MAR1984
New member
Finally decided I would start a journal thread. Mainly I'm sure this will be my place to ramble on when I need to get something off my chest, regardless of whether anyone actually reads this. I figure today's writing should be mostly a summary of where I am in my journy, and where I hope to be.
One year ago today...
It would be 1 week before my wedding. The last 10 months, I spent losing ~150lbs, plus or minus. It was going to be a busy week, and the first week I intentionally skipped workouts to have time to make the final preparations. This is the event that motivated me to get healthy, and I figured I deserved to take it easy this week - I wasn't going to make anymore huge progress towards my goal anyways.
I didn't reach my goal to get under 300lbs, but I came within 20lbs. "Good enough", I thought, after coming so far. I felt great, and I had confidence. Still can't believe that I was SO big though just 10 months before. I went into college at 355, and had once lost down to 258. I regained weight, but I never realized how much more I gained back. But all the hard work over the past 10 months had payed off, and I was back into familiar territory, and well on my way to getting back into the best shape of my adult life.
I returned from the honeymoon at 330. I gained 10lbs in a couple weeks. I expected it though. It was an all-inclusive cruise, and when I returned, I could always lose the weight again when I resumed working out. Most of it was water anyways, right?
I became a member at a local fitness club, for there free weight equipment. Until then, I had lost weight through what was probably a dangerously low calorie defecit, couple with lots and lots of cardio. I didn't know how much damage I could have been doing to myself, but I knew I was making good progress. Just before the wedding, I found this site and starting reading about all the things I wish I'd have known earlier on in my weight loss journey.
Anyways, I started a weight lifting routine, tossed out all cardio (meant to be temporary while my body got used to weight lifting, then gradually reintroducing the cardio), and started eating a much healthier diet. Over the next few months of summer and early fall, I gained a lot of strength, and lost a little weight (maybe the 10lbs the honeymoon packed on). I wasn't expecting the troubles that lay ahead...
8 months ago today...
I started having some health problems. I didn't realize just how serious the problems were at first. It started out as severe constipation. I'll spare you the details
. Holiday time, starting around thanksgiving, was when I started getting lax in my workouts. Between the abdominal discomfort and the more frequent consumption of junk food, weight lifting became uncomfortable. One new symptom arrived. Occasionally, after eating a greasy meal in the evening, I would get woken up in the middle of the night with a very sharp and serious stomach pain that just would not go away. At first, pepto bismo would help, but after a couple months, the infrequent attacks became more frequent, more severe, and less treatable.
After a couple months of both these symptoms, I was woken to an attack that was much worse than the rest, in mid december. I must have vomitted for 2 hours that night. I tried distracting myself by searching the internet for possible causes of my pain. These were definitely no longer ordinary stomach aches or indigestion. My seaching led me to a self diagnosis of gall stones, and I woke my wife for my first trip to the ER.
It was a Tuesday night, or a Wednesday night...? I can't remember, it was 2AM and I was in pain. The 15th or 16th of December. I don't know how I got so lucky, but the ER waiting room was empty. I got right in and got set up for IV pain meds. I discovered Diloted that night. I was also given and abdominal ultrasound and my self diagnosis of gall stones was confirmed. I was told it looked like gravel, tons and tons of tiny stones, but all were contained inside my gall bladder (a good thing, I would later learn). I was told to avoid fatty foods and set up with a Gastro specialist, and given a prescription for vicadin.
The Gastro doc visit went quick, basically he explained in no uncertain terms that my gall bladder should probably come out, but there was no rush. He explained the laparoscopic procedure, and I was out the door. I again was told to avoid fatty foods, and tentatively scheduled to have the cholesytectomy sometime in late february. I was told to take the vicadin if I had any attacks.
