Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor — Alexis Carrel
I am the guy on the right. The goal is to be the guy on the left in 366 days.
Monthly Archives: December 2012
The Plan and Getting Ready
For months things have been happening that have kept me from my goals. My brother’s colon cancer and death and then my mother finding she had lung cancer soon after. The summer of incredible heat. Falling off the bike due to stupidity. All have conspired to keep me from my goals but no more. Things must change.
As of January 1st I will have been retired for 14 months. My weight has been consistent, moving from 290 to 295. This is insane.
. This is the plan.
DIET: Plan to juice. Juicing will help give me vital nutrients. I plan on documenting everything I put in my mouth. I’ll be using MyFitnessPal to keep track of calories.
EXERCISE: I joined a gym so I need to get there as often as possible. Cycling will be a big part of this change so as soon as the weather breaks I will be on the bike as often as possible.
I have a lot of plans for my retired life. Being morbidly obese is hampering them. Things must change.
Metrics
Planning on using a couple apps for my iPhone/iPad to keep track of weight. The first is Weightbot. It is a slick looking app and the other is Fatwatch. Both do the basic keeping track of the weight but they differ in how they parse the results. FatWatch uses mathematics to compute a moving average and your daily energy deficit/surplus. I like both and will be posting the graphs from both.
Another iPhone app I will use is Everyday. It takes a picture of you every day and then creates a movie. Assuming I actually lose the weight it will be an interesting way to show the progress.
For cycling I will use Cyclemeter. The app uses GPS to map out where I’ve ridden. It tells me distance, average speed, max speed, and elevation. This allows me to post the actual rides that I’ve been on. It’s easy. I just toss it into a ziploc and turn it on, stuff it into my back jersey pocket and ride. When I’m don’t I stop it and examine my workout
The technology will help, I’m the only one that is holding back. I need to get my ass in gear and HTFU (Harden the Fuck Up).
Reboot: Transformation
Recently we watched a documentary of an Australian guy who went on a juice fast and lost and astonishing amount of weight and got in shape. Of course he was rich and had all of the resources a person could have. But in that same vein, I retired with enough money and time that I could do a similar thing. Here is the trailer for the film, Sick Fat and Nearly Dead.
We bought a fantastic juicer. It is a masticating juicer the Omega VRT350.
I tried it out and it works quietly and really extracts the juice.
So the idea is to do a juice fast and now about exercise.
Cycling is and needs to be the basis of that. It is easy on the joints and with the MUP (Multi-User Path) from Kipton to Elyria and the Metro Parks I should be able to do this. Plus I just got an iPhone 4s so I can use the GPS feature and keep track of the rides using Strava.
The key will be to make sure I do it EVERY DAY.
The plan is to start Monday and document everything. Ideally I’d like to do P90X but I’ve never made it more than a few days. I have to focus on the positive and do this.
My brother Terry died back in May at 47. I don’t have time to waste.
Got a New Bike
I got a new bike in June, a Specialized Secteur Sport Compact.
I got clipless pedals and of course a wireless bike computer.
Took it for a spin just as the neighbor to the west was taking his bike out. We rode about a mile and he quit. He was panting like a dog and he looked at me and said, “I can hardly breath and you aren’t even breathing hard!” Then he said, “And you are twice my age!!”. I looked at him and asked how old he was, he said thirty-eight. Hmmmmmm
Riding the bike will work. I can do this.
The Catalyst
For a long time I’ve been fooling myself into thinking that even though I was heavy I carried it well. I’m pretty good at fooling myself but this was pushing it.
Last year my whole family went to Myrtle Beach and after driving all night we arrived but found we couldn’t get into the room for a couple hours. We were hot and tired and just had to wait around.
I fell asleep in my mom’s wheelchair and my brother took a picture of me. I didn’t know about it at the time and months later he had the picture enlarged and framed. It is without a doubt the worst picture of me ever taken (including the Halloween picture of me as Boy George).
I love this picture. In my right hand is a video camera but at first glance it looks like a tin cup, pathetic.
This picture has forced me to look in the mirror. The guy in the picture doesn’t carry his weight well. In fact he looks downright unhealthy.
I’m grateful to my brother for taking this picture. I’m going to get rid of this excess weight and get healthy. I deserve better.
I’ve printed out a bunch of copies of this photo and taped them everywhere. They are my motivation.
Why Chubby For Life?
I’ve been fat since my thyroid problem around thirty and have tried everything. I’ve gone on Adkins, I’ve tried the cabbage soup diet, etc. About a decade ago I tried Body For Life 
Body for Life uses weight lifting and nutrition to get in shape.
On the front and back covers of the book are photos of people who have done radical transformations in 12 weeks. It was what I needed.
I joined a gym, printed out the workout sheets and started.
My middle-aged body rebelled but I continued. By the tenth day I was beat on my feet from overdoing it. In the middle of the workout I was so miserable I said to the guy next to me, “If this is how I feel having a body for life I’d rather be chubby for life!” That’s how the phrase was born.
I’m fifty-six now. I’m a reasonably intelligent person. I’m tackling this in a reasoned manner. It’s going to happen.
Eventually this site will be called. Chubby For Life Not.
Chubby For Life? 
