June 19, 2007

When I was a kid, pedal boats came in all shapes and sizes but they where not very efficient. Those swans you rent out by the half hour where like pedaling up a 45 percent grade using a bike with flat tires!

Things have changed!

Modern pedal boats are build using light materials, gone are the days of steel frame supports. Most come with canopies so you don’t get a bad sunburn when visiting the local wildlife and best of all, they are a fantastic way to have a very active few hours, even if all you do is tie it with a rope in your pool! If you want to really go high-end, some of these pedal boats even have gears (like on a bike) to really get you moving.

Pedal boats… what’s not to love?

I like pedal boats because you never need to worry about running out of gas if you bring enough food with you, sure they get pushed by the wind but this is an advantage. You can pedal at one end of a lake then allow the wind to push you back to where you started while trolling for fish. They also produce very little noise (when not on) and some even come with glass bottoms so you can see underneath at what is going on. You can also sneak up on wildlife relatively easily to get the best photographs. If you have kids, pedal boats are great, they will get exhausted after a few hours and sleep early all while building up their neuro-muscular pathways!

Where can you get one?

Here is a directly link to… Get your very own Pedal Boat!
The Bottom Line

Healthy activities are abound if you open your eyes.

This past Friday, the FDA has approved yet another over-the-counter weight loss pill that promises weight loss to the legions of self-diagnosed slow metabolites eating at fast food joints around the world. It’s called Orlistat, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

How does Orlistat work?

Well, Orlistat pills come in 60 mg size which is half the prescribed weight and they basically prevent the colon from absorbing a large proportion of the fat you ingest. During a three month trial, the average human guinea pig lost about 2.7 kilos (some lost more, others less) but, my friends, this comes at the cost of bloating, diarrhea, urgent and incontrollable orange colors bowel movements, stomach pain, irregular menstrual periods, gas with discharge, leakage and oily discharges that come without warning. Get this, as soon as you stop taking these pills, which by the way run at about 50$ a month… the kilos you lost return and if you don’t take a multi-vitamin or have a good diet, you may suffer from malnutrition!

Who buys this crap anyways?

No pun intended but I am constantly astounded by the free spenders who find money to buy this worthless crap. What is the point of keeping 2.7 kilos off if it means you may shit yourself at any moment? Oh, hi mom and dad… where is your bathroom… I am taking Orlistat to make me unnoticeably thinner but I need to change my diaper before super. This pill does come with a warning not to take it for an extended period of time, but my guess is that most weight loss lemmings will ignore this warning and double the dose to get the prescription strength results without the need for a prescription. I hate to burst your bubble but3 kilos across your entire body is barely noticeable.

Why is this a scam?

To be quite blunt, the manufacturer says that a reduced caloric diet, low fat diet and exercise program should be performed with this pill for maximum results… hmmm… wouldn’t this alone make you lose weight? This is a scam, pure and simple because once you get off Orlistat, the weight returns, so really, you either need to go on this pill at 600$ a year FOR LIFE (which the manufacturer expressly warns against you doing) or you just wasted your 50$ a month. If you don’t go on the lifelong plan, guess what, you have been had as there will be no net positive results in your life except for some money lost… which to me, is the definition of a scam. The suggestion also put the onus on the client if they do not see results, it must be their fault… they didn’t take Orlistat and perform activities prescribed with enough vigor. If you got that much money to burn, guy yourself a gym membership, you will lose more then 2.7 kilos and feel great in the process without worrying about shitting in your pants (or worse).

Where did things go wrong?

I believe the FDA does the best it can with the limited resource it’s comparatively given (ei: defense). I believe anything that says the words weight loss should be completely banned from being sold over the counter, I don’t care if it’s a natural supplement, weight watchers centers nor pharmaceutical grade products. If you want to lose weight, stop trying to buy or eat your way out of it. Your body NEEDS fat, it NEEDS carbohydrates and it NEEDS plenty of whole foods. Go see a doctor, go see a personal trainer and get some common sense lessons.

