Last night I joined some other developers for dinner, and is common these days at one point the discussion turned to politics.

Now, it wasn’t a very deep talk. It was mostly talk of uncertainty with the regime change, and how the election season was especially nasty this time around.

But at some point in the discussion, one of my fellow developers appeared fairly agitated. Being the diplomat I attempt to be, I tried to steer the conversation to something more positive, but that was a tough sell. The discussion finally turned a corner, but it was a little uncomfortable for a bit.

I have a done a good job surrounding myself with people who have a variety of views on a multitude of issues. I’ve had my fair share of ribbing for my very complicated views, but I dish it out, too.

But I can’t remember a time in recent memory when I yelled at someone because he disagreed with my politics. We talk, we disagree. No big deal. Our lives are bigger than politics, and our relationships are certainly more valuable than incessant bickering.

And so, dear readers, I want to encourage you to treat others with respect when you engage in your ideas. Otherwise it’s going to be a very long four years if we can’t engage in civil discussion.

Even if you all are wrong.

A fool and his money are soon parted. – English proverb (paraphrased)

In last year’s in review post, I talked about how we didn’t make a lot of progress on our final debt (we’re not including the house debt): the student loans. Today marks a special day for us as a family. Today we begin, in earnest, our war with that debt.

We’ve made some progress in the last few years with some of our debt. In July of last year we paid off all our credit cards (again) and got rid of them completely with the help of our shredder. But those student loans have hung around for what feels like forever. This week, we talked with the girls (since the boy is too young to understand human language) about our debt and our plan to get out of it. We feel its important to talk to our kids about money so they don’t make the same mistakes we did. I hope we’re off to a good start.

In addition, we gave them a promise: when the student loans are paid off, we will take a trip to Disney World. That got their attention.

I write this now to mark a significant point in our family’s history: today is the day we begin our great war. This might be April 1, but it is no joke — we are at war.

The other day on my way to work I had to take a different route.

School is out, and the college kids are leaving for the summer, so that means the city’s street construction is ramping up. Most of it is in my path in and out of Lawrence, so I’ve been getting creative in finding ways across the city to the highway that takes me to work.

In the eastern part of Lawrence, I was stopped behind a couple of cars at an intersection when I noticed a young woman pushing her child in a stroller. After she crossed, I noticed her looking up at one of the houses, seemingly examining its features. She looked relaxed and casual and in no particular hurry.

I found myself wanting to trade places with her for the day.

Life has been a bit of a roller coaster ride as of late. Work has been insane. My hometown was hit by a tornado so we went there so I could assist with the cleanup. Our vehicles each had issues days apart of each other, which I repaired myself. We traveled to watch my mother-in-law’s graduation from college for her Master’s degree. The house has had some projects I needed to take care of.

Add all of that up along with daily life, and it’s been a busy time. It has started to dawn on me: I’m burning out and need some sort of a break.

Typically I save up my vacation time for late July, when the kids go to the grandparents during our anniversary week, and the wife and I enjoy a week to ourselves. I’m not sure I’ll make it until then. I’m feeling wore out.

But taking time off right now really isn’t that feasible. The kids are still in school, so time off wouldn’t afford me the ability to do anything with the family. A co-worker is going on vacation next week, so that’s pretty much out of the picture anyway. After that, it’s off to DrupalCon. That might sound like a vacation, but my experience last year taught me it’s a week full of stuffing my brain with ideas and then walking everywhere.

And then, my birthday. I’ll be 38 on June 8.

So, what should I make of all of this? I don’t think this hints of anything exceptionally wrong, but just that I’m learning how to really listen to my body. It’s a lot like when the temperature reaches above 74 degrees in the house; I don’t need to check anymore. I get uncomfortable and know it’s time to turn on the air conditioning.

My body is telling me I need to get some things in my life under better management. My workouts have, for the most part, dwindled down to nothing. I haven’t gotten outside much lately, which I need to change. A weekend camping trip sounds like it would do me a world of good right now.

I am in need of some balance. Time to go find it.

One of my goals for this year was to complete a Whole30 challenge starting in January. You can read more about my journey and more about the Whole30 on the post, “Halfway through the Whole30.”

As I am still on my (seemingly long) health journey that began last March, I wanted to do something that I thought was pretty successful last year. In August, I completed my first Whole30 challenge and was quite pleased with the result.

