FatMan to Fit Man: Update 1

Fat to Fit

So I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you who read my stuff. It has been a cool experience to go through in learning new skills and challenging myself in new ways. I said at the beginning that I had a few goals with website. Warning: Personal growth information and no cool pictures ahead

Get Moving

1. I wanted to get off my couch and feel comfortable in a hiking setting. I was embarrassed that I had gained weight and I didn’t want to go out and look foolish on a hike. So far, I feel like that has been accomplished and I really have to thank some wonderful people I have met out on the trails that were amazingly encouraging. While I was huffing and puffing trying to walk up a slight incline, random strangers would say things like “you are doing a great”. That does a lot to help a psyche.

Show Others

2. Inspire people to get out there as well. One of those “if I can you can” moments. I’m not sure that I have done this yet but I know the blog inspires me to get out a few times a week, usually with blistered feet and my soleus screaming at me to stay in bed. I also learned that the soleus is a muscle on the outside of your calf that gets extremely sore while you are hiking uphill. I never knew I had it before but I sure do now, and it likes to constantly remind me that its there! With my physical limitations walking/hiking seem to be the main source of exercise I have available from now on so I might as well get used to it. I’d say this one is a work in progress.

3. See this amazing state that I live in.

Loose some Weight

4. Lose some weight and get back in shape. I have had 3 surgeries in the last 4 years and gained 60 pounds because of the lack of activity. Some was due to physical restrictions and some was do to me losing confidence. My job of 15 years was also eliminated in December and I found myself with a bunch of time but a pretty small amount of “want to”. Then the virus hit and I boarded up in my tiny apartment and quarantined like it was going out of style. It is a tough time for so many people and I was one of them who struggled. While I was quarantining, I read all my old medical records, as one does, and came across the anesthesiologists notes from my last surgery. MORBIDLY OBESE the page screamed at me. Holy fried cheese curds that was scary. I had always been, as a friend recently put it, “Thiccc”. Broad shoulders and the look that a long time ago I was muscular. Apparently my 5’6 frame and the 240 pounds it was holding didn’t leave many places to hide the fluff. And the FatMan was born.

The Great Unknown

As the weather began to break I started walking around the little park by my place and then finally decided when you live in a major city the best place to social distance might just be the side of a mountain. On my first trip out to a hike, two kids ran past me on a small trail like a bolt of lighting. The kids were laughing and joking and easily running up a hill that I was clinging to while sucking all the air I could find. “Greg, your just a FatMan on a LittleTrail” was my inner monologue at the time. I came home and texted my cousin for approval, which was resounding and FatManLittleTrail was born that day.

So that is the background of why I am doing this for those who didn’t know. Oh, and I’d also like to make like a billion dollars and post blogs from my own private island someday but that is probably a month or two away.

Updates as of June 16th

I’m going to say that goal 1 is accomplished. There my goals so I can rank them as I please.

I would love to hear from you about goal 2. If you decided to take a hike because you read my blog please let me know. Hey maybe we could go on a hike together one day.

As for goal 3, As of June 16th I have been on 28 hikes in 4 states and tried 15 new local restaurants in 3 states that I probably never would have tried before so I would say I’m off to a good start on this one.

Goal 4. While this one is pretty personal, why in the world would I hold back now. I can tell you that my confidence is definitely returning. Just getting out of bed each morning and going for walks around the parks feels better. In my defense, I live around a bunch of in-shape 20 somethings but now they are only lapping 3 times instead of 6 when I go on walks. The difference is that I don’t mind being the chubby out of shape guy trying to do his thing. Like one of my early blogs said “Screw it, I’m trying”. That attitude has gotten me up a lot of hills in the last few months, albeit slowly, but Screw it, I tried!

Reality Check

Now for the weight. First a message to those of you who are about to tell me that if I would stop going to restaurants and eating bacon cheeseburgers after a hike I would have lost more weight. Shut it. Nobody wants to eat Kale and rhubarb all day. They may say they do or they like taking pictures of their abs or seeing their toes but nobody really likes it. (Also, if you like kale and rhubarb, please don’t stop following me. We can talk it out on the hike, I’ll be the guy you passed twice somehow going up)

I started this website officially on April 20th of 2020. On that day I weighed 231.4 pounds and had 35.8% body fat. On Monday, June 15th I weighed 228.5 pounds and had 32.2% body fat. I did get as low as 225 pounds but the 32% body fat is the lowest that I have had in the roughly 2 months that I have been doing this.

So there it is, my accountability check. I’ll get back to posting some hiking stuff soon but just felt if I’m going to do this I might as well be all in with it.

If you have a suggestion for a hike that you would like me to try, feel free to email me at fatmanlittletrails@gmail.com or you can follow me on the below social media platforms.