2020 has not been a great year for me for general fitness and exercise. What with recovering from a shoulder operation in December, then lockdown stopping boot camp visits (I never really liked the remote/zoom classes), then the surfacing of the cancer I think its fair to say 2020 has been a sedentary year.
Recent years has seen me battle with weight from losing 8st in 2008 and then slowly putting most of it back on in the following 12 years to ramping up exercise with personal trainers and then boot camp sessions. I’ve always been unfit and overweight but trying to do something about it.
Being 6’8” tall had always disguised my size and when I was at my heaviest at 330lb people were always surprised when I told them. I’m not proud of hitting that weight.
From March to Sept this year I didn’t weigh myself at all. Not through a conscious decision but because I was scared to. I knew I wasn’t exercising and was convinced I’d piled the pounds back on and was heavier than ever. In March I was back to 317lbs 
After the antics in September when my cancer was discovered I’d had a period of a few days of eating almost nothing while in hospital and worried. When I got home after that first admission I decided to weigh myself again. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was still at 317. I’d clearly been a bit higher but not that much.
Worryingly, by the middle of Sept I was down to 310. I wasn’t trying to lose weight but my appetite had gone. Even though for almost 2 weeks I spent a lot of time lying down in bed as this was where pain was most manageable and was barely moving around much, I was still losing weight.
I joked it was alright as I had a lot spare but I knew this could be an issue if not controlled. I was at 300lbs by the middle of October.
At the start of October I made a conscious decision to get out and start moving a bit more. Walking was my exercise of choice and my first few walks were slow and only about 0.5 miles. Then 0.8 miles and then a mile.
I was struggling with stamina, I couldn’t talk while walking and the slightest hill would mean I had to take a breather.
I decided to trying some help with Nordic walking poles. These helped massively by making me stand up straight, open the chest, use arms and legs to help propel.
The distance increased to 1.5, then 2 miles over a few days. Great!
My knees disagreed, I’d tried to do to much to quickly. My physiotherapist told me to focus on a mile and keep to a mile until I could do it comfortably. And then try and get to my normal walking pace.
Long story short is that now, in mid Nov 2020 I’m walking (without the poles) at my normal pace and can hold a conversation. This weekend I’ve walked 5.5 miles and joints are fine. I’m still finding hills very hard but that will come with time too. It also means I earn my naps now 
As for the weight and appetite, my appetite has now come back. I’m not eating quite as much as before and if I’m honest this is mostly due to me going to bed earlier so I’m not having schnacky snacks. My weight this morning is 294lbs. That’s another 3lbs in 2 weeks. I’m 99% certain this is fine and is due to me not snacking.
I’m still very overweight but I’m in the strange situation that I have to be very careful how I lose weight. It needs to be intentional and I have to make sure I look after myself.
