Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The making of an action hero pt29

Entry #28. Some days you can win the battle but lose the war. That’s about how I feel today. Friday was a challenge which I met and conquered. I weighed in that morning at 286 pounds. The doctor clocked me as losing 17 pounds since April and 38 pounds since July 2012. I ended up averaging well under 290 for the week and hitting my goal for the day. My cholesterol dropped more than 30 points since last time, cutting to 191. Thursday my foot began acting up, again, which rendered exercising difficult. I persevered, but not without a great deal of soaking and stretching. Still, a victory hard fought and won. The brunette lost weight and ended up with better blood pressure than me…I’m going to have to work on that. We left there, hit target for a few essentials and one of my rewards for averaging under 290 for a week, a new nurf blaster. I will review some of the nurf products in a future post, but let’s just say that grabbing a dart launcher capable of mounting a rotating caddy with up to eight magazines is awesome. The walk over to the shopping center for lunch proved challenging both because of having to walk cross country and because I hadn’t actually done that route in a few years. I kept making mistakes, misremembering things, and having to say over-and-over again that the brunette was right. She loved it, me, not so much. We met up with WMTrainguy for lunch at our favorite Japanese steak house. They have a $10.99 all you can eat sushi bar as well as the normal hibachi options. Since we got there early, I ordered a beer and a Philadelphia roll—smoked salmon, avocado, cream cheese, and rice. At that point I hadn’t eaten anything in over 24 hours. The tender salmon, soy sauce and wasabi, perfectly blended textures and flavors, all in contrast to the crisp Sapporo exploded onto my pallet. It was truly glorious. The staff there likes us, probably because we bring them a lot of business and because we really enjoy eating there. Ever have a perfect meal? Something so good that it redefines the definition of fine dining? That’s how I felt about that sushi. It must have showed, because the hostess kept bringing us more and more rolls on the house—I suspect just to replicate the process of lifting me to nirvana. It was so good that I passed on filet and went with the sushi bar and another beer. We returned home to do some reading and work with the cleaning lady to organize our apartment. We went through all of our DVDs, culling out the ones we can send to DVD swap. It turns out I have 3 of four ultimate James Bond collector sets. I’m going to be watching a lot of bond in the next couple months. It’s nice to put your house in order, literally. We have a long way to go before our home is a picture of tasteful elegance, but things are moving in that direction. That evening agent Squish and I went to a gathering of friends for dinner and socializing. I had a bowl of chili and a few beers. I spent the evening out on the porch watching one of our acquaintances inexpertly hit on another acquaintance. That was where the mischief started. The two beers at lunch were fine. The three beers and mixed drink I had with dinner were excessive. There was no hang over, no sickness, I just felt bad Saturday morning. The truth is that I brought a six pack of duckpin IPA as a courtesy—growing up in the South; you don’t go to meals at other peoples’ homes empty handed. I didn’t have to bring that beer. The brunette and I are part of a larger circle of friends that take it in turns hosting these weekly dinners. We put our dues in every time we help Squish and the Jew host. I did it anyway and ended up drinking more than I should have; not because I got drunk, I was only a bit buzzed throughout the evening, not because I couldn’t afford the calories, but because those last few beers went down more as reflex than because I was particularly interested. This reinforces my commitment to only bring alcohol to special events. That poor decision set the tone for the rest of the weekend, a trend I’m not proud of. Saturday was the first day I hadn’t worked out in two weeks. My foot was killing me and we had to get dressed up for a wedding early. I put on a black suit, red shirt, and gray and red striped tie. Deathquaker and the brunette, looking fabulous, escorted me to the nuptials celebration. We got there five minutes late due to traffic and ended up missing the first third of the ceremony. After that, we retired to a local eatery for the reception. There we were served heaping plates of breakfast fair, including eggs benedict, bacon, fruit, and a bagel. The food was excellent. Although the reception was a little disorganized, everything ended well. We reconnected with some old friends and got to wish the bride and groom a happy life together. By the time we got home my back was killing me and my foot was worse. This happened because I sat in a car for almost four hours and because my old dress shoes offer little support. I can fight through discomfort. I can deal with pain. Chronic, ongoing pain saps your will though. I spent Sunday reading swords of exodus, medicating, stretching, and soaking where needed. I managed a short workout that evening. By that point I was really feeling the lack of exercise. You wouldn’t think one day off would matter that much. But with the lax diet those past few days, the issues with my back and foot, and with me on anti-inflamitories and pain killers, exercise was high on my list of priorities. Monday, MX and Squish came over for lunch. I made the group Italian sandwiches with Kiser rolls, pepperoni, provolone cheese, red onion, and tomatoes with cilantro marinated in light Italian dressing. I had a few pieces of the meat and cheese, but ended up having the last bit of my Indian meatball dish for lunch. Squish helped me work through the next segment of the starting club work out DVD. I’d been doing 2 of the original six exercises wrong, although not badly so. The next three, titled the spiral wheel, are much more joint intensive. They require a great deal more attention to alignment so as to avoid making unfortunate mistakes. I’m getting there slowly. There are certain exercises that are just going to take a while. I have very short legs and arms. I’m not particularly flexible. I have to build up the range of motion and physical strength to do some of these exercises. I’m not going to kill myself, pushing your joints too far is a potential disaster waiting to happen. As I practice more things will improve. That evening I made meatloaf with lean ground beef, hot Italian sausage, carrots, red peppers, onions, and some left over ground cheese. I finished off the brunette’s portion. My apatite is fading due to the meds, which is a mixed blessing. Today I started at 291.2 pounds. I didn’t expect to keep the 286, but keeping under 290 would have been nice. I’m looking at this past holiday weekend as a learning experience. I have the strength of character to make good choices when things are going well. I don’t have the strength to do so when I’m deprived (which is what happens when you starve yourself for 24 hours.) I made some bad and good choices. In the end what I came away with is that you can’t cheat the system. I’m going to focus back on eating well and exercising regularly and give a little less focus to the number. I’m losing weight or building muscle. As long as I’m doing one or the other it really doesn’t matter. I put in a good 45 minutes with the clubs before dinner. With the muscles loosened up and warmed in the shower I feel better than I have since the start of my “issues.” It feels good to be back in the game. This is a small setback. I will overcome.

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