Posted in Random Musings
Long Road Back
It all really started going wrong for me at the ripe old age of 17. That was when I blew my knee out for the first time. It took several surgeries and a lot of rehab but I fought my way back. I also gained a bunch of weight. The first real indicator that if I wasn’t exercising, I wasn’t fit.
Then I blew out some discs in my back in my mid-thirties. This one was really bad and I have still never fully recovered. I again gained a lot of weight, which I eventually took off. It was a grueling weight loss because my back was always in the way.
About two years ago I hurt by back and knee playing basketball. I also began to have migraines for the first time in my life. I bet you know what happened. Yep, I gained weight. Although, not as much as the first two injuries because I did try to watch what I ate a little.
Now I am trying to claw my way back to fitness. It has been a long road back with a lot of setbacks (mostly caused by the migraines which are triggered by heat and exercise). I don’t really want to make this journey again. I don’t want to be overweight. Some of that is complete vanity. Some is I want to be healthy. Unhealthy men in my family seem to die at an unnaturally young age. I don’t feel like tempting fate.
I have been slowly losing waistline. I am almost back into most of my t-shirts. The pants I want to fit back into are still a ways away. Shirts were the first goal. So I am happy the end is near with that one.
Even more importantly, I seem to have found the exercise limit my body can take without getting a migraine. This is a big deal because I am now going on a little over a month without missing a day of exercise (along with no migraines. I had one today but it was heat related. Cooled myself down and it went away).
I am also running again. I have run 3 miles or more, 7 of the last 9 days. I know it is strange to a lot of people but I really love to run. My time is down but I am afraid to push it too hard right now. I am just happy to be in a routine finally. My day doesn’t feel complete unless I get my exercise in. This is good for me. When it becomes routine it means I will exercise even when I don’t feel like it.
I had really wanted to be back in my shirts by Comic-Con but I guess I will have to take “back into a routine”. I hope the next time I report back in I can report my first goal met.
