The year it happened, part 2

So there I had it. Finally a goal I could get behind. Finally something I could do that would unequivocally improve my quality of life.

This was around May or June of 2006, and I had actually already been losing weight. In fact, I was already at 270 when I decided to lose weight. The main difference was that I wanted it to be something I actively worked toward as opposed to something that happened incidentally. I had already modified my diet and made a few attempts at an exercise regimen, but it wasn’t really something I was making an effort to accomplish.

In July I bought myself an exercise bike and rode it as long as I could in one sitting, just to see what I could do. At the time, that was 25 minutes, at the end of which I wanted to die. I was a little disappointed at first, because I’d been reading up and I knew I was really going to have to bust my ass a lot harder if I wanted to lose any weight, but I had to bear in mind that I needed to learn to do the work. I had to crawl before I could walk, as they say.

So I ramped up slowly. 25 minutes for a week, then 35, then 45, then 60, then 75, etc. Eventually I got to where I could hit 90 minutes if I wanted to, but 75 felt less like I was trying to kill myself, so I settled into that for a while.

Later, as I typically exercised in the evening after work, finding time to exercise became problematic. Unfortunately, being unable to during or after work left only one option. So, loathe as I was to do it, I started getting up an hour early to exercise first thing in the morning. Then, when I got home from work, I’d do another 60 or 75 minutes if I had time. I absolutely didn’t believe I could do it, but I did, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

So I’ve been at it for roughly six months now, and aside from a stint around Thanksgiving where I broke a pedal and was out of town for several days, I’ve been exercising regularly. I’ve only lost about five “stable” pounds (there are 2-5 more that fluctuate), but the difference is tangible in many other ways aside from raw weight loss.

I’ve lost four inches off my waist, three-and-a-quarter off my stomach, and two-and-a-half off my chest. My knees have stopped hurting all the time, my cholesterol has gone down, and my sleep cycle is more regular than it has been in years.

But yeah, only five pounds. Frankly, however, it’s more important to me that I’ve established that exercise is something I can do. Granted, I still hate every single minute of it, but I’ve proven to myself that I can hack it. I’m not sure where I’ll go from here, but I have options. I could join a gym or buy a different exercise machine, or maybe something I haven’t even thought of yet. I’m pretty sure I need to change up, but that shouldn’t be as daunting now that the foundation is laid.

Before I forget, I should mention that there’s no way in hell I could ride an exercise bike for that long without something to occupy my mind. So I have to thank my Nintendo DS Lite, without which I’d never have made it. (And thanks to my boy, Matt, for buying it for me.) For the record, I mostly played Tetris, which is excellent at holding your attention.

So that’s where I am. Who knows where it will go from here, but so far, so good.