Of this entire list, this rule is (A) the simplest, (B) the most effective, (C) the hardest to follow, or (D) all of the above… The answer is D. This step is crucial to controlling your weight, and it applies to everything, not just junk food. Even if you’re cooking a reasonably healthy dinner, don’t assume you can just load up your plate because the items are healthy. You want to keep your calorie count down, which means cutting back across the board.

While this rule can be difficult to follow, the benefit is that you don’t need to "outlaw" any foods. You can eat french fries… just limit yourself to a small handful. You can have dessert if you’re out to dinner, but split one item with your friends.

Now, I’m not saying that you can eat as much junk food as you want as long as it’s in small portions. You should still strive to keep things healthy. What I’m saying is that you don’t need to cut out all of the "not so healthy" stuff. If you do that, your diet will fail. Period.

Here are a few quick tips for helping you to control your portions:

• Create one plate with an appropriate serving of everything you want for your meal, and then put the food away. Don’t sit at your table with all the items in front of you where you can keep taking from them.
• Same applies for snacks. If you’re going to eat crackers, don’t sit with the entire box. Take out X number of crackers, then put the box away.
• If you’re feeling really hungry when you’re going to eat a meal, try to take 2/3 of what you feel like taking. You may feel like you need a huge serving because you’re hungry, but you don’t, trust me.
• Eat slower. This relates particularly to the previous item. By eating slower, your body will have more time to realize that you’ve consumed food and your hunger will diminish (without you eating a ton before it does).

2. Thou shalt eat many small meals, rather than a few large ones.

In addition to controlling portion size, it’s also beneficial to move from 3 main meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) to 5 or 6 smaller ones. This allows your digestive system to maintain a higher degree of efficiency by continuously breaking down and digesting new food, as opposed to trying to deal with 3 large "clumps" of food. This may be difficult depending on your schedule, but try your best. I find that breaking lunch into 3 small meals at 10am, noon, and 2pm works well. Note, make sure you’re dividing up the size of your meals when doing this. You’re not just adding more meals on to what you’re already eating… That’s bad… You’re taking what you currently consume and dividing it up further.

3. Thou shalt consume the bulk of thy calories early in the day.

Consuming the bulk of your calories early in the day will keep you energized and allow your body to process the food you eat. You’ve probably heard that breakfast should be your largest meal — which is decent advice. However, eating a huge breakfast isn’t for everyone. It’s certainly not for me. I usually start my day with a protein shake, and then eat decent sized meals later in the morning and in the early afternoon. The key is tapering down your consumption by late afternoon and avoiding a massive dinner. The later in the day that you eat, the less time your body will have to digest and use that food, which brings me to the next commandment…

4. Thou shalt do little, or no, eating during the 2 hours before bed.

Avoid snacking before bed. You want to give your body time to breakdown and digest what you eat, and as far as I know, you’re body is not very efficient at doing that while you’re sleeping. This may take a little getting used to, and you may have to deal with a little hunger before bed for a week or two before your body adjusts. But once it does, this rule is much easier to follow. Additionally, this will help you to develop an appetite in the morning — which is when you should be eating. If you have to nibble on something, try to go with a small amount of a reasonably healthy food, like some peanuts, or a handful of cheerios.

5. Thou shalt keep heavy drinking to a minimum.

This may or may not be a problem for you. I like going out on weekends, so if you’re like me, try to keep your drinking in check. I’m not going to tell you that you can’t have a few drinks on a Friday night, but try to find a balance or routine that works for you. I personally like to have 1-2 moderately strong cocktails before I head out, then I’ll just "coast" on that and end up having 2 - 3 light beers throughout the rest of the night. I’m not going to pretend that those drinks are good for me, but it’s certainly better than drinking a 12 pack of beer, or having a bunch of random drinks at a bar. Try to find a routine that works for you, both calorie-wise and buzz-wise. Also, do your best to avoid getting really bombed, it’s probably going to happen on rare occasions if you’re young, but it’s seriously bad for you. And last, but not least, stay away from late night taco bell, or other fast food.

