[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”66″ gal_title=”october 4, food and fitness”]
Welcome Back!
Hello Folks,, and thanks for joining me for an update on the fitness portion of my life-style change. When I launched livedeckers.com back in June, I had also set out on a mission to completely change the way that I think and eat on a daily basis. Controlling my weight my entire life has always been a battle. As a young child, being left with the option of either having epileptic seizures or taking the energy draining anti-convulsion drugs was a constant battle when it came to controlling my weight. No energy=weight gain, so it was always a struggle to burn off my unhealthy dietary choices and keep my weight to a healthy level. Fast forward to where I am now, I’ve got a heart that has been repaired and a neurological condition that has been under control for quite some time. With these issues out of the way, the path to optimal health and wellness was finally in my sights! After many years of trying to manage my stress level and stick to a proper diet, which is a major cause of my seizures, I decided it was time pursue my dream of being an outdoor writer, blogger, and photographer and leave the food and beverage industry and follow my heart and health! The everyday stress of running a restaurant, combined with the inconsistent schedule and infrequent times to eat a proper meal, I realized that I had fallen into the “industry trap” that so many young people unknowingly fall into with no regard for how these life-style habits shape you into “self” down the road. Well, 30 years later, it was time to make the change. Hence, the creation of this website and blog. When I began my quest to lose 100 pounds, I weighed in at a whopping 279 pounds! I was borderline diabetic, suffered from severe joint pain, and hardly had the enthusiasm to go to work on a daily basis. Today, it’s October 4 and I’m extremely happy to announce that I’m down to 217 pounds! Yes, I have lost 60 pounds in just under 4 months!
In this paragraph I would like to share with you how I’ve lost all this weight in just a short period of time. Keeping in mind that I had lost about 80 pounds between 2013 and 2014, I had already used road cycling as my main source of physical activity that led to most of that weight loss. In October of 2014, I suffered a shoulder injury that kept me off of the bike until I rehabbed the shoulder on my own. Like most men, I decided that I didn’t really have “that bad” of a shoulder injury, so I suffered through all of 2015 with chronic shoulder pain. The problem here was not only the fact that I had completely stopped riding the bike, I was never really focusing on what I was eating during this entire weight loss period. Therefore, when I stopped riding and kept on eating the same way, 80 of the 100 pounds I shed came right back! This time it was accompanied with the fore mentioned joint pain, night sweats, and general overall fatigue! Compounding my problems with a bout of pneumonia that led to my third battle with Congestive Heart Failure, I had to act now, or the next time I may not have a choice in the matter. After going home to the east coast in June to attend my nephew’s High School graduation, I returned home to look at some of the pictures of me from my trip. I was horrified! All that work in 2013/2014 went to crap! Who was this guy and how was I going to fix this mess that I was looking at? As I was on this very trip home, livedeckerscolorado.com had come to life and the site was turned over to me on June 6, 2016. This was it! I had created a platform to share my thoughts, photographs, and life here in beautiful South Platte River Valley. Alright, enough on the background of why, and more about the “how I’ve gotten to this point” Starting each morning at about 5:45/6:00, I eat breakfast within 30 minutes of being awake. After sleeping, your body is craving what it needs to give YOU what you need, so getting that food in your system is key! My breakfast is typically a mix of components that I prepare ahead of time in order for me to always have the right foods to eat. This is a very important part of the process for me, going back to being a Chef of 30 years, it’s easy to just grab what’s there. Each week, usually on Sunday, I will make a vegetarian Bean Pot, a couple of cups of Lentils, bake a few sweet potatoes, roast a butternut squash, a batch of brown rice and pearled barley . Each morning I’ll have a cup of the rice/barley, 1 cup of the bean mix, 1/4 cup lentils, 2-3oz. sweet potato/squash, and one over-easy egg. Add a banana and a couple of strawberries and I’ve got the fuel I need to head out for my daily 25 mile bike ride! After the ride, I usually come back home and have a mix of the same components, with the addition of some lean protein such as deli turkey or grilled chicken or fish. Only about 2/3 oz. of meat added to these lunch meals. Next up, it’s usually time for a hike or a work project that is usually involving physical work such as wood stacking or some other labor intensive project! My philosophy is that if I’m not working, I’m working out. Hopefully, the work that pays the rent is also work that involves strenuous physical activity, particularly heavy repetition like shoveling or wood stacking! The goal here is to completely incorporate a physical life-style around a healthy diet and positive attitude to achieve optimal health! My evening meal is usually a small salad, consisting mostly of vegetables and perhaps some of those breakfast components, simply cold. As I spend most of my day on the river or in the forest, I’m burning tons of calories. To keep the energy up all day, I like to snack on nuts, dried fruits, raw vegetable and drink lots of water. In the evening time I like to reward myself with a couple of strawberries and a little non-fat yogurt. That’s really it my friends. I’m not really doing anything special, I’m just being consistent and trying my best to hold myself accountable for the way I look, feel, and want to live each day. My goal here is to hopefully continue this life-style change and be able to be an example to others that if you want to make a change, YOU have to be the one to do it! Today’s picture gallery is a collection of the food I have been preparing for the last three months, plus some before and after pictures to show you my progress since June. Thanks for reading and all the support! If you like what I have written, please share with your friends and spread the good news about https://discoverdeckers.com. Have a great day and I’ll be back with more soon!
