So, due to the weather, I had to change my plans for walking today.  After I finish writing this, I will ride my stationary bike for a while, tough, in order to continue with increasing my exercise.  I prefer walking to riding an exercise bike, though, so I am looking forward to the storm passing.  I find riding the exercise bike to be painfully boring!  There is nothing to look at and such.  When out walking, even if you pass the same streets every day, there are changes in what is going on.  Different people.  Different activities, etc.  It is always interesting!

But, after only one day, I can’t stop exercising today just because the weather is bad.  If I did give myself the day off, I would not be getting the exercising as a daily habit.  In order to do that, I need to exercise every day for at least a few weeks, before settling into a normal schedule.

Well, I better go ride now!

Actually, I have been thinking about it for a while now, wanting to be back on the road.

It’s been a few years now since I have seriously progressed on this journey, but I am ready to get it going again.

I am talking about a journey down the road to better health.  Primarily, I am talking about weight loss.

I have struggled all of my life with excessive weight, and in my adult life with obesity.  I have made progress in the past decade, though.  I first moved to the Philippines in May 2000.  While still living in the States, in the late 90′s, I reached my maximum weight of 430 pounds.  By the time we moved to the Philippines I was at about 395.  Since then, I have lost a fairly significant amount of weight, but still have more to lose.

Heavy - The show really motivated me!

Since I graduated from high school, in 1980, my lowest weight was 269 pounds, which was in 1981 or possibly 1982.  From 269, I went as high as 430, as I said earlier.

I want to be more active

Starting in around 2004 or so, I started doing more physical activity in an attempt to become healthier.  In 2008, I got down to 275, and I was really feeling good.  At that time, though, from a mosquito bite, I got dengue fever, a tropical disease that is quite debilitating.  I basically went 6 months with no energy, and was physically unable to work out or swim as I had been doing.  Because of that, I gained weight.  About 9 or 10 months ago, I was at 318, but I believe I went up to about 330 or so subsequent to that, although I did not weigh to confirm that feeling.

About a month or so ago, I was up one night and could not sleep.  I turned on the TV, and just by chance, I came across a show from A&E, I believe it was shown on TLC here in the Philippines, as I recall.  Perhaps it was on the Bio Channel, I don’t remember for sure.  The show is called “Heavy” and it covers the progress of extremely obese people on their journey toward weight loss and a healthier life.  After watching the show on local TV, I was inspired, and I was able to get a hold of a set of all of the shows in the series.  I watched the shows, and with each episode I felt even more inspired to get back on the road to personal weight loss and improved health.  You can watch a promo for the show below:

So, as I said, in the past months, I know that my weight increased to 318, but I feel that I probably went as high as 330.  After watching the last episode of Heavy, I decided to get back on the road, and my first step was to get my current weight.  I was surprised when I stepped on the scale last night, and I was actually at 292.2, quite a bit lighter than I had thought!

Tuna Sashimi is delicious and nutritious

So, I am exercising more now.  I had been walking already in recent months, but I am walking two to three times the distance now.  I am also moderating my diet as much as I can.  One thing that I am trying to do is to work in some exercise with my meal too.  For example, today, I decided to have Tuna Sashimi for lunch.  We didn’t have any fresh tuna, so I walked a mile to the market, bought the tuna, and walked a mile home.  I ate about 6 ounces of raw tuna, which is only about 175 calories.  So, I got some nice exercise, ate a healthy lunch, and felt good about both!

So, starting this morning, I am back to my journey toward better health, and I’m excited about it.  I feel confident that in a rather short time I can lose the 23 pounds that will be necessary to put me at my lightest weight since I graduated High School!  That will be a milestone for me, and mean that I am getting healthier too!  I want to enjoy a long life, and that is less likely at the level of health where I am today, even though I am much healthier than I was back in the 90′s.

Wish me luck!  And will power!

Well, that was a one day more than 2 weeks ago when I wrote that, and I am happy to say that my readings are holding.  My diet is still under control, and I am feeling very good.  Amazing what a little more exercise and living a reasonable lifestyle will do for you!

When my diabetes was out of control, I had a big problem with infections.  Almost any wound that I got, be it a paper cut, or even a scratch would most likely become infected.  For years, there was really no time that I didn’t have some sort of infection somewhere on my body.  It’s an uncomfortable way to live.  I am happy to say that for several weeks I have experienced no infections of any kind, and that is a good feeling.  Having a badly infected sore on your body is uncomfortable, to say the least.  Not having to worry about that is a big bonus for me.

I have gotten where I eat fish or some kind of seafood at least 4 or 5 times per week, and I am enjoying it.  Fish is good for your body, and you can have a nice meal without having your blood sugar go wild.  Of course, you can’t eat something like sweet and sour fish or anything loaded with sugar like that, but a nice piece of grilled fish, or even a fried piece of fish if you use the right kind of oil and keep it to a minimal amount is a nice meal, and healthy too.

