Left home at 11:52:30 AM.
Walked directly 2.7 miles to a hospital scale, arrived at 12:43 (3.2 MPH).
Weight: 298.1 lbs. But wait! That was after I removed my glasses, wristwatch, wallet, coin purse, notebook, pen, smart phone, keys, shoes and T-shirt. Then I put all that stuff back on again, so that I was wearing everything I'd been wearing in the middle of an approximately 5-mile walk 5 days ago, when I weighed 300.5 pounds, and again 3 days ago, in the middle of a 5.4 mile walk, when I weighed 300.5 pounds again. Today, wearing all that stuff, I weighed 301.9 lbs in the middle of a 5.4 mile walk.
I've been taking a 5-mile walk every other day, and gaining weight.
Arrived home at 1:55, walking very slowly.
When I got home, I googled can an obese person lose weight by walking. The results were encouraging.
In the past 12 days, I've walked 1.6 miles 4 times, approximately 5 miles once and 5.4 miles twice. That all adds up to 22.2 miles, 4 miles short of 1 marathon.
Today is exactly 6 weeks after my operation, which means that I can (officially) lift more than 10 lbs, which means that I have no more honest excuse to make my brother come over to my house and do my laundry. I can also (officially) do all sorts of exercises now. (Unofficially, I didn't wait the entire 6 weeks. Don't tell anyone.)
I want to continue to increase the distance I walk. Over 30 miles a week would be good. At some point, I may add running to the walking. And I will be doing other exercises. Excuse me for just a moment.
I'm back. I just did my first 30 crunches in 6 weeks. As I expected, it felt like I hadn't done crunches in a while. But I didn't expect to be able to do 30.
And now I'm going to eat something. I know, I know, the reason I'm gaining weight is because I'm taking in more calories than I'm burning off. I know. I'll try to control myself.
Showing posts with label walking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walking. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Friday, September 7, 2018
Great Big Fat Guy, Day 841
300.5 lbs.
That's what the scales said today, when I weighed myself for the first time in about a month. In the past week I've gone for 4 walks of 1.6 miles each, and then today I went about 5 miles, and during that walk I weighed myself at the hospital, because I can't weigh myself at home because my house tilts and that makes scales unusable, and I'm still on the ugly side of 300. But just barely. I didn't walk all the way home. I took the bus for the last 1.3 miles because my feet were killing me.
I was so hoping I was going to break 300 today. I was so sure I was going to do it. Well, if I walk to that scale and back home 5 or 6 times a week, I'll break 300 at some point, surely.
I don't know exactly how far I walked because I got lost on the way to the hospital and for an unknown distance I was walking in circles. Straight to the hospital scale I used and straight back home would've been 5.4 miles.
That's what the scales said today, when I weighed myself for the first time in about a month. In the past week I've gone for 4 walks of 1.6 miles each, and then today I went about 5 miles, and during that walk I weighed myself at the hospital, because I can't weigh myself at home because my house tilts and that makes scales unusable, and I'm still on the ugly side of 300. But just barely. I didn't walk all the way home. I took the bus for the last 1.3 miles because my feet were killing me.
I was so hoping I was going to break 300 today. I was so sure I was going to do it. Well, if I walk to that scale and back home 5 or 6 times a week, I'll break 300 at some point, surely.
I don't know exactly how far I walked because I got lost on the way to the hospital and for an unknown distance I was walking in circles. Straight to the hospital scale I used and straight back home would've been 5.4 miles.
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Great Big Fat Guy, Day 835
As faithful followers of this blog know, exactly one month ago, August 1, 2018, Great Big Fat Guy underwent surgery during which his right kidney and a huge cancerous tumor were removed from his body. Today, Great Big Fat Guy went for a walk which lasted exactly 30 minutes and covered 1.6 miles.
I (also known as Great Big Fat Guy, also know as The Wrong Monkey, also known as Steven Bollinger) was planning to take a route which covers 2.1 miles, but a little past the 1 mile mark, I was feeling exhausted and decided to take a short cut home. There was one steep hill on the route, by Ann Arbor standards. (By Knoxville, Tennessee standards, there were no steep hills on the route.) (The distances were calculated with Google Maps.)
I tend to write these Great Big Fat Guy posts right after doing some cardio, so maybe they're 100% written under the euphoric influence of endorphins. However, right now, there's one big buzzkill that's cutting right through the euphoria: before the surgery, I weighed 320 pounds. That's too much for me. There may be some guys who stand 6'3" and are actually so full of muscles that they weigh 320 pounds and are not fat, but I can't kid myself into thinking that I'm one of those guys. 220 pounds would be much more like it, and 180 would probably be better than 220.
