Mr. Beanz

Figured I'd start this thread after reading others about high BP and other stuff. Maybe I've been blessed but I've always considered myself health conscious. Since I was a little kid I can remember wanting to rollersaket, ride bikes, throw the ball, run etc. As an adult, Gina and I had the four kids which was actually another blessing, many times in disguise I must say!

I was always out tin the garage pumping iron late at night after the kids hit the hay. After work we'd start little ball games with the neightborhood kids. Teaching kids to play ball, organization, teamwork and people skills were the benefits I thought I offered the kids that wanted to paticipate. I was happy with that, I stayed active and littel kids everywhere liked me and helped take care of my goods. If somone was snoopin' around the garage, heck I knew it and often chased away by my little buddies.

So staying active throughout the years has a played a big part, I believe. But another big part is having role models. Not good one, bad!..Watching the uncles and other relatives destroy their bodies through alcohol and other bad choices has influenced me to head the other direction. I remeber new years parties when my uncles would get drunk pound eachother then call the cops. ANd this was fun? I never thought so! Back in the sixties, I guess they had nothing better to do!

So after watching all this funky behavior and destroying of the body, I decided that I would always take care of my body. Never smoked, one beer every 5 years, nothing to do my temple harm. I played, I worked out, I tried to keep myself strong. I think it's worked so far! Never broken a bone, never been in the hospital, nothing ever more serious than a cold and flu!

My father drank plenty although he always did well in his career and other aspects of life. But at 35 he was seriously hit with diabetes, almost died and a mild heart attack. After I learned a bit more about health, I often asked him why he never exercised or tried to take care of himself. He said I would understand when I got old cause it gets harder. Well he was 35 back then. Now I'm 45 and still haven't faced any of the problems he had at a much younger age. Now he has some serious issues at 70. I ask if he thinks they might have been delayed if he had eaten better, exercised and avoided alcohol and smoking. Again, I don't understand cause I'm young. We'll see, I plan to keep riding into my 70's!

Well after all the racquetball, volleyball, running, cycling, pumping iron, dancing, jazzercise etc. I think it's paid. My brother, although more financially sound, has followed the same steps as my father. He's had high BP for a few years now, cholesterol problems, a threat of diabetes and numerous warning by the doc to exercise and watch the diet. Punk has more money but who really cares? We're doing well and I feel good!

I remember one day my father telling me that I acted like a big baby. He said I wasted my time. WHo cared that I could lift 330 lbs, run a 7 minute mile and ride my bike 100 miles. He told me that someday I would grow up. A few years later he tells me he was wrong!.. He now says he wished my bro would take care of himself like I did cause he aint taking his money with him where he's headed. Wow! Those words were worth gold to me! Then I knew I had chosen the right path!

SO I'm pretty happy that I've gone the right way my entire life. Besides a little OD on Ben and Jerry's, I've been lucky. Or is it luck! I get a little fat now and then but at any time can whip out a hundred on the bike, just a little slower.

I'm lucky to have a big clyde body of which to take care! Lucky to have a mind that says "play". But most happy that I could pass my mindset down to my kids. You don't what a joy it is to have my 27 yo daughter call me and say "Dad, I just ran my first 8 minute mile"!

Well, no cholesterol problems, no high BP, no diabetes or any other problems, and I'm happy! My plan from childhood was to remain strong, I think I have!. Well that's my story why and maybe it means nothing to any of the others. Just wonder if any of you have felt the same same about your health?

Not a kick to any of the others that have had medicals, just happy that I was so blessed. I know it's not everyone's main concern in life, just happy it was mine!


One of the young guys from the SoCal forum. He's a young guy and newbie to cycling. I dunno, I look at myself and still see one of the kids!

EasyEd

Well beanz, I got to say I've been blessed too. I'm 41, and other than being too fat, I have no health problems either. Partly that is due to my decison not to smoke. My dad was a smoker, and he had his first of many heart attacks when I was in high school. He also was an alcoholic. Although he was not overwieght, he is long gone now. Watching him and a few other relatives was a learning experience growing up. The other thing I owe my health to (besides the obvious grace of God) Is that I have mostly done real physical work. Garbage man the last seven years. I don't go to a gym, but I bet I get more exercise than most who do. Cycling this last year or so has realy improved my cardio. It's a good stress reducer too. These PNW winters suck though and my riding has really dropped off the last few months. Got my studded tires in and mounted up, and I will be braving the frosty commute in the morning! Right now I'm concentrating on my diet, with proper rest and hydration too. Even though I don't have hbp or diabetes, I know they are a side effect of being over weight, and I'm going to get that under control once and for all. Before it bites me. I hope.

