Category: weight loss surgery

One Year (Sort Of) Weigh In

One year ago today I went to the weight loss clinic for the first time. I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment, I was just there to have some vitals taken. One of those vitals was my weight. That became my starting point for this whole crazy journey thing.

While that was one year ago today, I don’t really feel like it’s the appropriate date to use for the anniversary. I think the day I should really be using is May 4th, which is the day I actually went under the knife. I lost 20 pounds or so in the three plus months between that first check in and the surgery, and those 20 pounds are really important to me, but the point of all of this was the surgery and those three plus months and 20 pounds aren’t actually part of the surgery experience, you know what I mean? It’s all semantics, but little details like that are often important to my teeny tiny little brain.

So today is AN anniversary, but not really THE anniversary. It’s worthy of a bonus weigh in though. It also demonstrates why weighing in too often can lead to insanity. Yesterday was my regular weekly weigh in. I was down 2.4 pounds and that was lovely. I had a bad day food wise for the entire day so I didn’t eat much and I did stress a lot and I did manage to hit my exercise goals and all of that stuff. The result was that my weight is down 1.4 pounds since yesterday. 1.4 pounds in 24 hours. That’s ridiculous, right? I’ll probably have a perfectly normal day today and be up two pounds tomorrow. Fortunately I won’t be weighing in tomorrow.

BMI is down to 28.6 from yesterday’s 28.8. Total since surgery is now 196.4. I can practically taste 200. Given the date today, the important number for this post is the total weight loss over the last 365 days and it is a colossal 217 pounds on the nose. I know I’ve been the guy who actually lived through this first year of this… thing… but it is still almost impossible for me to wrap my brain around it. One year ago today I weighed 452 pounds and everything I did, every step, every breath, felt like it was going to be my last. Today I weigh 235 pounds and I literally feel alive again.

Who even am I?

Happy sort of Anniversary!

Week 37 Weigh In

Sorry this is a little late but the work day today has been insane. We’ve all been crazy busy. It’s almost 2:30 and I am just getting to break for lunch now. I woke up around 4:30am with stomach issues and they didn’t clear until after 8:00am. I was fine for a while, but they started coming back a little after noon. I am going to have myself a protein bar and see if that clears things up. Wish me luck.

As for the topic at hand, it is Wednesday and Wednesday is Weigh In Day. There was a wrinkle this week though and I almost skipped weighing in. Today is January 18, 2023. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my first weigh in at the weight loss clinic. I questioned whether I should weigh in today, tomorrow, or both. In the end I think I decided to do both. Why not, right? Tomorrow’s numbers won’t amount to much, but it will be fun to do anyway.

Today’s weigh in was pretty good. I am at 236.4 pounds. That is down 2.4 pounds from last week. If you recall, I was up 0.6 pounds last week, so today is down from the week before as well. It’s not a killer number, but it’s very good and I am quite pleased.

The total since the surgery on May 4th is creeping up closer to the magic number. I am at 195.0 pounds. That’s just a couple of good weeks away from historically amazing. The grand total since the first weigh in, one year ago tomorrow, sits at 215.6 pounds and I will never, ever stop being amazed by that. BMI moved the 10’s column again, dropping from 29.1 to 28.8. I think I am about 47 pounds away from dropping below 25, which will put me at a healthy BMI for the first time in my adult life. Maybe even the first time in my entire life. I am sort of feeling like reaching that goal is not going to happen now. Maybe I really am just big boned? Who knows.

Anyway, happy weigh in day. There will be another weigh in tomorrow… unless I’m up… then I might just pretend it didn’t happen. Ain’t I a stinker?

Back to Reality

Oh boy, is this a bummer.

It’s Monday. Vacation is over. It is time to get back to the week day routine. Crud.

I tried very hard to close all three of my activity rings over the course of the vacation. Unfortunately, on Thursday, our last park day, I hit a level of exhaustion that I don’t think I’ve ever hit before. I lost the ability to focus my eyes. It was scary. My stand and exercise rings were closed, but my activity (calorie) ring had quite a ways to go. It couldn’t be helped. I was thinking I was at the start of another migraine so I got into bed, buried my eyes under the pillow, and went to sleep with my third ring still open.

My success streak had come to an end, and over the next two days we were going to be in the car all day. I made the choice to just not worry about it until we got home. Then when we got home I was so out of sorts that I decided to take the weekend off too. Well, the weekend is over. It’s 6:48am and my exercise ring is closed. I jogged (pronounced “yog”, with a soft “J”) in place for 31.5 minutes which closed the exercise ring and 64% of the move ring. I plan to start lifting the hand weights a little again today too. I fell off that wagon months ago and it’s time to start that up again.