6. Thou shalt combat hunger with fruits and vegetables.

If you’re looking for a snack, or something for one of your 5 - 6 daily meals, fruits and vegetables should always be at the top of your list. You can cut down your calories significantly by replacing meals, or other junk food, with them. No, it doesn’t have to be broccoli or spinach or something like that. Look for things that you like. On the fruit side, melon is great. I’m a big fan of watermelon. Does it have some sugar in it? Sure. But it’s almost always going to be significantly better than chips, pretzels, or other snack items. On the vegetable side, try celery, carrots or cucumbers.

7. Thou shalt drink lots of water.

This one is simple. Not only does drinking water prevent you from drinking juice or other beverages with calories in them, it helps your body with various things, like digestion and keeping your skin moist. If you’re not drinking water regularly throughout the day, you should be. Period. Having a glass of juice, or a cup of coffee or tea, here and there is fine, but your "go to" drink should really be water. Keep a pitcher of it in the fridge.

8. Thou shalt exercise at least 3 times per week for 30 minutes or more.

If this seems like a lot to you, there’s something wrong. Everyone should be able to dedicate at least 90 minutes a week to exercising. Claiming otherwise is a cop out. If you’re strapped for time, you can try breaking it down into 20 minutes, 4 - 5 times per week, but don’t go under 20 minutes. You need to spend enough time doing something to actually get your heart rate up. Yes, you need to get your heart rate up, so if you’re going to be doing something like lifting weights, instead of cycling, go for less weight and a higher number of reps. For example, with respect to burning calories, doing 4 x 20 presses with 50lbs is going to be significantly better than doing 3 x 8 presses with 80lbs. If you’re going to be cycling, running or using an elliptical, try to push yourself, specifically for the last 10 minutes — this is really where it counts. If you’re not sweating at the end of your workout, then you’re not pushing yourself enough.

9. Thou shalt vary thy workouts.

This is an important factor in fitness, and it’s often overlooked. Varying your workouts is important for a number of reasons. First, it allows you to work different muscle groups, as well as different aspects of your fitness: strength, speed, stamina, explosiveness. Second, it prevents your body from adjusting to a single routine. Think of it like this… Suppose you’re a guitar player. How good are you going to be if all you practice is one song? You might be great at that song, but overall, you’re not going to be nearly as good as you would be if you practiced many. A similar principle applies to working out. Will hopping on the same bike workout every other day burn calories? Yes. Will it give you the same level of conditioning, toning, and calorie burning that a mix of workouts will? Probably not, so keep this principle in mind when designing your workouts:

• Decent - Exercise bike on level X for 30mins, 3x per week
• Better - Exercise bike on a random program for 30 mins, 3x per week
• Best - Exercise bike on Monday, weights on Wednesday, elliptical on Friday, for 30 mins each

10. Thou shalt focus on consistency, not intensity.

Slow and steady wins the race! Never is that more true than when dealing with weight loss. Your chances of losing weight and improving your health are much greater if you make a few moderate changes to your lifestyle and stick to them indefinitely. I know you want to see the results now, but if you decide one day that you’re going to cut out all junk food, count calories, and go to the gym 5x a week, you’re not going to last… you’re not… There’s probably 1 person in every 500 who can keep up a lifestyle like that, and guess what, they’re already skinny and in shape… ie - it’s not you. So make some moderate changes, stick to them, and you will see results.

And now of course the disclaimer. I am not a doctor, nor do I have any "official" evidence demonstrating that the above items will, in fact, help you to control your weight and improve your health — however, it is my opinion that they will. These suggestions may not be beneficial to everyone in all cases. You should consult your doctor before making any drastic changes in your diet or exercise habits.

When he first brought up the idea, I thought about whether I could see myself going after a master’s degree, being that I already got my bachelor’s in CS from Virgina Tech. However, I was pretty quick to dismiss the possibility. I already have the skills I need. I have a bunch of successful online businesses. And, even while I was in school, I crammed my 4 year program into 3 years to get out into the working world…Why would I go back to dealing with classes and course work?

The other day, however, he sent me the program information for the online master’s program at North Carolina State. I took a quick look at it and realized that I’d be able to skip both the GRE’s and the prerequisites, because I graduated above a 3.5 GPA with a bachelor’s in CS. That means that all I’d really need to do for the master’s would be to take 10 CS courses (30 credits) online… Suddenly this idea is becoming tempting.

