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RV-7 N159SB Brian Chesteen (Brantel)

You'll have to

introduce yourself at the Social, as we won't recognize the new you! :D

Congratulations!
 
I just felt like running....at Airventure 2014!

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What's not to like...cool temps, flat ground and 10,000+ airplanes!!!

Last year I could hardly walk to the airplane and this year I ran 4.5 miles around the grounds!
 
Thats great Brian!

I just purchased a Garmin Vivofit for the wife and she loves it!

It tracks a bunch of stuff!

Heck, Gamin should sponsor you with one :D
 
Brian,
It was great to spend some time with you and your wife here at KOSH. Hope you can make it to Petit Jean.
Don
 
Update:

The last time I flew commercial was just prior to my new life beginning on 1/6/14. I really could have used a seat belt extender!

NOT ANYMORE:
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During this last trip thru security, I got some hard looks from TSA. My wife Shantel was worried about this for our trip to California in January so she suggested that I go get a new DL pic made.

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And to keep this RV related, as most of you know I fly on a Special Issuance Medical due to having 2 stents in my heart since 2008. Each year I have been more and more worried that I would lose my medical because I was just barely able to meet the stress test requirements of 9 minutes @ 100% age predicted max heart rate. This year I smoked that test going over 14.5 minutes @ 18% incline an hit 103% of my max heart rate!

I can now fly passengers in the RV without displacing their personal space!

I call these a "Non Scale Victories"! Thank you God!
 
Have fun Brian,
I flew out of SNA this afternoon after being in the Anaheim area for a week and a half. I got to meet some nice folks this past weekend at Chino.

Sitting in ATL crossing my fingers that I beat the snow storm into Asheville tonight.
 
Im a brand new member and cruising the site and stumbled on this one. 17 pages later, not only am I impressed with your gorgeous airplane, but your SUCCESS in your healthier lifestyle and weight loss has been amazing!!! CONGRATS to you and your success, Im at 230 and would really like to break the 200 barrier as well, I have now been motivated.
 
It is time for me to go public with the next big challenge I have planned for myself... A fundraising effort for the fight against Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - By supporting the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation (theGSF) which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing global awareness of SMA, the #1 genetic killer of young children, accelerating research focused on ending this cruel disease, and supporting families impacted by SMA and other life-altering conditions. theGSF is an all volunteer organization, meaning 100% of your donation goes toward fulfilling their mission! Please take the time to read my story and plans on the fundraising page linked below. Also please feel free to share this as much as possible. Finally I would like to call upon all my friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances to honor my efforts by donating to such a great cause as the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation!

 
Look at the skinny you:D

Now, tell us about the medal...........

Thanks Mike!

That medal came from this ex couch potato taking first place in his age group at a fundraising 10K run in honor of the Gatlinburg TN Firefighter's Association! :D I do believe you know something about that line of work?
 
Last evening my 6 year old experienced her first ride in the airplane daddy finished building shortly after she was born.

Sitting in the plane making airplane noises:

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Helping me get ready for first flight:

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Just a funny pic:

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Here she is at 6.5 years old:

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She had a blast! She was confused as to why we were bringing a couch cushion with us to the airport...
 
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Awful trusting to let some random fat dude in your hangar to put air in your tires before your first flight.
 
Folks that have followed me over the past 2 years know that I have made some drastic changes in my life to do my part in improving my chances at a long life to be here for my family and to enjoy flying the RV.

Losing 135lbs and taking up recreational running and participating in half marathons on each coast of the country and training up to 30 miles a week have been huge milestones in my life the past 2 years.

Some also know that I became the owner of 2 coronary stents at the ripe old age of 38 back in 2008. Since then I have been tied to the special issuance medical program in order to fly as PIC. It was touch and go back then to realize that I was building a RV that at the time I did not know if I would ever be able to fly as PIC of or not. Lucky for me, I met the SI standards and flew the RV in 2010.

Fast forward to this fall when I completed my annual testing required by the FAA to renew my SI medical. My routine treadmill stress test showed some positive signs of blockage at maximum exertion and 105% of my age predicted max heart rate. So as my SI medical expired while I waited on the FAA to make a decision, they came back with a request for me to redo the treadmill stress test but this time also add the SPECT myocardial perfusion scan to the mix. I did that and the treadmill again showed some positive signs for blockage at peak exercise but the SPECT MPS was normal.

I sent those results to the FAA and expected to wait for a response. A few days later my cardiologist called and told me that he had went back and reviewed my test results and he wanted me to have another heart cath in order to rule out any issues because of my history.

I was in shock....after all, I have lost 135lbs, run like crazy, BP and Lipids well under control since 2008, had no chest pain etc. etc. etc. No way I could have a new blockage right????

On 12/15/15, I was wheeled into the Cath lab and the cardiologist tells me on the table that I have a new 85% blockage of my LAD. The original stents are wide open and doing great. Lucky me, I just purchased another coronary stent... 3 days later I walked 5 miles and 7 days later I ran 5 miles. No issues at all.

A few days ago I received a shiny new SI medical back from the FAA. Granted it is no good for me but it just goes to show you that their process is really flawed!

Anyway...while I wait out the required 3 month recovery period with the FAA, I am continuing my quest to conquer the Dopey Challenge at Disney World beginning January 7th. This is a 4 day race with a 5k on Thursday, 10K on Friday, Half Marathon on Saturday and a Full Marathon on Sunday. 48.6 miles total! When I set this goal, I decided to couple it with a fundraising effort for the fight against Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - By supporting the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation (theGSF) which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing global awareness of SMA, the #1 genetic killer of young children, accelerating research focused on ending this cruel disease, and supporting families impacted by SMA and other life-altering conditions. theGSF is an all volunteer organization, meaning 100% of your donation goes toward fulfilling their mission! Please take the time to read my story and plans on the fundraising page linked below. Also please feel free to share this as much as possible. Finally I would like to call upon all my friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances to honor my efforts by donating to such a great cause as the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation!

