Tag: weight loss surgery

How Much Did I Weigh Back Then?

I can’t remember how much I weighed on our wedding day. It was a lot, but it was also less than it was when we got engaged. I just can’t remember the number. I didn’t write it down anywhere, so how can I figure it out? It’s like a weight milestone for me and I should be able to remember.

I found a way to make an educated guess.

The day after the wedding, my wedding ring slipped off while I was in the shower. For a while there I was taking it off when I showered because I didn’t want it to fall off again.

Back in January, my wedding ring was stuck. I couldn’t take it off anymore. My finger was just expanding around it. It didn’t hurt or anything, it just wasn’t coming off.

Today, post-surgery, it is loose. Not loose enough to come off on it’s own, but we are steadily getting closer to that point.

So… when I loose enough weight for my ring to slip off in the shower, then I will be approximately the same weight(ish) as my wedding day.

QED.

Thoughts on BMI

Two posts back I wrote a footnote about the possibility of my weight dropping below 200 pounds and how I imagine I would be unhealthily thin at that weight.

According to the site I go to when I want to calculate my BMI, that statement is actually super wrong. The calculator page includes this list of BMI Categories:

Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
Overweight = 25–29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

I have spent my entire adult life in the Obesity range. I have a looooong way to go to drop below that category. With my height being 6’4″ I would have to get down to 246 to have a BMI of 29.9. I am so far away from 246 pounds that I haven’t even considered it a possibility.

In order to get below the Overweight category, I would have to get down to 204 pounds. That seems insane to me. Completely out of the realm of reality. Wow.

That means the range for me to be in the Normal weight category is 152 to 204 pounds. I can’t even imagine it. I feel like, at 152 pounds, if I turned sideways I would be so thin you wouldn’t be able to see me. I would be invisible. Really.

So if dropping from 200 pounds to 199 pounds represents entering Onederland… I guess that wouldn’t be unhealthy for me after all. It’s not a goal though. I don’t have a goal number in mind. My only goal is to be healthier and not have to constantly worry that the heart attack is right around the next corner.

I’ll get there.

Eight Weeks

Hello and welcome to the eight weeks post-op update. TL/DR: I feel friggin great.

I weighed myself this morning. It’s been a real mental struggle to stop myself from weighing in more than once a week. Obviously I am not going to tell you how much I weigh. Nope. I will tell you what the losses are though. Last Wednesday the drop was a lot bigger than I expected. Today was nothing like that, but it was still a little bigger than I expected and I am really pleased.

I was down 5.4 pounds today. It wasn’t enough to change the tens column in my current weight. Changing the tens column is a thrill. Changing the hundreds column… now that’s worthy of a celebration complete with circus animals and a marching band and a Blue Angels flyover. It’s going to be a while before that happens.* Still, I am happy today.

My total loss since a few days before the surgery is now 69.6 pounds. I’d really like to round that up to 70, but no. Let’s be literal with this number. I don’t mind being a little fuzzier with the other total though, but I don’t have to today. The total weight loss since my first check in at the weight loss clinic is now 90.2 pounds. Let me spell that out once more time. NINETY POUNDS!

NINETY POUNDS!

My next check up at the clinic is tomorrow afternoon. I assume they are going to weigh me when I get there. That number will be higher than today’s number (I assume), and I am wondering if I want to include it on my tracker or not. I think it would be a more “official” number than today’s due to the likelihood that the scale is more accurate, and because it’s the same scale I used for both my initial weigh in in January, and the last weigh in before the surgery… But I really don’t want to see that number drop below 90 due to some technicality.

So in summation, allow me to share that I feel fantastic. My energy level… I feel 10 years younger. I can exercise without feeling like I am going to die. I don’t have to stop and rest when I walk for 10 feet. It’s amazing. Yeah, my clothes don’t fit anymore and I look like a clown, but that will be at least partially addressed over the weekend. I still eat too fast and that has kicked my sorry ass a few times now. Nausea is not fun, but I have not been bad enough to take the nausea medication they prescribed for me at the hospital. I just feel great, and I can’t wait to see how I feel with each new week.

*On the Bariatric Surgery Facebook group I have learned that folks refer to the drop from 200 to 199 pounds as Onederland. If I reach Onederland I think I will look like an anorexic. That is too far for me to consider. I think that would make me unhealthy on the other end of the spectrum. Still… Onederland. Sounds pretty engaging.

Sigh of Relief: Imminent

I am not ready to breathe a sigh of relief yet… but hopefully it’s just a matter of time.

I went on leave for most of the month of May and a couple of days in June. My company set me up with a claim for the Paid Family Medical Leave act and hooked me up with the insurance company they work with. It was this insurance company that is supposed to pay out my claim which, when combined with some sick time that I used to cover a small piece of the time off, will cover my salary for the month out.

I’ve had some trouble with the process. Partly just due to time zones but also due to some miscommunication and some difficulty getting documentation moved from point A to point B. There was a moment not long ago where I was thinking I was going to have to jump onto a plane, fly to the west coast, and staple a form into someone’s head.*

This morning I got an email from the insurance company telling me that I had a new document to review. What could it mean? I clicked the link in the email and their site was down. Most of the work I’ve done in this process was actually done through an iOS app so I tried to log into that and it was down too. Shit.

I carried on with my day and around 10:30 I tried the app again. It worked. My claim has been approved! Huzzah! Now what? I don’t know. I started drafting up an email to my rep but got pulled away for some work things.

