The Weight-loss Chronicles, Part 5: Not Being Afraid of the Doctor

I never liked going to the doctor’s office. We always had the same conversation every time. “You need to lose weight,” he’d say. I’d just sort of shrug my shoulders and say, “Yeah, I know.” Of course I never had any intention of losing any weight. Nope. So year after year we repeated the dance – my doctor insisting I need to lose weight, me going “Eh, whatevs.” At some point I just stopped going because I didn’t want to deal with it. I was ashamed to admit I still wasn’t taking care of myself.

However, about three months into my new lifestyle I had gall bladder surgery. After some abdominal pain, a call to urgent care, and an ultrasound, I found out I had polyps in my gall bladder. My google search suggested this could happen when one loses a lot of weight in a short amount of time. That definitely described me. By the time the end of March rolled around, I was around 217 or so from 258. I had to have my gall bladder out. Whatever weird thing happens when you drop weight happened to me. Once I’d recovered I had to have a checkup with my primary physician.

This time it was different.

We would have an all new conversation this time. He walked in and checked my chart and vitals. I informed him that I had just had gall bladder surgery.

“Do you know why you had gall bladder surgery?” He asked.

“Because I lost a bunch of weight?” I replied.

“Yep.”

I was pretty proud. He was proud too. I told him about my diet plan and how much I had lost. He was actually impressed. He was more complimentary than I had ever heard him be. I wasn’t afraid or ashamed anymore. I was actually taking care of myself and I felt a lot better about the whole “going to the doctor” thing.

That’s not the only thing that was better. I hadn’t been taking my blood pressure medicine because it was making me light-headed. However, when they measured it, it was normal. All my bloodwork was normal. Blood sugar? Normal. I was elated! I was healthier than I had been in probably ten or fifteen years. It was awesome. Even the nurses were impressed and happy for me.  

There was just one the doctor wanted me to do.

“Are you getting any exercise?”

“Um…no.”

“You might want to start getting some exercise.”

Noooooooooooooo!

Next time: That dreaded exercise!

Progress Pictures

Time for some progress pictures!

This video was taken in February, I think. I'm still kind of big but shrinking! My clothes are kind of enveloping me!

Here's another picture after about a month of Keto dieting.

And finally... this was around the end of March. You can really tell a difference in my face!

Stay tuned for more Chronicles!

The Weight-loss Chronicles, Part 4: Setbacks, Highs, and Lows

Now is as probably a good a time as any to talk about setbacks. They will happen. They have happened to me. In fact, this past week was probably one of the biggest setbacks. I was on vacation. I went to River Street for the first time with my wife and some friends. Do you know what they do there? They hand you samples of candied pecans! For free! They would ask, “Would you like to try…”

“YES!” *Nom nom nom*

Then my in-laws got here. My mother-in-law is a good cook. She’s the kind of cook that I could watch scrape roadkill off the side of the street, bring it in, prepare it and still be all, “Um…yeah…let me get some of that.” So she did what she always does when she comes down here – make bucketfulls of pansit and lumpia. I’m not ashamed to say I think lumpia (a Filipino eggroll) is just about the best thing on the planet. Needless to say – I gained some weight this week. It is a shame because I was only one pound away from my goal weight! ARGH!

I said all that to say, setbacks will happen. You will, at times, eat stuff you shouldn’t. It happens. It’s another reason why I say no “cheat” days – because you will have them. They will happen because life is messy and complicated and doesn’t care if you’re going low carb. Sometimes you eat carbs because that’s what a guest or a host has set in front of you.

The good news is that you are always in control of your own habits. Setbacks will happen but they need not derail your efforts. You’ll have to gain back some ground, sure. Just consider it self-control practice.

The other thing I wanted to talk about is highs and lows. At first I lost weight like it was going out of style. It was awesome to see pounds drop off week to week. It’s definitely a good motivator to keep going. However, I eventually stalled out. I’d sit at the same number for a week or two. I’d measure success in tenths of a pound instead of pounds. Keep in mind that I was keeping to my plan. Yet there were times when my body would just not let go of weight. I remember 215 being a particular threshold. Then 210…207…205. Every now and then my body would just decide it needed to keep some pounds and I’d have to get all Meghan Trainor on it and say – “YOU NEED TO LET IT GO.”

