etc. etc. etc.

This weekend, I went to put on my trusty Cubs hat and found that it was at least two sizes too big. I can slide about eight fingers in there and still have slack. I guess I had a fat head before.

I'm still hovering in the 196-199 range, which I am cool with. I am getting better at finding the right size/portion for off-plan stuff that allows me to partake, but not overdo it. And I'm getting pretty good at matching days of being off-plan (a slice of pizza with the family, for instance) with meals where I am very much on plan (boiled chicken for lunch the next day). I still weigh myself everyday and I make adjustments as needed. The only rough day I've had lately was Saturday, when we went to Shake Shack before a concert. The line was so long that when we got our food, we had just a few minutes to eat. Even though I'd chosen a veggie burger (and theirs are small anyway) to stay on plan, wolfing it down in a hurry made me VERY queasy. Other than that, I've been doing good. Most of my meals are still the stuff I ate when I was trying to lose: protein shakes, tuna, lean grilled meats, raw veggies. I still skip most sweets and have small portions. I still eat protein first.

Holy smokes, Laladee, that is outstanding! Good on you!

I went camping this weekend and took my favorite hat with me. It's a fitted Cubs hat. I hadn't worn it since last year. It's about three sizes too big. It's like being a kid and wearing your dad's hat.

Yep, I'm only 1.2 lbs. away. To tell the truth though, I consider myself more or less done. I'm already about 10 pounds less than wife. She's super proud of me, but it's maybe not her favorite thing to outweigh me. I think she looks great, but I understand the feeling.

Another reason I truly appreciate this forum is because after a certain point, my wife and co-workers have heard enough and I don't have anywhere else to be proud and report results. I got new jeans yesterday: 32Wx34L. I'm wearing those with a medium shirt and I feel like I look good. But I feel like I'm getting annoying to the people around me in real life, so I'll just say that here and keep my mouth shut elsewhere.

So I'm down from 337 to 196. And that's been great. But there are constant adjustments. Some of these adjustments are... awkward. This is straight up male TMI info coming up so you have been warned. For instance, my entire adult life, my uh, business, let's call it, fit into underwear and pants a certain way, and sat a certain way. It was weird enough when I had to switch sizes on underwear over and over, then switch styles, finally settling on medium sized Adidas boxer briefs that manage to keep everything where I'm used to/comfortable with it, even without the help of a bunch of excess body fat pushing it outward... while I am standing anyway. But the latest thing--and I am truly sorry for bringing this up, but where the heck else am I going to talk about this?--is that it turns out that the change in my body shape now means I am sitting on my family jewels. Well, not on them, but they rest on the chair/seat now. OK, well not on the chair, but resting much lower than I am accustomed, such they they feel like they are. They used to sort of rest on my fat/splayed out thighs. This is truly weird and I'm still not used to it. It's making me think I need to find another kind of underwear again.

I have a desk job. I did the surgery on Friday, then took the weekend and Monday off. I did half days on Tuesday and Wednesday and was back to full days by Thursday.

That ricotta bake recipe that floats around all of the bari groups and boards was my fave when I was at that stage. Where I'm at right now, my faves are sashimi (which I can't afford enough to eat regularly, but still, I love it), chicken burgers (my grocery's butcher section has them with feta and spinach mixed in and they're awesome), tuna fish in packets (boring, but I like the convenience, and I appreciate getting so much protein with so little calories and carbs), and lean grilled pork chops, which I make in a half dozen ways. Two other things I depended on before I went full solids were FairLife Skim Milk (which is filtered to be lower in carbs and higher in protein than generic skim milk) and Protein2o flavored waters. I was very careful about getting all of my protein and those things helped a ton.

It was! Thanks for remembering! Yep, she's working with a cessation counselor through our insurance company. She's down to 4 cigarettes a day (from 10-12) with a projected quit date of June 1. I'm pretty proud of her.

I found these at Target this weekend. Expensive, but pretty good and a less guilty way to have a cookie:

(clears throat to bump this back up a bit, for the benefit of newer folks)

The other weird thing is, I went from looking very much like my youngest brother (who is overweight but not obese) and not at all like my older brother (who runs marathons) to nothing at all like the younger brother and very much like the older one. We're not twins or anything but we have a strong family resemblance now.

I'm wearing a new shirt today... it's a medium. Long road between XXXL and M, y'all. The relationship between size and weight is something I didn't really understand. I thought I would get down to about 175 before looking trim and that would would maybe be an XL. I'm down to 198 and nothing I wear anymore is bigger than an L and some of it is medium now. Some of that is probably the way sizes have changed over the years to flatter people. An M today is probably an L from 20 years ago. But still. It's weird.

Subject: sub 200 pound weight. Last seen: 1993. New sighting: my bathroom scale, this morning. I kinda feel like I'm kicking aging's butt this morning, y'all!