Went to the gym last night (Friday) for the first time in 11 days.  I had a bout of food poisoning. Got sick at work on Tuesday.  Sick on Wednesday.  Started on Cypro on Thursday.  Had my first meal Friday night.   But also developed the hiccups on Thursday, which was pretty continuous while I was awake until the following Thursday.  The hiccups caused a lot of acid reflux, which irritated my throat and tongue (and seemed to make me susceptible to thrush).  But once I started on three meds, the super strength Prilosec, Fluconazole, and a muscle relaxant Baclofen. The hiccups went away within 24 hours of starting those meds.  And my voice is no longer raspy.

Have no idea what caused the food poisoning.  Had only eaten out of my fridge the previous two days.  But this was the worst I’ve ever had.  Well in 1992 I got shigella, but within 12 hours I was in the ER with an IV in my arm.  So that was probably more serious, but it was over real quick.  This just lasted for days and days.  And yes I had been talking to my doc asking if I should go to the ER, she no need unless this, this and this, which never happened.

So at the gym last night, I had a pretty descent all around workout.  Didn’t try to do too much.  But I weighed myself, and I was down 10 pounds from two weeks ago.  And that’s after days of eating like a pig.  At it’s peak I’m sure I was down 15 pounds or more.

The really depressing part of all this was the timing.

At the gym there is a name for a type of weightlifter, the perma-bulkers.  Guys who are always trying to get big, and feel you need to need to eat constantly and be a bit overweight to gain muscle.  Perma-bulkers may be big, but they’re never in good shape.

Then there are guys who grow muscle while maintaining 5% body fat all year long.  They must have the right bacteria in their intestines. Because while they train hard, they eat a ton of food and never gain an ounce of fat.  I hate them.

I’m pretty good at staying lean, at least with the subcutaneous fat and the intra-muscular fat. But I’ve had a problem with the visceral fat, the fat in between the organs.  Certainly the meds don’t help.  So while I can see my abs, the hand held meter shows me at 16% bodyfat.  This shows up as a protruding stomach.  My waist had reached 35″.

So I decided I was going to work out extra hard, eat right, and get my waist back down to a more athletic number.  Ok, but by when?  I needed a goal.  Well, there’s a big gay pool party in Palm Springs in April.  1000+ muscled guys, age skews older, average probably 40.

And I promised myself that if I got below 33″ waist, I’d reward myself with these overpriced designer swim trunks.  So I trained really hard, dieted, did aerobics.  And I got down to 32.5″ waist. And I bought the overpriced swim trunks.

On the Sunday before the event, a straight guy at the gym commented to me “You look jacked!”  And then Tuesday, 4 days before the big pool party (which for I had already bought the ticket), I got sick.  So I didn’t get to go to the pool party.  And I’ve lost all my definition, but that will return with a few weeks back in the gym.

Now I have these overpriced swim trunks and no place to wear them.

three weeks before big gay pool party. two weeks before I got sick