At this point, it may be helpful to give you a bit of info about the author, your's truly. I am 27 years old and live in Columbus, OH and hate the Buckeyes with the passion of 1,000 white hot suns (does it make it better for you OSU folks to know that I hate Michigan equally?).
I have a wonderful wife and a 2 year old son, who is simultaneously the source of both my greatest happiness and frustration. I don't get to spend nearly as much time with either of them as I would like. They both drive me nuts, but I love them to death.
I currently work as a substitute teacher, though I have been looking for a full-time teaching gig since last year, when I received my license to teach English in grades 7-12. Though my Bachelor's is in English Lit, I have a Master's in Education and be it high school or college, I just can't see myself doing anything other than teaching lit.
In my spare time (when I have it) I enjoy reading (particularly comics), watching anything written by Joss Whedon, cooking, and playing video games. Unfortunately, this gaggle of pastimes leads to a rather sedentary lifestyle, which only exacerbates the problem at hand.
As I have mentioned before, I am woefully overweight: 6'4" and 376 pounds to be exact. I have been this way for more or less 7 years, and have tried various ways of solving the problem with little success (based in no small part to my inability to stick to any plan for more than a month thus far). With a little luck (and a lot of determination) I'm hoping this time will finally pay off.
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P.S. I'm feeling much better today than I was yesterday. Still a little sluggish, but not in danger of konking out in public, and the headache is long gone.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Ug...
The first major hurdle hit me today like a sack of bricks. All day I’ve felt completely exhausted and have had a splitting headache. I was so drained, I almost fell asleep at work today. Sadly, this was not caused by a long run or some other workout regimen. I am merely suffering from caffeine withdrawal as part of my new eating habits.
On a normal day, I will drink at least three cans of pop; often, I will drink even more than that. I regularly drink it with all three meals, and my wife can never seem to understand how I can drink a pop first thing in the morning with breakfast. The money I throw into pop would make any smoker proud. Aside from the obvious express train to diabetes this has taken me on, I suffered my first kidney stone last year at the age of 26, and God only knows the other damage I have done to my body as a result.
Yet, I find it nearly impossible to stop myself. Even when I have found that a pop doesn’t really taste that good at the moment, I still find myself drinking it. I know what it is doing to me, I know how I have been in many ways conditioned to desire what is essentially poison, and yet I still cannot stop myself. The strange thing is that it is often not the sweetness, or at least not that alone, which drives me to grab a can. Rather, it is things like the carbonation. I find myself craving that fizzing sensation in my mouth more than anything. So, while I could easily grab a glass of juice, milk, or water to sate my thirst, I will almost always grab a can of pop instead.
Therefore, as part of my new routine I am making an effort to seriously cut down on my pop intake. While I realize for most people 1 can of pop a day is still a fairly large amount, for me it represents a monumental strain on my willpower, and for two days now I have held strong. At the same time though, I feel more than a little embarrassed at the fact that this was a huge accomplishment for me. But, as I keep trying to tell myself, this trip will only be accomplished by little steps, one after another.
On a normal day, I will drink at least three cans of pop; often, I will drink even more than that. I regularly drink it with all three meals, and my wife can never seem to understand how I can drink a pop first thing in the morning with breakfast. The money I throw into pop would make any smoker proud. Aside from the obvious express train to diabetes this has taken me on, I suffered my first kidney stone last year at the age of 26, and God only knows the other damage I have done to my body as a result.
Yet, I find it nearly impossible to stop myself. Even when I have found that a pop doesn’t really taste that good at the moment, I still find myself drinking it. I know what it is doing to me, I know how I have been in many ways conditioned to desire what is essentially poison, and yet I still cannot stop myself. The strange thing is that it is often not the sweetness, or at least not that alone, which drives me to grab a can. Rather, it is things like the carbonation. I find myself craving that fizzing sensation in my mouth more than anything. So, while I could easily grab a glass of juice, milk, or water to sate my thirst, I will almost always grab a can of pop instead.
