The 300

All my adult life I have struggled trying to control my weight. It seems like when I turned 18, my metabolism came to a screeching halt. When I played sports in high school, and that was all the time, I never even gave a second thought to staying in shape. We did a calorie counting actvity in one of my classes, and with all the sports and work at home (cleaning the barn, splitting wood, etc.) I was burning 4500 calories per day. All that changed when I went to college. My one PE class that I was taking twice a week was nowhere close to enough activity to keep me in shape and I really didn't have time to do anything else. Between classes, studying, and work, I didn't even take the time to learn what I could do to exercise without organized sports.

Gaining weight was a slow process, and I wasn't really aware of the problem until my 10-year class reunion, when I weighed in at 307 pounds. I was the only one in my entire class who had "let themselves go," so to speak. When I returned home, I started looking for something I could do to exercise. As an avid comic book reader I had always been interested in martial arts, so I looked into taking Karate. I threw myself into Karate, going to classes four days a week and traveling to tournaments on weekends. I actually won a couple of trophies for forms and sparring. I enjoyed the competition and the discipline. I won the most dedicated student award in 1994, having not missed a class for an entire year. I even went to the kids' classes to help out with them. That appealed to the teacher in me. When one of the school's black belt participants returned after a long absense, I was the one who gave him his refresher course on the required kata (memorized techniques in sequence) so he could participate in class. All told, I did karate for two and a half years, until I moved away from Michigan City, where I lived at the time. I ended up at sankyu, or the lowest of the three degrees of brown belt in my school's system. I would have been a black belt in about one more year had I stayed. At the end of my Karate experience I was down to about 250 pounds, and felt great. But after that, the weight came back, and then some.

Now, years later, I am bicycling. I don't have time (or the cartilege in my knees) to do Karate. With a lot of work last year, I dropped from 340 pounds down to a low of 282. I love biking. I really do. I love how the wind cools me no matter how hot it is and that I actually go somewhere as a result of the exercise. I will ride for miles outside and shoot for an average speed as a goal. I typically aim for 16 mph and try to maintain that speed for at least 30 minutes. I ride around the neighborhoods and subdivisions around us where there is little traffic. It's what I look forward to when I'm sitting in my summer school classroom.

But now that it's winter and there's snow on the ground, I'm stuck on a trainer that elevates my rear wheel and resists it magnetically. I can watch TV while I pedal, but I don't get the same level of workout. My speedometer is on my front wheel, which is fixed, so I have no idea how fast I'm going.

The holidays are fun, and I take an occasional break from dieting so I don't just quit altogether. This year, Christmas, combined with vacation and enjoying the food and drink took its toll. Chocolate Mint Truffle coffee creamer really got me at 45 calories per tablespoon! I slipped back up to 299.6 despite still working out 3-5 times a week on break and was not happy. I swore to myself that when I lost that weight, I would never be 300 pounds again. So now, I'm working out even harder while watching action movies on DVD, so I get caught up in the excitement and work harder. My only measure of how hard I work is how much I sweat. I may have to get a pulse monitor so I can have numbers to work with. The good thing about numbers is that they don't lie, and they keep me honest as well.

Wish me luck in my battle against the 300.

Ride Like the Wind

10.77 miles in 42 minutes, 10 seconds this morning for an average of 15.3 miles per hour. All on five hours of sleep! I think I'll have breakfast and take a nap.

Working It

Yesterday I did 7.65 miles in 30 minutes in 90+ degree weather. That's an average of 15.3 miles per hour. I have to explain this since 71% of adults can't even calculate miles per gallon. I blame the math teachers.

A Loser Again!

After a six-week plateau, I was down to 282 pounds this morning, a loss of four since last week. After cooking dinner and putting Sera to bed, I had the hardest 30-minute ride yet. I did 7.5 miles, which means I hit my target average of 15 miles per hour, which included a mile of construction zone with loose gravel and rocks. When you're feeling down, endorphines seem to be the way to go.

