T2 - 30.

20m cardio/shadowboxing, 6 meals, 3L water

Retrospective...

Man, in hindsight, the last... ummm... jeez... 12 years?... my health, fitness and fatness has been all over the the place. Mike's celebrating about getting down to a size he hasn't seen in a decade made me ponder just how I got to the point I am now. Maybe useless navel gazing, but let's see where the day takes me, as it were.

12 years ago, 1996, 23 years old, maybe in the best shape of my life. Hitting the gym 5x a week with a SSgt from work... [Much thanks, wherever you are HW.] I am awesome. A weight-lifting, running, beach-volleyball-playing, martial-arts-training 1stLt in the USMC.

Marriage in 1997. With that comes a bit of domesticated laziness, plus changes in work responsibilities, transfer of workout partners... the gym 5x a week becomes a distant memory, but hitting the JKD/MMA classes 2x a week + a cheapo weight bench and heavy bag in the garage keeps fatty at bay. Mostly. At the end of the tour in 1999, and exiting the fitness oriented culture of the Marine Corps, there is a detectable widening of the waistline starting to form. I blame my Gunny, and his delicious sweetened coffee flavorings. God bless you, wherever you are, Duane Keys. I hope you are having not a single "2pac day."

Japan 1999-2001. First time in Japan... 6 months of acclimating, poor diet, and being a lazy ass takes it's toll. Started working out again that winter. Getting to use the gym at Sandy's school was a godsend. [Yay Hirowatari sensei. Yay awesome wife.] Last 6 months in Japan also gave me the Daido Juku dojo to train at 2x a week. [Yay wife. Yay Hisako san.] Leaving Japan in the summer of '01, in pretty good shape.

NC 2001-2003. In good shape when I got there, apparently the understanding that I'd actually have to keep working out didn't occur to me. Occasional MA training with Jr does little to hold back poor diet and lethargy. But I do manage to figure this out, maybe after a year. [Slow in the head, that's me.] Last six months in NC spent getting back into some semblance of condition. Not as good as when I got to NC, but I leave NC with a modicum of conditioning and self respect, having shed a lot of my chub.

VA 2003-2005. Where it all goes to hell apparently. VA was, I don't know, a weird time for me. Sandy busy with grad school. Me working a particularly meaningless job just to make $$ to pay bills. Living closer to more family than I had in a long time... not that that was a bad thing, it was just... different. All sorts of different stressors and issues and nonsense going on. Became a fatty. I was looking at the pre-JET Programme physical I had to take and noticed that I had ballooned up to 100kg/220lbs, even in VA, which I hadn't thought I'd hit till I got back to Japan. So clearly I had forgotten/not even noticed that at the time. Not good at all. Didn't work out, really at all, for two years. Just horrible.

Japan II 2005-Present. Back in Japan, I hit the ground running. Back to the dojo, even though fat and out of shape. No longer eating like a basket case. Enjoying my job. After about a year, year and a half, while not in shape by any stretch of the imagination, I've managed to drop about 10lbs... Then, boom. Tweak/strain/pull my neck. Followed up my tweaking/spraining/pulling my hip/leg. A layoff for recovery becomes longer and longer. Can't go to the dojo. Working out at all is a huge pain in the ass. Frustrating. Hey, junk food and alcohol make me feel better! I'm so fucking simple... Eating emotionally will be my downfall, I swear. Flash forward to February 08, I am the fattest and in the worst shape I have ever been. Haven't been to the dojo in about a year. I top the scales at [and it is with great shame that I write this] 103kg/227lbs. My waist [even more embarrasing] measures at a disgusting 43inches. Even being slapped in the face with this cold, harsh reality, it takes me another month to finally get off my lazy ass and start doing something about it.

So, here I am, not quite 6 months back into it. Still haven't been back to the dojo, as I've promised myself the next time I train there, I'm going to be able to make my body do the things I want it to do, and not be held back by my lack of fitness. I've dropped about 8-9kg/17-19lbs, which puts me at 94-95kg/207-209lbs, and about a 37.5/38inch waist, depending on what time of the day I check my measurements. I want to drop about another 10-11kg and another 5-6inches, at least. 85kg/34inches would be acceptable, but 84kg/32inches would be ideal, I think.

Lot of work to still do. Work in progress. Onwards.