In a nutshell, the plan goes like this: Weigh in once at the beginning and once at the end, eat only quality meats (preferably grass fed), veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds, and fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, and ghee. Excluded from the diet are grains, dairy, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, legumes, starches (except for sweet potatoes), and probably the biggest one to avoid, soy.

The purpose? Exclude potential inflammatory foods, then see how your body feels in turn. As I said, I’ve done this before. My end result was that most of the foods I took out don’t bother me much, except for grains. I know that I feel much better when I don’t eat them, so now mostly I avoid them as a rule.

This post is, in part, out of self obligation. I’ve talked this thing up quite a bit and it’s hard to avoid when it’s such a part of your every waking moment for 30 days. In a way, it was a success. In only 30 short days, I lost 8.9 lbs. I should be happy. That said, my Fitbit Aria scale says I lost muscle mass and I only lost 1.4 lbs. of fat. The strangest thing is that the scale says I’ve lost 7.3 lbs. of lean mass, which would also include muscle.

Hmm.

I’m not sure if that’s the truth. Perhaps it is and I can’t get around it. But my clothes fit a little different, my belt is a notch tighter, and even my wife said I look like I’ve lost weight. Losing weight is one thing, seven pounds of muscle? I’m just not so sure about that.

I’ll admit, I didn’t walk as much this month as I did in during my first Whole30 in August. (I’m a very consistent Fitbit One user.) And, I didn’t workout with weights that as much as I did previously. That said, I worked a lot harder to get more sleep than I usually ever do, which I consider a huge success.

So I have to ask myself, was it a success or not?

I think so. For one, depriving myself of sweets makes my cravings for sweet things plummet. Also, I feel fantastic. I save money because I don’t spent anything on snacks and other assorted crap throughout the week. I only had a few moments where I wanted a Diet Mountain Dew, or some peanut butter. But mostly, those cravings just vanished.

And, with a couple of minor exceptions (I’m going to add some dairy back in my diet), I’ve decided to keep going and stick mostly with this same plan. I don’t feel like giving up just quite yet. I’ll make some modifications to my workouts, I’ll focus more on getting plenty of sleep, and I’ll move on.

So, that’s my story. Speaking of stories, I’m interested in hearing of health and fitness success stories of real everyday people. I’ve been building a little website where I’d showcase this information, and I’m happy to announce it here. I’ve had this domain and idea for awhile, Shapeshiftr.com, and there’s a signup form if you want to know when it goes live.

And if you’ve got a story to share about health and fitness success, just tick the box on the signup form at Shapeshiftr.com.

When I set out my goals for the new year, one of the first things I said I would tackle was the Whole30.

In essence, The Whole30 can be described itself as this:

I eat real food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit.  I choose foods that are nutrient-dense, with lots of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition.  And food quality is important – I’m careful about where my meat, seafood and eggs come from, and buy organic local produce as often as possible.

This is not a “diet” – I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy, activity levels and a healthy body weight.  I aim for well-balanced nutrition, so I eat both animals and a significant amount of plants.  I’m not lacking carbohydrates – I just get them from vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal or pasta.  And my meals are probably higher in fat than you’d imagine, but fat is a healthy source of energy when it comes from high-quality foods like avocado, coconut and grass-fed beef.

Eating like this is ideal for maintaining a healthy metabolism and reducing inflammation within the body.  It’s good for body composition, energy levels, sleep quality, mental attitude and quality of life.  It helps eliminate sugar cravings and reestablishes a healthy relationship with food.  It also works to minimize your risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack, stroke and autoimmune.

I have to say that things are going very, very well.

After the holidays, I was stuffed. I indulged myself a wee bit too much, and eating nothing but whole foods really has removed the bloat I was feeling at the start of the month. I’m working hard to get to sleep before midnight (a real challenge for me) and I’m seeing a noticeable difference in my energy levels in a good way.

The hardest thing for me is not stepping on the scale. Although  not touted as a way to lose weight, many do on the Whole30, and my experience in August saw a nice increase in fat loss and decrease in weight. But, I’ve been a good boy. I weighed myself at the beginning of the month, and then I put away the scale in the closet. I’ll check again on Jan. 31, but I knew I’d be too tempted if I just left it lying on the bathroom floor.

