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Post by phillydude on Feb 1, 2022 13:28:02 GMT
Hmm... may have to start stealing ADHD meds from my kids. Nice work, my friend.
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Post by macdiver on Feb 1, 2022 17:39:48 GMT
That is great. Keep up the good work.
Not just alcohol but there is a correlation with drug abuse too. I have been accused of self medicating with alcohol. I was on ritalin for a while in my mid 20's. During that time I worked with a therapist to learn a few coping skills to allow me to function. Some of this takes advantage of the ability to hyperfocus when needed. Just need to do that a few days before the deadline not the hour before. That said, my procrastination, having multiple things going without actually seeing any thing to completion, and at times my alcohol consumption need constant attention to not dominate my life. I was only on ritalin for a year or so until I got my life under some control.
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Post by M@ on Feb 12, 2022 23:52:14 GMT
Glad that you're doing so well and that the household is Covid free. Thanks! Still doing well and still COVID-free, though the kids have been sick all week (COVID tests negative) and we've been getting it from both barrels via the schools (e.g., "Don't send your kid back until you've spent $500 on tests and scanned the results and emailed them to at randomaddress@school.gov" from the nurse; vs. "[Son] has been missing a lot of school and really needs to be here despite whatever circumstances may arise." from his teacher.). Hmm... may have to start stealing ADHD meds from my kids. Nice work, my friend. Amphetamines are a hell of a drug. Not just alcohol but there is a correlation with drug abuse too. I didn't know that. I didn't know any of this. I'm just happy to kind of be on the right track, finally. Weight 248.5 lbsTwo years ago today, JSF shut down. I'd say FriendsOfJSF is its own thing at this point.
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Post by seltzer on Feb 16, 2022 19:13:37 GMT
Sorry to read about what you kids are going through. I hope it all settles out for the best very soon.
Nice job on the continuing weight loss. :thumbsup:
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Post by M@ on Feb 23, 2022 15:59:07 GMT
Sorry to read about what you kids are going through. I hope it all settles out for the best very soon. Thanks, they shook it off pretty quickly. I caught it on the weekend and it only lasted a day. Weight: 253.4 lbsMy endocrinologist moved my appointment up because he got my bloodwork back early. A1C is 5.7, which is just 1/10th of a point into pre-diabetes territory. He was thrilled with my weight loss and said that if I kept it up I'd be back to normal by the next visit. My testosterone is low, but within the normal range. The tests show that my brain still thinks my body shouldn't be producing testosterone, so he's betting that signal will turn on by Summer. If not, he'll take steps to wake it up. I feel fine as far as energy and libido so I'm getting by on whatever limited amount my body is producing. He said my cholesterol is still high and wants me to tighten up my diet for real (as opposed to just eating less overall and avoiding sugar). My current bloat is a testament to the fact that I haven't been bothering with that at all. I'm going to start an actual nutrition plan, though I think Sara is starting to hate the fact that she eats more at dinner than I do. He wanted to cut my Allopurinol intake in half, but I balked at that. His rationale was that it was a heavy prescription (300mg) for a much heavier man. I countered with the fact that exercise and movement has been key to my progress so far and that I'm incredibly leery of risking gout attacks. Allopurinol finally seems to have the gout under control. I'm going to see my rheumatologist in a month and told him I'd bring the issue up with her. She may concur. I also started to have capsulitis issues in my left foot again, so I went back to my podiatrist. He said that my bunions have gotten a little worse and my feet are a little wider, probably thanks to the many gout attacks since he saw me last. While talking to him, I realized that I have all but stopped wearing any shoes except for my EE-width Merrels because all of my standard width shoes hurt. As a result, don't have any standard width shoes anymore: I completely culled my collection - donating everything that wasn't badly worn (which was a lot) - and spent a small fortune at Zappos. I'm in love with the Hoka One One Clifton 8 (12.5 EE) running shoe. They have massive arch support and breathe so well that my feet don't get hot in them when I'm just sitting around. I tried the Altra Torin 5 (12.5 E) but the comments on how ludicrous the razor-sharp tongues are are all true. I took them off after thirty seconds and sent them straight back. I'm very intrigued by the wide Altra toe box, so I found some of last year's Lone Peak 5 (12.5 E) at REI and am going to give them a try. I've never been trail running, so I guess we'll see how it goes. Likely due to my search for shoes, YouTube recommended Mark Lewis and I've gotten hooked on his fitness videos. It's good to see a middle-aged, tall, balding, heavy guy talk about a bunch of topics I'm interested in. And all that brings me around to the best thing that has happened in years: I'm running again. It's very slow (5mph kills me - I can only manage a minute or two) and I haven't been going for very long (20 min max per session so far - with 5 min warmup/cooldown), but OMG. I decided to hit the treadmill because the Hokas felt so good on my feet that I just wanted to give running a try. I figured I'd do it, too, because my doctor was stressing serious cardio to get my blood pressure in the right place and - hopefully - do away with BP medication entirely. It felt incredible to run again, and the effect on BP was immediate. I have run a little bit every day for the past four days and it's like I'm back on a massive dose of BP meds: My blood pressure has plummeted and I'm getting lightheaded in the evening. I'm fired up to keep doing this. So everything is heading in the right direction. I had a lesson with my golf coach yesterday for the first time since COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020. He has two cameras set up (front-on and down-the-line) and I got to spend an hour looking at myself in the monitor. I'm still fat and out of shape, but there is a lot more muscle on the guy in the videos than there was in 2018. I've booked lessons through the Spring and am eager to see how the physique changes over the next couple of months. Also: I'm done with Winter. The great, warm weather over the past four days has me ready for Spring completely.
