I have joined a group on Facebook for a March weight loss challenge. Most inches off and weight loss get some cash prizes. There are about 24 of us so it is not too big. As of today I am off all pop and beer for the month of March. I already have a splitting headache from not having any pop today. Just cutting pop and beer out of my schedule are a ton of calories. I don’t need to check much else on my eating habit since I don’t eat a lot of junk anyway. I will get in some bike riding as well to burn calories. Add in a few push ups and crunches each night and I should be on my way. I wish I had a pull up bar. I might have to pick one of those door-frame ones up.

Here is my starting weigh and measurements that I submitted to the group.

Height – 6′1”
Weight – 226
Right Bicep – 14
Shoulders – 49.5
Chest – 43
Waist (at navel) – 41
Hips – 39
Right Thigh – 24
Right Calf – 16

226 is about the heaviest I have ever been in my life. This is about what I was after I had back surgery and couldn’t do anything for 6 weeks. That was a long time ago. I don’t really have any excuse now. Time to work it!

I have not had any time to make any new posts, let alone do some general fixes to the blog. So I am going old school on you and using the default theme for a while. Not sure when I will get to update the theme. I have tons to talk about but just not enough time right now. But never fear sprint is around the corner and things will change soon enough.

I had back surgery in 1997. It was by far the worst thing that has happened to me medically in my life. I would not wish back problems on anyone after what I went through. Luckily I did not have my spine fused. They only removed part of my vertebrae and took parts of my L6 disc out that had broken off and wa floating round. It took me 4 years to get into decent shape and only 80% of my previous mobility.

For the past 5 years I have been in pretty good shape and my back has not given me much trouble at all. I don’t need much medication these days but that all changed this weekend. I woke up on Sunday and was in terrible shape. My back issue resurfaced and I am in terrible pain. I am not sure what cause it and that really bugs me.

Today I went to the doctor and know part of the issue. I jumped on the scale and came in at a whopping 225 pounds. I know I was in bad shape this winter but I did not think I was that heavy. I am sure that had something to do with my current back issues. I had x-ray taken that showed the thinning of my discs. No surprise there. They call it degenerate back disease and is pretty common in athletes. Especially when they have played sports that compress the spin in one way or another.

Now I am on Vicodin for the pain, Soma for the inflammation, oral steriods for the next week, getting an MRI on Wednesday, and going to “pain management” sessions in the next week or so. “Pain management” means they will be injecting steriods into my lower back with a big needle. More fun than I can take!

So the plan is to hobble back to health and lose 20 points ASAP. Breakfast is limited to oatmeal and juice. Lunch is salads. Dinner is normal home cooked stuff. Cutting back on beer as much as possible. As soon as I am not wincing in pain when I try to get out of my car, sit in a chair for more than 15 minutes, and get in and out of bed, I will be hitting the workout pretty hard. 225 pounds is pathetic in my book so that needs to change fast!

I tell you what. Mediacom has just been sucking ass the past 30 days. I normally get about 11Mb/s but tonight I am getting less than 4.

Over the past 30 days my connection has gone down no less than 3 times that I know about. Twice then people were over to look at web stuff. I really need to think about switching over to Qwest.

Watch this video and tell them these girls are not incredible, almost super human! I am proud to say I have a little German blood flowing through my bones.

Oh my, this is so funny. Wrong for sure but I was cracking up. I had to watch it twice. It is that funny.

Last week was the first time I ever came close to 100 points. I think my highest might have been 70 at best. Coming in a 102 point for the week it was about as good as it gets!

Justin and Dave did pretty good as well. By the way I really wish we had more people in our group. There is always next year people!

Count’em and weep. 102 point sucha!

I can’t express how bad I want to jump on my bike and just go. I can’t take the winter riding so I am stuck looking at awesome video of other people riding their bikes around the world.

Arsenal hit the top of the EPL for the first time this season. Not sure how long it will last but the boys beat Bolton and are playing well. They were down 2-0 then roared abck to beat them 4-2. Bloody Brilliant! Let’s go Gunners! Let’s Go!

Eat it Justin and Dave!

Number one on my bucket list is to attend an Arsenal match in England!