I’m excited to see what the next 15 days holds for me. I can feel a difference in my clothing; I was able to get into a particular shirt I called the “skinny shirt” on Sunday, so I know things are going well. And I’m down a notch in my belt, which is fantastic.

What I think is most interesting whenever I eat clean is how my cravings for sweet things get reduced to nothing. And the sweet things I do have — an orange or a banana here and there — taste so incredibly sweet that they become a real treat.

So here’s to another 15 days of clean eating. And if you’re thinking of doing something like this, check out www.whole30.com. It might just change your life!

Today is a big day for me.

On Saturday, March 23, I asked my wife, Amy, to pick me up a two liter bottle of Diet Mountain Dew while she was at the store. To have her pick me up my favorite drink was a fairly common request. Not a big deal. However, this time, she screwed up.

She bought me a 20 oz. bottle instead. Not a big deal, really, but it accidentally set in motion a course that I really didn’t think would happen.

The next day, I gave up drinking diet pop completely.

At first, I wasn’t sure that I could make it. In fact, sometimes I’m still not sure. But day by day, I refused my indulgence. I’m not sure how I did it, but somehow, I kept saying, “no.” And now, one month later, I haven’t had a drop of diet soda.

The axiom rings true: success is a process, not an event.

When I started my professional career in the year 2000, I was a heavy Mr. Pibb drinker. Oh man, did I love that stuff. Dr. Pepper would suffice, too, and my waistline showed just how much I loved it.

In time, I would decide that all the extra calories weren’t for me. So, I switched to Diet Dr. Pepper. That was a main staple for a few years until I found Diet Mountain Dew. Then, I was hooked.

I loved how it tasted sweet, like the real thing, and had zero calories. It couldn’t be bad since it had no calories, right?

Well, maybe not.

The first few days off it weren’t bad, but I was definitely tempted by my habit. I’d go to the pop machine almost in a daze, “wake up,” then walk back to my desk. I drank water, unsweetened tea, black coffee, green tea. If it had an artifical sweetener in it, I would resist.

In parallel, I also decided to start back at the gym. I was doing really well with a healthy lifestyle toward the end of last year, but a job change and a new commute brought everything back to chaos. Sadly, I gained the weight back that I had dropped before the job change (which happened in December and certainly didn’t help with all the good food around). While I can’t say that giving up pop led entirely to me getting back on the wagon, I can certainly say that it helped.

After a few days of resistance, I noticed that my cravings for sweet things had diminshed a lot. Now it’s practically zero. Some of that also has to do with my diet, but that’s for another day. But not craving sweet food during the day has really helped. Coupled with a dietary change and regular exercise, I’m down 12 lbs. That’s five more than when I started the new job, but certainly a reversal I’m proud of in only a month’s time.

Yesterday, Amy sent me a picture of a squirrel outside our home, going to great lengths to get to our bird feeder. I had to laugh because it made me think of the last month. I’ve been constantly telling myself, “Don’t quit.” The reward would be worth it. I had to stick it out. I had to keep going.

Indeed, the reward has been worth it. I have more money in my pocket and I don’t feel like I’m a slave to “needing” a soda anymore. I hope it continues. I’m going to work hard to make sure it does.

And although I’m tempted to run out and grab a 20 ouncer to celebrate, I think I’ll go grab a glass of ice water instead.

A couple of weeks ago I tried going about with my 3G data service turned off. Whenever I was away from a wireless source, I’d have nothing more than a really pretty phone.

The reason? I wanted to try and disconnect a little bit and step away from the glowing rectangles.

The experiment lasted three days. I faltered on a trip to the store one evening. Amy ran in to grab a few quick items, I and my daughters sat in our van and waited. The girls, they had Diego playing on the DVD player I got in November. I had nothing but my thoughts and my dummy iPhone.

Until I noticed my wife had left her iPhone in the car. Retina display? Faster than my 3Gs?  A Blade Runner form factor? Oh, baby.

I got caught. Something about using her phone for the data was “cheating” or something. I turned the data back on my phone after we got home from the store.

Tonight my mind has been racing. So many things I want to get down, get out, get moving on, it’s a mind-bending maelstrom in the old noggin and so, here I am.

I feel crappy. Not sick; only disappointed in my disorganization, my lack of focus, my inability to hammer out the things I want to pound on and move forward. I am disquieted by too much mental activity and can’t make much out of it.

And I guess that’s it.