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.
I love that single-speed
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.
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.
I love motorcycles. I have two. Diane has one. Mine cost a lot in maintenance, but Diane’s is older and just seems to keep breaking down.
I’m missing out on a group ride today to do yardwork and motorcycle work. I’ve finished the yard work now, so I’m going to see if I can get Diane’s bike running again.
I’ve been off-track for years now. It’s been almost two years since I last posted. I’ve now gained back all the weight I had lost. I’ve lost most of my fitness. I suffered injuries, depression, and I’ve gotten older. These aren’t excuses. I made my own decisions, and it’s time to undo some of them.
Let start with a recap. I started this adventure in late 2007, over eleven years ago. From then until 2009 I lost 100 pounds. From 2009 to 2012 I mostly held steady, gaining a little, but being very active. In 2012 I started drinking a lot more. This began faster weight gain, fewer long bike trips, less fitness, etc. In 2015 I started a job that I felt I needed a car to get to reliably, so I bought a car. This almost entirely killed my bicycle riding. Things got worse in 2017 when I bought a motorcycle. Now, I have two motorcycles, but no longer have a car.
Diane and I on a Tennessee / North Carolina Trip
My old neck/shoulder issue has become a debilitating mostly-shoulder issue. I’ve been back through physical therapy for it again. It was time for change.
Now that the New Year’s Eve drinking is done, I’m done drinking, for at least a month, but honestly, I need to stop for good. I’ve become a daily drinker, never really getting drunk, but drinking as a habit, to have something to do. Much like I have always treated food, hence my weight issue.
I stepped back on the scale on 1/1/2019, and it read 299.4. That’s where I started in 2007. I’m weighing daily again, but I’ll average it out weekly, as I used to.
I’m back to tracking everything I eat. I’ve been hungry a lot the last few days. I’m drinking more water. I have a new gym membership, this was mostly for shoulder exercises, but all the other equipment is available, I should use it.
I’ve made more realistic goals. I want to be down 40 pounds by June – when I have another doctor’s appointment. I want to get to around 220 pounds over the next 18 months. I want to be capable of 70 mile bike rides on the weekends again.
Not everything has been terrible. Two-up motorcycle touring on a big bike is wonderful. Diane and I are approaching five years of marriage, and we’ve learned to live with each other’s quirks. We have two cuddly dogs, friends, family, jobs. I sometimes feel like I complain too much for having so many good things going on.
I’ll be writing here again. I’ll probably slip motorcycle content in now and again, much as I started writing bicycle content in 2008. I probably won’t bring back the “fat pictures” section I once had. I’m older now, and nobody wants to see that.
I fill in some details of what’s been going on in the last two years, but in the meantime, I’ll be working lose the weight… again.
