Getting the body in shape
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Matthew323
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Try splitting cottonwood. Twistiest wood I ever split.
Matthew323
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There is an axiom for rock climbing, ice climbing, and mountain climbing. Doesn't matter if it's a 30' free climb in your local mountains, or Mt. Everest, K2, the Eiger, or Denali.
Which is.....
Going up is the easy part!
It's going down that's 20 times more dangerous, and way harder on one's body & mind than the climb up. Especially, on a climber's knees. Arguably the most fragile part of the climber's body, other than perhaps the ego & the mind.
I always found that the constant pounding that my knees took as I was descending a trail after a summit attempt with a 40-50 pound pack on my back to be the worst part of climbing.
Packing out a heavy load of deer, elk, moose meat is quite comparable to the stresses of a climbing descent.
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That’s why God created mules!!
Anyway, the weight we pack daily is the worst. I carry a few extra pounds but I’m 6’2+” and it’s hard to see. I may make a concerted effort to get down to fighting weight, 190# would be nice if I can keep the muscle I have. It’s a heck of a lot harder these days than ever before. I tore a meniscus a few years ago, they snipped it and sent me on my way (with a fantastic therapist) … honestly, my knees feel great. The feet and ankles remind me of every mile we ever marched.
Matthew323
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I've been carrying a lot of excess weight around for 3-plus decades. A lifelong compulsive eating disorder that only started packing on the pounds in my middle 30's.
Three months ago I weighed in at 289.8 pounds on my digital scale that I got from the VA's MOVE program. Heaviest that I have ever been.
I am now down past 260 pounds, into the high 250's. A lot of health complications the past 6 months, which led to a long bout of inactivity.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome. From a lifetime of eating too many carbs & sugars. I didn't know from one moment to the next, whether I was going to pass gas, or soil myself with the squirt's.
Which led to inforced inactivity so I could be close to a toilet at all times.
Then came a bedbug infestation in my SRO apartment. A huge number of bedbug bites, at one point over 100 per 24 hour period. Which caused my body to produce an excess of histamines as it fought off the invasion of whatever it is that a bedbug injects into a human host as it feeds,
Coupled with a minor nick on my left shin, that was washed immediately, antiseptic ointment applied, and topped with a Bandaid,
Which coupled with a reduced blood return and swelling in both lower legs due to all of the inactivity,
Which resulted from too much sitting down on chairs because I was bored,
Which led to a skin infection on my left shin,
That was not healing properly because of the excess histamines that my body was producing as a result of too many bedbug bites,
Which led to multiple trips to the VA Hospital to see my primary care physician, as well as to the Emergency Room,
Which resulted in two separate courses of antibiotics over a three week period,
Which knocked the skin infection back (finally),
And a side effect of the antibiotics was,
They killed off all of the bacteria in my gut,
Both the beneficial bacteria, as well as the excess harmful bacteria,
Which had been the leading cause of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome,
Which forced me to have to purchase expensive probiotics,
(A big thanks to Doc White, himself a GI physician, for recommending the BIO-X4 probiotics, which he has been taking for a lot of years)
Because the VA in its wisdom will prescribe all the antibiotics for an infection that a vet might require,
But, they will not prescribe any probiotics to reset the biome in the human gut after the antibiotics kill off everything in the gut.
Along with the skin infection came an itching feeling akin to a bad case if poison ivy.
Which was exacerbated by going from air conditioned air out into any kind of summer heat,
Which exponentially ramped up the itching feeling,
Which kept me indoors, and not exercising in any meaningful fashion.
It's only been the past several days where my body seems to finally be trying to heal itself from what has been a kind of perfect storm of health related complications.
IBS
Fluid settling in my calves
Osteoarthritis ramping up
Skin infection
Terrible itching feeling
Acid reflux acting up for 1st time in years
Bedbugs, and being bitten massively
Excess histamines produced
I really have to count my blessings.
1. The gut reset, although progressing slowly with the probiotics, has drastically reduced the looseness of my lower GI tract. Which is to say that there has been a 1000% improvement, although the squirts still occur every now, and again. That's a huge blessing.
