Gerry's Life and Times

2006-11-07T14:34:00.000-05:00

Exciting news... Gerrylife.com has now become AFitSpot.com. I wanted to take the spotlight off of myself and make it more of a community of people all striving for the same goals.

In the coming months there will be many changes. We will have a staff of people to:

add content
write articles
review products
keep journals of their struggles
and much more.

We have recently started a chat community which is growing every day. Forums will be in the near future. The Success Stories section is growing and many of the members will have their own pages. We will be here for all your struggles and accomplishments.

If you would like to be invovled in the growth of this site please email us.

2006-11-03T18:29:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to say my Chat Room is now open and ready for beta testing. So come join us. I'll have some pretty exciting news to report soon. The room has taken me away from working on the success stories. I have 6 more to put up now.

I'm doing pretty well I really like this cleanse I'm on. Maybe I'll do it every two months or so.

2006-11-02T16:39:00.000-05:00

Day four of the cleanse and I feel great. I'm down 7 pounds all together which again is 123 pounds so far. I'm coming up on my one year on my journey and I'm very happy about it. I will reflect more on this next week. :)

Updates:
Added two more success stories on my site. It is really starting to grow and I have about 4 more to enter. Again if anyone wants to be included please e-mail success.stories@gerryslife.com.
Rocky and April are my two newest stories. Please check them out.

Added a new article that I found from a MFD Thread about 10 ingredients you should have in your kitchen to never go hungry.

Added a new quote that my daughter's mother told me a long time ago when I really needed to hear it.

2006-10-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

For the past week or so I have been going up and down a pound or two. Nothing much to talk about. This morning however it was much different. I knew it would be too. I felt better then I have felt in a few days. I had a great work out last night. Even lifted some weights for the first time.

I also started the 7 day cleanse yesterday from GNC. It consists of taking a packet of pills in the morning with a packet of powder to mix with water or juice. Then at night you take another packet of pills. I am not saying the cleanse is the reason why I have lost so much but I feel much better today after taking them and even if it is only mental that isn't a bad thing.

So back to my original subject... I jumped on the scale this morning and I was down another 4 pounds. Which puts my total lose to date at 120 pounds. I am just about at my short - term goal of losing 125 pounds.

Oh yea by the way I added an article about negative calorie foods to my Healthy Articles page. I really do try to add these foods into my diet everyday. Not sure what a negative calorie food is? Go check out the article.

2006-10-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

Trick or Treat - My community had their Halloween trick or treating on Sunday. Many parents drive there kids around the community dropping them off from house to house. Well I decided this year I'd take my daughter on foot. Of course she got tired and had to ride on Daddy's back half the way. But it was great to be able to carry her on my back when she couldn't walk anymore. It was one of those perfect moments and I'm glad I got to share it with her.

I started my 7 day cleanse today so I will get you updated on how that is going.

I added two more success stories on my site today. I have about 3 more to add and I'd love to get even more. If you want to be included again please send your information to success.stories@gerryslife.com. New website domain name coming soon. I don't want this to just be about me.

I have added fellow MFDer Staci with her story and my first non MFD success story Aracelis. She uses NutriSystem. Which does seem to be another healthy way to lose the weight.. Aracelis still has about 69 pounds left to lose but she looks beautiful. Remember I'm not just looking for people who are at their goal weight I'm looking for people on our journey people that other's will relate with and gain inspiration from. Will you be one of them? :)

2006-10-27T13:44:00.000-04:00

Went out to eat last night. Was going to order the salmon... They were out... Was going to order Veggies... No veggies... (It was late) So I ended up with the ribs and mashed potatoes. Yea I know I know. Not the best thing to eat at night but.... You have to live sometimes. I also had a really good work-out last night. So I drink lots of water last night and hope for the best. I step on the scale this morning and what do you know I'm down another pound. I was very surprised. I guess when I look at what I ate all day and what I eat for dinner it wasn't too bad. I mean its not like I went crazy and eat everything in the place. I had a good meal... Not the healthiest but not the worst either. I have to get used to the fact that you could really eat a normal meal now and then and not worry about it affecting your way of life. I mean so many people actually eat these things every day and they don't have a weight problem.

I'm learned about two things today on MFD.

Quorn which is a meat free frozen food. It looks go so I have to try some. I'll let you know what I think next week.