Logically, it’s not a great move. Will I be improving my skills? Not likely. I might gain some knowledge in theory, but it probably won’t be beneficial to my day to day work. Will I make more money with a masters? I doubt it. Hypothetically, it could come into play down the line at some point, but as a self employed developer, it’s not going to help me out much. In fact, I’ll probably lose money overall in both paying for the program and in sacrificing time for the courses… But despite all this, I still have a slight urge to take on the challenge, just to say I did it.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens. I won’t be applying anytime soon, but maybe in another year or two… you know, after I get rich and retire.

1. People who stand still on flat escalators. Standing on staircase escalators? No problem, you have your bags with you, fair enough… but there’s no excuse for standing still on the flat ones. The airport didn’t spend tens of thousands of dollars installing these things so that you can be a lazy sack of sh*t. If you’re really that tired, step aside and take a 5 minute breather. Or better yet, call one of those golf cart type shuttle things… Don’t get on and block me while I try to use the escalator for it’s intended purpose: moving faster.
2. People who stand in line to board the plane 30 mins early. Ok, you’re seated in row 6. They’re calling rows 25 to 30. Yet, you felt it necessary to walk up to the plane entrance and get in everyones’ way while they try board… No one is going to steal your seat, now go sit down.
3. People who are flabbergasted by the security check. Newsflash, about 6 years ago they started making you take your shoes off. That laptop of yours? It’s gotta come out of the bag. Water bottle? don’t try it… Next time, do everyone a favor and prepare for these things as your approach security, rather than holding up the line for 5 mins while you figure out WTF is going on.
4. The person in your isle seat who decides that they’re not in a rush to leave the plane. Guess what? I am in a rush, and you’re blocking me in. I realize that for you, sitting in a parked plane may be equally, or more, stimulating than getting back to your actual life, but I’m not trying to sit here for an extra 10 mins. Take your sh*t and get off the plane, you’re not doing anybody a favor.
5. Your friend who insists on getting to the airport 4 hours early. I know you have a friend like this. Unfortunately, so do I, far too many of them… and despite the fact that you fly 10x as much as they do, they insist that they "know how busy airports get" and that you need to arrive at least a few hours before your flight. Ok, next time, you do your thing, and give me a call after you get through security… that should give me enough time to wake up, pack, cab it to the airport, and meet up with you as we board the plane.

I was blown away by his submission of Nate Quarry last weekend at UFC 91 — not because Nate Quarry is great fighter, he’s not — but simply because he pulled half-guard, swept him, took the back and choked him out in a total of about 30 seconds.

So does he have a fight with Anderson Silva coming up? Well… no, he’s got at least one more fight (potentially against Michael Bisping) before he gets his title shot. So why am I talking about it?  Well, because as far off as it is, I actually think Demian Maia can and — dare I say it… WILL — beat Anderson Silva in the future!

People say that the best style against Silva is wrestling… wrong. The problem with wrestlers is that they’re generally bad at finishing fights. They might catch you with some strikes if you have weak stand-up, or they might lay on top of you for 3 rounds and grind out a decision if you have a weak ground game — but Silva isn’t weak in either of those areas, plus you get him for 5 rounds. No, the best style against Anderson Silva is elite level jiu jitsu, elite enough to control someone who has a black belt themselves.

There are a couple guys with that elite level jiu jitsu in the middle weight division: Paulo Fihlo, Rousimar Palhares, maybe even Travis Lutter. The problem with these guys is that they have horrible conditioning. If they don’t get a submission in the first round, they basically give up. Demian Maia doesn’t have that problem — and he’s even a notch above these guys skill-wise.

Anyway, that’s enough rambling. If you’re still reading at this point, just remember this: Assuming the middle weight title race pans out as I expect, I’m going on record and saying that Demian Maia will work his way up to a title shot and beat Anderson silva ~8 months from now. Now here’s some sweet footage of Maia owning people on the mats. Love this music…

Anyway, they have a small coffee shop in there called Ninth Street Expresso. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I grabbed a latte this time around and it was awesome! The menu is really simple; there aren’t even sizes. You just pick your drink: expresso, americano, latte, mocha, etc., and pay (cash only). If you’re in the neighborhood, check it out… or better yet, call me and give me an excuse to run over there with you. I attached a pic of my latte to the right — beeaauutiful (I felt guilty drinking it).

