Before we get into Project: 2016 , I feel it's important that you get to know me; a few things I've gone through, and where I'm at - both physically, and mentally.
Lets back up to about 6 years ago (around 2010). A relationship I was in ended, and that's when I began my spiral of letting myself go - summarized, a made a lot of poor health decisions in regards to food and alcohol consumption. Then there was going out with friends for karaoke and drinks. Add work into the routine, then rinse and repeat. Periodically during the next 3 years I kept talking about working out, etc.. etc.. etc.. In 2013 I finally had some good motivation to sign up for, and tackle DDP Yoga (http://ddpyoga.com) - this turned out to be one of greatest endeavors I've ever pursued, as far as I'm concerned. It is such a life changing system and community. I managed to heal up my back and knees , both of which were causing me a lot of pain, especially in the mornings; and I managed to drop 40lbs in about 3-4 months (247 lbs to 207 lbs) from just clean eating and the DDP Yoga workout! ....then I moved in with my girlfriend at the time, and my routines, time frames, eating habits - you name it - changed, for the worse, both physically and mentally. Yes, I know, excuses - just remember, you weren't there (and I'm omitting a lot of details). One thing led to another, and I ended up spending a lot of my time on the computer playing video games; I spent a lot of time playing on my smart phone and tablet(s). Know what else I did? I screwed up my thumbs and wrists - due to what I just listed up above, plus some poor ergonomic decisions at work. The best guess diagnosis of my thumbs / wrists was: De Quervain's tendinosis . Believe me, it's not pleasant. The treatment that I was given: "You need to just rest your hands. Quit using them for a while." Ummm, I work in IT, on the Service Desk, I can barely go 30min at work w/out using them in a manner that aggravates things. How bad was it? I could not lean on my hands; I could barely pick up objects that in my mind aren't that heavy; and my grip suffered significantly - it was difficult to squeeze certain stress balls.
About 2 years later, Spring of 2016 - I've been out on my own again for about a year at this point. Well, the pain was starting to get significantly bad in my hands - despite wearing various types of splints. I was ready to give up and have a surgery to fix things - but there was one method I had yet to utilize in researching my dilemma: YouTube. That's right, search for that diagnosis on YouTube and you'll find a lot of gold in regards to how to remedy it! Everyone stating the same thing: "The doctors told me to rest my hands, but it wasn't helping." I found two great nuggets on there: a rehab routine, that includes a special "Hellraiser" looking glove, and a joint inflammation pill (Osteo Tri-Flex) that others have noted as having amazing results from. About the time I discovered all of this, I also came under some new motivation to start working out again, and slowly started outlining some goals - both short term and long term.
Starting March 10th, @ 233-235 lbs:
- (Short Term) Lose 20-30 lbs in the next two months (by May 10th)
- (Middle Term) Rehab my hands back to the point that I can do push-ups (plural)
- (Long Term) Be at least as fit as the guys a friend of mine now calls ex's
I dove in head first and hard into the exercise bike at the gym. BAD move. After a few days of what I was doing, I thought I had managed to dehydrate myself...naw, it was just a wicked case of fatigue, which basically sidelined me for a week. So, I took some advice from a friend, and started over, slowly. I would go for what turned out to be just over a 2 mile walk (home to video store and back home). I tried to do this every day after work - eventually doing significantly longer walks on the weekend. After a bit I started trying to jog to work - wasn't making it very far before needing to walk. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I discovered another great workout "system" - well, rediscovered is a better way of putting it. Calisthenics - or "street workout". Queue, the Bar Bros , yes, their videos on YouTube got my attention (along with a few others at first). My goals slowly started changing, and my determination grew as well.
New goals (in addition to the others above), and always being modified:
- (Short Term) Lose 10 lbs /mo, until my body hits a stable point (believe me, I have a bit to go)
- (Med-Long Term) Rehab my hands back to the point of doing 20+ push ups
- (Med-Long Term) Be able to knock out multiple pull-up exercises of various types
- (Long Term) Be able to do the "human flag"
- (Long Term) Be able to do planches (did I verbalize that properly?)
I was getting to the point of jogging all the way to work - I still had about 20 feet or so I needed to walk / catch my breath a bit, but that is monumental for me! (the distance I'm referring to is roughly 3/4 of a mile) .... Annnnnnd I got sick. No exercising allowed - I got a bad case of the runs; I didn't tackle that very well and spent a little over a week dealing with the ramifications. Eventually got over it, and slowly back to my routines. I started jogging during my lunch break at work, forgoing the after work walks as I had too much stuff going on after work at this point.
Two months after starting this new journey, on May 8th, 2016, after a 2 mile jog (and sporadic walking), I was down to 214.6 lbs. As far as I'm concerned, with everything I went through, my first goal was achieved. The other day I did 10 full push ups - well, to the best of my ability (the form for my arms wasn't the greatest, but it did the trick and I didn't cripple myself - initial goal #2, mostly achieved). Now, a big chunk of the motivation for this blew up in my face just a bit - and I am trying to stay focused on the bigger picture and get back on track with my eating and exercising. Oh yea... my jogging I had been doing, I was either wearing hiking boots (smart right?) or some old sneakers that really don't provide the right support for running. Yea...I'm sure you can see where this is going.. My knees feel like they have been hammered on - really, they feel bruised. I now have a nice pair of running shoes, and am working on healing my knees up. Just a tad bit of a rocky road at the moment...
Back to the point of my intro at the top...
"How is this not anything like what I thought?" .... Take a look at the bigger picture. I've been sharing my progress with a few friends / coworkers. A couple of them expressed how my determination has motivated and inspired them. That, really is the point of all this; well, that and I want to use this platform to motivate myself, and share my progress with others, including those I've lost touch with years ago. I want to share my ups and downs in hopes that it will help motivate others to put their nose to the grindstone and persevere through their own dark tunnels. By doing this, it will help keep me at least somewhat accountable and on track. My initial thoughts were to do monthly updates - but maybe that will change...weekly updates may help keep myself at task for achieving my goals a lot better.
I am getting leaner. I am getting fitter. I am healing. I am getting stronger.
Determination, motivation, perseverance. It's time to get it done!
March 2014
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May 2016
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