Losing a part of me

Category: Progress

  • Day 964

    It was only yesterday that I wrote that the weight that I was up since last week’s best would come off soon enough. I was in utter shock to see that it was today! Yes, I stepped onto the bathroom scale this morning and to my complete shock I weigh 4.8 lbs. less than I did yesterday morning! All this, despite my having eaten pretty well yesterday.

    I had my regular omelette for breakfast, but then for lunch Leslie and I decided to share a pizza. It was delicious, but I was expecting that I would be paying for it. For dinner I prepared a lovely piece of salmon with a side of white rice. Combining the carbs in the pizza dough and the starch in the rice, plus three drinks (two glasses of ice wine and one of rum) … let’s just say I felt I would be happy if I could just stay even.

    With that said, I did pee a lot yesterday… much more than my fluid intake would have called for. Remember all of that sodium that I had on Friday when I was not allowed to eat solid foods? I assume that the water I was retaining was no longer retaining. I joked at one point that I might actually lose five pounds from all that urine. I was not far off the mark!

    I am not sure what our dinner plans are, but for lunch I am preparing salmon sandwiches. We decided to splurge on the bread again before I realized how much weight I lost, but at the same time I will not feel as guilty as I might have.

    It is a lovely day outside and I suspect we will spend some of the day on the balcony… after her meetings are done.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 963

    Leslie arrived last night! She got in late, but I did not mind waiting. I feel so much happier when she is here (or when I am there). We did not turn off the lights to sleep until after 1:00am, so I may not have slept as long as I would have liked… but I slept much sounder knowing she was next to me.

    Despite eating more than I would have liked to yesterday (I had three meals, plus a protein bar at 11:00pm because I was hungry), the bathroom scale was still kind to me this morning. I have now lost a little more than the four pounds that I gained Friday into Saturday morning. I am still nearly five pounds heavier than I was a week ago, but that will come off soon enough. I have to be patient and remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint.

    I am still feeling the effects of the preparation for my procedure, which is not good news for my bowels. We decided to have pizza for lunch. I am hoping that the carbs will do something to start binding me.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 956

    Happy Labour Day!

    Another day, another drop! I feel great about being down 17.8 lbs. since I started getting back on track. I have a long way to go, but I am making progress. I am still not moving my bowels, but that is another issue.

    Yesterday’s walk took me 9.38km and was the first one since I got back into it a few weeks ago that every single kilometre was under 10m. It is no surprise that the slowest of them (kilometre #4) was the one that took me uphill. I also stopped only once, at the end of kilometre #7, to stop off at Longo’s and buy another bottle of water and Gatorade. My stamina was better than it had been in a while!

    I am going to head out again in a few minutes. I am going to shorten the walk today because I have plans for the afternoon, but I will make up for that by starting out at a jog for the first kilometre… or possibly for the first two if I can manage it.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 955

    I was really down yesterday… because my weight was really up. I fell off the wagon Friday night, and while the circumstances that led to it happening were brought about by others, they only led me to the water… I drank on my own. No, I did not imbibe; I ate. Here’s the long and the short of it:

    My friend was meant to come over at 3:30pm to play backgammon. At some point during the afternoon, she told me she was running extremely behind, so I told her to just come when she could. At around 6:00pm I told her that if she wanted to eat together then we should do so before we sat out on the balcony. Little did I realize that she would arrive at 8:15pm, and that we would not be sitting down at the pub until after 9:00pm. I should not have eaten. To make matters worse, I stupidly ordered a hamburger. Even stupider, I did not ask for a salad on the side, I asked for the sweet-potato fries. All this to say that the only halfway smart decision I made was to walk to the pub instead of driving.

    I woke up yesterday morning and stepped onto the bathroom scale. To my horror, my weight was up 2.6 lbs. from the previous day. I was shattered. I spent the entire day down in the dumps. I also realized that I needed to eat. Somehow, rather than going nuts, I went to the supermarket and bought chicken and the vegetables I would need for a salad. I could have done much worse in the mental condition that I was in.

    I was hoping that this morning my weight would be down a bit from yesterday, but seeing as I was unable to move my bowels, I was not overly hopeful. To my utter surprise and shock I had dropped all of the weight that I had gained the previous day… and a couple more ounces to boot. Woohoo! While I could not cross off another number on my fridge chart, I at least did make good forward progress. Instead of needing to lose another 3.6 lbs. to get to my best weight from Leslie’s last visit, I am now .6 lbs. from that… and I have another week to achieve that. Woohoo! (I am still 18.6 lbs. heavier than I was when I was measured by my tailor… and I only have 3.5 weeks left before their next visit. I may not make it, and if I do not then I will not be ordering anything.)

    It is a beautiful day in Burlington, and I told Leslie this morning that I promise myself that I will exercise. I do not know if it will be a longer or a shorter walk, but I am going to hit the road. I just looked at the area map and decided what route I am going to take… it is probably going to be on the longer side, so I will make sure to have plenty of water.

