Building A Better Tiger: Day 1

Starting Weight: 313.2 lbs
Goal Weight: 250 lbs

Starting A1C: 10.1
Goal A1C: 7 or less

So… This is a hard post for me to write. I’m going to start chronicling my journey to become healthier and more fit overall, and that includes some pretty (to me) scathing looks at my lifestyle choices and the like at present.

As much as I’d like to be perfect in how I view my relationship with medicine and food, my lifestyle is anything but. I make poor decisions all the time, often justifying them for this reason or another. I don’t exercise as much as I’d like to, blaming my irregular schedule. I don’t take my medications all the time like I should. My weight keeps ping-ponging between 305 and 315 pounds, and hasn’t dipped below 300 in quite a few years. I hate how my work shirt hangs on my body and hugs every little curve.

For the last 4-6 weeks, I’ve been excitedly awaiting June 1st to switch my diet over to a low carb, high protein diet… And I did nothing tangible to prep for the day. I mean, I did, but there’s no solid plan right now. I’m kind of just flying by the seat of my pants. My sleep schedule was also thrown off yesterday, too, which doesn’t help matters. So it goes. Today is a new day and an opportunity to do better.

I have mixed feelings about gyms and exercise. I do currently have a gym membership with Planet Fitness, mostly because they are one of the cheaper options out there AND they have an incredibly strong culture of not being judgmental. However, they are also 30ish minutes away from home. I’ve been only twice. I keep thinking about discontinuing my membership there because I’m not using the facilities that I’m paying for, but at $20/month, I can justify keeping it. Maybe I’ll get off my tail and go sometime. My main goal, right now, is to keep working on the Zombies, Run! Couch to 5K program that I started. It’s something that I can do in the mornings right after work on either East or West Campus, plus I like listening to Danheim while running/walking with it. So, that’s what I’ll be doing in the months leading up to Pennsic.

Heavy Fighting. This is something else I keep having mixed feelings about. My headspace isn’t where I need it to be when I fight. I know that’s mostly due to not going to practices consistently. I need to figure out a fighting schedule that works for me, whether it’s going to the Grey Gargoyles/Clovenshield Fighter Practice or going to the local Carraig Ban practice. I miss Wednesday night practice, too, but with working Wednesday nights, it’s not really a viable option right now.

Food. For the most part, I try to make good food choices, even when I eat out. It’s hard, though. I’ve got a sweet tooth, and I know it. It’s also difficult to commit the time to doing meal prep each week… But it’s something I need to do to ensure this venture is successful. Portioning, I know, is key. Something else for me to work on. I also REALLY need to start using MyFitnessPal more consistently. I did really well the last time I did… I’m also considering doing the subscription for it so I can track my carbs more easily.

Medications. Generally, I’m pretty good about taking my medications. However, I’m not, also. I often ignore taking my medications on my days off. It’s a bad habit that I need to break. I may need to start using a pill organizer to make sure I’m keeping up on that. I hate taking my insulin, too. Actually, I hate using a needle on myself. It hurts more often than not. I do want to talk to folks and see about getting a Continuous Glucose Monitor so I can keep better track of that.

So, there’s all that. There’s a lot of things I need to work on overcoming to be successful in this venture, but I’m confident I can do it. Hopefully.

There’s also a headspace component to this because I’m basically flying solo in this. Support is distant (literally), so that’s a bit difficult to deal with, but it is what it is. Onward and forward.