Confessions of a Mad Fat Man
Great title for the newest blog post eh? I figure I better have something catchy since I haven’t posted anything to this blog in over 2 years. Frankly I’m surprised my password still worked.
Since turning 40 what I’ve realized is that with age, apparently, comes weight. That’s right weight. Some of you may have seen my recent status update on facebook lamenting the fact that I was now bigger than my 5′ 11″ buddy, who happens to be one of those guys who lifted a lot of weights in his day. I, however, am 5′ 5″ on a tall day. I clocked in on Monday morning at 230lbs. (holy crap!) I’m quickly becoming as wide as I am tall.
Those of you who knew me growing up know I wasn’t exactly a big fellah. I was about 150lbs all through high school until I was about 27. After 27 real life hit… I got married, had a real job (most of the time) eventually kids arrived and everything else that comes with them. I stopped water skiing, snow skiing and hockey, life had become very busy.
See? I used to be athletic!
I no longer had time. Of course I kept eating and drinking exactly the same despite the drop in activity. (Well maybe not the drinking part but you get the point) so slowly the weight crept up on me.
Of course it isn’t just the weight that’s crept up on me it’s health issues as well. Anyone that’s ever had the pleasure of living with me knows that I snore like a chainsaw. About 7 years ago it became pretty clear that I wasn’t snoring but basically choking my way through the night. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2005 – according to the Dr. I stopped breathing something like 75 times an hour. Basically I wasn’t sleeping.
Along with that I developed Plantar Fasciitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantar_fasciitis) which is really painful and means I walk like an old man every time I get up from sitting for a long-ish period of time.
Both of these conditions are fairly minor in the grand scope and I’m not complaining - many people have these issues and much worse but that’s the thing… so far… it’s not worse. It’s practically in my DNA to have a heart attack. My Dad has had a triple and quadruple bypass, a heart attack and angina. If there is a candidate to have a heart issue I would seem to be one. Thankfully nothing has arisen, I went for a stress test with the family cardiologist back in March and everything was good. I had to laugh because the Dr.’s comment was
“…well Brent things are actually good! Which is surprising considering your… uh… shape.”
Besides that I’m having trouble putting my socks on and tying my shoes as well! That can’t be a good sign, I’m out of breath before getting into the car in the mornings just because I tied my shoes! Yeah not good.
Every year we do a guys weekend in Parry Sound and Killarney. We start in Parry Sound at the cottage and make our way north to Killarney to do a canoe/hiking trip to the top of Silver Peak. It’s about a 45 min canoe ride to the opening of the trail then about 5k to the base of Silver Peak. After that it’s another 1.5km mostly straight up. For a person in reasonable shape it’s a challenge and in the end it’s about a 6 hour round trip, give or take.
The eastern flank of Silver Peak in Killarney Provincial Park
Last year around this time we made our annual trip. I was going in at about 190lbs. I had shed some weight over the past 18 months due to taking on a new role at a start-up company in St. Catharines and I had started to work out fairly regularly. It was during this time that I found that stress went directly to my stomach. Some people “stress eat”, I stress starve. I can’t eat when I’m under stress so as a result I had dropped over 30lbs before going on the yearly boys trip.
Last year I was like a gazelle just bounding my way to the top, to the surprise of most of the guys on the trip – got back to the base camp feeling like a million bucks and thinking “Man, I gotta keep this up!”
This year? Not so much… last to the top, last to the bottom. To be fair my cousin Michael was last but he broke his kneecap a couple of years ago so he get’s points just for making the trip, besides I certainly wasn’t way ahead of him when we finished. Got back to base camp feeling like a buck fifty thinking “Man, I should have kept it up.”
That lead to me asking our fearless leader Sean how much he was weighing in at this year only to discover he was lighter than me. That would be the TSN Turning Point for me.
So now I’ve gotta do something about it. Problem is I’m an awesome starter but a not so great finisher. I’m a fairly competitive guy so usually what I do is challenge a couple of other people to a “Biggest Loser” contest. Which is good – usually some money is laid down which makes it even more important for me to win. (I tend to be money motivated) And I’m good, real good while the contest is on.