Looking north at the Empire State building during the day

Looking north at the Empire State building at night

Looking west towards the Hudson during the day

Looking west towards the Hudson at night

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 cup of skim milk
• 3 - 4 ice cubes
• 1 scoop of protein power
• 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil

Just put all this stuff in a blender, blend it for 15 seconds, and you’re all set! It’s easy, trust me. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be making it.

Here’s the thought behind the nutrition end of it. The banana provides some carbs and nutrients like potassium, along with giving the shake flavor and thickness. The skim milks add some more nutrients like calcium, as well as some protein. The ice cubes chill the shake, lighten it a little bit, and work as a thickening agent as well. The protein powder is obviously for protein. A lot of powders suggest 2 scoops, but I only add one since we’re already getting some protein from the milk — adding more is a waste, because your body can’t absorb all of it. Lastly, the flax seed oil adds some really heart-heathly, unsaturated fats to the mix (the kind of fats you actually want).

Two quick notes: First, do use a ripe banana, overly ripe, mushy even! It will actually make the shake taste better. Second, I’d recommend a vanilla flavored protein mix. I’m a big fan of BioChem Sports’ 100% Whey which is sold at Whole Foods, because it doesn’t have any extra crap in it, but go with whatever you like.

I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot. I find that bananas really work the best, but I’ve also used strawberries, rasberries, blueberries, and even mandrin oranges, so feel free to mix it up. Enjoy!

If you take off the sound system between the handlebars, and those goofy-ass rear speakers, it’s not a bad looking bike — at least for starters. I’m toying with the idea of throwing down for it and having him fix it up. I’d like to get my license at some point, and this would give both of us a bike to learn on and use for the test. I don’t get home to NJ all that often, so riding before the winter might be out of the question, but at least I’ll have something to do when I make it home next spring.

Anyway, we’ll see how this one pans out. He still has to get the idea to slide with my parents (who, not surprisingly, are out of town this week). If he can get my dad into the idea of a fix it up project, he might have a shot… a small shot…

Anyway, they had the first season last year and I had kind of forgotten about it, but I caught a few reruns this week and remembered how entertaining it is. I’m really hoping they bring it back! I was expecting season two to start along with Entourage last month, but that didn’t happen, which casts a little doubt. But, the fact that they’re still showing episodes, along with the 4 emmy nominations that it got, seem to suggest that another season is in the works. I guess we’ll see! Here are few clips for your enjoyment:

Chicken egg situation

"If you’re into it"

Love (179 MacDougal St., New York, NY 10011)

Let me first say that Love is actually more of a nightclub, but not the type of nightclub that plays David Guetta tracks while sweaty dudes with half unbuttoned shirts grind on anything that moves. No, Love is a pretty well hidden spot on MacDougal and 8th that has an underground cave-like theme and a huge dance floor that’s usually vibrating from bass-heavy rasta music. Sound ridiculous? It is… in a good way. It’s roomy, has some quieter areas for conversation, and, in keeping with the rasta theme, is often speckled with random people wearing hoodies and smoking weed — which I think takes away from the pretentiousness. Oh, it’s also very late night, so don’t have any fear about rolling into this place at 2am. The only downside is that you may pay up to a $20 cover… rough, i know, but possibly worth it if you’re looking to chill somewhere for a couple drinks.

Backroom (102 Norfolk St., New York, NY 10002)

I was actully just introduced to this place recently. It’s a classy bar in the lower east side that’s in the backroom of a building, literally. When (or perhaps I should say, If) you get by the bouncer, you walk about 30 yards through an alley, up and down staircases, to get to this place… but I think that adds to the cool factor. When you get inside it has a very prohibition-esce feel to it. Beers are served covered with brown paper bags; cocktails come in teacups. Prices are high, but by high, I mean pretty much the same thing you’d expect at any other nice bar in NYC. It may take you a few tries to get in. I think they limit the crowd to keep up the atmosphere, but definitely give it a shot.

