Three H: Holy, Healthy, Happy

In my last post, I mentioned working three days on the week of my surgery which was scheduled for Friday. On the morning of Wednesday, March 18th, the surgeon's office called... I was afraid they were going to cancel on me. But no, they were just checking that I was still planning to come on Friday for my surgery. Yes, I sure was! The rest of the day went about the same as any work day. I had taken a shorter lunch so I was leaving a few minutes before 5:00 and as I headed to my car, the phone rang. It was the surgeon's office again. Uh oh.  PAUSE When I answered the phone I knew instantly by the tone of her voice that they were cancelling my surgery. They didn't know yet when they'd be able to do it... they imagined sometime in May, but couldn't say for sure. It was a blow. I took it pretty hard. In my mind, all the worst-case scenarios began. The pandemic would put it off indefinitely, dragging out until September or later when it would be a year since I started th...

Spring is here in the southeast, and with it I'm feeling the need for a fresh start. Whether one calls it a plateau or a maintenance phase, my weight hasn't gone down too significantly since about November. I've been fluctuating around the 250's... sometimes as low as 247, sometimes as high as 256. What's been causing it? Well, it's not the plan or the medication. It's my adherence to the plan! Around Halloween I became a bit slack. I've continually taken my medication and made sure to eat a protein-based breakfast and lunch, but dinner took a nose dive. And my sugar-free snacking slipped a bit towards sugar-coma snacking. And I've been hit and miss with my vitamins/supplements I'm supposed to be taking. So, it's up to me to make a change. I had a setback, but in my history, this setback is in a way, an achievement. I didn't revert back to my old behaviors 100%. I didn't gain all my weight back, plus some. I've basically just ...

Today completes four full months on the diet and medications prescribed by Dr. Pate at BioSymmetry medical weight loss. Thus far, according to my own scale at home, I have lost a total of 44 pounds. That's great! I lost more quickly in the beginning, but I am still continuing the downward trend as you can see in the graph below. I could be moving along more quickly if I were stricter, but I am still living my life in a world filled with holidays and birthday parties. Progress during November 2015 Here are some notes I made to myself in my daily weight log: 11/13: Big victory for me! I went to Belk to do a little Christmas shopping for my mom. I wanted to get her a couple of nice vests and long sleeved tees to match. As soon as I walked in, there was a large selection of vests right by the door and I saw several I liked for myself. Luckily, they had them in my size - 3x! So I grabbed a few to try on and was shocked to find that the 3x was TOO BIG! I've been wearing a ...

I'm still moving right along in terms of my weight loss. My progress isn't as fast and dramatic as it was in the beginning, but I can't argue with a continual downward trend.  September 2015: 11.4lb loss (30.4 lb total loss) October 2015: 8.6 lb loss (41.0 lb total loss) Some things I've noticed: The upward ticks on the graph tend to occur after I've indulged in carbohydrates. It's not shown here, but on November 1st I weighed almost four pounds more than I did the morning of Halloween. We had a little Halloween party and some of our daughter's friends came over to trick or treat together. I wasn't a glutton. I ate what I wanted, but the portions were not ridiculous. But I ate plenty of carbs. A couple slices of pizza, a few chips, miniature cupcakes, candy corn... but I daresay the biggest blow was done by the kick-ass apple cider I made in the crock pot. Liquid sugar, right there. And it was delicious. I had a couple of cups. Then I re...

Starting weight: 296.6 pounds Weight lost in August 2015: 19 pounds Weight lost in September 2015: 11.8 pounds; 30.8 total  August 3: You can tell I was doing well just to get up that first morning and take a photo... August 17: After two weeks, I'm holding my head just a bit higher. I'm feeling much better overall and it's easier to get around. I no longer have the constant stiffness in my muscles and joints. I finally had a period... it had been MIA since May. September 2: By September I was feeling good enough that I bought that new shirt you see me wearing in this photo. While 19 pounds is significant weight loss, those who do not know me well will not readily see the loss. I'm tall and lost the weight all over my body- but I can tell my waist is smaller, and thighs are smaller. My neck is the easiest place to see that the weight has come off. This is the day I had my weight checked at the doctor's office. According to their sc...

It's been months since my last post. Over six months, in fact, and sneaking up on seven. You've probably assumed that I fell of the wagon. And you would be right. But as that old Chumbawamba song from my high school days goes, " I get knocked down, but I get up again ." (Let's just ignore the fact that the song is about drinking and pissing the night away and I've never even been a drinker.)  When I last wrote, I had just seen my OBGYN and I weighed 269.6 pounds on my scale at home. For that entire month of March, my weight hovered within a few pounds of that number. The highest recorded weight was 270.2 and the lowest recorded weight was 267.6. But there was no downward trend whatsoever. It zigged and zagged up and down. I also wasn't walking the way I planned to. I think I looked at the exercise goals I had set for myself as TOO easy and therefore not worth the time.  Then, at the end of the month, family issues struck. I had been told earlie...