Despite my best efforts to lay off the fatty foods, I just couldn't resist all the yummy stuff at a christmas party the following weekend. I didn't eat much, and stopped eating early, and felt fine all night and before getting into bed. However, that didn't do much to comfort that sharp, persisting pain I felt that woke me in the middle of the night yet again, the first time since the ER visit. I was out of town, and I had accidentally left my vicadin behind. I knew what the problem was, so I didn't panic this time. I knew an ER visit was out of the question, so I sat around trying to tough out the pain. I popped 3 or 4 motrin out of desparation. Then it happened, while sitting at the computer trying to distract myself, I felt the pressure release, almost like a popping sensation. I got some sleep.
The next few days, the pain returned. Only this time, it was not triggered by food. Vicadin had no effect, but motrin did. Calls to the doctor explaining the situation was basically met with a response of "take the meds when needed" and "tough it out until february". When I called the doctor to request a stronger pain med than vicadin, I was told to go back to the ER if it was hurting that bad. Turns out, it was a good thing I did.
No one ever told me this, but I'm smart enough to figure it out, was that the popping sensation I felt after the christmas party was a stone passing from my gall bladder into the common bile duct, where it became lodged, blocking all liver bile. The constant pain I was feeling was because my liver was becoming inflamed, which explains why the motrin eased the pain, easing inflamation. I was starting to turn jaundice, and a new ultrasound confirmed the presence of a lodged stone. On December 23rd, I was admitted to the hospital, and scheduled for 2 surgeries - the first on the 24th, to remove the lodged stone from my common bile duct, and the second, on Christmas Day, to remove my gall bladder. At least I was tough enough to convince them to discharge me on Christmas evening.
Immediately after the surgery, although laparoscopic, I was not permitted to lift heavy objects for a while or exercise. It took about a month before I was given the complete green light. I was able to enjoy a free 4-day cruise at the end of january, which was nice in that it sort of made up for my lost chrismas holiday. The beginning of february would have been the perfect time to pick back up with my exercise routine and healthy eating choices right where I left off the previous fall...
Presently...
Due to a combination of work, stress, and complacency, I never motivated myself to resume my healthy living. I made poor diet choices, I did not exercise. Actually, I made a couple feeble attempts to start back up - one time for a week, and another time I think I actually made it 2 or 3 weeks, but something got in the way and I gave up. A week ago, I just flipped a switch in my head and made the decision to go for it again. This is the most motivated I have been since before my wedding, nearly a year ago. I'm making healthy eating choices again, and I'm back into an exercise routine. Today will be my first day back to my fitness club in nearly 8 months or so, for weight lifting.
I think about how quickly this last year has went... scary, actually. Life can quickly become too short to not do all I can to make the most of the time I have. I've gained some weight since last year, but in the grand scheme of things, its not that much, and I'm already making dents into removing it and continuing on to a healthier me.
This morning, I weighed in at 367.2lbs. My first short term goal is to go under 350lbs again. I hope to reach this goal by the end of july losing 3.5lbs per week. My next checkpoint will be to reach 330, the stable weight I maintained for nearly 6-9 months post-wedding, despite all the challenges along the way. If all goes well, I should reach this mark by the end of september. The next milestone will be to breakthrough underneath the 300lb mark for the first time in 8 years or so. If I stay committed, I should be able to reach this mark losing 10lbs per month from october to december, by the end of the year. At that point, I'll be making the turn towards matching my best college weight of 260lbs, which I could reach by the end of may next year by losing 8lbs per month from january to may. It seems like such a long ways away, but at the same time, I feel like the time will pass just as quickly as the last year has, and I better not waste that time because I can't get it back.
Thats all for the premier installment of my amazing journal. Future entries should be shorter, and hopefully much more entertaining. In an attempt to reward any readers who successfully navigated the wall of text above, I'll leave you with a random tidbit that will ammuse you more than it ammuses me: My normal breakfast consists of a yogurt, a couple hardboiled eggs, a banana, and occasionally some other things as well. My loving wife packs my breakfast for me every day, and I really do appreciate it. But lets just say I was in for a surpise this morning when I cracked my first hardboiled egg on my desktop while troubleshooting a glitch in my computer system... oops! Raw eggs! 
