I'm Back and in for the long haul.

Yeah its been forever sense i updated this blog.  How am I doing?  Well i have been better.  I turned 40 this year which was hard to swallow. Had a really rocky time in my marriage for 6 months or so and a recent rash of colds/flus that have been going through my house hold.  Someone essentially was sick in my house for months in a row (so tons of stress).  I ended up in the Dr's office 3 or 4 times trying to figure out what was going on with me.  At one point i almost passed out while driving down the freeway.  Anyway i have had blood tests, abdominal CT scan, Ultrasound, EKG, and a heart rhythm recording device.  Thus far they have found nothing really wrong with me which i guess is good, at least nothing that's not fixable with good nutrition, exercise, rest, and less stress ( elevated BP, cholesterol, and a bit of fat on my liver). They put me on Doxycycline (antibiotic) for what they thought was a sinus infection.  The antibiotic messed me up worse and made me think i had diabetes or something worse (the side effects for me were horrid).  My resting heart rate is good (in the 60s) but if i do even what i would consider moderate exercise it shoots up to 140s bpm and higher.  I talked to my Dr about it and he gave me the go ahead to continue exercising.  I still don't feel 100% but i seem to feel more normal than not which is good.  My son caught influenza A the Tuesday before Christmas and my wife caught it from him.  So we spent the majority of the entire holiday week cooped up in the house.  We made the best of things and I think the boys still had a great holiday (they are 6 and 9 now).  So we are hoping to have a much healthier 2015.  

Right now I am sitting at 235 lbs on my 6ft frame, not good at all.  I feel like my motivation is still the same and that this blog still captures my goals and whats important to me.  I still for the most part just want to be healthy and to be here for my kids and wife.  I still want to be able to do the active things I love like hiking, skiing, sports, travel etc etc..  Might as well have fun while your living right.  So i figured i would pick back up blogging as it helped me stay motivated in the past and was kind of a place i could vent my frustrations or success and not feel that judged.  

Given i am concerned with my heart rate I decided to get myself a new heart rate monitor/fitness tracker.  I picked up a Mio Fuse at my local REI.  

I was talking to one of my good friends about fitness (he is a triathlete and has always been uber fit).  He is very into heart rate training and says its really the only way to tell what kind of cardiovascular health you are in.  He says to always workout for time and HR and that over time your heart rate should be lower doing the same workout and with that you know you have increased cardiovascular health and fitness.  Anyway, i have looked back at previous times i have lost weight and truthfully i think a lot of the time i was over training/under eating.   Not that it was hurting me or stopping progress but I assume it slowed me down.  So even though i feel like my workouts are weak right now (not breathing hard or sweating profusely) my heart rate says i am working pretty hard.  So with that said I think i will focus on heart rate training and i think with time it will give me the weight loss and ability to do the things i want in life.  Here is my first 45 min workout 

Well this has turned into a super long post but I guess that happens when almost 2 years goes by.  I am planning on updating my goals etc and talking about them more.  Here's to me getting back to learning to live and finding a different lifestyle that leaves me healthier, lighter, and around for a long time to come.