Another Milestone Reached...

Hi Y’all. 

Time for another blog post.  I know it has been a while since my last one.  I had originally said  I would try and do a post every week. Obviously, I have stopped doing this and I have sort of decided I am just going to do posts primarily when I hit 20 pound points and then if something happens that I think can justify a post (my one year anniversary, getting to the point of having skin removal surgery, etc).  I quite simply don’t have enough content to justify more frequent posts. Before there was rapid change and things to report, now I am still losing but it is slower and it has gone from being this dynamic, exciting period of change to a point of me being more fully adjusted to my new life.

That doesn’t mean that I am not still progressing and changing, because I am.  I still have quite a bit of weight that I can afford to lose but I have been working out and getting in better shape that I really do feel that I am at the point of having a pretty athletic  person hidden behind the remaining fat and excess skin.   I have noticed quite a few situations where my stamina is much improved, my balance is a lot better and my agility has definitely improved.

A good example of this was forced upon me the other day.  Someone decided to accidentally set of the fire alarm in the building we work in. I work on the 11^th floor and we had to take the stairs down to the first floor. A year ago I would have probably been one of the last down the stairs, would have been exhausted, and my legs would have been sore for probable a few days.  Now I was the second one to the bottom, was just slightly out of breath and instead of being sore for a few days I felt good enough to go and do a spinning class after work that evening.

I still continue to notice other changes in my body like my fingers continuing to shrink and bones starting to stick out where they hadn’t before.  My favorite change recently, however, is with my butt.  Needless to say, I have lost a lot of padding in that particular area and it makes a big difference, chairs just feel different.  I find I have to change my sitting posture just because they ways I had trained my body to sit applied pressure in different places than it does now.  One of the stranger changes was one I experienced the other day.  I was sitting on a hard wooden chair and was sort of rocking side to side. It used to be that I had so much ‘padding’ that it was a smooth transition from one side to the other.  Now I seem to shift from one pelvic bone to the other with a sort of gap between (picture having a side-to-side rocking chair and the difference between trying to rock the rocking chair and trying to rock a chair with regular legs).

So, I do continue to lose but it is at quite a bit slower rate.  I did hit the next 20-pound mark, which was at 255, and actually, I am now down to 250. That is a total of 165 pounds lost since I started doing this blog.  Of course that also means it is time for some new comparison pics. I will throw a couple of other pics up here too.

I continue to be amazed at how much of an impact my experience and this blog have had on other people.  Several people have told me that my story has motivated them to make some sort of major change in their life.  I have one friend that has already had the same surgery I had with the same surgeon due, at least in part, to my experience. I have one other friend who is working thru the process of qualifying for the surgery as well.  I also know of at least one other friend that has also now decided to have the surgery and at least two others that are seriously considering it.

My friend Dennis is the one who has had the surgery.  He is supposed to be coming back to work this week and I cannot wait to see how much he has lost already. I am also looking forward to watching someone else go thru what I just went thru.  I also can’t wait to pay forward all the support and encouragement I have been given during my journey.

Now to the other major life change in my life this year and that is, of course, my son Evren. He is now 5 and  a half months old and is definitely moving along in his development. His health issues seem, for the most part, to be behind him although he is still quite a bit smaller than average. But aside from this week where he has been having an unpleasant experience with his first 2 teeth coming in he is a happy healthy little baby boy.

Well that pretty much does it for this post, thanks for reading, and of course thanks for the thoughts, prayers and encouragement.

The Return of "The Incredible Shrinking Man"...

Hey  y’all.

It has been a while since my last post; I know it’s well overdue.  I knew it was overdue but I just checked when my last one was and it was just over a month ago.  I really am sorry for not posting sooner...I 've been busy (being a first time parent will do that), tired (it does that too), and a little bit discouraged and I really just haven’t been in the mood recently but in any case, sorry.

I love how I seem to go thru phases and notice different things at different times.  Some of which I have heard about and have been looking forward to, others have surprised me.  I have been experiencing both recently. 