Mr. Beanz

Right Ed! You know the fact of an alcoholic not being overweight brings to mind my uncle. He was rail thin and most my other uncles heavy dudes. My thin uncle dide in his sleep, too much booze and junk food. The doc said he had the heart of a 69 yo man. So when I sse other guys say they are healthier cause they are thin, I just smirk and say, "uhhh, ok!"...My uncle's favorite saying, he was healthier than the others cause he was thin!

chewybrian 

I do not have the healthy history of Mr. Beanz. I was pushing 40 at 330 pounds. My Dr. told me I had HBP--"Here's a pill and watch the salt". I could clearly see a progression from there, to diabetes, heart disease, ??? Thanks for nothing, Doc!

I prescribed myself a bike and a healthy diet. Now I'm 215, no HBP, no meds. At 6'5", 215 is a good weight for me. I could be called healthy for the first time in a long time, thanks to cycling.

Mr. Beanz

WOW! Good on yer bike!...Bad on teh pills!....My plan is that if I ever get to the point where a doc says I need a little pill for diabetes, I'm going natural like you!

Nimitz87

yup definitely a healthy clyde here...weigh in at 205 current at 6'5.

resting HR is somewhere around 45.

can't recall BP at the moment, but it is very good. and I don't feel like digging thru my medical records to find it.

well...I am only 20

Chad

dirty tiger

Yes.

StephenH

No health problems here.

unixpro

I went to see the doc something like 10 years ago and he told me I was a Type II diabetic. He put me on some pills and told me that I could either straighten up or learn to stick myself. I decided to straighten up. I'd always been a lifter, but never a big fan of the aerobic stuff. Lifting wasn't doing it alone, so I had to go for some kind of aerobics. I chose to ride.

Just over a year later he took me off one of the two pills. Three months later he took me off the other and told me I was no longer diabetic. In addition, I have excellent BP, cholesterol, and everything else. I've measured my HR in meetings at below 40. I'm still short and heavy (5' 6" and 225), but I wear a 38 waist and commute 38 miles/day, 4-5 days/week. My doctor told me I was one of only 2 or 3 people in his entire career who'd taken control like that and gotten off the medications.

I was recently turned down for some supplemental insurance through my employer because my BMI is too out of whack. There was no appeal process that I could see, and no provision for someone who wasn't a stick. Kind of torqued me a bit.

Mr. Beanz

Cool! Do what you can to take care of yourself! I knew a lady that needed diabetes pills. She refused to take them or do something about it. She ended up on dialysis, then leg amputated, then the final curtain...She was only in her 40's and not very heavy. Hard to understand but I guess everybody is different.

Doohickie

I've ridden with Stephen and I can concur with that statement. A very accomplished cyclist.

I'm just barely a Clyde, lingering at 200 +/- right now. I'd like to get down to 185-190, and then I would be no longer a Clyde and no longer "overweight" according to the BMI charts. But I think I look pretty fit in the most recent picture I have of myself (taken Sunday):

PlatyPius

Overweight, ex-smoker, HBP (190/110), arthritis, bad back, a couple of hernias or three, starting to have symptoms of diabetes. Reckon it's time to get serious.

txvintage

The only medical things I've run into was an out of whack Cholesterol result in late 2007. It was one of the things that got me to thinking about going back to the bike.

My other issues are ones I can't seem to control. I have some structural issues. Most of them are from a life spent in physically demanding sports and past times like football, baseball, and off road motorcycle racing. Some of them were just bad luck. Three back surgeries, two knee surgeries, one shoulder surgery, and one foot surgery. Arthritis is a major opponent for me and I have some nerve damage that affects my legs and feet.

I can't stop the arthritis, but I figure the more I strengthen the muscles around the areas that are afflicted I can give it a run for it's money. In the last year I have decided that I may well be on a count down timer with my ability to do some things. I could either sit around a wait for the day to get to here, or I could go out and make the best use of the time I have, and maybe even delay somethings or prevent them all together.

scrapmetal

I really like your typo: rollersaket

As far as healthy clyde. The first Saturday of January I sat in freezing wind two hours on a tree branch 30 feet above the ground waiting for a deer that eventually came and I shot it. Trying to stay healthy doing crazy things was always my approach

CliftonGK1

6'6"
250 pounds
BP 127/72 at last check
no cholesterol problems
good fasting blood sugar
resting mid-day pulse 61 bpm

Big. Healthy. Sasquatch.

Mr Danw

Before cycling my BP was getting a bit high, 5'9" 210. I can out sprint my 20 yo. on foot. Don't know what I can lift, I lay carpet for a living and everything I lift is heavy. At 45 I like to think I can carry as much carpet as the young bucks because I can. My doc says my blood work is "boring, we'll check it in a few more years". I could still stand to lose a few around the middle. But I am healthy.

cooleric1234

I consider myself pretty healthy, but I definitely have a family history to look out for. My dad was overweight, had diabetes, had a heart attack, cancer in his eye, and eventually died of kidney failure while undergoing dialysis. My mom was pretty healthy, until she got ovarian cancer, lymphoma, and eventually brain cancer (probably left over from the ovarian cancer, although it was in remission many years). They both died in their mid 60's.