Campaign For Real Beauty - Please watch this video. Pay attention to what they do to the photo in the image editing program. It is very shocking and sad.

Have a great weekend... :)

2006-10-26T10:45:00.000-04:00

Today I reached another milestone. I haven't measured my waist in a couple of weeks so I decided to today. Low and behold I now have a 49 inch waist. Which means for the first time in years I am under 50 inches. I know 49 inches is still too darn big but I'm getting there. I remember not too many months ago when I was at 64 inches and hoping for the day when I was under 60 inches.

Went to the Gym last night and I had a really good workout. I hit the stationary bike for 30 minutes. But someone was on the elliptical, after I got off of the bike, so I decide to do the treadmill. Now usually I hate treadmills but I figured I'd give this one a shot. It was really good I was even able to jog on it for few minutes at a time. I had started to learn to run in the summer but it got to cold and I didn't want to do it on the treadmill. I am now rethinking this. Although I have to figure how I can switch from walking to running quickly.

One day I'll get those new photo galleries up.

2006-10-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

I have overhauled my "Healthy Links" page with the help of my friend BearZen. It has so much more information I'd like to thank her for all her help. I also added some articles to my "Healthy Articles" page. Please check them out. Again if anyone has anything to share please e-mail me.

Past few days have been really decent. Like I said Sunday I had eaten a bit unhealthy but I am back on track and feeling good. Hit the racquetball court yesterday and today I'm off to the gym.

I get many great responses about my web-site and I will have more success stories up soon. Thank you everyone for the kind words and help. I even have people from work commenting on my site and I have no clue how they found it.

I am still considering putting a site together with not just me but many people just like me. More to come on that soon.

I still have two sets of pictures I need to post to my site. The first is my day at Paws and Claws zoo in Pa and the other is my grandmother's 96th birthday party.

2006-10-23T20:25:00.000-04:00

I've gotten some good feedback on my new site idea and a few people willing to help. I've started by posting success stories on my website and I'll go from there. I am happy to say that Charles is one of them. I really want to stress to people that no matter what size you are anyone can lose weight naturally.

Bitter Sweet....
So for the first time I looked in the mirror and really looked at my belly and my legs... There is a whole lot less of me, but I noticed for the first time where my legs meet my body I have lots of excess skin. Very bitter sweet, on one hand I love that I'm at that stage. But on the other it was the first time I knew for sure I was going to really have all this excess skin.

So this weekend I went to visit my family in NYC for the grandmother's 96 year old birthday party. Had a good time with my daughter. I took the day off from eating healthy but it was worth it. I'll weigh in again tomorrow and see what the damage was.

2006-10-20T13:27:00.000-04:00

Can it be Friday already? This week actually past by pretty quickly. I had some good work outs. My parents came to visit. The scale didn't move much. It went up a bit but its back down to my 115 pound loss maybe half a pound more. But the weighing myself more is helping out. I'm not as worried about it anymore.

I've also noticed I'm making better choices because I'm tracking and sharing my journey online with everyone.

I have added a "Healthy Article" resource page so I can continue to give my friends something to read and educate them on various issues. I will update that a few times a week at least. I want to make sure the content on my site never gets stale.

Speaking about updates. I got a letter from My Food Diary saying that people have been complaining about my posts cause my site had ads on it. I quickly took the adds off and sent a apology to the forum. With that I got flooded with great responses from my family at MFD. They mostly love my site which really gave me in more motivation to continue posting. One even said I help her as much as MFD has. That was one of the best compliments I think I have ever gotten. If the complaints continue I'll just stop posting on the forum. But I'll never stop posting here.

This weekend I'll be in NYC for my grandmother's 96th birthday party. I am usually at the point where I decide to take a day or so and not eat so healthy. However, I don't feel that need right now. I'm sure I'll still have days that I don't' eat very good but the more time I spend on this journey the more I realize my body is adjusting and I don't even desire to eat those things any longer.

2006-10-17T17:10:00.000-04:00

Ok the weekend has come and gone. I didn't really over eat at all this weekend which is great. I think that this weighing myself more often is a good thing. I went up a few pounds but as of this morning I'm still down 115 pounds. I've noticed that the weekend I tend to go up a few pounds but when Monday - Friday comes they come off and then some. As always I'll keep my fans (like I have fans) posted.