I’ve known I would reach a point where my bones would start being more prominent, this catches some others off guard when their pelvic bones or shoulders start appearing and they have never seen them before.  I have reached the point where my ankles are having more definition and so are my shoulder blades. Unfortunately another side effect of this much weight loss this fast is loose skin, I have been noticing this recently too.  My belly and thighs are getting a little loose and I am developing what my siblings and I used to refer to (on my grandma Noble) as “batwings” under my arms (yes, I have a pic).

The other one takes a little explaining.  Sitting has always provided its own special set of challenges in several ways.  I wasn’t able to sit in booths in most restaurants because they were too small, I couldn’t sit on the floor for more than about 10 minutes or my legs would be going numb, and when sitting in a chair it was basically just legs flared out to the sides or ankle resting on knee.  Recently all of these things have changed.  I find I can fit into booths now; I am able to spend a lot more time on the floor now which lets me spend a lot more time playing with my son.  I also find myself being able to sit in a lot of different positions with legs crossed or knees up to my chest or on the floor Indian style. 

I have also found that since my weight has shifted and I have less padding than I used to. I seem to constantly need to find some slightly new positions to sit in because they just don’t feel right.  I am constantly making little adjustments to my chair at work and in my car.

My wardrobe continues to dwindle because I am getting rid of clothes faster than I can afford to replace them even when shopping at Savers or finding other good deals on cheap clothes.  One nice thing I have taken advantage of recently is that I have a wonderful mother-in-law that on top of all her other wonderful traits is an incredibly talented seamstress (she made my wife’s beautiful wedding dress).  This comes in handy since beggars can’t always be choosers when shopping at Savers and sometimes all the measurements don’t quite line up.  I know that at least as long as it is close to fitting she can hem it or make some other modification or repair that in a lot of cases looks better than it did originally.

I have recommended several times to others not to pay too much attention to the scale when dieting and instead focus on the NSV’s.  Recently I have been really bad about this.  I have pretty much given up trying to predict or declare the beginning or end of plateaus because as soon as I say something it seems to change.  All I know is that my weight loss has really slowed and become really erratic over the last month and a half and it is really frustrating.

I know part of the reason is that I had gotten out of my workout routine when my son was in the hospital and I really had a hard time getting back into it.  When I finally did get back into the gym routine I decided to really focus on building muscle for a while and really hit it pretty hard. I think not working out for a bit and then working on building muscle which is heavier than fat is part of the reason the scale isn’t moving as fast as I like.

I have since decided that at some point I will need to work on building muscle but for now I still have a long way to go and still need to focus more on just loosing the weight. I also know it is normal at some point for the rapid weight loss to slow…which brings me to…

I had my six month follow up and nutrition reminder/refresher last week.  Turns out I am not the only one struggling with slowing weight loss and finding myself in a bit of a diet rut.  Apparently this is pretty normal around 6 to 9 months and people find they need some new food ideas and new workout ideas. Interestingly I looked like I had lost the most of the people there that I had been in other nutrition classes with before, that was encouraging.

Now we get to the meat of the matter and that is my weight, I mentioned that my weight loss had been frustratingly slow.  A month ago I was at 279, today I am at 271.  I know that is right in line with what they say is a “healthy” weight loss rate but when you have been losing at the rate I had been that seems like a snail’s pace.

Of course, since I am under 275 that means that it is time for more pictures.  I have some 20 pound comparison pictures up, I have also put some other pictures of me up. (And simply because he is cute and awesome I put up some more pictures of my little boy Evren…what can I say, I’m a proud papa!)

I really love hearing back from people how much they love reading my blog and how it has inspired them to change something in their life.  The feedback that I am most excited about is the fact that 2 of my coworkers have decided to go thru with gastric bypass with my surgeon because of reading my blog and seeing my success. I found out that one of them, Dennis Rogers, has been approved and is scheduled for surgery on September 17^th. I told him that right after surgery he will hate me but that it will all be worth it in the end. I am really excited for him and excited about watching the changes I went thru from an observers point of view instead of the one going thru it.

