My gout has finally settled down to the point where I was able to go for a ride this morning before it got too warm. I rode just under 4 kilometres; not a lot but better than nothing.
If you’ve been following this infrequently updated blog for more than a few years, you’ll know that I have a serious weight problem. You may remember a time when I followed a weight loss, or lifestyle modification plan; losing 30kg before falling back into old habits. I have been steadily packing on the kilos since then and am not quite sure what I weigh now as I passed the 150kg limit of our scale some months back; my guess is I’m somewhere around 170kg now. I get very little exercise and am extremely unfit. A walk to Pick n Pay at lunch time invariably ends with me out of breath from the slight uphill slope on the way back. I almost always enter the building through the basement parking entrance and use the lift rather than continuing up the slope and climbing the single flight of stairs.
I’ve been well aware that I need to stop this cycle of weight gain and diminishing health but as one does I’ve always put it off for another day. Today is that day. Sitting in the waiting room this morning while Mela had an ultrasound, I picked up a cycling magazine and found an article about Scott Cutshall. Scott is an American that was in even worse shape than I am when he turned his life around. He weighed 238kg at his heaviest and doctors had given him just six months to live without having bariatric surgery; even that was no guarantee as he had just a 50-50 chance of surviving the surgery. Sitting at his window one day he spied a man swooping through traffic on a bicycle and was inspired to begin cycling. After some trouble finding a custom cycle builder that would take him seriously he had his new cycle, one that could support his bulk, and started cycling daily. As you can imagine this was no easy feat but he persevered and aided by a meal plan of his own design, the weight started to fall of. Today he weighs just 78kg and continues to cycle many miles per day.
Reading this article was a tremendous inspiration to me and I told myself that I will follow his example and begin cycling every day. This evening I began, dusting off the bike that I haven’t touched in at least three years and getting out for a short ride around the neighbourhood. I only rode 2.74km today but it’s a start. As I increase my fitness I’ll increase my distance too. We are already makign a point of modifying what we eat so that will help too. If Scott could do it, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to do it too.
I have a serious weight problem, being somewhere around twice my ideal body weight and need to start exercising a lot more, and eating a lot less. This morning I hauled myself out of bed at 5:15 and went cycling. We live near the sea and it’s pretty flat so not too hard for an unfit slob like me. I have a 12km route that I follow that takes me down to the beachfront, along the full length of Beach Road and then back home. It is quite relaxing to ride along in the predawn light, looking at the sea and thinking about the day ahead. Sometimes I see other’s out exercising; walking, jogging or cycling. It is usual to greet one another as you pass, so this morning when two cyclists overtook me as I cruised along at my slow pace, I said “Good Morning”. Much to my surprise these dickheads didn’t even acknowledge me with a nod, let alone a word of greeting. Perhaps it was because I was riding a mountain bike, rather than the road racer’s they were on, but rather than assume some roadie snobbery as the reason I’ll just assume that they are rude arseholes, wrapped up in their own little worlds.
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