A few minutes ago, as I was going to lunch, I checked the website to see if that was working. It was. There was one thing that didn’t show on the app. They cut a check. Yesterday. I checked the mail, symbolically, but it hasn’t crossed the continent in the last 18 hours.

This process has been more difficult than I ever would have imagined it would be. The latest update to my account shows that the end is in sight, but I am not going to breathe that sigh of relief until the check arrives and clears. Please please please let that be soon. Going a full month without a pay check is so stressful. You wouldn’t believe how stressful it is. I really want this off of my back. Please.

*Figuratively speaking, of course.

Planning and Postscript

Two things. First, weather.com says it is going to be sunny in the morning. I am going to try to get up around sunrise and go find a place in the city to take some film photo tests. Maybe just downtown before everything opens. Maybe the cemetery near the railroad station. Maybe the castle ruins. Maybe something else. I don’t know, but I want to do it and I only want to bring dad’s film camera. We’ll see what (if anything) happens.

Second, In regards to the previous post, Jen read an article tonight saying that people recovering from Gastric Bypass surgery probably should not try to eat broccoli until after three months or so. Something about the fiber causing food to get stuck. Well then I’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but I do feel perfectly fine at the moment. No worries.

Bonus third topic. I am in the middle of a third straight photo a day project thingie on Flickr. Every day for two years and nine months I have taken a picture with my iPhone. As of now, 9:14pm, I have not taken a picture with my iPhone. The streak lives, however, because I have taken a picture with my D90 and it’s on Flickr. The streak continues, babie!

Ain’t she sweet?

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Post-Surgical First

What’s your favorite vegetable? Cool! Me? It’s broccoli. Nothing else comes close.

After having surgery, when I hit the phase three diet I thought I was good to go, but they suggested we stay off of green veggies for a while. I did what I was told.

Tonight though, Jen made dinner and on the side of the plate was 0.8 ounces of broccoli. I ate it. It was delicious. My stomach has not complained at all.

Now we are good to go, folks.

Clothes

I need new clothes. I’m nearly at the point where I can’t deal with it anymore.

I like loose fitting clothes. When you’re might height your clothes shopping options dwindle greatly. When you’re my weight too, they pretty much vanish. I wear what I can get my hands on. That’s it.

Today though, I am wearing clothes that I bought 80+ pounds ago. Everything I own is super baggy now. I really don’t mind with t-shirts and collared shirts except that the neck opening sometimes hangs down low enough that it feels like a v-neck. Jeans… well… Ever seen a movie from the 50’s with a hobbo character? That’s how I feel. I am starting to feel like I look like a clown.

Jen and I are planning to do some clothes shopping this weekend. I usually buy online, but I don’t really know what size I need now. I am going to have to spend some quality fitting room time. I’m actually stressing out about this a little. Why?

I’ve been using a selfie a day app and taking a picture of myself in the mirror every morning. I don’t see a lot of difference in my appearance. I wonder if that’s because the clothes are the same size in all of the pics. If I wear smaller clothes will I then look thinner? I don’t know. I don’t care. Well, maybe I do care.

Wednesday is my weigh in day. I woke up this morning needing to step on the scale. I mean I needed to. I didn’t. I fought the urge to break the routine. I don’t know if I will be able to do the same tomorrow (Tuesday) but I will do my best. Once a week is good. Once every two weeks would be better. Once a month would be best. I just don’t want to get caught up in the numbers game, but at the same time I feel like this whole post-surgery experience is difficult enough that I should be celebrating every single ounce I lose. I don’t know.

Weigh in the day after tomorrow. Clothes shopping three days later. Such a crazy, weird new world, huh?

Absent Minded Doofus

I am in the office today. It’s the first time since before the surgery. The traffic was really bad. Another sign that the pandemic is over, even though people are still getting sick in droves. Hooray.

I was 10 miles down route 93 before I realized that I forgot my headphones. Damn it! Fortunately I had an old set of ear pods in my desk, so we’re good to go for today but… dumb ass.

It’s my first attempt at monitoring liquid and protein intake from outside of the house for a full work day. I will also be taking my meds (just vitamins, actually) at work today too. What could go wrong?

Surprised Myself

Hello and welcome to the seventh weekiversary of my weight loss surgery. It’s Wednesday and that means it’s weigh in day.

I stepped on the scale today, hoping for a 2-3 pound drop and fantasizing about a 4-5 pound drop, but not thinking that was in the realm of possibility. In Weight Watchers terms (That’s WW now) an average of 0.5 pounds per week is considered spot on perfect. I have been eating more this week than before, and I have snuck in after dinner snacks a few times. The progress should be slowing as a result.

I was down 7.2 pounds. Holy shit snacks. Seven pounds? I am a couple of hours removed from actually stepping on the scale at this point and I’m already wondering if the scale was wrong, or did I read it wrong (I absolutely did not), or if I step on it again would it be significantly different?

I have a spreadsheet that I use to track my weekly weigh ins. It has a column for week to week change, and two fields for total. One total is the weight loss since the last pre-surgery weigh in and the other is the total since the first weigh in. They are 64 and 84 pounds. I say again, holy shit snacks. I also added a column for BMI today. My BMI has dropped 10.3 points since the first weigh in.

Faint.

Ouchie

30 minutes of marching in place this morning.

10 minutes on the exercise bike during my lunch break. I probably could have kept it going a little longer, but I ran out of time.

The two things combined, along with going up and down the cellar stairs a number of times throughout the day, equal… ouch.

Maybe we’ll do 15 minutes on the bike tomorrow? We’ll see.