Post by doc on Jan 5, 2021 18:34:28 GMT
In June of 2018, I had my annual physical. I'm pretty active, I ride thousands of miles a year on my bike but when I got on the scale I weighed 222 pounds. The heaviest I've ever been was 232 pounds which was at the end of my first treatment for lymphoma back in 2006. Prior to my lymphoma diagnosis I weighed around 190 pounds - I ran a lot back then which helped keep the weight off. I've never really been good at limiting my diet - I eat what I want to eat which can certainly lead to unwanted weight gain.
Anyway, after I got off the scale 2 and a half years ago I realized I needed to be more focused on keeping my weight down and being a bit more healthy in my meal choices. By the end of the summer I was under 200 pounds and honestly, the fall is when I typically pack on the pounds - too much beer and nachos at football tailgates. I did my best to limit my intake and actually made it to December, 2018 without gaining weight. At Thanksgiving that year one of my co-workers challenged us all to exercise every day through the holidays and in early December my wife got me an early Christmas present - a Peloton bike. When we rang in 2019 I had exercised (with the help of the Peloton) 42 consecutive days and decided to see how long I could carry that consecutive streak. I'm proud to say the streak is still going - as of my workout last night, I've exercised 776 consecutive days and my weight is now down to 182 pounds, 40 less than that sad day I stepped on the scale back in June of 2018. Almost all of my exercises have either been on my bike or Peloton. Since I started the streak back in November of 2018, I've kept a journal of my miles - in a little over 2 years I've ridden 17,122 miles, I rode 8,791 miles in 2020. I never dreamed I'd take the streak this far - now it's been so long I can't let it go.
As I said most of the exercises have been on my bike or Peloton, probably 95% - I'm averaging close to 25 miles a day of riding. We've gone on several vacations and I made the rule that at worst, I'd have to walk a brisk 5 miles daily for the streak to continue, we did a lot of hiking when we were in Ireland the summer of 2019 - putting in 10-15 miles a day. I've done stair steppers on a couple occasions and we did a 15 mile kayak trip on Lake Superior one day last summer. On business trips I'd spend at least an hour in the exercise room of the hotel every day.
I plan to retire at the end of 2021. My goal is to ride my bike cross country in 2022 - I'm going to make it a fundraiser for LLS and hopefully raise a large chunk of money. I'm thinking to take on that challenge in March and April of 2022 - I'll start in San Diego and ride to St. Augustine. I have a couple guys who say they'll ride with me.
It's hard to believe it's been 776 since I last took a day off. The closest I've come to ending the streak were 2 occasions that occurred the first year - I went home sick one day and felt miserable and dizzy, I got in bed and slept past dinner. When I woke up I told myself I had to keep the streak alive so I climbed on the Peloton and rode 15 miles - it actually helped me feel better. The other near miss was when my brother in law had a serious medical issue and was rushed to the hospital. I found myself doing a brisk 5 mile walk in the parking lot that night as we waited for updates on his condition. I just turned on my Garmin watch and walked till I hit 5 miles.
Anyway, I've saved a couple pairs of pants that used to fit rather snugly before I dropped the weight. I put them on occasionally to remind me how large my waist used to be. They just fall off me now. Pretty crazy! Just wanted to share this. Not sure when this will end - right now 1,000 straight days seems doable! I guess we'll see.
Anyway, after I got off the scale 2 and a half years ago I realized I needed to be more focused on keeping my weight down and being a bit more healthy in my meal choices. By the end of the summer I was under 200 pounds and honestly, the fall is when I typically pack on the pounds - too much beer and nachos at football tailgates. I did my best to limit my intake and actually made it to December, 2018 without gaining weight. At Thanksgiving that year one of my co-workers challenged us all to exercise every day through the holidays and in early December my wife got me an early Christmas present - a Peloton bike. When we rang in 2019 I had exercised (with the help of the Peloton) 42 consecutive days and decided to see how long I could carry that consecutive streak. I'm proud to say the streak is still going - as of my workout last night, I've exercised 776 consecutive days and my weight is now down to 182 pounds, 40 less than that sad day I stepped on the scale back in June of 2018. Almost all of my exercises have either been on my bike or Peloton. Since I started the streak back in November of 2018, I've kept a journal of my miles - in a little over 2 years I've ridden 17,122 miles, I rode 8,791 miles in 2020. I never dreamed I'd take the streak this far - now it's been so long I can't let it go.
As I said most of the exercises have been on my bike or Peloton, probably 95% - I'm averaging close to 25 miles a day of riding. We've gone on several vacations and I made the rule that at worst, I'd have to walk a brisk 5 miles daily for the streak to continue, we did a lot of hiking when we were in Ireland the summer of 2019 - putting in 10-15 miles a day. I've done stair steppers on a couple occasions and we did a 15 mile kayak trip on Lake Superior one day last summer. On business trips I'd spend at least an hour in the exercise room of the hotel every day.
I plan to retire at the end of 2021. My goal is to ride my bike cross country in 2022 - I'm going to make it a fundraiser for LLS and hopefully raise a large chunk of money. I'm thinking to take on that challenge in March and April of 2022 - I'll start in San Diego and ride to St. Augustine. I have a couple guys who say they'll ride with me.
It's hard to believe it's been 776 since I last took a day off. The closest I've come to ending the streak were 2 occasions that occurred the first year - I went home sick one day and felt miserable and dizzy, I got in bed and slept past dinner. When I woke up I told myself I had to keep the streak alive so I climbed on the Peloton and rode 15 miles - it actually helped me feel better. The other near miss was when my brother in law had a serious medical issue and was rushed to the hospital. I found myself doing a brisk 5 mile walk in the parking lot that night as we waited for updates on his condition. I just turned on my Garmin watch and walked till I hit 5 miles.
Anyway, I've saved a couple pairs of pants that used to fit rather snugly before I dropped the weight. I put them on occasionally to remind me how large my waist used to be. They just fall off me now. Pretty crazy! Just wanted to share this. Not sure when this will end - right now 1,000 straight days seems doable! I guess we'll see.
