Category: weight loss surgery

Week 41 Weigh In

I am pleasantly surprised and rather pleased. I mentioned before that I have been eating a lot more than usual. I’ve been eating things that aren’t necessarily good for me too. I’ve been handling it all okay for the most part, though the couple of ounces of peanuts I tried to eat last night gave me the worst bought of nausea I’ve experienced since the start of this whole thing.

I expected minimal weight loss at best, and realistically with all the stress eating and difficulties of the last week I expected to gain a little weight. I did not. I lost 1.8 pounds, which under the circumstances feels like a ton. I now weight 222 even. My BMI dropped 0.2 points to 27 even. I’m inching closer to that mythical, magical 25 mark. My weight loss since the surgery is now at 209.4, and my weight loss since the first check in moved the 10’s column and reached 230.4.

At the wake Monday night I lost track of the number of times someone came through the receiving line and didn’t recognize me. While it was life affirming every single time, I also got a little tired of it. I get it, I am thinner. Can we focus on the topic at hand please? I don’t know. I felt guilty about feeling good about my health while my mother was 10 feet away in a casket.

On an unrelated note, I am watching the last few minutes of The Mandalorian season two, episode six. I just watched Boba Fett kick the crap out of a drop ship full of stormtroopers. If only the Book of Boba Fett season had followed suit. Oh well. I think I am going to include that show in my Mandalorian pre-season three prep binge anyway. It was good, it just wasn’t great. Except for the episodes with Mando and Baby Yoda, of course. Those episodes were stellar.

On another unrelated note, I took today off to recover from the wake and the funeral. It might be the best move I’ve ever made, career wise. I need a decompression day. Jen is working though so I am not going to play guitar through an amp all day. I am going to play guitar through an amp sim though. I have eight songs to put rhythm guitars on before I sleep tonight. I will get The RPM Challenge on track today, even if it kills me.

Hungry

The last few days have been weird, weight loss surgery wise. I assume it’s stress over the upcoming services for my mother, or something along those lines at least, but I could be wrong. I’ve been hungry. A lot. Like, all the time. I’m not going too far overboard, but I am snacking between meals way more than normal and the meals themselves have been much larger than usual. When I say “much larger” what I really mean is instead of 4-5 ounces at a time I’m like 5-6 ounces. When I say I’m snacking I mean 1-2 ounces of peanuts or two little sugar free pudding cups instead of one. I stepped on the scale this morning out of fear that I was screwing things up and I was down a little since Wednesday. Not much, just a little. So I don’t appear to be ruining previous progress but… what the hell, Robert?

On a weight loss related note, I am finding myself oddly aware of my physical structure. I have bones I didn’t know I had. There’s one in my chest that I first became aware of a few months after the surgery and I thought it was a growth or a tumor or something. I told the doctor. She checked it out. No, nothing to worry about. That’s just your sternum. Duh. Now it’s my rib cage and my shoulders. I can actually feel the space between my ribs. I have no padding on my shoulders anymore so when I played my guitar the other day it actually hurt.

I added a new discovery to the list last night. I haven’t shaved in a couple of weeks. That’s going to change later today, but I was sort of rubbing the stubble on my neck and I felt something. Apparently Robert, your humble narrator, has an adam’s apple. I mean, I always assumed it was there but I never actually found any evidence to support the assumption. Now I can feel it.

Who knew, right?

Now if I could just shake what my mother used to call “the hungry horrors” and start eating better again. That would be aces.

As I type this I am watching season one episode three of The Mandalorian. The tribe of Mandalorians just came out of the covert to help Din Djarin and Grogu (we don’t actually know their names yet) escape the guild. Absolutely epic.

Getting Through the Prep Work

My brother and sister and I met last night to work on the planning for the funeral. We picked music and readings and started asking cousins to play the various parts. We have one reader but still need one more. We have three pall bearers but still need three more. We have offers out for the remaining parts and are just waiting to hear back.

Jen and I were a little late getting out of the house. I called my father to let him know we’d be late for the planned suit fitting and he said he was tired and asked if we could reschedule to tomorrow, which is now today. I put in for a couple of hours at the end of the day so that we can head over earlier. Jen is off today so it should all work out. That still gives us the weekend to replace anything we bought that doesn’t fit him. We’re still in good shape.

I’ve been really hungry the last couple of days. My meals have gotten significantly larger and I’ve had more between meal snacks. I have to assume it’s an emotional thing. The good news is that yesterday I had actual food with every meal. I had protein supplements along with each meal, but that was just to make sure I hit my goal. Eggs for breakfast and chicken for lunch and dinner. I also had peanuts as snacks instead of protein bars. It wasn’t a lot of snack-level protein intake, but it felt pretty good to do it that way.

No music last night. Not sure if tonight will be any different. I am 2/5 of the way through Star Trek Picard season 1 episode 6 though. I’m more than 25% of the way through the two season rewatch with season three kicking off in six days. Probably not going to make it unless I do an alarmingly intense binge over the weekend. Of course The Mandalorian season three kicks off on March 1st. Can I follow the two season Picard rewatch with a 2+ season Mandalorian rewatch by 3/1? (2+ seasons due to the two episodes where The Mandalorian hijacked The Book of Boba Fett, right?)

Right then. Time to start getting ready for work. Talk to you later. Parents, tell your kids you love them. Kids, tell your parents you love them.

Week 40 Weigh In

Week 40? Are you serious? We’re only 12 weeks away from capping off the first year? How is that possible? How does time move so quickly without all of us falling down dizzy all the time?

