Sunday Morning Selfie

Sunday Morning Selfie is my blog I started on New Years Day with the hopes that documenting my current weight and snapping a photo of myself every Sunday morning would give me accountability in my lifestyle choices that most directly affect my health. My name is Joe Bryant. I am a Seattle area Broadcaster and High School Media teacher and this is my story.

Seattle Summers and Free Concerts

I have taken a few weeks of from the blogging and the dieting so I am feeling a bit rusty at both. I will catch you up on my diet plan and weight in a bit but first I want to mention some SUPER COOL free concerts you can enjoy this week.

On Wednesday evening 7/19 head to Lake Boren Park in Newcastle to see Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alan White’s band “White” perform at 7pm. You will hear original White songs as well as many of the hits Alan recorded with YES and John Lennon. It will be PERFECT picnic weather so bring a blanket and enjoy this Seattle summer in Newcastle. The show starts at 7pm.

On Saturday 7/22 head further east to North Bend and see FREE shows from Spike and the Impalers followed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Steve Fossen and Michael Derosier  with Heart by Heart. These are both acts that PACK casinos with paying fans so to see full sets in the middle of downtown North bend under the stars for free is a true treat. Spike kicks things off at 7pm followed by Heart by Heart!!

And while this one is already past I have to rave about how much I LOVE Mercer Islands Summer Celebration. This is a free event that happens the weekend post 4th of July and, in addition to great bands like Exapsos and Bootleg Sunshine, they have the BEST fireworks and you will never be closer. You can feel these things going off right over your head. The crowds are light and it is so much easier than the big city events. Remember Summer Celebration for your summer fun next year.

This absolutely perfect weather has given me no excuses on getting enough activity in with swimming and bike riding starting to happen on a more regular basis. Any weight management program really boils down to two things, eat less and move around more. The moving around part is fun this time of year and my selfie shot featured on this blog is of my beautiful wife Kelli and I taking a break from a bike riding excursion we took last night before dinner. If you live in the Northwest what do YOU do to enjoy this awesome place and climate this time of year? Please share your tips for fun activities and events. And if they are free that’s even better!

It’s not this nice everywhere in summer as Emily and I discovered on a recent road trip to Arizona.

Bear Down

After Emily’s graduation we took a trip to Las Vegas and Tucson to celebrate and also to go see where my mom has recently moved to. She lives on the outskirts of the Sonoran desert and it is BEAUTIFUL but it is also 114 degrees! Hanging in the desert a few days will make you really appreciate how good we have it in Seattle.

While in Tucson we visited the University of Arizona and Emily and I were VERY impressed. So much so in fact that I think we have a future Wildcat in the family. Emily fell in love with the campus and says she really feels that is where she is destined to attend. With school starting in just a little over a month I don’t know if she will be starting her college career there but it certainly sounds as if she is determined to Bear Down and be a Class of 2021 Arizona Wildcat!

One thing about that place is everywhere you go you see the phrase “Bear Down”. It’s even painted on the roof of the basketball gym and in the middle of the football field. Students everywhere are walking around with Bear Down t-shirts and Emily and I wondering “If the mascot is a Wildcat why is a Bear getting so much love”?

Apparently is all goes back to an unfortunate auto accident back in the ’20’s. A group of students including the Student Body President and Quarterback of the football team John “Button” Salmon were driving home from Phoenix and wound up in a wreck that hospitalized Salmon the week the team had a big game against the teams, at the time, biggest rival New Mexico State. As legend has it the Wildcat coach visited the QB in the hospital and asked if he would like to say anything to the team. His message was tell them to “Bear Down”.

After ‘Zona played a less than inspiring first half and went into the locker room tied 0-0 and missing their star QB coach McKay revealed to the players that he had visited John in the hospital and his message was to “Bear Down”. The team came running out of the tunnel chanting “Bear Down”, the entire stadium joined in and Arizona came away with a 7-0 victory! Sadly  John Salmon died in the hospital but he will always be remembered for giving Arizona it’s battle cry.

I am thinking this is a good phrase to apply to life when the going gets tough. If there is a job to do then Bear Down and get er done! (another catchy phrase from my buddy Larry the Cable Guy).

The thing NOT to do is to Bear Down on that box of doughnuts or all you can eat buffet! Which brings me to….

My current weight

I intentionally stepped away from the blog and scale for a bit to give myself a break and hopefully to refocus on my goals. I am not going to lie. I have been pretty unhappy with myself for not achieving the weight I had hoped to be at when the graduation ceremony came around. But what can you do?? Life goes on.

Well what you can do is BEAR DOWN. I am back on the 30/10 Weight Loss for Life program with my sites set on starting the new school year and Seahawks football season at the lowest weight I have seen in decades. I am not going to set a specific number or date just yet as that did not go so well the last time. BUT, as of this morning I am at 228 which is three pounds heavier than I was when I last blogged or weighed on 6/20. I wont set a number yet but I WILL commit to weekly visits to 30/10 and to this blog for the next four weeks. Being on break from school there is never going to be an easier time to focus on health than now and I need to embrace that. (It is also an excellent time to focus on sunshine, BBQ and ice cold beer but we will be disregarding that part of summer for the next four weeks).

So for this week my pledge is moderate food intake, more biking and swimming, and to feast on lots of free music and Seattle sunshine. There are zero calories in both! I hope to see you at one of this weeks concerts and if not I will see you next Sunday on this blog.

I promise to get back in the swing of things and make SMS a more helpful and entertaining read in future editions. But this week I just needed to “Bear Down” and “Get back on the Horse”. (I wonder how that phrase came to be?)

Happy Summer Sunday! Joe Bryant