My original goal for my April resolution was to finish and publish a personal App in the AppStore. My initial thought was a simple Disney app for tracking a few things while on your trip, but at the end of January a weight tracking app came to mind and I quickly switched gears and built a good 60% of the app in less then a couple weeks.

The only thing I really miss from my pre-iOS 11 life was Weightbot by Tapbots (the creators of Tweetbot), I loved that app and continued to use it even though it was never updated for the iPhone 5 screen. It was quick and great at showing me my current weight and the amount I lost since my last weigh-in, amazingly enough a lot of other apps don’t show you what you recently lost.

But just having an app with that wasn’t going to be enough, every app I’ve used in the past has you input 2 major things, your start weight and your goal weight. For me sadly these 2 numbers are usually pretty far off, so I usually lower my goal weight to something a little more obtainable and once I hit it, I change it to my next obtainable weight. So with the app I am building you’ll have you Main Goal and Mini Goals weight options. I am sure there are a few apps that do this, but I haven’t seen any and honestly, didn’t bother looking too hard, cause I had an idea and just wanted to build it.

I originally planned to have this app done by Mid-February 🤦🏻‍♂️, But instead I got it usable enough and started using it. During that time I have lost over 50lbs, I am not crediting the app for it all, I’ve made some better life choices, but the app has played a part and I have enjoyed using it to see my progress. But with focusing on health and a couple job changes. I fully just stopped working on the app until about a month ago. I’ve made some great progress during my nights and weekends and currently planning to finish it up in the next week or so. I am doing all design 😱 and code myself. The design is definitely out of my comfort zone, but its been fun.

I am super excited about finally finishing this app up. Mainly just to have my own app in the AppStore again. I haven’t had one available in over 7 years now. I’ll try to post more on here soon about it once I finish up the last couple features and add some more polish.

So, I’ve been more of a morning person most of my life, but since the kids I’ve noticed I’ve been less and less of one. Mainly, because if they happen to wake up and see someone is up they thing it’s time to get up and getting them back to sleep is near impossible. So, I joined the wife into becoming a night owl. Only problem with that is I am way more alert more productive in the mornings.

So starting today, I’m going to try and start waking up as close to 5am as possible. And the goal is to use this time to read the Bible, workout and then rotate the rest of the time for side hobbies: side apps, comics, blogging, drawing…

Only real issue I think I’m going to run into is getting enough sleep at night, but hopefully I’ll be able to work that part out before too long. 🤞

So, I’ve been more of a morning person most of my life, but since the kids I’ve noticed I’ve been less and less of one. Mainly, because if they happen to wake up and see someone is up they thing it’s time to get up and getting them back to sleep is near impossible. So, I joined the wife into becoming a night owl. Only problem with that is I am way more alert more productive in the mornings.

So starting today, I’m going to try and start waking up as close to 5am as possible. And the goal is to use this time to read the Bible, workout and then rotate the rest of the time for side hobbies: side apps, comics, blogging, drawing…

Only real issue I think I’m going to run into is getting enough sleep at night, but hopefully I’ll be able to work that part out before too long. 🤞

Today marks 195 days since I gave up eating sweets. 😱

I honestly never expected or planned to go this long without them, but it honestly feels great. Only things I’ve been eating is fruits, yogurt and my RXBars to help curve any kind of cravings, which honestly don’t happen often at all and are usually easy to ignore. Also it’s without a doubt has helped me with my weight loss and keeping it off. I stopped tracking my daily calorie intake back in April and have just fluctuated less then 5lbs. Now I still want to lose some more, so I plan to start back this week, but one thing I’ve never been able to do in the past after losing is maintain and without sweet I’ve finally done that.

I’m still not sure exactly how long I’ll keep it up at this point. I know want to go at least a full year, which get me a couple days past Christmas. But one thing I do know for sure is if I do allow myself to go back, it will be insanely limited. Like a single dole whip per Disney trip and maybe a small slice of cake on my birthday.

I know a lot of you probably think I’m crazy for going this long, but honestly I feel great! The way I feel today fully out weight all the enjoyment I would have gotten from all the sweet I would have ate in the last 195 days.

One year ago at the end of this month we got stuck in the rain at Magic Kingdom and Tiff noticed that I had a random patch of baldness.

I just had my hair cut before we left for the trip and had never noticed it before, so I convinced myself that the guy who cut my hair must have somehow done it (it didn’t make sense, but at the time neither did this random bald spot.)

Sadly a month or so later I realized the spot was growing and not shrinking. And trying to cover it up was getting harder and harder. Which is when I did some more research and found out about Alopecia Areata.

So after a few month of fighting with trying to cover it, up I was done. My hair style had never taken me more then a minute to do and I was spending way too long each day trying to cover it up. So one Sunday after church I went straight home grab the razor and shaved it (I of course did a Mohawk first).

I did go see a doctor and had a few treatments of injections in my head, which didn’t hurt much during, but cause a pretty nasty headache the rest of the day. After insurance they were also $200 each. So after the second one I figured, to me it wasn’t worth it. If my hair grew back awesome, but I didn’t care enough about it to pay another $200 for a third treatment.