    After that, I will come home, eat my chicken lunch/dinner, and then I will relax on the balcony with a cigar. Hopefully my wife will have a few moments to chat, but she has her son with her so that might not work. We’ll see. She will be here in one week, which is really exciting for me!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 953

    I woke up this morning and went about my routine, thinking all the while that today was Thursday. It was only when I logged onto Facebook and saw a call in one of my groups for a Free-for-all-Friday that I realized… Yes indeed, the long weekend is upon us.

    After the tremendous drop yesterday morning I did not expect great things today, but I was quite pleasantly surprised to see another drop of 1.2 lbs., bringing me below the 285 mark! If I can keep it up, then I will almost certainly be able to achieve that first short-term goal… that of weighing less than I did when Leslie was here for her last visit. I am one pound from my best weight from her last trip; unless I fall off the wagon hard then I will surpass that with room to spare.

    My bowels are still not cooperating with me. I have been adding fibre to my meal replacements, but I wonder if I should be adding more. I am worried that too much will mess with my innards like they did in June. With that thought in mind, I think I will simply stay the course.

    It is another beautiful day in Burlington. I am going to chat with my wife for a bit, and I am going to go out for a long walk. I have to remember to stretch before I begin so that I do not strain my back as I did last week. I have a couple of things I would like to get done, but nothing urgent… except staying on track with my weight loss. My friend who dragged me to the pub the other night is coming over later today to play some backgammon, which is still my favourite board game. Yay!

    Since today is Friday, I might be tempted to pick up a challah for Shabbat. I will not do that. I have been tempted these last few days, but the only real aberration to my progress was the pub meal I had with my friend the other night, and while she is coming over again this afternoon, I will not be tempted to eat like that again. If we do go out for dinner again, I will stick to a salad.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 952

    After a number of frustrating days, I was pleasantly surprised to step onto the bathroom scale and see that my weight was down significantly. It dropped 2.6 lbs. from yesterday morning, making it my single greatest drop in 2.5 weeks. Unlike that time, I am trying to stay on track, and will not be bouncing right back up tomorrow or Saturday.

    While I have weighed myself religiously every day, this morning when I tried to download the data from my bathroom scale app, I realized that the weigh-ins for these last few days were gone… including this morning’s. Drat. Oh well, I suppose that is not the worst thing in the world. I will just continue to weigh myself daily and try to remember to download it more often.

    It felt great to be able to cross not one but two numbers off my chart on the fridge. Yay! I have a long way to go, but for now, here are a couple of important landmarks:

    • I am only 2.2 lbs. heavier than I was the morning Leslie left in July, which means that by the time she arrives ten days hence I should weigh less… woohoo!
    • I weigh 20 lbs. more that I did the day I was last measured by my Hong Kong tailor. I am hoping that by the time he comes back (September 25) that I can get down to close to that weight… but if I do not, then I will not be buying anything until their springtime visit.

    I have to keep taking baby steps… and if I do, then eventually I will reach my goals.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 947

    I did not expect it to happen this morning, so when I stepped onto the bathroom scale and saw that my weight had dropped below 290 lbs. I was somewhat elated. Woohoo! My plans for today are to have a conversation with my diet buddy, and then I hope to go for a walk and I might even jog for a bit of it. When I am back I will shower, and then I will prepare the rest of the chicken that I bought yesterday. I don’t feel like writing much today, but I will try again later.

    It is now approaching 8:30pm. I ended up preparing the chicken and salad prior to going out for my walk/jog, which would have been bad only if I had decided to not go out for the walk/jog afterward… but I did. I donned my jogging kit (shorts and a t-shirt) and sauntered downstairs. When I got to the sidewalk I decided to jog the first kilometre, knocking it out in under seven minutes. I then proceeded to walk another 10km, averaging about 9m50s per kilometre. Not bad for a fat guy striving to be thin, huh?

    I achieved it Thursday, but it did not occur to me to cross off the 290 lbs. milestone on my refrigerator chart until this afternoon. I realized at that point that it was a little crowded, and so I decided to replace it with a new chart that started August 11. Now let’s see how long it takes for me to drop the 62.8 lbs. that I had gained from my best weight ever. We’ll see.

    It is time for me to turn off the computer and sit on the balcony to talk with my wife. Have a great evening folks!

  • Day 943

    I was saying to myself (and possibly to Leslie) last night that sometime in the next few days my weight will finally drop below 290 lbs. Today was not that day, even though it did drop a little from yesterday.  

    My alarm either did not go off or it did but it did not wake me up, and so I was rushing in the morning. I suspect that had I had the time to sit and relax, then I might have been able to successfully move my bowels, thus my weight might have dropped more than the 0.6 lbs. That it did. As it stands, I hope that I will be successful either later today, or else tomorrow morning.  

