Redsmetz

[redsmetz]

Here's me at a ballgame

https://auctions.overstock.com/aimages/d/0/0/106/1066883_0.jpg

[vaticanplum]

Hello :wave:

You look friendly. Who is on your hat?

[KronoRed]

Nice beard :)

[SeeinRed]

I want a Reds World Series appearance for Christmas..... kidding, kidding.:D

[redsmetz]

I want a Reds World Series appearance for Christmas..... kidding, kidding.:D

LOL - don't we all. I play Santa Claus once a year at our parish's food pantry, so I'll see what I can do.

As for the question about whose on my hat, it's just a logo that says (I think - it's down at work right now) Cincinnati Reds est. 1869. I bought it at Sears, I think. My wife said she'd get me a new hat for Father's Day, but I told, only if I get to keep this one. It's getting kind of ratty looking and I'm fond of it.

[redsmetz]

I thought I'd update this post. Last Saturday was my birthday, so my wife got me a new Reds hat. I'd left my old hat in Missouri and my brother-in-law said he was going to hold it and desecrate it. We were playing so well, I told him to keep it since clearly it was bringing the club luck in exile out there.

Hence the new hat. It's the hat the club wore for the 1955 season when they became the Redlegs because of the McCarthy era hysteria. After I got it, I realized 1955 would have been my first baseball season. That makes it all the cooler for me.

Also, this is the new svelte me - I've taken off over 40 lbs since last summer.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1204.snc4/155626_476832498449_512743449_5950969_3594576_n.jp g

[WMR]

Lookin' good!!

P.S. Can I please have a Red Ryder BB Gun for Xmas? ;)

[redsmetz]

Lookin' good!!

P.S. Can I please have a Red Ryder BB Gun for Xmas? ;)

Last time I posted my pic, someone said the same thing. Tomorrow I play Santa Claus at St. George's Food Pantry, my one gig a year.

[Sea Ray]

Are you sure that isn't a Cubs hat???

[WMR]

I gotta ask, RM, I know you live in Cincy... doesn't that beard drive you nuts in the summer? Those humid Cincy summers are just brutal...

[redsmetz]

Are you sure that isn't a Cubs hat???

My wife asked that too, but wrong color blue AND a wishbone C.

Evidence:

http://omgreds.com/uploaded_images/1955_topps_kluszewski-779394.jpg

[redsmetz]

I gotta ask, RM, I know you live in Cincy... doesn't that beard drive you nuts in the summer? Those humid Cincy summers are just brutal...

Sometimes, but I be alot uglier without the beard. My wife's never seen me without it (nor have my kids). Her sister said she doesn't want to see it.

[redsmetz]

Looking back over this, the picture I put up last winter was after I'd lost about 40 lbs. I've now taken another 15 off and thought I'd share the results. Still looking to take off another five or so for a total loss of 60 lbs. Then I'd be near my weight from forty years ago. This picture is from my son's graduation from OSU. I'm probably pondering his future.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa189/jametz/Joe55less.jpg

BTW, the blue Reds hat I have now is becoming more recognizable. Folks are randomly asking me what year it's from or just giving the date a stab. Fewer are mistaking it for a Cubs hat.

[cumberlandreds]

That's great RM! What's your secret for the weight loss? A doctor told me if I could get down to around 200 lbs. I may not have diabetes. Those last 15 pesky pounds have been hard to shed.
I suppose you will have to use stuffing now to play Santa Claus? :)

[mth123]

Wow. What a change. Congrats. Very well done.

[westofyou]

Awesome, you have to have a lot more energy and you'll feel it in the summer

[redsmetz]

That's great RM! What's your secret for the weight loss? A doctor told me if I could get down to around 200 lbs. I may not have diabetes. Those last 15 pesky pounds have been hard to shed.
I suppose you will have to use stuffing now to play Santa Claus? :)

I think I shared this in the weight loss thread. I did several things.

First, I had doing a ton of compulsive eating, essentially extra meals between meals: breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, cheese burgers, coneys, donuts, etc. Just horrible stuff. I cut that stuff out completely.

My insurance company paid for some nutrition counseling and they basically focused on carbs since I was pre-diabetic. I now consume about 2/3 of the daily recommend allowance of carbs, basically 60 grams per meal and 15 grams per snack time (essentially midway between meals). And I'm watching my portions. I used to go to parties and I'd snarf down everything in sight. Meals, I'd pile it on, etc. Now I'm watching it much more. But the biggest thing has been watching the carbs; not a "no carb" diet, but very reduced.

Finally, I've continued with the exercising I had been doing, but now my wife & I are trying to squeeze in other times when we can - after work, walking in Spring Grove Cemetery or elsewhere, or even just around the neighborhood.

WOY, it feels great. When I was just out of high school, I worked in a factory toting 50 lbs. bags of sugar and such. Obviously, that's what I have been carrying around my middle. So much more energy and stamina. I'm hopeful I'll be able to maintain this new lifestyle.

One note in a wordy response, when I went to the nutritionist, I came home just absolutely depressed that I couldn't do this. But I didn't want to go down the path of diabetes, having had an aunt and an uncle who lost legs to that disease and knew I had the power to avoid. It's taken a lot of work to change the compulsive eating I was doing. I'm pretty thankful.

[westofyou]

I work in the health care industry in the software side, a lot of what we are implementing online are toolsets to give the consumer a chance to check their health and habits online with HRA's and PHR's (Health Risk Assessments and Personal Health Records.)

Businesses like Healthyroads and Healthwise have robust tools that allow you to track your health and make decisions about the future of your health. Every Insurance agency is clamoring to have you use these tools, even employing paybacks in the form of goods to get you to participate. Most online accounts have at least an HRA, probably a good idea for everyone to try and use them if they are available.

[cumberlandreds]

Thanks RM. I need to cut back on carbs the most. I'm sure I eat too much of those. Snacking at night is a problem too. I do really well during the day but at night is a different story. I think I get plenty of exercise. I have 7 or 8 minute walk to my bustop from my home. Then after I get off the subway I have a good 5 block walk to my workplace that takes about 12 minutes. So I am getting about 40 minutes or so of walking a day. I'm sure if I didn't do that my weight and diabetes would be far worse.

[redsmetz]

My son got married yesterday and when we got home I felt like wearing my brand new 1932 replica Reds hat which my wife gave me for my birthday. My daughter's boyfriend said I looked like a first round draft pick. Smart lad.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa189/jametz/Misc/Wedding2012030_zps6dad8b4e.jpg