That's part of what motivated me to lose 30 pounds last year, I decided I'd like to be around for my kids by the time they turn 30, unlike my parents. It's an uphill battle with my history, but I think I'm doing okay:

6'5"
195 lbs
BP 126/70 (can't remember if it's actually 80)
Last cholesterol test showed good but near the borderline (low LDL), that was before losing the weight
Last blood sugar test also showed good but near the borderline, also before losing the weight

Always played competitive sports so I've got to watch out for effects from that as well.

youcoming

I'm a firm believer that it's all what you we're given. I do have high cholesterol but kind of expected as all the men in my family do. To many years putting crap in my body inluding smokes of many kinds. Suprisingly BP is fine. Dad is 64 washboard abs 5'9' 155lbs, I'm 6'1" 230lbs keg belly. He eats like a pig I eat like a rabbit go fiquire. Doctor is actually surprised with my cardio. My job requires a full pulminary check every year. Not exactly sure how they get to the numbers but I have 110% lung capacity for a guy my age, how do you get over 100%? Anyway yeah big guys can be healthy but saying that how many old fat guys do you know.

Velo Dog

Just a warning: Get things under control now, don't wait. I'm 63, 6'4", and my weight hovered around 220-230 most of my adult life. That doesn't sound particularly heavy, but weight charts and Body Mass Index tables show I should weigh about 195.
"Too skinny," I said. "I'm fine where I am."
As I got older and slower and had more responsibilities, I exercised less. Not a LOT less, but it doesn't take much to gain, say, 2 pounds a year. And if you gain 2 pounds a year for 15 years, suddenly you're at 255, and your glucose and BP are elevated and your doctor is telling you, "Get your fat butt on a diet and drop about 50 of those." Would have been a lot easier to stay on top of it from the start.

billydonn

I quit smoking 18 months ago after 15 years. I will turn 61 tomorrow, and my experience is a lot like Velo Dog's, i.e. creeping up weight and associated issues during my 50s.... just a little creep year by year and suddenly bad symptoms show up. Mine was mostly cholesterol. Well I just had my annual checkup and my cholesterol compared to last year is way down well into the normal range for all components. At 230, I'm about 20 lbs lighter than year ago. My BP has been and remains normal. I am putting on my old size 40 jeans instead of 44s and they are getting saggy too. I do not get out of breath going up a few stairs anymore. Luckily I have no major orthopedic issues. Other than the smoking, all these changes are entirely due to 2000 miles of cycling in the last six months. I enjoyed nearly every mile. It is going to be a great year ahead!

I also have nice bushy hair which I do not yet attribute to cycling. Wo hoo!

cohophysh

well, Other than being overweight, I have type 2 diabetes....everything else is okay...BP is good, cholesterol good, tryglycerides good...this was all brought on by being lazy and eating poorly...now I am working on maintaining good blood sugars and losing weight.

cyclefreaksix

'Bout 6 years ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I take medication, but it's still a real beyatch to lose weight and my energy levels aren't what they used to be. Other than that, I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in. My first real physical is coming up in February and we'll see where I stand...

Neil_B

In a word, no. Scoliosis, knocked knees, uneven leg length, and at least one mini-stroke in my past.

txvintage

Well, the way I look at it, the body may be less than perfect, the chassis may have a few defects, but the engine still runs. (insert thumbs up guy here cuz for some reason smileys don't work on my work computer).

aenlaasu

I've been on the heavy side most of my life even though I was a fairly active child. Between writing my books I was still climbing trees, walking to the bayou to fish and crab or swim, or vanishing on my bike for 20+ mile rides.

Bad knees hit me at age 15 from a roller skating accident, but I just shifted my activities to things they would allow. 19 hit me with reactive hypoglycemia and the weight yo-yo began. Sometimes, I couldn't keep weight on and got skinny enough that even guys who liked slim girls were telling me to gain weight while I was eating everything in sight. Other times, I was eating like a rabbit and gaining like crazy. 29 was a bad year, hitting me with a few issues that left me with a wrecked back and seriously out of shape. 34 I was three months recovering from a blood clot.

Been trying to claw my way back ever since, working through various health issues. When I'm cycling on my recumbent trike is when I feel my best and it seems to help quite a few of the other things I struggle with on a regular basis. I felt the best I've felt in years this summer thanks to cycling roughly 10 to 15 hours a week.

My resting heart rate a couple years ago was 52, which isn't bad though I haven't checked it since I started cycling a lot. Good strong hearts run in the family it seems. Even my overweight mother who smokes like crazy, gets no exercise and eats all sorts of bad foods has a resting heart rate of 57 where I would expect 60+. My BP swings wildly (one of those on going issues) between 110/75 to high, but nothing consistent enough that various doctors have felt needed treatment.

So, I feel kind of fit that I can cycle 50+ miles at my weight and age, but the rest of me is a wreck.