The last time I did one of these things I went so far as to take x-lax the day before the weigh-in. Nothing in the rule book prevented it although it didn’t really take affect until 2 days later which was a bit of an issue and it wasn’t much of an advantage in the end, butt I was committed because there was like 400 bucks at stake! I won in the end, I was moved. (see what I did there? Oh my sides!)
Still, I’m not a great finisher – I’m pretty sure my wife is rolling her eyes just reading about me starting another weight loss run, thinking “here we go again”. But as always she will support me and do what she can to promote a healthy lifestyle despite the fact her hubby has the focus of a 4 year old. (She’s a good woman and I love her so!)
Because of that I’ve decided I’m going to blog about trying to lose weight this time around. I’ll tell you what, nothing creates accountability like telling as many people as you can through one of the largest communication vehicles ever created in the history of the world that you’re going to get yourself in shape and lose weight. Not sure if you’re going to want to read about it on a monthly basis but I’m gonna do it anyways. You can watch me fly or fail.
I’m no expert but basically what I’m going to do is count calories and start some light exercise to get things going. Essentially this is how I’m looking at it.
3500 Calories = 1 pound of fat
You basically burn 13 calories per pound (depending on your activity level). Body weight x calories = daily calories intake. Right now at 230lbs I’m eating 2990 – my goal weight is 170 – now before you all react saying “dude that’s 60lbs!” keep in mind that my ideal “medical weight” should be between 141 & 154lbs. (I know crazy). So calories for me daily should be around 2210 which means I should be losing about 1.5lbs per week.
Calorie counting is interesting because it almost always starts with bad decisions on food and drink. Initially you think “Hey! I can eat anything I want as long as I don’t eat more than 2210 calories per day! Woo hoo! Pour me a beer! ” The reality is that wears of quickly when you realize you’re either drinking most of your calories throughout the day or eating stupid things like sour keys (oh how I love sour keys!) and are totally hungry all the time. Smarter decisions start after that – looking for high protein foods and snacks etc.
So we’ll see. I did my first 4k last night. And it was fun. If you like running in the dark, rain and blinded. By the way just for the record when I say “run” I really mean walk – I just can’t bring myself to say in an excited tone that I “went on a 4k walk last night!” Nomesayin?
For some unknown reason I woke up Monday morning and decided I needed to throw my last pair of contact lenses down the sink. (I’m really not going to try and explain it) So now I’m wearing my glasses – which I hate. When I went out last night decided I wouldn’t wear them – it’s raining, they won’t stay on my nose, yadda, yadda. So out the door I went in my black workout pants and navy blue fleece. I live in a fairly rural area and about 15 mins in I started to realize that maybe wearing practically all black at night wasn’t such a hot idea – considering there are no side walks where I was walking. Did I mention it was raining? Plus I wasn’t wearing my glasses – my vision is terrible during the day and that much worse at night so I really can’t see anything very well. No sidewalk, dark, black outfit, poor vision, fast cars on the road – At one point I nearly fell down a bank on the side of the road – couldn’t see – and I ended up almost straddling a fence at one point as it started off at ground level and worked it’s way up – cable kind, very uncomfortable – of course, again, I couldn’t see it, right? Jeez.
Anyways those are just some of the fantastic stories you have to look forward to if you decide to read this blog on a regular basis (how many actually do now is questionable). Maybe you’ll find it inspiring or maybe you’ll find it trite and dumb – doesn’t really matter I guess the point is to get off my ass and do something.
So here are the starting numbers:
October 4th - Weight- 230lbs
- goal weight 170lbs – no date set yet
Calorie intake – 2210 calories per day.
Wish me luck – talk to you in a month!
Love, Peace and Hairgrease.
brodg
This is a noble goal. I will follow and support you. In fact we should discuss these lifestyle changes over lunch. KFC good for you? I got me a hankerin for the Colonel! har har… Good luck Brent!
Behind your snide comments I know there is support – after all we’ve been through together!
Red Vest Posse.
