Category Archives: Still Life

Blogging, FNSC, Jay, Jesse, Still Life, Tenderloining

On the Waterfront: Ankeny Field Work

March 24, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Those of you that are observant AND have a Photography 139 email subscription, may have noticed that the emails that have come out have been a bit off this week. MailPoet (the client I use to send out those emails) had an update and that has jacked everything up. I think I have it fixed and the emails should look correct again, but I might do some more dinking around with it. It was probably past time I messed with it anyways.

A few Fridays back Jesse, Jay, and I suspended our Catholic Fish Fry Tour and paid a visit to The Waterfront in Ankeny. It was one of those Fridays that I thought I was going to have to cancel because I get stuck on Fridays late at the Computer Mine rather frequently these days. Which is a great joy, because I LOVE having to cancel plans with friends to work late. This also happens on Tuesdays. Which means I no longer make it to Bible Study or to movies with Nader. If you have noticed my increased negativity towards Canadians on the Snapchat lately, this is why.

I was able to go and didn’t have to cancel on this Friday. But when I did think I was going to have to cancel, I decided I was just going to watch ON THE WATERFRONT instead. Thankfully Marlon Brando will have to wait.

I’ve never really ripped a restaurant or food truck or concession stand or pancake feed in one of these reviews… that streak will end here.

Here are some pictures from the experience:

Calamari

Rice Pilaf

Blackened Mahi Mahi

I’m just going to cut to the chase. This was an extremely disappointing experience. The only thing that I truly enjoyed was the calamari. It was fantastic. I can’t hate on the baked potato. But I mean, if a restaurant can’t bake a potato, what are we even doing here? The rice pilaf was incredibly bland. Maybe I’m expecting too much from rice pilaf, but it didn’t deliver. But the greatest disappointments was the mahi mahi. It was incredibly soggy. SOGGY!

I won’t say that my expectations were heightened because we were at a fancypants (by my standards) restaurant. I don’t like fancypants (by my standards) restaurants. Give me a greasy spoon. A local tavern. A 50 year old diner. This is where I live. After all, most of my food adventures (used to be anyways) revolve around the pork tenderloin. The least uppity and least elitist sandwich to ever grace God’s green earth.

Although I’m definitely not an elitist, I also do not stick my nose up at fancypants restaurants. I’ll give them a fair shake. However, if I’m paying $27.95 for some fish, it better not be soggy and it better have some flavor.

I wasn’t the only one to leave disappointed as they didn’t have the crab that Jay came for so he settled for some kind of shrimp pasta.

My exact words when we left were “I wish we would have went to Long John Silver’s.”

And that isn’t a slight on Long John Silver’s. I love me some Long John Silver’s. I miss the one in Ames.

I won’t bother telling you where to find The Waterfront. It is in Ankeny. You want to overpay for bland food, you can find it on your own.

Enough of that noise.

How is my efforting to live a healthy lifestyle going?

Well, there is no way around it. I had a rough week. I definitely didn’t eat well. I had a lot going on and probably didn’t exercise enough. I spent a lot of time in cars. I spent a lot of time in the Union Street Theater watching movies and basketball. I’ll repeat, I didn’t eat well. But this journey will never be a straight line.

This week my weight went up. +1.9 pounds. I am now down 20.2 pounds since starting Noom.

But I try not to get too high when I lose 5 pounds like 2 weeks ago or too low when I put on a couple pounds like this week.

But weight isn’t the only measure (or even the most important measure) of positive results. This week my stamina and speed was definitely up in my HIIT workouts. So not all bad this week.

That is all to report for now.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve another stop on the Fish Fry Circuit.

Animals, Boone County Fair, Naima, Railroad, Self-Portrait, Still Life, Street Photography

But She’s So Sweet, She’s So Pretty

March 23, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Today feels like a good time to clean up the backlog from July of last year. These pictures just didn’t fit into previous entries in “An Artist’s Notebook”.