I hadn't been weighed in 2 years (which is a very convenient sort of thing if you'd rather be in denial about what kind of physical shape you're in), because I hadn't been to see a doctor in 2 years, and my house is tilted so a scale isn't accurate inside it. I used to walk to the hospital just to weigh myself, which is about 2.5 miles each way, 5 miles round trip, and when I did that, I weighed a lot less than 320 pounds, and it wasn't a coincidence. When I weighed 180 or less, I often walked more than 30 miles in a day -- are you starting to see the pattern here?
Time for Great Big Fat Guy to spend a lot of time being Great Big Sweaty Guy. I want to start a new series of blog posts replacing the Great Big Fat Guy posts, with titles like Big Tall Guy, Not Particularly Fat, Day 45, or Slender Guy Breaks 20 Minute Barrier in 5K.
PS, 2 September 2018: One day later. Same 1.6-mile course. 30 seconds faster: 29 min 30 sec. Just like yesterday, I left home intending to walking the entire 2.1-mile course. Just like yesterday, I chickened out and took the shortcut home. Unlike yesterday, today it was cloudy for much of the walk, making it much cooler and easier. I thought I was going to beat yesterday's time by more than 30 seconds. Oh well. At least I actually got out and walked two whole days in a row.
I (also known as Great Big Fat Guy, also know as The Wrong Monkey, also known as Steven Bollinger) was planning to take a route which covers 2.1 miles, but a little past the 1 mile mark, I was feeling exhausted and decided to take a short cut home. There was one steep hill on the route, by Ann Arbor standards. (By Knoxville, Tennessee standards, there were no steep hills on the route.) (The distances were calculated with Google Maps.)
I tend to write these Great Big Fat Guy posts right after doing some cardio, so maybe they're 100% written under the euphoric influence of endorphins. However, right now, there's one big buzzkill that's cutting right through the euphoria: before the surgery, I weighed 320 pounds. That's too much for me. There may be some guys who stand 6'3" and are actually so full of muscles that they weigh 320 pounds and are not fat, but I can't kid myself into thinking that I'm one of those guys. 220 pounds would be much more like it, and 180 would probably be better than 220.
I hadn't been weighed in 2 years (which is a very convenient sort of thing if you'd rather be in denial about what kind of physical shape you're in), because I hadn't been to see a doctor in 2 years, and my house is tilted so a scale isn't accurate inside it. I used to walk to the hospital just to weigh myself, which is about 2.5 miles each way, 5 miles round trip, and when I did that, I weighed a lot less than 320 pounds, and it wasn't a coincidence. When I weighed 180 or less, I often walked more than 30 miles in a day -- are you starting to see the pattern here?
Time for Great Big Fat Guy to spend a lot of time being Great Big Sweaty Guy. I want to start a new series of blog posts replacing the Great Big Fat Guy posts, with titles like Big Tall Guy, Not Particularly Fat, Day 45, or Slender Guy Breaks 20 Minute Barrier in 5K.
PS, 2 September 2018: One day later. Same 1.6-mile course. 30 seconds faster: 29 min 30 sec. Just like yesterday, I left home intending to walking the entire 2.1-mile course. Just like yesterday, I chickened out and took the shortcut home. Unlike yesterday, today it was cloudy for much of the walk, making it much cooler and easier. I thought I was going to beat yesterday's time by more than 30 seconds. Oh well. At least I actually got out and walked two whole days in a row.
Monday, October 21, 2013
According To Google Maps --
-- it's 7.2 miles by foot from my home to Catholic Social Services.
Google Maps says it's 37.9 miles to King's Used & Rare Books in Detroit. Which is an awesome store run by nice people, by the way.
265 miles to Toronto City Hall, 87 hours of walking. I don't think I've ever been to Toronto. Seems like I'd remember. When the CN Tower in downtown Toronto, over 1800 feet tall, was completed in 1976, I made a bet with my brother that I would ride a certain sort of Kawasaki Z1 from the US Midwest to the Tower by a certain time. I don't remember how much we bet. Ten bucks, maybe. Maybe more. I don't remember whether I was betting that I would make the ride by my 18th birthday, or my 21st birthday, or when exactly. I turned 15 in 1976. Also, I don't remember whether I was betting that I would make the ride on any sort of Z1, or on a Z1 which had been modified in certain ways. I was very much interested in motorcycle road racing in those days. Which is not street racing. Road racing refers to races held on tracks which are paved, as opposed to dirt tracks, and which have many turns per lap, left and right and left and right, as opposed to ovals with left turns only. The Kawasaki Z1 was a 900cc 4-cylinder 4-stroke street bike, which at the time was just about the fastest street bike available in completely as-is stock from-the-dealer condition, and was also one of the leading models, perhaps the strongest overall, in Superbike road racing, which featured -- and I assume still does, although I'm not entirely sure -- motorcycles which began as stock mass-market street bikes, and which were pretty heavily modified, but still LOOKED very much like stock. Back in the mid-70's this meant that almost none of the Superbikes raced with fairings, that is, with the plastic aerodynamic coverings which were on all motorcycles built just for road racing back then, and on very few street bikes, and which are on all of the highest-performance street bikes today. So back then, Superbike road racing, which was still fairly new, looked much different than regular road racing, because of the absence of the aerodynamic streamlining.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've never been to Toronto, and I've never owned any Z1, stock or modified.
