Battle of the "Buldge"
Right, so I'm a thrity something year old man and I'm overweight. Who isn't overweight these days? I'm American. Which means that, by definition, I have to be obese. Well, that's a great excuse, but it doesn't explain it. I'm somewhere between 320 and 340 pounds (I'm really not sure what I weigh because most home scales don't read above 300). I don't consider myself to be morbidly obese or anything. I do have a rather large frame, broad shoulders and I don't believe I look hideous. I'm just overweight.
It's a goal to lose some weight. I'd like to be sub 300 again sometime soon. I have all the motivation I need. My father has suffered 3 heart attacks. I want to be able to fight better for my medieval hobby. A good friend of mine is a 50 something year old male who is overweight, has diabeties and is in very real danger of losing his leg to an infection due in part to him being overweight, and I'd rather if that wasn't me in 2o years. I don't have a real positive image of myself right now. I have a baby girl on the way that I want to set a good example for.
On top of all of that, I have a friend who has almost literally thrown down the gauntlet at me. He and his family take a horse back riding trip every year during the summer. This Summer, they rode through Iceland. Last year, they rode through the countryside of France. Well, he told me that they are going back to Iceland in 2008. He wants me to go with them. There's a problem.
They don't let people over 250 pounds on the trip. He has told me that if I can get sub 250 by June of 2008, he will pay for half of my trip to get me to go with them to Iceland. Now, for this family, these trips are a regular occurance. However, for me, this could be a once in a lifetime chance.
That makes it two years, and very nearly 100 pounds. Is it possible? I don't know, but I'd like to find out. So what does it take? Well, that's a pretty simple answer. It takes eating right and excersise. Very simple answer. Very difficult execusion. It seems that I get a lot of exercise. I have my fighting once or twice a week. I have a lot of walking at work. I occasionally go horse back riding. However, all of these activities are anaerobic activities. They don't help in the way that I need. I need some aerobic activities to truly get my heart rate up and burn the calories. Great! The problem with that is that it takes time. I know this is only my second post, and therefore I haven't described my weekly schedule, but suffice to say, there isn't a whole lot of "free time" in my week. When there is free time, the last thing I'm thinking about is exercise. It's usually sleep! Again, this is just an excuse, and it's time that I stopped relying on excuses and started doing something about my life.
So my father had this exercise bike that he was no longer using (he's not allowed anymore due to a weakening heart, we'll talk about that later). I brought it over to my house with every intention of using it to get the exercise that I need. It's been at my house for about a month. I've been on it twice! Now, in my defense, it's been twice in the same week, this week, and I really want to make this work so I may have started something, but like a lot of things, I may get bored with it. We'll have to see how it goes. Hopefully, the damn bike will give me the exercise that I need in addition to everything else I do in my life.
That leaves the whole "eating right" part. Well, getting past the whole "eating red meat is good for you / bad for you / good for you again" (or eggs, or dairy, or whatever else they are going to change their minds on this week), I know that I have to reduce portions and that I have to eat things that are better for me. I've tried things like this in the past. I don't want to diet. Diets are short term solutions to long term problems. I'd rather change my eating habits so that they were healthier for the long haul. This is tough for me because in my mind food is comfort. When I get stressed, or when I get sad, or when I get scared, or when I get bored....I eat. There's been a lot of stress recently, and everytime I say "today is the day I start eating right" something happens to stress me out and I fall off the wagon (two visits to Dairy Queen later, and I'm back where I started). This is even tougher than the exercise problem. I will try to stay strong, but it's just not easy for me.
All of this is to say that I'm trying to make changes in my life. I want to do it. I NEED to do it. The question is "Can I do it?". I guess we'll find out together. If you've read this long, then I've wasted way too much of your time. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned. I'll hopefully have something a little more upbeat next time.
It's a goal to lose some weight. I'd like to be sub 300 again sometime soon. I have all the motivation I need. My father has suffered 3 heart attacks. I want to be able to fight better for my medieval hobby. A good friend of mine is a 50 something year old male who is overweight, has diabeties and is in very real danger of losing his leg to an infection due in part to him being overweight, and I'd rather if that wasn't me in 2o years. I don't have a real positive image of myself right now. I have a baby girl on the way that I want to set a good example for.
On top of all of that, I have a friend who has almost literally thrown down the gauntlet at me. He and his family take a horse back riding trip every year during the summer. This Summer, they rode through Iceland. Last year, they rode through the countryside of France. Well, he told me that they are going back to Iceland in 2008. He wants me to go with them. There's a problem.
They don't let people over 250 pounds on the trip. He has told me that if I can get sub 250 by June of 2008, he will pay for half of my trip to get me to go with them to Iceland. Now, for this family, these trips are a regular occurance. However, for me, this could be a once in a lifetime chance.
That makes it two years, and very nearly 100 pounds. Is it possible? I don't know, but I'd like to find out. So what does it take? Well, that's a pretty simple answer. It takes eating right and excersise. Very simple answer. Very difficult execusion. It seems that I get a lot of exercise. I have my fighting once or twice a week. I have a lot of walking at work. I occasionally go horse back riding. However, all of these activities are anaerobic activities. They don't help in the way that I need. I need some aerobic activities to truly get my heart rate up and burn the calories. Great! The problem with that is that it takes time. I know this is only my second post, and therefore I haven't described my weekly schedule, but suffice to say, there isn't a whole lot of "free time" in my week. When there is free time, the last thing I'm thinking about is exercise. It's usually sleep! Again, this is just an excuse, and it's time that I stopped relying on excuses and started doing something about my life.
So my father had this exercise bike that he was no longer using (he's not allowed anymore due to a weakening heart, we'll talk about that later). I brought it over to my house with every intention of using it to get the exercise that I need. It's been at my house for about a month. I've been on it twice! Now, in my defense, it's been twice in the same week, this week, and I really want to make this work so I may have started something, but like a lot of things, I may get bored with it. We'll have to see how it goes. Hopefully, the damn bike will give me the exercise that I need in addition to everything else I do in my life.
That leaves the whole "eating right" part. Well, getting past the whole "eating red meat is good for you / bad for you / good for you again" (or eggs, or dairy, or whatever else they are going to change their minds on this week), I know that I have to reduce portions and that I have to eat things that are better for me. I've tried things like this in the past. I don't want to diet. Diets are short term solutions to long term problems. I'd rather change my eating habits so that they were healthier for the long haul. This is tough for me because in my mind food is comfort. When I get stressed, or when I get sad, or when I get scared, or when I get bored....I eat. There's been a lot of stress recently, and everytime I say "today is the day I start eating right" something happens to stress me out and I fall off the wagon (two visits to Dairy Queen later, and I'm back where I started). This is even tougher than the exercise problem. I will try to stay strong, but it's just not easy for me.
All of this is to say that I'm trying to make changes in my life. I want to do it. I NEED to do it. The question is "Can I do it?". I guess we'll find out together. If you've read this long, then I've wasted way too much of your time. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned. I'll hopefully have something a little more upbeat next time.
posted by TechSquire @ 8:42 AM
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