Category: photography

These are posts with original photography by John LeMasney, cc-by lemasney.

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insights photography

20130102: Starting the year at goal #fitness #nutrition #health

Photo on 2013-01-02 at 11.06
Photo on 2013-01-02 at 11.06
LeMasney weight loss progress from April 2012 to December 2012
LeMasney weight loss progress from April 2012 to December 2012

Feeling: I’m feeling pretty good. It’s the new year, and I reached my weight goal on Christmas. I met my goal of 200 pounds, set in April 2012, when I was 295 pounds. I was a much different person at the time, and many things have changed. At this precise moment, after just returning from a holiday trip and taking on a new maintenance calorie regiment of about 2000 calories a day after being at about 1300 calories a day, I’m full. I weighed myself this morning, and not surprisingly, I had gained a few pounds. I’m not concerned though, as the newly added maintenance calories will take a bit to work themselves out.

Eating: So far today I’ve only had coffee, but over the break I enjoyed some of the foods that I have not enjoyed in a long time, like apple crisp, brownies, petit fours, and bagels. Mostly though, I ate apples, bananas, lots of coffee, egg whites, and salads. It was nice to splurge a little, but I’m back home, and looking forward to more whole foods again. I think for lunch, I’m going to eat on campus and enjoy some salad and pizza.

Moving: It has been incredibly cold here in the Northeast, and as a result, I have walked less. I’m going to force myself to get out and move today.

Learning: I just started learning some new programming skills.

Insights: I’m happy to have reached my weight goal, and now maintenance is the new thing to learn.

  • My FitBit profile: This is where I track my daily activity, sleep, and workouts.
  • My Fitness Pal food diary: This is where you can find out exactly what I ate today.
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On Hallowe’en

Crapt fattie fattie by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org
Crapt fattie fattie by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org

I don’t take part in Hallowe’en, I don’t feel guilty, and I don’t support giving out handfuls of candy to anyone for any reason. Our focus, socially, is off. I have a few other reasons to dislike the holiday, including the passing of my mother, lots of lost childhood popularity contests, and a dislike for the faux, but this post is about giving, identity, and food.

I am a socialist, if you need to know, on the political scale, but I’d rather give someone money or help or some other support than candy. I refuse. We should all be giving things away to those who need them, and not recollecting in different forms. I suggest Goodwill, or freecycling. But the idea of us all buying the same candy from the same distributors in droves to exchange with each other out of some wacky societal pressure to take part is, in a word, odd.

Have a party if you like, dress up for kicks if that’s what you’re into. For me, I think there is enough wonder, mystery, and surprise in who we actually are, and that we should focus on that. You should get to know me, and in reading this post you are, much more so than if I came to your door or party dressed as Heisenberg from Breaking Bad. I support getting to know others, though I’ve never done it on Hallowe’en in a 30 second exchange at the door, often with people I have only ever seen at my door for that purpose. I have gotten to know people better at gatherings, but no one needs to wait until the 31st of October to have a gathering. You can even wear costumes if you like, but I’d prefer to see you dressed to explain who you are, not how well you can emulate someone else’s creation. Make your own character, and have it be a bit about you. Or, just be you.

No one needs to eat a bag of candy. No one. This blog is nothing if not about health, and I would be dishonest if I said that it was fine and okay to excite anyone about eating thousands of calories in some gluttonous orgy of chocolate. Have some delicious, extraordinary chocolate, be aware of how much you had, and enjoy it. I had a bagel today, a treat, with some dark chocolate in it. The warm, toasted chocolate met and mingled with the salt in the bagel. It was delicious, and special, and no one ever handed one to me at their door on Hallowe’en.

In much the same way that other American holidays are about purchases, discounts, fear, escaping identity, excess, comparison and guilt, I think this one leads the pack. I’m not participating.

 

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On six months of sobriety and nutritional awareness

Losing Weight: John LeMasney after picture
John LeMasney after picture
2011 to 2012
2011 to 2012

On April 19th, 2012, I stopped drinking. I also began paying attention to my health in other ways. The urge to change came with a debilitating four-day downtime, in which I was hardly able to walk, had lots of time to think and process my life as it was, and decided that I was going to either change or die.

Today, exactly six months later, I’ve learned a lot. Here are some of the things that I’ve learned.