A couple of other points on this random Monday morning. Last night I watched the first episode of The Last of Us and HOLY CRAP was that good. So good. I am absolutely riveted. I never played the game so all I know of the story is from the trailer, but that was enough to know that the first half hour of the show was leading us directly to something gut wrenching and boy did it ever. I am so psyched for episode two next week. I am going to find every podcast covering the show that I can and queue them all up today. I am 100% on board with the hype.

I placed an order with the film lab I’ve been using, Old School Photo Lab in Dover, NH, on Saturday but I haven’t had a chance to drop the film in the mail yet. I was thinking of doing it this morning, but we got a little snow last night and I just don’t want to deal with it. Tomorrow will probably see me starting my work day super early, so maybe at lunch time tomorrow? Maybe at lunch today if the ice from last night melts a little. I haven’t checked the forecast yet. We’ll see. I have six rolls from Disney World and I want to see how they came out. I also have two rolls of black and white from around christmas that are going too. Once all of that is back I am going to slow down on the film for a while. I have a roll in progress in Dad’s camera that I would like to finish, and a roll in my camera that I haven’t taken the first shot with. That roll is going to sit there for a few months, I think. Once Dad’s roll is done I will take a couple of months off again.

Okay, it’s almost 7:00am. Time to go upstairs and start the day for real. My two week vacation is over. Pity me.

Sick

I made it through the entire vacation including 4+ days on the road without having a bad reaction to anything I ate. That streak is borderline miraculous and right on queue it ended tonight.

I stopped eating two hours ago and I went from a little uncomfortable to full blown praying to the porcelain god to feeling better and now coming back around to sick to my stomach again.

Yippee.

Week 36 Weigh In

Well folks, we knew it was going to happen eventually. Also, I’m not surprised that this is the week that it happened given the wackiness of the circumstances.

I weighed myself this morning and I am up 0.6 pounds.

I am perfectly okay with it. We’ve been on vacation for almost two weeks. My diet has been pretty chaotic. I’ve been having protein bars for two and sometimes three meals a day. My digestive system has no idea what’s hitting it.

Next week will be different, I am sure. Well… next week is going to include another day and a half in Disney and two, maybe two plus days of road trip… so maybe the week after next will be when things are back to normal.

And who knows, maybe I’ve just hit my max. Maybe we’re done losing weight now. Maybe 238.2 pounds from last week will go down in history as my lowest weight ever. Who knows, right? I’ve lost two hundred pounds in one year. It’s all gravy from here on out.

Happy week 36, everyone!

Eight Month/Week 35 Weigh In

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Jacksonville, FL typing this post on my phone. It’s going to be quick and dirty on a day that deserves more.

Last week I weighed in at 243.6 pounds. This morning I weighed in at 238.2. The difference over the last week? Oh, just 5.4 pounds. Wow! Granted I’ve only eaten protein supplements on the road over the last 42 hours or so, so that could be a factor.

I haven’t filled out my spreadsheet yet so I will save the totals and the BMI for another time. Suffice to say that flipping the 10’s column and getting into the 230’s is amazing. Just amazing, I tells ya!

The Last Work Day Before Vacation

It’s Friday. Tomorrow is New Years Eve. Monday is New Years Day (celebrated). Tuesday is the first day of my two week vacation. That means that I am officially on vacation at 5:30pm today. Nine hours and 13 minutes from now.

I haven’t started packing yet, but I have done some pre-pack preparations. We have a dining room table full of toiletries that are ready to pack. Last night I went to a department store and bought three pairs of jeans. I’ve been buying new clothes every 5-6 weeks or so, and it was about time anyway. The new jeans are, shockingly, TWO sizes smaller than last month’s jeans. I’m not sure, but I think my waist size is 16 inches smaller than it was a year ago? something like that. I really cannot believe it.

This morning I wrote up a packing list that (hopefully) is ridiculously thorough so that I don’t forget anything. It was so over the top that Jen actually suggested I drop a few items because they were overkill. That’s okay with me.

Plans for the weekend are mostly up in the air. The kids are with Dad for New Years Eve, but they said they would come over for a visit in the afternoon. I am so happy about that. I was thinking maybe we could sneak out to the city after they leave and pretend we are not afraid of Covid and stuff like that. The temperature is supposed to be super warm, but it’s also supposed to rain all day and night. So much for that plan. I want to visit both of my parents before we leave. I need to do a little more travel supply shopping, but mostly just for protein supplement stuff. The kids are coming to our house on Monday before we leave. Actually, when we leave sort of depends on when they get here. We want to spend a little time with them at home before the chaos commences. There’s also a little NHL Winter Classic game happening at 2:00pm that includes the Boston Bruins and Fenway Park. If we’re home, I’m watching. If we’re on the road, I’m listening on the radio.

