At the end of July, while moving into the new house, I hurt my back. Nothing too serious, some cyclobenzaprine and naproxen along with a healthy dose of sitting on my ass, and in a few weeks its pretty much back to normal.
The importance of this event isn't in my getting hurt, but rather, that it gave me plenty of time and reason to think about how out of shape I've gotten.
Back in high school I was pretty physically active, between riding my bike everywhere (the time before wheels), weight-lifting and phys-ed classes, Karate, and soccer. Up until I started graduate school, I kept physically demanding jobs, working at UPS as a box handler, climbing windmills working for GE, and working at the Clovis fire department. While in college, I still rode my bike regularly, trained in Judo, and spent a lot of time working outdoors on landscaping and gardening.
Then... I started grad school. I've said a lot of bad things about being a grad student (Scientists have found that graduate school is the cure for having friends), but a lot of my problems with being in grad school are my own fault, or just the result of bad choices. One of the things that has happened, is that for the last three years (really? three years?), I have rarely exercised. I've refused to live close to the school, because its in a bad neighborhood, and on the campus itself, I'm only typically in lab. Living so far from the school, I haven't even had a bike for the last 3 years. A few times per day, I need to go up or down stairs, but usually its 5 or 6 floors, so I find myself taking the elevator rather than bothering climbing the stairs myself.
I haven't taken any sports or martial arts classes, partially because this university doesn't have any courses other than scientific/medical related, and partially because I haven't dedicated the time to get off campus at night to work out.
With three years of inactivity, it shouldn't have surprised me that I put on some weight. When I went to student health to have my back checked, I weighed in at 243 pounds. That's 25 pounds heavier than I thought I was, and 50 pounds heavier than I was at my most fit (working for UPS at 19). Even imagining that somehow, I've thickened up or put on extra muscle... I'm downright tubby. 243 pounds!
Weight aside, what really scared me was seeing my blood pressure at 140/98. Being 27 years old, and with a family history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease, those numbers scared me quite a bit. Since then, I purchased a BP cuff to monitor myself at home, to see whether the high BP was a trend, or as I suspect now, because I was in pain while at the doc's office. From what I can tell, I typically run between 105-120/60-75. All of these were done at night, sitting down for at least 5 minutes, not near a meal. I should test morning and during the day as well, but I can't bring myself to drag the BP cuff to work every day.
Between these two things, my increase in weight, and my BP scare, I decided that it was finally time to get off my ass and work out. The problem is, I'm not big into exercising for exercise sake. I can't stand working out in the gym. The closest I come to enjoying being in the gym is climbing on a rock wall, or being in the dojo. I don't feel like I have the time to dedicate to a martial arts class (and I keep finding myself busy on Tuesday nights when my fellow Nidan labmate works out), so I figured that I should find something that I enjoy doing, and try to stick with it.
Enter: the bicycle. As I mentioned, through high school and college, I rode my bike constantly as cheap and fun transportation. I've never ridden just for the work-out, but I figured that I enjoy it enough to see whether I can stick with it. So, I headed to the big box store, got a bike, helmet, lights, etc..., and went for a ride the next day.
When you decide after three years of inactivity, that you are tired of feeling old, fat, and out of shape... riding a bike for an hour makes you feel old, fat, and out of shape.
I've been waking up early to bike at 6:00AM since August 23. I've missed several days, but I've been trying to go for an hour per day, every day. From 6 miles at first (yeah, I know... slow), to 10 this morning, I've made a little bit of progress. I'm still trying to figure out how to properly set up my bike (luckily, my next door neighbor was a competitive cyclist for 30 years... so I might have some good help if I asked).
Along with riding, I've been working to healthify my diet. It hurts to say that... I've always hated health food and the health food mentality. The correlation between health food nuttiness and snobby/I'm better than you attitudes in others just puts me off. However, I think at this point, I'm just hurting myself if I don't take more care with my diet.
I've been eating a lot of yogurt lately (I really like the stuff), with granola (typically, I can't stand it, but it works well with the spoiled milk). I'll be trying to phase out red meat for more chicken (stupid, tasty cows!). I'll be working to snack on more nuts (unsalted) and fruit, and trying to take in more leafy greens.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to take all the health food. I like red meat. With fat on it. I like sweets. And cream. And real butter. And bacon. Baaacoooon...
So, if anyone has good food ideas, especially replacements for the savory goodness of red meat and bacon, post me a comment!
So... I got the BP cuff. I'm eating better. I'm exercising. I haven't mentioned whether or not I'm actually losing any weight, because I don't have a scale. I guess I'll see about updating when I have an idea as to whether or not I'm actually burning off my extra tubby.
Reinforcement, either negative (hey, you're still a tubby bitch) or positive (good job, looking good), is greatly appreciated.
In other news... I might be working on one of these:
Found over at <a href="http://ambulancedriverfiles.com">Ambulance Driver'sa>, and linked out to instructables.
Ambulance Driver is participating in the Kilted to Kick Cancer fundraiser, and while I think I might be a bit late in the game to join in the fun/ridiculousness of it all... I'm gonna try anyways.
Wish me luck!
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