2. My lower GI doctor finally got me to make some long overdue changes in how I eat. This was just at the beginning of the bedbug issue. For one thing, 99% of all dairy products have been eliminated. The only dairy that I consume is in something like purchased bread.
Coffee has been reduced to one 12 oz cup of decaffeinated coffee per day maximum. No more regular coffee. No caffeinated tea. No carbonated beverages. Especially, no Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, which are full of caffeine. No citrus. No chocolate. No mint, not even chewing gum. Gotta find a toothpaste that's not mint. No tomatoes. No fresh tomatoes, no canned tomatoes, no ketchup, no tomato paste from the tubes for adding flavor/umami to cooked dishes.
One thing that I eliminated that wasn't on the GI doctor's list was artificial sweeteners. These seem to make me crave sweets/carbs even more than real sugars do. I do use a stevia baking blend to bake a couple of things like banana-raisin-walnut bread with coconut milk.
That I have been able to stick to these restrictions, with only a couple of stumbles, for as long as I have thus far, is a huge blessing.
3. After a recent second endoscopy, 3 years early, the Barrett's Esophagus has not appreciably worsened since my first endoscopy two years ago. That's a huge blessing. Will have to wait & see what my PCP has to say.
4. My A1C was only 5.5 when the blood work test results came back. Considering that I weighed almost 290 pounds (I should weigh 170 pounds) when the blood was drawn, that I was eating poorly, that my physical activity was nearly zero, and that my IBS was in full rage; that 5.5 is a huge blessing. Thanks to GOD for looking out for a hard headed idiot.
5. The meniscus in my right knee has not been giving me any trouble for over a year now, and that's a huge blessing.
6. I went to the Motor Vehicle Administration to take the written exam, & to get a Learner's Permit, after completing Driver's Education. I aced the Written Test, & went to pay for a Learner's Permit, only for the examiner to inform me that since I had voluntarily relinquished my Driver's License over a decade ago, and since that Driver's License had been in good standing, with zero points attached to it; I was considered to already know how to drive, and would not need to acquire either a Learner's Permit, nor a Provisional License. I could just take the Road Test, and my Driver's License would be returned to me. That's a quadruple huge blessing!
So, even when the world around me was going to s**t, there were blessings to be had.
Oh, and I walked for 2.25 miles round trip today to fetch a box of donated produce. Longest that I have walked in months. Felt good.
Brought everything back to the apartment. Broke it all down. Roasted 5 diced potatoes with EVOO, salt, black pepper, and some spicy Mrs. Dash. Roasted 1 full head of cauliflower, rough chop with EVOO, salt, and black pepper. Roasted 5 diced yellow squash with EVOO, salt, pepper, and Original Mrs. Dash. Made a salad out of a head of iceberg lettuce, and one each diced green & yellow bell peppers. Added about 3 oz. of diced, skinless, boneless chicken breast to the salad. Diced up a whole pineapple, and added two containers of red raspberries for a fruit salad. Made a 9"×5" loaf pan of the banana-raisin-walnut bread with coconut milk & baking stevia.
All of the donated food is a huge blessing.
Three months ago I weighed in at 289.8 pounds on my digital scale that I got from the VA's MOVE program. Heaviest that I have ever been.
I am now down past 260 pounds, into the high 250's. A lot of health complications the past 6 months, which led to a long bout of inactivity.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome. From a lifetime of eating too many carbs & sugars. I didn't know from one moment to the next, whether I was going to pass gas, or soil myself with the squirt's.
Which led to inforced inactivity so I could be close to a toilet at all times.
