Jon Stanton

I like baseball. I always have, even though when I tried out for Little League when I was 8 years old, I quickly found out I totally suck at playing it. When you're 8 years old and weigh 160 pounds, combined with the fact that I'm not a naturally-gifted athlete...well, you can about imagine how that went. Let's just say my baseball career may be one of the shortest on record, ever!

Anyhow, I still love the game and usually take in several minor league games each summer. I've managed to make it to Florida for spring training once, and of course, I have taken in a couple of Tigers games too (don't get me started about the expense, though). This time of year, in particular, I tend to really think a lot about baseball, since spring training is underway, and games will be starting soon.

Last night, I came up with a totally corny quote related to baseball. If you follow me on Facebook, you've seen this already, and I suspect that some famous baseball great may have said it or something like it at some point in their life. However, it was a reflection of where I'm at in life currently, so for what it's worth, here it is...

"Life has a funny way of throwing you some really nasty curveballs. How you choose to swing is the difference between a strike or a homerun."

So what is a curveball exactly, and how does this metaphor apply to life, health, weightloss, etc.? Well, for those of you that may be baseball-ignorant, a curveball is a pitch that has a downward spin causing it to "drop" when it enters the strikezone. Batters can be fooled and swing, missing the ball as it drops. Really talented pitchers can alter this in an opposite fashion - the ball enters the strikezone appearing to be a "ball" (don't swing) and at the last second, aligns perfectly and crosses as a strike. Either way, the batter is "fooled" and the ensuing result is usually a strike - either from the batter swinging and missing, or from the batter NOT swinging as the ball crosses perfectly in the strikezone.

I guess I probably don't need to do much metaphorical analysis here, then, because you can probably make the connection on your own based on this information. Sometimes life seems to be moving along in a straight line - things are going well, and then WHAM! Out of nowhere, we're broadsided by some kind of major disruptive challenge. On the flip side, sometimes life seems to be a mess, but if we hang in there and don't lose hope, things usually "align" in the end.

OK, so I'm being a bit "wax philosophical" on you here. My apologies. What I'm trying to convey (in my typical much-too-wordy fashion) is that how we deal with life's curveballs is a great barometer on whether we will be successful in conquering challenges or be a failure. I confess, many of life's curveballs have resulted in failure on my part. Of course, I've had my share of successes too. The bottom line, and this is my MAIN POINT (how many words did it take me to get here?) is that if we don't at least "swing" at those curveballs and swing to the best of our ability, we have no hope of success or failure. You can't succeed or fail if you never try.

So what curveballs are coming your way currently. I have several currently - coming from all directions, it seems, so I need at least a dozen bats! lol. Seriously, when it comes to reaching your goals or dreams in life - whether that be weight loss, fitness, finding gainful employment, finding a life partner, whatever it is - SWING to the best of your ability. Yes, you may strike out, or maybe you'll miss a couple of times, but eventually, you're going to hit that homerun.

It took me more than a decade of my adult life before I decided to "swing" and do something about my weight and health. I feared failure. That's normal. But, I succeeded, and I know you can too. Get out there and swing!

I love warm weather. The sooner the snow disappears the better, in my book. I've always lived in the Midwest and lots of people have asked me, "why don't you move to Florida?" Well, I've seriously considered it more than once, even had a job interview there, but in the end, my family is all in this area, Michigan has beautiful summers, and it's difficult to think about digging up the roots I have in this state.

All that to say...HASN'T THE WEATHER BEEN AWESOME? I hope you've taken advantage of it and been outdoors as much as time allows. I've spent the last couple of days biking on the Lansing River Trail and the Owosso River Trail when I've had free time for exercise. What an awesome feeling to be zooming along on my bike once again after being "holed up" during the winter.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking to two groups about healthy living.

Here'a shout out to my new friends at the Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI) in Okemos! Special thanks to Beth, Robin, Laura, Laura, and Kathy (I think - sorry if I got your name wrong!) for helping put together a great event! The workers at MPHI have health on their mind quite often, I'm sure, since many of them work for programs designed to combat diabetes, cancer, and other illnesses. It was my pleasure to inspire them during their "weight loss challenge" to make healthy eating choices and exercise! Keep up the great work guys!

