Starting Over

A recent visit to my doctor–well, the doctor in place of my vacationing regular doctor–woke me up to something that I’ve known all along.

Despite losing 20 lbs. since my last visit, I’m overweight. Really overweight. Not exactly mou-mou-and-fat-guy-hat overweight but still enough to wake my ass up and whip myself into shape. It’s what I need to do.

In addition to a better diet, which includes eating much more fruit and absolutely no fast food, she suggested that I get more sleep which could explain the lack of recent posts. (Sorry, all.) I’ve been trying to get to bed–or at least in bed–by 10 pm every night. Being a night owl, this is unusual for me but it’s something I must do. There’s more to all of this and it will be revealed in time.

So I’ve committed myself to two simple rules in order to lose the 1-2 lbs. a week my doctor pro tem suggested: eat less and exercise more. I even cleaned off my exercise machine that had recently been transformed into a clothes rack. Yes, it’s serious this time.

How serious? I also bought two pairs of Reebok running shoes and use said shoes to walk the following circuitous path during lunch:

Beginning from that arbitrary red blob near the center of the picture, the entire route is a little over a mile and can easily be completed in 15 minutes. Yep, I get back to work a little more drippy than I’d like but my desk fan takes care of that in a matter of minutes. And to be perfectly honest, it’s been years since I had a really good pair of running/walking shoes and when one has a 40% off coupon for the Reebok store at the local outlet, one stocks up. Considering I still walk to and from the train and work and walk with the family down to the school playground when I get home, I’m easily walking at least two miles a day. Not bad for a fat guy.

So keep an eye on my Traineo gauge as it will be updated once again. In fact, it’s dropped a few pounds since my visit to the doctor.

Other news: the garage is clean! While we still can’t fit a car in there, it’s a hell of a lot better than it was. The next step is to clean out the old cabinets, demolish them and buy or fabricate new ones. It will serve as an extra room when it’s done, with computer, TV, exercise equipment and new electrical outlets. The joys of home improvement never end.