Then came a bedbug infestation in my SRO apartment. A huge number of bedbug bites, at one point over 100 per 24 hour period. Which caused my body to produce an excess of histamines as it fought off the invasion of whatever it is that a bedbug injects into a human host as it feeds,
Coupled with a minor nick on my left shin, that was washed immediately, antiseptic ointment applied, and topped with a Bandaid,
Which coupled with a reduced blood return and swelling in both lower legs due to all of the inactivity,
Which resulted from too much sitting down on chairs because I was bored,
Which led to a skin infection on my left shin,
That was not healing properly because of the excess histamines that my body was producing as a result of too many bedbug bites,
Which led to multiple trips to the VA Hospital to see my primary care physician, as well as to the Emergency Room,
Which resulted in two separate courses of antibiotics over a three week period,
Which knocked the skin infection back (finally),
And a side effect of the antibiotics was,
They killed off all of the bacteria in my gut,
Both the beneficial bacteria, as well as the excess harmful bacteria,
Which had been the leading cause of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome,
Which forced me to have to purchase expensive probiotics,
(A big thanks to Doc White, himself a GI physician, for recommending the BIO-X4 probiotics, which he has been taking for a lot of years)
Because the VA in its wisdom will prescribe all the antibiotics for an infection that a vet might require,
But, they will not prescribe any probiotics to reset the biome in the human gut after the antibiotics kill off everything in the gut.
Along with the skin infection came an itching feeling akin to a bad case if poison ivy.
Which was exacerbated by going from air conditioned air out into any kind of summer heat,
Which exponentially ramped up the itching feeling,
Which kept me indoors, and not exercising in any meaningful fashion.
It's only been the past several days where my body seems to finally be trying to heal itself from what has been a kind of perfect storm of health related complications.
IBS
Fluid settling in my calves
Osteoarthritis ramping up
Skin infection
Terrible itching feeling
Acid reflux acting up for 1st time in years
Bedbugs, and being bitten massively
Excess histamines produced
I really have to count my blessings.
1. The gut reset, although progressing slowly with the probiotics, has drastically reduced the looseness of my lower GI tract. Which is to say that there has been a 1000% improvement, although the squirts still occur every now, and again. That's a huge blessing.
2. My lower GI doctor finally got me to make some long overdue changes in how I eat. This was just at the beginning of the bedbug issue. For one thing, 99% of all dairy products have been eliminated. The only dairy that I consume is in something like purchased bread.
Coffee has been reduced to one 12 oz cup of decaffeinated coffee per day maximum. No more regular coffee. No caffeinated tea. No carbonated beverages. Especially, no Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, which are full of caffeine. No citrus. No chocolate. No mint, not even chewing gum. Gotta find a toothpaste that's not mint. No tomatoes. No fresh tomatoes, no canned tomatoes, no ketchup, no tomato paste from the tubes for adding flavor/umami to cooked dishes.
One thing that I eliminated that wasn't on the GI doctor's list was artificial sweeteners. These seem to make me crave sweets/carbs even more than real sugars do. I do use a stevia baking blend to bake a couple of things like banana-raisin-walnut bread with coconut milk.
That I have been able to stick to these restrictions, with only a couple of stumbles, for as long as I have thus far, is a huge blessing.
3. After a recent second endoscopy, 3 years early, the Barrett's Esophagus has not appreciably worsened since my first endoscopy two years ago. That's a huge blessing. Will have to wait & see what my PCP has to say.
4. My A1C was only 5.5 when the blood work test results came back. Considering that I weighed almost 290 pounds (I should weigh 170 pounds) when the blood was drawn, that I was eating poorly, that my physical activity was nearly zero, and that my IBS was in full rage; that 5.5 is a huge blessing. Thanks to GOD for looking out for a hard headed idiot.
5. The meniscus in my right knee has not been giving me any trouble for over a year now, and that's a huge blessing.
6. I went to the Motor Vehicle Administration to take the written exam, & to get a Learner's Permit, after completing Driver's Education. I aced the Written Test, & went to pay for a Learner's Permit, only for the examiner to inform me that since I had voluntarily relinquished my Driver's License over a decade ago, and since that Driver's License had been in good standing, with zero points attached to it; I was considered to already know how to drive, and would not need to acquire either a Learner's Permit, nor a Provisional License. I could just take the Road Test, and my Driver's License would be returned to me. That's a quadruple huge blessing!