At least I have a sense of humor about it
Farewell for now!
Matt
One year ago today...
It would be 1 week before my wedding. The last 10 months, I spent losing ~150lbs, plus or minus. It was going to be a busy week, and the first week I intentionally skipped workouts to have time to make the final preparations. This is the event that motivated me to get healthy, and I figured I deserved to take it easy this week - I wasn't going to make anymore huge progress towards my goal anyways.
I didn't reach my goal to get under 300lbs, but I came within 20lbs. "Good enough", I thought, after coming so far. I felt great, and I had confidence. Still can't believe that I was SO big though just 10 months before. I went into college at 355, and had once lost down to 258. I regained weight, but I never realized how much more I gained back. But all the hard work over the past 10 months had payed off, and I was back into familiar territory, and well on my way to getting back into the best shape of my adult life.
I returned from the honeymoon at 330. I gained 10lbs in a couple weeks. I expected it though. It was an all-inclusive cruise, and when I returned, I could always lose the weight again when I resumed working out. Most of it was water anyways, right?
I became a member at a local fitness club, for there free weight equipment. Until then, I had lost weight through what was probably a dangerously low calorie defecit, couple with lots and lots of cardio. I didn't know how much damage I could have been doing to myself, but I knew I was making good progress. Just before the wedding, I found this site and starting reading about all the things I wish I'd have known earlier on in my weight loss journey.
Anyways, I started a weight lifting routine, tossed out all cardio (meant to be temporary while my body got used to weight lifting, then gradually reintroducing the cardio), and started eating a much healthier diet. Over the next few months of summer and early fall, I gained a lot of strength, and lost a little weight (maybe the 10lbs the honeymoon packed on). I wasn't expecting the troubles that lay ahead...
8 months ago today...
I started having some health problems. I didn't realize just how serious the problems were at first. It started out as severe constipation. I'll spare you the details
. Holiday time, starting around thanksgiving, was when I started getting lax in my workouts. Between the abdominal discomfort and the more frequent consumption of junk food, weight lifting became uncomfortable. One new symptom arrived. Occasionally, after eating a greasy meal in the evening, I would get woken up in the middle of the night with a very sharp and serious stomach pain that just would not go away. At first, pepto bismo would help, but after a couple months, the infrequent attacks became more frequent, more severe, and less treatable.After a couple months of both these symptoms, I was woken to an attack that was much worse than the rest, in mid december. I must have vomitted for 2 hours that night. I tried distracting myself by searching the internet for possible causes of my pain. These were definitely no longer ordinary stomach aches or indigestion. My seaching led me to a self diagnosis of gall stones, and I woke my wife for my first trip to the ER.
It was a Tuesday night, or a Wednesday night...? I can't remember, it was 2AM and I was in pain. The 15th or 16th of December. I don't know how I got so lucky, but the ER waiting room was empty. I got right in and got set up for IV pain meds. I discovered Diloted that night
. I was also given and abdominal ultrasound and my self diagnosis of gall stones was confirmed. I was told it looked like gravel, tons and tons of tiny stones, but all were contained inside my gall bladder (a good thing, I would later learn). I was told to avoid fatty foods and set up with a Gastro specialist, and given a prescription for vicadin.The Gastro doc visit went quick, basically he explained in no uncertain terms that my gall bladder should probably come out, but there was no rush. He explained the laparoscopic procedure, and I was out the door. I again was told to avoid fatty foods, and tentatively scheduled to have the cholesytectomy sometime in late february. I was told to take the vicadin if I had any attacks.
Despite my best efforts to lay off the fatty foods, I just couldn't resist all the yummy stuff at a christmas party the following weekend. I didn't eat much, and stopped eating early, and felt fine all night and before getting into bed. However, that didn't do much to comfort that sharp, persisting pain I felt that woke me in the middle of the night yet again, the first time since the ER visit. I was out of town, and I had accidentally left my vicadin behind. I knew what the problem was, so I didn't panic this time. I knew an ER visit was out of the question, so I sat around trying to tough out the pain. I popped 3 or 4 motrin out of desparation. Then it happened, while sitting at the computer trying to distract myself, I felt the pressure release, almost like a popping sensation. I got some sleep.