I am amazed that as the weeks go by I'm getting more and more new visitors and returning visitors to my website. Thank you for everyone who has just found me and those that are loyal visitors. I have gotten lots of feedback about how I am an inspiration to many people. But it is now you who inspire me with your comments to keep going on. I am more on track with my weight loss then I have been in months and I have to thank each and everyone one of you for helping me. Keep those comments coming.

The weekend was great. Went to my daughters soccer game then took her to a zoo around the area called "Paws and Claws" it is a really cute zoo and it is set up like a hiking trail. Last year, when I went, I was in pain and was always looking for a seat this year I think I walked it twice without having to sit down. I will have those pictures posted soon.

2006-10-13T11:37:00.000-04:00

My scale is really starting to move. I like this weighing in more often theory. It really keeps me on track and keeps me motivated. I weighed in this morning to find that I have dropped another two pounds. I realize it isn't going to move like this every week but for now it keeps me moving along. Since I started weighing in on Sunday I even worked out harder:

Sunday - Mountain Biking
Monday - Gym
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - Racquetball
Tonight - Gym

I have my daughter this weekend so I'm going to find some fun active things we can do together. I'll let you know how it turns out on Monday.

Enjoy the Journey...

2006-10-11T13:17:00.000-04:00

I'm down 113 pounds as of this morning. Which means for the first time I'm 100 pounds from my goal weight (which may change as I get closer to my goal.)

I've taken a different approach to weighing in recently and so far so good. My old way was not to worry that much about my weight then to weigh in every other Saturday. That worked well for the past year but I started to notice a trend. After weigh in I would have a day or so where I wouldn't worry about what I ate, which isn't a bad thing, but I noticed that the first week I was less strict then I would be on week two. The Friday before weigh in I would worry that if I didn't lose any weight I would have to wait another two weeks to weigh in again.

Now my new theory, I weigh myself when I feel like. Only in the mornings of course, but when I feel like it. If I don't lose or I've gained a few pounds, no big deal I'll work a bit harder and weigh myself again in a couple of days. Like I said above so far so good. If this doesn't work out, I'll try weighing in once a week and see how that goes.

Life is about change, eating habits and being healthy is also about change what works for you one month might not work the other and you have to adjust for the change. Never give up!!!

2006-10-10T17:01:00.000-04:00

I know, it has been about a week since I last published. Not too much as happened, I had a great weekend with my daughter. I got out early on Friday and surprised her at day care and took her to the movies. She was so happy to see me I love doing that. Those are the special moments in life. Then I went to her soccer game on Saturday and took her and her mommy out to eat. I'll have the pictures of those up soon. I also went for a easy bike ride on Sunday.

The "What I Eat" section of my website has finally arrived. It will always be a work in progress just like my site. Let me know what you think of it. I would love to get feedback on it.

I also stepped on the scale this morning (now that I have one I am doing this more often) and I'm down 110 pounds total.

2006-10-02T23:05:00.000-04:00

The Rosso Family Reunion 2006 has come and gone. I did eat a bit more then I should have but I stayed away from the junk food and I was more active then the years before.

We went to a pumpkin patch which was fun. There was a corn maze, hay maze, and lots of pumpkins for the picking. I tried to go hiking but there was really no where close to go. I did drive around and I took a few nice pictures and walked a bit. I saw some wild turkeys again but I didn't get a picture of them. Those darn wild turkeys evade me wherever I go. :)

The pictures didn't come out too bad. Some are grainy, I'm just learning how to take in-door pictures without a flash. Other photo's the hall was a bit big for the flash. But some came out really nice. If you want a copy that you can print at home or Wal-mart send me an e-mail with the picture you want and I'll send you the full file.

2006-09-30T18:39:00.000-04:00

Ok reunion is half way over.... On a scale of 1 - 10 where 1 is eating everything not nailed down and 10 is eating the mfd way... I'd say I'm about a 6.78 or so. Not really too bad if I do say so my self. We also went pumpkin picking, into a corn maze and on a hayride so that did burn up some of it. I was going to hike also but it was raining a bit too hard so I just drove around and took pictures. Which did keep me away from the food room. :)

It's funny my cousin's boyfriend didn't do anything but sit around on his computer. Not that what he was doing was bad. He's healthy just not into doing stuff outside. I would of been that way last year. It feels so good to be active for the first time in my life. I know I keep saying that. Pictures to follow on Monday.

