Weigh Ins and Time Machine

I have been thinking about what to do about weigh ins now that I’ve passed the one year since surgery mark. Once a week suddenly seems gratuitous, especially when I’m not really losing a lot with any degree of regularity anymore. I think I am going to ditch the Wednesday weigh ins. At least in terms of tracking everything. I might step on the scale now and then, but I don’t see myself recording the data like I was in year one.

The monthly weigh ins are another story. I think I am going to continue to do that. Maybe it’s a compromise. The data analyst part of my tiny little pea brain will still have regular data to keep track of, just not quite as often. I think that’s a good plan going forward. I can still obsess about weight, just not as often. Good and good.

My in-laws, Charlotte and Sherman, gave me an Amazon.com gift card for my birthday. Thank you so much. Big smile. Right on queue, the two terabyte USB hard drive I use for my MacBook Pro’s Time Machine back ups sort of bricked itself today. It’s suddenly in read only mode. Guess what I used the gift card for! It’s almost like the disc drive knew today was my birthday so it took full advantage. Timing is everything, kids.

Okay… back to work, Robert. Your customers don’t care that it’s your birthday. You don’t care either, but they care even less, you know? Get to it.

Week 52 Weigh In

It is Wednesday today so it’s time for a weekly weigh in. After being way down last week I figured I would probably creep back up a smidge this week and sure enough I did.

Last week I was 205.6 and today I am 206.6, up one full pound. Oh well. I was hoping I would get below 205 by tomorrow’s one year anniversary but now that seems incredibly unlikely. I’m sure I will dip below 205 at some point, meaning my BMI will dip below 25 and I will go from being overweight to being normal weight. It’s a goal, but who said I had to get there in the first year. I mean, sure it would be nice but I’m not stressing over it.

Weight loss since surgery (approximate) is 224.8. Weight loss since the first weigh in is 245.4. Current BMI is 25.1. It was about 52.5 on the surgery date and 55 on the first weigh in date.

Tomorrow is the actual one year anniversary so I will step on the scale again and I will likely be up again. No worries. No complaints. I am so thankful that I’ve had this experience, even when it’s been painful and difficult. I’ll probably reiterate this tomorrow, but I could not have done this without the support and love of my amazing wife Jen. She’s my rock. She’s my heart and soul. I love her so much and I am so thankful for all she’s done for me through all of this insanity and upheaval. She’s incredible.

Who knows, maybe I’ll magically lose 1.7 pounds over night tonight. Stranger things have happened, right?

Week 50 Weigh In

Not much to report today. I mostly just wanted to honor week #50 because 50 is a nice round number. Two weeks from now will be a bigger deal, but 50 is nice too.

My weight this morning at around 5:30am matched the lowest weight I’ve seen since this whole party started. On the 11 month weigh in on April 4th I was 209.6 pounds. I’ve yo-yo’d between about 210 and 214 since then. I saw that I dipped below 210 to 209.8 last Friday. Today I was back to 209.6. I’ll take it. 221.8 pounds since surgery, 242.4 pounds since day one, 25.5 BMI.

Nothing exciting, only because it’s a number I saw 15 days ago, but still nice. I had a bad morning food-wise yesterday but once it cleared up, a little after noon, I was able to get a full day’s worth of food and drink in. I hit all of my goals. I don’t think this is a case of having a good weigh in after a bad day. It started bad, but it didn’t end bad.

Two weeks and one day until the one year anniversary of the surgery. Doubtful I’ll get my BMI below 25 by then. I don’t want to “diet” or anything to manipulate the numbers so I won’t change anything.

I started writing this post about three hours ago. I don’t think it’s very readable but I’m still going on. In further health news, I just booked a CT scan and a second MRI, both of my brain. Say brains the way a zombie would say it… braaaaaainnnnnsssss. Fun, huh? We’re all reasonably sure there is nothing wrong with that little spot in the middle of my thinking cap, but we’re going to get a lot of looks at it to make sure. The MRI is this weekend. The CT is next month.

