Post Op Week 7

11.18.2013

Another week, another 4 pounds. Although to be honest, my weight dipped a little lower over the weekend.

Today's weight pushes me past losing 40 pounds since surgery, 43 pounds actually, and a total of 83 pounds since all of this started. It also puts me within 10 pounds of my 21st century low weight of 348, which was over 7 years ago when I was semi-successful with Atkins/South Beach.

I reached my first real hurdle this past week when I overdid my exercise routine and threw my back out. I'm not sure if "overdid" is the right word since I think I was just being a little too aggressive with an exercise and just strained a back muscle a little. After multiple visits to the chiropractor it's been decided it's a muscle problem, not a bone problem. As such, I've been taking it easy since last Wednesday and slacked off on lifting weights and walking. To be honest, the slacking bothers me and I'm ready to get back into my routine.

The weather has been part of my excuse for the hiccup in my routine as it's been raining more. I could walk on the treadmill, but (1) it's incredibly boring and (2) I walk harder (not pace/effort, but physically pounding) which hurts my feet and legs more). I could use the bike or @#%! elliptical machine, and I don't have a good excuse for why I haven't done that.

This evening I take Gina to Nashville to see Jason at Raw. It's been a couple of years since I went to a wrestling event, and this is more an excuse to see Jason than to watch wrestling. This mainly means there will be no walking around the school track tonight, so I'm going to force myself to get some exercise before we leave. Light weights, bike, actual walking - don't know what it'll be yet, but it's going to be something.

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Post Op Week 6

11.11.2013

Another week, another 4 pounds. I'm ok with that, too. That's a rate I'm happy with losing weight at. Within the next week I should hit a total of 80 pounds loss since I maxed out in January!

This past weekend I began my weight exercise program. One of the big worries with bariatric surgery is loss of muscle tone and the flappy skin that comes with it. After quickly learning a self-made workout plan wasn't going to cut it, I went to the Wellness Center and got a properly prescribed workout. 3 workouts, in fact. Today was workout #2, plus it's the one day of the week I have a workout plus walk in the evening.

• Monday: Workout (mostly back) and nightly walk with Gina.
• Tuesday: Nightly walk with Gina.
• Wednesday: Workout (Chest and more cardio than I really want to do)
• Thursday: Nightly walk with Gina.
• Friday: Nightly Walk with Gina.
• Saturday: Workout (mostly legs)
• Sunday: NOTHING!

I'm still in the first pass of each exercise, so I'm tweaking the numbers of what I should do with what I can realistically do. For most weight exercises, I'm trying to do 3 sets of 15. Sometimes I can do all 3 sets with the same weight, sometimes I can't. I'm still learning.

But right now I'm a little sore. I think mostly from the 3.2 mile walk I just finished. Time to lay down for a little bit.

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Post Op Week 5

11.04.2013

I have got to clean those scales. After 3 years I should clean them at least once.

Much like last week, I'm down another 4 lbs for the week. Also much like last week, I actually weighed less on Friday than on Monday. It seems my metabolism can kick into reverse when I seriously rest.

This weekend had some serious rest. Last week Gina and I skipped walking on Halloween because of the weather. I made up part of it with a new fitness assessment at the Wellness Center on Friday. The assessment wasn't much of a workout except for 13 minutes on the treadmill where, thanks to the heart monitor strapped beneath my bosom, I reached 3 target heart rates. I heart rate was "you may think you're going to have a heart attack, but you're not". The good news is that I made it through, which 2 years and 40 lbs ago during my first assessment we skipped all of this and I was just assessed as Barely Mobile. Tack on the usual Friday walk afterwards and I was tired Friday night. And most of Saturday. At least through 4:30 in the afternoon when I finally committed to getting all of the way out of bed.

This Wednesday I go back to the Wellness Center to find out what my computer tabulated regimen will be. I'm going to shoot for a thrice-a-week workout, yet still keep the walking schedule Gina and I have.

On the food front, I fixed a burrito this weekend, although it was folded over more like a quesadilla. Now you can share in my label watching and see what was in it:

• 1 8" fat-free flour tortilla (105 calories/0 fat/ 1g sugar/ 18g carbs/ 4g protien)
• 3 Tbsp re-fried black beans (55 calories/ 1g fat/ 0 sugar/ 9g carbs/ 3g protien)
• 4 oz chicken (100 calories/ 2g fat/ 0 sugar/ 0 carbs/ 22g protein)
• 1/8 cup fat-free cheddar cheese (23 calories/ 0 fat/ 0 sugar/ 1g carb/ 4g protein)
• 2 Tbsp salsa (15 calories/ 0 fat/ 1g sugar/ 3g carbs/ 0 protein)
• 2 Tbsp fat-free sour cream (25 calories/ 0 fat/ 3g sugar/ 4g carbs/ 2g protein)

For my burrito, that gives me:

• 323 calories
• 3g fat
• 5g sugar
• 35g carbs
• 35g protein

It's the most calories and carbs I've eaten at once (although it did take me half an hour). I think the protein to sugar/fat ratio is pretty good. The old Atkins-Me still worries about carbs, but I try to focus on avoiding the sugar-carbs now.