Chris
October 6, 2016 Let it snow
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”68″ gal_title=”october 6,2016″]
Good evening my friends!
Wow, all kinds of conditions up here today! Woke up to snow as the front moved in overnight, bring us a dusting down here in the valley, with a little bit more at higher elevations. We then moved into the afternoon with sunshine and passing clouds, light wind, and temps in the low 60’s. Flows in Trumbull/Decker’s is at 321, with 314 below the dam at Cheesman. The fish were rather active throughout the day, feeding aggressively both above and below the surface. After some morning errands and doing some photo-editing, I got out on the river at 4:30pm, with my neighbor who lives up the hill. Started out with small, flash-back rubber-legs, follow with zebra midge and trailing a grey, RS-2. I took two fish on this rig, while my buddy zero’ed in on the browns hitting a Chocolate Thunder, but wasn’t sure what the rest of his set-up was. The weather is looking good for the weekend, so look for increased pressure in the Decker’s Resort area, but consider heading downstream towards the confluence ,where’s there’s much more open space to try your luck! A bit of fall excitement taking place tomorrow night at the Decker’s Corner Cafe! http://www.deckerscorner.com Band starts at 7pm! That’s all for now folks! Hope to see you on the river soon.
Chris
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October 5, 2016 Cheesman Canyon
camping, Fishing Conditions[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”67″ gal_title=”october 5, cheesman canyon hike”]
Good Evening folks!
Wow, covered some ground today and hiked the Gill Trail along the South Platte River, Cheesman Canyon. I didn’t fish, but I’ll get the conditions I observed in just a bit. Let’s get you up to speed on what’s happening currently in Decker’s/Trumbull. It was a beautiful day up here today, with mild temperatures in the low 60’s, after some pretty darn chilly morning temps in the low 30’s. The forecast for the weekend keeps improving each day, as we inch closer to Friday. We saw a drop in the flow from the Dam today, with current flows below the dam at 314 and 318 in Trumbull. The river coming through my back yard has cleared up considerably since the winds blew through over the last two days, even more clear up in the canyon. I didn’t fish today, just took pictures as I hiked the Gill Trail nearly to the dam. For more information on this trail, visit http://www.trailheadfinder.com As hard as it is to go into the canyon without taking my gear, I took this opportunity to take some great photos of this historical landmark area, as well as watch the behavior patterns of some pretty big Rainbow and Brown trout. Doing my best not to disturb any Anglers that were enjoying the serenity and peacefulness of their surroundings, I was careful not to get too close to anyone enjoying their time on the river. As the Gill trail traverses the river, 100 feet up the canyon wall and high above the gin clear South Platte, I was able to use my telephoto lens to observe the feeding activity of the trout. With the decrease in the flow today, the trout that had been previously been feeding much closer to the bottom, as this tends to happen here when the flows are higher, were aggressively feeding up and down the water column and occasionally breaking the surface during a midge hatch. The clarity of the water allowed me to spot, what I would say, are pretty solid numbers of fish congregated in most of the pools I observed. When I arrived in the parking lot, there were only a small number of vehicles parked, guessing 12-15, and spotted only about 6-8 Anglers the entire time. I did take the time to introduce myself to a few guys that were hiking along the trail and explained that I was writing a blog about the fishing conditions. They offered up to me their thoughts on how the canyon was fishing, as I was happy to listen. By the first hour in the river, they both claimed to have bagged 5 fish each, with the average fish being about 18 inches. Egg patterns were working early, with a worm and emerger in the afternoon. I’ll be back on the river tomorrow, as I’m planning to fish the Lone Rock campground, back to Decker’s bridge. For camping information and to make a reservation at this campground, visit http://www.reserveamerica.com. Hoping the cloud cover and cold front are going to get the fish active tomorrow. That’s it for now folks! Have a great evening and I hope to see you on the river soon!
Chris
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Fitness Update! “the skinny” 10/05/16
lifestyle and fitness[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”66″ gal_title=”october 4, food and fitness”]
Welcome Back!