Still Not Losing

I'm stuck. I bought a new bathroom scale and it's making me mad. I figured that it was going to give me a different result than the scale I had been using during the school year, but I was going to simply use whatever it said as a new baseline and move on from there. Oddly enough, it gave me the same result as my May 4 weigh-in: 286. Since this scale uses increments of 0.2 pounds, I'll even throw in the exact weight: 286.2 pounds. Okay, not so bad. My weight hasn't changed in about 40 days or so. I'm still working out every day, and controlling what I eat. I can look at this as a new starting point and move on, right? Well, I stepped on the scale this morning and guess what it said? 286.2. The same exact thing. I guess it's not so bad, since yesterday we had a cookout (more on that later) and I probably ate the equivalent of a quarter cow or something, but I would have thought the scale would at least have a different number.

I guess I'm going to have to increase the intensity of my workouts or just work out longer. I can spare an hour a day now, but I don't know what I will do when regular school is back in session. I can tell you right now that I'm not getting up at 4:00 AM!

Before and After

What a difference nine months can make!

Ten more miles today, riding down to the park where I play disc golf and back, and then scouting garage sales in the nearby neighborhood where every street is named after either game birds or the dogs that hunt them.

Disc Golf

I've been playing disc golf for 20 years now, on and off. My buddy Eric introduced me to the game when I moved to Michigan City back in 1989, and we spent many an enjoyable day at Madeline Bertrand park in Niles, Michigan. For those not familiar with the game, basically you throw rubber discs, sort of like Frisbees but with much slimmer profiles and more mass toward a goal consisting of a basket suspended from a metal pole with link chains hanging from the top to catch the disc. You try to use the minimum number of throws to get the disc in the goal, and the lower your score the better.

I hadn't played in a few years, but my recent surge of activity has gotten me out to play quite a few rounds already this year. We've played Wilson Park, Madeline Bertrand Park, and I've played Ferettie-Baugo Creek three times this week. It helps that Ferettie-Baugo Creek is right by my house, and I bought a season pass so I can play all summer long for $30. The courses by us are typically a mile or so long when you add up the hole distances, and the game provides a very nice walk in the woods. Some of the holes go through narrow groves of trees, and some cover 600 feet of open space.

It's going to be interesting to see if I can get back to the form I had when I was stronger ten years ago and to see if accuracy can overcome age!

Not Losing?

Ten days after my last weigh in, I'm still at 286. Not bad, considering I didn't work out while camping and we ate either in restaurants or at carnivals for all three days. Elephant ears and Eggs Benedict are not really considered health food, I'm told. Now it's time to focus on losing again, though.

Some of my colleagues and I are going to the Tigers game in Detroit on July 11, and that will include a stop at Cabela's to buy a school wardrobe that will fit. I've been wearing pants that are four inches too large in the waist for weeks now. I hope I haven't stabilized already and that I'm just at a plateau brought on by a three-day break from my routine.

Losing, Losing, Losing

Down to 286 this morning. I've lost 30 pounds since coming back to school after winter recess, 56 pounds lighter than my heaviest.

I rode my bike outside yesterday, enjoying the beautiful weather as well as an exciting Tigers game that I listened to on my BlackBerry Storm. Despite a late night, I still rode this morning while watching the second episode of my new guilty pleasure, Castle.

Zero Sum Game

Well, I weighed in this morning at the nurse's office and I have lost the 4.5 pounds that I gained over spring break. It took me two weeks, but I'm back down to 290 and still following my eating habits and exercise routine. It's funny, because I'm not suffering at all. I even had ice cream two or three times last week after dinner. Hudsonville Creamery's Grand Traverse Bay Cherry Fudge is teh awesome! It's amaretto-flavored ice cream with pieces of cherry and fudge swirls in it. But I digress.

