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I took these two pictures on January 9th, 2025. I showered, shaved, and trimmed my hair and beard between the two. My posing is as bad as ever. Last time I checked my weight, I was about 100kg (220lbs). I wouldn't care about that if it was mostly muscle and spread around my 6'2" (186cm) frame, but it's in a belly that makes keeping my pants up annoying.

 

I suspected I had GERD (Gastoresophogeal Reflux Disease) for years, and was having pain randomly that I assumed was gallstones. Rabeprazole pretty well stopped both, though it shouldn't have worked on the gallstones. Maybe that was a coincidence. But an ultrasound confirmed gallstones and suggested fatty infiltration of the liver and a spot on the liver. A CT scan confirmed the fatty liver, showed a cavernous hemangioma, as well as a cyst on my pancreas.

 

For a year and a half I've known I need to get moving, ideally eating healthier as well, yet haven't made much progress. Reducing the amount of fat hanging onto my abdomen will benefit me in several ways. I just need to actually do something about it. My heart rate doesn't go as low as I would like it to, even while I sleep (at least according to my Fitbit Charge 2), and my blood pressure is on the high end of normal (not quite high enough to warrant medication). Exercise and dietary changes will help with that, too.

 

A long string of minor joint problems like carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, dropped shoulder, slipped ribs, and rolled ankles means every time I start getting back to being active I wind up with an injury I have to nurse for a week or two. It's so easy to overdo it. I suspect hypermobile type Ehler's Danlos syndrome, but my symptoms don't seem to be as severe as people who have been diagnosed. It's a connective tissue disorder where collagen doesn't form in the normal way, leaving it a bit too elastic. As a result there is excessive movement of the joints, needing muscles to hold bones in place instead of relying on tendons and ligaments. Not just a greater than average range of motion, the bones will partially dislocate and just not feel like they are in the right place. The only confirmed test for it is an expert looking at a tissue sample under a microscope and comparing collagen to normal samples. I experience the part I mentioned above, but when you look into it you find all sorts of other things, like skin writing and velvety skin. I don't bruise easily enough and my skin forms calluses without issue. I am prone to blisters, though, so maybe?

 

All that to say I've been too cautious with the exercise because I don't like hurting myself. What do I do instead? Sit here typing away, writing four books at once. Which inflames my carpal tunnel....

 

This post is so I can share it and possibly motivate myself to start making real progress by feeling held accountable by the void of the internet. That obviously doesn't work for long, so it would be better if people who were interested saw this, but I feel embarrassed just by the thought of people engaging with this post and acknowledging it. So we'll see what really happens.

 

I measured my waist and hips yesterday, finding 116cm and 106cm. Hopefully by this time next month it will be different. How often will I check? I don't know, maybe monthly?

 

I should go for a walk now, maybe I hike up the hill through the woods. I probably won't, most likely getting distracted between here and the door even if I did choose to do so.

 

Until next time, good luck.

 

Did I just wish myself good luck? Why would I wish imaginary readers good luck? Am I imagining them to have similar problems? Maybe, who knows? Bye!