Update on Browns Draft

The Browns have a league-leading ten draft picks in this years' draft. Although, more and more, it looks like they may be subject to a loss of one (or more) of these draft picks as a consequence of textgate, but here they are as they currently stand:

Round 1: pick 12 overall 12
Round 1: pick 19 overall 19 (from Buffalo)
Round 2: pick 11 overall 43
Round 3: pick 13 overall 77
Round 4: pick 12 overall 111
Round 4: pick 16 overall 115 (from Buffalo)
Round 5: pick 11 overall 147
Round 6: pick 13 overall 189
Round 6: pick 26 overall 202 (from Baltimore)
Round 7: pick 12 overall 229

The Browns should be able to put together some players as six of the picks come in the first four rounds. The draft will take place starting on April 30. Last year, these were the picks by Cleveland:

Round 1: Justin Gilbert, CB from Oklahoma State (the other OSU)
Round 1: Johnny Manziel, QB from Texas A&M
Round 2: Joel Bitonio, OG from Nevada
Round 3: Christian Kirksey, ILB from Iowa
Round 3: Terrance West, RB from Towson
Round 4: Pierre Desir, CB from Lindenwood

Heading out of free agency and into the draft, the Browns needs have changed a little bit. I believe that their five biggest needs (in order) are QB, OLB, TE, D-line, and O-line. If we keep both of our first round picks, there is a plethora of opinions out there on who we'll take. NFL.com "experts" lean this way:


Lance Zierlin: Marcus Mariota (QB, Oregon) and Breshad Perriman (WR, UCF)

Charles Davis: Kevin White (WR, West Virginia) and Danny Shelton (DT, Washington)

Bucky Brooks: Danny Shelton (DT, Washington) and Ereck Flowers (OT, Miami)

Daniel Jeremiah: Danny Shelton (DT, Washington) and Ereck Flowers (OT, Miami)

Charley Casserly: Marcus Mariota (QB, Oregon) in a trade to the NYJ and DeVante Parker (WR, Louisville)

Brian Baldinger: Marcus Mariota (QB, Oregon) and T.J Clemmings (OT, Pitt)


The two big ESPN experts made their 3.0 mock draft picks as well:


Mel Kiper Jr.: Danny Shelton (DT, Washington) and Ereck Flowers (OT, Miami)

Todd McShay: DeVante Parker (WR, Louisville) and Ereck Flowers (OT, Miami)


Here are what the Cleveland Browns experts (ClevelandBrowns.com) have to say on the matter:


Kevin Jones: Danny Shelton (DT, Washington) and Bud Dupree (OLB, Kentucky)

Nathan Zegura: Danny Shelton (DT, Washington) and Randy Gregory (OLB, Nebraska)

Andrew Gribble: Shane Ray (OLB, Missouri) and La'el Collins (OL, LSU)

Matt Whilhelm: Danny Shelton (DT, Washington) and Andrus Peat (OL, Stanford)


And I suppose I'll add in Yahoo Sports' writer in his 2.0 version of the mock draft:


Shaun King: Marcus Mariota (QB, Oregon) and Malcolm Brown (DT, Texas)


There you have it. Yahoo, ESPN, NFL.com, and the ClevelandBrowns.com mock drafters have all selected who they feel the Browns will choose. If we're keeping tabs, here are the scores:

Danny Shelton: 7 votes

Ereck Flowers and Marcus Mariota: 4 votes

DeVante Parker: 2 votes

Malcolm Brown, Andrus Peat, Shane Ray, La'el Collins, Randy Gregory, Bud Dupree, T.J. Clemmings, Kevin White, and Breshad Perriman: 1 vote each


So the consensus is that during the first round, the Browns will probably grab one offensive player and one defensive player. I'm okay with that strategy. If I had to vote on what they will do, I'm guessing they'll take Shelton first and Flowers second. They might grab Mariota if he's still there, but I don't think he will be. Same with Randy Gregory - he's going top ten. Same with Andrus Peat. I'm glad that there aren't a lot of WR's chosen because I don't think that's as big a need now with the additions of Dwayne Bowe and Brian Hartline. They also can still re-sign Miles Austin and, despite not being eligible next year, they have Josh Gordon. I don't think it's a huge need, but WR's are always a sexy pick. Having a defensive-minded head coach may prove to be beneficial in this situation.

