Chubby For Life?

After my horrible gout experience I’ve decided I needed make serious changes in my life.  As I was thinking about this an interesting thing happened.  I was playing in a poker tournament at The Jack and a friend was sitting to my right.  He cracked my kings with ace king and annoyed me a bit.  He then said he was going to walk to his car during break and get some aspirin.  I said I’d walk with him. He looked at me in a concerned way and said, “I walk pretty fast and I take the stairs.”  I was surprised.  I’m able to walk at a nice clip for five miles at a time.  Then I took an honest look at myself and realized that I am a seriously fat guy.  Way too fat for a guy who is sixty years old and wants to live a quality life for a lot longer.

Back in February I had ballooned up to 298 pounds.  That is some serious tonnage.  I need to make some serious changes.  I will be doing that soon.

Some cyclists go beyond cycling.  This guy is my hero.  He should have a headlamp.  Safety first.

My father died on Memorial Day in 1967.  That was fifty years ago.  That is hard for me to fathom.  Fifty years ago.  I was ten.

He died drunk driving in Sheffield Village, Ohio leaving behind a wife and seven children, including two year old triplets.

I could write page after page about this and perhaps someday I will (but not on a bicycle blog).

He served as a radioman on a bomber in the South Pacific during WWII and I have silk maps that he carried with translations to Japanese such as, I am an American, etc.

The morning of his death I carried the American flag in the Memorial Day Parade; the world was never the same.

I got a nice message from woman asking if I still ride and for permission to use one of my photos on local township page.  It was nice to be asked and I gave permission as long as I received photo credit.

As for, do I still ride?

Since I retired nearly six years ago my life has been in a constant state of flux.  My brother was sick and I did what I could until his death eight months later.  Then my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and I took care of her until she succumbed.  Immediately after another brother was diagnosed with mouth cancer and I took care of him for a long time until his eventual remission.  All during this time I was giving care to my elderly father-in law.  Much of this was bittersweet as I did all of his cooking and care.  I learned how to cook and enjoyed our time together.  He died in February.

For the first time in the long time since I retired I was free from obligation.  I threw myself into my hobbies; chess, guitar, writing and poker.  I ended up winning an $11,200 seat to the Main Event of The World Series of Poker.  Everything is working out perfectly.  My wife is retiring at the end of the month so her and my daughter can go with me to Las Vegas in July.  I hope to do well and as far as I’m concerned I’ve already won.  It’s going to be great.

Getting back to cycling.  I was out a bit in February and April but right after I won the seat to the WSOP I came down with a horrible case of gout.  I’d had it a couple times before in my big toe but nothing like this.  My entire foot swelled and even with medication it didn’t go away for three weeks.  It was the kind of misery I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.  I went to my doctor and he said, “Don’t feel bad, it happens to a lot of old fat guys with poor diet.”  This was a serious wake up call.  I am making changes.

The weather has been rain, rain and more rain but I will be on the bike soon.

Anybody reading this must be shocked.  I’ve ridden twice in two days!  I am in worse shape than I thought.  My legs hurt a little from yesterday’s ride but I was fine.  Even went a little farther.  To ride two days a row in February is the life.

Plus I’m down a dozen pounds since my initial weigh-in on February 4th.  I’m really committed to getting in shape.  I’m eating right and exercising.  It is all coming together and  hopefully will continue.

This is going to shock some people but I actually rode my bike today, in February!

It was a beautiful sixty degree day so I got on the bike and rode a measly 7.2 miles.  I loved every minute of it.  I am out of shape but it was joyful.  Hopefully Spring has sprung and I can ride every day.

The weather looks great starting this weekend.  I will be on the bike, no excuses.  Great weather for the middle of February.

I’ve learned a lot from my previous rides. Such as:

• Lay out clothes the night before
• Make sure the bike is clean, lubed and tires inflated night before
• Make sure accessories like Garmin and Sony ActionCam are charged
• Make sure I have two clean water bottles filled
• Have a plan as to where and for how long I want to ride.

I’m ready

On Saturday the poker league that I belong started a weight loss bet.  A dozen of us ponied up fifty dollars each to see who would lose the highest percentage of their weight by the final game of the season, June 10th, 2017.  With my father-in-law gone and my brother’s health under control and returning I decided to take it seriously.  The goal of health is important and the six hundred dollars is a nice incentive.

Starting the next day I immediately logged into MyFitnessPal and began logging anything and everything that I put in my mouth.  Plus I charged my Fitbit Alta and walked 10,000 steps.  I’m going to amp up my exercise while dialing down my eating and take it down.

Spring is right around the corner and the bicycle is waiting.  I bought a bicycle jersey from The Silver Wheels Cycling Club from The Dog Days Wine Tour a size smaller than I wear.  Looking forward to fitting into it.

It’s been a tough year.  My brother has oral cancer and I’ve been his main caregiver.  Endless doctor’s appointments, chemotherapy and radiation.  Last week he had ten hour surgery to remove the cancer and insert radioactive seeds.  It was brutal surgery and the entire process exhausted me.

Meanwhile my father-in-law has been declining over the past few years.  He was in his late eighties and lives right behind us.  He had a large number of health problems.  Since I’m retired I became his primary caregiver and as time passed it took up more and more of my time.  He started getting palliative care but they did very little.  Then last week I was done.  He had begun getting severe headaches and we had to take him by ambulance to the hospital.  Found he had a mass in his brain.  We began hospice.  A few days later I found him dead.

I am exhausted.  Now that my brother is in recovery and he is gone it is time to get my health back.  I’ve gained weight and feel my age for the first time in my life.

Spring will be here soon and I will be on the bike.  I’m sixty now and feel as though I’m running out of time.

I’ve seen videos online sped up.  I’ve never been that into them but saw one that was interesting.  Thought I’d try it.

Original.

Now 3x

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.