Another pleasant side effect of the exercise and subsequent weight loss is a drop in blood pressure. While I was in the nurse's office already, weighing in, I decided to have her check it. Lower than normal. I had her check it again. Lower still. I called my doctor, but as usual he didn't want to see me. Instead he gave me a new prescription for half the dose of my blood pressure medication. After three days on half the usual dosage, I had the nurse check it again this morning. Still low! The great thing about that is that the lower dosage has a generic version, so my insurance co-pay went from $35 per month to $10 per month. Between that difference and my not needing my asthma medication anymore (cardiovascular workouts make you breathe more efficiently--who knew?) I'm saving $60 per month on medications that I used to take. A year of that will pay off my bicycle, which is how I got here in the first place.

Wow!

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The one on the left was taken on December 31. The one on the right was Wednesday night. I never really saw it for myself (outside of how my clothes fit) until this week.

I got outside to ride today, and despite the brisk wind, it was a beautiful day. I rode 6.6 miles in 30 minutes. What it showed me was just how light my indoor workouts have been. It felt great to work hard. I think I'll lose even faster now if the weather holds up. And once the sun stays out until 8:30, I can ride at night after Sera goes to bed. There are just way too many car/bike accidents here to ride at night, despite the fact that I have all the necessary lights.

Again, A Loser!

As of Wednesday, I'm at 294.5 pounds. That's 21.5 pounds since the new year, and 45.5 pounds down from my all-time high. It's going to be warm enough tomorrow to bike outside, and I couldn't be happier!! Biking inside while watching TV is fun, but getting out into the sun and wind is what I'm craving after a long, cold winter.

Still Losing!

Yes, for the first time in 15 years, I am under 300 pounds. I weighed in this morning as part of our local "Biggest Loser" competition at 299.5 pounds. Woohoo!

I have to say that my Tuesday and Thursday workouts are my favorites because I can watch the best shows recorded on the DVR. Tuesday mornings I get to watch "Big Bang Theory" and "How I Met Your Mother," and Thursdays I get to watch "Lost" from the night before. Looking forward to tomorrow's ride already!

Stuff to Do

I have a few things to do this weekend. First, I need to start a new blog. There is a growing list of math teacher blogs and I want to contribute my two cents and change. This isn't the place to really do that, since most of my friends probably do not care about math teaching, at least as much as I do, and I don't want to bore you. I am also going to use it for the development of my book project. I am ready to start putting out images and ideas to get them out in public before someone else does them first.

Second, I need to work on my web presence. I have a deviantart.com account that has a few of my pictures up but I want to have more. I have dozens if not hundreds of pictures to add. I want to get some of my photographs up there, too. I need to get my eBay store restocked, too. I have some 50,000 comics that need to be sold and they're not selling themselves.

Just as I have written in my blog every day (some days I am more prolific than others, but I'm working 11 hour days and working out for an hour every morning, so time is limited) I think I want to try to discipline myself to draw something every day, too. Cory Walker, co-creator of Invincible, does this every day on his blog and I really enjoy seeing what he comes up with. Mike Wieringo used to do this every other day and I lived for what he did. Now that I have a scanner again, I can get my stuff online in a matter of five minutes.

I also want to read...just to sit down and read for a couple of hours. I just picked up three trade paperbacks of X-Men First Class, the newly-created adventures of the original five X-Men when they first formed the team. I got an oversized tabloid edition of the first four issues at Target last year and really liked them.

I need to watch tonight's episode of "Dollhouse" tomorrow morning while I ride my bike (I should be in the 290s by next week, down from a high of 340 last summer, by the way). I hope the second episode is better than the pilot. I like Joss Whedon, but the pilot left me a little flat. This whole exercising while watching TV thing has just been wonderful.

I need to get some dishes done, make pancakes for Sera's breakfast tomorrow, and cook on the grill. We got ground beef on sale at our butcher shop today, and I want to make the most of it.

You know, when all is said and done I really have a great life! Let's see what I can get done.