It always feels great when a little bit more of the backlog has been cleared out. One day I’ll even be caught up!

Art, Elainie, Music, Sabas, State Fair, Still Life, Street Photography

Iowa State Fair – Day 3 – Gamma

March 22, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Time to share another collection of images from my trip to the State Fair with Monica and Graham and then Elainie, Sabas, and Tiffany.

Still a ton of pictures from this trip left to share!

Art, Still Life, Tenderloining

Taco ‘Bout It: Boone Food Truck Field Work

March 17, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t celebrate, so no greetings to those of you that do. Stupid greeting card holiday that has become overcommercialized to make people feel bad that aren’t Irish. Bah O’humbug to you I say.

You might be wondering why this post published at 8 AM instead of the customary 8 PM on Sundays. The reason is that there will be another post publishing at 8 PM that will include instructions on how to participate in Year 19 of the Roundball Oracles NCAA Tournament Pool.

This post is about a recent food adventure. I recently hit a taco food truck that was hanging out it Boone. After all, I love tacos. They were selling tacos. I had some cold hard plastic in my wallet that had at least a few bucks of credit left on it. Seemed like a match divined by the taco gods!

So I stopped at give Borracho’s Taco Truck a try. Here are some pictures:

I’ll just cut to the chase. While my empty plate surely indicates that I ate the h-e-double hockey sticks out of those tacos, they weren’t great. I was hungry. I had tacos in front of me. What is a guy to do?

They were less than stellar and in fact, I went to Rico’s Tacos the next day just to cleanse my taco palate.

So my rating is, they would do in a pinch, but I definitely would not go out of my way to eat them again.

How is my efforting to live a healthy lifestyle going?

I think generally things are going well. I seem to have adjusted to the CPAP. I’m hitting my steps goal pretty much every day. I guess one development is that on Wednesday I finally tried the hydromassage at the gym. It was everything it was hyped up to me and more. It is a good thing that they limit you to 10 minutes. Otherwise I would just lay on that thing for hours. I tried the laying down hyrdromassage. They also have a chair version. I will try that hopefully soon and report back.

This week my weight went down 5.5 pounds this week. And I am now down 22.1 pounds since I started Noom. 5.5 pound loss is a bit of an anomaly and is actually probably more spread out over the last 2 weeks, but weight fluctuations and blah, blah, blah. You know.

The 2nd number on my scale changed this week. So that is a 10 pound loss milestone. WooHoo! I am also at the weight that was my goal to be at in early May when I go to New Orleans for work trip for the Computer Mine. So now I’ve re-adjusted that goal my another 10 pounds. Which should be realistic, although you never know when that dreaded plateau is going to hit. But they say, the best thing to do when you hit a plateau is keep moving. So when I hit it, you’ll still see me on that High Trestle Trail on Saturday mornings via Snapchat. Although I suppose a person would be allowed to join me in the person. Maybe.

But weight isn’t a pure indicator of health. So I look for other ways to that show I’m getting healthier. One thing I noticed a couple weeks ago is just how much better I fit into the seats at Hilton. I’m not going to say I used to struggle to get into them. That would be an exaggeration. But now they feel roomie. Well roomie might be a stretch. But I definitely have more room.

I still haven’t purchased anything else for this living healthy lifestyle. But sometime soon I might borrow a kayak and see if that is something I enjoy. Later in the year I might buy a bike again. I’ve tried the bike game before and it didn’t work out. But I think if I get a bike that actually fits me, that might help. We’ll see. That smart scale is still in the back of my mind as well.

That is all to report for now.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve one of the greatest culinary disappointments I’ve ever had.

Adam, Alexis, Andy, Angie, Baier, Becky, Bill, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Dad, Dawn, Elizabeth, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Linda, Logan, Lowell, Mary, Michelle, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nathanial, Sabas, Sara, Sarah Toot, Scottie D., Shannon, Sheri, Steph, Still Life, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 443 – SENTIMENTAL

March 11, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Today is Dawn’s birthday, so I must wish her a happy birthday.