Pettine loves corners and has five good ones right now, so he won't take a CB this early in the draft. If Shelton is there, they'll probably take him to play alongside Phil Taylor. If they don't think Taylor will stay healthy, they'll really take him. Malcolm Brown and Eddie Goldman (FSU) are the other DT considerations at the 12 spot (Goldman at the 19 spot). I like Shelton better because he's a bigger guy. He plays big, and to be a run-stopper, especially in a 3-4, you need a big guy in the middle. With him and Taylor in nickel and dime packages, they're big enough guys to plug up the middle on a fake pass and, if they have enough time which they might with the quality of our corners and safeties, they may be able to put pressure if not get to the QB on 3rd and longs. I like Shelton here.

The 19 spot will be interesting. I like the idea of getting Flowers. My thought is you can't have too many good O-linemen, especially with the Browns being a running team. He's a big guy, disciplined, and coach-able. By getting talented, disciplined players around Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, they can put together a core of O-linemen that can be the top unit in the NFL for the next several years. Thomas and Mack are fairly young and Bitonio is a second-year player. By grabbing a first or second round O-lineman this year and next year, you just got your O-line for the next few years. Clemmings is the other OL they could grab at this spot. I guess they could grab Collins from LSU, but he's projected at the bottom of the first round. This will be tough because there are a lot of guys who will probably be available right here who the Browns don't need like a RB, several WR's, two CB's, two DT's (if they've already grabbed Shelton, they won't need another), and an ILB.

One need they could address here is OLB. It's possible that Shane Ray slides a little bit here, although I'm cautious of taking another SEC defensive POY from Missouri. The last one turned out to be a bit of a bust. Vic Beasley from Clemson is a possibility. If Beasley is available at the 12 spot since some think Shelton won't be there, this is the guy I would take. He's got tremendous upside at the position. Eli Harold is a guy who could be available at 19, but there's a good chance he's also available at 43 when the Browns pick again. I'm not a huge fan; he's very one-dimensional and we already have an OLB who fits his skill-set in Mingo. I'd rather use the 19 spot to grab an OT or TE if he's still here.

Speaking of TE's, there aren't any great TE's projected to be first-round talents. There are a couple in the second and third rounds: Maxx Williams from Minnesota, Clive Walford from Miami, and my preference Jeff Heuerman from the 2015 national champions Ohio State. I like Heuerman because of his size and athleticism. He had an injury in college which dropped his status a little bit. He's projected to go late third round/early fourth round, so grabbing him in the third round would be doable. He's a native of Columbus, which means he's probably more of a Bengals fan than a Browns fan, but that's okay. Williams from Minnesota, if available in the third and Heuerman is off the board, would also be a good choice for that third round pick.

Basically, with their first four picks, they can address four of their five biggest needs. QB is going to be the wild card. If Mariota is available at 12, should the Browns take him? I don't think they should trade up to get him, so cross that option off. Although, it is the Browns...so....you never know. If he's available at 12 and Cleveland does take him, they need to get rid of Manziel. You can't have Manziel, McCown, and Mariota all on your roster. McCown and one of those guys can fit, but not two. Mariota is a better choice over Manziel. Heck, I would personally keep Shaw over Manziel but the Browns have more invested in Johnny football so they may end up keeping him...unless they get Mariota. If that's the case, they'd ship Manziel off to someone who actually thinks he'd do well (maybe the Cowboys?) and get a mid to late round pick for him. My thought is addition by subtraction.

Normally I wouldn't go with Mariota here, but if he falls to us given our current QB situation, I think the Browns should pull the trigger. There's no guarantee we'll get a good shot at a franchise QB next year, so Mariota, while I don't think will be a great NFL player, may prove to be a reliable NFL starter. That's more than I can say about anyone the Browns currently have on their roster, McCown included. If Mariota can develop a little bit this year and take the reigns over next year, I'm okay with that. If they do get Mariota, then I think they should take an OLB if Beasley or Ray are available. If not, go with an OL like Flowers. Our second-round pick can then be either an OL if we didn't take one or a DT. There are some good DT's projected to be available here. Third round, we should go after a TE in Heuerman or Williams.

We'll have two fourth-round picks, one of which can be spent on the position we haven't yet taken out of our top five and the other on one of three potential WR's here. After that, I'm a believer in taking the best player available regardless of position.

If we don't take Mariota with that first pick, then we'll be looking to grab a young QB along the way. I'd take a look at Bryce Petty from Baylor. He'll be available in the second and early third rounds, which is probably where I'd take him. If he falls to the early fourth round, the Browns should look at packaging their two fourth round picks to move up to get him. Third and fourth rounds are where a lot of teams with established QB's like New England and New Orleans look to grab a possible replacement/intern. Petty will be gone by the end of the fourth, probably the end of the third.

This is all assuming we keep our high draft picks in lieu of textgate.

