Tag: weight loss

Clown Costume

I only own two pairs of pants right now. One was in the laundry waiting for the next wash and the other was on me. Then I took out the trash. The trash bag had some really, seriously, major league gross semi-liquid something in it that just so happened to leak onto my jeans. Gross.

I am supposed to leave to visit my mother in 90 minutes. What to do?

I took the jeans that were in the hamper and put them into the washing machine on quick-wash mode. 25 minutes and they’ll be cleaner. Clean completely? Maybe. Clean-ish? Yeah, sure. Quick wash time plus a round in the dryer means they should be finished at just about the time I need to leave.

The freshly grossed jeans will go into the washing machine on the heavy duty wash setting because ick. That needs to wait for the quickie to finish first though. So what do I do while I wait for the quickie wash/dry to finish?

When I was bagging up all of my too-big clothes to donate somewhere, Jen suggested I save one pair of jeans. That way a year from now I can put them on and see how big they look and we can all have a good laugh. That sounded like a plan.

I am wearing that pair of jeans right now. They are probably 5-6 sizes too big. I feel like a hobbo. I look like a clown. It’s pretty funny today, just think of how funny I will look in nine more months.

I’m pretty sad about the whole gross experience though so I just threw on some Rush (Signals, to be precise) to cheer me up. It’s working.

You move me
You move me
With your buildings and your eyes
Autumn woods and winter skies
You move me
You move me
Open sea and city lights
Busy streets and dizzy heights
You call me
You call me

Weights

Today at lunch I took a few minutes to do a little liftin’. I put 10 pounds on the two little dumbbells and test drove a suggested weight training routine.

Ten curls with my right arm followed by 10 curls with my left arm. Repeat the entire thing four times.

Funeral arrangements will be forthcoming.

Three Months

Today’s a big day for me. Three months ago today I had my Gastric Bypass surgery. Three months. One quarter of a year. Let’s check in, shall we?

When I left the hospital on May 5th I was given four prescriptions. One was a pain killer and I never even opened the bottle. Another was a pain killer that I took for the first few days but (with the doctor’s approval) I stopped taking because it was making me really light headed. Another was an anti-nausea med and I never opened the bottle. The fourth and final med was an antacid. I took that one. They gave me two refills and I filled them both. This morning, I took the last pill from the last refill. I am officially done with post-surgical medication. From now on I will just be taking vitamins by the fist full. Happy no more prescriptions day!

I weighed myself this morning and I am a little ticked off about it. Wednesday is my “official” weigh in day, but I waited one extra day this week so that I could celebrate the monthiversary. Last week I weighed in a day early, so it has been nine days since I stepped on the scale. I lost 7.4 pounds. That is awesome. Seven and four tenths pounds. Epic. I was actually a little nervous that the number was going to be lower than normal. Since my last nutritionist appointment I have been eating more with each meal, and I have been having occasional snacks. I figured with the intake increasing a little, the weight loss would be down. Nope. This week’s results are really great.

If the numbers looked good, why am I a little ticked off? Well I’ll tell you. My total weight lost since the first check in is up to a gigantic 119.6 pounds. Wow. Just… Wow. My total weight lost since (four days before) the surgery is… ugh… 99 pounds on the nose. Ninety-nine. So close. So very close to 100 pounds. Ugh. You know what this means? It means I am going to have to weigh myself every day until I hit 100. Maybe every other day. I don’t know. I am definitely not going to be able to wait until next Wednesday to weigh in again. I am going to need to have that third digit.

Overall, the update is about the same as last time. I feel great. My back is starting to act up a little. I need to do some back strengthening exercises to combat that. My legs are feeling tired more often these days too. I need to do some more exercise there as well. My arms are looking flabby. It is definitely time to start lifting weights. I have a weight set and a weight bench and all that goes with it, but I haven’t set any of it up yet and I am still not sure what to do with it when it is set up. Google and YouTube will point me toward something, I am sure. I just have to do it.

Here’s hoping that month four feels as good as month three. I am really looking forward to it. Happy days, folks. Happy days.