  1. A clear mind is better than a clouded mind. Absent of alcohol, I am provided the ability to process situations, needs, and priorities more clearly. I was essentially using alcohol as a way to escape the realities of guilt, shame and failure, while also ignoring all the potential joy, sensation, and life of reality. For me, getting past the guilt, and engaging life, was easier while clear-minded. People treat and respect you differently when you are sober.
  2. Life is easier when you are fit. To date, I have lost over 80 pounds. I am within 10 pounds of my final goal weight. I am within 2 percentage points of my target body fat percentage. I lost the weight by recording and knowing what I eat (about 1500 calories a day), and exercising lightly (10,000 steps a day) every day. I expect to reach my goal in November. People treat and respect you differently when you are fit.
  3. Happiness is a matter of a lack of want and expectations. It is important for me to remember that when I do not have expectations or wants about outcomes from situations, people, or things, I can’t possibly be disappointed. When I expect or want, I often have a result of disappointment, and disappointment is specifically not happiness. People treat and respect you differently when you are happy.
  4. The most important thing in life are people. Interacting with, helping, and sharing the joy of life with people is everything.

So, I just wanted to leave this note to say thank you to all the wonderful people who have helped me to celebrate these last six months, and that it has been a genuinely great start to the rest of my life, whatever that may bring.

 

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insights photography

A simple breakfast, loaded with deliciousness.

So, today, I was in the mood for breakfast, and had some extra time to make it. I just picked up some eggs last night at the grocery, had some generously donated tomatoes from a good friend’s garden, some nice simple sesame seed rolls in the freezer, and a lot of coffee. Finally, I gave in to my addiction for KIND bars, this one was a cashew flaxseed omega 3 extravaganza. I seasoned the egg with garam masala, salt and pepper. Together, it came to this.

Calories for breakfast as described
Calories for breakfast as described
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On technology and simplicity

 

A legitimate smile (John at 225 lbs)
A legitimate smile (John at 225 lbs)

A very dear friend just asked me a very interesting question, which I’ll paraphrase to “Is there a conflict for you between your love of technology and your love of a simple life?”

In no way whatsoever is there a conflict for me. Let me explain.

I do not love all technology for technology’s sake, and I do not love all simplicity for simplicity’s sake.

For example, one might consider the new Google Nexus 7, an Android based tablet, a technology. Books are technology too, by the way, but I assume that she referred to my love of new technologies. I love it because it is open. I love it because it is useful. I love it because I am a fan of Google as an organization. I think they make good choices. I love it because it is innovative. I love it because it is portable, functional, and benefits me in my lifestyle. I love it because it is extensible, flexible, and meaningful beyond the technology in and of itself.

It provides me with a certain simplicity in many ways in my life. For example, I use it to log my calories while I am out, as I eat during the day, using the MyFitnessPal app, which allows me to track my caloric goals, get support from the community, look up calorie values for just about any food I eat, and store all of my eating activity. I could do this with a simpler solution, such as a notebook, pencil and calorie counts book, but it is simpler, in my opinion, to carry just one object, in which I can do those tasks with less effort.

Another example is my beloved Fitbit, an amazing device that acts as pedometer and altimeter, tracking steps taken very accurately, stair flights taken, sleep, and calories burned. I have used a few pedometers in the past, and I got incredibly frustrated with their limited function and inaccuracies. The Fitbit allows me to know when I have done enough movement for the day, when I’ve not, how I’m sleeping, how many calories I’m burning, how fast I’m going, and more. Guesswork is gone. Using other methods to do this might be without technology, but they would not be simpler in the least. When I walk in my home, the Fitbit wirelessly syncs with my account on the web, updating my charts and reflecting my effort. All I have to do it remember to throw the Fitbit on my hip, and the rest is simply movement. This is simplicity defined, given my goals.

In my opinion, technology provides increased simplicity, or it has less value for me.  Technology and simplicity are not only compatible for me, they are deeply connected.

 

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Manifesto of Open

 

Part of my success with fitness and nutritional awareness has been the openness with which I have shared what I know and have learned, the openness of studies and findings on nutritional topics, and free-flowing information. Knowing other things in life can be easy too.

  1. Openness is the way. There are other ways, but open is best.
  2. Openness provides for continuous improvement. This list is open, and so improvement and refinement is possible.
  3. Openness is similar and kin to transparency, flexibility, bend, possibility, open-mind, and open-heart. Pursue these.
  4. It is better to have things known, to allow others to come to their own truths, sans delusion.
  5. Openness allows for seeing everything, and when one can see, decisions, direction, and clarity improve.
  6. Reinventing the wheel is akin to insanity, as per Einstein’s definition: doing the same thing over and over, in pursuit of a new outcome.
  7. Openness and propriety are differential directional points along a continuum.
  8. Openness allows for the less painful incorporation of change. Change has been, change is, change will be. Openness to new possibilities as outcome of change is essential for a smooth transition between states.
  9. Openness applies to everything, be it relationships, business practices, or ideas. Great models for the benefits of openness include Open Source software, open source hardware, the make movement, and creative commons licensing. These are exemplars and beacons of the ideas presented here.
  10. Openness is a choice. There is always an opportunity for openness.