There’s also the phrase get to the root of the problem, and pull it out by the roots
Gl saying dig a root to someone in Australia.
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02-Aug-2019: 1736 calories
Went out to dinner and had 2 pints of beer so pretty happy with that. I hope I don’t get hungry later!
Too late I saw it!!!
So I’m going to write a little bit more about what I’m trying to achieve with my weight loss. I didn’t want to start the log with this, because many people have pointed out studies which show that some people get the same satisfaction or reward in a certain part of their brain from planning as they do from achieving. I believe that I’m particularly susceptible to this, so I just wanted to jump in right away working on eating better versus carefully making any future plans and goals.
So having said that, a bit of my background. I grew up skinny as fuck (like 145 pounds at 5’11" in high school) and could never put on much weight. I started rock and ice climbing in my twenties, and got up to about 165 pounds with most of the extra weight muscle. Around the time my daughter was born, I lost several close friends in ice climbing/mountaineering accidents and I quit ice climbing and any serious alpine stuff but continued to rock climb and hike for many years.
It was at that point that my weight started to yoyo all over. Looking at some of my (incomplete) journals, I believe I’ve lost > 50 pounds something like 7 or 8 times. I would lose weight training for a rock climbing trip to Yosemite or JTree, and then put it back on again. I’ve gotten as high as 258 pounds. You can imagine on someone with my frame (165 pounds when fit for rock climbing) how much of that is pure disgusting fat. And the really unhealthy kind of fat around the stomach and probably internal organs.
TBC…
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I can dig some stuff up eventually. I’ve never done any big wall aid climbing Yosemite stuff (the stuff that is now being free climbed and soloed by people with unbelievable skills) but a bunch of easy long alpine routes and shortish crag climbs, mostly in an area called Tuolumne Meadows.
I’ll pop a few quick pics in that I have on the cloud. Most of my stuff is on hard drives and other machines.
Pinnacle Ridge, Mount Washington, NH
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The start of the West Ridge, Mount Conness, Yosemite, CA
We bailed off on this day due to a threat of lightening, but went back and have completed this route a couple of times. And also done the N. Ridge several times.
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I think this is Rainbow Slabs, NH. (Jeez I wore the same climbing clothes for a number of years, lol)
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Starting out from the cave on Standard Route, Frankenstein Cliff, NH in the early morning hours. I can only laugh at the numerous stupid (unsafe) things I’m doing in this pic.
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No my feet are good and I’m in good balance. The biggest safety issue is that I have a daisy chain (a specialized piece of climbing webbing) hanging down in the area of my feet. The daisy chain should have been wrapped around my waist and clipped to my harness to keep it out of the way. Or just not used at all. I could easy have tripped on this the way it’s hanging near my feet.
Second is you can see by the loose rope that I haven’t put in an ice screw or clipped any protection yet. If I had half a brain I would have at least clipped that V thread rappel loop (just to the right of my planted ice tool) before posing for this picture, and then placing an ice screw for pro. I’m risking about a 30’ fall here which on ice usually has a very bad outcome. Incidentally the V thread rappel anchor was created by a guy named Abalakov, who I believe was from Russia or somewhere Eastern Bloc.
Third (and less of an issue) is I have too much shit hanging off me and not organized at all.
Up high on the N. Ridge of Mount Conness, Yosemite, CA. This route is easier than W. Ridge, it’s basically a steep hike (no falls though!) with short spurtz of easy climbing mixed in here and there.
This is a pic of the entire N. Ridge with me in the foreground and the Conness Glacier below the huge east face. The pic above was taken right about where “2” is identified in this pic. The lake way below in the pic above is on the complete other side of the mountain. (These pics came from one of my logs on the old site.)
Ok so back to where I left off before the sidetrack with pics. We’ve established that I used to be fit and then started yoyo’ing when I got less serious about climbing and dropped the winter stuff. In 2013 I got laid off from my long time job and had trouble finding employment. Long story, but I was out of work for 2.5 years with the last year going back to school full time to get my masters.
After graduating with MS I took what I thought would be a short term gig with an excessive commute (70 miles and often 2 hours one way) just to get back on my feet. I’ve done so well there financially that it’s been impossible to leave. However, I had almost no time for exercise and to prepare meals, etc. and blew up to 258 pounds – maybe more but I was too embarrassed to get on a scale at some point. I also started feeling horrible and tired and depressed all the time.
Eventually about 2 years ago I went for a physical where my blood pressure was found to be 210/150 or something really sick like that. After getting on drugs to control the blood pressure I had a series of tests and eventually it was determined that I had bad sleep apnea which was causing me to wake up something like 45 times per hour all night. This basically meant I was getting no real sleep without even realizing it.
TBC…
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Not only I had gotten fat again, but now it was causing serious health problems. I was put on CPAP treatment and that helped further lower my blood pressure enough to reduce my meds by about half of each one. However, I was still exhausted and depressed all the time and not able to lose weight. One of the meds (metoprolol) has side effects of tiredness, depression, weight gain, and sex time issues, etc. so my real goal here is to get the weight down enough to try getting completely off the metoprolol in case that is causing the tiredness and depression.
Additionally, my doctor thinks if I get my weight back to 175 pounds I stand a good chance of getting off the CPAP machine. Although I have no problem using the CPAP, unlike a lot of people who cannot tolerate the treatment, it would still be nice to be done with it.
My blood recently has also tested near or in the pre-diabetic zone, which is also kind of alarming and something that most people can turn around with diet and weight loss.
I’m now able to work from home twice per week so I only have to do that awful commute a few times per week, which should also help.
So my goals are to get off metoprolol, maybe get off the CPAP treatment, and definitely get my blood sugar under control and avoid diabetes. It would also be nice to trail run, hike, and rock climb again.
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The end.
You can do it bro!
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03-Aug-2019: 1389 calories
I’m set up for a great week. Hit the farmers market this morning. This is close to peak season in NH for local veggies. It only lasts for several weeks here where you can get so many different things. Today got wax beans, green peppers, cauliflower, several different lettuces, plum tomatoes and some heirloom tomatoes, Japanese eggplant, basil, bread, spicy mustard, eggs, and fresh buffalo mozzarella. We’ll get corn later in the week at a farmstand because we like to get it the same day we’re going to eat it. Only thing is I couldn’t find any local fruit or berries.
Also went to the market today and got fresh cod, flounder (which is hard to find these days), and scallops.
Tomorrow I’m going to do some food prep for the week. Only challenge is Monday night I have a business dinner, but I’m going to look at the menu ahead of time and then try to stick to 2 glasses of wine and/or beers.
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I felt bad tempting you with junk food emoticons.