In the last month I have started to add new exercises and ideas into my everyday schedule to optimize my body condition.
So this has been what resulted. Since I came back to the USA, Seattle specifically I went to see a new family doctor or someone who specialized in Internal Medicine. Since this is a new doctor, they took measurements of my stats.
The metal weight scale and stadiometer device in the doctor’s office said that in my socks, with me not really trying to stand up completely straight, I was at exactly 181 cms. I noted that in the doctors office they try to be very accurate on one’s measurements. I felt the metal edge touch the skin on the top of my head. So the measured value of 181 cms is sort of expected of where I am supposed to be. This was measured around 1:00 pm in the afternoon, after I had been awake for maybe 5-6 hours, so obviously I took into consideration the fact that my body did experience some time feeling the effects of vertebral decompression.
Height: 5′ 11.26″ or 1.81 meters tall
In terms of my weight, I weighed a ridiculous 219 lbs. That is 1 lb short of 100 kgs! Since my weight fluctuates so much due to different times of the day and whether I ate or not, I will just say that I weigh maybe 3 lbs less now, discounting the fact that during the weigh in I had my jeans and large belt on.
Weight: 216 lbs or 97. 98 kgs
I was very surprised with my weight since the last time I checked, which was more than 1 year ago I had weighed around 187-189 lbs. That means that I have gained around 30 extra lbs in the last year of my life. I guess it is true that one really does have trouble keeping the weight off as one grows older.
So what was my action plan to get healthier, loss weight, gain strength, and possibly regain any lost height back?
Well, the first thing I did was that after getting multiple car parking tickets, I decided to sell my car. So in terms of course of action.
1. I sold my car which I had for over 3 years. – Went on craigslist and managed to sell it for a reasonable price to a private buyer. The transaction went relatively smoothly.
2. I bought a 21 speed Diamondback Bike from Dick’s Sporting Goods store – I have been using the bike to get around anywhere within a 5 mile radius. The hardest part about getting this multiple gear bike is figuring out how to switch gears going up hill. Since I haven’t riden a bike in almost 12 years the process was really hard, painful, but very good overall for my health.
Since I used AirBnB.com to find a place for the short term, I ended up staying with a group of people who lived on a hill. The bicycling was really hard for the first week until I learned that there was a bus that was right beside the house.
For Height Increase purposes, I looked for the bike which had the largest wheels and I pushed the seat up high so that I would be forced to stretch out my legs out when I am pedaling.
3. I bought a Seattle and the Greater Puget Sound Public Transportation Pass. These are known as Orca Cards. They seem to be good for not just the bus, but also the Tram, the Light Rail, the train ,and the ferries. As it says on the website…“ORCA is accepted on: Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit and Washington State Ferries.”
When I compare the cost of driving and the fact that gas seems to cost around $4.00 per gallon these days, it seems logical to choose the Bike + Public Transportation combination.
4. Just in case, there was no public transportation nearby and I had to get to places, I signed up an application for ZipCar and added the app Lyft to my iphone, which is similar to the function of Zipcar but the application process is much simpler.
5. I went to the local city Aquatic Center and bought a month or 30 day pass. – Everyday I spent around 1 hours riding the bike to the aquatic center and getting an hour of swimming.
The focus has been on stretching out the torso and doing the Butterfly Stroke. In combination, I would also add a round of stretching the back and torso twisting along with the swimming.
6. I noticed that my legs, lower back, knees, and butt area becoming very sore from so much bicycling so I found a mechanical massager that can help stimulate the muscles to relax. – I did notice that if one used the stronger massagers for a longer than average time, the vertebrae actually decompress since the muscles in the middle and lower back are not being decompressed so much. The massager that works amazingly well for me is Human Touch Swan Softouch HT-1280 Personal Massager.
As for height, I noticed that after a 20 minute application of the personal massager, the body feels looser and the vertebrate seems to decompress slightly.
7. Shaving my long hair to a very short length so that any measurements I do make will be much more accurate. I went for a very short buzz cut so now my hair is only a fraction of an inch in length. The measurements on height have been much more accurate and consistent.
So the things that I did to getting healthier and regain some lost height this months are…
- Swimming 1 hour a day almost every day focusing on the butterfly stroke.
- Supplementing the swimming with back stretching exercises and torso twisting.
- Using a bicycle with elevated seats for most of my transportation needs.
- Using a strong hand held massager to decompress vertebrae.
Results:
I did a check on my height and noticed that my morning (right out of bed) height after just 2 weeks seemed to increase by a few millimeters (2-3) when I measured in front of the mirror and drawing a line horizontally at the place of my very first measurement. However that is my morning height.
That’s all for now today.




