Category: health

Happy Scale Steppin’ Day

Okay, ladies and gents, it’s Wednesday morning. You know what that means. Who’s ready for a weigh in? Let’s effin’ Go!

You might be able to tell by the tone of my type that it’s going to be good news.

I am down 5.8 pounds, babie! My total weight’s 10’s column changed, my weight lost since surgery’s 10’s column changed, my weight lost since the first check in’s 10’s column changed, and my BMI went down 0.7 points!

Holy Crap!

The total since the start is now 134.8! Dude! One Hundred Thirty-Four and Eight Tenths pounds! I simply cannot believe the number is that high. The total since the surgery (approximately) is 114.2 pounds! Again, Holy Crap! Capital letters and exclamation points galore!

My next check in at the clinic is Monday. Here’s hoping they check me over and tell me that everything is going as well as I feel it’s going. I don’t want any bad news spoiling another 5+ pound week.

I want to have a visual representation of the total weight loss since the start of this mess, but I don’t want to give any actual numbers. This is a screen shot of my weight loss in 2022 from the iOS Health app with the numbers cropped out. Why? I don’t know, because.

It’s not 100% accurate because I wasn’t updating the app for almost two months there, including the entire month of May. I’ve been updating it every time I weigh in since July though. The shape of the curve is accurate even if it’s missing tons of data points. Who cares, look at that downward slope! It’s like a freakin’ black diamond!

I can’t wait to see what next week’s weigh in brings!

Meetings

Today has been a day. Meetings and more meetings. I had seven on my schedule but I punted one of them off until tomorrow so I ended up with six. I just got out of the last one. I was able to sneak in about half an hour for food and that was only enough time to eat half of what I brought with me. I got through all of the protein but none of the fruit. Last night’s dinner was similar. I got through all of the protein but none of the vegetables. Today the issue was time. Last night the issue was nausea, but the end result is the same. Uneaten food. I might try to snack on a few grapes while driving home, but only if I’m feeling okay on the hydration front. I have been feeling super dried out pretty much all day today. I have 45 minutes to go before quitting time and my water bottle is full. Let’s see how I feel.

Also, it just started pouring out here. Fingers crossed it stops before I have to walk out to my car. A working boy can hope, right?

Experimental Dinner Food

Back before the pandemic, my step son was working at a restaurant and we went there all the time in order to leave him huge tips. This summer he’s been working at a different restaurant but because of our Covid nerves we haven’t gone to visit at all.

Today we changed that. We got a take out order, left a munga tip, and I went in to pick it up. He’s at his dad’s this week so my visit was sort of like bonus time.

I ordered two things I haven’t had since the surgery. Chicken fingers and fries. I’ve had a metric tonne of chicken over the last 3+ months, but these chicken fingers are breaded. I haven’t had anything breaded yet. As for the french fries, well, I haven’t been in the same room as fries since May. I was concerned about trying both things. I measured out a little more than three ounces of chicken and another three ounces of fries.

I was pleased with the way the chicken went. It tasted good and it didn’t have any negative effects. It took me a long time to get through it, but I did and all was well. I looked at the fries, which were next on the menu agenda and… chickened out. I really want to be able to eat french fries. I’ll try it, just not tonight. I swapped them out for some grapes.

And all was right with the world, and my stomach.

My Foot Hurts

Both feet are hurting today. It must be from the running in place. My right ankle started bothering me last night when I did the star pictures. It has been bugging me pretty steadily all day. My left foot is much less of an issue. I think I have a callus or a corn or something coming in on the side of my big toe. It hurts and it’s annoying but it’s nothing bad.

All of my activity rings are closed. I did the make pretend 5k walk thing. It took 45 minutes. The ankle and the toe were both feeling okay and my calorie goal was over 90% so I just kept going.

My headache is still there, but not too bad. I might take another round of Tylenol before dinner. I’m going to air fry some chicken, broccoli, and potatoes tonight. Should be good. My protein and liquid intake goals for the day are both are really low, but I’ll get it all in. I missed breakfast today. I might need a protein shake later tonight. We’ll see.

We’re scheduled to pay a visit to the Apple store tonight. That’s going to be fun. Maybe I’ll post 50-60 pictures.

Until then…

Again?

I woke up with another headache this morning. This time it included that weird vision thing that signals migraines for me. The headache wasn’t as bad as yesterday but it’s lingering a little more this time.

Another day of this and I might start worrying. For now though, an oil change in the Mazda and a visit to Mom. Then what? No clue.

