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.