Well hello everyone, it’s been a while…a long while…but I’m back, and for good reason. The quest, which I had completed, is back…and for very good reason. I had a couple minor setbacks the past couple months, and I’ve fallen off the horse a little bit.
(Need a refresher on the previous quest? I don’t blame you. Click here for a refresher.)
It’s been months since I’ve been updated, and I apologize for that, but there’s been a specific reason…I haven’t exactly been healthy…at all. It turns out that all the running I did over the past year and a half or so wasn’t exactly good for my lower extremities. Back at the end of July, I started having some pain in my right ankle. I laid off of it for a little while, but then went back to running. A couple days later, it blew up to about twice the normal size. I wrapped it up thinking it was sprained, but it never went away.
It turns out I had what is known as an Osteochondral Lesion of the cartilage, which basically means part of the cartilage had worn away to nothing. Making matters worse, there was a piece of loose cartilage floating around in there that was keeping me from bending my ankle.
Well, you can’t regrow cartilage and it doesn’t heal, so I had to go under the knife. This happened at the end of August, and I’ve been recovering ever since. I was on crutches from the middle of August until about two weeks ago.
On top of that, I have a condition called Ulcerative Colitis, which is an inflammatory bowel disease (yeah, probably TMI, but it factors in, I promise). Well, I had taken an antibiotic back before the wedding to get rid of a skin rash. The antibiotic ended up causing a massive flare up of my colitis, with a side of C. Difficile, an intestinal infection.
What does that have to do with my weight loss? Well, I had to take prednisone, a steroid, for about two months or so (I just stopped using it last week) which helps reduce the inflammation of this extreme flare up. The problem with taking a steroid is that it makes you extremely hungry and also makes you gain weight. Also, my MLB career is definitely over before it even began.
However, I had gotten down as low as 193 lbs. before I had to stop working out. With the lack of exercise plus the steroid, I have put some of that back on. My last weigh-in, Sunday morning just like before, I was up to 222 lbs.
Making matters worse is the fact that I have to completely change my routine. The doctor that fixed my ankle recommended that I not run for exercise anymore, so I have to turn to the exercise bike and eventually the elliptical machine. Right now, though, all I can do is the bike, so I have to make the best of it. Eventually, once I get out of the walking boot I’ve been wearing, I’ll be able to elliptical, so I’ll have to switch that up. However, I’m just happy to get back into a routine and break a sweat each morning.
While the Fat Guy that began this quest back in 2008 isn’t quite back, he’s well on his way. It’s time for me to get this thing back on track, and it starts now, with this post. My goal is different this time, though, and it’s actually a two-part goal. First, I need to shed the 22 lbs. I put back on to get back down to 200 lbs. Once I hit that, I’d like to see if I can get myself down to about 180 lbs., pretty much just to see if I can.
So, all four of you that read this before, welcome back. I hope you’ll join me again. I promise it won’t be all updates about me, I’ll throw some interesting stuff in there, but help me stay on track and get where I need to go…without the aid of running…
Brett
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