Whether in the gym or not, making healthy food choices is a daily (hourly?) opportunity to avoid the
calories responsible for the weight I’m trying to lose.  I’ve lost about three pounds, which seems minimal for six weeks.  However, as seen in the video interview below, I’m losing weight at a healthy pace, albeit I could be losing a bit more per week and still be in the healthy 0.5-2.0 pound-per-week range.

Take a look at the interview from Friday to learn how a simple choice of grilled chicken over fried can save you five miles on the treadmill!

I’m doubly excited this time to be partnering with the Salvation Army to have a food drive to provide Thanksgiving Day meals to 1,000 families in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham area.

Can you come by to contribute food? Can your office or business contribute a turkey? Can you find five people to donate a turkey?

Thank you. It is an honor to be here on behalf of the city council and the residents of Harrisonburg to dedicate this memorial to fallen soldiers of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

This memorial shall stand as a reminder for us of each individual person who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation, our freedom, and peace on Earth.

As we begin attending baseball games and other activities in this beautiful new stadium, we have the opportunity to not only honor our fallen each time we pass the memorial, but to do their acrifice justice by remembering what their sacrifice made possible.

They allowed for us to peacefully gather here today; to have a safe place to raise a family and educate our youth; to make America, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the central Shenandoah Valley a destination for people from around the world who come to call this place home.

Most importantly, the soldiers we honor today protected our ability to add our voice to the decisions made by our government.  Whether it be about a golf course, a school being sold, chickens in the backyard, or how to best provide for for the health and welfare of our citizens, we can honor our fallen soldiers and those who serve, past and present, by participating vigorously and respectfully in our democracy with each passing day.

May this memorial stand to honor our fallen and the core principles of the democracy they fought to protect.  Let us never forget them or disrespect them by not casting the votes – our votes – that they died to protect.

So far, I’ve been able to get to the gym two or three times most weeks, though the last couple weeks have presented a number of scheduling challenges! Just that little bit though has resulted in an increase in strength, and perhaps the loss of a couple pounds (I’ll weigh in next time I’m at the gym!).

The most significant result for me is probably experiencing that feeling of wanting to get into the gym – I miss it when I don’t. That’s a feeling I’ve always heard people talk about, but don’t remember having myself! That’s important because it can be a source of self-motivation, which adds to the motivation provided by the over 300 other people in Harrisonburg who have taken on the challenge to develop healthy lifestyle habits.

I am enjoying people stories about their progress as well – please share some in the comments of this post!

Twitter users, stay tuned by following me @kaidegner on Twitter or join a conversation with the #hburgeday09 hashtag.

I’m offering the service of coordinating these summits through my position at the Community Mediation Center (soon to change to “The Fairfield Center”).  Currently, I’m working with the Northern Shenanoah Valley Regional Commission to do a “Housing Forum” for their five-county area in November.