Did 2 1/2 miles of walking this morning! Ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast, then for lunch salad and for dinner, a light meal of turkey burger, veggies and water. I've been drinking nothing but water!
This evening, I did another 2 1/2 miles of walking. It's tough. I can feel my legs burning when I relax after. No Pain, No Gain!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Day One - Journey Back to Excellence
Ok, so today is the first day of my changing lifestyle. Already, it's really setting in. I woke up, ate a bowl of cereal, then headed out on my first 2 1/2 mile walk.
Back when I was younger, fresh out of high school, I started running. By a year later, I was running 3 miles a night. I could only run at night, strangest thing. During the day, it would kick my ass! I'm working on getting back to that, but I won't attempt at running until maybe sometime next week. Until then, just walking.
This evening I did another 2 1/2 miles of walking, so a total of 5 miles today! For lunch, I ate salad and for dinner, another salad with a side of Turkey burger (small portion).
Now time for some sleep.
Back when I was younger, fresh out of high school, I started running. By a year later, I was running 3 miles a night. I could only run at night, strangest thing. During the day, it would kick my ass! I'm working on getting back to that, but I won't attempt at running until maybe sometime next week. Until then, just walking.
This evening I did another 2 1/2 miles of walking, so a total of 5 miles today! For lunch, I ate salad and for dinner, another salad with a side of Turkey burger (small portion).
Now time for some sleep.
Monday, April 28, 2014
The reality of my health
Today, I went to the hospital. The reason for that was this morning, not long after I woke up. I had my hand on my stomach, just relaxing before I got up and started my day. By habit, I just happen to feel my belly button. Something did not feel right, then I checked one more time just to be sure and I felt it. A lump!
I got really scared, naturally. Of course, anyone would. Once you feel a lump inside you, automatically you start to assume the worse. So, I got up, got dressed, checked one last time to see if it was indeed a lump. So I lay down, then felt it worse than before. Oh man, I was scared. I jumped up, started my truck and drove to the hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico. My best friend met me out there. Some of my family, my grandma and my mom wanted to head out there, but I needed to face it on my own. I told them I'd check it out first, but that I'd call if I needed them.
When I got to the hospital, before going in, the first thing I did was pray. I asked God to give me the strength I needed to hear whatever it is they were going to tell me and also the strength to deal with it. I went inside, signed in, told them what I felt and after a few minutes I was called in to get my vitals checked. This is where the "reality" hit me like an ocean wave. The nurse or doctor, I'm not sure exactly what he was, but he was a very nice and understanding guy. Right away, he made me feel comfortable. He took my blood pressure, then he checked my weight. Over at the Shiprock hospital they only weigh you in kg. Not in actual pounds, so it's hard to know what your weight actually is. After he weighed me, I looked down at the scale and it said 163kg. I had no idea what that meant, but he joked with me at first. He told me that wasn't in pounds so don't get confused. I laughed because I knew that for sure. After we sat back down, he looked at me and told me that my blood pressure was a bit high. Then, he told me the real problem. He said my weight was pretty bad and that I was at risk for diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and that my knees could go out early in life as well as my joints. He said my weight was 360 lbs. OMG, are you serious?! was my reaction. I could not believe it. For years, I had been so scared to see how much I weighed. I never thought I could top out at that much, though. The most I thought I weight was maybe 260 to 280. I knew I had weight on me, however I didn't think I had that much. Well, it was bad. I got scared for my health. I told the guy Thank You so much for telling me. I told him that I never knew that because all the times I had gone to that hospital, they never told me how much I weight, nor did they explain to me what the kg meant or that my weight was at a dangerous level. The reality finally hit me! It was to a point that I felt I needed to get rid of everything and do a drastic lifestyle change. I made the decision right then and there, to only focus on my health and get my weight down.
So after knowing that, I was still scared because of the lump in my stomach. It hurt deep down, feeling-wise, because if this lump was something very serious, then it seems like things would've been at an all-time low for me because I finally had reality slap me in the face and I knew what I wanted to do....but could I? Was I even going to have a chance to get healthy? Only time would tell as I sat in the waiting room to get called. I waited for 4, almost 5 hours. My best friend, Lisa, was there with me. She sat with me and I told her what was going on with my weight. She knew I was scared but she sat with me. Eventually though, she had to go to work, so she left around 2pm. About a half hour after she left, finally they called me. Right away, they took a urine sample, then they checked my weight once more. After, they sent me to a room and had me wait for the doctor. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life. Finally, the doc came in. I forget her name, but she asked my situation and I told her everything. After some questions and a short Q and A, she had my lift up my shirt and lay back. She checked the lump and asked about it, how long I noticed and such. Finally, after a quick examination, she helped me up and told me that I had a hernia.