Hello Folks,, and thanks for joining me for an update on the fitness portion of my life-style change. When I launched livedeckers.com back in June, I had also set out on a mission to completely change the way that I think and eat on a daily basis. Controlling my weight my entire life has always been a battle. As a young child, being left with the option of either having epileptic seizures or taking the energy draining anti-convulsion drugs was a constant battle when it came to controlling my weight. No energy=weight gain, so it was always a struggle to burn off my unhealthy dietary choices and keep my weight to a healthy level. Fast forward to where I am now, I’ve got a heart that has been repaired and a neurological condition that has been under control for quite some time. With these issues out of the way, the path to optimal health and wellness was finally in my sights! After many years of trying to manage my stress level and stick to a proper diet, which is a major cause of my seizures, I decided it was time pursue my dream of being an outdoor writer, blogger, and photographer and leave the food and beverage industry and follow my heart and health! The everyday stress of running a restaurant, combined with the inconsistent schedule and infrequent times to eat a proper meal, I realized that I had fallen into the “industry trap” that so many young people unknowingly fall into with no regard for how these life-style habits shape you into “self” down the road. Well, 30 years later, it was time to make the change. Hence, the creation of this website and blog. When I began my quest to lose 100 pounds, I weighed in at a whopping 279 pounds! I was borderline diabetic, suffered from severe joint pain, and hardly had the enthusiasm to go to work on a daily basis. Today, it’s October 4 and I’m extremely happy to announce that I’m down to 217 pounds! Yes, I have lost 60 pounds in just under 4 months!
In this paragraph I would like to share with you how I’ve lost all this weight in just a short period of time. Keeping in mind that I had lost about 80 pounds between 2013 and 2014, I had already used road cycling as my main source of physical activity that led to most of that weight loss. In October of 2014, I suffered a shoulder injury that kept me off of the bike until I rehabbed the shoulder on my own. Like most men, I decided that I didn’t really have “that bad” of a shoulder injury, so I suffered through all of 2015 with chronic shoulder pain. The problem here was not only the fact that I had completely stopped riding the bike, I was never really focusing on what I was eating during this entire weight loss period. Therefore, when I stopped riding and kept on eating the same way, 80 of the 100 pounds I shed came right back! This time it was accompanied with the fore mentioned joint pain, night sweats, and general overall fatigue! Compounding my problems with a bout of pneumonia that led to my third battle with Congestive Heart Failure, I had to act now, or the next time I may not have a choice in the matter. After going home to the east coast in June to attend my nephew’s High School graduation, I returned home to look at some of the pictures of me from my trip. I was horrified! All that work in 2013/2014 went to crap! Who was this guy and how was I going to fix this mess that I was looking at? As I was on this very trip home, livedeckerscolorado.com had come to life and the site was turned over to me on June 6, 2016. This was it! I had created a platform to share my thoughts, photographs, and life here in beautiful South Platte River Valley. Alright, enough on the background of why, and more about the “how I’ve gotten to this point” Starting each morning at about 5:45/6:00, I eat breakfast within 30 minutes of being awake. After sleeping, your body is craving what it needs to give YOU what you need, so getting that food in your system is key! My breakfast is typically a mix of components that I prepare ahead of time in order for me to always have the right foods to eat. This is a very important part of the process for me, going back to being a Chef of 30 years, it’s easy to just grab what’s there. Each week, usually on Sunday, I will make a vegetarian Bean Pot, a couple of cups of Lentils, bake a few sweet potatoes, roast a butternut squash, a batch of brown rice and pearled barley . Each morning I’ll have a cup of the rice/barley, 1 cup of the bean mix, 1/4 cup lentils, 2-3oz. sweet potato/squash, and one over-easy egg. Add a banana and a couple of strawberries and I’ve got the fuel I need to head out for my daily 25 mile bike ride! After the ride, I usually come back home and have a mix of the same components, with the addition of some lean protein such as deli turkey or grilled chicken or fish. Only about 2/3 oz. of meat added to these lunch meals. Next up, it’s usually time for a hike or a work project that is usually involving physical work such as wood stacking or some other labor intensive project! My philosophy is that if I’m not working, I’m working out. Hopefully, the work that pays the rent is also work that involves strenuous physical activity, particularly heavy repetition like shoveling or wood stacking! The goal here is to completely incorporate a physical life-style around a healthy diet and positive attitude to achieve optimal health! My evening meal is usually a small salad, consisting mostly of vegetables and perhaps some of those breakfast components, simply cold. As I spend most of my day on the river or in the forest, I’m burning tons of calories. To keep the energy up all day, I like to snack on nuts, dried fruits, raw vegetable and drink lots of water. In the evening time I like to reward myself with a couple of strawberries and a little non-fat yogurt. That’s really it my friends. I’m not really doing anything special, I’m just being consistent and trying my best to hold myself accountable for the way I look, feel, and want to live each day. My goal here is to hopefully continue this life-style change and be able to be an example to others that if you want to make a change, YOU have to be the one to do it! Today’s picture gallery is a collection of the food I have been preparing for the last three months, plus some before and after pictures to show you my progress since June. Thanks for reading and all the support! If you like what I have written, please share with your friends and spread the good news about https://discoverdeckers.com. Have a great day and I’ll be back with more soon!
