20/20 Lifestyle is about to begin!

So, it's official. Back in December I went to an informational session at the ProClub in Redmond, WA. The large software company, based in Redmond, that I work for offers free health club memberships to employees. Being out of shape and over weight, I decided this was a great benefit for me. While at the gym, I heard about a program called 20/20 Lifestyles. It is a weight loss and nutrition program offered through the gym. The 20/20 Lifestyle program takes a wholistic approach to weight loss. It is not just about eating less or exercising. It's about changing your behavior by learning more about how the foods you eat affect your body and why you gain weight.

I went to an informational seminar in December. It was free and I figured, heck - what do I have to lose. It was only a few hours and then I could smuggly walk out knowing that I knew as much as the people giving the seminar. After all, I am sure I had heard it all before.

I found myself interested in the program and even more importantly interested in their success rate. Here are a few success metrics:

* 73% of diabetics normalize their blood sugar on the program
* 79% of participants normalize their blood pressure
* 61% normalize their cholesterol

And the most important fact was the high success rate of people who had been through the program and kept the weight off. I don't want to misquote anyone, but I believe they said on most other programs there is about a 4% success rate of keeping off the weight. On 20/20 Lifestyles program it was more like 43% of people kept it off (approx % since I don't have it written down).

The program consistent of education, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle coaching, and medical supervision. The program runs from 12 to 20 weeks, with additional time spent on a Phase II.

Given my size and shape, to be discussed in a later post, I needed the 20 week program. I met with my DR, got signed up for the program and am getting ready to start.

Went in for the initial fitness assessment tonight. Steve, the guy giving the assessment was nice and kept things light. It is not fun seeing where you are on paper, and if I had let it I could have fallen into a serious depression. Instead, I am taking this as the first step in climbing the mountain. Only one way to go from here!

I will go into more details on the next post, but the next step is to meet with the physician on Wednesday. Say a prayer and send good wishes!

MSFT in the news..

So, woke up this morning to big company headlines. Microsoft made an offer to Yahoo for $44.6bn, that billion with a "B". Opinions are flying and everyone seems to think it would be a great move for our company. Being on the online search advertising team I know it would have a major impact on our group, but not sure how. Too early to speculate but should be interesting to watch.

Here are a couple of links to stories.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22947626

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/technology/microsoft_yahoo/index.htm?cnn=yes

Up in Canada, eh?

Sorry it has been a few weeks since my last post. Time sure flies when you are on the road for work! I spent all last week and all this week in Chilliwack, BC. Chilliwack (CHW) is about 2.5 hours north of Seattle. I came up here for two weeks to sit through new hire training that the vendor gives our agents. I figured this was a great way to see what we taught and to get a better feel for what our agents do.

Last week the weather was sunny all week long. It was about 40-45 degrees but nice because the entire week was blue skies. Obviously I pissed off the weather gods because this week I left Seattle during a blizzard like storm. Cars and buses were skidding off the roads and one almost took me out! Got out of the Seattle area and a little north and things calmed down. Calmed down until the next morning when I woke up to 7 inches of snow, below zero tempatures, and more fun on the roads!

In St. Louis ice would shut things down, but overall the streets were pretty well plowed and salted. Living in the more "liberal" northwest, they don't salt the roads and don't scrape because it would be bad for the little bumpy things on the road. Let's not worry about the drivers plowing into each other. Let's save the dots on the road that are more eco-friendly. Sorry, but give me a break!

Went to my first Canadian hockey game last night. CHW has a feader team for the NHL that is where a lot of players gets some experience. The guys playing were between 16-20. It was a good game and we were right on the ice. Hockey rules up here!

Enough for now. Promise to update consistently. Look for my next post on the 20/20 Lifestyle program I am starting next week. Should be intersting!!!!!

Getting started!

First time blogging and just setting up my blog site, so bear with me! Love to family and friends back in St. Louis. Miss you!