So, even when the world around me was going to s**t, there were blessings to be had.
Oh, and I walked for 2.25 miles round trip today to fetch a box of donated produce. Longest that I have walked in months. Felt good.
Brought everything back to the apartment. Broke it all down. Roasted 5 diced potatoes with EVOO, salt, black pepper, and some spicy Mrs. Dash. Roasted 1 full head of cauliflower, rough chop with EVOO, salt, and black pepper. Roasted 5 diced yellow squash with EVOO, salt, pepper, and Original Mrs. Dash. Made a salad out of a head of iceberg lettuce, and one each diced green & yellow bell peppers. Added about 3 oz. of diced, skinless, boneless chicken breast to the salad. Diced up a whole pineapple, and added two containers of red raspberries for a fruit salad. Made a 9"×5" loaf pan of the banana-raisin-walnut bread with coconut milk & baking stevia.
All of the donated food is a huge blessing.
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Good god man, I am worn out just reading that. I'm not sure I could live it. I'm 6-2, 175 and eat two to three times the amount most people eat. My regular doc sent me to a dermatologist last spring. I'm standing there with little on while two people are checking me for skin cancer, and they keep muttering, "Good genetics". (No skin cancer.) The dermatologist asked if I would be disappointed if she gave me lotion for my rough hands, as I have been on no other meds.
My theory is that if you are not craving food and hurting, you have been sitting around too much. Mind you, not wanting to eat, but your very cells crying out for fuel.
I avoid sugar, eat a lot of fish, veggies, fruits, nuts and drink two cups to tea per day.
My theory is that if you are not craving food and hurting, you have been sitting around too much. Mind you, not wanting to eat, but your very cells crying out for fuel.
I avoid sugar, eat a lot of fish, veggies, fruits, nuts and drink two cups to tea per day.
Any successful exercise program has to be something your enjoy. If you don't enjoy it and you do it for more than 6 weeks, you have other problems. Without spousal support, after a while either your program fails or your marriage fails.
The sad fact of the matter is that if the guy you see in the mirror when you get up to take your morning leak is past 65, and you can see his abs, you are a freak of nature.
I do not so much enjoy the work that goes into building a house, landscaping the yard, etc., it is the outcome that brings pleasure. To see junk turn into treasure motivates me.
But yes, you have to enjoy some aspect of whatever it is you do to stay in shape.
I do not so much enjoy the work that goes into building a house, landscaping the yard, etc., it is the outcome that brings pleasure. To see junk turn into treasure motivates me.
But yes, you have to enjoy some aspect of whatever it is you do to stay in shape.
Matthew323
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For a long time I used a bicycle as a means of transportation, instead of a motor vehicle. By using it to commute to work 6 days per week, I was able to stave off the weight gain that the compulsive overeating had started adding to my body at about age 33.
But, as I aged I have found that the cravings for sweets, and carbs, of all types just seemed to increase exponentially, year-by-year. A daily exercise regimen of riding a bike 10.1 miles one way to work, that would keep any "normal person" (whatever that is), physically fit; only seemed to fuel my desire to eat more.
I have tried many things over the past 34 years to try and arrest the compulsion to overeat. I hate to use the term diet, because the root word die is in it, but none of the diets that I have tried has done anything but send my body on a yo-yo pendulum. The end result, when the yo-yo stops swinging, is an additional weight gain plateau that has always settled in at a higher weight than the previous plateau.
My progression has been somewhat as follows....
Ages 13-32***165 pounds
Ages 33-40***180 pounds
Ages 41-44***190 pounds
Ages 45-47***198 pounds
Ages 48-50***205 pounds
Ages 51-52***215 pounds
Ages 53-55***220 pounds
Ages 56-58***230 pounds
Ages 59-61***245 pounds
Age 62***192pounds
Age 63***255 pounds
Ages 64-67***221 pounds to 289.8 pounds
All of the above weight losses occured as a result of abnormal eating patterns. Which is to say, denying myself calories in conjunction with moderate amounts of daily walking.
