In my last entry I described how bodywork and getting back into shape are a deep focus for me right now. But sometimes, when you get older, the universe has a different plan. Last Saturday my body decided to double down on this, and I was rushed to the Emergency Room at a nearby hospital.  Spending two days in the hospital, the first twelve hours of which was spent in the ER trying to get the old ticker to decide on some sort of - any sort of - regular rhythm. Turns out I have this thing, previously undiagnosed, called atrial-fibrillation. Fans of medical tv shows will recognize the term "a-fib," meaning the atria, the top smaller parts of the heart, are out of sequence with the lower, larger ventricles. Wake up call. I've already been focussed on trying to get back into shape, but this forces me to give up what are perhaps my last two real vices: caffeine and alcohol. And to add insult to injury, eat healthier and healthier foods.  (To be honest, I had already started t...

  There is, I think, a healthy trend that I am seeing with celebrities and so-called influencers towards better body acceptance. Nudity acceptance, to be specific. I don't mean social nudity, but comfort in your own skin nudity. Acceptance that nobody - nobody - possesses a perfect body.  Just this morning is a news report on singer songwriter Shania Twain posing nude for her most recent album cover.  "If I look at myself from head to toe in the mirror I see my faults … I’m just tired of that lack of freedom. I wanna be more relaxed and comfortable in my own skin," she said. "When you’re naked, now you’re relying entirely on your own love of yourself and respect for yourself." It's a trend, particularly among singers and female singers in particular, and actors - male actors in particular - who are intent on breaking up the taboos and limitations of being embarrassed by our own bodies. Singer Amy Sheppard,of the Australian pop group Sheppard, launched a camp...

 So my weight keeps fluctuating, and the holiday season - starting with Halloween - is making it harder to maintain let alone lose weight. I'm up a few pounds against my lowest last June, and struggling to get back on program. One of the positive factors is that I am exercising regularly, which ought to change the course of the weight I'm gaining. (This is purely a willpower thing, kids. I know that.)  My morning workout routine is going quite well, and I'm up to a half hour of high activity most mornings. And I can readily feel the improvement in my musculature. My ass and abs in particular, though my abs are still embedded in a stubborn layer of fat and my ass - which itself is resuming its "bubble butt" appearance from my college days - rests below a similarly stubborn pocket of back fat clinging to my lower back and oblique muscles.  Not me...yet Much of all this, of course, is psychological. Mental. And I've noticed a shift lately in my self-perception th...

Since January1st I am down nearly 25 pounds using the ketogenic diet, exercise and intermittent fasting. I've lost a lot of body fat and am at my healthiest - and lowest weight - in the last thirty years. But my regular readers already know that. Let me talk a little about specific physiological changes I've noticed. First, whether it's because the workouts are intensifying, or my physiology is simply working better, I sweat a lot more in my morning workout. It gives me the sense that I'm actually accomplishing something. And as of early April my fat layer has receded considerably, though I have a ways to go until I'm completely satisfied. Around 25 pounds. My arms are pretty lean at this point, and muscular. I've been working out with weights. The veins in my forearms have returned to prominence, as have those on the back of my hands. I've got to do some extra work to get my deltoids a bit more developed. My chest is doing pretty well. Most of the fat seems...

I've blogged a lot lately about my current drive for fitness. Not just weight loss, but fitness. It's a little bit of an obsession as a friend rightly pointed out. (I reminded her she's only getting that impression from the blog, that in real life I have a LOT of other interests.)  Be warned, this is gonna be another one of those fitness entries with the added offense of personal pictures of a somewhat revealing nature. (I warned my regular readers a while ago that at some point I was likely to post nude photos - which I have in the past but not this many at one time or of more than just some shots of scar tissue in my groin.) What I haven't really discussed are the specifics of how this weight loss is affecting me. Yes, I've mentioned keto, intermittent fasting (eating in a six hour window each day, fasting for the other 18) and exercise, but haven't shared the impact those things have had on my physiology other than weight loss. So, for the faint of heart, if...

Stars when you shine, you know how I feel Scent of the pine, you know how I feel Oh, freedom is mine, and I know how I feel It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me And I'm feelin'... good In my usual line of work I am exposed to a lot of people (no, not like that). I interact with the general public in a large specialized retail location making specific recommendations consulting on foods, wines and spirits, and am considered to be an expert in aspects of my field. So, in the interests of my health versus the coronavirus we're all fighting right now, I asked my management to give me time off until this all corrects itself. My wife's medical issues - and my own - make us more vulnerable. My boss was reluctant, and instead proposed a new night shift which I would manage. Just me and a small team to stock shelves and move freight. Very physical work. "Eh, who needs a Speedo?" I agreed, and began the difficult transition to...

Life, Part 1:  My obsession with sex and sexuality seems to be reaching some sort of fever pitch. I’m constantly thinking about it, and it may have something to do with getting back into physical shape. As my body responds to increasing demands on it physically, it’s responding with a renewed sexual appetite. Kind of to be expected, but not the easiest of things to deal with when your left hand is your only lover. Sexually I am extremely frustrated. At the moment it would seem I need to resign myself that the fact I won’t see a sexually aroused naked woman any time soon. (In person, that is.) I won’t touch or taste a vagina, two of my favorite sexual activities. I won’t feel the pleasure of a woman’s mouth on my cock. Or the moment of penetration as I enter her. All of which I really want to do, and really miss. And it wasn’t until my physical rebirth that I realized how important that is for me. I was genuinely oversexed in High School and College. I admit that. A...

Wow, that's an exotic title. Gymnos is the root word for "gymnasium." It's foundationally a Greek word, meaning "naked." The ancient Greeks and other cultures believed that sports was best done in the nude, and a perfectly sculpted male body - because women were property, more or less - was a tribute to the gods, in whose image we were cast. Bacchus was a Greek deity, renamed Dionysus by the Romans who appropriated this god of the grape-harvest, winemaking and wine, of fertility, ritual madness,   religious ecstasy , and theatre. And I have been locked in a mental and physical battle for dominance by these two conflicting philosophies of life. The first is a focus on physicality and fitness. Of being athletic and healthy, enough so that one shouldn't mind being seen naked upon occasion, as with the ancient athletes. For much of my pre-marital days this was my mindset. On the other hand, during my college years self-indulgence set in....