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5 days without meat.  If you’d have told me a few months ago I’d be trying this, much less enjoying it, I’d have slapped you.  No seriously, it would have been so off the wall, I’d have actually slapped you. Unless you were a lady or bigger than me

So, I started this experiment Sunday.  That was 5 days and 4.5 pounds ago.  I attribute that to not only eating much healthier, but also the 9 miles I’ve run since then (thanks to the Half Marathon Training).  I’m sure my body will adjust and the weight loss will mellow out, but for now, I’ll take it.

My body still feel great - I actually feel more energetic and focused than I have in a while.  I’m sure some of that is just in my head…but again, I’ll take it.  I’m still enjoying the food, and the challenge of coming up with meals that are tasty and meat free.  I think, even when I allow meat back into my diet, it will be in much smaller quantities.

Of course, the way things are going, I’m not sure that will happen, except on special occasions.

On a running note - a 3-mile run is a regular, pretty easy thing now.  I’m actually starting the program Monday (it allowed perfect timing for the Music City Half-Marathon) - so I’ll be a step or so ahead of it for a week.  It ramps up quickly though, so I’m hoping my body can keep up with the demands.

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So, I’m winding down my third day of not consuming animal flesh.  I’ve learned that I’m a Lacto-Ovi-Vegetarian, meaning I eat dairy and eggs. I’ve also learned that, were I to choose this as a permanent lifestyle change, my chances of developing several types of cancer decrease dramatically.  I’ve already determined that I can save money by going this route.  Things are looking promising.

Overall, I still feel really good.  The additional fiber is, ummm….doing its job.  I also don’t get quite as hungry, but also never get that gross “over-full” feeling.  It may sound weird, but it feels like my body is running more efficiently.  Plus, figuring out what to make for dinner is fairly exciting.

I’ve also dropped two pounds so far.  In three days.  Of course, that could also be partially due to the crappy food I ate Friday and Saturday exiting my system and taking some water with it.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the experiment - I think this weekend is going to be the first real test.

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So, I’m going to bring back an old favorite, the “10 things I think” posts - which I unceremoniously hijacked from SI’s Peter King. They were a crowd favorite back in the day.

1)Blogging is more fun when you do it for you.  No pressure, no traffic stats, no worries.

2)This blog was supposed to be my SEO blog to generate leads.  It’ll be easier to change the title than to try to get excited about that!

3)Vegetarianism may, in fact, have its merits.  I feel really good.

4)I’ve got too much on my plate, and I’m loving it.  Work IS my hobby.  And I’m cool with that.

5)Good running shoes make all the difference.

6)I didn’t watch the SOTU Address tonight.  Because I already know.

7)My Xbox 360 is trying to ruin my life.

8)I’m happiest when I’m productive, but I want to be productive so I can achieve the ability to not feel compelled towards productivity anymore.  ’tis a conundrum.

9)I’m excited about the Half Marathon.  Really.  I think it’s going to rock.  My knees, however, are asking me to re-consider.

10)I’m super excited for this to be back to being ‘My’ blog.  Random.  Meaningless.  Hopefully funny.  Occasionally Poignant.  Practice for my writing skills.

Good enough start I suppose.

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So, in an attempt to improve my diet - I’m taking a month to go vegetarian.  Not vegan - (I’ll kill you if you touch my cheese) - but critter flesh is out until Feb 28.  I’m curious about this on several levels -  I wonder if I’m going to lose weight, and if I do, will it be sustainable?  I’m wondering if my body can keep up with my demanding lifestyle - and I’m wondering if I’ll just freak out and load up on cheeseburgers in a week.

Mostly - I’m wondering if I can have the discipline to stick it out.

Day 2 - I actually feel really, really good.  I felt good yesterday too - I’m focusing on healthy foods (no cheese pizza, please), and I feel very ‘clean’ and surprisingly alert.   I’ve got whey protein, lots of greens, and plenty o’beans ready, so I no longer have concern about protein deprivation.  I also discovered that I like pita and hummus (with buffalo sauce) more than, well, just about anything.

Note - I’m a HUGE carnivore - so this is a bit of a departure for me.  Any tips are greatly appreciated.

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I promised Keohan I’d run a half-marathon with him in April.

That’s 13 miles on foot.  ‘Tis a long way, no?

Can’t help but feel a bit nervous about this, but it will be interesting.  I’m trucking through 3 miles pretty easily, and apparently this training program will carry me through to the rest.  C’mon shin splints!

In other business news - I’ve merged my triathlon site with Ontri.com - so Jon will be taking that over, which is a good thing - it’ll be nice to see it grow well beyond what I had the capacity to turn it into.

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“The danger is that housing prices continue to tumble and accelerate, people’s ability to pull out equity will evaporate, and you’ll see a serious downturn in consumption.”

This from Dean Baker - chief economist at the center for economic policy.

My translation: “People no longer have access to money they don’t really have - so they won’t buy a bunch of crap they can’t afford, and put their house up as collateral.  They may actually have to live within their  means - which will destroy the profits of banks and huge corporations”

Or - the economy will keep getting worse, because people will stop doing the stupid things that got us here in the first place.

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So, I was reading (actually IN the magazine, not online, heck yeah!) this article from Fast Company.

Before I go off on this rant that I feel welling up, I’m going to make a couple confessions -

1) These guys are probably considerably smarter than me
2) I’ve never read “The Tipping Point” - I just listed it in my favorites on Facebook because I wanted to look cool.

Ok - so, the argument here is whether or not trends are started by “Influencers” or randomly created by the masses.  There are 3-4 books on the subject, billions of dollars spent “influencing” people each year, and 5 pages inside the magazine devoted to this.

To which I say - “BAH!”

Something that needs to be stated is that all this crap is just that - crap.  It’s stuff created by marketers to sell books to other marketers, to help them be better at getting clients to spend the aforementioned billions of dollars.  I can hear the boardroom now - “Bob, sales are tanking this quarter, what’s the deal with this big ad agency you signed us on with?” “Well, Mr. CEO, I know sales are slumping but our Social Strategist got us a mention on Scoble’s blog!!”

Phooey.

The only person in the world whose advice directly influences my actions is my mother - and that is more out of guilt than of any real thought that she may know what kind of shoes are in this season.  Here’s an idea folks - save your money trying to get in front of ‘influencers’ - apply that towards research, or great creative talent, or an amazing designer, or even…..*gasp* quality production.  Make something that adds value to other people’s lives and don’t rely on the fickle masses and their fads.

Because fads fade.  Great, meaningful, products and services stick around. Real marketing is discovering how and when to take those products and services to market.

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