So there you have it. My preference would be Mariota if he's there, then Beasley, then Shelton, then Ray, then Flowers. I think all of those guys, except maybe Flowers, will be gone by our first pick, though. Everyone after that should be determined by who we've already taken. Those five spots should be addressed first. We need to take a TE by the fourth right at the latest. We don't need an O-lineman because with Mack healthy, we have a top three O-line. With Taylor coming back on defense in the middle, we don't need a DT but it would be really nice to grab one. We do need an OLB, though, and should have one by the fourth round. I'd take a speedy WR although we already have a bunch (Gordon, Austin, Bowe, Hartline, Benjamin, Hawkins, and Moore) so I don't think that's a necessity, either.

I'll end by restating my biggest want: a franchise QB. If that's Mariota, great. If it's Petty, great. Other than those two, let's build up the pieces around the QB and get our guy no later than next year. If McCown can do a decent job, with all the other pieces being added this year, the Browns have a shot at the playoffs this year. They've proven they can beat Pittsburgh and Cincy, and at 7-9 last year (7-4 at one point), they were easily the best 4th-place team in any division. If they played in any other division, they'd probably have been in the mix for a playoff seed. It's tough when all the other teams in your division win 10 games. If any of those three teams slip, the Browns are in a good position to take their spot.

We haven't been able to say that (seriously) in a long time now.

Update on Browns Free Agency

Last year, the Browns made a ton of good moves in the free agency part of the off-season. This year has not lived up to last year's standards. Seeing as how the Browns went 7-9 despite losing their last five games with a crazy quarterback situation, they probably don't need to do a ton. It's not the overhaul that many media members around the NFL think it needs to be. There are still pro bowlers on this team and a few up-and-coming young players who could do a lot this year. We dealt with a lot of injuries down the stretch, including our D-line, O-line, and best LB Karlos Dansby. Not that those are excuses, but it's not easy to overcome. Josh Gordon was out of sync and we battled a RB situation that was pleasantly unexpected.

So for this year, I don't think we need to do a ton. Mainly get healthy, fill some holes, and get a QB. Most of the experts conclude that they five biggest needs for the Browns are at WR, QB, TE, OLB, and DT. In my last post, I said that their biggest needs were QB, O-line depth (especially on that right side), WR, D-line, OLB, and CB. With these new additions and subtractions, those needs have changed a little bit. I think our five biggest needs (in order) are now QB, OLB, TE, D-line, and O-line. The draft will probably plug in some of these holes.

We know have a better idea of what the draft will look like from the early results of free agency. Here is a list of newly-acquired players the Browns picked up this off-season:

Josh McCown, QB. A lot of the Browns' success will be determined by this man. I don't think anyone believes him to be the savior of Cleveland football, but the Browns have shown what they can do with a decent QB. McCown has been basically a starter for the last two years, one of them good and one of them bad. Tampa wasn't a good team last year, so that may have more to do with it than he's just washed up. Hoyer was my hope to be the guy in Cleveland, but once teams got tape on him, he couldn't adjust. If McCown turns out to be a good fit for this system, expect the guy the Browns inevitably draft this year and/or next year to reap the benefits of learning from a veteran QB. This was a good choice amongst a lack of options. And at least Manziel isn't starting.

Dwayne Bowe, WR. Three years ago, this would've been a great signing. Now, it's probably just a good one. He's a very talented player, and teamed up with Josh Gordon could be a great 1-2 punch. But Gordon is out for the year, so now Hawkins and Hartline will most likely be his companions. Bowe can still play, but it remains to be seen how well. His antics off the field may make this signing a bad one, but in his defense he was a little frustrated in Andy Reid's offense that kind of left him out. For one thing, it is nice to have a talented player coming in with a chip on his shoulder.

Brian Hartline, WR. An Ohio native, this was a nice pickup for the Browns. In order of pickups, I like this one second behind McCown. He's a reliable starter who wasn't expecting the Browns to have this good of a vision. The other team on his radar? The New England Patriots. If there's any player you would like to have, it's whoever the Super Bowl champs are also looking at.

Randy Starks, DT. With some Browns sources acknowledging the likely departure of Rubin and possible one of Kitchen and Fua, Cleveland needed to get someone in there. He's likely a starter at DT but could be rotated at DE as well. He'd get more playing time in the middle.

Tramon Williams, CB. Some controversy with this one. Most people would agree he's a good player and he's coming from a good organization. Some don't like the contract. With the D-line potentially losing a few players, the Browns probably felt shoring up the secondary would be the next best thing. Teamed up with Haden, Williams brings stability and veteran leadership. Gilbert, K'waun Williams, and Desir are all young players who will not only get some playing time, but will be able to learn from some of the best.

