Jeffrey Scott’s – Best of his Blogs 2010

Most of my friends know I maintain two blogs. One dedicated to health and fitness and one for my creativity. I’m proud to say I’ve kept up with both this year. So for those of you only familiar with one of the two, I’ve decided for the first time ever to do a cross-over blog. And why not, I’m a creative person and both illustrate that in various ways.











January
Tegan - Will You Miss Me
An interesting poem I wrote. But can you tell what it’s really about?
Carrot Sticks – Biggest Loser (No Motivation)
I began to recognize my fitness was slipping. I wrote a few observations as to why.

February
Tegan – Haiku
In 2009 I wrote several Haiku’s. In 2010 I wrote one last one. Follow the links to view more.
Carrot Sticks – Biggest Loser – Top 5 Faults With the Show
I’ve always been a Biggest Loser fan, but at times it can irritate me. Here’s why.

March
Tegan – Travel Preparations for London
Two month from the actual trip, I began making lists.
Carrot Sticks – Feed Me Seymore
Random thoughts on how I can do better at what I eat and what my downfalls are.

April
Tegan – Loss & Love
For a month, I worked on a short story on Facebook. I reprinted it to my blog.

May
Tegan – I’m Nothing
Sometimes a poem hits me. Here is one I wrote this year.
Carrot Sticks – Procrastination vs. Motivation
You can either procrastinate or be motivated. Here are my thoughts.

June
Tegan - Fuse CD Review
I discovered a new CD and wrote a review. The artists read it and enjoyed it!
Carrot Sticks – Tracking Disaster
I tried to become more serious about my tracking, but I failed.

July
Tegan – Interview With An Admiral
I had a nice chat with Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars.

August
Tegan – Who is River Song?
I’ve got a firm belief, but this was one farcical theory.

September
Tegan – I Tweet Therefore I Am
Another poem, this time based on…. Twitter???
Carrot Sticks – A-Z Fitness (Atmosphere)
In hopes of making myself more accountable, I began a new fitness series.

October
Tegan – Doctor Who (The Early Years)
I give in to my nerdyness and begin writing a Doctor Who themed series.
Carrot Sticks – Jillian Michaels – GoDaddy Commercial
A funny commercial Jillian is now appearing in.

November
Tegan – Time Travel Museum
Can you find your favourite time machine in the time travel museum?
Carrot sticks – Top 9 Way To Tell If You’ve Been Watching Too Much Biggest Loser
With a lot of my posts centered on Biggest Loser, I wondered if I watched too much.

December
Tegan - Jelly Babies
I did a photo shoot with… candy???
Tegan – Saturn Girl Selling Telepathic Telecommunications
I guess I’m a true Legion of Super Hero nerd to come up with this.
Carrot Sticks – Tastes So Good
I wrote a song parody and why junk food tastes so good.

That’s not all I wrote in both logs, but it gives you pretty good idea. If you enjoy both, why not subscribe and follow both? You’re bound to find something you like sooner or later. ;)
Jeffrey Scott

A-Z Fitness - Organization

So far in this series I've talked about many things including blogging, goals, lists and nutrition labels. In these weeks I've given you written goals. Now is the time to concentrate on how you keep everything together. Hopefully, you don't have several lists in one place and a pile of notes and memos in another. If so, you'll need to organize everything. But why is this important to your health and fitness? Because if you are taking the time to make notes, you need to have everything organized so you can review it when you need to. Continual review is essential and organization is key to making sure you can find the notes you want to keep track of. Organization not only makes things tidier, it also means your review will be more enjoyable. Pulling your hair out because you can't find the one article you saved means you'll be less likely to review in the future.

Tips: One of the best ways to organize your notes is to keep a binder. A loose-leaf notebook is okay if you are simply taking notes, but sometimes its interesting to keep other items along with your notes. Attend a gym? Keep essential material with your fitness notes. Do you attend classes like Weight Watchers? They provide lots of useful information, keep all motivational material in your binder. Do you use a fitness coach or personal trainer? Include all your schedule times in the binder.

Remember: Keeping all your notes, thoughts, lists and motivational material in one place will make it easier to review. What better reason to keep everything together than to do a review from time to time. Include pictures or success stories along with everything else, in an organized fashion, and your biggest inspiration will be you.

Goal: Organize all your fitness material in one place. Even if you don't go as far as creating a binder, simply keeping things in a folder is still better organization than in several piles here and there. Do you already have things organized? Your goal then is to do a review. Is there anything you can include? Is there information you could weed out? Now is the time to do so.

Last Weeks Goal: Were you able to accomplish last weeks goal? It was a fairly simple task of reading nutrition labels and taking notes and comparing favourite foods. Did you learn anything looking at the labels? Did you decide to make any changes after what you discovered? Or are doing well in what is being put into your body? If you eat a lot of organic food, you are one step ahead of the game as processed foods have so much more junk added to them. But working on this task, you'll have noticed it for yourself.

What fitness words starting with the letter "O" inspire you?

A-Z Fitness - Nutrition

No matter what your goals for fitness are, keeping tabs on your nutrition is paramount. Without being aware of what you are eating, or more importantly what's in what you are eating, you will have little success. For the most part, anything we purchase in the store has a nutrition label. When's the last time you took a peek at what you are eating? There are key things to look for: Carbohydrates, Protein, Fat and Fiber are just a few things to search for. Foods higher in fat are certainly not good for you, but you probably know that already. A little isn't bad, you'll find fat of some sort in most foods you eat. The trick is discovering how fiber and carbohydrates relate as well. The higher the carbs and protein, the higher the calories are generally going to be. So if you keep tabs on calories you'll want to be aware of that.

