Wise Guy

So a couple weeks ago, as I was at the gym in the morning. Okay fine, it wasn't really the morning, basically the afternoon, but morning for me. And as I was sitting on the bike, and not like an actual work out bike, but the one that the grandmas use. And I was just answering some work related email on my phone...

This was the exact moment it hit me. It hit me hard too, it was like getting hit a a pillow case full of venomous baby porcupines. You feel it, you get bruised, it sticks with you, and it stings a lot.

I am an adult. Like almost for real. Now I am not just going to ramble on about how much I don't want to be an adult. That complaint overdone. But what I do what to talk about it Wisdom. Since I am older, I should be wiser. Is age the only way to get Wisdom?

Lately I have been reading through the book of Proverbs. This is an entire book of the Bible written as a dedicated "How-To be wise" book. Wisdom for Dummies. 

This book covers most major things we need wisdom for: Relationships, Careers, Family, there are more, I'm just to lazy to write them down. And then on top of the book of Proverbs, the guy who wrote it, King Solomon, he also wrote two other books, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes(yeah, I had to consult the googles for proper spelling of Ecclesiastes). Both similar to Proverbs, just more focused on certain topics. Song of Solomon is for love and relationships, and Ecclesiastes is telling us about how pointless life can be(It does end on a happier note then that). 

So at least 3 books of the Bible are dedicated to the subject of wisdom and they were all written by the wisest man to ever live, Solomon(1 Kings 4:29-30). So I guess we can just assume that this is an important topic. Otherwise why talk about it so much?

I guess it's time to go on a long and dangerous quest to find out what and where wisdom is. I am sure we will need to answer riddles, fight trolls, climb mountains, destroy rings... Whoa! started getting a little off track. 

It's actually really easy to find and acquire wisdom. Check this out: James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Notice that the verse doesn't even mention anything about age or knowledge. Sure those can be factors. But this says that all we have to do is ask for wisdom and God will give it to us. That is pretty cool. We all need wisdom no matter then age. We need help in choosing schools, what to take, where to go. We need help in our relationships, who to date, who to not date. We all need help in being adults, money, jobs, houses, cars. God care about all these things and wants us to make good choices with them. Wisdom will hep with this. We all need wisdom. Ask for wisdom.

Well that is all I got to talk about today. Come back next time to hear me talk about being content. 

Nolan out!

My Weight Loss Campaign

So this story began around the beginning of the 2013 school year. I was working out regularly and eating decently during the entire 2013-2014 school year. I think I even lost 15lbs that year. There was much rejoicing. This put me at a normal weight of about 210lbs. Not to big and just above average.

But it all changed one day. Actually it was the day after my last exam. I jumped on a flight and headed off for a land that is full of awe(and I mean awful, not awesome.) a land where the eels flow like water and the pizza pockets are plentiful.

My fat face when I weighed 221lbs.

This was the beginning of the end. I started eating. I ate a lot. For 6-7 weeks I lived on an impressive amount of Pizza Pockets, Mr. Noodles, and the cooking of everyones favorite cook, right Sam? I was working out just enough to make me think I wasn't putting on weight. But alas, I was putting it on faster then fat kid on cake. I was the metaphorical fat kid, actually I was the literal fat kid too. I was now sitting around an impressive 221lbs.

After my time in New Brunswick came to an end things only got worse, well for my waist line. I was off to the sunny north were I would be working at Northland Bible Camp for the summer. You'd think this type of environment would be conducive in my weight loss endeavors. Sadly it was not. Those wonderful ladies who work so hard at feeding the amazing campers and staff at camp all summer do their job just a little too well. And I was putting on calories twice as fast as I could burn them off. by the end of the summer I was sitting at a large 234lbs. This is the most I have ever weighed.

During the last week of camp Devin Lawrence and Myself decided this was enough. We made a plan to lose 20lbs by Christmas. This goal seemed reasonable. #20lbsbychristmas. So we started working out at least 4 times a week. Not once needing to step foot in a gym, Why no gym you ask? Because we have a membership at the Church of Latter Day Pumps, as some have called it. Or in other words, we went to our church to perform our work outs. All we really needed was a big room. And Sudbury Bible Fellowship has such a room.

When it came to what foods we ate, well that is were I give credit to Nathanael Martin. He told us about the app MyFitnessPal. This is basically a calorie counting app. This app figured out how we should eat to lose #20lbsbychristmas. And we stuck to it, like a fat kid on cake.

MyFitnessPal

I'm part of the Sarlo family. And for those who don't know us, our last name give us magical powers that allow us to eat more food then the average hippo if we need or want to. So you could say I'm not a fan of diets, I had never really been on a diet I could stick to. I would always fail a week or two in and give up on the whole eating right idea. Working out was never my issue. But not eating food, that was and is a battle. I don't know what it was this time, maybe it was the app keeping me accountable, or maybe I just found some new will power I didn't know I could access. I stuck to this diet, and have grow to love it. I still go over from time to time. But always manage to keep it under control.

Who is this guy?

So remember that 20lbs goal we had? Well at about 3 weeks in we were already there. It was amazing the weight just fell off. It was crazy. I never really knew how much food the body really needs to survive. I know not eating enough is an issue. I get that. But I wasn't feeling tired and I always had tons of energy. So whatever I was doing was working. Once we were two months into this weight loss campaign we had lost about 30lbs. So now what? Well we changed the hashtag. Our new goal was #40lbsbychristmas. Well wouldn't you know it. We made that in about 3 more weeks. so we changed it again #50lbsbychristmas.

If your reading this and have me on facebook you'll know that I made it. I was 184lbs before December 25th. This whole experience has showed me that weight loss isn't this big complex thing. It is as simple as "burn more calories then you eat." I said this is simple. Not easy.


If you're over weight, choosing to lose weight is one of the best decision you can make. I will encourage everyone to work on being healthy. If you don't know where to start message me. I would love to let you use my workouts. Actually I'll link them at the bottom. I'm no personal trainer and I couldn't tell you very much about how the body works, but I do know that what I did works. I lost 50lbs. You can too!

Down 50lbs.

Nolan Out!

The first 8 weeks
The second 8 weeks
The last 8 weeks