Thad Lewis, QB. This signing probably means Thigpen won't stay long in Cleveland. Having a veteran QB amongst the two 2nd-year players Manziel and Shaw will be good.


Of course, they've also re-signed some guys:

John Hughes, DE. Good re-signing as it strengthens their depth at D-line. He's had to deal with a lot of injuries, which is another good reason Cleveland has depth here.

Marlon Moore, WR. This one is okay. When they re-signed him, they didn't have Hartline or Bowe so they really just needed bodies with Cameron gone, Gordon out for the year, and the other WR signings not panning out.


Unfortunately, there is also a list of players who have left the program:

Jordan Cameron, TE. I was bummed that we couldn't re-sign Cameron, but I get why he wanted out. He's an on-the-fence pro bowl talent-level player. When in the right offense, he can be really good. Last year with Shanahan, he didn't get much love in terms of offensive schemes. I personally love using TE's on offense. Are they blocking for a run? Are they blocking for a pass? Are they going out for a pass? Are they a pass decoy? Who knows, right?! Cameron will have more success than he did last year when he goes to Miami, but we didn't lose a top-ten player on our team. He may be #11 though.

Brian Hoyer, QB. This one hurts. I wanted him to be the guy, but I can admit when a plan isn't going well despite my wanting it to. He's not a good starter on this team. He may be elsewhere, but we'll see. He's off to Houston who has more than one choice at QB. Good luck, Brian. No hard feelings.

Jabaal Sheard, OLB. Sheard is a really good player, as shown by the team who picked him up: the Patriots. He's not a great fit for the defensive scheme in Cleveland, though. As a defensive head coach, Pettine wants guy who fit his vision. While Sheard is a good player, he may not be the right kind of player the Browns need. They are pretty deep at OLB, which also lessens the impact of the loss.

Ray Agnew, RB. We've got some really good, young RB's so losing him isn't a big deal. We also lost Ben Tate during the year, and if losing Tate wasn't that bad, this hurts even less.

Ahtyba Rubin, DT. Rubin has been a Browns staple for years. However, Pettine is a defensive guy, and if there's a reason he didn't want to lock this guy up for a few more years, I'll trust him. I really like Rubin on the D-line though. It definitely sets the Browns back a bit on the line.

Buster Skrine, CB. Skrine had a really good year last year, but I don't think he's a great player. The year before last, Skrine was on the fence for even being a starter. I think he benefited from having a pair of great safeties last year. His biggest knock before then was he got beat by the deep ball...a lot. Gipson really stepped up, especially in interceptions, and Whitner is a pro-bowl level guy. Definitely an upgrade over T.J Ward now that we've seen him with the Broncos. If Skrine doesn't have a pair of great safeties helping him out, he may not even remain a starter on his new team.

Paul McQuistan, OL. This guy came from Seattle last year and I was hoping he'd turn out to be a good starter on an already really good O-line. Turns out he didn't. Good risk taken by the Browns on him. It didn't work out, and that's okay. Greco and Schwartz are more than capable starters on the right side of that line, and Cleveland will probably add some more depth before the off-season is over.


Obviously any free agent is up for grabs for the Browns, but here is the list of free agents in Cleveland who may or may not come back:

Miles Austin, WR. Austin is interesting. It's not always about having the best guy, sometimes it's about the best value. The Patriots live by this motto and I agree with it. Getting Tim Tebow in the sixth round would not have been a bad decision. Picking him up in the first round? Bad choice. Overpaid players ruin value. It's okay to get a great player, but not at a huge price tag. Look at Kobe. Great player, but he's too old for his lucrative contract. You pay players for what they're going to do, not what they've done. An example of a great value is Russell Wilson. He's still on his rookie contract! Once the Seahawks have to pay him, they won't be able to afford other pro bowl players along with Wilson. If we can keep Austin for a good price, it could work out well.

Johnson Bademosi, CB. I don't agree with Rex Ryan's CB philosophy, so I vote we get rid of Bademosi. I don't mind picking up another CB, but with Joe Haden (pro bowl), Tramon Williams (best Green Bay corner, really good player now), Justin Gilbert (talented but unproven), K'Waun Williams (played well last year, young), and Pierre Desir (very talented, long, young), we have a solid five players in the rotation. We still have Poyer and James as potential backups, but it wouldn't be too hard to find another young player to learn from two great veteran leaders in Haden and T. Williams.

Sione Fua, DT. Big guy, experienced, and quick for his position. I'd rather not lose him, especially since he'd come on the cheaper end. If we do lose him, he could probably be replaced with a guy in the draft which is the way the Browns seem to want to go.