Spider Hunt

Spiders in the cellar: 0
Robert: 3

Our cellar is, traditionally, the spider kingdom of North America. This isn’t our house, it’s theirs and they just let us stay.

Yesterday, while doing my morning walking-in-place-thing, I started to fight back. There were some serious webs in the ceiling in between the joists. I grabbed a towel and removed them. Forced relocation, if you will. Today, while doing my morning walking-in-place-thing, I found three spiders trying to rebuild along the wall next to one of the floor lamps. I went on the spider hunt, without breaking my walking-in-place-thing stride (though my watch did register it as a drastic slowing of the pace) I grabbed some Kleenex and terminated the arachnids with extreme prejudice. I went all Rambo on their eight legged asses.

Good night, sweet spiders. May you rest in creepy, squished, peace.

Thoughts on this week’s weigh in. Hmmm…

Two weeks ago I weighed in two days early, on Monday instead of Wednesday. Last week I weighed in one day early, on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. This week I am on track to weigh in on Wednesday, the way the universe wants me to.

But…

I think I might wait until Thursday and weigh in one day late. Why? Because Thursday is August 4th, the third monthiversary* of the surgery. I think it would make sense to wait an extra day and celebrate the month rather than go on Wednesday and celebrate the week (the 13th week, to be exact).

Now while that does seem like a good idea, I don’t know if the curiosity is going to let me wait an extra day. We will have to see what tomorrow morning brings. As of right now though, the weigh in will be on Thursday.

*I just want to acknowledge that my browser’s spell check no longer views monthiversary as a spelling error. I have taught you well, young spell checking Padawan.

Huh… it doesn’t flag Padawan as a spelling error either. Oh how the Star Wars have taken over our popular culture. Finally!

Nutritionist Day

I have an appointment with the Nutritionist today. Not exactly sure what we’re going to talk about. Can I eat green veggies at will now? Can I eat bread yet? Should I change up my meal planning? Are there any more restrictions to think about? How’s my exercise routine working out? Should I start counting calories? All sorts of things like that.

I am working a half day. If the appointment ends early I might have some time for errands. I need to pick up a small order at the store I call Tall and Fat, I need to drop off a bag full of clothes for donation, I need to stop at the post office, stuff like that.

(Pause while I remove a small spider from the ecosystem)

I still have to put together the weight bench we bought a couple of weeks ago, along with a box of free weights. I’ve never been into lifting weights before so I am not sure what I should do with all of this stuff. Youtube will probably help me out.

Last night we watched the first episode of Stranger Things 4. I got some real Evil Dead 2 vibes and I am all for it. We also saw Thor: Love and Thunder in our first trip to a movie theater since the pandemic started. There were only four or five groups in the theater and we were all spread out. The only health issue we had was with Harry’s insulin pump, but that worked out fine and wasn’t really a problem.

The movie was good. It wasn’t as good as Thor: Ragnarok, but it was good. The laughs were genuine, the action was cool. My only beef was that it moved too fast. They cut it down to two hours, but it felt like another 30-40 minutes would have improved the story.

Okay then. Wish me luck on the Nutritionist appointment. Fingers crossed for low-fat Ritz crackers and quinoa, though not at the same time.

12 Weeks

My Gastric Bypass surgery was 12 weeks ago today. I still feel great. I still weigh a ton, but it’s about half a ton less than it was 12 weeks ago. I will take that.

I am still eating tiny meals. Weirdly, over the last couple of days I have found myself feeling hungry after these tiny meals. That hasn’t really happened before. Is that a part of the recovery process? Is that my brain revolting? I don’t know. I have an appointment with the nutritionist tomorrow. I will likely bring up that topic then.

My clothes are all way to big for me now, even the clothes I’ve bought post-surgery. That’s a new experience for me. I’m still doing at least 30 minutes of exercise each day, and I am still doing a full 30 minutes in one shot. Most days I am doing more like 45-60 minutes of exercise. I do the 30 minute walk in the morning and then ride the bike for 15 minutes at lunch. Not every day, but when I can fit it into the schedule. I’m also trotting up and down the cellar stairs all day long and that adds to the fun. In other words, my energy level is kinda through the roof. I’m pretty curious how that will continue to change if I continue to lose weight at this rate. Will I be training for the marathon 12 weeks from now? Could be.