Hey Brent, this is a really inspirational post and I wish you well at achieving your goal and maintaining it!. At 27 years old and weighing in at 240 (Yes i’ve got about 6 inches of height on you, but likely equally out of shape) I’m starting to know exactly how you feel.. sore when I stand up, difficulty tying up shoes and feeling out of breath all the time. If you are looking for a workout buddy, i’m up for it. If you need a competitor to help with the drive, I may be up for that too! Keep it up!
I’m glad I inspired you Will – feels odd to think you inspired someone but regardless it’s a good feeling. I’ll gauge some of the response on my posts and perhaps we will set-up something on side for a competition for a few of the boys.
Brent,
I’m with you and thinking about you. As a fellow once-cool, once-fit, short, stout 40+ year old.
I never let things get totally out of control, but 5 years ago I was 15lbs past where I wanted to be. I enjoy food and drink (a lot!) and generally don’t enjoy ‘working out’ (exercise for the sake of exercise); I had no interest in becoming a ‘health nut’. Nonetheless, I got most of the weight off, changed how I eat (not too strict), and feel a lot better in a lot of ways (including fewer chronic issues like back spasm, etc).
Things that helped me the most (you’ll have heard most of these before, but…):
- dating a naturopathic doctor. A little too much free advice, but…
- switching from Coke to Coke Zero was the easiest 5-10lbs I ever lost. If you drink soft drinks regularly, either switch to diet, or if you have internet-aspartame-causes-brain-cancer-paranoia, figure something else out. But don’t drink sugar pop.
- watch the white flour. I was skeptical about this one, but it made a fairly painless significant difference. I try not to eat bread often, watch the pizza, and eat rice with dinner (instead of potatoes or bread). Easy 5lbs.
- figure out how to like fish if you don’t already. Eat lots more fish, and less red meat. I look forward to my red meat, and really enjoy it… but not so often. I feel better/sharper the next day after I eat fish – really.
- Make beer a treat. Drink red wine, ideally, if you like to drink. I’ve lost my taste for red wine, so I drink Rye & Coke (zero), and even that is better and easier on my body than beer. I have a pint when I’m out with friends, but I generally don’t let beer in my house.
- If you can go workout at the gym, great. However, if you’re like me, you need to find exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise. For me, that’s waterskiing/wakeboarding, snow skiing, sex, the occasional squash game, and trying to keep up with my 10 year old son.
- If I find myself facing fast food, at least skip the fries and substitute the salad in the combo. Tip if you’re cheap like me: Wendy’s chili is the cheapest, satisfying way to get a rib sticking fast food meal that doesn’t involve fries.
- Avoid cheese where possible.
- Don’t take any rules too seriously. I need my treats. I’d rather be 5lbs overweight and sticking to a reasonable plan vs trying to be strict, getting discouraged and bouncing back to 30lbs overweight.
Personally I don’t count calories. I just watch the silly fats, silly starches, and silly sugar.
Thanx for the vote of confidence JS. Good to know I’m in with a distinguished crowd. I appreciate all the tips. Unfortunately for me going fairly extreme at the start is usually best as I can then find some balance as I go. I’m a beer guy and a pop drinker so those two will be the first to go. The second will be a challenge as it’s my love of bread and cheese.
Baby steps. Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.
Well Brent, I too could lose about 30 pounds, but I’ve only really focused on increasing lean muscle mass. I too should focus a bit more on Cardio and Calisthenics and reduce the amount of resistance training I’m doing, but I enjoy that. I’m looking forward to your progress and before you know it, it will be September 2012.
If you want to have a little competition, I’ll jump in with you on the first 30lbs! Have you considered posting a picture of yourself here for your supporters to help encourage you and keep you accountable?
I have some Navy Seal re-entry fitness routines I could send you….don’t let the name scare you, the initial routines are challenging but not impossible like a PX90 plyometrics session.
I think the first thing I want to do is get the eating part down pat – lose a few pounds and then get more intense on the fitness side of things. You know what I’m like, I freakin hate working out but I think it will be a necessary evil.