I’ve always been BIG. Height and width both have always been beyond my normal bounds for a guy of whatever age I was. I’d say it’s an echo of my dad’s metabolism but I lost the right to that excuse as I aged past single digits. Instead my weight stems from the typical thing of 99% of obese people: poor eating, lack of activity, and general bad personal health concerns. I’ve let myself be groomed to this state by family who saw giving food as love, my affection for games and computer use, and overall neglect in compassion for myself. These are traits that are hard to bend, twist, and break, but they’ll need to come around if I want to live a healthy and longer life.
An afternoon trip to fast food for a snack, an extra large piece of cake, a large pizza just for me; these weren’t uncommon activities during my childhood. It wasn’t the fault of my father or my step-mother when she was around. Both of them tried to instill good eating habits in me, with the occasional indulgence. No, the food equates love thing stems from my Grandmother, a survivor of the depression era and then divorcee of a doctor. There was never enough she could give us (even though this lead to the slow emptying of her savings and eventual need to finance her home), and with her desire to always be present daily in our lives, it meant exposure to rich, delicious, and more often than not bad food. Some of those habits were easy to break though. I have fast food maybe once or twice a year since 2005. I don’t sneak in an extra meal just before dinner anymore. Breaking those traits left me topping out at just around 398 back in 2006, before I started taking steps to reverse the lifestyle I’ve lead.
8 hours at the desk at work and another half hour at lunch. 4 hours in the evening. If there’s an RP session on the hangout, it’s 6 hours. 1.5 hours in the car, minimum. 13-16 hours a day spent sitting. There are moments where I walk here and there in those periods, but 95% of that time is spent ass in chair, energy minimum, activity nil. I’ve been this way for years, and it’s only grown worse since leaving college back in 2002. I lost the most weight then, when I was walking back and forth across campus and had to pay for my own food for the first time in my life. I have a little more money now, and the campus I walk isn’t that large and I’m not as mobile between gatherings anymore. Now I need to start forcing myself. Every other month I try to start a little exercising but I always slip, letting the time go more towards the computer, the couch, the bed.
I clean, I wear nice smells, I brush and pamper and shave, and under it all I still don’t really care for myself. I don’t get the right nutrients. I don’t keep the fine details 100%. I don’t make sure my home and work areas are always clean. I’m a mess. The underlining health care items I let slip by, such as getting check-ups, keeping my nutrients right, taking my meds, getting enough sleep. It’s a fine tradition I’ve had since childhood on letting these things slide. It shows in my tiredness at work, my low D and B levels on blood tests, my pain in joints, and my discomfort in clothing that fit me fine a few months ago.
There; full exposure to the sun. My issues and faults exposed. I own these, and they are my burden to change, adjust, and crack down on. That’s why I’m getting back on the road. I’m getting on the horn and I’m exposing the truth about myself for the world to judge. The Healthy Road to the Con was a series I start last year in August before my trip to Dragon*Con 2011. I did good during that period in terms of being active, watching my food, and keeping healthy. I lost close to ten pounds and have kept that weight off despite sliding back down to my normal activity and eating habits prior to HR2TC. I want a repeat of that success, and part two is meant to do just that. I’m expanding out to a season instead of just a month, and the goal is still the same. Get healthy before Dragon*Con.
The goal weight is 350 pounds, and I’m currently sitting at 372.2. At a need of 7.4 pounds a month, I can make that goal and still stay within a healthy weight loss schedule. To do this, I’m going to be dealing with those issues from the first four paragraphs of this piece, and I’ll be reporting my results daily here in an audio podcast. 1-2 minutes a day, you’ll hear from me. I’ll tell you what I ate, what I did, and how I took care of myself. I won’t solve all my issues overnight, and there will be setbacks. I expect them.
I don’t except this to be easy. It wasn’t back in August 2011. It wasn’t back in 2007 when I lost that first ten pounds from 398 to 386 before my heart surgery. This will keep me honest about the hardship though, and let me share my fight with others. I’ll be posting every morning at 8 am, so keep an eye out for the articles.
Wish me luck.
Read More
Recent Comments