s been a slow go in terms of shows and updates. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. Even though the shock of Gary’s loss has smoothed out a little for the general public, please don’t forget that his absence is still very real to his family. Please visit www.vocalunion.com to see how you can help.
Most of my updates have been in a somewhat real time format since we picked up a Facebook page. That’s left this blog on the proverbial back-burner for quite a while (I’ve read more than a few blogs, and I’m amazed at how many blog posts are simply apologies for not posting in a while). I’ll try to keep up from this point forward, but events that have happened up to this point are kind of blurry to me right now. I’ll not rehash that. I’m trying to be a realist.
So far the biggest change here is the updated iWillBe page and the addition of the iWas page. As always, I’d love to see you wherever you can make it!
January 31, 2011
We had a crazy, awesome weekend this past weekend in Austin, Texas.
As you know, I tour with Vocal Union, but what you may not know is that Karen and I have been blessed with a great church and a great relationship with the Fourth Avenue Church in Franklin, Tennessee. It’s a bit of a drive, but it’s absolutely worth the 30 minute drive from Murfreesboro.
Through that church we have been allowed to use our God-given gifts with Ken Young and the Hallal worship group, and this past weekend was another example of how God has smiled on that ministry.
We boarded the plane early Friday, connected in snowy Chicago, and arrived in the sunny Lone Star State around Friday lunch. The Hallal group was commissioned to conduct a worship conference called Stream at the Westover Hills Church.
Karen and I will be forever grateful for our new friendships and our refreshed relationship with God. If there is ever a Stream near you, it really needs to be among your top priorities to go.
Check out www.hallalworship.com for more details.
November 4, 2010
The days grow short and the gray alleys of mid- and early mid-twentieth century nostalgia are fading and breaking into small, brittle pieces. His mind now is like a photograph pulled from the wreckage of forgotten storage. The corners are gone, and the tape that had repaired it a long time ago has browned and is crackling.
He barely and fully remembers days of clothing that was original, not throwback. Days of art, music, experience and experiment, all wrapped up in browns, burgundys, deep greens, and yellows. The film lies. He imagines their time smelled of must and neglect. They were happy, hardened, and as ignorant as any generation before or since. Their sports were rougher, their smiles were earned, and they became his history.
One by one, another piece of the photograph mingles with the dust and gnats at the bottom of a suitcase. Memories caught in time now forgotten, now crumbs. They laughed on the hood of a car on an Indiana back road. They squinted their eyes and smirked in the sun. They stood in the school parking lot with their huge collars and folders. They gathered in his great-great-grandparents home, or at least in their honor. In the corners sat the sages and elderly, “that’s my uncle” or “I don’t remember him.” In spurts are the sporadic splashes of the younger, newer members of the family, up close, mouth open, eyes wide and smooth.
The scenes are blurry, the trees have silver garland and popcorn. The dresses had belts, the hairdos had wings, the pants had plaid. The glasses were black, the hats were dapper, the televisions were forgotten.
Weak images of strong recollection. Pieces of a single frame. He prays to see them move, breathe, wink, cough. His petition granted with a catch: silence.
In their background, they must have the constant rattle and hum of running from spool to spool. It’s all he knows of them, and they have to be hearing it, too. There must be large spots of dust in their world that appear then disappear as quickly. Their mouths move, but they don’t speak. There is background music, but he doesn’t think they hear it. If they do, they continue to smile, smoke, laugh, hug, and blush. They move so much more quickly than he remembers.
They struggle with the same sins, he believes. Theirs are far more hidden, of necessity. Their tastes are simpler than his own, yet more complex than their parents’. Their word is their bond, and he will never again hear their bond. Their love is deeper from the start. “Till death do us part” meant they were both leaving, together. They, too, are a cycle, and their memories are crumbling just like his. Tin crumbles, too, and gathers, stains, and fills the space between floor and bed.
The screen goes blank. The spool beats the projector in hopeless rage. The vinyl goes white. The room goes black. Suddenly he feels he is a picture in his own hand.
The pictures fade. Their images are soon stock. No one remembers them anymore. His wrinkled hand hurts as it grips the faded, little paper. Drops of moisture are no issue by now. He can’t really save them. He knows so much more than they, and so much less.
They are now names that another explorer in a distant generation will discover in a library, and those names will be called branches. And those branches will hopefully make an herbal salve, healing wounded consciences that are unclean because they belong to fingers that didn’t write, hold, call, or wave.
The explorer hurts.
His memories are brittle, too.
November 3, 2010
One of the new shots from the latest photo shoot is on the website now. Check it out: www.vocalunion.com
While there, figure out which show you get to come to!
November 1, 2010
Life As I Know It: November 2010 Edition
Posted by Joey Mustain under Dear Diary . . ., Miscellany, News (in my world)Leave a Comment
Another year of MLB in the books. For the first time in 56 years of west coast baseball, the Giants have won the pennant. My baseball year was over after the Braves lost in the first round of the playoffs. It was a good send-off for the bog #6, Bobby Cox.
