June 22, 2012
Link-O-Rama
• Fat-O-Meter update: I'm down to 168 pounds, compared to 355 pounds on March 7, 2011. Back on March 7 of this year I wrote about having lost 153 pounds in one year, but since then I've lost another 34 pounds to bring the grand total to 187 pounds lost in 472 days. I'm trying to think of interesting ways to write, talk, and chat about my weight loss, because whenever I mention it here or on Twitter it gets a far larger response than anything about baseball.
Here's a recent picture of me at around 170 pounds with my dad on Father's Day, along with a picture of the two of us when I was 355 pounds:
Not exactly the most flattering photos, but you get the idea. I realize at this point many of you are likely sick of hearing about my ongoing weight loss effort, but for those of you who remain interested in the topic please let me know what types of additional content related to the weight loss you'd like to see. Articles about specific aspects of my process? Podcasts devoted to weight loss and dieting? Q&A sessions? Let me know, via the comments section or e-mail.
• Last reminder: This year's SABR convention is in Minneapolis next week. Come hang out.
• Congrats to Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com candidate Marisa Miller. It was a helluva run.
• Suddenly the fact that he regularly throws 100 miles per hour is the least interesting thing about Reds closer Aroldis Chapman.
• Imagining basketball stat-head LeBron James is pretty funny.
• Geoff Schwartz, who signed with the Vikings in March, and Mitchell Schwartz, who was the Browns' second-round pick in April, are now the first Jewish brothers in the NFL since 1923.
• Do the Twins have a new long-term building block in Trevor Plouffe? I'm glad you asked.
• On a related note, all the cool kids at Target Field will wear this "Plouffe! There It Is!" shirt.
• Padma Lakshmi covered in chocolate is a compelling advertisement for anything, always.
• Nationals manager Davey Johnson on Rays manager Joe Maddon: "I don't know him that well, but I thought he was a weird wuss anyway."
• Speaking of which: Throwback uniforms for a team that didn't exist yet? Sure, why not.
• Jack White's appearance on Marc Maron's podcast was incredibly good.
• Friend of AG.com Bill Parker wrote an interesting article about the Twins' increasing efforts to engage fans via social media.
• Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com Mila Kunis shoots a basketball with Rick Barry's form and Shaquille O'Neal's accuracy:
And apparently she was so ashamed that she couldn't show her face for days.
• When he feels like playing tournament poker Phil Ivey is absolutely ridiculous.
• Compelling evidence that Mad Men is in fact a documentary, at least when it comes to dating.
• January Jones as a redhead just inspires unflattering comparisons to Christina Hendricks.
• Baseball's leading thief had his wallet stolen at gunpoint.
• Jim Rome took his television show from ESPN to CBS Sports Network and went from 442,000 daily viewers to 40,000 daily viewers. As always, no one is a bigger star than ESPN itself.
• Turner is reportedly in talks to buy Bleacher Report for $200 million.
• Because the story of Brien Taylor wasn't sad enough already, apparently.
• I try not to excessively plug my day job here, but I've written a dozen or more posts on Hardball Talk every day this week and I'd love it if every AG.com reader checked it out. If you like me and you like baseball, I promise you'll like it (and the rest of NBCSports.com too).
• Chelsea Peretti is one of my favorite stand-up comedians, podcast guests, and Twitter follows, but she's no longer a writer on one of my favorite television shows.
• I was sad when TNT canceled the highly underrated Men of a Certain Age, but at least Ray Romano can have a guest role on an underrated show that didn't get canceled, Parenthood.
• Esther Povitsky has gone from "Little Esther" the oddly lovable character in the powerful world of Joe Rogan's podcast to getting her own television show on MTV.
• I wrote way too many Twins notes yesterday.
• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is the aforementioned Jack White and Ruby Amanfu performing "Love Interruption" on Saturday Night Live:
Jack White is heavy in a good way. He holds his own with The Edge and Jimmy Page in the doc “It Might Get Loud” too!
Comment by funoka — June 22, 2012 @ 9:00 am
Should be “Plouffe – there it goes!”
Comment by Paul G — June 22, 2012 @ 10:18 am
Kudo’s on the weight loss again Aaron. That accomplishment along with your blog is more than what 90% of the world accomplishes in their lifetimes. Good job.
Comment by Large Canine — June 22, 2012 @ 10:39 am
You da man Gleeman! Keep off the pounds and keep up the good work. Any new recipes to share? I’m beyond burnt out on brown rice…
Comment by Adam — June 22, 2012 @ 2:34 pm
The before/after pictures are unreal. Great achievement and best wishes maintaining the good health.
Comment by Jonah — June 23, 2012 @ 5:13 am
I think it would be interesting to hear a discussion of your transition to a maintenance diet, and how you handle/have handled the inevitable lapses on the diet. Since you have lost weight many times in the past only to gain it back, it would be interesting to hear how you are going to work on avoiding a repeat. I am a firm believer in inertia, and if you start to gain some weight back, how are you going to stop inertia in the wrong direction…which is very hard to do.
Any way, kudos again on the hard work you have put in to lose all that weight in 15 months. It’s funny to listen to your podcasts…my image of you when I hear you talking is still of a big guy, not a skinny punk.
Comment by AM. — June 23, 2012 @ 10:05 am
Being a fan of the Joe Rogan Experience, do you partake in kale shakes? I find that having one for breakfast fills me up for a few hours and allows me to eat more of what I want later in the day (i.e. bad things)without worrying about gaining any weight.
Comment by Jake — June 23, 2012 @ 3:24 pm
The word “inspirational” should be kept in a ‘Break glass in case of emergency’ box so that it’s always fresh and ready to be used for the rare accomplishments that warrant its use. Your weight loss truly deserves that word.
As for the possibility that some people aren’t interested, who cares? For some of the people who ARE interested, your story is potentially life-alternating and possibly even life-saving. That alone outweighs all concerns for any readers who don’t ‘get it’.
Comment by LaBombo — June 25, 2012 @ 2:09 pm
Hey Gleeman – how far do you plan on going with the weight loss before you just try to maintain instead of losing more?
Did you have any other recipes to share?
Thanks!
Jordan
Comment by Jordan — June 26, 2012 @ 1:50 pm
And – your dad looks great!
Comment by bohemian club — June 26, 2012 @ 5:10 pm
“Men of a Certain Age” cancelled? Damnit! It was a sneaky good show.
Comment by Kyle B — June 27, 2012 @ 1:47 am
The weight loss:
I always like photoblogs. Photo a layout of your typical meal, your exercise machine setup (can you see a monitor or teevee), daily exercise schedule, etc. The more concrete and visual is looks, the more inspiring and attainable it can become to others.
Nice job.
Comment by ben — June 28, 2012 @ 2:13 pm