I’m no doctor, but this works for me.

04Oct09

In my last post I mentioned some of the benefits that I’ve experienced while losing weight and taking the super high quality Advocare nutritional products.

First, a little background.

Asthma. I was first diagnosed with asthma when I was 18 months old. I’ve carried an asthma inhaler with me and have been on daily medication since I was 5. I’ve been hospitalized 4 times due to severe asthma and have had countless trips to the emergency room in my lifetime. So when I say that I have asthma, I mean it.

Migraines. Until last December, I was taking an Excedrin migraine almost every day for over a year. I’ve jokingly referred to it as my “daily vitamin”. Related or not, this is the same time that I was drinking 3 to 4 monster energy drinks every day.

So what’s changed? Last December I started the Advocare Nutrition products, including completely replacing monster energy with super high quality Spark. Since then I’ve:

• lost over 60lbs – gone from 44” pants to 36” pants
• I’m completely off all of my asthma medicine (even when running at the gym or playing soccer with my 4 children)
• migraines are almost completely non-existent in my life. I still get the occasional headache, but now it’s about 1 every 2 – 3 months instead of every day.
• I now take allergy medicine every other day instead of daily.

It’s hard to explain or communicate the change all of this has made in my life. To be able to run and play and still be able breath! (breathing is a good thing). To go through my life without my head always feeling like it was ready to explode (or implode depending on the day). All of this is completely amazing and a real life change – I highly recommend it!

Final Disclaimer: I am still not a doctor, and Advocare is a nutritional company that makes no medical claims. I’m simply communicating my experience and the affects that becoming more healthy has had on me. You should consult with your doctor before you do anything.

Filed under: Featured, Health Tips, My Journey   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: advocare, asthma, migraines, weightloss

What a difference 55lbs makes!

08Sep09

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog… last time I did an update I was down 25lbs. Last December I started this journey at 278 and barely squeezed into my 44” jeans (pictured above). Today I’m happy to report that I am at 221 and am wearing 36” jeans! 55 lbs and 8 inches off the waist makes a ton of difference.

To celebrate this latest victory we're running some great promotions this month for the Advocare products that we're using. Let me know if you'd like to get started and I'll fill you in on the details!

OK, this is just a quick update, but I wanted to get this update out there. I’ll blog later about some of the unexpected benefits that I’ve had (like I’m almost completely off of my asthma medicine and have more energy that ever.) I’ll work on some more updates soon. Right now, I’m busy starting a new job and making changes to my other blog.

Filed under: My Journey, Weigh ins   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: journey, weighin

and the winner is . . .

16May09

Back in February I kicked off the Fit in February Developer Challenge, and then over a month ago I started tallying the results. I’ll have to let you wonder why tallying the results took so long… was it because we had over 170 people participating through the Facebook group? Was it because some of the numbers were so split hair close that we had to call in a recount team? or was it just because I got busy with life and had billable projects with customers?

What ever the reason was, I want to start off now by thanking everyone that participated. I hope that the month was a catalyst for lasting change for at least a couple of people. I’ve heard from many of you that have told me about the weight you lost, the workouts that you started and in some cases the weight (muscle) that you gained. (on purpose from working out … )

As a reminder: There will not be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Instead, there are 3 different categories that people can win in.

Winner – Total Lost

So… without further ado. Congratulations Peter! Seriously, check out his before and after picture.

Filed under: Contest, Featured   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Contest, FFC, FitFebruary, FitInFebruaryContest, MSDN, Team Suit, Zune

Wrapping up the Fit in February Developer Challenge

10Mar09

Over a month ago we kicked off the “Fit in February Developer Challenge”. Over 170 people joined the facebook group and a ton of people participated through twitter! Sorry for the obvious delay in announcing the winners of this challenge. I was out of town last week at the Microsoft MVP Summit and am just now getting caught up on everything.

What that means for everyone that participated… is that you have until tomorrow (Wed March 11, 2009) to get me your final results. You can email them directly to me, post them as a comment here or directly on the Facebook group.

Thanks for everyone that participated! I’m really looking forward to seeing your final results!