Please, oh please, let the window project be complete by the time I get home today. Also, please let it be completed at an acceptable level where we don’t have to file any complaints or bitch anyone out.

Also, please let me get through the day without having the season finale of The Mandalorian spoiled. I watched about half of the episode this morning, but I didn’t get through to the end. I need to avoid spoilers and it… is… so… difficult.

Okay. Week 50 is in the books. Here’s hoping weeks 51 and 52 are positive. BMI of less than 25 or bust. Here we come! Also, the Bruins play the Panthers in game two of their first round playoff series tonight. Go Bruins!

All is Well So Far

It’s 7:43am. My exercise goal has been nearly doubled. My calorie goal is almost reached. My liquid goal is at 50%. My protein goal is at a smidge over 25%. No stomach issues so far. Also, much less importantly, I am up to date on season two of Yellowjackets. As with the previous 13 episodes, I need to ask: WTF???

I have a doctors appointment this morning. I had that MRI on Easter Sunday (I posted about it once or 100 times) and there’s something in the image that requires some investigating. The radiologist and my primary care physician both expect that it’s nuttin, honey, but I’m going to see a neurosurgeon today to get another opinion.

Am I nervous? No. Not at all. I won’t be unless this doc gives me something to be nervous about, but I’m confident that he or she won’t. I’m hoping we might get a hint on how to stop the migraines. That would be nice, right?

Anyway, I gotta go feed the cats and get ready for my appointment. Here’s hoping that all continues to go well today, both in my tiny little brain and in my tiny little redesigned stomach. Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, and even though it’s Friday and not Wednesday I stepped on the scale this morning. I figured it was worth a shot given that I barely ate anything last night. 209.8. Back under 210 Can I stay there for a while? Not likely.

No Weigh In Today

It’s Wednesday. I stepped on the scale this morning and immediately made the command decision that I am not going to log the weight today. I was way up. Something like three pounds. That’s okay, but if I am no longer seeing any real progress, and it’s been over a month since I’ve seen any change in any direction that was consistent, then why bother. I think I will skip this week and try again next week. I mean, it’s been 11 months… let’s take a breather, right? I was never intending to do this forever, after all.

11 Month Weigh In

11 months ago today I went under the knife and had my guts rearranged, gastric bypass style. As with every monthiversary, I used it as an excuse to step on the scale, even though my regular scale stepping is scheduled for tomorrow. Now I am going to share some numbers but you have to take them with a grain of salt. 11 months on, these figures are borderline spectacular. They are also almost surely a lie that will be uncovered when I do my weekly weigh in tomorrow. Okay? Let’s not get too excited.

All of my numbers except BMI hit milestones.

Oh wow, Bradley Whitford is in this episode of The X-Files! Season two episode nine. That would be 1994, maybe? 1995? Sorry… I got distracted by the television. I’ll stay focused from now on.

Where was I? Oh yeah, milestones galor. All lies, but still milestones everywhere you look. Last Wednesday the scale read 213.4. Today? 209.6. I broke 210, babie! Holy Shit Burgers! Under 210! Amazing! Granted, I was sick with stomach pain all day yesterday and barely ate or drank anything all day. I didn’t come remotely close to any of my food goals. Not even a tiny bit close. Assuming I hit all of my goals today, I will be back over 210 tomorrow. Pretty much guaranteed.

Along with flipping the 10’s column from a one to a zero, losing 3.8 pounds over the last six days also flipped the 10’s column on my total since surgery. I am up to 221.8 pounds since May 4, 2022. My grand total since the first appointment is the final milestone of the day as that has a new 10’s column too. That number is up to 242.4 and suddenly the possibility of hitting 250 pounds sounds like a remote possibility rather than a fantasy.

The last number to check in on is the BMI. It’s not a big moment, but it is a big change. Last week I hit 26. Today it’s 25.5. Half way to the magical 25, you-are-not-overweight-anymore moment. Crazy.