Right away, I asked her if it was cancerous, and she assured me that it wasn't. I had no idea what a hernia was. I've heard of them, but did not know exactly what it was. She explained that it was basically a tear in the abdominal wall. She said they were rather common. She asked if it was painful or bothering me which I answered No because it wasn't. I told her that a week prior, while I was out in Albuquerque visiting my dad during his heart surgery, I had a pain in my stomach that felt like a pulled muscle. Exactly like a pulled muscle. When I would sit down for a while, then stand up and my stomach stretched out, I would feel this pain like when you pull a muscle in your arm after lifting some heavy weights. Same pain, but in my abdominal area. She said that was signs that it may have happened there. The pain lasted the rest of the week, but that it was gone by that day.
She suggested that I see a surgeon and referred me to one to see about getting it fixed. The hernia was not at all what she was worried about! She said they were common and that it can be fixed. What she was very concerned about was my weight. Finally, after getting over that short scare, I finally got to focus back on that. I told her I was very surprised about my weight also. It may have sounded stupid, but I really didn't know how much I weight and sure didn't expect it to have been so high. She said my blood pressure really concerned her. It was 160 something over....something, can't really recall, but it was bad. She wanted to check it one last time using a bigger cuff, so she did. She brought out a bigger one, then checked my blood pressure and it gave a more accurate reading which was 140 something over 80 or 90. She said it was a lot better, but that it was still high and that I really needed to work on dropping weight. I told her that I was totally focused on losing weight and that I would do it. I said I was very scared about it and didn't realize how "at risk" I was for so many health problems because of that. She told me that I needed a major lifestyle change. She wanted to check my blood sugar as well so they did. After, she said my blood sugar was "ok" but that I still needed to work on the weight loss and changing my diet to get that number better AND to drop weight to get my blood pressure down. She told me what foods to eat and what foods to not eat. She told me to exercise, but to take it easy on the weights and any exercising that causes me to use my abs because it may worsen the hernia. A lot of walking is what she wanted me to start out on. So, my entire goal was to change my diet, work on dropping major weight, get my blood pressure down and basically work on a lifestyle change. The doc wanted me to do that for the next 3 months, then to come back so they can check my blood pressure. If I've dropped weight and it still hadn't gone down, they want to put me on blood pressure medicine to get it down. High blood pressure is a dangerous thing. That was my task for the next 3 months.
I left the hospital, called everyone and told them my situation. I had signed up to take my CDL class in June, but I had to pull out because this was a major problem that I really needed to work on. I did not think that sitting on my butt for 9 hours a day for two months was going to help me. I needed to drop weight and work on getting my body healthy. Of course, my mom was not happy about me pulling out of my CDL class. She was very unsupportive of that. I tried explaining that I was in a serious way and needed to really work on my health so I decided to push everything aside and focus on that right now because honestly, if you don't have your health, what good is All the money in the world or Any Great job out there gonna do for you?! Nothing. Nothing means Anything if you don't have your health. That's how I see it and that's exactly what is driving me.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to hit it at exercising! I will get healthy, I will get better and I will Never let myself get this bad Ever Again!
I got really scared, naturally. Of course, anyone would. Once you feel a lump inside you, automatically you start to assume the worse. So, I got up, got dressed, checked one last time to see if it was indeed a lump. So I lay down, then felt it worse than before. Oh man, I was scared. I jumped up, started my truck and drove to the hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico. My best friend met me out there. Some of my family, my grandma and my mom wanted to head out there, but I needed to face it on my own. I told them I'd check it out first, but that I'd call if I needed them.
When I got to the hospital, before going in, the first thing I did was pray. I asked God to give me the strength I needed to hear whatever it is they were going to tell me and also the strength to deal with it. I went inside, signed in, told them what I felt and after a few minutes I was called in to get my vitals checked. This is where the "reality" hit me like an ocean wave. The nurse or doctor, I'm not sure exactly what he was, but he was a very nice and understanding guy. Right away, he made me feel comfortable. He took my blood pressure, then he checked my weight. Over at the Shiprock hospital they only weigh you in kg. Not in actual pounds, so it's hard to know what your weight actually is. After he weighed me, I looked down at the scale and it said 163kg. I had no idea what that meant, but he joked with me at first. He told me that wasn't in pounds so don't get confused. I laughed because I knew that for sure. After we sat back down, he looked at me and told me that my blood pressure was a bit high. Then, he told me the real problem. He said my weight was pretty bad and that I was at risk for diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and that my knees could go out early in life as well as my joints. He said my weight was 360 lbs. OMG, are you serious?! was my reaction. I could not believe it. For years, I had been so scared to see how much I weighed. I never thought I could top out at that much, though. The most I thought I weight was maybe 260 to 280. I knew I had weight on me, however I didn't think I had that much. Well, it was bad. I got scared for my health. I told the guy Thank You so much for telling me. I told him that I never knew that because all the times I had gone to that hospital, they never told me how much I weight, nor did they explain to me what the kg meant or that my weight was at a dangerous level. The reality finally hit me! It was to a point that I felt I needed to get rid of everything and do a drastic lifestyle change. I made the decision right then and there, to only focus on my health and get my weight down.