Calling people with weight problems Lemmings, Guinea Pigs and Stupid isn’t very nice!

Actually, I believe some people need to hear the truth as bluntly as possible to get the message, I am not a big proponent of political correctness. Remember phen phen (fen phen), people where DYING trying to lose weight. This growing obsession on finding pills to replace lazy attitudes about health has got to stop. Not only are Orlistat pills DANGEROUS, not only will Orlistat wreck your internal chemistry (that is how they work, notice the side effects?), not only will Orlistat put a dent in your wallet but no amount of pills, potions or magic rocks will replace a SOUND diet, SUPERVISED exercise regimen and a freaking book. NOTHING. Get out of your head that you can buy yourself out of the neglect you have invested into your body. If you take these products because a friend does, you are nothing but an uneducated lemming in my book and when the FDA eventually bans this product because somebody took 5x the non-prescribed dose and their family gets a class action suit against GlaxoSmithKline, you will feel like you where nothing but a guinea pig. Follow my FREE advice from somebody who cares or waste your money, it’s your choice.

Caveat

Of course, there are internal and external reasons why some people need to take Orlistat pills, this is why they are available on a prescription basis whose assessment is based on sound medical supervision and knowledge. My problem is when pharmaceuticals try to profit off peoples ignorance by giving them a way to circumvent the medical profession. I am sure 9 out of 10 people visiting their doctors would be told that this pill isn’t for them (in a more diplomatic manner then what I have outlined). The problem is by simply buying Orlistat over the counter, these 9 out of 10 people will get access to something that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise… to the further detriment of their body and self-esteem.

The Bottom Line

If you are fat, go seek medical help, stop throwing your money away and simply do as GlaxoSmithKline says WITHOUT buying Orlistat!

References

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/06/15/diet-pill.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a601244.html

Women, no matter where they come from, all seem paranoid about looking their best in public… their self-esteem and self-confidence seem to come from overpriced makeup bottles that promise Hollywood looks if “you’re worth it”. Nonesense!

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Please watch these video before proceeding

What do you notice?

Well, the first thing you should notice is how plain and to be honest, ugly some big celebrities really are without makeup. Evolutionarily speaking, we where put on this Earth to create the next generation, looks come secondary. If ugly people had more children then beautiful ones, then they would be more plentiful. Sadly, we all come from the same ugly tree! But deeper then that, woman and increasingly men, look at what they see in magazines without realizing how much air-brushing (yes, even in feature films, television series, interviews) occurs to the stars they love. If they see a pimple in a Hollywood movie, do you not think that the director has a few frames of the film fixed up? Notice the shot of Pamela Anderson without makeup? Well, you probably need to view this video a second time the Hollywood vs Real shots seem like they are two different people. Same goes with Courtney Love, Madonna, Penelope Cruise, Leonardo Dicaprio, Jennifer Lopez and to a lesser extreme Gwen Stefani, Renee Zellweger, Britney Spears… etc. It seems that the more famous the celebrity, the more drastic the change from real to fake really is huh?

What does it mean?

Well, celebrities are just as ugly and flawed as the rest of us. Sure, they may look great in that cover shoot but consider they probably had a few months of diet and aggressive personal training done on their bodies before hand. They then sit in their chair for up to 5 hours with a makeup artist THEN a professional photographer (or movie director) with lighting experts (just as important) photograph or film a spot. Hey, if that wasn’t enough, it then goes for post-processing with Adobe Photoshop and/or a host of other software programs to extend, slim and change scale of certain features. The end result, as you saw in the above video, an extremely attractive person is created who doesn’t resemble the real person.

The younger generation

I have (and I hope you as well), known about this for decades… yet, some people are constantly surprised. J Lo really does look rather normal doesn’t she? Imagine if they used her real picture in magazines, do you think the younger generation being pushed makeup, perfume etc would still buy her products? I don’t think so. There we go… we found the motive behind all this, commercial profiteering off the younger generations skewed idealisms that if they buy a product, they can look like their idol that really doesn’t exist! We are all as ugly as the next human, once you get that in your head, internal self-esteem issues begin to disappear don’t they? I hope so… your piggy bank will be happy once you choose to opt out of this fantasy world called beauty.

