After years of undiagnosed, then diagnosed but under-treated depression and self loathing, I woke up in June of 2018 sedentary, obese, diabetic, selfish, and isolated from my family.
My marriage is over, but stable in a weird housemate/coworker/stakeholder situation as we finish raising up our two daughters. Issues surrounding my eldest frequently had me losing my temper to a degree that shocked me. No violence, but not in control.
My A1c was roughly 435k, my blood pressure was high, on medication, and my cholesterol was eleventy hundred. I was 48.
I was also flaming out of my serious run at stand up. My mental health issues caused interpersonal issues with other comics and I was generally unliked in the community, which is death. I need some kind of hobby to prop up my self worth; without one I have nothing to keep my mind out of negative territory.
So it’s June of 2018, and I’ve started smoking weed daily (stand up = solid weed hook ups) and that’s when things turned. I spent weeks in a slow motion ego death, as the Green Mother forced me to look at who I really am. Not a pretty picture, but it gave me a list of things to work on.
Go to see my dr, get the okay to do the keto diet. After the first day, I feel like a completely different person. Happier, more energy, just less physically gross.
Fast forward a year, and I’m down thirty pounds, blood sugar, bp, and cholesterol NORMAL. I’m in size 36 pants, down from size 42, and I’m almost reliably down a shirt size (Body-type: orange on toothpicks). Weed keeps my angry in check (mostly) and I’m a winning poker player! (No I’m not).
So this journal is going to look at my holistic fitness, where I’ve succeeded and trying to plug my leaks, in a hopefully entertaining way. There will be plenty of schadenfruede potential, if that’s your thing.
tl:dr- soft, entitled, gen x-er acts like he’s the only person to have problems, first person to discover weed and keto.
Keto: I’ve been on this diet for a year, and my diet is pretty much the same from week to week, so I don’t formally count carbs anymore. I feel comfortable with what I eat- meat, cheese, veggies, no surprises there. I try to eat some nuts daily, and I have unsweetened dark chocolate in my coffee everyday. If I’m weak on veggies I’ll supplement with a multi-vitamin. Fermented foods and dairy products with active cultures are in the mix too, natch.
My paradigm was fully shifted when I realized I could eat pretty much all I wanted and I would still get healthier. Ironically, I’m not nearly as motivated to stuff my chew hole as I was when my sugar addiction drove me to the trough with fake hunger pangs.
Poker: online limit he player back in the boom times. Transitioning to nlhe, and finding the learning curve to be steep. I’m treading water in the micro-est of the micro stakes on Ignition, using it as practice for my live play.
“Live Play,” hah! My bankroll consists of one (1) buy in at 1/3. I try to play once a week, I’m not a winning player, and I can only contribute $100 a month from my adult job. So, yeah, I’m destined to be full-on live poker busto, and sooner rather than later. Please, God, don’t let me become a degen sitting down with $100 and stacking off with third pair. I have children ffs.
Weed: standard gen exer who discovered weed is much better now than in the 80s. MMJ card holder in PA. Prefer flower over vapes. The only dab I’ve done is the dance when one of my child needed some healthy embarrassment.
Weed is so good when thinking or studying poker. If you’re paying for coaching and the first thing they tell you ISNT to start smoking, you’re with the wrong coach
Last edited by bluto; 07-15-2019 at 08:05 PM.
Reason: correcting the autocorrect
How will I use the keto/poker/weed lifestyle to improve all facets of my life? **** if I know. It is the One True Path, so I better start cracking. Let’s do some brainstorming :
1. More whole foods and I don’t mean whole jars of mayo. Well, not JUST whole jars of mayo.
2. Regular exercise. Exercise is probably my biggest fitness leak. I’m cool with it except that I can’t stand any of it.
3. Body sculpting. I may be old, but I want to get as thin and hard as I can.
4. Full on, raging, turgid live poker bankroll
5. Enough poker skill to pay down my debt and pad the retirement funds.
I can’t think of any weed related goals, except to help get rec use legalized in my home state
It’s important to dedicate time to a healthy lifestyle. Thus, Wednesday will be a keto/poker/weed day...
Mow lawn
Keto- a grilled steak and steamed vegetables. Challenge: figure out what/where I can eat at the casino. I’m generally too nitty to buy casino food, but not nitty enough to bring my own food. I need to scout out a place to get a cheapish snack.
Weed- hit the dispensary. Challenge- be the youngest customer there twice in a row.
Poker- 1/2 nl at my local Vegas- style casino. Challenge- use aggression intelligently, look for places to bluff, focus and practice hand reading. Think about non poker options for building my live bankroll.
Keto: I wasn’t really hungry for the steak, so I picked up a tuna sub, minus the bread. Add the bacon. This chain of gas station/sub shops has been carrying me lately. I’m neglecting things because I’m doing poker related stuff during all my free time. This is typical for me- I get obsessive with a hobby for a while until I get bored of it. The “while” is the issue- it might last a few months, or it could last years.
You know what? Poker is not something to be obsessed about with no bankroll. This is how people get into debt. I’m not playing any more live poker until I have at least the standard number of buy-ins. I can’t say I won’t start going out again once in a while at the 75%, it’s just not responsible to play now.