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Post by macdiver on Feb 23, 2022 22:00:22 GMT
Awesome to read that health wise everything is heading in the right direction. Congratulations on putting in the work and reaping the benefits. Also great to see you are back running.
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Post by M@ on Apr 9, 2022 13:07:05 GMT
Congratulations on putting in the work and reaping the benefits. Also great to see you are back running. Thank you! It feels SO AWESOME to be back running and, as stated, nothing has done more for my blood pressure than getting back to hard cardio. Weight: 244.5 lbsI was down to 240.6 lbs last week, but rocketed back up at the beginning of the week. The change in bodyfat % on the scale made it clear that it was a water weight gain, but I didn't understand what had made the sudden retention happen because I've been avoiding alcohol and salty foods. Then I thought I was getting sick because I became, and remain, really nauseated (and because the rest of my family is sick...because the kids are always sick since they never went to preschool or daycare). Then I noticed some crazy mood swings: Like I was putting dishes in the dishwasher Thursday afternoon and just got hit with a sad thought that sent me into choking sobs. It has to be an estrogen spike. This happened to me once before in 2013 when I came off of TRT. I think it's a stage of the hormone-producing brain functions coming back online. My endocrinologist said that my brain still hadn't gotten the message that I was off of the artificial hormones. Last visit, my FSH (Follicle-stimulating Hormone ref 1.5-12.4) was moving in the right direction, but still low at 1.1 (up from <0.1) but my LH (Luteinizing Hormone ref 1.7-8.6) was still nonexistent (<0.1). I'm wondering if that's coming back and I'm getting a hormone surge. There's definitely something significant happening. Last time this nausea lasted a couple of weeks. It's essentially morning sickness: Certain foods and smells make me feel really sick to my stomach. I can only really eat things that are beige. On the plus side, it makes staying below calorie targets really easy.
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Post by seltzer on Apr 11, 2022 13:51:02 GMT
I hope you start feeling better very soon. And to second what Mac wrote to you, congrats on all you're doing to get healthier.
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Post by M@ on Oct 6, 2023 19:26:08 GMT
Heya everybody,
I got a text from Philly asking for an update so I wanted to hop on and post briefly. All is well. I'm still running and lifting and doing fitness stuff in general. Weight's at 230 and bodyfat's not great, but I'm not bothered by it too much. I've got a lot of thoughts on fitness in general, particularly when combined with ADHD and hormones. I'll post longer about that later. Our family is doing great. The kids are both in school now so Sara and I have 7.5 hours per day child-free a couple of days a week. It's a new phase, but they're still little and sweet and cute. More later. Probably tomorrow.
...cue the next post in like eighteen months...
Just posted: Holy crap I need to update that profile picture LOL.
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Post by ecrivain on Oct 6, 2023 20:18:36 GMT
Holy effing flashbacks, M@man!
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Post by seltzer on Oct 6, 2023 21:52:28 GMT
Damn, it's great to hear from you M@ and it's nice to read about all the positives.
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Post by phillydude on Oct 7, 2023 11:25:25 GMT
If I had known you were still running I would have invited you over to do the race tomorrow with Mac and I... it's the one you and I signed up for back in the day and then blew off and got donuts instead. Anyway, great to hear from you and we will have to get together soon! What's your handicap now?
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Post by macdiver on Oct 7, 2023 13:10:53 GMT
Good to read that you are still running and lifting. The comment on you picture made me wonder if y'all got down to the beaches this year. IIRC you would spend a week each summer in the Rehoboth Dewey area.
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gaz
New Member
Posts: 31
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Post by gaz on Oct 20, 2023 14:07:19 GMT
Hey Matt, great to see you're still doing OK. This caught my eye (excuse me, I only know markdown these days so I've no idea if this is going to display properly):
> Likely due to my search for shoes, YouTube recommended Mark Lewis and I've gotten hooked on his fitness videos. It's good to see a middle-aged, tall, balding, heavy guy talk about a bunch of topics I'm interested in.
I discovered Mark's channel earlier this year - it's great, isn't it? Very entertaining. He really helped light the current fire under me that's signaled something of a fitness renaissance for me.
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Post by phillydude on Oct 21, 2023 14:28:20 GMT
Mark Lewis is great. I just posted one of his latest videos in my journal. Above average indeed.
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