I've still got 3 more of these things wrapped up in the fridge waiting for me to heat up this week :)

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Post Op Week 4

10.28.2013

Neglected to take a picture of the scales this morning, so here's a fill-in pic
 

Since last Monday I've lost another 4 pounds, although I had lost more. On Friday, I weighed in at 369.8, but then began going up. Why, you may ask? How is is possible to gain weight on 700 calories/day? It's jus a guess, but I think it's a combination of not drinking enough fluids (water) and taking the weekend off from walking (mainly to see if my thighs would keep screaming). That combo may be leading me to retain some fluid, and thus make my weight go up. Just a guess, though.

Today is Monday and my break is over. After a week, my thighs finally aren't screaming - although they may be after tonight's walk. Gina and I have found 2 paths that both come out to 2.66 miles. Usually we have a 19 minute/mile page (got it down to 17 once, which was balanced out by 21 the next night).

This Friday I meet with a trainer at the Wellness Center to get a new health assessment and a workout that will focus on toning. After trying a little self-made-up workout last week, I decided I need someone that knows what they're doing to tell me what and how I should work out now. A 20-year break from properly working out has caught up with me. I've forgotten so much!

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Unsanctioned Widgey - Shadows Over Camelot

10.26.2013

Last night I got together with the DealNews crew and played Shadows Over Camelot, which has currently been played on Wil Wheaton's Tabletop (it's fun to watch to get a feel of the game). In the game, everyone is working together to complete quests and win the game for all, except 1 person might secretly be a traitor and working for the forces of evil.

One of the fun parts of this game is everyone wondering/accusing the potential traitor, especially since there's a small chance the traitor won't be present in the game. I've generally shied away from this type of game, as I've never really grasped the concept of how you can by the bad guy but to cover it up you have to help the good guys - to me it would just seem so obvious that the traitor would be doing the minimum.

In Wil's game, the traitor was actually pretty helpful, at least in my eyes. When Wheaton's group was playing, he pointed out how when someone plays the first time they can get away with a lot more by "acting ignorant" of some of the rules if they are the traitor. I took advantage of that, as I WAS THE TRAITOR in the first game we played. It seems this game is so difficult for the good guys that revealing the traitor just send it over the top, so that was my strategy. Be helpful beyond the minimum until the opportunity for me to win shows itself.

I had a small advantage in keeping my secret since I don't work with these guys every day. I know them well enough to cut-up, joke, and accuse, but I was able to keep it all subtle enough to not raise too many suspicions. The hardest part was to not keep looking at the rules for what to do once the traitor is revealed. Play started, and taking a cue from the game I saw on YouTube I was focusing on planting siege engines around Camelot (need to place 12 for Camelot to fall and me to win the game). There were other ways for me to win, but this seemed the most straight forward.

As we were all learning the game (from Richard's rules speech), everyone fumbled around a little and did some things wrong, some things right. I teamed with Phil on a quest, but then he left me. Completing a quest is a point for the good guys, so I was secretly happy he left. Then Keith and Daniel came along to help me complete the quest. While completing the quest was bad for my overall goal (complete enough quests and the good guys win), this particular quest had the smallest reward. I also received a bonus for completing the quest, so the good guy face I had to show was happy. Meanwhile, larger quests were starting to fail.

The siege engines around Camelot were growing, to around 10 out of the 12 which would make Camelot fall. Everyone was rallying back to defend Camelot, but I managed to find a (valid) excuse to try and finish the quest I was on, which of course I had no intention of doing. Siege engines were destroyed, but drawn cards kept putting more back. After a couple of turns, we were back to 10 siege engines and thanks to a special knight power, we were hinted that some Very Bad Cards were set to be drawn. Amanda took her turn right before me and placed siege engine #11 on the board for her Bad Thing because she knew the Bad Card was very bad. Her good thing was not to battle the siege engine, so on my turn there were 11 of the 12 siege engines present to make Camelot fall.

I decided to have a little fun, if for no other reason than I like to mess with Joe and he falls for it most of the time.

Everyone looked to me as I started to reveal what I was going to do. "Ok, we know the black card is bad" I said. "But, I've got 5 Health so I can lose 1 health point as my bad thing." Everyone nodded as I fumbled with my health die, ready for me to sacrifice a life point. "Ok, so I place a siege engine." Nods went to confusion, and Daniel tried to stop me as he realized it would end the game. Joe looked at me with a "Wait, why would you do that? Hey, are you the.." as I turned over my card and revealed myself as the traitor.

It was AWESOME!

We played another game, and Keith won as the traitor but he had to work for it a little harder (he didn't cover up his traitorness as well as I did and was exposed!). Shadows Over Camelot isn't truly fun until you play as the traitor. Seeing how long you can get away with lurking in the shadows (over Camelot) is a lot more fun than I expected.

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