Filed under: Contest, Featured   |  4 Comments
Tags: FitFebruary, FitInFebruaryContest

Reviewing My Eating Plan – Tomorrow on Live Meeting

02Feb09

I’ve blogged about my eating plan before, but I still get asked several times a week to walk through exactly what I’m doing. (Probably because I’ve gone from 276.8lbs to under 250 in about 6 weeks!) So I’m going to try out Live Meeting tomorrow at Lunch. I’m going to walk through exactly how the meal plan that I’m doing works, how I implement it and the areas that I’m still working on. Note: I am going to show you the specific products I’ve been taking and show you have you can buy them directly from the manufacturer.

P.S. – sorry for the late notice on this. I kept meaning to schedule this, but then had a crazy weekend. If you can’t make this, but wanted to attend, leave a comment and I’ll see about scheduling another lunch later in the week.

Click here to Join the meeting, Monday Feb 2, 2009 12pm to 1pm CST.

See you then!

Filed under: Featured, Products   |  4 Comments
Tags: eating advice, live meeting, meal replacement shake

Fit in February Developer Challenge: “Official Rules”

29Jan09

Well, it’s taken almost a month to get to this point. There has been a lot of enthusiasm building around this too. (over 140 members have joined the Facebook group!) So with out further ado, let me out line the contest.

Overview / Goal: The Fit in February Developer Challenge has the lofty goal of encouraging and motivating developers to do something out of their normal routine to become more healthy. The goal is help kick start your routine in February by proving prizes and motivation that most developers will actually care about.

Filed under: Contest, Featured   |  19 Comments
Tags: FIF, FitFebruary, FitInFebruaryContest

Fit in February Developer Challenge: Judges Announced!

29Jan09

I emailed this out through the Facebook group about a week ago, but I thought that I should also post it here for anyone not in the Facebook group yet.

 

I wanted to "officially" announce the judges:

Javier Lozano, David Silverlight and myself (Caleb Jenkins).

Javier and David are both Microsoft MVP’s, hard core developers, awesome community guys (working hard with INETA) and are the perfect people to help make this happen. I also want to thank them both for agreeing to help with this… they don’t yet realize how much work is going to be required of them.

Remember the prizes that you’ll be working for: 1 MSDN Team Suite Subscription, 1 Zune, and 1 80GB VSTS Logo’d Zune! (plus a healthier you!)

 

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Tags: Caleb Jenkins, David Silverlight, Facebook, FIF, FitFebruary, FitInFebruaryContest, Javier Lozano

What a difference 20 lbs makes ..er 25lbs!

28Jan09

This post is about 1 and 1/2 weeks late. I’ve been a little busy lately between teaching a custom (developing Rich Internet Applications with ASP.NET AJAX and Microsoft Silverlight) class and speaking at Microsoft’s latest technical conference in Dallas on Monday. That being said, let me do some catch up. About a week and a half ago I hit the 20 pounds lost category. (yeah me!)

Filed under: My Journey, Weigh ins   |  3 Comments
Tags: journey, success, weigh in, weighin

Win a Logo’d 80GB Zune – from the Visual Studio Team System Group at Microsoft!

12Jan09

I got a Facebook email today from one of the guys on the VSTS team at Microsoft (Doug Seven),

VSTS will donate an 80 GB Zune (Black with the VSTS logo on the back).

How cool is that?!

So we’re up to a Team Suit MSDN Subscription, a Zune from Bryan Sampica, and now an 80GB Black Zune that will have the VSTS Logo on the back.

If you’re just now joining us, be sure to read the original Design Challenge post, and also check out the Facebook Group.

The Fit in February Developer Challenge starts in 19 days. Are you ready?! How are you planning on getting fit?

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Tags: Contest, Facebook, FFC, FitFebruary, FitInFebruaryContest, MSDN, Team Suit, Zune

Tuesday night: I’m visiting the factory

12Jan09

I’ve blogged before about the eating plan that I’m following and the incredible success that I’ve had with it. Several people that are participating in the Developer Challenge in February have asked me about the products that I’m taking (trying to get a jump on the competition ). Well, as luck would have it, I found out that the manufacture is headquartered near Dallas. I’m heading over there Tuesday night for a tour of their newly renovated facility. If you’d like to join me and check it out, drop me a note and I’ll get you an invite. See you then!

Filed under: Contest, Products   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: advocare, Contest, FFC, FitFebruary, FitInFebruaryContest