Jen and I just added our Disney passes to our Apple Wallets so that we can use our phones and watches in place of the Magic Bands we used on the last couple of Disney trips. That’s pretty cool. We’re both hoping we can leave all of our various cards behind and do anything we need to do through Apple Wallet via Apple Pay and what not. It’s time to embrace the future!

I punched into work a smidge early today, just to get a jump on stuff on my last day. At this point I am eight hours and 35 minutes away from my two week, epic vacation. May today be a quiet day at work while still managing to not drag. Fingers crossed on that. Happy Last Work Day Before Vacation, everyone!

Week 34 Weigh In

Hello and welcome to this week’s weigh in. It has been 34 weeks since my Gastric Bypass Surgery. This is the final weigh in of 2022 and the first without a cat in the house. Yeah, I’m sad.

Nothing Earth shattering this week as far as number milestones are concerned, with one shining exception. Last week’s weigh in had me at 247.2 pounds. Today’s weigh in has me at 243.6 pounds. The difference is 3.6 pounds, and that is fantastic.

The total amount of weight lost since the surgery on May 4, 2022 is 187.8 pounds. A great number, but the 10’s digit is the same as last week so no big milestone. We’re creeping closer and closer to that magical day when the 100’s column changes again though.

The total amount of weight lost since the first weigh in on January 19, 2022 is 208.4 pounds. Again, an epic number but not enough for a milestone digit this time around. That’s okay though, just so long as that first digit is still a two.

The only stat left to check is the one that has a huge milestone and that is BMI. BMI values in the range of 30-34.9 are considered obese. Values between 25-29.9 are considered overweight. At last week’s check in my BMI was 30.1, just barely clinging to obese. Today? 29.7. We are official in the overweight category, and while it sounds ridiculous to say this, I am so very happy about it. On January 19, 2022 my BMI was a meager 55. I couldn’t even imagine a world where I was overweight rather than obese. I can’t tell you how amazing this is.

Next week’s weigh in is going to happen on our Disney World trip… I think. Not sure. There’s some potential changes to our travel agenda but I won’t know more until later this morning. Depending on what we learn today, I might actually be bringing a bathroom scale in my suitcase. I’ll let you know.

For now, thanks for coming and reading my insane little story.

Stomach Ache

So my stomach has been a dick all day. I had a stomach ache when I woke up. When I had a drink before my exercise it made the stomach ache worse. I stopped right away. Two hours later I was still feeling off but I was also hungry and I needed to start taking protein so I had a protein bar. I actually felt better. Weird. Hours later I was feeling okay so I had another drink and wouldn’t you know it? The stomach ache came back. Eventually I had another protein bar and the stomach ache went away, mostly, again.

What the fuck, stomach?

We should be having dinner soon. No clue what my stomach is going to do then. Gee, my stomach is annoying the hell out of me today. Yippee.

Discharge Tomorrow?

My father has been in a rehab hospital for weeks now. Today we got some good news. He is very likely coming home tomorrow. We’re not 100% sure, but it’s looking that way. Oh, what a relief.

Changing the subject, dinner last night was meatballs and gnocchi. It was delicious. Today for lunch I had leftover meatballs. Again, delicious. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast and they gave me a little trouble. Not a lot, but enough to make me pause for a while in the middle of the meal. Lunch? No trouble at all. 3.9 ounces of meatballs without issue. Oh, what a relief.

I think I have one more person to get an xmas present for. Not sure when I am going to take care of that. Tonight after dinner maybe? Depends on what else is going on. I should try to play guitar tonight but I kinda don’t see it happening. I should do what ever needs to be done outside of the house today though, as we’re going to get spanked by a huge storm over the next couple of days. Yeah, I should go out tonight. Shit. I don’t want to. Oh well.

I really want to go out to shoot some pictures tomorrow. I don’t think the storm will hit until later in the day. I should have gone this morning though because it was sort of sunny and tomorrow will likely be cloudy. I wonder if the weather will be clear on Saturday. Should I go to the ocean for sunrise on Christmas Eve? That would be fun.

Okay. Lunch break is over. Clicking that little blue publish button now. Until next time, my reader(s) and only friend(s).