Tashaun Gipson, FS. This is the one guy they really really need to re-sign. Hopefully Pettine, who follows the Rex Ryan philosophy of never having enough CB's, will see the value in having a pair of elite safeties. Gipson has reached that level.

Ishmaa'ily Kitchen, DE. I'd like to see him re-signed. He knows the system, has been able to fill the backup role, and is our biggest D-lineman not named Phil Taylor. He played well last year. If we lose him, we can probably find a guy of his caliber to replace him, but I'd rather just keep him and avoid the learning curve.

Craig Robertson, OLB. Robertson was another guy who made a lot of improvements last year, but I'd still like to see this position upgraded. Dansby at ILB will help make up for any lack of talent at OLB, but we still need some more guys there. Right now, Kruger and Mingo are the best guys we have on the outside. Kruger will stay a starter, but Mingo is still improving and may only become a situational defender. Upgrading this position will do a lot for the Browns to keep their top-rated defense.

Andre Smith, TE. He's third on the depth chart of TE's who most think don't have one who's a legitimate starter. He probably won't be here much longer and that's okay. We'll need that roster spot to get a quality starter on the team.

Tyler Thigpen, QB. Probably not staying, either, with the signings of McCown and Lewis. He didn't do much to win a starting job against Hoyer, Manziel, or Shaw last year. Seeing as how Manziel and Shaw are still there with McCown replacing Hoyer and adding Lewis, there's not enough room to keep another QB. In fact, it's more likely that Shaw ends up on a different team next year, especially if Cleveland wants to draft a QB this year.


I like Farmer, and I still think he's the man for the job. He's made mistakes, but I'll cut him some slack. I have confidence that he'll do a good job. I also like Pettine. To be fair, this year has been harder in a lot of ways to grab free agents, something Cleveland has never been great at doing anyway. The number one reason is they don't have a starting QB they can point to and say he's our guy and he's a great QB. We need to find that guy because he's not on the roster. McCown is a good fill-in, but we need to get a young, franchise QB. The Browns did go 7-4, but we've lost Jordan Cameron, we've lost Josh Gordon for at least the year, and now we've lost some guys on defense. 

We can still fill some of these holes with the draft. The three most important parts of a football team in my humble opinion are (1) Quarterback, (2) Offensive line, and (3) Defensive line. We have 2 and 3. I love our O-line with Joe Thomas (best left tackle and O-lineman in the NFL), Alex Mack (arguably best center, definitely top five), and Joel Bitonio. The right side can use some help but it's not horrible. Our D-line lost some pieces but we still have some really good players, and we'll probably take a guy in the first three rounds of the draft here. Keep your head up, Browns fans, we still have a lot of the pieces necessary to be a great, not just good, football team. We're just missing arguably the most important one, and if McCown can fill that role, at least temporarily, we'll have a good shot at taking the division.

Weight Loss

Usually this blog is dedicated to sports topics, but from time to time I like to write about other stuff, too. I wanted to take some time and write a little bit about my weight loss. Over the past five months, I've lost just over 60 pounds. I'm not saying I'm an expert on weight loss; in fact I admit that I'm really not. This blog post isn't meant to be one where I tell you what you should do because I now feel I know it all...I really don't. But I can tell you some of the things that I've been doing which have helped me achieve this feat, and that's what I wanted to accomplish in this article. 

I've written down 18 of the things that I've done or have helped me throughout this process. Some of these items are things people tell you to do when trying to lose weight. Some I've gathered from people who have lost weight. Some just happened because I didn't know what else to do. Everyone's path to losing weight is different. My advice would be to just look into some of these things and see what would work and what wouldn't for you. Good luck!

Items I've used to lose weight (in no particular order):

1. Drink more water. This is one that I started doing at the beginning and at the end of the 6-month period. If you're like me, you've gone through times when you lost a lot of weight immediately followed by times when you've gained a lot (if not all, or more) weight back. Every time I've lost a lot of weight, drinking water was usually involved. It's hard though, because I don't love to drink just water. Whether it's straight water, flavored water, or drinks like Powerade Zero that are 99% water, this is probably one of the biggest factors for my weight loss. Personally, I've always been susceptible to drinking my calories, so switching to water (or at least something that didn't add a ton of calories) not only gave me the benefits of water, but prevented me from digging myself more into a hole with sugary drinks. Water is said to aid in weight loss in a number of ways, some proven and some not. Either way, drinking more water is something that's relatively easy to more of if not switch to completely. It's also a small victory that you can celebrate at the beginning of your journey to weight loss.