The Big Loser

Well, I've been losing weight since Christmas Eve, when my tooth pain flared up and I could barely eat for two weeks. After the tooth was taken care of, I started watching carefully what I eat and exercising each day (except Sunday). So far, I've dropped about 20 pounds or so. I'm down to just over 300, which seems like more than it is until you realize that I'm 6'4" tall. It's not just weight that I've lost, though. It's inches too. I can no longer wear the jeans I've been wearing for the past year. They literally fell off me on Friday when I dressed for casual day at school. Today while shopping, I had to keep pulling them up, and when I tried to tighten my belt, I discovered that I was already on the tightest notch. Inspired by this and my wife's comment that my shirt looked empty, I went upstairs and tried on some older clothes that hadn't fit in a long time. I'm proud to say that I have lost an entire shirt size!

This is exciting to me on several levels. First of all, I feel healthier, with more energy than I've had in some time. Second, I know it's sustainable. It really isn't that hard to get on my bike in the morning and watch DVR-recorded shows from the night before. I've also learned enough about cooking over the past 20 years that I know how to prepare food that I both like and are not bad for me. Third, if I can get down to a 2XL shirt size, which I haven't worn since around 1993, I can save all kinds of money on clothes, not to mention the fact that it opens a world of possibilities because more types of clothes are available in that size. I'd really like to be able to wear a comic book t-shirt to a convention or a Tigers jersey that doesn't look like a hot air balloon to Comerica Park. It's also going to be easier to get camping gear, because 300 pounds seems to be the magic number as far as capacity for camp chairs, loungers, and bed frames.

I'm not sure what my ultimate goal will be. I've seen several sources that say that 210 pounds is the ideal weight for a large-framed man at my height. I've got bad news for these sources. I was 210 pounds when I graduated from high school and I was rail-thin. I think I'll just stick to the 2XL shirt size as my goal, no matter what the scale says.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't believe in them. Never have, never will. If there's a decision important enough that it will actually affect your life, then don't wait until some arbitrary calendar change to implement it. That said, however, I'm all about setting goals and the new year is as good a time as any to do so. I'm setting a couple of goals starting today. I'm going to write a post every day for a year. I just noticed how light my posting has been this year, and I think I can do better. I've used this blog to do a lot of things: to sell comics, to let my family and friends know how we are, to reflect on life and things that I enjoy. I'm going to continue to do that. But I want to become a more disciplined writer. Something happens to me each and every day that is notable. I want to make it my task to make those things sound interesting. So, if my blog starts to read more like a diary, there's a reason for it. I won't mind if you skip over the self-important ramblings when they eventually come along...next!

Vacation has been interesting, to say the very least. Right before we left school, I had a few chest pains. I was scared, to say the least. My friend Barry Winston died two years ago today from a heart attack at age 36, and comic book artist Mike Wieringo died a year ago August at age 44, the same age I am now. I immediately scheduled, with my doctor's advice, a stress echocardiogram to check for artery blockages. Unfortunately, the earliest they could get me in was December 30. So there I sat, scared that every day was going to be my last with my family. If that doesn't get your priorities straight, I don't know what will. The test came out fine, by the way. Dr. Lee said, "Good, strong heart," and gave me a thumbs up before he left. I'm still being extra conscientious about sodium intake and my diet. Throw a little exercise in, which I was doing great with until snow started falling, and I'll be working to reverse any blockage that there may be. I want to be around to see my little girl grow up.

On Christmas Eve, as I (or rather, the Big Elf) was putting together Sera's toy kitchen, I developed a toothache in the broken tooth on which I had a root canal at the beginning of school. It was agonizing enough that I started taking my leftover painkillers and begged my dentist to see me when I called on the 26th. Unfortunately, his entire staff was out of town and my oral surgeon was on vacation as well. I couldn't get it taken care of until yesterday. This tooth was decayed because of my wisdom tooth being impacted against it, so this makes five teeth I've had to have pulled in the past 13 months through no fault of my own. I don't even have any cavities in my other teeth.