2006-09-29T13:53:00.000-04:00

A quick blog before I go away for my reunion. I wanted to put the pictures of my lake I took a few nights ago up. I really think they came out nice. Again having hobbies is better then just watching TV.

So I have spent the week eating not too bad but I really haven't been watching too much. I call it my maintenance week. On Monday I'll be back to my old self happy I had the week to enjoy but glad I'll be back on and getting ready for the next weigh in.

I'll have the "What I eat" section up when I get back, most likely by Tuesday.

Let me know what you think of my new pictures.

2006-09-28T14:22:00.000-04:00

Ok, again it took a while to update my pictures and write in my blog. Yea I've realized I have too many hobbies now, but that isn't a bad thing, I think. I updated abbey's Soccer pictures and created the Bloomsburg Fair Gallery. I was very happy I was able to walk around the fair without problems. Last year I would have to stop every 10 minutes. I also didn't eat as much as I thought I would.

I also added a What's New page my fans (like I have fans) didn't have to guess when I updated things.

I have been working hard on the "What I eat" pages it is grown from what I first thought I would list. When I'm finally done it will be a great tool.

This weekend is a family reunion and I will have lots of pictures from that. It will be hard to stay on this way of life but I will do my best. I don't really expect to lose much weight this week but if I maintain for next Saturday's weigh in I'll be happy.

2006-09-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

Ok, last night I had anxiety waiting for this morning to come. Two weeks ago I gained two pounds. Although, I lost 2 inches from my waist which means I was successful, I was worried that the scale wouldn't move again this morning. That would mean I hadn't lost any weight in a whole month.

Meanwhile, I've decided it was time for me to buy a scale. Going to GNC every two weeks has become a hassle. My daughter has started soccer which means I would have to run to her soccer game before I weighed in. I picked up a nice scale last night from Wal-Mart, it has the ability to keep track of your weight and your goal weight so I liked that feature. My plan was to go to GNC weigh in then go home and weigh myself on the scale so I can calibrate the difference.

After the soccer game, I run to GNC to weigh in. Low and behold I am 7 pounds less then I was two weeks ago, what a relief!!! Which means all in all I am down 108 pounds from November of last year. I go home and weigh myself again, it reads 2.5 pounds less then GNC, so I changed my starting point to be 2.5 pounds less, which still keeps me down 108 pounds over all.

My big problem now is going to be staying off the scale for two weeks. :)

After that I went to the Bloomsburg Fair which is huge and there will be pictures to follow.

2006-09-22T14:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm a little late with putting my two new galleries online. They can both be found under my travels. Please read what I wrote on both of them. Each gallery I create makes me realize how far I have come from last year. What I wrote on the NYC Skyline is important enough to repeat:
Funny thing about having hobbies. You tend to be more active because you enjoy doing it. If I didn't want to take pictures of the skyline I wouldn't of been out walking around Staten Island trying to get the best pictures that I could of NYC.
Please if you want to lose weight think about different hobbies you enjoy. The more time you spend off the computer or away from the TV the easier it will be to lose weight.
I am not sure if I have mentioned this yet but one of my other hobbies I am starting is making walking sticks. Last week I cut I nice stick from my back yard (I live in a forest just about) and I have been taking the bark off with a box cutter. This also keeps me active and off the computer. There are many steps to finishing it and after it is done I'll put some pictures up of it. If I enjoy it I might be giving many of them away.

2006-09-18T13:08:00.000-04:00

So I have a pair of pants and a shirt that was suppose to be a size or so small for me. I figured I'd use them to see how long it would take me to get into them. I tried them on and low and behold, they both fit really well. So I pulled out the measuring tape to learn that I am down a half inch to my waist since last week. I was very happily surprised.

Spent the weekend at my family's house in New York City for my nieces birthday. The party was nice I spent time running around after my daughter. I didn't over eat at all this weekend which is hard with so much food at these parties. Saturday night I took some really nice pictures of the bridge and the city with my new camera. Sunday I took Abby to the zoo and took even more pictures. I will have my weekend pictures up tonight.