Tips: Everyone has a set number of calories they should be eating in a day. Do you know what yours are? Slight changes in fiber, protein and carbohydrates can affect how good the calories you eat are. A quick search on-line and you'll find dietary calculators which can help guide you in making proper choices.

Remember: Let's face it. Not all calories are created equal. It's not like the old trick question, which weighs more a pound of lead or a pound of feathers because 100 calories of fruits is certainly not the same as 100 calories of a Twinkie. That's why you need to identify what you are eating, and how it affects the food you are eating.

Goal: Keep an eye on nutrition labels. Compare a few of the same items and you'll see big differences. Cereals for example can differ wildly. This week take a 'comfort food' and really look at the nutrition label. If your comfort food is something like home baked cookies, your task might be a bit more daunting but it can be done. Just keep track of the nutrition labels of all ingredients as you make the cookies.

Last Weeks Goal: What did you discover when searching for your motivation last week? Did you find anything new to motivate you? Or did you discover your original motivations were enough?

What fitness words starting with the letter "N" inspire you?

A-Z Fitness - Motivation

Motivation is probably the most important thing you can have when you want to do weight loss or maintenance. Without it, there is no drive to do what you want to accomplish. A few weeks back we talked about having an initiative. The initiative is nothing without motivation, though. You can find motivation through various sources. You can be inspired via friends, family or even those you see on TV. I've always been a big fan of the show Biggest Loser, and though I'm not sure that's the best way to lose weight, it's certainly effective. What motivates me more than anything is when the contestants keep the weight off. At one point I weighed over 300 lbs, and was properly motivated to lose 100 lbs. My motivation somehow slipped and I gained about half of it back, but I'm proud to say I've found the motivation once more and have been doing well at taking it back off.

Tips: Don't have the right motivation? Talk to someone you know has the proper motivation. Or simply talk to your friends and family and let them know what your goals are and ask for their help. You will be surprised how supportive they can be, and that's the biggest motivation of all.

Remember: Motivation can be tricky. Unlike a goal, motivation can be easily lost. Keep a firm grasp on what you are shooting for and never lose focus of your motivation. Also, it's not like you can only have one thing motivate you. As stated above, there are several things to motivate you. What motivates you?

Goal: Last week you were making lists, did you make a list of what motivates you? If not, it's your goal for this week. Find what motivates you, this time be more specific. If family motivates you, name each person who motivates you. Does a particular feeling motivate you, (a feeling of accomplishment), list it. What about a particular picture? What else can you find to motivate you?

Last Weeks Goal: The goal for last week was to make a few lists, of food to shop for or exercises to try. What did you come up with? Did they help and possibly inspire you?

What fitness words starting with the letter "M" inspire you?

Tastes So Good

(Sung to John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good")

When I was a fat boy,
Said put away those junk food ways.
Now that I'm getting thinner, so much thinner
I crave for those fattening ways.

With a treat like this, with a snack like that.
Lord knows there are things I can eat, oh no
I must resist, I will not give it up.


Tastes so good,
Why does junk food, always taste so good?
Eating well don't taste like it could.
Junk food, tastes so good.

Just have to keep exercising,
and trying' to give myself a little less flab, yeah.
Yet junk food is so invitin', sugary sweetness on my tongue.
So, what can I do? Come on, what can I do?
Sink my teeth into these scones? Oh no!
Something better to chew, 'cause I won't give it up.

Tastes so good,
Why does junk food, always taste so good?
Eating well don't taste like it could
when junk food, tastes so good.

I ain't talkin' no big meals.
I don't plan to, ignore my health,
I ain't talkin' no fake deals
maybe, 'I could walk around, all day long.
Walk around, all day long.'

Tastes so good.
Why does junk food always taste so good?
Eating well don't taste like it could
when junk food, tastes so good.

Tastes so good. (Come on tell me now),
Why does junk food always taste so good?
Eating well don't taste like it could
when junk food, tastes so good.

J.A.Scott

A-Z Fitness - Lists

Writing lists can be an effective tool to losing and maintaining your weight. How? If you think about it, the best way to keep active on your goals is to keep track of them. What better way than to make a list of what you want to work towards? But goals aren't the only thing a list is good for. Make sure you take a list with you to the grocery store. I've been in a grocery store and I know how easy it is to be tempted by special deals and offers or foods less healthier than what you are planing on purchasing. So you've got a grocery list and a goal list set up, what else can you do? Why not make a list of exercise routines you'd like to try. Stair climbing, track, spin class; put them in a list and set about doing them.

Tips: I've said it before and I'll say it again - Kiss. 'Keep it Simple Sally.' The point being, one or two key words are all you need for each item on the list. Keeping a list helps keep your thoughts and ideas in order, so don't over complicate it.

Remember: Your lists do not have to be 800 pages novels. A simple list will be an easier list to remember and work on. The more complicated you get, the harder it will be to maintain. Check things off your list as you go along.

Goal: Before your next stop to the grocery, make a list of the items you want to pick up, make sure the foods are healthy. Don't be afraid to put a snack on the list, as long as its not a trigger food for you. Already write a grocery list? Concentrate on your goals. Make a list of all minor and major goals you are working towards. Can you think of a few new ones to add to the list? Can you think of something else to make a list of? Why not share it with us here?

Last Weeks Goal: I know you all did a great job on last weeks goal, right? It was a fairly easy goal, and a way to give appreciation to your friends and family. I really took this goal to heart this week and did what I could to give kudos to those I appreciate. I gave a few through my twitter account, on my facebook account, through various comments on web sites and of course live in person to those I know personally. How did you do? How did you give kudos to those you appreciate? How did you feel afterward?

What fitness words starting with the letter "L" inspire you?