Month: July 2013

JULY, 2013:  Can you diet in Disneyland?  That was a real challenge in late July of 2013, when my family vacation at the start of my diet brought me to the land of Churros, Cotton Candy, Ice cream everywhere, and just about every type of bad food:  DISNEYLAND. The only thing worse than dieting at Disneyland is dieting on a cruise.  This picture is taken at the California Adventure park at Disney, outside of Ghiradelli Ice Cream.  Later on I remember my wife telling me she knew I was getting very serious for the first time about health when I sat next to my kids as they ate my greatest vice – ice cream, and I had nothing.   I guess it was kind of a “change” moment.

At this point I was around 260 lbs.  I was walking about 3 miles on the treadmill at about 3 miles an hour.  Yes, I was slow.  Each day at the hotel I would see people come in the gym and run on the treadmills, while I could only walk.  I remember longingly hoping that maybe, just maybe when I come to this hotel next summer (summer of 2014), maybe I would be 175 lbs.  It was an optimistic thought I know but you have to be an optimist.

I also remember seeing this young guy jump on the treadmill next to me.  The belt on that treadmill was flying.  I sneaked a peak and saw he was going 7.5 MPH compared to my 3 MPH.  He blew through a 3 mile run.  Shocked me.  I doubted I could ever run that fast for 1 mile much less 3.  Only time would tell.

July 13 – July 15, 2013.  After being told the obvious, in June, I was told to try and cut back on bad foods and that I had to take a stress test.  I was given my first stress test.  The nurse at that test told me she had lost 88 lbs.  She was now running 5Ks.  Pretty impressive.  Not that I knew what a 5k was!  She thought they would have me sweating to the requisite level for the stress test in a matter of just 5 minutes (a stress test deals with heart rate so they put you on a treadmill).  She was almost right – it was less than 5 minutes.    So between two days of cardiology and primary care detailing about just how unhealthy I was, I was told I needed to do three things (yup – same thing my wife and anyone else with half a brain had been telling me, but I ignored them).

So on July 15, 2013, my wife’s birthday, I proudly told my MD I had dropped about 15 lbs in just three weeks.  She smiled, but the fact remained – I was still morbidly obese.  I was still pre-diabetic.  15 lbs was not even CLOSE to enough, but there was a spark.  I was told to do three things that day that have changed my life since then:

1.  Try the South Beach diet I was told by the Doctor (nobody had been that specific with an actual before, but it turned out to be the perfect diet for met).

2.  Cut out the soda (apparently soda is filled with sugar – who’d of thought that?).  Devouring 2 – 4 pepsi’s a day is not actually good for you, don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

3.  Oh yeah,  the most painful part – “when you have access to an exercise machine at hotels (I traveled a lot then), I want you walking slowly on it”, I was told by the MD.  THANK GOODNESS – I only had to walk slow – because I was planning on sprinting!   What I didn’t mention was that I had access to a treadmill – it had been being used as a clothes hanging machine downstairs for at the past couple of years – did I finally have to use it?????

The good news from the stress test was my heart was actually not in bad shape at all.  Morbidly Obese – absolutely.  Blood with lots of sugar – big time.  Heart was strong though – so that allowed me to exercise safely.   .  . . So I did.