The hobby of photography is good too because many times you have to walk to get the pictures you want, bend to setup the tripod, and generally move. I am also going to start to make walking sticks. I am trying to keep myself off the computer and moving as much as possible.

2006-09-14T16:39:00.000-04:00

Got an e-mail from Justin the president of My Food Diary. He added my testimonial to the page under the value section. He also mentioned a post to a thread I made today. It is very nice to know that a president is so invested in his customers.

I ordered my Fuji S5200 and it came by DHL next day. Look for better pictures and much better video soon.

My big toe still hurts and I'm not very happy about it. I really want to get back to being active. When I first read Charles' Page and found out he works out an hour or two a day. I thought that would never be me. Now I find myself on all day hikes or bike runs. It is funny how your ideas change.

2006-09-13T12:29:00.000-04:00

Last night I opened my e-mail and low and behold I got a message from My Food Diary. I open the message and realized it was from the president of the company. He really enjoyed my site and mentioned remembering getting an e-mail like mine from Charles a few years ago. Here is a copy of the e-mail:
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Hi Gerry.

Your email reminded me of an email we received from Charles Scott a few years ago. It looks like you are following in his footsteps by proving that the seemingly impossible is in fact possible. Congratulations!

I hope that you will continue to post in the forum regularly. You are an amazing inspiration to many.

I looked at your Web site and really enjoyed it.

We'll be in touch.

Thanks,

Justin
President
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Thank you Justin your e-mail means much to me.

In other news I took a new picture of myself for the front cover. I'm really starting to fine tune the site so it looks and runs better. I am also in the process of ordering a new digi cam. The Fuji S5200 seems to be much better then the one I have and the price is right.

I didn't get to work out last night because I didn't want to make my big toe any worse then it was. It does feel much better today so I'm either going to play racquetball or really play it safe and go swiming.

2006-09-12T17:06:00.000-04:00

New "After" picture taken September 12, 2006.....
I think I look a bit more toned even if I look a bit tired in the pictures. I had to replace my chair with one from my kitchen. I really need to get a new computer chair.

I played racquetball by myself last night. I could really use more opponents, so if you live near me I play a few times a week from 7:30 - 8:30 or so. It has been over a week since the last time I played because I spent last week hiking and biking. I felt much quicker on my feet and bending to get the ball is so much easier these days.

However, last night I was on my computer and my big toe really started to hurt. I woke up this morning and it hurt even more. I posted on My Food Diary forums and my friends suggested it might be turf toe and to take pain relievers and it should go away. It actually does feel much better in the past hour or so. Thank you MFD family.

2006-09-11T13:24:00.000-04:00

September 11, 2001 was a horrible day. I was living back in Staten Island NYC. I woke up to hear the morning radio show talking very seriously. I realized what had happened jumped up and turned on the TV to view the 2nd plane crash into the other tower. Realizing that it wasn't an accident and it was an attack on our country I ran down to the Hudson so I could see it live for myself. Standing there with so many other people in horror. People from all walks of life, some still in their bathrobe. People crying and in shock. Just as we thought it was over the first tower started to fall. I couldn't believe my eyes it was the most horrible thing I hope to ever witness. It took me about a year or so to stop suddenly crying out of nowhere. It still happens from time to time. It's hard not to as I write this.

5 years later it still saddens me and I am even more upset that they aren't putting MY towers back up. I will always miss them and they will always be in my heart. I have my own little memorial in my house. My best friend Kim bought and built for me the 3d puzzle of the NY Sky Line Pre 9/11/01. It was one of the best gifts I have ever received and I will never forget the month or so we spent building it.

Thank you.

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Saturday 9/9/06 Before I created this Blog:
Woke up this morning went to see my daughter's first soccer game. Ran up and down the field watching her which I could never do before (pictures coming soon.) Went to GNC weighed myself like every other Saturday. Scale read 302 lbs.. That's a two pound gain from last time, bummer. So now I'm down 101 lbs. Of course I'm not going to let it bother me. I worked out often the past two weeks muscle gain yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm not going to let myself get bummed about it. So I come home and I measure myself (which I usually do first.) Tale of the tape reads that I've lost another inch off my waist and a half inch off my hips. That just goes to show it really isn't all about the scale. If you haven't yet please measure yourself at least twice a week it will really help show you how well you are doing. Weight can go up or down depending on many factors.