Bad Night

I went to sleep last night at a little after 11:00pm and woke up a little before 1:00am. My CPAP mask was slipping and sliding all over my face and it was leaking like nuts. I pulled the straps as tight as I could stand it and went back to sleep. I woke up again a little before 4:00am with a splitting headache. Were the two things related? I don’t know, but I couldn’t get back to sleep for a while. I got up and walked around for a bit (earning two stand hours! Bright side, babie!) and then managed to get back to sleep.

When I got up at about 7:00am my head was still a little funny, and I was extra tired, but as I started going through my morning routine I definitely felt better. I wouldn’t say I’m feeling 100%, but I’m getting there. I’ll probably take a Covid test this morning, just for paranoia’s sake. I’m sure I’m good though.

Harry has spent most of the summer at our house. Yesterday he went to his dad’s and he’s not coming back here until next Friday. Then he goes back to school on Sunday. We are effectively empty nesters again and we’re both feeling pretty sad about it. I need to play guitar this weekend to cheer myself up. I also need to play photographer this weekend to further cheer myself up. When I spoke to the psychologist during my pre-surgery prep time he asked if I had anything to use instead of food for reward behavior and cheering myself up. I said it would probably end up being guitars and cameras… now is the time, my reward behavior friends.

Also, I started a candle time lapse today because I am a total freakin’ nerd. Also…

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Monochrome
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Vivid

New Flower Alert!

I’ve been checking the Japanese Peace Lilly in the bedroom every day, searching for signs of new flowers. Today that search paid off!

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WOOHOO!

I had the little point and shoot in the room so I used it for that picture (with the flash). After two posts last night, can you guess what’s coming? Oh yeah, DSLR (no flash) Vivid vs Monochrome comparisons! WOOHOO!

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I then got carried away and took a couple more…

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What’s up, autofocus? I must have moved.
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I didn’t edit these in Apple Photos at all. I usually just use the auto setting as a tiny little tweak, but I left these alone.

One final pre-work-morning note. Two days ago I ran for a minute at the end of my 30 minute walkies. Yesterday I ran for two minutes. You might expect that I ran for three minutes today but no… I ran for five.

Who am I?

Bad Stomach Night

Well, that just sucked.

I don’t know what happened exactly, but I must have been a little too cocky with my dinner tonight and I got bitch slapped with the worst case of post-gastric-bypass nausea yet. It hit me almost two hours ago and I am still not feeling 100% again. I didn’t throw up, but I was close. It was a pretty awful experience all around.

I only ate a small amount of dinner, but I am done for the night. I will have some protein shake to top myself off once things have finished settling down, but consider me on a liquid diet again for the next 12 hours or so.

The worst part about tonight’s ordeal? I am actually feeling hungry right now. Nope, no way. Time to play it super safe until all is well again.

Yikes!

Positive Progress

Happy Weigh In Wednesday, boys and girls! I woke up, earned myself a stand hour on the activity app, and stepped on the scale. I lost 5.2 pounds in the last week. Excellent. As my meals have been getting steadily bigger I have been expecting a big drop off in the weight loss pace, but nope. Five pounds is awesome.

There aren’t any milestones this week. Usually there’s at least one area where the 10’s column changes, but not this time. The 10’s column in my weight, my weight lost since the surgery, my weight lost since the first appointment, and my BMI are all the same as last week. If this coming week is good they might all change at next Wednesday’s weigh in. That would be pretty epic.

There is actually one thing to note this week. There are two weigh ins from the long distant past that have been sort of sticking in my head. First, my weight on my wedding day in 2009. Second, my weight at the physical I had in order to go back to UMass Lowell in 2000. I can’t remember the wedding weight. It was either X, or X-25. I’m pretty sure it was X-25, but I am positive that the weight at that physical was X-25 so maybe I am just getting confused.

Here’s the thing, my current weight is X-27. That means all speculation can now end. I am without question at a lower weight than I was at our wedding. That is amazing. I am also at a lower weight than when I started back at UMass Lowell. That is unbelievable. I never thought I’d get to this point again. That physical happened in August of 2000. Almost exactly 22 years ago. How is that even possible? I am lighter today than I was 22 years ago today. It also means that I don’t have any past weigh in sign posts left. The wedding and UMass were the only things that had lodged themselves in my tiny little brain. Now it’s all new-ish territory. That’s crazy.

On a slightly related topic, after I weighed in I did my morning walkies. I mentioned yesterday that for the 30th minute I ran in place instead of walking in place. This morning I stretched that one minute to two minutes. I am wondering… should I just do a separate workout where I just run for five minutes and see how that goes? Walk for 30, run for five. Maybe. I am also doing a little bit of weight lifting and stretching every day. I wonder… am I going to turn into a gym rat lunk? I kinda hope not, but at the same time the idea of actually feeling almost healthy is sort of appealing. I mean, I wouldn’t have done the surgery otherwise, right?

Happy weigh in day. Until next week…