That brings me to the update about my son, Evren.  As I mentioned last time he had been in Children’s hospital with problems growing and keeping formula down.  He is doing much better now, he still has his rough days (yesterday was one) and we have needed to tweak some of his medications as he grows but he is still growing and is up to 10lbs, 2oz.  While he is still small he is still maturing at a normal rate in other ways as far as muscle development and control. In general, he is doing well and I absolutely love being a father.

That pretty much does it for this post. Thanks for reading and as always thanks for the thoughts, prayers and encouragement.

The diet takes a back seat...

        Hey Y’all, once again it has been about 2 weeks since my last post, I would still like to do an update every week but I am thinking that for the foreseeable future it is more likely that they will usually be every other week unless I have something big to cover. 

I will apologize in advance to those who are just here for an update regarding my weight loss.  A lot happened in the last 2 weeks that isn’t related to my surgery and diet.  We will get to that in a bit, but first the diet.

Two weeks ago I declared that I was in the middle of my 2^nd plateau , well apparently the surefire way of getting thru a plateau is to declare its presence publicly because within a couple of days I started losing again.  Plateaus are so strange from a dieter’s perspective.  You don’t change anything, you are still sticking to your diet and exercise and the scale just stops moving, you stick to your guns, are patient, keep doing everything right and suddenly for seemingly no reason the scale eventually starts moving.  I am glad God knew what he was doing when he made us and knows how everything works because I certainly don’t understand it at times.

It is always nice to see the scale moving in the right direction but I think seeing everything shrinking and having old clothes be too big is far better.  I know all brands sizes are slightly different and some brands just generally fit smaller or larger but I found a regular XL shirt (that’s right no numbers or extra x’s ) shirt that I could fit into the other day, that felt awesome.  I also officially have no clothes left (except socks) from before the surgery, I have shrunk out of everything.

Following a diet will always be challenging, that is why so many fail but I find it interesting that the same is still true even after surgery.  I find I go thru phases where my motivation wanes somewhat or my self-control goes thru waves.  I found a few weeks ago that I had a hard time knowing exactly when to stop eating and would end up taking a n extra couple of bites (an yes 2 extra bites can make a HUGE difference between full and miserable).  Over the last couple of weeks I seem to have gotten better at knowing exactly when to stop and what a difference it makes not being miserable for a few minutes after every meal.

Now, to the numbers.  Two weeks ago, I was at 288, I have had a pretty good couple of weeks and am down to 279.  That means I am within just a few pounds of my next 20-pound milestone so I am thinking O will have an update next week and have some new pictures to post as well.

As I mentioned I actually had a busy and interesting couple of weeks since my last post.  This actually involves my other big life change this year.  That of course is my son Evren.  Evren was born pretty small and has always seemed to struggle to keep formula down and gain weight.  Well the day after my last post  he took a turn for the worse , he started throwing or spitting up almost everything he would eat. We took him to his pediatrician and they checked for milk allergies and some other conditions and checked his weight for 2 days.  In 2 days he lost 4 ounces from 7lb, 14 oz down to 7lb 10oz. atthis point he was admitted to Children’s Hospital here in Denver.  (Luckily Denver has one of the best children’s hospitals in the entire country).  While there he lost some more down to 7lb 4 oz, so a total of at least 10 oz and we think probably at least 2 more before he saw the pediatrician.

We were there for 5 days, they ran all sorts of tests and finally concluded that what happened was a combination of several things.  First, they think that he caught some sort of stomach bug that exacerbated some other conditions.  They also determined that he has really bad infant acid reflux and bad infant gas. 

The staff pediatrician told us that not only would they figure out what was causing the issues but that the may very well return a different son to us attitude-wise.  That is exactly what happened, we have made several changes and they seem to be working and Evren seems a lot more mellow except he still has some issues with gas pains some evenings.