 
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it just goes to show you that their process is really flawed!

Yep------------

You have already shown you are capable of beating most any challenge life tosses in your way, so I suspect this is just a bump in your jogging trail.

Good luck, not that you will need it.
 
Good to hear you pushed through that mess!

And hey! How about a before and after of this picture? :D

As you would imagine, I have some extra skin issues and since I love flying the RV more than I would love to get rid of the skin ($$$), I just choose to ignore it :)

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Wow! Amazing dedication Brian!

I was talking abOut your little girl and you! A redo of that picture :D

You shrinking and her growing up!

Now go check them tire pressures with her!
 
Holy cow, Brian! You are really an inspiration to someone like me who's adulthood has been plagued with extra wobbly bits. Preparing for the EAA Runway 5K is daunting enough in my mind. Good luck with the stent. That's really surprising, but I imagine it would be worse if you weren't in such good shape now.
 
Brian, congratulations!! That's an amazing accomplishment especially with your history. Good luck with the upcoming procedure! What a way to start 2016!
 
Brian, congratulations!! That's an amazing accomplishment especially with your history. Good luck with the upcoming procedure! What a way to start 2016!

Mark, thanks! No procedure for me I hope in the near future. I had a new stent put in on 12/15/15.....
 
Finally got back into the air this weekend after almost 8 months of downtime from a stent to the heart! The FAA says that there is a minimum 3 month wait time for the type and location of the stent I had implanted.

YEAH RIGHT! Try 8 months to get thru their system and that is if you do everything correctly the first time!

Oh well, it felt good to get back in the air!

The plane performed flawlessly!

Even made it to a nearby airport's open house event. Was handed a $10 food voucher when I got out of the plane for the airport's very nice restaurant! Then I was treated to $2.20/gal avgas.... all just for showing up with an airplane!

SCORE! It does not get any better than that!
 
Finally got back into the air this weekend after almost 8 months of downtime
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Even made it to a nearby airport's open house event. Was handed a $10 food voucher when I got out of the plane for the airport's very nice restaurant! Then I was treated to $2.20/gal avgas.... all just for showing up with an airplane!

SCORE! It does not get any better than that!

Congratulations :D:D
 
Congratulations!

Way to go, Brian. You are an inspiration in many ways to several of us in the forums.:)
 
Just because the 3rd class medical is sort of a thing of the past for some of us, that is no reason not to be responsible and take care of ourselves so we can continue to enjoy our RV's for many years to come.

Mid February I got back on the bandwagon in an effort to continue to improve my health. Running every other day with at least 4 miles of extra walking on the off days. Hitting the gym for strength training every other non run day for at least an hour.

I decided to do an experiment to show myself how bad I was destroying what I had worked so hard to accomplish over the past month. Here is the result of that:

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So far I am down over 10 lbs in 4 weeks by just cutting out the sugar and exercising regularly again. The fact that I am now strength training is putting muscle on my frame that had wasted away. This has slowed the overall decrease on the scale but is building lean body mass which will pay off in the long run!
 
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Nice Inspiration

Dang Brian, You're always coming up with new ways to inspire. Darn you for the wake up call :D HA HA Just kidding. In all seriousness, that white substance called sugar that is in everything and it's fake counterpart which tastes like sugar but doesn't absorb like sugar is slowly destroying our bodies. I used to work for a World known soda company here in Atlanta and I can tell you that stuff and all other sodas are some of the worse stuff you can put in your body. The off brands are even worse but all of them are not just bad, they are horrific for your body.

Way to go bud.

God Bless.
 
Wow - that is an incredible image and one that makes me feel sick to my stomach. 44 THOUSAND calories in only one month of garbage that has no value to your physiology. I'm fairly attentive to my diet/exercise and diet is where most folks struggle with the diet/exercise lifestyle change. It is easy to get into the trap of using your exercise (especially if coming from a sedentary job/lifestyle) as an excuse to splurge on the diet and eat way more calories than you just exercised away.

Please don't take this as preaching. I just feel very strongly about personal health and lifestyle choices. I'm shocked at how meticulously folks take care of their planes, cars, etc, but so easily ignore their own body. I've watched your progress on here and am amazed that you were still consuming the above. I think you are going to be shocked at how powerfully diet will affect your fitness gains. A good site is livestrong.com/myplate.com. It is tedious when first starting to weigh/track everything you eat, but it's an amazing education when you can actually visualize what "1 serving" really is and can balance your macro nutrients - fats, carbs, proteins - over the course of each day. Eventually you'll learn healthy meal combinations that are ideal for your age/fitness levels/goals.

Sorry for the rambling, but this is really great stuff!! I commend you for your dedication to change your diet and look forward to following "part 2" of your journey:).
 
Preach on!

The only thing that has prevented a disaster in my struggle is the massive amount of exercise I was doing while eating so poorly. You are correct. People like me use the exercise as an excuse to justify eating/drinking the junk.

You can't out run/out work a really poor diet. It will eventually get you!

Part of my reason for posting this is to rid myself of the denial and to own what I have been doing to sabotage my hard work...
 
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Nice work Brian.

I say, keep up the visualization experiment! Then, after several months of hoarding, at Halloween you will be the King of Cul-De-Sac:

"Dude, that house is giving out FULL SIZE candybars!" :D
 
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