Tag: health

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.

Photo Fun

So the photo a day challenge thing was super easy to do during the Disney World vacation. Now that we’re home I’m finding it tough. I’m still up to date, but we’ve gone from wonderful Disney views to shit like this:

137/365
136/365

Oh well.

I saw both of my parents today. It was rough. My father has been sick with a cold since leaving the hospital so we haven’t been able to bring him to see my mother. During that time my mother also tested positive for Covid, so it’s been a consistent kick in the scrotum. Today I was able to bring my father to the nursing home to see my mother. It was heartbreaking. My father was desperate to see her, but when we got there she was completely unresponsive. I was able to feed her some of her lunch, and my father held her hand, but she wasn’t really there, if you know what I mean. Over all I think the trip did help my father’s state of mind, a little at least. It was worth it even if it was hard to bare.

To pile on, the kids are gone. Harry drove back to school today. Bellana goes back to school tomorrow, but she is staying at her Dad’s tonight. Sad faces all around. Sure we had them for two full weeks during vacation, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want more time. Greed is good, as Gordon Gecko once said. Did I get that name right? Michael Douglas in Wall Street, right? Whatever.

Further bad news, my vacation is over tomorrow and I have to go back to work. Also, I have an ass load if work that has to be done with a deadline on Tuesday. Yippee! Way to plan that one out, fat boy.

On an unrelated positive note, The Last of Us series will premier on HBO tonight. A new zombie(adjacent?) show, just in time for the end of The Walking Dead. I’m looking forward to having the shit scared out of me.

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!

Epic Road Trip Day Two

We hit the road at 1:50pm yesterday and called it a day around 9:00 in Aberdeen, WA. Umm, I mean Aberdeen, MD. We are about 50 miles north of Baltimore.

Nothing terribly interesting happened until we were checked into a hotel room. Jen was asleep and I was about to go to sleep. That’s when I started getting a migraine. Yippee. I turned out the lights and went to sleep. I woke up six hours or so later with a touch of a headache, but I think the actual migraine fun has passed. We will see how it goes as the long day rolls on today, but I think I’m okay. I’ll just have to watch it, just in case.

Okay, time to pack up the room and get day two rolling. We want to be in Florida tonight at the very least, if not somewhere close to the airport in Orlando.

Let’s go!!

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.

Week 33 Weigh In

It’s Wednesday morning. I’ve done my 30 minute jog in place thing. I’ve had three days in a row with consistent stats and I finally figured out why. I slowed down my pace a little and for some reason my watch can handle that. The faster I trot, the messier the stats get. Why? No idea. Anyway, it’s Wednesday and like all Wednesdays I stepped on that scale. Happy Wednesday is Weigh In Day, everyone!

I wasn’t expecting much. Last week was spectacular (six pounds!) but it also followed a few days where I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach and didn’t eat a lot. I think the last two weigh in posts mention that I wouldn’t be surprised if I have a gain in the near future, just as my body’s correction to the few bad days. That didn’t happen, but the loss this week is pretty small. I am down 1.4 pounds. How do I feel about that? I feel awesome about that. I was a little nervous that I might gain a bit and my total would drop below 200 pounds and that would make me sad, but it didn’t happen so it’s awesome.

My current weight is 247.2 pounds. My BMI has dropped from 30.3 to 30.1. I did the math and I will change from an obese BMI to an overweight BMI when I hit 246 pounds. Weight loss since the surgery is 184.2. The goal is to get that over 200 pounds by January 19th, but we’ll see if that is possible or not. We need to see how things trend over the next few weeks. I’m hopeful I can get there. It would be cooler to hit it a couple of weeks earlier than that while we’re at Disney World. We’ll see. The total weight loss since the first check in is up to 204.8. That’s amazing.

So there you have it, folks. Happy 33 weeks! Happy 63.46% of a year!

Week 32 Weigh In! YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!

Hello and welcome to today’s weigh in post, and it is a doozy, oh my readers and only friends! Your humble narrator woke up feeling sick to his stomach today but he doesn’t care because HOLY SHIT!!!

Now I have mentioned that food has been troubling me over the last week or so and it’s likely down to that as the reason the numbers have me so out of my mind ecstatic this morning. Given that, it’s safe to say that once I get myself straightened out some of what I am cheering about today will be put back on. That’s okay. I can live with that. I am just in the moment right now and the numbers in this moment are… Fuck me, are they incredible!

Last week, for the week 31 weigh in, I weighed 254.6 pounds and my BMI was 31.

Today… week 32… oh my goodness… I weigh 248.6 pounds, which is down a mammoth SIX (6) pounds! I haven’t had a six pound week since September. Six pounds is MEGA, but that’s not what the bliss is about this morning. My BMI is down to 30.3. I’m three tenths of a point away from not being obese anymore, but that’s not what the bliss is about this morning.

My total weight loss since the surgery is breathtaking. I flipped the 10’s column again, moving up to 182.8 pounds! I have lost over 180 pounds since May 4th. I can’t believe it. That is absolutely stunning and shocking and that’s still not what this bliss is about this morning.

So what is the bliss about this morning?

On my first visit to the weight loss clinic on January 19, 2022, I weighed 452 pounds. Let’s do some math, shall we?

452.0
– 248.6
———–
203.4

OH MY GOD, PEOPLE! I TOPPED TWO-HUNDRED POUNDS! FUCK-A-DOODLE-DO, I’VE LOST TWO HUNDRED POUNDS IN SLIGHTLY LESS THAN ELEVEN MONTHS!

My total weight loss since the first check in is 203.4 pounds! TWO-HUNDRED THREE AND FOUR TENTHS POUNDS!

I HAVE LOST TWO-HUNDRED POUNDS!

I’m going to have to write more about this later because at this particular moment in time I am too dizzy with shock and delight to really process this. I will write more after I get to work so I can bask in the bliss for a few hours first.

TWO-HUNDRED POUNDS!!!!!