While in the hospital, we experimented with almost every anti-gas bottle on the market and finally settled on Dr. Browns bottles.  We are also on a higher calorie fortified anti-gas formula and a more structured feeding schedule of smaller meals more frequently.  Evren is also on some infant acid reflux medicine and gas drops.  He also has a new bassinet that allows him to sleep at an angle.

All these changes seem to be working and as of last Friday he had regained all of the weight he had lost and was up to 8lb, 2oz. He is also definitely growing more and is finally starting to fill in and have a little bit of baby fat.

I am thinking that will do it for this week.  Thanks for reading , and of course thanks for all the thoughts prayers, and encouragement (especially the prayers for Evren recently.)

Stuck...

Hi Y’all. 

I know, I know…it’s been 3 weeks since my last post, for that I am really sorry.  I really don’t have much to report on for this post.

I had mentioned last time that I thought I had entered a plateau but that it looked like I was wrong and I was losing again.  Well, I think I have picked up on a bit of a pattern.  With my last plateau back in March/April I had a false plateau followed by a sudden small drop setting my mind at ease then the real plateau following right after.  I seem to be experiencing the same pattern, I thought I had plateaued dropped a few more pounds thought I was out of the woods.  Now weight loss has come to a screeching halt.  I have been stuck at between 290 and 287 for a few weeks now.

I have said that I know that plateaus are a part of any weight loss and that I know they are temporary but even knowing these things they are still frustrating and discouraging.  I have however found that they may have a benefit as well.  I had sort of found myself in a rut and was not exercising as much as I should have  and was not sticking as stringently to my diet as I should have been (that is not to say I was being bad , I was just not being as good as I could have been).

There were several factors in not working out much, the exhaustion from new fatherhood was (and to some degree still is) drawing on my motivation.  Colorado also had one of the worst heat waves in its history and that heat just sucks the life out of you (Yes, I know that to my family in Dallas that 105°

 is not hot but for here it is really freakin’ hot).  I believe I am adjusting to fatherhood somewhat, not that it is any easier, just that I am more used to its physical, mental and emotional impact now.

In any case I seem to be back on track now, working out with more frequency and drive and I also seem to have my narrower focus back as far as what I eat.  So I know it is just a matter of time until the scale starts moving again.

I had another exciting clothing related NSV recently.  I won’t go into too much detail here for the sake of all the pictures in your heads.  I will just say that my socks are the only items of clothing I have yet needed to get in a smaller size. ;-)

I also did decide to get a new gray sleeveless shirt for the 20 pound comparison pictures.  I felt that the original one had gotten to the point where it was so loose that you couldn’t tell if what was underneath had shrunk or not.  I am still holding onto it and will do one last round of pics in it when I reach goal weight.  Be looking for the debut of the new shirt when I reach the next 20 pound mark (275 pounds), hopefully soon.

So, 3 weeks ago I was at 294, well the following week I dropped to 290 and the week after down to 288 and that is where I am still setting today.  Hopefully I am closer to the end of this plateau than the start.  I will keep you al informed.

Of course it wouldn’t be a complete blog post from me without an update on the newest member of the family.  Evren is doing great; he is still in the brace for the hip dysplasia but should be out of it by the end of the month.  He is growing like crazy; I absolutely love being able to see huge changes in him from day to day.   And in case you haven’t figured it out or I hadn’t said it enough…being a daddy rocks!!

That pretty much does it for this week, once again sorry for the long gap here.  Thanks for reading and thanks again as always for the thoughts, prayers and encouragement.

Paying it forward...

     Hey Y'all, thanks for reading.  I am thinking this is gonna be a fairly short post, not a whole lot to report this week.

I am in the choir at the church April and I attend.  The last few years they have done a special men's choir for Father's Day.  I have been in it the last two years.  This year the dress code for the services was a single color button down shirt and jeans.  I love being put in a position to have to buy new clothes and this was one of those times.  I had to get a new shirt because I had long since shrunk out of all my button down shirts.  I know I still have a long way to go but compared to what I used to look like in dressier shirts I gotta admit I looked pretty good.  The men's choir at church along with bar-b-ques with the family made for a really great first Father's Day for me.

