Milestones

Today marks the halfway point of the liquid diet stage of my weight loss program.  It's a small distinction, but being on this side of the halfway point makes the light at the end of the tunnel seem a little brighter.

My last post talked about me entering the 260's.  Now I can happily report that I have been in the 250's for a bit over a week.  While it only took 21 days for me to go through the '60's, it seemed like a lot longer.  I felt like I hit a plateau.  In hindsight, losing 3.5 pounds per week for 3 weeks is great progress and a healthy, if not slightly aggressive, weight loss rate.  But at the time it was very frustrating.  I took my mom's advice and upped my daily water intake.  She learned during her program that doing that can help you overcome a plateau.  For the last two weeks I've been drinking 12 glasses of water a day.  It was hard at first, but now I feel like I could drink more on most days.  It's helped alot.  At the rate I'm going, I'll be through the '50's in about 14 days, compared to the 21 days to get through the '60's.

This morning I hit another milestone.  My current weight is 254.1 pounds.  I started the liquid diet at 285.3 pounds.  I've officially lost over 30 pounds (31.2)!  On this exact date last year I had my highest ever (recorded) weigh in.  On June 29, 2011 I weighed 292.0 pounds.  In the last year I have lost 37.9 pounds!

My calorie intake is steady at 1000 per day and my water intake is steady at 12 glasses per day.  Now I need to work on increasing my weekly exercise minutes and steps taken.  Over the past 8 weeks my weekly steps have been between 12,000 and 22,000.  My exercise minutes have been between 90 and 210 minutes.  The goals sets by the program are 70,000 steps per week (10,000 per day) and 420 exercise minutes per week (60 per day).  I have a long way to go to reach those goals.  I'm feeling healthier, I have more energy, and all other things under my control are taken care of.  Exercise is the new mountain to climb.  Anyone seen my shoes?

The Dawn of a New Decade

Just a quick check in to report my weekly weigh in. 

After 3 weeks on the diet I've lost 17.1 pounds.  I currently weigh 268.2 pounds

This is the first time in a long while I've been in the 260's "decade" in quite a while.  Several years to be exact.  It's been so long I can't remember exactly when.

One barrier crossed, many more to come. =)

Weigh In

Oops!  Forgot to post this yesterday.

This morning I weighed in at 272.8 pounds; a loss of 12.5 pounds!  12.5 pounds in 15 days of being on the meal replacement products.

If I can continue to lose a pound a day I'll be at my goal weight in no time!

When It Rains It Pours & Temporary Bachelorhood

About 2 weeks ago Amy called me on her drive home from work to tell me that her car broke down--overheating, no power steering, heater didn't work, AC didn't work, etc.  AAA towed it to our mechanic and they found that the metal bracket that holds the serpentine belt tensioner pulley in place had cracked.  This is a very unusual occurrence--if that part breaks it is typically the plastic pulley to break not the metal bracket.  The pulley was installed barely over a year ago, so the mechanic was able to get a free warranty replacement from his supplier.  I opted to replace the serpentine belt (since it had been flopping around loose in a running engine), so labor and the belt came to $115.

The same day that I picked up Amy's car, my tooth broke (see prior post).  After seeing my dentist last Monday to start the process of getting a crown more money flew out the door.  Our dental insurance covers 60% towards crown work.  The 40% left for us to cover amounts to $500.

This past Friday I took my car in for an oil change after dropping Amy off at the airport (more on that soon).  I opted for the free brake inspection and tire rotation they offer, and I'm glad I did.  The mechanic called me out to my car and showed me this:

That's a 6-8 inch tear where the tread meets the sidewall.  So I spent most of the day Friday finding a good deal on tires.  The oil change, new tires, and a front end alignment came to $490.

If I had a choice on how to spend $1100 in 1 week it would not be on car and tooth repairs, but such is life.



As I mentioned earlier, I took Amy to the airport on Friday so she could fly to Baltimore to participate in the national Bus Roadeo for Paratransit vehicles.  Last year she was part of her company's Roadeo team that took 1st Place team at the California state competition.  3 of the 4 team members (including Amy) were in the top 10.  At nationals last year in Indianapolis Amy placed in the top 20 and one of her coworkers took 1st place (there is no team award at the national level).  This year there was no state competition in California.  However, Amy was one of the 2 drivers her company chose to send to compete in the national event.  The competition (written test, safety inspection, wheelchair securement, and road course) was Saturday and Sunday.  Amy placed in the top 15!  And her coworker placed in the top 10.

