But I can tell you that it does not take much to gain weight.
In 2003, I weighed 280 lbs.
In 2009, I weighed 330 lbs.
I gained 50 lbs. in six years. That’s roughly 8 lbs. per year, which is a little over a half of a pound per month, or 1/8 of a pound per week. 1/8 would barely register on your scale. It would be .1, right?
… Just a little something to think about when you noticed that your weight went up by .1 or even .2 in a week. Don’t nip it in the bud now, and you’ll be flabbergasted at how that .1 turned into 50 lbs. a few years down the road.
Believe me, am I ever learning from experience. 
(And freaking out over even the slightest gain from one day to the next!)
P.S. 314.8 lbs. today. 
I did the ten minutes on the elliptical and another 70 minutes on a treadmill on Wednesday evening. It’s now Friday afternoon, and hello? I’m in pain! I felt fine on Wednesday night, but when I got up Thursday, dear god… my thighs, shoulder blades and the muscles running from my chest up to my shoulders ached like hell.
And they still do.
I am so pathetically out of shape. Pfft.
But on the upside, I’m down to 315.4!
I did it. I went to the gym! I freely admit that I was rather apprehensive about working out in a gym full of skinny people, but it wasn’t bad. There were no girls, and just a handful of guys. All but a few of them were busy lifting weights, and no one paid any attention to me, or to my friend.
He did the elliptical for the whole time we were there, and goddamn that is one evil ass machine. I was definitely feeling the burn by five minutes in, and at ten minutes I was more than ready to hop off. I then spent almost 70 minutes on a treadmill, doing 2.5 miles for half the time and 3.0 miles for the remainder of the time. Based on my weight, I burned roughly 500 calories. And that’s not counting the bit of time spent on the elliptical!
Tomorrow? I am definitely checking out the gym that’s close by.
Don’t worry, I haven’t fallen off the wagon again. I’ve simply been busy these last few (okay, I suppose six weeks is more than a few!) weeks. I did attend my first individual session on March 17th. I also completed my exercise evaluation, but due to a scheduling mix-up that wasn’t completed until April 16th. I also made it to my second individual session, which was on April 17th.
So, where am I now? Well, I weighed 329.2 lbs. at the first individual session. At the second session, I weighed just two pounds less, but that’s not totally accurate. I was about to start my period, and had gained about six pounds worth of water weight. To date I have lost approximately 12.2 lbs… and that’s in less than a month! Today I weigh 317 lbs., and while that’s a long way away from my goal weight of 180 lbs., it’s still great progress. And, it’s three pounds away from my surgery-required 5% weight loss.
My third individual session is on May 21st. I am also going to be attending an insurance-required group therapy type session that evening. Once those two things are out of the way, all that remains is to complete the last three “group” sessions, and then hopefully schedule my surgery for late August or early September!
As far as what I am doing to lose the weight, the answer is, not much! That’s not to say I’m sitting around and doing nothing. I’m not — I’m incorporating 30-45 minutes of walking twice a week, and I’m doing little things like parking farther away in parking lots, making multiple, inefficient trips around the grocery store and retail stores. But the big thing is watching my calories and my fat grams. I have been restricted to 2000 calories per day, and no more than 3 grams of fat per every 100 calories, as well as no more than 1 gram of saturated fat per every 100 calories. It’s a pain to sit there and calculate fat and sat. fat grams, but it’s obviously working, because the pounds I need to shed are coming off slowly but surely.
Anyway, that’s about all for now… tonight I’m meeting a friend at a gym. I’m equally anticipating it and dreading it. I’m looking forward to hopping on a treadmill and hopefully knocking out a few miles worth of walking while listening to my iPod. But at the same time, I dread the embarrassment and shame I’m going to feel when I have to walk by all of the skinny and average sized people.
So, today is my restart first appointment with the surgical weight loss clinic.
And… I was also able to reschedule my exercise evaluation for today at 3pm! I had to cancel last week due to something that popped up. So I’m definitely happy to be able to kill two birds with one stone, especially since the surgery weight loss clinic and the exercise evaluation are just six miles apart from one another, but about fifty miles away from here!
I just got off the phone with the surgical weight loss program. I was able to schedule my exercise evaluation for this Thursday at 11am.
Do you know what this means??? I have everything done in preparation for the surgery except for the monthly meetings! Doctor’s evaluation, check. Psychological evaluation, check. Blood work, check. And as of Thursday, exercise evaluation, check!
Due to some personal and family situations that I could not prevent, I wound up putting my lap band surgery progress on hold… until now.
While it bums me out that I could have had the surgery by this month, and have been on the road to recovery and a much slimmer me, I am not letting that detract from my excitement at getting back on board.
Last week: last week I called to re-enroll in the lap band surgery program. I emailed over copies of my doctor’s letter of recommendation (from last April) and psychological evaluation (from last July), and made an appointment to get my blood work done.
Today: today I got blood drawn.
Tonight: the clinic called to schedule my first appointment. I go next week — on March 17th. Yay!
