Author: Andy

Raised in Tallahassee, I enjoy warm weather, college football, cookouts, and spending time with my family and friends.

220.8

Down a few more pounds. 🙂 Still haven’t started back exercising but plan to this upcoming week. Just don’t think I should start running again until I get the weight under 190.

So I’ll be hitting the weights, elliptical, and possible biking to get my calorie burn on.

Heading to Gulf Breeze today for Rachel’s mom’s 60th birthday party, but neither of us want to stay the night so we’ll be heading back after the party. So looks like there will be a lot of driving in my near future.

223.0

Today is my brother’s birthday, so here’s a shout out to Dave – “Happy Birthday Bro!”

So I’m down about a half pound since Tuesday. I finally spoke with the Orthopedic Surgeon’s ARNP about my knee damage. The good news is that are no tears. No meniscus tear, no ACL tear, no MCL tear…. The bad news is I have Stage 4 Cartilage damage and osteoarthristis in there. What’s that mean? It means my knee is pretty much screwed and there’s not too much anyone can do about it. Fortunately for me, my knee doesn’t hurt too bad currently. When I turn or twist a certain way, I do get a little jolt of pain. It’s a little painful to bend down as well. The ARNP found it odd and surprising that I have as much arthritis in that knee as I do for only being 40 years old. She thinks that there was some sort of traumatic event that damaged it years ago and it has finally progressed to this stage. Although I cannot recall any traumatic events leading up to when I hurt it playing basketball a few weeks ago.

So what are my options? As far as treatment, if it starts hurting, they suggested possibly doing cortisone shots. If it finally gets to a point where that no longer helps, they suggested having the doc scope it and see if he can “clean it up a little” which may give some temporary relief. Ultimately I have arthritis and it will continue to be a problem until a knee replacement (way down the road) ever happens.

So now the question is … What can I still do physically? For starters and priority #1, lose weight. ARNP says for every 1 lb of body weight I have is equivalent to 4 lbs of pressure on each knee. So I’m about 50 lbs overweight. That’s 200 lbs of pressure crushing on my knees. Lose the weight, extend the life and comfort of my remaining knee cartilage. How can I lose weight? Besides diet, what exercises can I still do that won’t damage the knees any more than I need to. The ARNP says they are giving me no restrictions. And to let pain be my guide. If I want to run (a great way to lose weight as I’ve seen) go for it. But I tried running down my driveway a couple of days ago and it was a little uncomfortable. In fact, I haven’t really gone for a run since August 27th according to my Map My Run app. Wow.  Rach thinks I should stick to low impact cardio exercise (swimming, biking, elliptical) until I get he weight below 190. Then ease back into running and see how it goes. Rick suggests taking Glucosamine to help with the cartilage damage. Both of which are good advice that I think I’ll heed.

Can’t wait to begin exercising again though. Feels like it’s been forever.

227.8 – MRI Today

About the same weight as yesterday. Admittedly we were out running errands and decided to eat Jimmie John’s for dinner. Thinking the sodium in that meal caused me to retain a little water and hence the .2 lb weight gain. Or it could just be my scale which tends to fluctuate its readings a little here and there.  Nonetheless, the onus is strictly on diet today.

I’m having an MRI on my right knee today. I hurt it playing basketball down in Gainesville 9 days ago. Landed awkwardly, kind of buckled. It feels tight and though it’s not really hurting continuously, when I walk it often locks up which shoots pain down the front of my leg from my knee to my foot. It also hurts to kneel down on that knee, so I’m really worried that surgery is going to be my only option. Guess I’ll find out in a couple of days when the doctor has a chance to review my MRI.

It has been depressing not being able to run or use the elliptical at YouFit. The weather has cooled things down outside and now it is so nice outdoors – it’s the perfect time to do some running before the harsh, colder winter air moves in and I won’t want to even step outside, much less go running.

Edit: MRI completed. Now I play the waiting game until I hear the news from the doctor
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227.6

Down nearly a pound from yesterday by simply monitoring what I ate. My goal for the next few months is to lose 12lbs per month, which equates to 3lbs a week. It would be a lot easier to obtain if my knee wasn’t messed up and I could do some cardio. But it is what it is and I must make the most of it.

Another thing I want to see is to no longer see a weight gain on the scale whenever I weigh in. It can remain the same or be less, but I’m going to try to avoid seeing that number go up ever again. I believe proper nutrition week be the key. More now than ever since I cannot do any cardio exercise.

228.4 – Official Weigh-In

wpid-IMAG0154_1.jpgSo I forgot to post my weigh in yesterday and I’m sorry that I did. Even though it wasn’t good, it was 226.0. Yesterday we had some friends over for dinner and to watch the Florida v. Kentucky game. We ate BBQ pork sliders, coleslaw, baked beans, and mac & cheese. In addition to that my buddy Will and I probably put down 10 beers a piece. What’s that spell? D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. Woke up this morning a full 2 and a half pounds heavier than yesterday. I have the blessing/curse of being able to lose weight very quickly but also able to gain it just as fast.

The other day Rick posted something on my blog or texted me (I can’t remember), but he said something about how I initially created this blog for myself. I was doing it so Rick could see where I was and I could go back and read where I’ve been and what I was doing.  Somewhere along the way I was surprised to find that people were actually starting to follow my blog. Wasn’t sure how they even found it (still not sure to be honest), but I kept blogging as if it was just Rick and I reading it. Soon I hit 50 followers and I think I started blogging more for what I thought people wanted to read. Before long I crossed the 100 follower threshold and I had some personal things come up that all contributed to me losing sight of what this Fit Gator blog was really about. Me.

Rick was also right when he said that this was no longer a fitness/weight loss blog, but just a blog about some guy living his life. Not trying to get better or to lose weight or anything. That really hit home. I wasn’t exercising much. Wasn’t watching what I ate. Didn’t track calories. And basically I was just doing all the crap I used to do before I began my fitness journey.

Now my knee is jacked up. MRI is scheduled for Tuesday. Fearing that I may need surgery. My knee doesn’t hurt too much, but when I walk, it is a little tender, but what really gets me is when I’m walking and it locks up on me. I get a shooting pain from my knee down to my foot and it literally stops me in my tracks. It’s depressing because I see my weight creeping up higher and higher and now I can’t do any cardio. “What Next?” I think. Seems like I can’t catch a break.

But this blog is about rising above all this. Go back and read what is 1fitgator in the links above. It’s as much, if not more, about the mental struggles of overcoming obstacles as it is the physical ones. I need to beat this. So what… I can’t run or get on the elliptical. Ok. What can I do? well I can weight train – I can build my muscles and still burn calories. I can also quit eating shit. That’s priority #1. Stop the bleeding. Reverse the trend.

So I will need to be meticulous about inputting everything I eat into my fitness pal app. Track all my calories. I’ll continue to set my daily calories as “Weight x 8” but with the exception of if I’m still hungry between meals, that I can eat a piece of fruit. My daily calories based on today’s weigh in are about 1827. If I eat a couple extra pieces of fruit in addition to this, my daily intake will only be about 2000-2200 cals which is still low enough to help me lose weight.  By adding in the “optional fruit” I won’t be as hungry by the next time I eat a meal and therefore won’t get lazy and eat crap.

Sacrifice. Dedication. Victory.

224.2 – more of the same

This morning’s weigh in, 224.2.
About where I was on Monday.

Hurt my knee while down in Gainesville. It may be pretty bad. Have X-rays scheduled today. Meeting with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. Definitely unable to do any cardio currently. Knee hurts in about three different places. Sometimes it buckles on me. Sometimes it locks up on me. Either way, it sucks and doesn’t help my cause.