The first stone

The first stone.

It changed my life.

What stone could do that you ask? The fist stone, or 14 pounds, you loose marks the start of a beautiful journey.

I was injured in 1998 during an equipment transfer between Fort Drum NY and Tobihanna Pen. Our cargo van was ran off the road in the snow by a big rig truck. We struck a tree head on and I was rushed to a local ER for eval due to back and neck pain. All seemed fine, but I had lingering back pain.
The back pain was an easy fix. For a soldier! Ruck march 5 days a week with a light ruck to strengthen my back. Two miles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, five miles on Tuesday and Thursday. I diligently took my medicine, and rucked it out for over a month. Then the numbness started in my feet. Particularly my right foot. As weeks passed it got progressively worse and I started to develop foot drop during exercise. My right calve also started enlarging and causing severe pain when exerted.
Back to the doctors I went. No one had answers though. I was put through physical therapy, shock treatments on my calve, and gradually less and less exercise. Still no one had an answer. The doctors gave up and I was medically chaptered out of the Army in 2000.

For the next 11 years, I gradually did less and less. I went from 180 lbs to over 230, and eventually 280. I was depressed. It affected my entire life. I could not play with my children outside. I could no longer be the active person I was any longer. No more surfing, hiking, baseball, football, running, jumping, anything the exerted my calve. It was a slow downward spiral into depression. My job choices started to also be extremely limited. All due to something no one could explain.

In 2011 I got tired of being told "we do not know, live with it" and I found a pair of doctors who could give me answers. I went to a vascular surgeon and it was found that I had a blood clot lodge behind my right knee in 1998. That resulted in the slow death of the artery that supplies blood to my lower right leg. Only because I was very athletic and continued to push myself and train for those first few years in vain hope of it getting better did I not loose my leg. It actually grew subsidiarity veins to compensate to maintain the life of the leg. It was not however 100% effective at replacing the artery that was lost.

This is a from behind view of the veins in my legs. On the left of the image is my right leg and the right of the image my normal left leg.

I was told there was nothing that could be done. I would live like this the rest of my life. On the side lines.

I am 34 years old and I am married to the most amazing 22 year old on the planet. This poses a great many challenges as I am continually  holding her back by not being able to no many things your typical 22 year old does. Depression had a strong grip on my life. I retreated into my computer further and further. I distanced myself from my wife to the point of almost loosing her.

At the beginning of December, 2012, my wife left for Korea for 15 months. She is an Air Traffic Controller in the US Air Force. I made a decision that day. I WOULD NOT be the same man when I saw her again.

In the first month after she left I completely changed how and what I ate. Portion control was key here. It was a very passive approach to my goal. But after that first month, I had lost my first stone, my first 14 pounds! This excited me to no end. After fighting a loosing battle for 12 years, I had finally made a significant stride forward in controlling my weight.

This spurred in me something I had not felt in over 10 years. I felt good. I felt like I could do this.
So I got really motivated here. I downloaded an app called myfitnesspal. It tracks my every calorie. I also started P90X. I have to modify a lot of the workouts that involve jumping or over exerting my legs, but I get through it. I also started walking, and other cardio outlets.

Today is day 3 of my new journey. Come with me, and lets find our sexier selves!!
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