I still screw up now and then. Not often, but there have been a couple of nausea events. Nothing world rocking, but definitely unpleasant. I am often taking too much food in each bite (including the bite of scrambled eggs that I just shoveled into my maw before typing this sentence). I am still probably going too fast, though I still keep a stop-watch running to force myself to wait 30 seconds between bites. I have drastically cut down on the amount of puree/soft foods I’ve been eating, but there are still some things in the diet (see the scrambled eggs reference above). Mostly I am eating real food now. Still almost all protein, but I’ve snuck some fruits and veggies in here and there. I need to do more of that, but I also need to check in with the nutritionist tomorrow before I go too crazy.

Still no bread/rice/crackers/pasta/quinoa. Jen had some French bread with dinner a couple of nights ago and I was so jealous. Maybe that restraint will be removed tomorrow? Will Wednesdays become Prince Spaghetti day again? Here’s hoping.

Happy 12 weeks, everyone. Here’s to a successful week 13. I’ll let you know.

Belt

For the first time in a few days, I don’t feel like my jeans are about to fall off.

I picked up a new belt at Casual Male XL* today. It’s two sizes smaller than my old belt and the difference is epic. I had the old belt as tight as it would go and it was like I wasn’t wearing it at all. Add that to my jeans being at least one size too big and you have a recipe for an America’s Funniest Home Video winner.

The new belt has some room to grow. At this rate I will probably have to replace it in 3-4 weeks, but I’m okay with that. We knew going into the Gastric Bypass that clothing was going to be a pretty crazy expense after the fact. So far I’ve only bought two pairs of jeans (both of which are already too big), the belt, and some undies (which have not been delivered yet). There was also a few pairs of sweatpants that we got on the day of the surgery. Those are way too big at this point. Otherwise I have been making use of old clothes that were too small for me back in May, but are okay now.

I have already bagged up one pile of clothes (mostly shirts) for donation somewhere. I think I have enough to fill up a second bag. Once I do that, I just have to decide where to donate everything. Goodwill, probably. I’m not a fan of the Salvation Army in general. I’ve heard some nasty shit about Goodwill too, but it’s still the preferable option.

I hope we can last another couple of weeks before I have to go back for more clothes. It’ll be jeans again, and probably some collared shirts for work. Stay tuned, friends and neighbors.

*The name of the store is Casual Male XL, right? I always call it Tall and Fat. Remember Rodney Dangerfield in the movie Back to School? His character was a millionaire who made his fortune owning a chain of stores for oversized men that was called Tall and Fat.

At least I think it was. I haven’t seen that movie in 100 years. It had Robert Downey, Jr in it, didn’t it? He looked about 12 years old, if I remember correctly.

Want to Weigh In?

I failed to go out for car music this morning but I did not fail to lose 3.6 pounds, so I’ll take that as a fair trade.

Last week I weighed in on Monday instead of Wednesday because I am an impatient idiot. This week I weighed in on Tuesday because eight days seemed long enough and if I waited until the “official” weigh in tomorrow it would be nine days and that was just too long a wait. Next week I’ll do Wednesday and it will be eight days again and all will be right with the world.

The 10’s column of my total changed again, just barely. How to use algebra to demonstrate…

Last week’s weigh in was nx3.4 where n is a number and x is a number. This week is ny9.8 where n is the same number as before and y=x-1. Dig it? Every high school kid who took a hissy fit in algebra class because he/she would “never have to use algebra in the real world” can suck it. Boom. Math, bitches.

The total weight lost since the surgery has topped 90! It’s currently sitting at 91.6 and that is beyond amazing. The total weight lost since the first weigh in is up to an astronomical 112.2.

I can’t believe it.

I was a little bummed out over the 3.6 this week being so much less than the 7 or so from each of the last couple of weigh ins, but there have been a few weeks in the past where the weight loss was around 3 pounds. I was afraid this might have been a sign of me leveling off, but now that I analyze the data, it seems more like getting back to normal. I’m happy with that.

So let’s see if I can manage to not step on the scale for the next eight days. Wish me luck.