No More Mr. Fat Guy!

I’m still at my friend’s house, but I should be home sometime Tuesday. I’m on a terrible sleep schedule-going to be around 10am and getting up around 5pm. I’ve really got to figure out how to get back to the standard circadian rhythms and be a normal human being again.

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I’m still right around 275.  I’ll be heading back to my house in a day or two, and I hope to keep up the momentum I’ve built up in the past few days.  I’m going to try to ride my bike for at least half an hour a day, and possibly walk half an hour a day with my Exerstriders, and lay off the sweet tea, substituting water instead.  I’m feeling really good about my progress, although I’d hoped it would be faster.  But almost 30 pounds since December 22 is nothing to sneeze at.  My weight has fluctuated for the past several years between 285 and 303, and now that I’m down to 275 I feel like I’ve broken through an important psychological and physiological barrier.  My next milestone will be to look down and see a weight below 270, even if only 269.9 pounds.  Also, since I’m not quite as big as I was, and exercise isn’t quite as uncomfortable, I’m going to try to work some things besides cardio in.  I’m sure you’ve all seen the informercials with Chuck Norris for the Total Gym.  My friend John has something like that, and I may start using it a little each day.  I also want to work on pushups and situps.  Not sure how many I can do of either, but it won’t be very many.

First, the bad news. I bought a pack of cigarettes last night. Smoked several of them, and the rest are still in the truck.

Now the good news. I went back over to my house for a cookout last night. John has a bunch of relatives in, so I’m staying with a friend to make room for them, and last night they decided to grill hamburgers so my friend Deb and I headed over there about 5. Now, I did have some Dr. Pepper, but not a whole lot, and some chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, also in moderation. By the way, if you like your cookies and cream ice cream to contain whole, uncrushed Oreos, go with the Wal-Mart brand. They had a half gallon of it last night, and they found three whole cookies in the container. I’d never seen that before.

Anyway, one of John’s relatives is into biking, and he brought along his nice Raleigh road bike. My bicycle has been sitting in the garage disassembled since I moved here a couple years ago. I never put it back together after moving because I wasn’t able to ride it due to the numbness problem. But I thought it might be nice to give it a whirl since I’ve lost some weight and see if anything’s changed. John and his brother in law were nice enough to put it together for me (I’m not mechanical at all), and I took it out for a spin. Actually a couple spins, about 25 minutes each time. And, while it wasn’t the most comfortable experience due to my weight, I didn’t suffer from any numbness. Which is really good news. I’ve had to cut back on walking due to my plantar fasciitis, and I thought I couldn’t ride a bike. But I was able to ride last night. So if I can ride for a half hour to 45 minutes a day, and maybe walk for 15-30, I think my heels might be able to handle that, and I can continue to exercise, while also eating better.

Riding was tough, though. I haven’t done it in years, and I’m still way overweight, and I probably need to adjust the seat height for a proper fit. I couldn’t even make it up a small hill without getting off and walking. And then last night in bed my legs were sore (in a good way) that wasn’t the same kind of sore I get from walking. So I’m using different muscles. And I only averaged about 8 miles an hour according to my wireless cyclometer. But it’s a start, and there’s no where to go but up. Look out Lance Armstrong!

Oh yeah - the scale says 275 this morning/afternoon!

A couple people left some greatly informative comments on my Heel Spurs post. I’ve been reading up on it, and I’m learning some exercises and stretches that may help. But for now it sounds like the best thing to do is stay off my feet, and not take my two hour walks for a while.

I’d ride my bicycle, but I’m too fat to do that, too. Because of my weight, when I ride a bike I get severe numbness in my, uh, you know what. Many urologists say that that’s a danger sign, and you shouldn’t continue to ride or you’re risking permanent impotence. Others say the danger is overblown. But they all agree that if you experience numbness from your bike seat you should stop riding for awhile. And even if they didn’t recommend that, I’d still do it, because it’s a very unpleasant experience, no matter if there are long term health risks or not.

A couple years ago, when I last decided to try to lose some weight, I bought a special bike saddle that was supposed to alleviate the problem. It helped, in that I was able to ride longer before the numbness set in, but it still happened if I rode longer than just a few minutes. The manufacturer said they don’t recommend it for anyone over 250 pounds. Maybe I should’ve gone with The Spongy Wonder.

So it looks like I’m going to have to concentrate on diet for a while, while I work on rehabbing my feet. Thanks for the advice, cron and Lesalu.

I’m at 278 pounds today.