2. Run. I am not a runner. I wish I was. I plan on being able to run marathons one day, but for now, 15-30 minutes of running several times a week will do. I usually go back and forth between jogging and running; short spurts of both. I get a lot of my running right now from basketball. If I wasn't doing that, then I'd be running more. Running is an important part of my workouts.

3. Live with someone who has to eat gluten and dairy-free. This probably isn't going to be much of an option. We moved in with my brother-in-law and his wife, who happens to have an aversion to gluten. She hasn't always had it; just developed recently. Because of the severity of the condition, she temporarily can't eat dairy, either. We've agreed to cook dinners for each others families, so we all have to make sure we include no gluten or dairy. What we've done is essentially cook a protein (usually chicken, sometimes beef), some vegetables, and a starch (rice or quinoa). This has given our nutrition a boost towards healthy. We're not only cooking healthy foods, but we're not eating out and consuming unhealthy foods. That's a 2-point swing: point for eating healthy, no loss of a point for eating unhealthy. During this process, I've learned that the nutrition component of weight loss is a lot more important than the exercise component. Especially if you have a medical condition, eating better is something that everyone can more readily change.

4. Jawbone UP. For the past three months, I've been using a fitness tracker called the Jawbone UP. It's similar to a fitbit or bodybugg. The UP tracks diet, exercise, and sleep. It gives personalized helpful pieces of advice as you go along. You can connect it with other apps like MyFitnessPal or MapMyFitness. I like little gadgets like this, and I like competitions. When your friends have jawbones as well, you can add them to your team and see all the information that they allow you to see: steps, sleep, etc. This has been a nice motivator to keep me continually getting my 10,000 steps a day in as well as eat better.

5. Chiropractor. I love chiropractors. I've found that people typically either love chiropractors or hate them. I've had so much benefit from them. Now, a lot of people, especially chiropractors, who believe in chiropractic are a little nuts. A lot of them think that chiropractors take the place of M.D's. I don't think that's true, but a lot of what we routinely go to the doctor for we could probably go to the chiropractor instead for less money and less time.

I'll give you a recent example. I sprained my right ankle a few years ago. It was my first sprain on that ankle, second sprain on either ankle. Since I'd sprained the left one about a year before that, I didn't go to get it checked out, I just did the same things as I had for my other ankle. It's been bothering me ever since. In the past year, I've gone to two different M.D's. One even did some tests on it. They found nothing. I went into a chiropractor a couple weeks ago, told her about it, and she told me that a bone was out of place. I couldn't bend my ankle very far, even though I could still walk on it. She then proceeded to pop it back into place. It was amazing! It felt so much better, and it took just a few minutes and less than $15...along with getting my back and neck straightened.

While I don't think people should do chiropractic care only (or any care solely by itself), I think that they are important and can really help. Look for specials around the area. Typically you should be able to find ones for $20 a visit. Some of the good ones go up to $50 and usually 4-8 annual treatments are covered by insurance. They're usually a little eccentric, but usually know what they're doing.

6. Weights (Fitnotes). I haven't really lifted in my life, even when playing basketball in high school. We went up to the weight room, but I usually didn't do much. I hated lifting too much because it would throw off my shot when we went down for practice afterwards. Mixing weights into your workout routine is a great way to not only work different muscle groups but to get different health benefits than from running or biking. I use an app called Fitnotes to track all the different exercises I do with weights. Just make sure to work the different body parts and not only your biceps or legs.

7. Spinning. I'm not a huge fan of riding a bike, but for some reason I like spin class. I am one of those guys who, like Doug Heffernan of King of Queens, when I first heard of a "spin class" I thought it involved twirling around in one place. It doesn't. Usually. It's a really good way to burn a lot of calories in a short period of time. Typically you can burn anywhere from 300-1,000 calories in a 45-minute class, depending on how hard you push yourself. Spinning isn't for everybody. If you don't completely hate it, it's a good variation to throw into your fitness routine.

8. Sports/Activity that burns calories that you like. This one is one of the most important ones, I think. When you have an activity that you really like, whether it's something on this list already or not. This one for me is basketball. I took a year off playing basketball which was really good for me. The year after that, I really missed it. I currently have places to play five times a week, though I don't always make it there. It's also an activity that gives me a lot of steps, if you're into the 10,000 steps a day thing. This summer, I really want to add ultimate frisbee to the list. Other sports and activities that can be found at a local gym or rec center are racquetball, yoga, hockey, tennis (or pickleball like they do at my gym), and soccer. If you're doing something that you love, it doesn't seem like exercise; it's just fun. Having an activity that you love to do will help you do to do more of it, especially when you're just starting to get back into activity.