Saturday morning I took part in the panel of patients who had already had the surgery at Dr. Snyder's info seminar for those considering surgery.  There were seven of us, I was the second most recent surgery and I was still the largest among the group but I also had by far the highest starting weight among them.  It was fun to be there, show off a little bit to the staff, remember when I had been there sitting in the audience (A day I remember VERY clearly).  It was neat to hear some of Dr Snyder's updated stats a year later.  The national average for deaths per surgery for gastric bypass is around 1 in 200, Dr Snyder's current rate is 1 out of 3800 (that one was actually not due to surgery but happened within his six week statistical window so he still counts it).

It was also neat hearing the testimonial of the others on the panel.  They all got pretty good reactions, especially those that brought pants that were now way too big to show off.  I think I got the strongest reaction though just because my situation be somewhat unique with becoming a parent 3 months after having the surgery.

I told them about me researching and considering surgery for over ten years but how stuff just seemed to get in the way or didn't work out.  We all have lives and sometimes they can be complicated but that shouldn't deter them from going thru with the surgery and if I can get thru it with 2 huge life changes so close together then they most likely could handle the surgery and whatever else life decided to send their way.

So this week I am down to 294 pounds, another 4 pounds this week (4 pounds a week seems to be sort of the norm for me it seems).  That makes my total 121 pounds lost, which of course means more comparison pictures.  I continue to be amazed when I look at the pictures and can see the changes that even 20 pounds can make.

And of course I couldn't post new pictures here without posting some of my Son Evren.  Hope y'all enjoy.
That about does it for this week.  Thanks for reading and of course thanks for the thoughts, prayers and support.

The plateau that almost was...

Hi y’all.  Sorry I didn’t get a post up last week, I was really tired and somewhat frustrated (more on that later) and it didn’t get done.

I put on a little fashion show for my wife the other day... no, not that kind of fashion show.  I decided it  was time to go through a lot of my clothes and clean out anything that didn't fit. I let my wife have the final say on "Should (it) stay or should (it) go?" (one of the best song by The Clash) I am getting to the point where my closet is noticeably emptier. Now if I could just remember to actually take the huge pile of discarded clothes to the thrift store, the pile is almost as tall as my wife.  I am also experiencing an interesting phenomenon of looking at clothes, having a mental ruler in my head of how big my clothes are supposed to appear, thinking to myself this will never fit, trying it on anyway and having it fit me perfectly. 

For a few decades I have been in a mindset of knowing I wanted to lose weight but until now it hasn’t truly happened but because I knew I wanted to I would save clothes that became too small for me but were still in good shape.  Some eventually got tossed as I would move or do some spring cleaning but I still ended up with some smaller clothes to work back in to my wardrobe.  I am now fitting into some clothes I haven’t worn since college (I graduated in 2000).  Granted, some of which I don’t really want to wear now due to changes in fashion and taste but some still look good and/or current.


As I mentioned, one of the reasons I didn't post last week was frustration, my weight last week was 302 pounds, if you are keeping track that means I didn't loose anything last week and I really thought I had hit another of the dreaded plateaus.  I know they are just a part of the process and that eventually I will hit another one but even knowing this it is still really frustrating when they happen.


The good news is that it doesn't appear to be a plateau, just a bad week.  I think it was just my body adjusting to the huge change our family is going through, my wife thinks it's because I have been cheating more recently.  Actually, I am sure both are factors, my wife is right and I asked her to help me out getting back in the groove by holding me accountable and calling me on it if I try and cheat.


This week I am down to 298 pounds (UNDER 300, YAY!!!) I now have less than a hundred pounds to go.  Assuming all goes well I should pas 295 this week so I should have some new pictures next week (I'll have some new pics of Evren too, what can I say I'm a proud papa).