Denying oneself calories is a surefire way to end up failing with any meaningful, sustainable weight loss, or should I say, return to some degree of normality. Slow, steady, weight loss, in conjunction with a sustainable change in eating habits, is, for this 67 year old morbidly obese man, the only intelligent way to approach things.
Walking has been my primary form of exercise since age 61. I try to get in at least 45 minutes of brisk walking per day, without obsessing over the miles per day that I walk. I do have a pedometer, if I wish to track distance.
I carry my knee brace everywhere that I walk, because by not using it unless absolutely necessary, I have seemed to stabilize the meniscus to the point where there are only occasional twinges of pain. The side benefit is that I have been able to maintain a somewhat normal gait.
I also carry in one hand, or the other, my fighting cane. I use the cane whenever I feel like the meniscus needs additional support. Such as when stepping off of a higher surface down onto a lower surface, like off of a sidewalk/curb onto a street. Sometimes the knee needs that type of support when stepping back up onto the curb/sidewalk from the street. I let pain be the motivating factor in whether to use the cane.
By not walking with the cane being used as a support for the right knee with every step, I have managed to regain a somewhat normal gait.
As I mentioned in the above post, it has been a huge blessing vis-a-vis the bedbug situation in my apartment. Not the bugs themselves, or having suffered being bitten, but the lasting effects as a result of being bitten. The upshot of needing to take 2 separate courses of antibiotics, is that I am on the way, for the first time in my life, to reset the flora and fauna in my gut back to something resembling normalcy, however that might be defined.
Meeting Doc White as a result of hiring him to fabricate the Javelina stocks for the Optima V2 pistol, led to my discovering by fate/circumstance, that he was a GI physician for all of his career. Further conversation over the phone, led to my discovering that he had suffered from a lack of exercise, and a fondness for sweets, which led him to probiotics as a means of curbing his cravings for sweets.
I have always been leery of all the claims that various physicians have been making for the seemingly endless parade of weight loss supplements that appear on my phone/computer constantly; many of which are straight probiotics, or contain probiotics as a part of the ingredient list.
I took me an additional 2 months of mental struggle before I called Doc White back, to get the name of the probiotics that he has been taking for years.
As I type this post, have only been taking the BIO-X4 probiotics for a little over a month. I have not seen the dramatic results that Doc White predicted, BUT, I have seen a marked improvement in stabilizing my gut so that I am not in constant danger of soiling myself by pooping down my legs in public. Been there, done that, & I don't want the T-shirt!!!!!
It feels good to be getting back into walking everyday. I can't tell you how much I have missed walking these past 6 months.
But, as I aged I have found that the cravings for sweets, and carbs, of all types just seemed to increase exponentially, year-by-year. A daily exercise regimen of riding a bike 10.1 miles one way to work, that would keep any "normal person" (whatever that is), physically fit; only seemed to fuel my desire to eat more.
I have tried many things over the past 34 years to try and arrest the compulsion to overeat. I hate to use the term diet, because the root word die is in it, but none of the diets that I have tried has done anything but send my body on a yo-yo pendulum. The end result, when the yo-yo stops swinging, is an additional weight gain plateau that has always settled in at a higher weight than the previous plateau.
My progression has been somewhat as follows....
Ages 13-32***165 pounds
Ages 33-40***180 pounds
Ages 41-44***190 pounds
Ages 45-47***198 pounds
Ages 48-50***205 pounds
Ages 51-52***215 pounds
Ages 53-55***220 pounds
Ages 56-58***230 pounds
Ages 59-61***245 pounds
Age 62***192pounds
Age 63***255 pounds
Ages 64-67***221 pounds to 289.8 pounds
All of the above weight losses occured as a result of abnormal eating patterns. Which is to say, denying myself calories in conjunction with moderate amounts of daily walking.
Denying oneself calories is a surefire way to end up failing with any meaningful, sustainable weight loss, or should I say, return to some degree of normality. Slow, steady, weight loss, in conjunction with a sustainable change in eating habits, is, for this 67 year old morbidly obese man, the only intelligent way to approach things.