Happy birthday Dawn!

I hope your birthday is filled with plenty of time to sit down and read!

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Today is also Baier’s birthday, so I must with him a happy birthday!

Happy birthday Baier!

I hope your birthday is filled plenty of thoughts of the Chiefs winning another Super Bowl!

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SENTIMENTAL! Maybe a little bit of a hard one for some people. Sometimes it is hard to think about the things that we are sentimental about. But was it easy enough for enough people to make SENTIMENTAL a popular theme? You will have to keep scrolling to find out!

If you are like me at all, you will really wonder the backstory on so many of the photographed subject. Fortunately for me, I actually know the story on most of the subjects in the story, but I will never tell.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, March 4, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Adam Gordon – 1 week
2-Deanna McClain – 1 week
3-Johnathan Stensland – 1 week
4-Mary Green – 3 weeks (2)
5-Stehanie Kim – 3 weeks
6-Becky Parmelee – 3 weeks
7-Willy McAlpine – 5 weeks
8-Sara Lockner – 7 weeks
9-Lowell Davis – 9 weeks
10-Michelle Haupt – 9 weeks
11-Alexis Stensland – 9 weeks (2)
12-Brandon Kahler – 10 weeks
13-Scott Degeneffe – 28 weeks
14-Sabas Hernandez – 29 weeks
15-Mike Vest – 34 weeks
16-Sheri Fakhouri – 38 weeks
17-Logan Kahler – 39 weeks (2)
18-Nathanial Brown – 40 weeks
19-Jesse Howard – 40 weeks
20-Tamara Peterson – 43 weeks
21-Mindi Terrell – 55 weeks (2)
22-Linda Bennett – 84 weeks
23-Sarah Toot – 85 weeks (2)
24-Angie DeWaard – 89 weeks
25-Dawn Krause – 93 weeks
26-Kim Barker – 99 weeks (2)
27-Joe Duff – 100 weeks
28-Teresa Kahler – 111 weeks
29-Carla Stensland – 111 weeks (2)
30-Micky Augustin – 113 weeks
31-Andy Sharp – 114 weeks
32-Bill Wentworth – 115 weeks
33-Cathie Morton – 119 weeks
34-Elizabeth Nordeen – 120 weeks
35-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 122 weeks
36-Kio Dettman – 124 weeks (2)

Reminder. Here is the list of rules for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

1. The picture must be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch and take pictures challenge!
2. There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit.
3. Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM next Monday.
4. To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
5. No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.

There are still 2 ways to submit:
1. Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
2. Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks or the rules of the challenge or how to submit. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

WPC - WEEK 443 - SENTIMENTAL - ADAM GORDON

Adam Gordon (Kresge Chapel – Kansas City, Missouri) – 2 weeks

Adam Gordon (Kresge Chapel – Kansas City, Missouri)

Alexis Stensland (Ogden, Iowa) – 10 weeks

Alexis Stensland (Sacred Heart Cemetery – Boone, Iowa)

Andy Sharp (Arkansas/Mississippi Border) – 115 weeks

Andy Sharp (Missouri/Tennessee Border)

Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 90 weeks

Becky Parmelee (Arkansas) – 4 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 116 weeks

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 111 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 112 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 120 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 94 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 121 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 41 weeks

Joe Duff (Texas) – 101 weeks

Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 100 weeks

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 125 weeks

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 85 weeks

Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 40 weeks

Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa)

Lowell Davis (Val-Air Ballroom – Des Moines, Iowa) – 10 weeks

Lowell Davis (Val-Air Ballroom – Des Moines, Iowa)

Mary Green (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa)

Michelle Haupt (Iowa) – 10 weeks

Micky Augustin (Schaumburg, Illinois) – 114 weeks

Mike Vest (Missouri) – 35 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Cherry Glenn – Near Ankeny, Iowa) – 56 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Cherry Glenn – Near Ankeny, Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 1 week

Nathanial Brown (Des Moines, Iowa) – 41 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 30 weeks

Sara Lockner (Burnsville, Minnesota) – 8 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 86 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Panama City Beach, Florida) – 29 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Honey Hollow – Summerset, Iowa) – 123 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 39 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa)

Stephanie Kim (Fort Greene – Brooklyn, New York) – 4 weeks

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 1 week

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 44 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 112 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa)

Willy McAlpine (McHose Park – Boone, Iowa) – 6 weeks

37 participants! That is a pretty great week! Same as last week!