This journey I am on really got started July 7th of last year when I went to Dr Snyder's information seminar.  This weekend, 3 weeks short of a year I get to go again but this time as a participant in the panel of those who have had the surgery.  I am really excited about this, as you know I am really passionate about this and I can't wait to share my story with more people.  I am sure I will talk about this more in next weeks post.


That brings me to the other update I almost always give and that is my son Evren.  I can't put into word how much I am loving being a parent.  Yes I am tired but it is so worth it.  He is finally gaining weight at a decent rate and as of last week was up to 6lb, 8 oz, still tiny but up a nearly a pound in 9 days.  I love  being able to see changes in him (physically and behaviorally) on a daily basis.  Yesterday I noticed that it seemed like he was able to focus better and track better with his eyes, the way he was using them just seemed different.  I have Been told that as far as parents of newborns go we are actually pretty lucky because we are able to feed him before bed, he will sleep for 4 or 5 hours, and go right back down for another  4 hours after feeding and changing.


I think that about does it for this week.  Thanks for reading, and as always thanks for the thoughts, prayers, support and encouragement, they really do mean a lot.

A life in flux...

     Hi y'all I'm back...well most of me, some more of me has disappeared forever.  I am thinking I shouldn't have a problem getting back on my weekly schedule.

The last 14 days have been a whirlwind and the diet has taken some interesting turns but the scale has continued to move in the right direction.

I find that I do pretty well as far as water intake is concerned during the week (or at least when I am in a structured work environment).  I didn't do so well when My wife and I were staying in the hospital for Evren's birth.  The sad part is that it should have been easy, I was being sent down to get apple juice for April every few hours and I could have been grabbing water for me (I did some times, just didn't drink as much as I should).  Now that I am back at work I am doing far better, especially on workout days where I sometimes approach 100oz of water in a day.

One of the top questions I get asked is "Don't you get hungry with those small meals?", going into that I wondered if I would as well.  I had heard from several people that had gastric bypass that not only did they not get hungry but they sometimes had to set an alarm to remember to eat because they never feel hungry at all.  The morning of Evren's birth I had 2 turkey breakfast sausage links at about 6:30 in the morning.  I was so distracted for the day and the events that around 3:00 I realized I hadn't had anything else to eat.  I was just starting to feel hungry, mostly because I finally had a chance to sit and relax and reflect for a little bit.

I continue to shrink out of my clothing, I also continue to be a big customer of Savers, especially this last weekend when everything was 50% off their already dirt cheap prices.  I have lost a foot in jean sizes (from a whopping 58" waist down to a 46" waist).  Most of my shirts are still 3x's but most of them are starting to get really baggy and I am getting more and more 2x shirts into my wardrobe and they are fitting me pretty well.  I have a few 'small' 2x's that are a bit tight but I should be fitting into them in a few weeks.

I find it weird how different parts of my body will start to shrink and then stop at different times.  Early on it was my head and fingers, a few weeks ago it was my feet, and at one time my wife noticed my back.  Recently I have been seeing the changes in my legs, especially just above the knee.

So, as i mentioned earlier the scale is still moving in the right direction.  Last week was a big jump, I went from 314 pounds to 306 pounds... that's right, I lost 8 pounds in a week.  This week has been a little less dramatic I dropped another 4 pounds  down to 302.  So as you can see I should cross one of those BIG DEAL milestones this week and that is the 300 pound mark. and I should be pretty close to 295 so I will probably have some more pics in probably 2 weeks.

I do have a few pictures that I will put up tonight, One being another comparison pic, a couple of others are just some event pics that show my progress in a different context...and of course I will put some pictures of our little boy Evren.

Which of course brings me to his birth.  I am sure most of y'all already know but my son Evren Ryder was born Wednesday, May 16th at 10:57 am.  He was 5 lbs, 14 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.  Mommy, Baby and Daddy are all doing well other than being really tired.  I knew I would, but I am absolutely loving fatherhood, it's not exactly what I expected (actually wasn't sure what to expect) but it is wonderful.

With that it is time to draw this to an end.  Thanks for reading and as always thanks for the prayers, thoughts and encouragement, they really mean a lot.