The next few days, the pain returned. Only this time, it was not triggered by food. Vicadin had no effect, but motrin did. Calls to the doctor explaining the situation was basically met with a response of "take the meds when needed" and "tough it out until february". When I called the doctor to request a stronger pain med than vicadin, I was told to go back to the ER if it was hurting that bad. Turns out, it was a good thing I did.
No one ever told me this, but I'm smart enough to figure it out, was that the popping sensation I felt after the christmas party was a stone passing from my gall bladder into the common bile duct, where it became lodged, blocking all liver bile. The constant pain I was feeling was because my liver was becoming inflamed, which explains why the motrin eased the pain, easing inflamation. I was starting to turn jaundice, and a new ultrasound confirmed the presence of a lodged stone. On December 23rd, I was admitted to the hospital, and scheduled for 2 surgeries - the first on the 24th, to remove the lodged stone from my common bile duct, and the second, on Christmas Day, to remove my gall bladder. At least I was tough enough to convince them to discharge me on Christmas evening.
Immediately after the surgery, although laparoscopic, I was not permitted to lift heavy objects for a while or exercise. It took about a month before I was given the complete green light. I was able to enjoy a free 4-day cruise at the end of january, which was nice in that it sort of made up for my lost chrismas holiday. The beginning of february would have been the perfect time to pick back up with my exercise routine and healthy eating choices right where I left off the previous fall...
Presently...
Due to a combination of work, stress, and complacency, I never motivated myself to resume my healthy living. I made poor diet choices, I did not exercise. Actually, I made a couple feeble attempts to start back up - one time for a week, and another time I think I actually made it 2 or 3 weeks, but something got in the way and I gave up. A week ago, I just flipped a switch in my head and made the decision to go for it again. This is the most motivated I have been since before my wedding, nearly a year ago. I'm making healthy eating choices again, and I'm back into an exercise routine. Today will be my first day back to my fitness club in nearly 8 months or so, for weight lifting.
I think about how quickly this last year has went... scary, actually. Life can quickly become too short to not do all I can to make the most of the time I have. I've gained some weight since last year, but in the grand scheme of things, its not that much, and I'm already making dents into removing it and continuing on to a healthier me.
This morning, I weighed in at 367.2lbs. My first short term goal is to go under 350lbs again. I hope to reach this goal by the end of july losing 3.5lbs per week. My next checkpoint will be to reach 330, the stable weight I maintained for nearly 6-9 months post-wedding, despite all the challenges along the way. If all goes well, I should reach this mark by the end of september. The next milestone will be to breakthrough underneath the 300lb mark for the first time in 8 years or so. If I stay committed, I should be able to reach this mark losing 10lbs per month from october to december, by the end of the year. At that point, I'll be making the turn towards matching my best college weight of 260lbs, which I could reach by the end of may next year by losing 8lbs per month from january to may. It seems like such a long ways away, but at the same time, I feel like the time will pass just as quickly as the last year has, and I better not waste that time because I can't get it back.
Thats all for the premier installment of my amazing journal. Future entries should be shorter, and hopefully much more entertaining
. In an attempt to reward any readers who successfully navigated the wall of text above, I'll leave you with a random tidbit that will ammuse you more than it ammuses me: My normal breakfast consists of a yogurt, a couple hardboiled eggs, a banana, and occasionally some other things as well. My loving wife packs my breakfast for me every day, and I really do appreciate it. But lets just say I was in for a surpise this morning when I cracked my first hardboiled egg on my desktop while troubleshooting a glitch in my computer system... oops! Raw eggs! At least I have a sense of humor about it Farewell for now!
Matt