There were submissions this week taken in the following places:

+ Arkansas (1.5)
+ Florida (1)
+ Illinois (1)
+ Iowa (33)
+ Kansas (1)
+ Minnesota (1)
+ Mississippi (.5)
+ Missouri (3.5)
+ Nebraska (1)
+ New York (1)
+ Pennsylvania (1)
+ Tennessee (.5)
+ Texas (1)

Thanks to the travels of Scott, we added Florida to the list! And thanks to Andy’s travels we added Tennessee to the list.

Here is the Year 11 list of states where submissions have been taken (submissions taken in each state):

+ Arkansas (5.5)
+ California (1)
+ Colorado (4)
+ Florida (1)
+ Hawaii (2)
+ Illinois (1)
+ Indiana (2)
+ Iowa (372)
+ Kansas (14)
+ Michigan (4)
+ Minnesota (4)
+ Mississippi (1.5)
+ Missouri (4.5)
+ Nebraska (13)
+ New York (7)
+ Pennsylvania (9)
+ South Dakota (3)
+ Tennessee (.5)
+ Texas (17)
+ Vermont (1)

20 states so far! Not bad! So far, the following people have submitted from multiple states:

+ Andy Sharp (IA, NE, MO, AR, TN, MS)
+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe (IA, CO, MO, TX)
+ Adam Gordon (IA, MS, MO)
+ Sarah Toot (PA, NY, VT)
+ Mary Green (MI, IA, IN)
+ Susanna Funk (IA, CO)
+ Tamara Peterson (IA, MN)
+ Nathanial Brown (IA, SD)
+ Brandon Kahler (IA, MN)
+ Micky Augustin (IA, IL)
+ Scott Degeneffe (IA, FL)
+ Mike Vest (IA, MO)
+ Sara Lockner (IA, MN)

Andy has taken a 2 state lead over Jen with his sentimental road trip to be crowned the Emperor of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE Travel! I’ll keep workshopping that name. But I might buy a crown for the winner. Just another idea I’m spitballing.

Micky, Scott, and Vest all joined the club of people that have submitted from multiple states. Adam added a third state to his list!

There were a few big milestones reached this week! Michelle and Lowell and Alexis all joined the Double Digit Streak Club! Kim joined the Triple Digit Streak Club! WooHoos all around!

But it was not all unicorns and rainbows though. Deanna and Johnathan couldn’t build on their submissions from last week and their streaks are over before the even began.

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

DECORATION

DECORATION! What a great theme for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

I look forward to your interpretation!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of DECORATION in this place in this place that decorates my life next Monday.

Birthdays, Carla, Nora, Still Life, Tenderloining, Teresa

Cue: Ames Field Work

March 10, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Today is Nora’s birthday so I need to wish her a happy birthday!

Happy birthday Nora!

I hope your birthday is filled with all the mushrooms you can handle and not filled with all the serious questions that the BARBIE movie makes a person ask!

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Back on Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday I went to Cornbred in Ames with Teresa and Carla before going to the Cyclone women upset the #7 Kansas State Wildcats in double overtime. Absolutely one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen in Hilton. Period.

As a big fan of barbecue, it is rather amazing that I had never been to Cornbred. It is mostly because I forget it exists. But on this day, I remembered it existed and I efforted to check it out.

Here are some pictures:

I went with the brisket.

