Remember when I posted about my Bass Pro Shops-inspired Breakfast of Champions back in November of 2023 and compared it to a more typical breakfast for me—a Razin’ Kane’s Big Beautiful Breakfast of sorts—consisting of bacon and eggs?

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My Typical Big Beautiful Breakfast

Well, I haven’t changed my breakfast habits by much. Here’s a variant of my typical Big Beautiful Breakfast from early July that consists of leftover pan-fried pork, white fish, and eggs:

It has some seasoning on it, including turmeric, black pepper, sea salt, and fresh garden (and wild) herbs.

For a while, though, I quit buying eggs because they were so expensive at $4.00+ per dozen. But, since the retail prices have dropped by a lot in the past few months and are currently fluctuating between $2.50–$2.75 per dozen, they are back on the menu for me!

Egg Prices

As a brief refresher, I shared my prediction in the spring that egg prices would fall from store retail prices of $4.00/dozen to an implied low of $1.75–$2.00/dozen at store retail using a baseline low of $1.30/dozen for wholesale¹ by late fall 2025 (that still might happen) and received some snarky responses (ha ha) by a lot of people suggesting otherwise. I’m usually more right than wrong, especially on a meaningfully directional basis like in this situation.

On Being Occasionally Wrong

However, a good example of my being wrong relates to Facebook (FB).

Back in 2012 (again, I’m not wrong too often), I wrote via a CoventryLeague.com’s blogentary post, “Facebook: An IPO Investment Timeline“), that FB was over-valued and would drop in share price. It didn’t. Moreover, it’s still grossly over-valued! Regardless, there’s a saying, a proverb if you will, that I’ve duly noted since that time:

“Markets can remain irrational a lot longer than you and I can remain solvent.”
A. Gary Shilling, 1993, article in Forbes magazine

It’s like being sane in a mostly insane (and very corrupt) world.

Progress Since May 2024

My progress over the past year or so has been slow, and not in a straight line, but I’m not seeking a quick fix, just a moderately slow return to normal. Since that May 2024 post, I started jogging and eating better, and my waist slowly began to shrink. I also began to lift barbell weights in mid- to late-November of 2024.

Eating Better

With respect to eating better, it firstly refers to cutting back on eating peanut butter and chocolate for breakfast and evening snacks. This was often done after eating a Big Beautiful Breakfast and a large evening meal consisting of high fat and high carbohydrates.

The latter often consisted of pan-fried strips of marbled pork butt coupled with large amounts of rice, pasta, or potatoes. I’d cook these in the same pan, so the carbs would fry in a pool of melted pork fat and also absorb a lot of it. Also, I’d soak up some of the excess bacon grease at breakfast with homemade bread. The combo of fats and carbs certainly can be delicious, but for me it’s not recommended for maintaining a proper waist-to-height ratio (more on this further below).

As for the second part of eating better, I now don’t combine the carbohydrates with the high fat meats. Relatedly, I’ve been eating leaner cuts, such as pork loin with fresh greens (wild and garden).

Lastly, as hinted at previously, I haven’t been eating the chocolate and peanut butter at all for a few reasons:

Poor combination: I realized that the combination of sugar and fat was contributing to my extra girth.
Easy to overeat: It’s too easy for me to overeat chocolate and peanut butter together. I think I was eating almost half-a-pound of chocolate per day with copious amounts of peanut butter.
Expensive: The dark chocolate bars, at 3.5–4.5 ounces each, increased in price from $1.49–$1.99 to $2.50–$3.00! So, I could buy a pound of on-sale 85% ground beef or two pounds of pork for the same price I would be spending on eight ounces of dark chocolate at the new jacked-up prices! No thank you.

Strength

Just a short note about my progress with strength.

Bench press

After starting to use barbell weightlifting in late November 2024, my strength really hasn’t improved much at all. Since that time (so about eight months now), I’ve been consistent in lifting about once every week or so. However, my strength hasn’t improved at all, or very little.

Astonishingly, I’m still only bench pressing 185 pounds for a few reps, which is about the same amount I was lifting late last year. Here are my sets:

Warm-up: 135 pounds; 6 reps
Second set: 165 pounds; 5 reps
Third set: 185 pounds: 5 reps

Given I don’t strain myself on that last set and it’s becoming kind of easy, I’ll increase the weight for the second and third sets by 5–10 pounds in August.

Deadlift

Similar to the bench press, I perform three sets:

Warm-up: 135 pounds; 5 reps
Second set: 185 pounds; 5 reps
Third set: 225 pounds: 4 reps

Likewise, I’ll increase the weight by 5–10 pounds for the second and third sets in August.

Endurance

As for jogging, I also do so once every week, although that wasn’t the case in the winter whereby I think I skipped an entire month or more. Anyway, I jog comfortably at 10:00–10:30 minutes per mile pace for a few miles.

In May 2024 when I went jogging for the first time in 4–5 years, I struggled jogging just under three miles at 12:46 minutes per mile pace, and even injured myself a couple of weeks later because my body couldn’t manage the stress on my arches, tendons, and ligaments (it was a shock to my system).²

What About My Waist?

In May 2024, just a few months after I posted the Bass Pro Shops-inspired Breakfast of Champions picture, I posted about my huge waist, which was 37.00” at the time. That was 4”–5” larger than my typical waistline prior to 2020 when I used to exercise consistently by riding my bicycle and jogging, year-round.

Waist-to-Height Ratio

I don’t focus on my body weight and ignore BMI (body mass index), which is a flawed measurement for people with denser muscle mass like me. Waist-to-height ratio is more revealing for me and my body type.

Also, the US Air Force and Space Force use the waist-to-height ratio, and it works well for me, at least a modified and stricter version of it.

The Waist-to-Height Ratio is a simple yet powerful way to measure fat distribution around your midsection. Research shows that excess abdominal fat can raise the risk of various health issues. In response, both the Air and Space Forces have rolled out the Waist-to-Height Ratio Body Composition Program (BCP), with assessments starting in April 2023.
Total Force Hub

I used this BMI Calculator to calculate my waist-to-height ratio. My then .54 ratio, which is considered overweight, is based on my data from May 2024 (I was 55 at the time).

My current waist-to-height ratio is .49 (my waist is currently 33.00”), which is considered healthy, but a solid inch larger than my normal size of 32.00.”

Nevertheless, for me to consider myself somewhat fit for a late fifty-something OG,³ my waist should be closer to 31” (.45 ratio) than 32” (.47 ratio) and my strength and endurance should be better than what they are currently.

By the way, the picture of me at Headlands Beach in June shows that I still have a Dad-bod. My waist is about 33.5” in that photo.

Closing Words

So, I have made progress with returning to my fitter self, since my waist has shrunk by at least four inches in just over one year. But, I’m still “crawlin’ back to start,” as Alice in Chains wrote in its song “Rotten Apple.”

I’ll share an update regarding my physical fitness status perhaps later in the fall.

Footnotes

1
Note, wholesale is the price for large volume purchases of eggs by distributers and wholesalers; they then add a profit margin to this price that is reflected at retail. This amount varies by region and the timing may be delayed by several months between price changes at wholesale and retail. In my situation, I added 33%-50% to wholesale, since that has been my actual experience in my market, to estimate an expected store retail price.
2
This was primarily attributable to doing some now-stupid “bursts” recommended by the Hershel Walker workout plan. I haven’t done those again since the minor injuries.
3
Old guy. I turn 57 in early-to-mid November (a Scorpio, and a Gen-Xer to boot).