9. Limit unhealthy foods you love, don't eliminate them. I haven't tried a lot of diets. I know my problems when it comes to food. Basically I eat too many chips and drink too much pop. I don't care about sweets, chocolate, cake, or pie. Being able to control my chip and pop-intake was and is essential. Since I loved these things, I didn't want to give them up. I changed the way I ate. I'd eat smaller bags of chips. I'd drink diet pop (which is worse for you in a lot of ways, but regarding getting my weight down, it's been a better option). Being able to identify where you're weak nutritionally is important.

You have to start thinking about food as merely fuel. I've known that for years, but to actually do it is something else. Don't worry about the financial benefits of food or anything else. For example, all-you-can-eat buffets are popular and are great financially. Per plate, you're probably paying anywhere half to ten times less the price you normally would if you can eat that much. But have you noticed who tends to frequent these places? There are a lot of fat people there. Why? Because they know that (1) it is a good price for the consumer and (2) the more you eat, the bigger you'll get, the more you'll rely on justifying going there for the price. Even now, it's hard to justify a plate of chicken for $10 when you can get two or three plates for $8. Limiting the amount of food you eat will cause weight loss to happen at a faster pace. Exercise is important, but in my experience, diet is even more so.

10. Add in healthy foods. The other half of the food equation, aside from limiting or eliminating bad foods, are adding in healthy foods. This point seems so easy and so difficult at the same time. Everyone has their own list of super foods or even just foods that they swear by. One of the items from pathway genomics (point #11) is that I was told which foods to eat more of and which to stay away from. Eggs are usually good for people, but apparently my body's genetic makeup doesn't process them as well so I was limited to four a week. Learning what your body actually processes well can really help.

The foods that I've learned are great not just for me but for people in general aren't too weird. For protein, I tend to stick to chicken. I use a seasoning on chicken and vegetables: Montreal chicken seasoning from Smith's. I usually put it over a ton of spinach. Dinners are usually accompanied by other vegetables as well: squash, onions, carrots, asparagus, parsnips, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas are ones that I do well with. I usually roast the veggies with some avocado oil or olive oil on them. Cook some chicken, throw in a pan of roasted veggies, and throw in a starch like quinoa or rice, and that's pretty much been my dinner for the last few months.

For breakfast, I tend to eat either sliced apples with almonds (the almonds to balance out the sugars from the apple for my diabetes) or a breakfast bar from Costco. I get the kashi bar that Costco sells. It has almonds, chocolates, and chia seeds. Chia seeds are really good for you as they're a gel-like food. There aren't too many healthy gels out there for you. Olive oil, avocado oil, and avocados are also eaten frequently. Berries are also good.

So that is my basic menu. I'll still get cheeseburgers or gyros every now and then, but if I can improve most of my diet, I've found that it really does make a huge difference. 

11. Pathway Genomics. Jodi went in to see her OBGYN and they offered her a special exam. It was a spit test and it was for a company called pathway genomics. When she got the results, I was so intrigued that I went to my doctor and got it set up (not every doctor's office offers it; they have to sign up with the company) so that I could do it myself.

What this company does is it analyzes your biological makeup. It tells you what you are more prone or less prone to do based on your genetics. In mine it told me, as an example, that my body has a harder time converting fat into energy. That actually made a lot of sense for what I'd been going through. It analyzes your DNA and then recommends a particular diet for you: low-fat, balanced, low-carb, or Mediterranean. Mine was low-fat based largely in part that my body doesn't break down fat as the average person does. Jodi had some interesting results as well.

The exam is income-based, so if you don't make much, it doesn't cost much (like $20). It's nice to know what my body does well and what it doesn't. Having a test like this done, even though it's probably a little nerve-racking, has been really beneficial to me and Jodi.

12. Mediterranean diet. Before I got my results back from pathway genomics, we started a diet that was based on her results: the Mediterranean diet. Is it any wonder that she would get the selection that contained some of the foods that she hated most like avocados, fish, and olives? I actually like all of those, so it was an easy transition for me. Really, we don't think of it as a diet as we do a lifestyle change. I didn't know much about the diet. Apparently it's the gold standard of diets. It basically involves eating healthy foods with a higher emphasis on healthy fats and fish. It was fairly easy to do living with someone who had to eat gluten and dairy-free. For dinner, we made a protein, a vegetable, and a starch. We usually roasted vegetables in olive oil with a side of avocados somewhere. Eating a healthy diet is the ideal. The Mediterranean diet is the gold standard.