I’ve also lost a few more pounds over the past few weeks as well.  I am not altering my diet to lose weight, but that is a nice side benefit.  I am modifying my diet to keep my blood glucose in reasonable control.  And, it’s working!

For 6 months or so the problem persisted, but was manageable.  Then, in early July I woke up one morning in severe pain.  My right wrist was about as painful as it possibly could be.  I tried all kinds of different ways to relieve the pain – tylenol, advil, ice, heat – none of them were all that effective.  My first thought was that I was having experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome, since I am on the computer a lot, and using the keyboard heavily.  I made the decision to cut back my keyboard use as much as possible, and that day I purchased a new laptop.  My thinking on the laptop was that if I got a little more powerful machine, I would use voice recognition software and thus drastically reduce my use of the keyboard.

I kept using the voice recognition software for several weeks, but the pain continued.  I decided that I better go see a doctor and get more professional advice.  So, I had blood tests to rule out gout, and I also had x rays of my wrist to see what damage was there.  The pain was so severe that I thought I may have broken a bone in the area.

What the tests showed, though, was that I had a build up of calcium in the wrist joint.  It turns out that it was all due to Osteoarthritis in the joint.  I started taking glucosamine to see if that would help, and I also got more serious about using ice on the wrist.  In addition, I used a product called “Fastum Gel” on the wrist.  Fastum is a non-steroidal anti inflammatory medication, and it is very effective, working in only seconds to relieve the pain.  My only problem was that I am also diabetic, and NSAID drugs are not good for diabetics.  So, I had to limit my use of the gel to a minimal amount, and only when the pain was unbearable.

It has been 6 months or so since I have learned what was wrong with my wrist, and I have learned a lot about how to effectively manage the pain since then.  Unfortunately, in that time, my left wrist has also gotten worse, and is about the same as my right wrist now, so I really have to treat both wrists.  Luckily, so far only one wrist at a time has been acting up, and that is a relief.  If I had a severe attack in both wrists at once, I would practically be disabled.

Another thing I have learned is that it is not keyboard use that causes my problem.  My right wrist is severely bothered by the use of a mouse, though, and I have had to use alternate input devices like a touchpad or graphic tablet instead to minimize the pain.  But, I am back to using a keyboard for text input into my computer, and it does not cause me any wrist problems.

Overall, I have found that the most effective treatment for my wrists when I experience pain is to put ice on them.  If one of my wrists is giving me pain, then the first thing I do every morning is to ice the wrist down for 30 minutes or so, then go about my normal routine for the day.  It works well in managing the pain, and keeps me from getting into too much misery.

Osteoarthritis is one of the most painful types of arthritis out there.  If you have osteoarthritis and have any additional tips on how to manage it, I would certainly be happy to hear from you.

Six and a half years ago I had a stroke. I nearly died.

After having the stroke, I maintained a weight of around 340 pounds, plus or minus. So, my normal weight, post-stroke, was about 90 pounds less than when I first moved here. About 3 years ago, I had gotten my weight down to around 310 pounds, and I was really striving to get under 300 pounds, but I just could not make it. I was exercising and eating a fairly good diet, but I had hit a plateau, and had trouble getting under 310. Six months later, I stopped my exercising, and I let my diet go. My weight rose to between 330 and 340 pounds again.

Back in December 2007, just after Christmas, I started taking Lesofat, which is a generic form of Orlistat or Xenical. This drug keeps your body from digesting about 30% of the fats in the food that you eat. Taking Orlistat is not an easy thing, it has some side effects that are quite restrictive. However, it has worked well for me too, and the hassles are worth it in my case.

About 2 weeks after I started on the medication, I also started regular exercise. Every weekday, I walked one kilometer to a health club near my house. At the health club, I went swimming for an hour. I do this 5 days per week, and have been doing it for about 3 1/2 months now.

Last week, I got some news that really made me feel good. It represented a milestone for me. You see, an American friend of mine who has also been living in the Philippines moved back to the USA. He had a lot of stuff that was not practical to move back with him. I bought some stuff from him, but on some other stuff that he could not sell, he just gave it to me, since we have been close friends. One of the things that he gave me was a bathroom scale.

In my adult life, I have never owned a bathroom scale. One of the main reasons for that is because during my adult life, I have never really weighed little enough that I could use a bathroom scale. When you weigh in at 400+ pounds, most regular bathroom scales do not go high enough to weigh you. Because of this, I just never bought a scale. When my friend gave me the scale, though, I was kind of excited to try it out.

I stepped on the scale, and I got a surprise.

My exercise, modified diet, and the medication that I’ve been taking has been effective.

The scale said…… 289 pounds!