The verdict? I think Cornbred is a touch overrated. Scott described it as “yuppie barbecue” and I can’t completely disagree. If it was hipster barbecue that would be better. Say what you want about hipsters, they make pretty good food.

It isn’t that Cornbred is bad. In fact part of my meal were great. The brussel sprouts appetizer was fantastic. I am a well known big time fan of brussel sprouts. I probably eat them about once a week. Not mixed with pork belly but there is a steamer bag of brussel sprouts that I really like!

The brisket was also fantastic. No complaints there. The bread that came with it, was average. I got the creamy pineapple slaw for my side. Hey, remember, trying to eat healthier! Now cole slaw is usually drowning in mayonnaise, so it isn’t super healthy, but it is certainly healthier than fries. And cole slaw also can contain lots of vitamin A and vitamin E. But most importantly, I like cole slaw. In fact, I even had a favorite cole slaw. The Country House in Colo had a fantastic cole slaw. Too bad they have went out of business. But trust me, it was because of their cole slaw. Or their tenderloin for that matter.

This cole slaw was very mediocre.

In the grand scheme of things, I would definitely eat at Cornbred again. I don’t know I would go out of my way for it, but I would eat there again. But all things considered I would rather eat at Jimmy’s.

You can find Cornbred here:

526 Main Street #106
Ames, Iowa

But what is the update on my efforting to live a healthier lifestyle?

I think generally things are going well. For the first time since I’ve started to monitor it, I’ve had a couple of sleep scores in the 80s! I’m not sure how much that means, but I will take it as a positive.

The Noom lessons were about sleep, so it is a good thing I’ve gotten some good sleep. Here is your health fun fact for this week.

According to The American Journal of Clinical nutrition, missing a few hours of sleep one night can cause a person to eat an extra 559 calories, on average, the next day. So I guess sleep is important.

This week my weight went down 1.9 pounds. Down 16.6 pounds since I started Noom.

I haven’t purchased anything else to help in my attempts to live healthier. I’m still thinking on that smart scale.

The next food adventure will involve a food truck.

Nature, Still Life

One More Girl Who Brings Out the Better in You

March 9, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Been a minute see I cleared out the backlog. All of these images are from June of last year. They just never quite found their way into a post. Some are from the first use of the pizza oven. Some are of a sunset. Some are from a quick trip to Boxholm.

Always feel good when a little backlog gets cleared out!

Animals, Formal Portrait, Monica, State Fair, Still Life, Street Photography

Iowa State Fair – Day 3 – Alpha

March 8, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

On my third trip to the Iowa State Fair I started the day with Monica and Graham. Then at some point they disappeared and I finished the day with Sabas, Elainie, and Tiffany.

Here is the first collection of images from the day:

Hard to imagine a better kind of chick than a waffle chick.

Still a ton of pictures from this day left to share!

Art, Music, Olympic Sports, Still Life, Street Photography

RAGBRAI – SLATER – II

March 6, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Time to share the rest of the images I took while walking around Slater during RAGBRAI. Slater really did an amazing job of hosting the tens of thousands of cyclists that came through their town.

Next up will be the beginning of the collection of images I took when RAGBRAI went through Madrid. Another town that I think did an amazing job with RAGBRAI!

Alexis, Andy, Art, Birthdays, Brandon, Christianity, Elizabeth, FNSC, Fran, Jay, Jesse, Logan, Nathanial, Sabas, Still Life, Tenderloining

Fisher of Men: Boone Field Work

March 3, 2024 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Today is Andy’s birthday so I have to wish him a happy birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!

I hope your day is filled with 17 hour old tenderloins!

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It is Lent! During Lent I like to hit a Fish Fry here and there. Which gives me the added benefit of hitting some Catholic churches and checking out what is usually some pretty creepy Catholic art!

On the first Friday of Lent Jay, Jesse, and I hit Sacred Heart in Boone to check out their fish and their creepy art:

Every single one of these dudes looks like a serial killer. Especially the guy in the upper left.