Therefore, as part of my new routine I am making an effort to seriously cut down on my pop intake. While I realize for most people 1 can of pop a day is still a fairly large amount, for me it represents a monumental strain on my willpower, and for two days now I have held strong. At the same time though, I feel more than a little embarrassed at the fact that this was a huge accomplishment for me. But, as I keep trying to tell myself, this trip will only be accomplished by little steps, one after another.
Monday, February 1, 2010
And so it begins...
In two years, I will hike to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. Of course, as I write these words I have no choice but to think about how utterly absurd they are. Despite being morbidly obese and unable to afford to move out of my in-laws, let alone go on a trip halfway across the world, I am resolved to this insane course of action. In fact, it is in many ways because of these things that I am so committed to reaching the peak.
For years now, I have tried halfheartedly to reverse the effects of poor diet and exercise. I have made any number of resolutions, plans, and guides only to give up on them and return to my old ways within a month or less. The fact is, if I want to have any hope of living to see my son graduate from high school, what I need is a new way of thinking and living; a quick-and-easy diet, procedure, or medication simply isn’t enough. That’s fine with me though, because I do not want a quick fix. In fact, I do not even want to be skinny. Those things are, in the long run, relatively easy to obtain. What I truly want for myself more than anything is the hardest and most complex path of all: to be healthy, and happy with myself.
It is with this goal in mind that I have aimed my sights at the summit of Kilimanjaro. For the longest time, I saw my goal to simply be the loss of weight, and any attempt I made to fix it was discouraged by progress that was too slow, or simple burn out. Recently, I have focused more on health, and have begun making attempts to fundamentally change my lifestyle. However, with no concrete reason to remind me, consistency has been impossible.
It is my hope that this journey will provide me with the missing pieces of the puzzle. With two years of preparation ahead of me, I aim for it to help me develop a lifestyle change, rather than just a quick loss of pounds. I will have the time to do this right, and will be able to truly eradicate my bad habits instead of merely slipping back into routine once I’ve reached my goal. In other words, it is my hope that the journey I start today will never end. However, since the clock is ticking I'm hoping it will create a sense of urgency and motivation. I will have something to remind me every day to continue making those small, but fundamental changes. Small failures that used to be devastating will be manageable, but there will be the need to correct them quickly.
So, I invite you to follow me as I engage on this quixotic quest. Success or failure, I will document my journey and the changes, physical and emotional, that I encounter.
For years now, I have tried halfheartedly to reverse the effects of poor diet and exercise. I have made any number of resolutions, plans, and guides only to give up on them and return to my old ways within a month or less. The fact is, if I want to have any hope of living to see my son graduate from high school, what I need is a new way of thinking and living; a quick-and-easy diet, procedure, or medication simply isn’t enough. That’s fine with me though, because I do not want a quick fix. In fact, I do not even want to be skinny. Those things are, in the long run, relatively easy to obtain. What I truly want for myself more than anything is the hardest and most complex path of all: to be healthy, and happy with myself.
It is with this goal in mind that I have aimed my sights at the summit of Kilimanjaro. For the longest time, I saw my goal to simply be the loss of weight, and any attempt I made to fix it was discouraged by progress that was too slow, or simple burn out. Recently, I have focused more on health, and have begun making attempts to fundamentally change my lifestyle. However, with no concrete reason to remind me, consistency has been impossible.
It is my hope that this journey will provide me with the missing pieces of the puzzle. With two years of preparation ahead of me, I aim for it to help me develop a lifestyle change, rather than just a quick loss of pounds. I will have the time to do this right, and will be able to truly eradicate my bad habits instead of merely slipping back into routine once I’ve reached my goal. In other words, it is my hope that the journey I start today will never end. However, since the clock is ticking I'm hoping it will create a sense of urgency and motivation. I will have something to remind me every day to continue making those small, but fundamental changes. Small failures that used to be devastating will be manageable, but there will be the need to correct them quickly.
So, I invite you to follow me as I engage on this quixotic quest. Success or failure, I will document my journey and the changes, physical and emotional, that I encounter.
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