Chris
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Decker’s in real time! 10/04/16
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”65″ gal_title=”October 4, 2016″]
Good Evening my Friends!
Wow, what a day in the beautiful South Platte River Valley, Decker’s, Colorado!! It was much cooler this morning, with a low of 39 when I got up. Flows are down just a little bit from yesterday, with 367 below the dam and 373 here in Decker’s/Trumbull. Good news is the flow has been consistent for almost a week now, and the fish are actively feeding. However, with the high winds we’ve seen in the last 48 hours, the river does have some debris to deal with. Pine straw, leaves, and other floating obstacles can hamper your efforts from time to time, but shouldn’t stop you from getting out there and fishing! I started out this morning with my usual 25 mile bike ride down river along Platte River Road. I use this as my daily training ride, but I also use this time to check out the river conditions downstream from Decker’s and Tumbull. This has turned out to be a pretty good way of establishing areas that are producing consistent hatches and what bugs are coming off. After some river reconnaissance up near the “wire” on the YMCA road in Decker’s, I finally got into the river to do some fishing in Trumbull around 3:30pm. By 4pm, the midges were coming off pretty thick, but I stuck with the nymphing rig as I didn’t see a rise on the midge hatch. Consisting of a San Juan Worm, followed with a Pheasant Tail #22, then trailing a Rainbow Warrior, I worked a faster riffle just upstream from a drop-off into deeper water. With just two or three throws of my rig, I quickly hooked into a smaller rainbow but lost it before I could set the hook. After a few hits with no hook-ups, I moved on to a dry-dropper as a few trout came up to take a few of the midges that had made their way down to surface level. With an Amy’s Ant, trailing a Blue-winged Olive, I took two more fish from a deeper pool against the granite rock wall. Today’s picture gallery is from my day around the Decker’s/Trumbull area! The weather is looking pretty much the same as it was today for tomorrow. Waking up to lows in the 30’s, warming up to the mid-60’s, with another windy day on tap. That’s all for today folks. Keep the comments coming and I hope to see you on the river soon!
Chris
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Fishing Update 10/3/16
Fishing Conditions, fishing report[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”64″ gal_title=”October 3, 2016″]
Windy Windy Windy
Good evening friends! Coming to you from the ever so windy foothills of the South Platte River Valley, Decker’s/Trumbull, Colorado. 6th day without a flow bump has got us at 418 below the dam at Cheesman, with just a hair under in Trumbull/Decker’s at 417. The wind today didn’t really keep the fish from the bug buffet that has been present each morning and early afternoon, as my friend and I did rather well nymphing and dry-dropping from about 11 this morning, until about 3:30. Previous to us fishing “hole in the wall” my friend had spent the earlier hours throwing a streamer between the Decker’s bridge, upstream to Lone Rock campground http://www/reserveamerica.com. with good success in the faster moving water. We’re a little early for the fall spawn of the brown, as I’ve yet to see any fish paired up at this point, nor have I caught a few spewing eggs! With that being said, I suppose I’m looking for someone to share with me why I’ve had such good success throwing a yellow and orange egg? This is why I write this stuff folks! I’m out there to learn and try new things, so feel free to leave me a comment! With gusts upwards to 50 or 60 mph, dry-fly fishing just wasn’t worth the effort! Sticking to the banks with a dry midge in a bend that was protected by the wind, pulled a nice rainbow that was tucked underneath a broken willow limb. With the pounding winds all day long, the pine needles and other forest debris was pretty heavy for the remainder of the afternoon. It’s looking like the weather for tomorrow is looking a little less windy, with winds of 5 to 10 mph and mostly sunny. No rain in immediate future with the slight chance of a shower on Thursday. Bugs that were doing the trick today were the yellow and orange eggs, with a black zebra midge. My buddy took two browns, one on a wooley-bugger type streamer, then he caught a nice rainbow with a tw0-bit hooker that was trailing a copper John, and a San Juan worm up top. Today’s picture gallery is from the last couple of days of my adventures! Living in the high desert of the Colorado Rocky Mountains is truly a blessing! I invite anyone who has never experienced Colorado to be sure to put the South Platte River Valley on their “bucket” list! As we go into the fall months, I hope to cover more fall related activities in our area, with updated links to add to the “THINGS TO DO” page of the website. That’s all for now my friends. Until next time, have a great evening and I hope to see you on the river soon!
Chris
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