    I took Princess Sophie out for our walk later than I usually do, and she seemed happy to stay in bed for the extra hour. I would have been too, had I not had work to get to. With that said, my sleep score and body battery both benefited from the extra hour. 

    While I am deliberately not focusing on a comparison to it, my weight yesterday morning dropped below what it was on May 22, when I last tried to restart my weight loss. I remember being disgusted with myself then for having gained 53.2 lbs. Since my best weight; imagine how I felt a little over a week ago when three months on that number had risen to 62.8 lbs.? I have a lot of reasons for having gotten back on track, but first and foremost of those is how terrible I felt about myself. This morning I am 51.8 lbs. From that best weight ever, and I know that I need to continue to work toward it. I still have that goal set for myself to shave my goattee when my weight drops to 240 lbs., and I intend to reach it. I do not know how long it will take… but I will get there. 

    In the meantime, I have other short-term goals to strive for. This morning, I tried to wear a shirt that was a bit tight, and two of my sport coats as well. I want to be able to comfortably wear any outfit in my closet without discomfort… or worry that something might rip. 

    It is another beautiful day in southwest Ontario, and I am stuck inside teaching. No matter, I might take my lunch on the balcony with a meal replacement and a cigar. I know that is what I will be doing after I am finished for the day… and once Her Floofness has been out for her walk. I hope to get through the day without cheating, and if I can do that for a couple more days then I know that before long my weight will drop below 290 lbs… and then hopefully to 285. 

    Have a great day folks! 

  • Day 891

    It was a relief to see my weight drop by 1.4 lbs. this morning. I have not been doing very well with my eating, but I did a little bit better yesterday than I have been.

    I was supposed to take my son (the younger) for lunch today, but his mother asked me to change that to tomorrow, which means that tomorrow I will be eating two meals out, as there is a meeting on men’s mental health for a group that one of my Lodge brothers runs, so I promised to be there. I will do my best to stay on track with my eating at both meals. I recall that my last lunch with my sons was doable because of how I ordered, so if he insists on returning to the same restaurant, then I will order the same meal.

    I have had two good trips to the toilet thus far today. I expect that my body is getting back to whatever it feels normal is. I did have a meal replacement shake last night, to which I added a teaspoon of fibre powder. I was quite worried about that, but so far so good.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 881

    Yesterday was mostly a day of rest. My body needed it after the previous day’s activity. I also confess that I had both a handful of almonds (in lieu of my third meal replacement) and a handful of peanuts (in addition to everything). I confess, as I was leaving my buddy’s house in Grimsby, I was feeling very weak, and I stopped at a Bulk Barn and picked up the nuts. I was feeling weak again toward the end of the evening and thought about eating a protein bar. I was leaning heavily toward it but then decided to brush my teeth and be done for the night. I think I did the right thing.

    In the previous days I had been adding a lot more fibre to my meal replacements. While I know the fibre helps to keep your bowels unclogged, I suspect I might have overdone it. Yesterday I had four bowel movements, the last two of which were quite on the urgent side. This morning’s movement was also somewhat loose. While I am thrilled to be regular, I think this might be a little too regular, and I will dial the fibre back down to one teaspoon per day.

    I was so excited this morning when I stepped onto the bathroom scale to discover that my weight had dropped another two pounds! This was amazing for several of reasons. Firstly, I have now officially lost all of the weight (and more!) that I had put back on during my two breaks from the program. Next, I was able to (for the first time since May 29th) cross off another milestone on my fridge chart. My weight is now below what it was when I Flew to Cuba on my last trip (March 23). In fact, the last time I weighed this was March 12, and I am very happy to be making the progress that I have been making. My best weight of this calendar year was on January 22, and I am still about 16 lbs. heavier than I was on that day. I also now weigh 36.6 lbs. more than I did at my best weight ever (October 18, 2023), which means I have a long way to go until I get there… but I am going to do it.

    With regard to the chart on my fridge, I my weight is now 35.2 lbs. from the day that I will shave my beard so that my wife can see what she calls my ‘baby face’ just once… although she also wants me to grow it back again immediately. It will be interesting to see what I look like without a beard and the weight. As I have written earlier, I hope to be able to achieve that by the fall.

    It is now 1:20pm and I have been nursing my midday meal replacement for the past thirty minutes. I am going to finish it and then change into my workout clothes and go for a walk. As I told Leslie, I will not be trying to jog today. Not only does my body still feel a bit drained, but it is also nearing 33° Celsius (91.5° Fahrenheit for my American readers). I may love the heat and even running in it… but I need to teach this evening, and it just would not do for me to be completely drained of life before my class. I will also make sure to pee… at least once but probably twice because I have been drinking a lot of water today (as I should be, both for weight loss and to stay hydrated in this heat!).

    Have a great day folks!