13. My Fitness Pal. I talked a little about this app in conjunction with the Jawbone UP. It's used to track nutrition. It involves setting goals, tracking food and weight, and fitness. I like to use applications for what their primary use is for. So I use the Jawbone UP for tracking steps and sleep while I use My Fitness Pal to track my food. They have a huge database of foods that not only track calories but other nutrients like sugar, fiber, and protein. You can adjust your goal levels for each (I had to for my diabetes) and since both apps talk to each other, information just automatically syncs to both. Tracking the food that you eat changes what you eat every day. Maybe not by a lot, but even if it only helps a little, isn't it worth it?

14. Metformin and Invokana. Due to my diabetes, my doctor prescribed these two medications. Metformin is pretty common, and invokana is supposed to help control the level of sugar in your system. He told me when he prescribed it that I'll lose a little weight merely by urinating a lot of the excess sugar out. While not a huge help in weight loss, it's helped me manage my diabetes thereby helping me to focus on losing weight.

15. The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper. While Jillian Michaels is my favorite weight-loss guru, Bob Harper definitely knows a thing or two. When I first picked up his book, I tried to apply all of the rules at once. It's easier to focus on a few of them, get into those habits, and then try to add in others. I first focused on the easy ones for me: drink more water (rule 1), eat protein with each meal (rule 3 - done!), eat apples or berries every day (rule 6), and get rid of those white potatoes (rule 11). After doing those for several days, I focused on the ones that were hurting me the most like drinking my calories (rule 2), not eating carbs after lunch (rule 7), and getting rid of fast foods (rule 13) as much as I could. Once you start to change certain things, others naturally come along with them. For example, if you don't eat out as much (or at all), you eat a lot more meals that you cook at home (rule 15). I decided to eat an apple everyday at breakfast time instead of at other times (rule 14). Bob Harper knows how to help you lose weight.

16. Get sick. I got sick a couple of times, which reduced my appetite a lot. I had to stop any exercise routine I was doing, which didn't feel productive. I hate being sick. I've learned that when you get sick, depending on the illness, your body secretes certain hormones, some of which are responsible for decreasing your appetite. This allows you to starve out viruses and bacteria which feed on nutrients in your body. Since your body isn't getting enough energy from your food intake, it starts to use other things like stored fat. While every illness is different, the couple I've had at least allowed me to lose a little weight while I was out of it. Being sick isn't fun, so this may be the only benefit we get out of it.   

17. Surround yourself with good resources. One of the things Jodi mentioned to me when we were first married was that I spent a lot of my money on basketball shirts, shorts, and shoes. My reply was that when I had nice workout clothes, I felt more inclined to work out. When I wore shirts that were way too big or (especially) too small, I didn't like going to the gym. I believe its that way with more than just clothes and working out.

We've always had an issue cooking as a couple. We're not used to it, neither of us love doing it, and its time-consuming. When we moved to a place with a tiny kitchen, it comes as no surprise that we cooked less. Now that we have a big kitchen, we cook more. We have better resources. We have more room to cook. Because of that, we're now cooking more.

So for me, losing weight involved having good resources like good workout clothes, a nice gym I have a pass to, a jawbone, a tablet to track weightlifting, a nice bag, a good water bottle, etc. By having these things, you help set yourself up for success.

18. Don't beat yourself up when you slip up. This hasn't really been a problem for me, but it has in the past. When I've gotten down on myself in the past for this, it was usually followed by a "oh well, guess I should do other bad stuff, too" which made it even worse. I was focused mostly on changing most of my diet and exercise routines. Give yourself some credit for what you have done right and cut yourself some slack for when you slip up. As long as you can re-focus, it's not a big deal anyway.


I used to watch the television show "The Biggest Loser" religiously. I'm not as big on it anymore, especially since Jillian Michaels left who I think was their best trainer. On the show, people would lose hundreds of pounds in the same period of time. As I type this, a commercial from Bob Harper, one of the shows' trainers, comes on. Some people lose over 50% of their weight from the time they start on the show to the finale. I started at 305 and am now 253. That fluctuates a little every day. It's been as low as 251 and as high as 256 the past few days, so I'm taking more of an average. It's usually about this, though. If I was on the show, though, that'd easily be good enough for last place no matter which season.

While the amount isn't that jaw-dropping compared to people on the show, which I know a lot of people including some of my friends watch, I also don't have the opportunity to make losing weight my full-time job. But for normal people with jobs and other things to do, I think losing 50 pounds is remarkable. I'm not finished with losing weight, but it's important to recognize great accomplishments along the way. Beating diabetes is also on that list for me.

So cheers to everyone who has lost some weight. Keep up the hard work because it's a daily struggle. I hope some of the things I mentioned can get you started on making your own list. I certainly didn't come up with all of these on my own; they just happened to fit my life. See what fits your life and use those resources as you attempt to accomplish the amazing feat of weight loss.