January 2020 – The Fat Guy

Ugh

About the middle of last week I had a gout flare-up again, it started slow. The next day I got quite ill and that was compounded by the medicine I take for gout upsetting my digestive system.

I missed a little work. I skipped meal tracking and weighing for a few days. I wasn’t worried, as I usually eat less and lose a little weight when I’m sick. That wasn’t the case this time.

I’m back to tracking again, but I gained a few pounds. <shrug>

Although the illness has passed, the gout has not. In the past it’s been my left foot. This time it’s the right foot. Today was especially bad. There are quite a few stairs at work, and that’s just no fun. I’ll work from home tomorrow so I won’t need to walk much.

Cheating and Bicycles

I had behaved myself all day yesterday until evening. I was preparing for bed when Diane got a call from her son, who wanted to get together for a beer. I went along. That was a mistake. 1200 calories worth of beer later, I went to bed.

Today, we had some errands to run, and Diane was willing to ride her bike. I dusted off the single-speed and we went to the new Logan Street Market, the bike shop, and a pet supply place, making a stop for lunch along the way.

It was just over a five-mile ride, but it felt good to be back on the bike, even if my knees complained a bit. There was some frozen shit falling from the sky on the way home.

I mentioned that I went on a motorcycle ride on the first. I took one picture while putting gas in the bike. It sums things up nicely.

The Long Backward Slide

This site has been around since late 2007, as that’s when I began my weight loss. I started posting pictures of myself in my underwear to show progress and humiliate myself into working at it.

That weight loss attempt was successful. In a bit over a year, February 2009, I had lost about 100 pounds, or 1/3 my weight.

For about two years, I maintained the weight. I felt good. I rode my bicycles thousands of miles per year.

Eventually the old habits came back, along with a new one, too much beer.

I quit weighing myself regularly. My bicycle rides got shorter. I quit taking the pictures. It’s quite frustrating to find myself back at 300 pounds, right where I started.

The above picture was taken today. This morning’s weight was 299.2. I’m more than 12 years older than when the 2007 picture was taken. The extra weight hurts. This is why I’m back at this instead of waiting another decade when it’ll be even harder to lose weight.

It Begins

So, I had a couple of beers last night, as they were in the fridge. That’s it. Done. I stepped on the scale again this morning. I weigh daily, but I average it out, so the fact it went up by 0.2 pounds is meaningless.

I started my calorie counting spreadsheet. I didn’t ride a bicycle to work because my knees are killing me. I think I need to drop a few pounds first. 🙁

I’m considering going for a walk after I get home, but it’ll probably be raining. I do have an umbrella….

I did go on the motorcycle ride yesterday. I had fun with friends and didn’t drink with the others at the end of the ride.

A New Decade

Happy New Year!

As many do, I once again decided to fix some things in my life for the new year.

I hopped on the scale this morning for the first time in many months. It had the highest number I’ve ever seen – 300.0 lbs. Welcome to 2020.

I’m giving up drinking for a while (tomorrow, the 2nd, because I still have a couple of beers in the fridge). I’m going to start calorie counting, again, tomorrow. I’m going to start walking the neighborhood, then go back to riding a bike when my knees feel good enough.

Most people start on the 1st. I’m still wrapping up the huge amounts of food and alcohol from the holidays. This is partially due to having company over for a while. I go back to work tomorrow, so it’s time.

There are a number of things I need to fix:

My weight
My overall health
My finances
My clutter and time-wasting
I want to own a home again

To fix these things, alcohol is being cut. Going out to eat will be severely curtailed. I’ll exercise. I’ll write here again regularly. I’ll work toward a workable budget. If I pull this off, I will lose weight and feel better.

I’m going to be re-arranging this site a bit in the coming months to make it more current. I’ll keep the 1100+ posts and 2300+ comments because it’s nice to see where I’ve been before. Some of the “pages” will change or go away. I don’t need to list my bicycles anymore, I only have two now. I actually have three motorcycles, but that needs to be cut down to two also.

Goals

In three years I want a few things.

I want to weight less than 220 lbs
I want to avoid heart attack, diabetes, etc
I want to remain married to Diane
I want to own a home I’m happy with
I want to be more financially secure
I want to be a more focused individual

I still love motorcycling, even in the cold. In fact, I’m heading to a ride in a couple of hours. I do, however, need to get back on a bicycle. I’m considering riding to work tomorrow, but I’ve been having some knee issues, so it’s really a wait-and-see thing.

More soon!