It's 3808 miles driving, 66 hours of total driving time, to my Mom and Stepdad's place in Alaska. Google Maps said it was unable to calculate the walking distance. Let me try that one more time to make sure -- nope. Google Maps still sez "We could not calculate directions between[...]" It gave driving directions, but one very important thing it did not say is that, unless you're driving a pretty serious all-terrain vehicle, and maybe even then, you shouldn't attempt to drive from anywhere in the lower 48 to anywhere in Alaska except during a few relatively snow-free months of the year -- April to August, give or take, but check the forecast in advance. The only motor routes between Alaska and the lower 48 go through a lot of extremely mountainous terrain. In the cooler parts of the year, blizzards on the roads are guaran-Goddamn-teed, and a lot of snow and ice are possible any time of the year. This is not a journey for the faint of heart, the bald of tire or the ratty of engine.
Animals I have seen while driving through eastern Alaska, the Yukon and northern British Columbia include many moose and bears and buffalo, lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of caribou, bighorn sheep, bald eagles (I've only seen bald eagles in Canada, never yet in one of the 50 US states) and prairie dogs, who are awesomely cute little guys.
Google Maps says it's 37.9 miles to King's Used & Rare Books in Detroit. Which is an awesome store run by nice people, by the way.
265 miles to Toronto City Hall, 87 hours of walking. I don't think I've ever been to Toronto. Seems like I'd remember. When the CN Tower in downtown Toronto, over 1800 feet tall, was completed in 1976, I made a bet with my brother that I would ride a certain sort of Kawasaki Z1 from the US Midwest to the Tower by a certain time. I don't remember how much we bet. Ten bucks, maybe. Maybe more. I don't remember whether I was betting that I would make the ride by my 18th birthday, or my 21st birthday, or when exactly. I turned 15 in 1976. Also, I don't remember whether I was betting that I would make the ride on any sort of Z1, or on a Z1 which had been modified in certain ways. I was very much interested in motorcycle road racing in those days. Which is not street racing. Road racing refers to races held on tracks which are paved, as opposed to dirt tracks, and which have many turns per lap, left and right and left and right, as opposed to ovals with left turns only. The Kawasaki Z1 was a 900cc 4-cylinder 4-stroke street bike, which at the time was just about the fastest street bike available in completely as-is stock from-the-dealer condition, and was also one of the leading models, perhaps the strongest overall, in Superbike road racing, which featured -- and I assume still does, although I'm not entirely sure -- motorcycles which began as stock mass-market street bikes, and which were pretty heavily modified, but still LOOKED very much like stock. Back in the mid-70's this meant that almost none of the Superbikes raced with fairings, that is, with the plastic aerodynamic coverings which were on all motorcycles built just for road racing back then, and on very few street bikes, and which are on all of the highest-performance street bikes today. So back then, Superbike road racing, which was still fairly new, looked much different than regular road racing, because of the absence of the aerodynamic streamlining.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've never been to Toronto, and I've never owned any Z1, stock or modified.
It's 3808 miles driving, 66 hours of total driving time, to my Mom and Stepdad's place in Alaska. Google Maps said it was unable to calculate the walking distance. Let me try that one more time to make sure -- nope. Google Maps still sez "We could not calculate directions between[...]" It gave driving directions, but one very important thing it did not say is that, unless you're driving a pretty serious all-terrain vehicle, and maybe even then, you shouldn't attempt to drive from anywhere in the lower 48 to anywhere in Alaska except during a few relatively snow-free months of the year -- April to August, give or take, but check the forecast in advance. The only motor routes between Alaska and the lower 48 go through a lot of extremely mountainous terrain. In the cooler parts of the year, blizzards on the roads are guaran-Goddamn-teed, and a lot of snow and ice are possible any time of the year. This is not a journey for the faint of heart, the bald of tire or the ratty of engine.
Animals I have seen while driving through eastern Alaska, the Yukon and northern British Columbia include many moose and bears and buffalo, lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of caribou, bighorn sheep, bald eagles (I've only seen bald eagles in Canada, never yet in one of the 50 US states) and prairie dogs, who are awesomely cute little guys.
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