This last Saturday I went kayaking with a friend for three hours on Clinton Lake. We put in at the Weldon Access and kayaked up to the Northeast end of the lake. That evening I noticed a pain in my right arm. I also had what looked like a knot from a bump to the arm. I wrote it off as a muscle/tendon injury, and took a few ibuprofen. Today, after no improvement for several days, I went to the doctor. After being somewhat concerned with the amount of swelling, the Doc sent me off for an X-ray, expecting some sort of stress fracture. After returning home I received a call from the Doc. He wanted to let me know that nothing was broken but “Something kind of odd showed up.” It seems there is some sort of foreign metal object in my arm. I looked at the skin in that area, and I didn’t see any scars, nor do I remember having any injury to that area that involved metal objects. I now think I’ve been abducted by aliens while I was sleeping and implanted with some sort of probe. Come to think of it, I have been sleeping kinda rough lately. This could be my big break! I’ll be on the front page of all the grocery store tabloids. The money is going to be rolling in. Keep your eye out for me at your next visit to your local grocer.

At the beginning of this windsurfing season, the old Kombat 105 (my windsurfing board) just wasn’t floating the same that it used to. We all put a few pounds on over the winter so I figured I’d be losing the weight soon. No big deal. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I got my new GoPro waterproof camera. After checking out several pictures and video from a windsurfing session with with myself centered in its wide angle lens, I realized that I was looking a bit on the tubby side. Now, the wide angle lens may have made me look a bit chunkier than I really was, but it put some focus on an issue that I thought was “no big deal” a few months ago. Upon weighing myself, I found that I had not shed that winter weight at all. If anything, I was putting on more weight. To make things worse, Jen had taken my blood pressure a few weeks prior and the results were not good at all. I think it was somehting around 140/90. Poor eating habits and infrequent exercise were catching up with me. It was time to do something about it. I’ve improved my diet and I exercise daily in order to bring my body back to a healthier state. I eat lots of mixed salads. I don’t add any “salad killers” like meat, croutons, dressing, nuts, or sugary dried fruits. Those can really drive the calorie count through the roof. On the first few salads, I was adding about 70 calories of dressing for flavor. I have since switched to adding things like diced onions and fresh basil leaves to add some bursts of flavor. I either ride my bike for an hour or fire up a workout DVD everyday. Without the exercise, I don’t think the low-cal diet would be doing much.

We bought the Wii Fit when it came out over a year ago, so I decided to use it to track my daily progress. I weigh myself every evening after working out, eating dinner, and restoring fluids so that the measurements are consistent. This is generally when my weight is at its peak for the day. Below is my progress since I started just over a week ago.

I “missed” one day cause I didn’t weigh in till after midnight.

The Wii Fit is also telling me that I’m a fatty for my height. I’ve got a bit more to lose until I am “normal”. A BMI of 25.0 is the upper limit of “normal”.

I’ve lost 10.1lbs since I’ve started. I can really feel the difference. That little flat spot in the graph a few days ago was due to some added carbs and protein in my diet. I had two tuna sandwiches on whole grain bread for lunch. It seemed to really slow things down. I’m watching my total calorie intake much more closely.

My first weigh in.

Today’s weigh in. I’ve got 12.1lbs to go before I reach my goal. I’ve given myself four weeks to reach my ideal weight of 172lbs. If I continue at my current pace I should be able to do it in three weeks, but I’m not going to push it. I don’t want to pass out during a workout cause I’m not eating enough.

I took this picture of the moon on the way home from the lake last night.

Full Moon

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Tomorrow looks like a good season opener. I’m going to go sail at The Corner.

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It has been 4 months since I have gone windsurfing. The wind just hasn’t been the greatest this year. There have been some mediocre days over the last month, but none have been windy enough to convince me to break the gear out. Tomorrow is going to be the first solid day I have seen in 4.5 months. The wind graph below is the forecast for tomorrow. For a first day out, it’s pretty wicked.