I weighed myself this morning through a hale* of technological cock ups. Well, one technological cock up. The scale in the bedroom is Bluetooth and connects to my iPhone. It’s nice. The app on my phone calculates my BMI and updates the Health app so I don’t have to do either thing manually. When I got out of bed this morning I tapped my phone to wake it up and nothing… it was off. I tried to turn it on again and nothing… it was dead. I plugged it in and tried again and nothing… it was bricked. The fuck?

I stepped on the scale and started my day without my phone. Eventually Google gave me a tip for tricking it into restarting and it worked. She’s been A-Okay ever since. I haven’t updated the Health app though. I still need to do that, but I have updated my Google Spreadsheet and I have all the numbers I need.

There are numbers, but there aren’t a whole lot too them. I am down this week, but only 0.6 pounds. I will chalk that up to already having a mid-week weigh in on Saturday so it’s not a full week. Also, yesterday was Jen’s birthday and I hit the snacks a lot harder than usual while celebrating. I’m not concerned. 0.6 pounds is a positive step in my book. I’m happy.

On Saturday when I did the nine month weigh in I was at 224.4. Today I am at 223.8. I will take it. Gleefully. The total since the surgery is now 207.6 and the total since the start is 228.2. My BMI went from 27.3 to 27.2. Again, all good stuff. Not world rocking stuff, but good stuff. I am pleased.

The next weigh in will be February 15th. That’s the day after Valentines Day as well as the day after something painful that I haven’t mentioned yet but probably isn’t hard to figure out based on the last couple of weeks worth of posts. That event includes a luncheon but I doubt I will be willing or able to eat anything there. I’m likely going to have a full day of protein supplements instead of actual food on the 14th. We’ll see how the diet shakes out that day.

*Is that the correct usage of “hale”? Should it be “hail”?

ADDENDUM: It just dawned on me… I weigh 223.8 and I have lost 228.2 since 1/19/22. That means I have lost more weight than I actually weigh. Holy shit Snacks! I am literally half the man I used to be! Queue that Stone Temple Pilots song!

Nine Month Weigh In

I got to the hospice facility at around 10:00am on Friday morning and didn’t leave until after 8:00am on Saturday morning. I can’t take that again. I just can’t handle it. My body and my brain are starting to rebel against the idea.

Fortunately it did not affect today’s monthiversary weigh in. You know it. Today is February 4th, my step son’s 20th birthday and my nephew’s 12th birthday, so it’s time for the monthly weigh in. On Wednesday for the weekly I weighed 226.8 pounds. Today, just three days later, I weigh 224.4. A difference of 2.4 pounds in three days. Yikes.

Total weight lost since the surgery nine months ago, 207 pounds. Total weight lost since the first check in on January 19, 2022, 227.6 pounds. My BMI went from 27.6 to 27.3.

Initially after the surgery my weigh loss goal was to weigh less than 400 pounds. When I achieved that my goal became weigh less than 300 pounds. When I achieved that my goal became lose 200 pounds since surgery. When I achieved that… what? I guess the goal now is to enter what the folks in the bariatric surgery facebook groups call Onederland. That is drop below 200 pounds and enter the 100 pound universe. I still have a ways to go before I get there. After that the goal is going to be get my BMI below 25. That will hit at about 190 pounds.

I’m optimistic I can reach those lofty goals. Onederland, here I come.

Week 39 Weigh In

After last week’s huge weekly loss I was expecting to be up a little this week in a sort of universe-correcting-itself way. Nope. I am down. I’m not down a lot, but that’s sort of a universe correcting itself thing too. Last week I was 227.8. This week I am 226.8. A difference of one, beautiful, glorious pound. I will take it. A small loss is better than even the tiniest of gains, right?

My BMI went from 27.7 to 27.6. My weight lost since the surgery is now 204.6. My weight lost since the first weigh in is now 225.2. None of those numbers are milestones, but I have to say that for some reason that 225 looks like a really happy thing. I can live with that.

Given the chaos surrounding my mother’s situation right now I am not sure if I am going to be eating terribly healthy over the next few days at least. That could lead to a gain next week due to overdoing it, or another huge loss due to seriously under doing it. We’re going to have to wait and see.

Until then, I am going to enjoy this week’s single pound while it lasts.

Week 38 Weigh In

Well this one is going to be weird.

I’ve been sick for about three days. I haven’t been eating on a regular schedule, I haven’t been hitting all of my goals, I had two days without exercise, and I even missed my two doses of calcium yesterday. I woke up feeling okay this morning, which was a really nice change, and I expected to be down a little but I wasn’t hoping for much.

Way to read the room, Robert.

I was down A TON.

Last Wednesday’s weigh in was 235 pounds. Today was 227.8 pounds. A one week loss of 7.2 pounds. That is absurd. Utterly ridiculous. I expect to be up next week because 7.2 pounds is not normal or sustainable or good.

It is, from the tunnel vision point of view of weight loss, awesome though. Not because it’s a good thing, but because IT PUT ME OVER 200 POUNDS SINCE THE SURGERY! 203.6 pounds to be exact. YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!

Hitting 200 pounds since the first check in was amazing. Hitting 200 pounds since the surgery is so much better. I don’t know why that is, but it is. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. TWO HUNDRED POUNDS SINCE SURGERY, BABIE!

So the 10’s column changed for my current weight, the hundreds column changed for loss since surgery, the 10’s column changed for total since first appointment, it’s now 224.2 pounds, and the BMI dropped almost a full point, from 28.6 to 27.7.

I mean… holy shit, boys and girls! Two hundred pounds in 38 weeks. I never even dreamed of this. Two hundred freakin’ pounds!

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.