Walking has been my primary form of exercise since age 61. I try to get in at least 45 minutes of brisk walking per day, without obsessing over the miles per day that I walk. I do have a pedometer, if I wish to track distance.
I carry my knee brace everywhere that I walk, because by not using it unless absolutely necessary, I have seemed to stabilize the meniscus to the point where there are only occasional twinges of pain. The side benefit is that I have been able to maintain a somewhat normal gait.
I also carry in one hand, or the other, my fighting cane. I use the cane whenever I feel like the meniscus needs additional support. Such as when stepping off of a higher surface down onto a lower surface, like off of a sidewalk/curb onto a street. Sometimes the knee needs that type of support when stepping back up onto the curb/sidewalk from the street. I let pain be the motivating factor in whether to use the cane.
By not walking with the cane being used as a support for the right knee with every step, I have managed to regain a somewhat normal gait.
As I mentioned in the above post, it has been a huge blessing vis-a-vis the bedbug situation in my apartment. Not the bugs themselves, or having suffered being bitten, but the lasting effects as a result of being bitten. The upshot of needing to take 2 separate courses of antibiotics, is that I am on the way, for the first time in my life, to reset the flora and fauna in my gut back to something resembling normalcy, however that might be defined.
Meeting Doc White as a result of hiring him to fabricate the Javelina stocks for the Optima V2 pistol, led to my discovering by fate/circumstance, that he was a GI physician for all of his career. Further conversation over the phone, led to my discovering that he had suffered from a lack of exercise, and a fondness for sweets, which led him to probiotics as a means of curbing his cravings for sweets.
I have always been leery of all the claims that various physicians have been making for the seemingly endless parade of weight loss supplements that appear on my phone/computer constantly; many of which are straight probiotics, or contain probiotics as a part of the ingredient list.
I took me an additional 2 months of mental struggle before I called Doc White back, to get the name of the probiotics that he has been taking for years.
As I type this post, have only been taking the BIO-X4 probiotics for a little over a month. I have not seen the dramatic results that Doc White predicted, BUT, I have seen a marked improvement in stabilizing my gut so that I am not in constant danger of soiling myself by pooping down my legs in public. Been there, done that, & I don't want the T-shirt!!!!!
It feels good to be getting back into walking everyday. I can't tell you how much I have missed walking these past 6 months.
I was running the gun store during the time of the New Town shooting. Product was in short supply everywhere, so I was sleeping about 3 hours a night, and I was living on sugar and caffeine. I took a pretty good spill on an icy sidewalk and landed hard. I started peeing blood, so I went to the doc. He said I was pre diabetic.
I went to see a dietician, It was rough getting used to the diet, and it was a very long time until I quit craving sweets, but it was worth it. Diet is everything.
By diet I do not mean a program to lose weight. I mean a regular supply of calories that are good for you, and no crap calories.
I went to see a dietician, It was rough getting used to the diet, and it was a very long time until I quit craving sweets, but it was worth it. Diet is everything.
By diet I do not mean a program to lose weight. I mean a regular supply of calories that are good for you, and no crap calories.
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I retired 3 years ago at 65. I don't know how I had time to work. I was a carpenter and woodworker for 30 years, and then worked in a gun store for 9 years after my body said no more heavy lifting. Between honey doos, deferred house maintenance and upgrades, gardening and lawn care, hunting, fishing, shooting sports, camping, bicycling, hiking, skiing, etc. my days are pretty filled. The key to staying in shape, as has been mentioned by others, is to stay active. To complicate things for me, I've had 10 surgeries in the last 6 years to recover from. Most were orthopedic (deferred maintenance) that I was able to bounce back from since I wasn't in horrible shape to begin with. Others took more time, but I haven't missed a hunting season yet. Slow and steady works pretty good for me these days, and I have 3 grown sons who show up for every muzzle season and make the heavy lifting look easy. Now if I could just lose 10 more pounds.
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