Switch To Water

I love, love honey buns, coffee rolls, apple pie, and cheesecake--forget about it!  When I pass by a Trader Joe's or The Cheesecake Factory, my mouth waters and I sometimes shakes.  Both of them have cheesecake that brings me to euphoria when I beginning eating.  When I'm finished, a blanket of sadness covers me because I just consumed about 700 calories.  Most of the time when I indulge, if I'm home, I drop to the floor and do as many push-ups as I can; it helps, but only a little.  I'm still stuck with at least 660 calories in my body that plan to say as long as they can.

I realized there was no way I was giving up cheesecake and my other favorites.  I wanted to lose weight, and stay athletic as best I could; gobbling down cheesecake and other nonsense was not going to help me with my current diet, so something had to go.  I didn't want to change my diet completely and starting boiling everything I ate or eat smaller potions; starving yourself is very hard and I don't believe that it is very healthy.

The only reasonable solution was to change my fluids.  The soda, the energy drinks, lemonade, and the coffee I drank had to change.

My body didn't need those kinds of beverages; it only needed the water that was in them.  Even though I mentioned coffee, I'm not a big coffee drinker.  Once in a while I would get one of those crazy coffees from Starbucks, but for millions of people, they live and breathe Starbucks.  It is good stuff, but even more than soda, lemonade, and energy drinks, Starbucks' coffees have tons of calories. Based on the size, there are about 275-650 calories (and more) in some of them.  That is 100 calories more than a Big Mac; I have to say it, that's crazy!

So, my liquids had to change, and I changed to water.  But the question that I had been missing for a long time was, how much water should I drink a day?

Now, I read more than a few articles about water and the medium intake was about a gallon.  Putting down a gallon of water a day is no easy task, whether you are exercising or not.  Before I decided to adhere to the advice of many, I might have been getting a total of 40-50 oz a day of fluid--I rarely ever drank straight water.  One article informed that if you're pee is not clear during the day that you are dehydrated--I checked a few websites and clear is okay, but a light yellow is good.  

Since then, I have been drinking about 140 oz and day.  I cut out the sugary drinks almost completely and I feel a lot better.  I pee like crazy now, but I don't mind so much.  I'm losing weight, which I like and I'm still getting to enjoy my sweets, but only three times a week.

For those that need their Starbucks, try just plain black coffee. That only has 2-5 calories, therefore, instead of that ridiculous coffee you can get one of their sweets; can't go wrong with the apple fritter, only 420 calories.  

Mr. Felder

Lakers Reach 500

After six games in the 2013-2014 season the Los Angeles Lakers are 3-3.  That is not bad considering most NBA pundits and fans thought they would be holding onto one win now, especially with the last Laker left, Kobe Bryant, still injured.

Last night, the Lake Show traveled to hostile territory to face an old friend, more like new foe, Dwight Howard and the Rockets.  The Lakers looked smooth and fluid for the first half and midway through the third quarter until James Harden tried to show why he deserves to be considered a NBA elite.

I'm sorry, but I'm not on the Harden train, yet.  He is a good player; top 20 there is no question, but last night I saw flashes of the player he could be.  In the third quarter he took over and made it look easy; slicing to the basket, hitting the three-ball, dishing it to Parsons in the lane, and even blocking a few jump shots.  But I do have to mention, on straight up man-to-man, Steve Blake, who is in his late 30's beat him off the dribble, which is not okay!  I'm pretty sure even at his current age, Bill Russell, wouldn't let that happen.

To win the game last night the Lakers resorted to what is currently the worst part of NBA basketball -- fouling a player that doesn't have the ball to make him shoot free throws.  Yes, I know it's a part of the game, doesn't mean that I have to like it.  There is no integrity in resorting to such tactics.  Last year, when Howard was a Laker, teams deployed the same tactic and it worked.  Last night, it worked again.  Howard was only able to go fifty percent from the line in the 4th quarter and it cost his team.

Blake was able to hit a three to take the lead with under two seconds in the fourth quarter, and with the little time left the Rockets put up a pray that wasn't answered.

So the Lakers are at 500 with Kobe on the bench.  I know what the haters are thinking, Kobe is going to come back and make them worse because everyone will have to play according to him, that is, if he can even play.

Wrong.

Kobe has been ready to pass the torch in LA for a few years now.  And not because he can't still be the best, but rather, father time catches up to everyone.  Kobe doesn't want what happened to the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan left (the second time) to happen to the Lakers.  That franchise went down the drain immediately.  Jordan didn't leave an exit strategy and Kobe has been trying to do that.

Despite the way he plays and the decisions that he makes on the court, Kobe is always doing it for the betterment of the Lakers.  Only time will tell if Kobe is going to be able to return to his greatness.  I think that he can.  The Lakers need him on the court, if they want to have a chance to win a ring (a small chance I have accepted).  Even with one good leg Kobe is still better than 85 percent of the NBA players and that is real.  No matter what, he needs to be on the court so the currents Lakers can play with greatness and see what it is really all about, the team.

Mr. Felder