Now that the NFL near or around the halfway mark, and the NBA is completing its first week in the 2010-11 season, my thoughts turn to my fantasy NBA and NFL teams.
I’m running two NFL fantasy teams and one NBA team. Only one for money, therefore, only one matters (ha!). I’m number one in the money league, but I’ve let a lead like that slip away before so I’ll have to keep you updated. That lead could’ve slipped away this week had I not faced a guy the matchup who forgot to set his roster. I’ve had two straight weeks of typically high-scoring players who have barely crossed the 5 point mark. Rough, i tell ya.
Right now I’m finishing the Colts game out of mere addiction. I switched to ESPN Fantasy this year, and the free, live FantasyCast has me glued to the computer screen with brief stints watching the actual TV screen. I say addiction because I won my matchup yesterday, but I still have Schaub and Garcon in play (neither of whom have come close to the analysts point predictions).
Life’s been hectic of late. Work’s forever unspeakable because of regulations, so let’s just say it’s been good. Now I just have to live up to the standards I’ve set myself. Church has been fun because of several leading and praise team appearances. Touring has been light of late, but we’ve added personal travel to make up for it.
This past weekend I had outdoor show in west Tennessee. The weather has been a bit strange, and to prove it, I got a sun burn in October! I drove myself out there so I could get back to the house in time to pass out candy for Halloween. I tried my best to break the speed laws, but it didn’t work. I guess it could have, but we bought a fire pit just before I left for the shows. Our neighbors have a tradition of passing the candy out from the driveways while gathered around fire pits. I love that because I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy one. When I got back to the house I had to put it together, and by the time I did that, it was too late. Karen and I lit a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows together on the back porch. While Karen wishes we could have been together for the trick-or-treaters, the time she and I got to share on the back porch made the speed demonic trip home worth every mile!
This weekend we get to visit family in Indiana. My great-grandparents are celebrating 70 years of marriage together. Not many people have or will be able to enjoy something like that, so I consider myself almost as blessed as my Nina and Grandpa. I hope Karen and I live long enough to share that with our families.
Next shows will be weekend after this coming one. We’ll be in the Chicago area, so you who can come, I’d love to see ya!
October 20, 2010
Facebook Filters and Nerdy Wait Staff
Posted by Joey Mustain under What I Think (as if it mattered)Leave a Comment
Well, we decided to rejoin the Facebook world a little while ago. We tried to simply start from scratch and build it from the ground up, but to no avail. Of all the shifting things in our lives, one of the few constants has been our e-mail address (same one since 2003). Since we didn’t have another one to turn to, I attempted to log-in using the old account. It worked, and I was face to face with an online time capsule.
1,200-1,300 “friends” were sitting there having gone on with their online world, and I’m not sure that many of them even noticed I was gone, or at least I hope they didn’t notice. Karen and I took about an hour or more shaving down the list to essentials–people we know now and don’t mind reading what new recipe they’re trying out or how big a mess their kid or dog left in the living room. When we finished there were only 192 left.
A week or two later, we’re approaching 500 friends, and even though we didn’t necessarily want it to get that big, I’m proud that we can at least say we know them all.
There’s no real set criteria for who we’ll add. We didn’t set out with a formula or anything. But here are a few trends I’ve noticed in our “adds”:
- Do we go to church with you?
- If we go to church with you, would we hang out with you outside church?
- Are we related to you?
- Did we go to school with you?
- If we went to school with you, do we want to know how you’re doing now (which mostly has to do with whether or not we liked you then)?
- Are you a part of good memories?
- Do we wish we could spend more time with you, but simply do not have time to call you regularly?
- Do we work with you?
- If we work with you, do we like you? (after looking at the friend list, I think a couple may have slipped through that crack)
- Are you more concerned with getting that beer in your hand in the pic than your face?
- Would I hire you if your Facebook page were your resume?
- Do you dress like a whore?
- Do you let your daughters dress like whores?
- Does your online representation make us want to beg Facebook for a “dislike” button?
(If the answer to any one of 10, 12, 13, or 14 is “yes,” you will not be confirmed as a friend)
Again, those questions are not a formula, they’re merely a result of observation.
—
On another note, I enjoyed an evening of whole wheat pasta at Macaroni Grille with my wife. She’d had a hard day at work, and just wanted to chill a bit. I don’t mind a $50 meal at all when I know we can sit across the table and talk without the television stealing our attention. It’s not her fault this time of year. It’s too hard to pay attention to anyone when the ALCS and NLCS are both running.
The only real distraction was that stupid waiter who sings Happy Birthday in Italian. I have no idea how we do it, but it seems like every time we go there someone is celebrating a birthday. I’d rather hear the Mexicans manage a yelling mumble of their version of the song than hear these MG goofballs.
I do, however, love looking at Karen during that nut-job’s song and being able to make fun of it together without ever saying a word!
It’s a good life.
