Curing the Heavyweight...

Following up the fatness....and the issues causing it:

Age, Diet - NOT factors.
Medication, Inability to exercise, Less regular climbing - MAIN factors.
Less active scene - Additional factors.

What can I do about these issues??

Age: Not an issue but at any rate I don't intend to age gracefully at all!

Diet: Although this is not a factor, it is, unlike sealed veins, something I can change, and I can improve my diet even more compared to my lighter Sheffield time. I have various aims listed to try to have a habitually healthier diet to compensate for the difficulty in improving other areas. These are all simple stuff in the "eating less junk and fat, eating more healthy lightweight food" vein (ugh, veins).

Medication: I have, over several months, halved my dose of Citalopram (to 10mg, apparently below the clinical dose). This has been unpleasant and stressful and my general mood is often agitated and anxious - these are issues I naturally feel well before any beneficial improvements in weight which will obviously take time and exercise. However I get the instinct that my weight gain has stabilised at least, and I have more determination to improve it.

Inability to exercise:
Despite the difficulty of these there are a few options I'm trying with varying degrees of determination and success:

1. Going to the gym: I can do recumbent cycling, rowing, and arm cycling, and burn off a fair few calories that way. The problem is I mostly hate the sterility of the gym, and the leg exercises are still fucking hard work. I'm trying to keep determined....more drum'n'bass mp3 mixes help.

2. Going swimming: This is absolutely fine, in fact post-DVTs I've swum longer distances before. The problem is I find it more boring, if shorter, than going to the gym, AND hard to be syked for in the bleak Glasgow weather. I'm trying to get motivated to go more often, maybe warmer weather will help.

3. Doing very short bursts of running: Although it is a horrible process and I can really do fuck all, I'm sure the little bits still do something. The problem is it inevitably unpleasant and particularly demoralising that I can't progress at all. I'm trying to view it in a different way as just keeping my body moving and tailor it down in that way.

4. Keeping trying to go to crags with medium walk-ins: Although attempting longer walk-ins is pointless, I want to accept the difficulty of even medium walk-ins and keep doing them, although it's tedious it makes for a more beneficial day out. The problem is it is simply always unpleasant, regardless of the logistics, the constant exhausting and dull pain is offputting in itself. I'm trying to tailor down the walking, with more rests.

5. Other options?? I'm not really sure...
> Skiing would be great as it is very inspiring and fun, seems very active, but somehow my legs cope with it.
> Maybe more hill-walks when the weather is good? Less horrible than walk-ins with a rucsac.
> Someone has suggested shorter bursts of sprinting with longer rests, I should try that.
> Someone else suggested "aerocap" climbing training which I think means dicking around on jugs for ages, I'm not sure how much fat that would burn off but at least my legs would cope.

Fuck. How could I forget...
6. Raving! Somehow dancing to gabber or techno is fine on my legs, I assume DnB would be too. Only problem is lack of club events I like and being out of touch with what's on. I really need to rectify that.

Less regular climbing:
As hinted at before, I have realised the importance of a regular climbing lifestyle for me overall health as well as my personal inspiration. Working towards this is....kinda complex, but at least with the realisation and inspiration it has given me some strong ideas, including moving somewhere with better weather and more suitable local cragging, setting up logistics to make climbing easier, going for regular mileage days out even if they aren't always as inspiring, working on grander plans for the future, and simply being more focused on climbing.

Less active scene:
Not really sure about this one. I can't really create activity companionships out of thin air, and have often struggled to fit into regular climbing partner scenes. I;m not sure what else I can do except keep in touch with people, try to hang on to supportive partners, and try to keep a positive attitude. Although again moving somewhere with a better and more encouraging scene than Glasgow would probably be good, and that is likely to be part of the overall plan. Maybe I could try joining some physical activity clubs too...

So...

Overall, despite the odds stacked against me and my fitness, there ARE various areas I am working on (or at least trying to), and I DO have plans to improve my life and activity in the future....because I want to....because I have to.