And here's another shout out to my friends at K&G Wellness Center in Owosso. I handle the Week 8 lecture during K&G's 10-week nutrition for life course, and have made many new friends. If you're not familiar with K&G, click on the "links" tab and visit their website. This AWESOME organization has helped literally thousands of people in the past few years learn how to eat correctly and lose more than 30,000 pounds! Currently, the two groups that are underway have collectively lost more than 1,500 pounds!! Isn't that AWESOME!!

As I was headed home last night, the thought occurred to me about how many resources we do have available to assist us in living healthy lives. We need to take advantage of them. The Internet has a host of helpful websites and tools available. I truly believe that a person who is educated about healthy living is much more likely to successfully combat obesity. I encourage everyone to go online and actually read the nutrition information about what they are eating in our nation's restaurants. You may be surprised. Don't think a salad is automatically healthy - some salads have more calories and fat than a hamburger!

Educate yourself - become an informed consumer, and above all, don't believe everything you see on TV, on a food label, or hear from your friends. K&G's Nutrition for Life course is an AWESOME and relatively inexpensive way to educate yourself too. Just like most things in life, if we educate ourselves, we are much more likely to make good choices.

Enjoy the weather today - it's supposed to be another beautiful, warm day!

WOW - the weather we've had lately (except for yesterday) has been GREAT! I am so excited for spring and summer (my favorite season). I hope we have lots of sunny, hot days!

Last week, I was able to get my bike out a couple times and it was so awesome. I did several miles on the Lansing River Trail and it felt so good to be moving again at high rates of speed. I'm a speed demon, so if you're on the River Trail and see a flash of light go zooming by, it's probably the sun shining off my bald head as I zip by.

More good news - my heel pain is almost completely gone. I've been wearing a brace at night, making sure to always wear shoes and to have good arch support inserts inside the shoes. For the most part, the pain is completely gone. In fact, I walked 3 miles at the Community Partners in Health Winter Warm Up (www.cphlansing.com) on Saturday, and only had minor pain afterwards.

I've also had an excellent stretch of healthy eating recently. This winter has been difficult for me, as you know if you read this blog regularly. The combination of poor eating choices (fueled by several factors, I believe) along with the foot problems that limited my walking and caused me to stop going to aerobics resulted in a weight gain. Last week, I decided I'd had enough of those poor choices and that it was time to find alternative ways to move more if I couldn't do aerobics anymore. So, out came the bike and out came the healthy eating habits, and I have to say...

I FEEL GREAT!!! It really is amazing to me still (even after all this time) how much better I feel when I eat healthy foods and exercise consistently. I have so much more energy and just feel better overall. This is, as I've said before, the most powerful motivator for continuing my healthy lifestyle.

I suspect it will take me a month or two to get my weight back down to where it was before this winter's problems began. I'm looking forward to the challenge! How about you? Has winter been unkind to your waistline? Send me an email or post a comment and I'll be happy to respond with some tips and one on one motivation. You can do it!

OK, so here's the reality of my situation. I visited the podiatrist this morning. I have two heel spurs that have helped contribute (along with a very tight Achilles tendon) to a rather nasty case of plantar fasciitis. The easiest way I can think of to describe plantar fasciitis for those of you who may have never experienced it is to imagine what if feels like to walk barefoot on a gravel driveway with those "large" stones, and what it feels like when one gets jammed up into the arch of your foot. That's how my left foot near and along the edge of my heel feels all the time.

The doc gave me a cortisone injection and a brace to wear at night along with stretching exercises. If that doesn't work, custom orthotics will be the next thing to try. I'm supposed to limit my walking during this time too. In a nutshell - this totally sucks.

I don't know what will happen next. I may never conquer this ailment completely. There are no guarantees. It's treatable, but not cureable, and people respond differently to different kinds of treatment. I've received many suggestions from blog readers and I'd like to say thank you! I'm certainly open to suggestions and will work diligently to try and figure out what combination of treatments I need to maximize success.

In the mean time, who's up for a bike ride? I'm antsy already to get out on the Lansing River Trail, but I know that even though it's very spring-like today, cold temps are not gone - yet. So I'm going to take up spinning instead of aerobics - at least for a while. Hopefully that will burn as many calories as aerobics. I think I can still get in my mile or mile and a half walks during my lunch break without too much difficulty, so I plan to keep going with those too.

