Question; can I document an entire six months as it happens? The only way I can tell the journey is as it happens.

How I got here; Hi! My name is Johnnie, and I am morbidly obese, and I am also a food addict. 27-years ago, I was a dope smokin, cigarette puffin. soon to be alcoholic. This is when god sent me one of his purist angels, we will call her Elizabeth. This angel accepted me for who I was, but loved me for who I am. When my destructive lifestyle began to corrupt her, she gave me an ultimatum; lose the pot, or lose me... I cannot have both. 27-years ago I quit the destructive habit of smoking dope. Elizabeth and I were also married.

Retaining the other two bad habits of smoking and drinking, I had also started to pack on the pounds. My married weight some 27-years ago fluctuated between 195 to 200 lbs. Over thsee years I tried the Atkins diet, which worked initially, but not before the steadily gaining back the weight. Fast forward to 2002, my weight blew up to 260 pounds. This was also the time my doctor started me on my first of many high blood pressure meds. At this time I also wanted to quit smoking, so my doctor prescribed Welbutrin, and within a month I became a non smoker. This about the time that my drinking got worse, and my weight started to soar again. A brief try at Atkins again proved futile, as my metabolism was not as young as it used to be.

At 300 +/- pounds in 2008, I quit drinking and started dieting again; this time it was the 1600 calorie diet with a daily dose of Phentermine. I managed a measly 50lb loss, before reversing direction. I tried Phentermine a couple more times, and even tossed in the 1200 calorie diet. Nevertheless, my weight was now getting out of hand. I have been plagued with plantar faciitus, sore knees, accompanied by a (un-)healthy dose of low self esteem, it became clear, I need help.

2017 arrived, and I decided to change occupations. In April I started a new career as a professional truck driver. I do not need to describe a truckers lifestyle, accept to say, 2017 was not my best year for decision making. July I came off the truck with a kidney stone. It took 2-attempts to get the stone out, but that little bugger came out. Three days after the last kidney stone procedure, was rushed to the emergency room and diagnosed with multiple pulmonary emboli (blood clots). It was deduced that I got deep vein thrombosis from the truck driver life style, producing the clots that nested in my lungs. Weight in July and August was 298.

I should note here, that through all of the years I also suffered from acid reflux, which I treated with baking soda and water. But the acid reflux became severe about 5-years ago, before I managed to get a grip on it. I have been reflux free for the last 4-years. This was about the time I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and put on the CPAP machine.

If you skipped ahead in this story, just know that I suffer like so many here, with many of the issues surrounding those two nasty words; Morbid Obesity.

Elizabeth, has never left my side, she has been my rock, my angel, my best friend for life, even now more than ever! With my background story out of the way, I can begin my journey now...

The journey is definitely off to a good start, thank you Frustr8!

On 5/1/2018 at 4:07 PM, Orchids&Dragons said:

husband is a Dragon64. He's the largest dragon in my collection

my husband is a Dragon64. - added on after the fact

@Orchids&Dragons @Dragon64

ahhhhh, you two look cute together.

it must be great to have WLS during the

same time period - able to help each other.

@Orchids&Dragons congrats on 56.6 down

@Dragon64 30.6 pre-op!!

You guys are in "it" to win it

keep up the good work

kathy

5 minutes ago, proudgrammy said:

@Orchids&Dragons @Dragon64

ahhhhh, you two look cute together.

it must be great to have WLS during the

same time period - able to help each other.

@Orchids&Dragons congrats on 56.6 down

@Dragon64 30.6 pre-op!!

You guys are in "it" to win it

keep up the good work

kathy

Sorry, grammy, but Dragon64 and I have never met. My '64 Dragon lives in Texas! 1964 was the year of the dragon in the Chinese calendar.

1964 was a good year... for vintage Dragons! Grammy, thank you for the nice compliment all the same!

Edited May 23, 20188 yr by Dragon64

Love the avatar!

Thanks! Too bad the Avatars images are rounded... the `64 is barely visible.

57 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Sorry, grammy, but Dragon64 and I have never met.

@Dragon64

Oh noooo

The initial avitar was a face pic of you

when the heck did chinese dragon pop up?

maybe i'm smoking your weed!! LOL

someone please enlighten me!!

i'm so confused@Dragon64

@Dragon64

Edited May 23, 20188 yr by proudgrammy
oooooop computer won't let me add in this space??

The Dragon avatar I created a number of years ago when I was learning photoshop... I use it on most all the forums that I frequent (which is too many). I may have to go back to the facial avatar.

I am not a religious man; I have not been to church in over 20-years, and I enjoy my freedom shopping at wally-world, or going to the early movies while everyone else is at church... But I do pray. Most recently I prayed for intervention. I prayed that a power higher than myself give me strength, because in the past I have had little when I needed it most. And "boy-howdy" do I ever need some help now! In my prayer I made sure to ask for exactly what I needed and nothing more; and right now I needed Him to ease my burden, so that I might get healthy...

