Sunday Morning Selfie

 Welcome to Sunday Morning Selfie! Every Sunday morning I weigh myself, take a quick shot and write a few thoughts about my life and my lifestyle. I use this as an accountability tool to myself with the goal being making 2017 the year I finally beat obesity and find a weight that will allow me to live a healthy life and to age gracefully.  My name is Joe Bryant, I am a Seattle area teacher and I appreciate you checking out my project!

Death and Taxes

Interesting to me that these are said to be the two certainties. The unspoken goal of this Blog is to put number one off for as long as possible! My quest to lose weight is not at all out of vanity. In fact I think I suffer from “Positive Body Image”. I think I look awesome at any weight!

 The goal here is to live LONG and healthy. I am really not going to settle for any less than triple digits on my final age. I have lots to accomplish so need about 20 years of doing followed by another 20 plus of relaxing after I am done doing.

So the Death thing I am down with putting off as long as possible.

 The taxes on the other hand is something that in the past I have put off, fretted over, then pushed paper to an accountant and crossed my fingers for good news every April.

This year however, thanks to some awesome organizing from my wife Kelli, a well timed mid-winter break from school (notice even more extra whiskers than usual this morning), the need to get a handle on our budget, and my first encounter with Turbo Tax, I am happy to report that my Federal Income tax has been filed and accepted and it’s still February! That is something I have not accomplished in this century!

I credit the energy my lifestyle change is giving me big time for inspiring me to dive in and tackle the taxes. As I lose weight I seem to gain motivation and the ability to focus on accomplishing tasks.

And once again I have to give 30/10 Weight Loss for Life in Renton credit for making the dietary part of this journey so easy. I went in Thursday to weigh and have now lost 25 pounds in just over 6 weeks on the program! But the more exciting number is that my visceral fat is now at a readable level. Up to this point it had been so far off the charts you could not even measure it.

As of this morning my bathroom scale weight is…. drum roll….  229 lbs! That is three pounds lost this week. I was in the 250’s New Years Day and now I am in the 220’s! However I still have a long journey ahead and need to drop 30 more to get to that elusive milestone of under 200.

So back to taxes. One of the big reasons I did them myself this year is quite frankly I have way less money to count that I had in the past. Part time teacher is not as financially rewarding as full time morning radio personality. 😦 (however it is the most fulfilling work I have ever done)

 Since we are bringing in less Kelli and I are starting to look for ways to spend less and to cut some unnecessary items out of the budget.  Have you taken a close look at what you spend your money on? Tax time is an excellent time to do that.

There is one household expense I just eliminated but feel UBER GUILT about. After decades I have cancelled home delivery of the Seattle Times. I feel SO BAD but this is $300 plus dollars a year that we can use. My schedule is such that these days the hard copy of the paper rarely gets read. However I feel I am betraying Freedom of the Press in general and my paper guy Richard in specific. I like my paper guy so much I even wrote a song about him a couple of years ago… its a country love song.

I Cant Break Up With My Paper Guy            Joe Bryant 01/11/15

I can’t break up with my paper guy, I could tell him I’m movin but that’d be a lie I cant break up with my paper guy

I cant break up with my paper guy but Ive got an I pad, and so does my wife ICBUWMPG

He served our great nation when Uncle Sam called to fight so killing his career now just don’t seem right ICBUWMPG

Haulin’ that big sack must be hard on his knees. I guess if I canceled my subscription we’d save a few trees. ICBUWMPG

The whole world is goin digital they say but I still like readin’ my news the old fashioned way.

The reportings gotten worse, Im not gonna lie, but l’ll keep wasting my money to help that feller get by. ICBUWMPG

And Dick’s been bringing the Times to my porch for so long, I figured its time I write him a song. ICBUWMPG

You’ve got to roll with the changes that’s what they say but I love that dear man….(pause for effect) No not in that wayI

I Cant break up with My Paper Guy !!!!!

So this week, I dropped more weight, I got my taxes done, but I also might have made a short sighted decision to save a few bucks. What do you think? Should I start the paper again and look at it as a freedom of the press tax?

 And speaking of taxes, are you done with yours? Where do you find fat that can be cut in the family budget?

 And speaking of cutting fat I have to thank 30/10 Weight Loss in Renton once again for helping me lose the weight AND cutting WAY down my restaurant and grocery expenses. The REAL savings will be on all the medical treatment and pills I wont be needing as I go into the future at a healthy weight!

Until Next Sunday, Joe