Is this a serious question? Is Geraldine a super outlandish horse name? Also, nice use of the term “Indians”. Racism isn’t dead.

If this kid didn’t die when he was 15 he would have put up H.H. Holmes type numbers.

I kind of like this one. Like the world’s largest shrinky dink.

No pictures of them standing on the corner of Story & US-30 shaking down people for donations.

Fish, baked potato, cole slaw, green beans, and a roll. They also offered mac & cheese, but I was able to cut them off before they put that pile of bland on my plate.

Gave a kid a $5 donation for this brownie. It was worth it.

We closed that Fish Fry down. Which is cooler than closing down the bar in my book.

The verdict? It was a darn good fish fry. I would definitely hit it on the regular if I wasn’t trying to hit all different fish fries this Lent.

Here is the update on my efforting to live a healthier lifestyle. I guess the big development is that I have joined a gym. I joined Planet Fitness in Ames. Although with my membership I can go to any Planet Fitness in the world. I am a little leery of joining a gym in a different town, but I don’t really like either gym in Boone and my tentative gym plan isn’t super ambitious. I mostly want to hit it twice a week. Once after working in Ames and then once again on weekends. I mostly plan to use it to do some HIIT workouts. Maybe some weightlifting. It seems like a good fit cause Brandon goes there and I think I got a deal by being referred by Elizabeth. Or she got a deal. Somebody got a deal and that is all that matters. Now I’m thirsty for some Deal’s Orchard apple cider! Adding the fitness watch and the gym membership are really the 2 big changes. I don’t know of any else that I’m planning to add in the future. Okay, I’m considering buying a smart scale. But we will see.

I have taken to posting some highlights from my daily walks on Snapchat. I really only send those to my Top 8 Snapchat Friends. That is currently Elizabeth, Fran, Brandon, Logan, Sabas, Alexis, Nathanial, and Micky. I have substantial Streaks with 7 of them. I mean maybe they don’t want to get them, but that is the burden of being one of my Top 8 Snapchat friends.

But if you are feeling left out and want to get Snaps from the thrilling world of me walking, let me know and I can send them to you as well. Maybe someday you will be able to squeeze into my Top 8 friends as dictated by the Snapchat algorithm.

I don’t have really any interesting statistics from Noom this week. I was going to try to dig up the statistic on how eating eggs for breakfast increases weight loss, but that was a couple weeks back and suddenly seems like a lot of work. So just take my word for it. Eating eggs for breakfast helps with increased weight loss because they can boost metabolic activity and increase satiety.

This week’s Noom lessons were mostly about how exercise doesn’t really help you lose weight. Mostly cause people overestimate how many calories exercise burns and then justify overeating because they think they burned more calories than they did. While exercise might not help you lose weight, it does help you maintain weight and exercise definitely makes you healthier. And your ultimate goal shouldn’t be to lose weight, exactly. It should be to be healthier and exercise is a big part of the healthier lifestyle.

That being said, I did lose some weight this week. I am down another 2.3 pounds. 14.7 pounds since I started Noom about 5 weeks ago. 51 pounds since January 1 of 2023.

But weight isn’t the only way to measure improvement. It is just the easiest way to measure cause you can stand on a scale every morning. So a couple less directly measurable results are that I’ve been going through my closet to downsize my extensive clothing collection. I definitely fit into some shirts better that I haven’t worn in a long time. While I am a well documented fashionista and twice recognized as the best dressed man at the Computer Mine (in my head at least) the one result that I have found most meaningful to me is my photo backpack. When I first purchased it the bottom strap, the strap that goes around my waist, it would buckle, but it definitely didn’t like it. I didn’t like it. People that saw me probably didn’t like it. It definitely dug into my sides. Now I can cinch it up. Maybe not a lot. Maybe an inch. Maybe two. Maybe just several millimeters. But it is definitely an improvement.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve a local barbecue joint. I swear it this time!