The Physical Shinn (Prior)
Last update: March 5, 2026
The John Shinnick Website
The Physical Shin
News from the Battle of the Bulge
It’s slow-going, but I think I’m winning. Last month I reported being down to 187 pounds. This morning (February 28) my scale read 179 even. Okay, 179 is about as odd a number as you can find, but you get the idea. My scale registers tenths of pounds, and it read 179.0. I honestly never thought I’d be successful in reaching my “stretch goal” of 185, but here I am. Next stop: 173, at which point the CDC declares me healthy. Only six more pounds. I’ll expect to have ups and downs along the way, but maybe next month. I still have a birthday to get through! But it all looks promising for at least being close by the end of March.
One of my big quandaries has been, of all things, rice. It’s around 170 – 210 calories per serving, more than I want in a side dish. All the substitutes I’ve looked at are also seemingly high calorie ventures, except riced cauliflower. Tried it. Hated it. There are few veggies that I have problems with anymore. I never thought I’d get into asparagus, but it’s pretty darned good. I tried a pizza with a crust made of cauliflower and found it was pretty darned good, because the cauliflower didn’t taste like cauliflower. For a while, I thought that they’d figured out how to make the stuff palatable. No such luck. Riced cauliflower tastes like, well, cauliflower.
But in a search of the internet for rice substitutes, I came across a product I’d not heard of, Shirataki rice. It’s not really rice at all, but rather is made from the knojac root, native to eastern Asia. But producers are shaping it like rice and marketing it much like the almond industry markets almond milk. Josaphine Mills, a nutritionist writing for the website “Healthy Builderz.com”, speaks highly of it as a rice substitute, filling but without nearly as many calories. It’s pretty bland, but that’s fine by me. A little soy or teriyaki sauce ought to perk it up just fine. Other sources on line are also enthused. It’s looking like it has only about a fifth the calories of real rice.
Very low in carbs, high in fiber, and helps lower bad cholesterol. Gluten free. Keto-friendly. There’s seemingly only one problem with the stuff. I’ve looked in four grocery stores and couldn’t fine it. Safeway and Albertson’s I can understand, but I thought the more trendy Whole Foods or Sprouts might have it. Nope. There are some Asian grocery stores nearby. If they don’t have it, I’ll get some on the internet where it’s readily available. I’ll let you know, hopefully next month.
Other than that, I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve been better at taking my walks on a daily basis now that the weather has started to cooperate. I didn’t even need a jacket today! I never fell under my self-imposed minimum of 2 miles a day, 5 days a week, except when I had the serious back problems last year.
I just can't do all the weeding in one sitting... er... kneeling.
But this winter was (I’m using the past tense with some sense of trepidation) decidedly colder than I’ve been experiencing over the last several years. Perhaps that’s just age, but it gave me several excuses to take more days off than usual.
Of course, March 3 was my birthday. A friend took me out for dinner. Great, except that I SO overate. I won’t go through the details, except to say that it set me back at least a week in my efforts. At least I won’t have to deal with that again for another year.
Earlier, I mentioned my back problems. You may recall that I blamed them on pulling too many weeds in too short a time. Well, the weeds are back with a vengeance. I so want to get rid of them, but I’m going to go slow with them and not do consecutive days. In the end I may just throw money at the problem and hire someone with a stronger constitution than I have to deal with them. For now, I’m keeping my sessions to no more than about an hour and have avoided consecutive days. I may be doing well for a man my age, but after all, I am a man my age. By the time my millions of fans read this, I’ll be three-quarters of a century.
No sense being shy about it.