Now, what about all of the other crap that went down since yesterday? The stomach pain and the gas pain and the mild nausea never went away yesterday. It ebbed and flowed a bit as the day went on but it was always there to varying degrees. Fortunately it’s gone today. I have a bit of a headache, but that’s down to dehydration, I think. I only had about 20 ounces of water over the whole day. Drinking made my stomach feel worse, while eating made it a little better. I didn’t hit my protein goal either, but I was a little better than halfway there. I have had eight ounces of water already this morning (it is 7:41am) and I am about to have a little breakfast to see how that goes.

I will weigh in again tomorrow and I will be up, probably a lot. That is okay. I will get down below 210 for really reals at some point. When I do I will celebrate properly and it will be glorious. Until then, let’s just enjoy this while it lasts. The next check in is the weekly check in tomorrow. Until then… 209.6, babie! WOOHOOO!

Week 47 Weigh In

There’s a lot to discuss today, but I am going to try and keep it brief. Today’s weigh in was a good one. Remember a week or so ago when I said I stepped on the scale unofficially and was WAY down, only to step on the scale for real the next day and be WAY up? Today’s weigh in matched the number I hit when I was WAY down and all was right with the world.

The scale read 213.4 today. That’s down 2.6 pounds from last week’s 216. I had been up in three of the past four weeks, so it’s nice to be down a bunch today. It feels good. I thought I was going to be up today because I hit the post-dinner snacks pretty hard last night. I figured I would have ruined any good progress I made this week. I bet if I step on the scale tomorrow I’ll be up a lot again, so I am not going to step on the scale tomorrow.

I am now down 218 pounds even since the surgery, and 238.6 since the first weigh in. I’m really looking forward to hitting 220 since the surgery. At this rate it will probably be a month before I get there, but the 11 month weigh in is actually six days away. It would be sweet to get there by then. 240 total will be nice, but 250… that will be really nice. That may be too much to ask for at this point, but a boy can dream, right?

The interesting thing today is the BMI. Not because of the number but because I redid some old math and found that my expectations were off by a ton. The BMI value today is 26, down from 26.3. That got me thinking. If 213.4 pounds puts me at 26, does it make sense that I would have to hit 190 in order to drop below 25? I did that math months ago and it has stuck in my head. It sort of set 190 as my eventual goal. A BMI of less than 25 would put me into a healthy weight range for the first time… ever. I rechecked the math today though and I was way off. WAY off. I must have been using the wrong height before because when I calculate the BMI using 6’4″ as my height, I have to get below 205 pounds to get below a BMI of 25. That’s a huge difference from 190. If I weigh 190 pounds, my BMI would be 23.1. How could I have been that far off? I don’t understand.

It doesn’t matter though. The goal is to just feel healthier and I am definitely doing that. I set a personal Apple Watch activity app record today by jogging (yogging) in place for a full 60 minutes. Why? I was watching new Star Wars television episodes and just didn’t want to stop. That’s all there was to it.

The next weigh in, as mentioned above, will be Tuesday next week as that will be April 4th, my 11 month surgery anniversary. The weekly weigh in will still happen on Wednesday but it will be much less impactful.

Until then… think thin, Robert.

Week 46 Weigh In

Things are getting weird now.

I posted about my bonus weigh in on Sunday, three days ago. I was down 2.8 pounds after having been up at least a pound each of the previous two Wednesdays. Yeah, I am cheating on my weigh in schedule. Wanna make something of it? I didn’t weigh myself on Monday, but I did on Tuesday and I was down a lot. From Sunday to Tuesday I was down a massive 2.2 pounds. Wow! I didn’t record it on the spreadsheet or on my iPhone. I left it officially unofficial. When I weighed myself this morning for my regular Wednesday weigh in I was up 0.4 pounds since Sunday. That’s half a pound since Sunday, which means I was up 2.6 since yesterday.

Oh boy. I am at 216 even, which matches where I was on March 4th at the 10 month check in, which is also where I was hoping to get back to after last week. What a world, right?

BMI is 26.3 again. Total since surgery is 215.4 again. Total since first check in is at 236 even again.

