Tag: weight loss surgery

Busy Morning

Lots of meetings this morning. Busy busy. Lots of projects. Busy busy.

I have a day off on Thursday. A use it or lose it vacation time kinda thing. I just need to get there. It’s gonna be tough. I have a lot of things on my to do list for that day. A haircut*, early voting**, guitar playing***, maybe some photo walk stuff around town****. Stuff like that. There is also Bond movies. They are leaving Amazon Prime Video in 10 days and I am still only half way through Diamonds are Forever. I am half a movie away from Roger Moore.

Okay, breakfast is almost done, I’ve plowed through last night’s email. Let’s get crackin’ for really reals now. Have a good Tuesday, everyone.

*A side effect of weight loss surgery is hair loss. They told me it starts between three and six months (I’m nearly at six months) and it lasts for 3-4 months (it started about two months ago). Fortunately it will grow back… in theory. I am 51 years old. Maybe it’s just my time. I mean my hair hasn’t gone grey yet, which is miraculous in itself. Maybe my run of good hair luck is coming to an end. For now though, I have been too afraid of losing it to get it cut and it’s long enough to actually look long in the back and it hangs in my eyes. It’s time. It’s time to get it cut.

One other note, when I was a little little pre-school kid my hair was super curly. Somehow as it started to fall out it has also started to get a little curly again. How weird is that?

**I am pretty sure Methuen’s early voting is open on Thursday, I just don’t know where or what time. I think it’s at city hall this time, but I need to figure that out.

***Jen is scheduled to go into the office that day so I should be able to make noise without bothering her.

****I said no film until November but… maybe?

Another Bad Dinner

I got about a third of the way through my tiny main course tonight and my stomach started feeling like some bad times were coming. I stopped eating in the hopes that I could avoid it. After about 30 minutes I tried another bite and it was the same. Okay, dinner is over.

I am drastically under both my protein and liquid goals. I was thinking I would have a protein shake to help catch up on both fronts so I waited an hour after my last bite. Unfortunately my blender was in the dishwasher, dirty. I could mix the shake another way, but it’s just not that good unless I blend the holy hell our of it. Now I am having a protein bar that I haven’t tried before. Experimenting, you know? Does it taste good? Nope.

Just winning left and right tonight, aren’t I. Ugh.

On the upside, the Bruins won, the Riverhawks won, the Yankees lost, and the Padres are winning. Good night for sports around here.

How about windows? Not the computer kind, but the kind you look through. We’re getting a bunch of new ones. We have a few windows in the house that open via cranks and they are all falling apart. The cranks, not the windows themselves. Jen made an appointment with the folks at Anderson and their rep came today and inspected our situation and ended up selling us a bunch of new windows, including a replacement for our big bay window in the living room. It’s going to be six months or so before they come and install everything, but i can’t wait to see the results.

The Bond rewatch continues. I’m halfway through Goldfinger. I know the last time I said From Russia with Love was my favorite, and I stand by that statement, but you can’t deny that Goldfinger is the best. It’s just the perfect Bond movie. I desperately want that Aston Martin DB5. Best car ever.

Okay, I finished the protein bar. In 30 minutes or so I will have a high protein snack, and that should take care of the 80 gram goal. Then I will have to drink as much water as I can handle before bed. I think it’s going to be a tough night.

Tomorrow I try to replace the dryer’s exhaust vent. Wish me luck.

Really Bad Day

When it comes to food and eating food, the last 24 hours have been seriously shitty.

Dinner last night made me sick. Breakfast today was okay but both lunch and dinner made me sick. I’m thinking of going full liquid diet tomorrow just to give myself a break. I need to go grocery shopping tonight but I’m really nauseous right now. It will pass, it always does, but what the hell, bro?

Nope

I tried to goad myself into playing the guitar at lunch today. I even took a picture for the photo a day thing.

Nope. I had a bad reaction to a piece of chicken instead. I guess it was just too big of a bite. It took me three hours to get through 4.4 oz of chicken, but one hour of that was just dealing with stomach pain and nausea and another hour was spent in a meeting at work. You know how it is.

51/365
51/365

Speaking of problems eating that stem from my gastric bypass surgery, the organization that determines the rules for qualifying for weight loss surgery has just rewritten those rules. They lowered the BMI requirement from 35 to 30. According to that I still qualify. My BMI is 34.4 even after losing 169 pounds. Can they bypass more of my stomach? WOOHOO!

Week 24 Weigh In

At my check in yesterday it was suggested that my daily protein goal should not be 60 grams, it should be 80. Ironically, on Monday night I actually hit 80 grams without trying. Last night I needed to push it a little to get there, but I did. That plus the scale at the clinic being much higher than last week’s weigh in had me nervous. Would week 24 be the first week that did not show a weight loss? Might the increased diet lead me to actually gaining weight this week?

Nope.