To my surprise my hair did start growing back it took a few months, but by January Most of it had filled back in, but I kept shaving for another month before finally letting it grow back out

This last week I realized I could finally spike my hair back like I used to. It’s been a crazy year, but glad to have my hair back.

There is a chance it could happen again. But it may not, people seem to be all over the place with what causes it and for some it never comes back at all. I got lucky and at least for now mine is back. If it ever falls back out, I’ll just go back to shaving it. But in the mean time I might as well enjoy my hair while it lasts.

So for March I was suppose to finish reading another book, sadly that didn’t happen. I am about half way through 2 separate books tho. So I guess that is something 🤷‍♂️.

I am currently reading Jony Ive and Screwtape Letters, in all honestly if I was dedicating the time to read that I should be, I would have finished both, but March was pretty busy and I just didn’t prioritize it. The goal is to finish at least one if not both next month, cause I know I won’t do it this month.

This months goal is to get an app in the store and I don’t think I touched the code for it once last month 😬. Hopefully I can do it 🤞. In my mind I don’t feel like there is a ton left to make it a decent 1.0 product, but I am sure all the little things will take way more time then I plan for. I am also still not sure what to charge for it or how to charge (up front, ads, IAPs)

All that being said I and making decent progress on all my other resolutions and I am hoping to make time to blog more as well in the future, I’m still doing it fully on the iPad (I love this thing). I am still contemplating getting the Smart Keyboard, but right now I think I am going to hold out to see if they do another major update on it this summer, before I spend any more money on it.

It’s interesting (possibly sad) how much a streak can motivate me. I originally planned to hit my 50 days with no sweets, grab a dole whip (or 2) while on our last Disney trip. And start it back up afterwards. However, I just couldn’t let that streak end. Yesterday, I hit day 100.

I’m still not sure how long I’ll keep it up, but I’m considering forever (I know crazy talk 🤪). But I’ve lost just under 50lbs and feel great! Sweets have always been my downfall with health and with removing them completely it’s never been easier for me to lose and eat healthier.

So last month I started using my iPad Pro 10.5 more again. I really do love this thing, but after getting the iPhone X, I was blinded by its newness so I was using it for everything.

Here are a few things I’ve been using the iPad for again:

• Reading – I just finished one of my books for my April resolution 🎉
• Work – I use the iPad as a second screen from time to time and it’s amazing (see image below). The duet app with the Mountie+ is a great combination.
• Entertainment – Using it for watching YouTube videos and an occasional Movie or TV show when working out.
• Taking notes – I’ve been taking my iPad to church on Sundays and using it to take notes of the sermons. It’s really helps keep me more focused as well. 👍
• Writing – I’m using it for this blog. All articles I’ve posted so far this year have been writing on my iPad. Currently I am using it with an external apple keyboard, but I am tempted to eventually try out the Smart Keyboard cover.
• Reading – Ha yeah a second time, but I also love using it for reading comics it’s great.

So yeah I feel like January has been a pretty big success and I am looking forward to taking it on my vacation with me in the very near future. I also hope we eventually get some version of Xcode on this thing, so I could be even more productive on it then more of a cunsumption device.

My Dual Screen setup:

So to help with hitting my July resolution (getting healthier). I’ve been avoiding sweet. So far I’ve gone 32 days without any candy, chocolate, juice…, which is a major milestone for me at least. I’m pretty horrible when it comes to snacking and sweet.

You always hear how addicting sugar is, but you never feel it until you greatly minimize your intake (sugar is in pretty much everything). Crazily, It took about 20-25 days before the cravings for it were reduced, fruit has been a great replacement.

It’s not been easy, I starter right after Christmas, so I’ve had to go through New Years and 3 birthday parties thus far. Along with many #donutfridays for the kids. And we also keep a stock pile of candy and cookies for the boys (which we limit of course), but it’s also always been there ready for me when/if I wanted it. Does my keeping track prove I have a pretty bad sweet tooth?

I don’t plan to continue this streak forever. The current goal is to keep it going until our Disney trip in a few weeks, break it with a Dole Whip (of course) and possible a few other Disney snacks (in crazy moderation) and then try to beat the streak I had set when I get back.

I feel like overall it’s still to early to say I feel way better without or any claims like that. But just the accomplishment of going without feels pretty great.

So after 3.5 month most of my bald patch has grown back 🎉. I could probably even grow my hair back out at this point and be able to hide the remaining spots.

However, I am not sure what I am going to do right now. I actually enjoy having short hair, it takes no time in the morning to style and I can wear hats off and on throughout the day. My old hair style didn’t allow that.

Shaving my head is a paint hough and I am not a fan of the feeling of a fully shaved head. So, I gotta figure out sometime soon what I want to do. I am also not looking forward to the awkward stages that will come with growing my hair back out. 😬

Just to remind you this is the bald patch I had before I shaved my head on Oct 1st 2017:

And here is my hair today: