Memoirs of a Soon-to-Be Former Fat Guy

Greetings!

I survived my first session with the exercise physiologist this morning. I currently ache in some muscles I forgot I had, but it’s a good ache. Hope tomorrow will be the same story.

I arrived at the Bariatric Physician Specialist office at 10:00 and Cory came out to get us. There were several of us in the session, and I figured I’d be the one in the worst shape. Cory, one of the trainers, took us back to the workout area. It’s a well-appointed space with several treadmills, ellipticals and rowing machines, as well as some machines and free weights. There are lots of windows to look out over the parking lot at the health campus. (For those of you not familiar with the health care systems in Cow Country, the Health Campus is a sprawling cluster of buildings containing all sorts of medical offices… in addition to the bariatrics suite, there’s a women’s and babies hospital, a rehab center, a hospice facility, and soon to be a cancer center and forensics lab.) Not the most awesome view, but nice to get some sunshine.

Cory started things off by explaining their procedures. They require diabetics to bring their glucometers and test before and after workouts. There’s locker and shower facilities, and clean towels provided.

They wanted to get a baseline on me, so Cory started me out with 20 minutes on the treadmill. It was a little choppy at first, but I soon got going up to around 3.1 mph and on a slight incline. Not too bad for someone who hasn’t set foot in a gym for the better part of two years. After I was done on the treadmill, Cory took me over to the weight machines and had me do some chest work. They are able to modify the form, which is a good thing since I have a partial tear of my right rotator cuff. After a couple of 12-13 rep sets, we started with the “S” word. Squats. Or, the enemy. He was smart and broke up the squats with reps on a pulldown machine. After more squats and pulldowns, it was back to the treadmill for a ten minute cool down period.

After the workout was done, we checked blood glucose again. Before I started, it measured 110. Afterward, I stuck a 97. Both are good readings, but I did take a glucose tablet before I started the workout, since the 110 seemed a little low. Next time, I’m going to just see how far it drops, especially since Cory or Ryan will be there to monitor what I’m doing.

I can’t thank those guys enough… For the first time I actually feel like I might get something out of going to a gym. At the very least, I’ll learn the proper form for lifting. The funny part was I didn’t want to leave the gym. Oh, well… little steps are a good thing.

I have another session on Monday… I’ll be sure to tell you all about it.