We've been completely broke for most of three weeks now. We took care of our families and friends, and that left less than nothing for ourselves until we get paid tomorrow. It's about now that I'm kicking myself for not getting my master's degree sooner so I could get paid more. But, I've had other priorities that, going back, I really wouldn't change. The difference in pay is $12,000 a year, so it's going to become a priority now that our family is complete.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I am writing a book. This isn't a pipe dream like you hear a lot of people talk about, but an actual book that is well on its way to completion. It's a math book for kids the age that I teach. It's also for teachers of those kids, because it includes activities that can be left as sub plans with their own easy-to-follow instructions. It could also serve to help parents who home-school their children,not that I support home-schooling. Everyone to whom I have shown the completed pages says that it's a sure thing. Let's hope they're right. My niece is doing the artwork for the book, and what I've seen so far really inspires me to get this thing done. My goal is to have it done by the end of summer and then to begin my master's degree program in the fall. I don't want to reveal anything specific about the book here in public. But if you email me privately and I know you already, I will be happy to show you some pages.

Here's hoping that this year brings health, joy and prosperity to all of our lives!

Breaking Away

I've had my bicycle for 14 days, and so far it is a total success for me! There were two days last week that I didn't ride because it was in the shop being fitted for our trailer hitch (and I was in Detroit to see the Tigers) and two days this week because school was about to start and I didn't leave work until almost 9:00 PM. Even with just riding for 10 of those 14 days, I have put 51 miles in so far, with a total of about 4.6 hours on the bike.

I'm learning a lot about the neighborhood I live in. There are about five good subdivisions to ride in; the main roads are way too busy for my tastes. One of the subdivisions is called Pheasant Pointe. It has street names that just crack me up. All the street names are either named after pheasants, or the dogs who hunt them. It also just happens to be the home of about seven South Bend and Mishawaka police officers. I see their cars everywhere.

I've only taken Sera in the trailer once so far, but she seemed to enjoy it.

My New Ride

After my recent bike ride around Mackinac Island, I was thrilled. I had discovered a way to get exercise that I really enjoyed. I had purchased the Jeep Overland Stroller for Sera and me to go walking but my lower back was just killing me over time. So to find an exercise that didn't cause severe back pain while being on vacation was a great bonus for me!

When we got home from vacation, I started shopping online for a bicycle. I found a couple that were reasonably priced, but Magi suggested that I visit our local bicycle shop, House of Bicycles. She sure was right!

I hadn't had a bike that wasn't a Huffy since I was old enough to ride a two-wheeler, and my last bike was a ten-speed that I bought during my senior year in college that didn't even make it through a summer before I returned it because the nuts that needed to be turned to adjust the brakes kept snapping. It was not well-made. There have been several advances in bicycles since 1987, apparently.

The bikes I had been looking at had 19" frames, and the one that the owner of House of Bicycles picked out for me to try had a 22" frame. I liked it well enough, but it was black and green, which I didn't really care for. The next one he picked out was even bigger, a 23" frame Raleigh hybrid with a 24-speed Shimano deraileur that was electric blue. He adjusted the seat for me, took the time to explain how and why the seat could be adjusted to way higher than I would have ever done for myself and then helped me pick out the right accessories for it by asking me what I would be using it for.

There's really something to be said for customer service in local specialty shops. I bought my camera the same way from a place in Elkhart. No matter the problem, I can always go talk to a person with expertise who is happy to answer and help me in any way they can. The people at this store are the same way. They guided me in the right direction and built me a bike to last. They made sure that I got fenders to protect my clothes should I decide to ride to work (measured today at 7.5 miles, but along scary roads with lots of traffic--maybe not) and a cargo rack with webbing to keep my stuff from falling off. I got a headlight and taillight, an electronic speedometer/odometer and, of course, a water bottle and mount.

I picked the bike up at 6:00 last night, and by my second ride at 8:30 this morning I had already ridden ten miles, all without pain. I had to have them make one adjustment, raising the handlebars a little so I could sit straighter in the saddle, but otherwise everything has been perfect. It's great to feel the wind evaporate the sweat instantly as I ride. I can ride longer without overheating, my knees and back feel great, and I get my pulse rate up for a good long time. This may be the answer I've been looking for!

Now, does anyone want a lightly-used Jeep Overland Stroller at a reasonable price?