So after knowing that, I was still scared because of the lump in my stomach. It hurt deep down, feeling-wise, because if this lump was something very serious, then it seems like things would've been at an all-time low for me because I finally had reality slap me in the face and I knew what I wanted to do....but could I? Was I even going to have a chance to get healthy? Only time would tell as I sat in the waiting room to get called. I waited for 4, almost 5 hours. My best friend, Lisa, was there with me. She sat with me and I told her what was going on with my weight. She knew I was scared but she sat with me. Eventually though, she had to go to work, so she left around 2pm. About a half hour after she left, finally they called me. Right away, they took a urine sample, then they checked my weight once more. After, they sent me to a room and had me wait for the doctor. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life. Finally, the doc came in. I forget her name, but she asked my situation and I told her everything. After some questions and a short Q and A, she had my lift up my shirt and lay back. She checked the lump and asked about it, how long I noticed and such. Finally, after a quick examination, she helped me up and told me that I had a hernia.
Right away, I asked her if it was cancerous, and she assured me that it wasn't. I had no idea what a hernia was. I've heard of them, but did not know exactly what it was. She explained that it was basically a tear in the abdominal wall. She said they were rather common. She asked if it was painful or bothering me which I answered No because it wasn't. I told her that a week prior, while I was out in Albuquerque visiting my dad during his heart surgery, I had a pain in my stomach that felt like a pulled muscle. Exactly like a pulled muscle. When I would sit down for a while, then stand up and my stomach stretched out, I would feel this pain like when you pull a muscle in your arm after lifting some heavy weights. Same pain, but in my abdominal area. She said that was signs that it may have happened there. The pain lasted the rest of the week, but that it was gone by that day.
She suggested that I see a surgeon and referred me to one to see about getting it fixed. The hernia was not at all what she was worried about! She said they were common and that it can be fixed. What she was very concerned about was my weight. Finally, after getting over that short scare, I finally got to focus back on that. I told her I was very surprised about my weight also. It may have sounded stupid, but I really didn't know how much I weight and sure didn't expect it to have been so high. She said my blood pressure really concerned her. It was 160 something over....something, can't really recall, but it was bad. She wanted to check it one last time using a bigger cuff, so she did. She brought out a bigger one, then checked my blood pressure and it gave a more accurate reading which was 140 something over 80 or 90. She said it was a lot better, but that it was still high and that I really needed to work on dropping weight. I told her that I was totally focused on losing weight and that I would do it. I said I was very scared about it and didn't realize how "at risk" I was for so many health problems because of that. She told me that I needed a major lifestyle change. She wanted to check my blood sugar as well so they did. After, she said my blood sugar was "ok" but that I still needed to work on the weight loss and changing my diet to get that number better AND to drop weight to get my blood pressure down. She told me what foods to eat and what foods to not eat. She told me to exercise, but to take it easy on the weights and any exercising that causes me to use my abs because it may worsen the hernia. A lot of walking is what she wanted me to start out on. So, my entire goal was to change my diet, work on dropping major weight, get my blood pressure down and basically work on a lifestyle change. The doc wanted me to do that for the next 3 months, then to come back so they can check my blood pressure. If I've dropped weight and it still hadn't gone down, they want to put me on blood pressure medicine to get it down. High blood pressure is a dangerous thing. That was my task for the next 3 months.
I left the hospital, called everyone and told them my situation. I had signed up to take my CDL class in June, but I had to pull out because this was a major problem that I really needed to work on. I did not think that sitting on my butt for 9 hours a day for two months was going to help me. I needed to drop weight and work on getting my body healthy. Of course, my mom was not happy about me pulling out of my CDL class. She was very unsupportive of that. I tried explaining that I was in a serious way and needed to really work on my health so I decided to push everything aside and focus on that right now because honestly, if you don't have your health, what good is All the money in the world or Any Great job out there gonna do for you?! Nothing. Nothing means Anything if you don't have your health. That's how I see it and that's exactly what is driving me.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to hit it at exercising! I will get healthy, I will get better and I will Never let myself get this bad Ever Again!
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