Today’s weigh in is down 4.2 pounds. Sigh of relief. My current weight is 283 pounds on the dot. My doctor asked me yesterday if I have a goal. I said my first goal was to get below 400 pounds. Then when I did that my goal became getting under 300 pounds. I’ve done that too. Now? I think it might be BMI related (down from 35 to 34.4 this week). In order to get to a healthy BMI I need to drop to about 190 pounds. I think that might be the goal. I have less than 100 pounds to go. The losses are going to level out at some point. The doctor suggested it’s probably already started. Getting to 190 is going to be harder than getting below 300 was, but it’s something to shoot for.

Speaking of BMI, I had a moment of duh last week. Somehow I got it into my head that the point that separates “overweight” from “obese” was a BMI value of 35. I was really excited to be able to say that I was no longer obese. Nope. Duh. The border between the two labels is actually 30, not 35. We’ll get there.

No milestones this week as far as the totals are concerned. My weight loss since surgery is 148.4 and the total since the first office visit is 169. If I do well this coming week we could have a lot of 10’s column changes next Wednesday. Milestones galore.

The Waiting Room

You should listen to the Genesis song called The Waiting Room while you read this post. Actually, maybe you shouldn’t. It’s an atonal noise-fest and it might scare you off. Listen to Firth of Fifth instead. It’s not related at all, it’s just magic.

My weight on the scale here was 291.6. About four pounds higher than last week’s weigh in at home. I blame my shoes and my wallet and my keys and my phone. Yup. They also said my blood pressure was a smidge low. We will have to keep an eye on that, I think.

Check In with the Surgeon

I’m taking half a day off of work today for a doctors appointment. Today is my five month (approximately) check in with the surgeon. I don’t expect anything beyond how are you doing, that’s great, any issues, that’s great. That’s what I am hoping for at least. We’ll probably be booking the next round of appointments too.

I got a decent night’s sleep last night. I only got one of those last week. Here’s hoping I don’t make that a habit. Let’s have another good night tonight, please.

This morning’s exercise was different than usual. I went 3.2 miles as normal but I did it in 32 minutes. 18 of those 32 minutes was done at a trot. I kinda sorta ran for half of the time. It hurts my feet and my calves but it cranks up the ol’ heart rate. That’s good, right?

Check in today. Weigh in tomorrow. Here’s hoping for a good week all around. Right on, brothers and sisters.

Week 23 Weigh In

Happy Wednesday Weigh In, once again. 23 weeks post surgery and nothing but a lifetime left to go. My 10’s column changed again so let’s celebrate.

I am down 3.6 pounds. That brings me down to 287.2. 300 pounds seems very far away now. Happiness. Granted, 300 would feel more comfortably far away if I was down to 187.2, but we’ll jump off that bridge should we ever come to it, m’kay?

I just earned myself an Apple Watch activity app award. Most calories burned in a single workout. I was doing my walkies while watching the new episode of Andor and I hit that 3.2 mile (simulated) goal without realizing it. I didn’t notice that I could allow myself to stop until I was almost at four miles (simulated), so I just kept going. 4.02 miles in 45:21 for 758 calories. My exercise goal for today has been obliterated, and my calorie goal is over 75% done. I think I am in good shape for closing that ring today. Hurrah, babie.

Speaking of goals, I didn’t hit my protein goal of 60 grams yesterday. I was super close, 58.38, but I didn’t get there. I had some trouble with my lunch and I didn’t want to push things at dinner so I kept it a lot smaller than usual. I will do better today, guaranteed.

My next check in at the clinic is on Tuesday. Everything is going well so I expect that appointment to feel like a formality. Here’s hoping it all stays on track.

Milestone Achieved

Last night, as expected, I achieved another post-weight loss surgery milestone.

I ate pasta.

Oh the glory! I only ate a tiny bit. 1.5 ounces to be exact. There was a little red sauce and about four ounces of meatballs as well. Protein, dontchaknow. No stomach issues. No nausea. No anything but happiness. Tiny amounts of pasta are back on the menu, boys!

In today’s episode of That Pedal Show, which was almost exactly the length of time I needed for my morning walkies, Dan buys a new Telecaster and gets it refretted, rewired, and has a pickup respun.

Oh, has that lit me up or what. Both of my 70’s Gibsons needs to be refretted, one needs to be rewired, and one is in line to get new pickups. I want to sell my USA Stratocaster to pay for some, if not all, of this work but I’ve been afraid to actually list the guitar anywhere. After watching today’s show… the guitar might go up for sale this weekend. We’ll have to see. There’s a distinct possibility that today’s photo-a-day submission might be for-sale pics of the Strat. I am equal parts excited about this and really scared to do it. I honestly have no clue how much I should ask for.

Speaking of this coming weekend (eight hours and 11 minutes to go!), the agenda includes hanging new curtains in the living room and getting a flu shot and the new Covid booster. I expect to be wiped out for at least some of the weekend. We’re trying to arrange things so that the worst of the vaccine push back will happen over night while we’re sleeping… or at least trying to sleep. I’ll let you know how that goes. My first three shots didn’t really affect me. The fourth did. It wasn’t terrible, but I definitely felt ill the next day. Fingers crossed.