I'm working hard to be "glass half full" about this scenario. I knew I was injury prone because of other challenges I face (the alignment of my legs and hips, for one), and let's face it. Life doesn't come to a crashing end just because I may not be able to do another half-marathon. I had dreams of actually jogging or running in a half-marathon, but dreams can be adjusted to accommodate reality. How about the DALMAC? Sounds like a fun goal to me! Any takers? Or, how about the upcoming American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure in Brighton at Kensington Metropark? They offer 5 to 100 mile courses with everything in between, all raising money to conquer diabetes.

Let's RIDE!

Greetings faithful blog readers - I know that all 3 of you have been anxiously awaiting a new post. LOL. Pardon the self-depricating humor...

So I'm back from my cruise of the Mexican Riviera and Central America. I had a wonderful time aboard the Carnival Dream - Carnival's newest and largest ship. I cruise mainly because I hate Michigan winters and crave heat and sunshine. The food is a big draw too, of course. It's hard to pass up 5-star dining every evening along with all the other great food options offered on the ship. I often get asked how I handle the "food issue" when I'm on a cruise, so I thought I would write a bit about that today and also update you on some other things happening in my life.

The food on the cruise is definitely a challenge. The first cruise I took after losing my weight, I actually lost 2 pounds. Click here to read more about what I did on that cruise to stay healthy.

The next cruise I took was in September of 2009. I was less successful on that cruise. I did not weigh myself, but I suspect I gained a few pounds - I could feel it in my clothing.

This most recent cruise began with relatively good intentions, but I have to admit, the dessert bar got me - more than once. However, miracle of miracles, I somehow lost a pound. I suspect the reason for that is because of increased physical activity (not sitting in a desk chair all day) AND because I left for this cruise having already gained about 30 pounds since Thanksgiving.

Basically, my "food philosophy" while cruising is to eat a healthy breakfast (I was successful every day but one), a healthy lunch (usually a salad - I was less successful here), and then whatever I want for dinner (I was completely successful here! LOL). I try to minimize in-between meal snacking and I try to keep moving either by walking, visiting the gym, or choosing "active" tours while on shore.

I felt much less successful on my recent cruise because I did eat in-between meals more often than I liked (usually the blasted frozen yogurt machine or the evil cookies and desserts that are always around) and because pre and post-cruise, I battled the donut demon.

I was also severely limited in my exercise and activity because of the ongoing problem with my heel. This ship had a wonderful wrap-around loop at Deck 5 that was perfect for walking. It also had the standard exercise track on Deck 11, but I usually walked on Deck 5 since it circled the entire ship. Two and a half times around was equivalent to one mile. I put in a mile or slightly more 3 or 4 days, did about 2 miles on another day, and pedaled an exercise bike one other day. I paid the price the rest of the day after my walks by limping and hobbling around throughout the evening. I didn't care. I WANTED TO MOVE!!

I was also limited with my on-shore activities. I did bike in Florida before leaving, but the ports of call on this trip did not include bicycle rental as most of them were pretty small and isolated. I usually look for walking tours or hiking activities, but I knew my foot wasn't up to that, so I avoided that also.

All that to say, I felt like I wasn't nearly as active as I normally would be on a cruise. In fact, I am battling a near panic about my inability to move as much as I want and need because of the limitations from my heel problem. I've decided to stop whining about it (at least in theory) and figure out what to do.

Solution A - I'm going to try a "spinning class" with a friend on Monday. I've heard they're a great workout.
Solution B - I'm seeing a podiatrist on Monday too. I pray to God he can figure out what's going on and find a solution.
Solution C - I MUST do better at monitoring what I eat. It's so easy to fall back in to old habits, especially during a vacation. I was already dealing with that before leaving, so I MUST be even more diligent now.
Solution D - I must seek out encouragement and support to help me through this latest challenge. My faith is a constant source of strength. My awesome and beautiful girlfriend continues to offer me a listening ear when the "woe is me" moments kick in. I'm also continually encouraged by those of you who send me supportive comments on here or Facebook - you don't know how much that helps me keep going.
Solution E - My exercise philosophy and preferences may need a major shake-up. I just might have to accept that I'll never walk another half-marathon, but I'm already laying the groundwork to participate in a long-distance bike race this summer.

Bottom line...WHATEVER IT TAKES. I'm not going back, I'm looking forward, even if I have to "hobble my way" to the future.

Thanks for reading!