The power in prayer; My office mate gave me a book, titled Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeust. This is a weight loss journey the author tells of from a religious point of view. Now, it is geared more towards women, but I have found I can relate to most everything she writes about, albeit from a religious stand point... and I am not a religious man. But the book is about her carvings, and how she had to deal with those demons, it is a very good read, I am half way through the book [reading it at work]

Other than this forum, I am also an avid member on a hobby forum called The Rocketry Forum (I am an avid model rocket flier). On this forum I started a thread on weight loss, and the trouble I had in the past. From this discussion noise, a member came through and contacted me privately. He asked me to read a book, a book that helped him a lot. He said that if I promised to read it, he would send it to me free of charge. I did promise, and a few days later Amazon delivered me a copy of The Obesity Code written by Dr Jason Fung. Once I realized that not only did a complete stranger offer up his help, he actually "gifted" me a copy straight from Amazon. No doubt I felt obligated to read the book. The book basically debuncts decades of research that has told us that "less calories in and more calories out (exercising)" means weight loss. Dr Fung basically says that obesity is directly related to our bodies insulin, or insulin resistance. Insulin has been know to cause weight gain for years, anyone having to give themselves insulin can attest to that. I am half way through this book as well, but I have one major take away so far... Now I have known for some time, that artificial sweeteners are bad. They are a bad replacement for sugar, that in my opinion, is pure evil dressed in white. Artificial sweeteners have been one of my many hold outs, the last enjoyable sweetness that I can run across my pallet. I have been averaging 6 to 10 packets of sweetener (2 per cup) in my coffee daily. In the Obesity Code, Dr Fung stated that these "fake" sweeteners, while providing no calories, still cause the body to produce extra insulin... interestingly enough, I have been recently diagnosed with elevated insulin levels, and I am now taking Metformin to help lower them (insulin). This past Saturday my weight crept back up from 293.8 to 297.4, about the time that I read the revelation about the affects of artificial sweeteners. Then and there, I stopped cold turkey, no more of the little pink packets for me... It seems that the immediate effect was weight started to shed off of me; I went from 297.4, and this morning I am 291.2

I have been so moved by the generosity of a total stranger; my office mate, my wife, everyone reading and commenting on my posts, and my family, that I have been humbled. Just when you thought you were alone you come to realize just how blessed we all are...

I did another kitchen clearing; all cans that contained any kind of sweetener, fake or other wise, went into a bag, and I brought them to work. One of my final holdouts, fake sweets, has given up "the ghost" so to speak.

I am not a religious man, yet prayer works in mysterious ways... You never know where He is going to send you help, and "That's all I got say about that"

The book basically debuncts decades of research that has told us that "less calories in and more calories out (exercising)" means weight loss. Dr Fung basically says that obesity is directly related to our bodies insulin, or insulin resistance. 

Firstly thanks for sharing your story! I’m a fan of Dr Fung, he has great YouTube videos that just make so much sense, check them out if you haven’t. Best of luck to you!

I love the book so far, everything he has presented has made so much sense. Thank you for the kind words!

You may not consider yourself religious, but I do. You pray and you believe.

Thank you for sharing! I'll check out those books when I get home!

A few words on cravings; I was never a "sweets" kind of guy, I never craved donuts and candy bars and chocolate etc. I was a "crunch guy" I like my chips and salsa, chili conqueso, Doritos etc. To this day I am finding that I needed to replace that crunch, and carrots are now my go to replacement.

Saying I was not a sweets guy, is not entirely true. What, if any, processed food is not made with some form of sweetener? High Fructose corn syrup; sugar; Maltitol, Sucrolose, Sorbitol, Xylitol... I may not have been a sweets guy, but I was addicted to a lot of the processed foods that contained these sweeteners, and excess salt. Because that's how 'they' get you. Even now, we are trying to replace sugar with "sugar free" alternatives, and any doctor will tell you that man made sweeteners are just as evil as processed sugars.

All this just to say, that I had to rid myself of all processed sweeteners, including the man-made variety that comes in the blue, pink and yellow packets. I had to cleanse my cupboards and pantry of any and all goods that even hinted at some form of sweetener. And do you know what? It is like a cloud has lifted off of me. Sure, I had the jitters wondering how I was going to live without certain foods, but now these cravings are a distant memory. Coming off of all of the sweeteners have cleared my mind, I kid you not. You do not realize the veil that sugar addiction places over you and your thoughts. I can honestly tell you that 90% of my cravings have gone away.

Guys at work ask what I do for "snacks" I tell them raw almonds and strawberries & apples are great natural snacks. I do not need or want puddings, Jellos, cookies or cakes. Like when I quit smoking, and the smell of smoke repulses me, the smell of sweets literally makes my teeth hurt.

I knew that if I am to form a life long change to make this journey work, then I had to kill the cravings... getting rid of processed sugars was the ticket. And I can tell you, it is working! I urge you to try it, if you feel that you need a sugar free substitute to take the place of your usual go to snack, then you are still addicted to sugar still has its hooks in you.

If you gather no other good from reading my journey, I can tell you for certain that this "life hack" works. Tell sugar to take a hike, and to take all of his fake buddies too! The fog will lift in a couple weeks, the cravings will go away, and you will see clearly where you need to go...

"Life is Good!"

Edited May 31, 20188 yr by Dragon64

Tomorrow is visit #4 with my family doctor. A simple weigh-in and discussion on my weight-loss goals before and after surgery.

A quick update before I provide a doctor visit update; I am still struggling with some food addictions that will need to hammered out in order to make "this" work for me. I find that in causal conversations I still bring up favorite foods (i.e. Turkey burgers, lasagna, tacos, The Whopper etc etc), and I talk of them passionately, or in fond remembrance. Although I am not craving these foods, they weigh heavily on my mind quite a bit.

On a side note; since I am taking BP meds, insulin meds, blood thinning meds, and am actively using a CPAP machine, the stats of Alabama has asked that I relinquish my commercial drivers license. I have had my CDL now for 24-years. Briefly last year I tried my hand as an over the road (OTR) trucker, but I ultimately came off the road due to kidney stones and blood clotting, as outlined in my first posts in this thread, leads me to where I am at today.

Nevertheless, I am forging forward, never looking back! I will update after my visit tomorrow. Also this month, I have my second visit with my nutritionist. I am really looking forward to showing her my progress, should be a good visit all around!

Cheers, and thank you for all your support on life-saving journey!

Edited June 5, 20188 yr by Dragon64