The roadeo is one part of a week long expo on paratransit services.  There are presentations, vendor exhibits, and a variety of workshops.  Amy's company is paying to have her stay for a 3 day "Train the Trainer" workshop.  Amy's current job is to help train the new hires, test them for their class B license (she's DMV certified), and teach them how to be a paratransit driver.  Now she'll be able to do her job even better

In the past year at work:  Amy was asked to join the roadeo team after impressing her boss during a routine refresher training, Amy was invited to apply for the trainer job she has now (better pay, better hours, and better benefits that being a driver), Amy was sent to be trained and certified by the DMV to administer the class B license driving test (her supervisor is the only other trainer who is DMV certified), and Amy was sent to Baltimore for a week (at company expense) to compete in the roadeo and go through more training.  In short, Amy is awesome and her employer knows it.  =)

Amy left on Friday and wont be back until this coming Saturday, so I'm living the bachelor life for a week.



Stay tuned tomorrow for my weekly weigh in.  Spoiler alert:  I lost weight!

Irony

Last Friday I did something you wouldn't expect to do while on a liquid diet...I broke a tooth!

I eat one piece of solid food a day and I break a tooth while eating my granola bar. And to make it even better it happened on Friday afternoon at 5:30. So I had to wait until Monday morning to get it fixed. Now I've got a temporary crown for a couple weeks until I get a permanent crown.

 In better news, I have now lost 11 pounds! I'm losing about a pound a day, which is a good pace. =)

Food

This was my last meal of solid food on Monday night before I started the meal replacement portion of my weight loss program.  And in case anyone is wondering, this bowl of ice cream comes to 330 calories (we started calorie counting everything we ate last week).  Calories can add up quick if you're not paying attention.

This is my new diet.  Strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla "shakes".  I get 6 of these a day for a grand total of 960 calories.  We're allowed to substitute in 1 "granola" bar and 1 soup per day (both Optifast products), which is good because it's nice to actually chew something.

Three of the granola bar options.  Not pictured are Peanut Butter Crunch and Mint Chocolate.

Chicken soup.  There is also a tomato soup, but the chicken soup is much better.

Rather than buy the Ready To Drink boxes, we have the option of buying the shakes in powder form.  You have to mix it with cold water when you want to drink it, and very few people like the taste of the powder over the boxes.  One benefit of the powder is that you can mix it with other liquids to make iced coffees, mocktails, smoothies, etc.  One recipe is for turning the powder into pudding.

 Powder.

Pudding.  This will be my dessert for my 10 PM meal.  Stay tuned for how it actually tastes.

The next time I get to eat real food is August 21st.  According to my mom I'll get to substitute one of the boxes for 4 ounces of lean protein and 1/2 a cup of cooked vegetables.  Can't wait!  Starting then, we get weaned off the boxes week by week.  On September 11th I can be completely off the meal replacement products.  Although, we are allowed to buy 2-3 products per day if we want to keep using them as snacks or to replace one meal per day--but buying protein shakes and protein bars at Costco is much much cheaper.

This first week of being on the products is the roughest, so we are told.  It's so rough that we are allowed to buy one extra product per day so that we "cheat" with an Optifast product rather than real food.  After 2 days, I can see why they give us this option.  Today was better than yesterday in regards to fatigue and hunger pains.  Hopefully tomorrow will be even better than today.  =)

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step

Yesterday marked the start of a new phase in my life, so I figured it was as good a time as any to reboot this blog.  =)

I've joined Kaiser's Medical Weight Management Program.  It's an 80 week long program that involves 15 weeks of liquid meal replacement.  I'll be restricted to 960 calories a day of Optifast shakes--a prescription-only nutritionally balanced meal replacement.  Then I transition back to solid food and have a year of long-term maintenance.  The meal replacement portion is designed to wean your body off salt/fat/sugar habits and significantly start the weight loss (1-3 pounds per week on average) while you go through nutritional and lifestyle coaching.  My mom started the program last year and has lost roughly 80 pounds.

My family has a nice long history of heart disease and diabetes.  I'm on pace to be the 4th generation with both conditions unless I do something now to change.  I'm already pre-diabetic, I have elevated cholesterol, I have a fatty liver, and my BMI of 36 puts me square in the middle of the obese range.  This changes now.

My all time heaviest has been 292 pounds.  I am currently 280 pounds.  My goal is to be 200 pounds.  I haven't been 200 pounds since I was a sophomore in college--over a decade ago.

This blog is going to be mostly about my weight loss journey.  If you can support and encourage me please follow along.  The goal is in sight, the path is before me, I've taken the first step.