PDT (113 St. Marks Pl. , New York, NY 10009)

PDT (short for "Please Don’t Tell") is another prohibition themed bar, but this place takes it to another level! There’s no street entrance, and no bouncer. Instead you walk into a very average looking hot dog place named "Crif Dog." Go down the stairs into the restaurant (which is 100% functional, by the way) and you’ll see an old phone booth. Pick up the phone and press the call button. The wall of the phone booth will swing open and the hostess on the other side will attend to you. If you go early with just a few people you may be able to get in on the spot, otherwise you can call ahead for reservations, which I would recommend if you really want to go with a group of friends (Note: this isn’t the type of place you go to bombed with a big crowd at 1am). Inside you’ll find a very classy, intimate bar that has a menu of really unique (and delicious) cocktails. You can also order from a small food menu, which is a nice touch. Again, a little pricey, but totally worth the experience.

For those of you not familiar with what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is, I’ll get into it in much greater detail down the road, but in short, it’s a form a submission grappling. We’re going to be doing the camp with an incredibly talented world champion named Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles from Brazil. I’m really looking forward to it! I also managed to book a direct flight to SD and back entirely off frequent flyer miles, so it only cost me $5.00. Sweeet!

Here’s a clip of "Cobrinha" doing his thing. If you’re not a BJJ/MMA person this might just look like dudes rolling around… That’s okay, I’ll educate you down the road. Enjoy!

The foundation works by distributing sleeping nets to families which can protect them for up to 4 years. It’s only $10 per net, which includes installation, so I bought a bunch of them. I don’t know about you, but getting bitten by mosquitoes while you try to sleep is bad enough — let alone worrying about dying from it.

If you can manage $10, I’d encourage you to go for it. Seriously, how hard is it to skip starbucks for two days?

A little plot +
A little nudity +
Some celeb cameos +
A few Ari Gold one-liners +
A lifestyle that everyone wants =
————————————————————
A show that most guys will watch

It really is that simple! Ready? Here’s a future episode of Entourage I’m about to dome off the top of my head in 30 seconds:

Vince finds a script he likes. Ari tries to get him the role, but together he and "E" screw it up. In the process, Ari pisses off his wife — but makes up with her later. Drama freaks out about his abs not being firm enough after (celebrity) Mario Lopez bumps into him at the beach. Turtle tries to lure some girls over to the house using weed as an incentive.

Hire me… Seriously.

I guess the beauty of it is that everyone knows exactly what they’re getting. They’re getting a half hour of the story I just described above (customized slightly for a different celebrity), with one or two larger, underlying plot lines that get nudged forward each week. Guys can sit, listen to Ari cuss his face off, see a few hot women, and dream that they had 20 million in the bank so that they could move out to LA or NYC with their boys. Until that formula fails — and I don’t think it will for some time — people will keep tuning in for Entourage… including myself.

I’ll pause here while you unavoidably force yourself to check whether he’s wearing any pants…

Ok, now that that’s out of the way…

I know the whole "powers from a nuclear experiment gone wrong" is very cliche, and if you saw the preview yourself, you may be thinking that the other characters all seem pretty lame. They do have a kind of "old" feel to them, like something you’d expect to see in a movie 50 years ago. But, it turns out that "Watchmen" is actually supposed to be superbly written. So well written, in fact, that in 2005 Time magazine named it as one of the 100 best English-language novels! That’s not graphic novels, or comic book novels, or anything else… That’s all English-language novels. It’s up there with "The Great Gatsby", "To Kill a Mockingbird", etc. etc. which I found to be pretty impressive, so I ordered a copy off Amazon to read this week.

We’ll see if it lives up to the hype that I just created for it. As far as the movie, I don’t really have any expectations. The preview was kind of cool, but it’s hard to tell with these types of films, and it’s not out for another 6 months, so we’ll see when the time comes.

What am I going to be posting about? Well, right now I can say that my life really revolves around 3 major things: web development, internet entrepreneurship, and mixed martial arts. So, many of my posts will likely revolve around those things, but I’m sure there will also be a lot of random stuff along the way. I’ve been traveling quite a bit recently, and I definitely want to cover some of that.

Anyway, that’s enough for this first post. I’m still updating some of the basic features around the site, so sit tight — and look for more posts soon!