PorkChopExpress

It's been a couple months since I posted, life has been really hectic. I'm in the midst of studying to change careers, since moving back to my home state of Colorado...started becoming evident that I wasn't going to have much luck finding work in my field (video editing), after having spent 17-18 years growing a career in Los Angeles. Not exactly sure why, but it does appear that my amount of experience combined with having spent my career in LA is working against my finding work. So I'm studying for my real estate license. I've continued the weight loss, although I did hit a nasty plateau that lasted for about three weeks. Pretty frustrating, but it eventually broke about a week ago and I dropped three pounds that week. So I'm now down to 258lbs, which I haven't been since I can't even remember...probably the early 1990s, I would guess. I'm developing that loose skin "apron" at the bottom of my belly now, and my muscle mass has been annihilated by the restriction. That's probably part of why the plateaus happen...the body just isn't burning the way it used to. It's almost time to start hitting the weights, I think. One really fun experience was when my three young nephews came over for my daughter's birthday. We all went out and played basketball in my parents' driveway, and I was running, shooting and playing like I hadn't done since I was young. My stamina was great...probably played for at least an hour. Of course, my muscles were incredibly sore the next couple of days, but I had all kinds of motor. It was a really fun feeling. My food consumption is sitting at somewhere in the neighborhood of 1600-1800 calories a day now, I think. Still trying to keep the focus on protein, but I've incorporated a variety of other stuff and am having no problems with anything, anymore. I can eat a 6" flatbread turkey sandwich at Subway now...but that's the whole meal. I can also chug fluids again pretty well, on an empty stomach...which is a nice thing to be able to do again, since sipping got real old!

Small update...my plateau finally broke, and it was the result of actually increasing my calorie intake a little bit. I am now sitting at around 1,200-1,300 calories a day and the weight loss has picked back up again. I've started back at the gym again, just adding cardio. Over the past couple of months, my endurance and general condition has improved so much. When I first moved back to Colorado from California in mid-November and started delivering parcels for Amazon Flex, it was exhausting. Now, I barely break a sweat...so it was time to get back to daily cardio workouts. A great NSV is the fact that I've gone from a 52 waist pant worn below my waistline (and gut) to a 46 waist at my ACTUAL waist. I made the mistake of not measuring my waist before I started this process, so I'm not sure what it actually was...but I'm betting I started around 56" or so. So probably 10" off my waist to this point. I'm also fitting into 2x clothing now, down from 4x. My wife just had her first appointment with a surgeon, she's planning on getting the RNY during her summer break (she's a teacher). She's been impressed with the weight loss I've achieved thus far and is excited (and nervous) about following in my footsteps. It's the been the best decision I've made though, I wish I'd done it 10 years ago. Still got a ways to go, but it's coming!

Enduring a bit of a plateau right now, which is frustrating but to be expected. I am still in a large calorie deficit, so it seems my body is just rebelling a little bit right now. I also think my blood pressure medication is causing water retention, and I hesitate to take a water pill because of the diuretic effect...it's already hard enough to get my water in for the day, I don't want a water pill making me dump all of it. I tried taking it for a week and was getting pretty dehydrated. I may just switch to doing it every few days and see how that works. Otherwise, things are pretty good. I am wearing a 2x hoodie for the first time in...I don't even know how many years. It feels a little snug but everyone says it looks perfect. I think I'm just not used to wearing clothes that fit that way. I've gravitated toward loose clothing for so long now, it's a real change.

I've been in the habit of weighing on the weekend (either Saturday or Sunday), but I've been so eager to see myself cross over the 100lbs lost mark that I've been doing it every couple of days for the last week. The weight seemed to be totally unwilling to change! I was stuck at the same weight for a week and it seemed that my body just didn't want to give me the satisfaction. Until this morning! I'm officially past the 100lb mark, and halfway to my weight loss goal. I'm wearing clothes right now that I was wearing at my high weight of 385 and they look gigantic on me. Feels real good. Now, to get the NEXT 100lbs off!

Yeah, it's possible I'll be stuck with the CPAP and blood pressure medication, which is a real bummer...I was hoping that my weight loss would enable me to get a better deal on my life insurance premium, but if I continue needing those two things, it may not come down a huge amount. I guess only time will tell.

I was only in the hospital for an overnight stay. I spent a week in a hotel recovering with my mom, who visited from out of state to help me (she was a career outpatient nurse). So that helped my recovery a lot.

Happy New Year! I was hoping to hit the century mark in weight loss by the time the 1st hit, and I very nearly did it. I weighed in this morning at 288.8. I just needed another week in 2016 and I'd have done it! Still, I've erased about twenty years of weight gain in four months' time, thanks to this surgery. I have just over 100lbs left to lose, but it feels darn good to know it's GOING to come off. I feel good and I'm tremendously glad I made the decision to do it. I had my blood pressure checked and it's still elevated, even with the weight loss. It does run in the family, so it looks like I may just need to take medicine at this point...but we'll see, as I continue to lose weight and then start getting into shape. I'm hoping I can eventually ditch the CPAP machine AND the HBP medication. Can't put the cart before the horse, though.

Had my first bout of dumping syndrome the other day...not something I want to repeat. I have been drinking the diet fresh-squeezed lemonade at Chik-Fil-A, which uses Splenda I believe. I took several drinks of one the other day and it didn't seem as tart as usual, so I started to suspect it wasn't diet, even though they pressed the diet tab on the lid. By the time I stopped, though, I'd apparently had too much sugar. A few hours later, I started feeling sluggish. Then my joints started to ache. Then my stomach started to hurt. Then I felt gassy. Then, before I knew it, I was rushing to the toilet to throw up. All in all the entire process lasted about six hours or so, and I wasn't back to normal until the following day. Just goes to show that you have to be REAL careful, when you order anything from a restaurant - don't let them give you regular! The thing is, I'm GLAD it happens. Even though this one wasn't my fault, it definitely reinforces the rules. You slip up, and you're going to pay for it. I'm getting real close to the halfway point on my weight loss goal now...the 100lb mark is so close I can almost taste it. Feels really good.

Haven't seen a change in my hair since my surgery, around three months ago. Haven't been losing any, but I still have the same amount of grey that I always had!

I'm losing muscle mass as well, but I knew I would. I get 80-90g of Protein daily, but with the calorie restriction it's inevitable that we're going to lose muscle mass. You just have to do what you can do mitigate it somewhat, and that's by getting 90g or more of protein and weight training. Sounds like you need to boost your protein intake a bit, I'd get some of the flavorless protein like GENEPRO and mix it with things like chili, etc... Or just a drink. It's 30g of protein in one TBSP serving, so it's a big help. Also, a VERY common misconception on this board is the "carbs are bad, mmkay?" They're not. In fact, a big part of the reason the body catabolizes muscle tissue for energy is a lack of other easy sources. Fat is not an easy source of energy for the body...it's the slowest place for it to pull energy from, actually. Before you lift, you should consume a good amount of carbs. Then protein after. Your body will pull energy from the carbs you ate, and use the protein for muscle maintenance. The good thing is, muscle has memory and when we reach our weight loss goals and can switch to a slight caloric surplus to add muscle mass, it will come back on more quickly than it would for someone who never had it.