Scientology is probably dangerous...
You Decide

Losing Weight

My weight loss has slowed as I've begun to eat somewhat normally now that I'm off the liquid phase.

I guess the most significant thing that has happened is that I've busted the 300 lb. mark. It was weird, though. Even though I know I shouldn't, I've been checking my weight every morning just after I get up while I'm still in my underwear. For about two weeks, my weight would go up 2 lbs., then drop 1 lb., then another, then up a 1 lb. Then on Thursday this week, I finally hit 300 lb., but given how my weight was fluctuating, I thought it would go up a pound. It didn't. It just all of the sudden dropped 5 pounds. Huh?

I didn't believe it. I thought something was wrong with the scale. I weighed myself 3 times with the same result. So I proceeded to get ready for work and took a shower, then I weighed again. Still the same. This morning, the scale reads 294, so I guess 295 was for real.

Now my next mini goal is a ways off, but if things keep going well like they have been, I might be at 250 well before June 30th.

I see my WLS doctor next week for my first fill.

Les Misérables
from Computerworld, February 4, 2008, page 37

The "three signs of a miserable job," according to author Patrick Lencioni in his book of that name:

Anonymity: The feeling that your manager has little interest in you as a human being and knows little about your life, aspirations and interests.

Irrelevance: The feeling that your job doesn't make a difference in the lives of others.

Immeasurement: The feeling that you cannot assess for yourself your contributions or success and that your manager is of little help.

[Note: Immeasurement is not a word. -- Danny]

Aaaarrrrrggggghh! Gout sucks!
I finally experienced a gout attack. It happened last Tuesday. As of today, I'm still suffering. I went to the doctor when the attack happened and was prescribed some medicine, but I started having a side effect. So yesterday, I had a follow up with the doctor and prescribed a steroidal medicine that I started taking today. I hope this works.

Quotes

People have been known to achieve more as a result of working with others than against them. -- Dr. Allan Fromme

Weight Loss
Well, I'm now unofficially 305 lbs. My weight loss is still on a downward trajectory, but it is slowing. Now that I'm lighter, I need to start exercising.

For now, that means I'll be walking the dog. I used Google maps to plot out a route in my neighborhood. By doing so, I now have the distance of the route. I setup a 1 mile circuit. If I want to do more than 1 mile, I can just do more than 1 loop.

How did I use Google for designing my exercise route? I first established my starting location, then I set a second location just down the street. Then I stretched the route and added way points to control how Google plotted the route. I eventually stretched the route back to where I started. Google automatically calculated the distance.

The neat thing about doing this is that you can play with the route. So later, if you get bored with your route or you want to make it bigger, you can just revisit Google and design a different or longer route.

Morbidly Obese No More
Today, I am no longer morbidly obese. I've lost 40 lbs. since I've been banded. This is not typical. Normally people lose at a much slower rate.

I think I'm losing as fast as I am because I'm not eating much of anything. I might be getting about 300 to 500 calories per day which is far less than the recommended 2500 calories. It also helps that I'm a man. Men lose weight faster than woman because men have more muscle than women.

I haven't done much of anything except follow the liquid protein diet, drink lots of water and try to stay active.

This is my first mini goal. My next mini goal is to hit 299 lbs. At the rate I'm going, I should achieve this by early February.