The Bottom Line

There is more magic in a photograph or movie then you realize… don’t base your idealisms on false pretenses.

Listen guys, from one guy to another, that 9 month pregnant look that you think is a testament to your incredible ability to follow a see-food diet (aka: eat all the food you can see) isn’t attractive. Maybe your girlfriend or wife says it doesn’t bother her but honestly, deep down… when you look like you are about to give birth, and your a male, it’s really gross! It DOES bother you, you just won’t admit it!

You know you’re a pregnant man when…

… you have trouble putting your shoes on because you can’t bend down to put them on.

… you pull out a hair and piss in your pants because you can’t locate your pride and joy on time.

… your better half asks you to please leave the lights closed before bed to keep her in the mood.

… you can’t remember the last time you where able to look down and see your toes in the shower.

… you feel fresh air coming up your t-shirt.

… your better half gets jealous that your breasts are larger then hers!

… your belt seems to keep getting smaller each time you put it on but your underwear mysteriously never change size!

Why you want to give birth!

So, how did you end up with a beer belly in the first place? Who cares, the point is that if you keep going on the path that got you to that girth so far, you will have a delivery… straight to the morgue! All that belly fat is a time bomb, scientific study after scientific study have proven that the most dangerous fat to have for both men and women is that belly fat. It’s incredibly unhealthy to maintain that gut of yours that you parade with joy with all your guy buddies but really, it isn’t anything to have any pride in. Your heart is working overtime pushing blood through those slowly clogging arteries and veins of yours. Your internal organs, including your kidney may start to develop fat deposits. Basically, the bigger and longer you maintain that pregnant look, the faster you will be delivered straight to the hospital and if you are unlucky, off you go to the morgue. Heart attack, stroke and diabetes are on the desert menu my friend… which do you wish to order first?

There is NO excuse!

Women have an excuse to get out of shape, they go through seismic hormonal changes on a monthly basis and when they are pregnant, well, it’s like rebuilding the Eiffel tower with your eyes closed… lots of changes happen. Us guys are extremely lucky, we don’t know what PMS is, our bodies produce about the same amount of testosterone (although on a sliding scale as we age) month to month. We don’t get the joys of complete body modification to create life and better yet, don’t ever have to deal with the hassle of a (.). Us guys really have it made and definitely got the better end of the deal!

How to give birth

Well, unlike a woman, you cannot simply give birth and in a few weeks loose your belly fat. I still think we got the better deal as we can focus throughout our lives, without interruptions, on improving our bodies to not only improve our own self-esteem but actually make our better halves want to make love with the lights on for a change.

The first step for any guy is to cut ALL junk food out, if you don’t know what an ingredient is on something you eat, throw it out.

Second is… get this… go to the gym and please get a personal trainer if your new to working out and a medical checkup. Not only do you get to see some great (younger) eye candy which will help motivate you but because of your testosterone, you will replace that flab with muscle double time.

Third is… again, an easy one… get your physical activity up. This is where having a partner involved can make getting cardio 2-3x a day an enjoyable experience (read between the lines). Your better half wants to help you loose weight, get them involved! Also, start going on one hour walks with your dog after super or if you don’t have one, don’t worry, you can walk alone without fear.

Results… results… results

You may be asking yourself, how long before I start to see my body return to its athletic beginnings? Well, that depends on how long you let it go. If you follow the above three steps you will start to notice changes after about 4-5 weeks, don’t worry, that time will fly! You should notice a dramatic change after about two months… this is how long it takes your body to rebuild itself into the leaner, sexier and more desirable man you are inside but for some reason, hid behind all this fat!

The Bottom Line

You where born a man, so don’t let your body become that of a woman!