The last time that I weighed under 300 pounds was 28 years ago. 28 years. That means that I was under 300 when I graduated from high school. Yesterday, I weighed again, and I was at 287.

Even just being able to use a bathroom scale is a milestone for me. To be under 300 pounds goes way beyond even a milestone. It makes me feel good about my life. It also motivates me to go lower.

For my friend who gave me the scale – Thank You! You don’t know how much it means to me.

About 10 months ago my wife and I moved to a new house.  Things were hectic for a couple weeks.  When things were hectic, I got out of some good habits and slipped back into old bad habits, ones that I though I’d put behind me.  I let my good diet slip into a mediocre diet.  I stopped monitoring my blood glucose levels.  After a while, I saw signs that my diabetes was out of control.  I ignored those signs.

Although I made these mistakes, I was lucky.  I did not experience any serious health problems that were long lasting.  A month or so ago, I decided that I better bite the bullet, live up to my mistakes and get my diet back where it should be.  I had let my blood glucose go up into the 300 range, definately not good!  A year ago, I was in the normal range when it came to blood glucose – 80 to 120 or so.  I felt good too.  I was eating a healthy diet.  But, as I said, I let it slip away.

When I owned up to my weakness a month or so ago, I took action.  I started opting for salads again instead of the fried foods.  Instead of Pizza, I would have some roasted chicken or fish.  Better choices.  I am still not where I want to be, but I am moving that way.  My blood glucose runs in the 180 range now.  Not good, but way better than a month ago.  I’ll get to where I want to go too.

Another key toward reaching my health goal is to post on this blog.  When you are writing about your health and what you are doing to improve it, that makes it hard to go out and eat unhealthy foods, because then you have to live up to in on your next blog post!

So one of my goals is to start posting here regularly again.  I hope to see you again soon!  If you visit this blog and don’t see a new post, then put your comment, and tell me to get back on the stick!

Well, today, I did something that I really enjoy doing regularly, I went for a massage. While working on my leg, the therapist worked that joint and finally you could hear the joint – “pop”. Since then, my knee has had no pain at all any more! I guess maybe it was just out of alignment in some way.

Whatever the girl did, she did a great job at it!

Anyway, because of that incident, I have really cut back on my walking quite a bit, and I am about ready to get started again. I miss it. Today is Saturday, maybe tomorrow or Monday I will go out for a walk again.

I am sorry to report that one of my walking companions, Bingo (one of my dogs) is no longer with us. We had to have him put to sleep after he attacked one of my kids. When I went to help my 5 year old son, Bingo then attacked me. I don’t know what happened to him, he had been a very good dog in the past, but had been acting funny in recent months, including a couple other smaller attacks on the kids. He had just gone to far this time, and I had to have him put down. I do miss him, though.

Today was very hot and humid. My wife and I went out to do a few things. After being out for a couple hours, I started feeling very sick, dizzy and with a stomach ache. I think it was a combination of the severe heat we had today and maybe I needed to eat something, but I felt very bad. We came home and I sat in my air conditioned office working for a few hours. After 30 or 40 minutes in the air conditioning I started feeling much better.

Sorry again to have not posted for so long. I will try to get back here more regularly!

Since I have been good about keeping good control, and have also learned a lot about what affects my glucose (and to what extent), I decided to cut back on my monitoring program. Up until the other day, I was testing my glucose 5 or 6 times per day. Those test strips are expensive! However, the cost is well worthwhile if it benefits my health. Still, though, I am aware enough now, and care enough that I don’t need to monitor it that many times every day. So, my plan is to now check it twice per day. If I get any reading over 140, then I must monitor it more closely. I think that is both reasonable and adequate to keep my good control. Any comments or suggestions to share?

Well, last time I weighed myself, I was 307 pounds. I have not been under 300 pounds for probably 22 or 23 years, I guess, so I have been eager to go under 300 for the first time in a long time. I thought I would be at that interim goal yesterday, because I have been very strict with myself about what I eat and in what quantity. I have also been exercising at least once per day, and often twice per day. Well, when I stepped on the scale and took the reading…. 307. Yep, I had not gone down (or up!) for the past 4 weeks. I was disappointed in that. I will say, though, that when I was leaving the health club one of the employees came up to me and told me that she could see that I was losing weight and that I looked good. That was something that did make me feel good, and made me feel that while the weight may be the same, I am getting fitter, healthier, and losing some inches. The way my clothes fit also confirm to me that my body is changing for the better.

When I first went on my crusade to become healthier I told myself and my family and friends that weight loss was not my goal. My goal was to feel better, become healthier and especially to gain good control over my diabetes. I have done those things, so I should be happy about that, and keep doing what I am doing to continue along with my goal. But, I guess the disappointment that hit me made me realize that in the back of my mind, this is about weight loss too, or at least that number on the scale affirms for me that I am reaching my other goals.