Yesterday turned out to be a tough day with yet another migraine. I did what I meant to do the last time I had one, which was a week ago last Friday, and made an appointment with my primary care. It was tough to do through the partial blindness and the crushing headache, but I managed. I have an appointment for tomorrow morning. We’ll see how it goes. I expect it to just be a check in that sets up referrals to other doctors, but we’ll see. Let’s hope there is a placebo thing where now that I’ve taken the first baby step toward dealing with this it just goes away. Wouldn’t that be nice?

I had another issue last night as well. I tried to stay up through the headache but I fell asleep on the comfy chair in the living room. After about 45 minutes I got up and went to bed. I slept there for about an hour and then got up and went back to the living room. My head was much better, though still far from all better, and I wanted to spend some time with Jen. We ended up going to bed around 9:30, and I packed it in around 10:00. I woke up about three hours later and couldn’t get back to sleep. The headache was gone and in it’s place was a stomach ache. Shit. I was in and out of sleep until about 5:30 when I finally got up. I drank a water bottle while getting my jogging (yogging) in, and the stomach ache lessened but didn’t go away. I had two protein bars on the drive in to work and that mostly cleared things up. I expect it will come back again as time and digestion do their things.

Yesterday turned into a shitty day. Today is better, but still shaping up to be shitty in it’s own way. Yippee.

At least I still weigh less than I did in my last two weekly check ins. I’ll take that as a win.

Bonus Weigh In

The last time I wrote about stepping on the scale I said I was going to do this, but I was 90% kidding… and then I did it. I guess 10% serious was enough.

The last time I weighed myself and lost weight was the monthly check in on March 4th. I was down to 216 pounds even. The next two Wednesday weigh ins I was up. First one pound, then 1.4 pounds. I was not bothered by that. It was expected and not a big deal. The thing I was kidding about was that I would step on the scale every day and when (if?) I ever went below 216 I would mark it on my spreadsheet. Ha ha ha, right?

I think I weighed myself on Thursday. I don’t think I did it on Friday. I honestly can’t remember if I did it yesterday, Saturday, or not. This morning I did it and I was down to 215.6. Heh heh. The spreadsheet and the Health app on my iPhone have been updated. I’m down 2.8 since Wednesday, which probably means the scale was inaccurate somehow. I don’t care. My BMI is 26.2, my weight loss since surgery is 215.8 which means I have lost more weight since May 4, 2022 than I actually weigh, and my total since the first weigh in is 236.4.

And all was right with the world.

Week 45 Weigh In

I’m a day late for my Wednesday weigh in post. Do you think there’s a reason for that? Do ya? Betcha do.

Yeah, for the second week in a row I am up. Up 1.4 pounds to be exact. That means over the last two weeks I am up 2.4 pounds. Yeah, that sucks, but it’s also not a big deal. I knew it was coming. My weigh in yesterday was 218.4. I still love that number.

I weighed myself when I got up this morning and I was down from yesterday. I weighed myself again after finishing my workout and my morning constitutional (TMI) and I was down a little more. Two weeks ago I was at 216. Maybe I’ll check on it every day until I drop below 216 and update the spreadsheet then… because I am a content whore and I’m obsessed with watching the graphs I made on my spreadsheet trend down. You know how it is.

Yesterday was a bad day for feeling healthy as well. My lunch didn’t sit well, my shoveling from Tuesday night left my back and my neck and my shoulders and my arms in a ton of pain. To make matters worse, my Wednesday morning jog (yog) was 56 minutes long because I wanted my move (calorie) goal complete before I left for the office. All of that combined messed me up big time. To make matters worse, my dinner set my nausea off and it didn’t let up until just before I fell asleep. That means I didn’t have anything to eat last night after about 7:30 or so, and my empty stomach was hurting in a big way when I woke up. I’ve had breakfast and some water since then and I feel better, but my body is still sore and unhappy and I am expecting today to be a pretty crappy day.

Here’s hoping I’m wrong, and here’s hoping the scale stops going up. Am I right?