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Concerned about my mortality.

Metalhead

Metalhead

Video game and movie addict.
V.I.P Member
I am 43 and very much overweight and under-active. I am addicted to laziness. I am addicted to food. I am recovering from an addiction to alcohol. I have severe sleep apnea. I have regular gout attacks. I have regular insomnia attacks. I am not getting nearly enough sleep and I am also not getting nearly enough physical activity. I am going to die relatively young if this keeps up.

I am terrified the more I think about this. I used to get a ton of physical activity before the pandemic started. Now I am fat and lazy and headed towards death.
 
If I do not make radical changes in my life right this second, and stick to them faultlessly, I will die young, I believe.
 
You can make radical changes. It is one small step at a time, and gratitude that you were able to follow through. Don't beat yourself up. You can do it. (-:
 
I feel like going to the gym and running for several hours straight, whether my body can handle it or not.
 
Go see a doctor and listen to whatever they have to say once they get all the info.

Right now all you're doing is making a bunch of assumptions (X is going to happen) and sorta hoping that you choose changes that happen to be the correct solutions (so I need to do Y). That's not a good way to solve problems. But it's also not good for your mental health.

Keeping yourself going does not mean that you shoot out of bed at dead-o-clock in the morning and run screaming down the street at mach 5 for three straight hours after having eaten half of a pea. It is 100% possible to try too hard to go in what you think of as the "correct" direction with this stuff, only to make everything worse.

This goes for the mental/emotional aspect too. Yelling at yourself that you shouldnt ever do fun stuff EVER because that's not responsible or some nonsense is a fast way towards spiraling depression, and that brings even more fun problems.

Seriously: stop focusing on this stuff, and instead, simply take the practical action of making a doctor's appointment. See what they say, and then ask them: what steps can I do to be healthier and feel better?

THAT is going to help you.

As for the insomnia thing... ever thought of seeing a sleep specialist?

Also:

Metalhead said:
A lot more physical activity combined with some heavy duty fasting is necessary in my case.
Click to expand...

Ye gods, no, dont do this.

Jumping from "standing still" to "ENGAGE WARP DRIVES" is *really* unhealthy. But again, if you push yourself too far, you'll just make everything worse. You'll entirely undo all of the benefits that your actions are meant to bring.

Trust me, you'll end up regretting that one really, really hard.

Again: Doctor appointment. Professional advice, professional solutions. That's what'll help.
 
tree said:
That's been a couple years now....
Click to expand...

It has been a long while. I used to hike through hilly urban terrain for eight miles to get home from the office when the weather was nice. Then a year of working from home came around.
 
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Some excellent advice here. Physical endurance / capabilities tend to escape one with the passage of time, especially if one has stopped their usual activities for more than a couple weeks, so trying to get back where you left off isn't exactly going to work and is more likely to be counter-productive.

I would suggest getting a "couch to" or beginner's Half Marathon book.

While there are online programs and guides available, the reason why I recommend a book is that they tend to go into deeper side-topics that are just as important as the physical parts, such as eating, keeping to a schedule, avoiding injuries, motivation, etc.

One that I quite like and has input from sports medicine specialists is Marathon and Half-Marathon: The Beginner's Guide by Marnie Caron and SportMedBC. It provides a 26 week program for getting to a half marathon (13 mile), and had a lot of little stories / anecdotes to show that people come from all places and levels.
 
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It's amazing how fast fitness can lessen. I'm on a punishing treatment regime for a while, and I keep thinking, got to get out the door and walk or my legs will lose muscle, just in a week or so.

Whatever the reasons this has happened, you definitely need to take action, but still it needs to be sensible. I have a relative with a history of taking steps that are idiosyncratic and too full on with their health, the results are poor. Decided to run without taking proper advice, made back problems so much worse; decided to literally drink fish oil to help back problems etc, got acid reflux. Etc.

What you are saying sounds like you think you can defy reality and just Make your health and fitness levels return to how they were fast. Unfortunately that's not the case. Each time I peel myself off the sofa after a week of full on medications, I start off tottering down the road, maybe getting to the shop even, 2000 steps or so. Then build up. I can start feeling a good bit fitter by the week after starting. Maybe I get to 8000 steps by end of week 3. Currently, then I get another round of medication and go backwards. But that will end in a few months.

You can get your fitness back, just take your time. If you over strain organs and tendons etc , there won't be new ones available, you have to take it slowly, not try to make fitness the new addiction. Really good advice from @Misery.
 
Okay, I was thinking a bit about this, and I have a rather odd suggestion for you:

Ever thought of trying VR? If you've got a gaming PC, it's doable.

The reason I bring this up is because it brings you the excitement and general experience of gaming, but it gets you out of your bloody chair and gets you MOVING. Believe me, it can be a freaking workout. There are games that are very focused on fast action like that to get your heart pumping, and also plenty of things for when you could use a moment to relax. And many apps that arent games at all.

I've found that this helps immensely for this very sort of problem. I have a tendency to get stuck in a rut, as my father puts it, where I sorta do the same thing over and over without changing it up and then regret it later... exactly why he encouraged me to get more hobbies. One of those hobbies is VR, and since I started regularly using the thing I've felt so much better... all that movement (while standing) really helps a lot. Provided I dont trip over the dog's water bowl or run into my chair. I dont know why I leave those things in the middle of the room sometimes.

I'm always going to keep saying that this technology has a lot of potential for therapeutic use of all sorts.

Just a thought I had.
 
Misery said:
Okay, I was thinking a bit about this, and I have a rather odd suggestion for you:

Ever thought of trying VR? If you've got a gaming PC, it's doable.

The reason I bring this up is because it brings you the excitement and general experience of gaming, but it gets you out of your bloody chair and gets you MOVING. Believe me, it can be a freaking workout. There are games that are very focused on fast action like that to get your heart pumping, and also plenty of things for when you could use a moment to relax. And many apps that arent games at all.

I've found that this helps immensely for this very sort of problem. I have a tendency to get stuck in a rut, as my father puts it, where I sorta do the same thing over and over without changing it up and then regret it later... exactly why he encouraged me to get more hobbies. One of those hobbies is VR, and since I started regularly using the thing I've felt so much better... all that movement (while standing) really helps a lot. Provided I dont trip over the dog's water bowl or run into my chair. I dont know why I leave those things in the middle of the room sometimes.

I'm always going to keep saying that this technology has a lot of potential for therapeutic use of all sorts.

Just a thought I had.
Click to expand...

I do not have a VR headset, but I do own a certain PS2 game that could work as a great workout. Dance Dance Revolution.
 
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