Testing...testing...1,2,3

It's been a few weeks since my mental breakdown so I figured it was time for an update:


The results from my Doctor appointments, blood tests and physical came in finally. Over a week of waiting and a little self-induced agony I found out that nothing is wrong. Nope, not a damn thing. My heart is good, lungs sound great (and I smoke), I have the cholesterol levels that prove I stay clear of crap food, my testosterone levels are normal and most importantly my thyroid levels are normal. I can't say that I'm entirely surprised by this. I knew everything was normal and functioning like it should. It's possible I let the mental aspect of my plateau get in the way of being as productive as I could be. As a result I caused Melissa to worry and probably had her head spinning about a number of other things that could be wrong. I also let a side of me show in my last post that I haven't seen in a very long time. I thought that part of me was long gone but it re-surfaced. For these things I apologize. I was a little out of my head and wasn't sure what to do. I know differently now. I know that no matter what is wrong I have someone I can talk to about anything. In the past it hasn't been so easy and I'm glad things are different now.

Now that the appointments are done, got my physical and had my hysterical break down it's time to figure out exactly where to go from here. The only logical thing that makes sense is to just keep going and keep plugging at it. Funny thing...my doctor said to me "You know, Thomas, sometimes you can't fight genetics. It's possible you were predetermined to be 212lbs and have a little gut." I looked at him like he second nose growing out of his eyeball. That is a statement I just cannot accept. We are all the products of our environment. Genetics predetermine things like hair color, eye color and such but I find it hard to believe that my genetics state I should have the perpetual beer gut when I don't drink that much beer. Sorry, thanks for playing.

I digress. Back to the issue at hand: What to do now? I think I may have the answer although it's not what I want. I obviously need to work harder in the gym and get back to doing more cardio. I'll admit I've slipped in that area. Also, I'm dialing back my carb intake. I started to analyze my carb consumption and realized I was not doing as well as I thought. Yes, I have been eating brown rice, wheat pasta and wheat bread regularly because they are better for you but I have been eating more than I should. When it boils down to it carbs are carbs are carbs. Good carbs or bad they can work against you. It seems like this is what has happened.

I have been eating way more than my fair share of yummy brown rice and wheat pasta and my carb count was, best guess, much more than what I was eating last summer when i had a decent amount of weight loss. Essentially what I have been doing is working out just enough to work off what I was eating. Thus my calories out were equal or less than calories in. Let's remember that weight loss= more calories out than in.

So there it is. I'm not sick, I'm not chemically imbalanced (although moral majority opinions vary) and I'm not necessarily doing anything wrong. I guess I just got lazy. I had nothing to work for or towards like I did last year. So that is where the next part of the challenge begins. The challenge being that I continue to lose. In my case I consider any loss an absolute win.