I stuck to my plan though. Eventually, you break through those walls. It just takes persistence. The key is not giving up. You have to stick to your plan every day. EVERY. DAY. I’ll leave you with a clip of my favorite anime, One Punch Man. In the clip Saitama (the titular One-Punch Man) explains to his enemies the key to his great strength. While I personally don’t do his training methods (though it’d be pretty cool to do) what I’m inspired by is his discipline. It motivates me to stick to my plan no matter what. God bless all of you out there trying to get healthy and stay healthy! (Also, you should totally watch One Punch Man because it is awesome.)

The Weight-Loss Chronicles, Part 3: Redefining Hunger

“…But you’re always hungry all the time.”

“Yes. Yes you are.”

This was the conversation I was having with a co-worker about my diet. He was right. On my diet I was hungry all the time. But let’s be honest here, how was that any different from normal? I was always hungry before – ravenous even. I’d eat breakfast, then second breakfast… like a friggin’ hobbit. One thing was clear to me in the beginning: I had to figure out a way to deal with hunger or I’d never make it. I chose to redefine what hunger meant to me.

Most of the time when we start a new diet plan we look at hunger as the enemy. The nasty dragon or sumo wrestler we must contend with and overcome every single day of our lives. The prospect of this is daunting and at times discouraging. Hunger is at its most ferocious in the beginning when you’re trying to wean yourself off of sugar, carbs, and just generally eating like a vacuum cleaner. Hunger was my nemesis and it was the one thing that always kept me from really changing my lifestyle.

But what if hunger were my ally? What if it was my companion? What does that even mean? I began to look at hunger as a good thing. Instead of striving against it I started thinking to myself, Oh, I’m hungry. That means it’s working! I’m losing weight! That hunger is me getting healthier! Now I don’t know the exact science of it all and I certainly can’t claim that it’s true that when you’re hungry you’re losing weight. However, I told myself that the ache in my stomach was a good thing. After all – I knew I wasn’t going to die. I was eating (and eating better than ever) so that wasn’t the issue, but I had programmed my mind and body to need food all the time. Hunger was there constantly reminding me that I was in process. Hunger had become one of my biggest cheerleaders.

Hunger even helped me control my portion size. After I had eaten a meal it would be there, gently whispering, “I’m still here so that means you’ve probably had enough.” When my portion was gone I was done eating. Period. After a while I would be a little concerned if I wasn’t hungry after I’d eaten. Oh crap! I’d think, I’ve gone overboard! Then half an hour later hunger would be back and…get this…I would actually be relieved. Can you believe that?

I’ll go a step further.

As a Christian I believe that God can use hunger to help us find areas in our lives we need to work on. I say that because I was an emotional eater. I was kind of like Doug Heffernan on King of Queens who would eat any and all emotions including “scared” and “bored.” Before I started my diet hunger would be this raving lunatic that would scream at me, “YOU’RE DEPRESSED ABOUT YOUR JOB!  PIZZA WILL FIX THIS! ALSO, SNICKERS!” In time, hunger would say, “Hey… I’m here and you’re stressed and sad. Maybe ask God to help with this.” In time I found that all those emotions sort of worked themselves out after I decided to just go ahead and feel them then move on with my life. Don’t be afraid to feel your feelings – it’s a lot quicker and healthier than eating them. If you’ve got a lot of pain that you don’t think you can bear without food, maybe there’s a bigger issue there. It might be time to really go after God and figure it out. Find a friend you can talk to and deal with the issue. Food is delicious but it doesn’t heal emotional and spiritual wounds.

I have grown to be so thankful for hunger! The kicker is that it’s not even really actual stomach pains hunger. It’s just cravings and mental programming. So when you’ve started your new diet plan and you’re hungry – R E J O I C E!  It’s working! You are making progress! You won’t die if you don’t eat Reese Sticks!