Week 17 – What A Party!

This past weekend was a blowout celebration party!  Eighteen months ago I shared with a wonderful group of friends that I had begun a new journey towards better health.  I had just been referred for bariatric surgery.  I have very much appreciated the support of these friends as I’ve forged ahead down this path.  On August 28^th most of these friends gathered around me in Keene, New York, to help me celebrate the success I’ve had along this new path.

I used to really enjoy hiking up mountains 'back in the day'. Nineteen years ago I started on a day trip hiking up the trail to Whiteface Mountain with my wife and two kids and a couple of their friends.   I struggled very badly because I was hauling around so much excess body weight (80 pounds) and I just did not have enough breath to keep climbing. At about a quarter of the way up, I had to turn around and go back down while the rest of the group continued up to the summit.  It was one of the worst days of my life.  It did motivate me to start going to the gym and I lost 30 pounds (which I gradually gained back over the following few years.

On August 29^th, one day before my 58^th birthday, I climbed Whiteface all the way both up and down (carrying about 25 pounds of gear) AND I also climbed a sister mountain, Esther, as a side trip. I was very nervous starting out.  I knew that I had lost a good chunk of weight and pumped up my ability to handle exercise - and I figured that I could 'probably' make it to the top okay - but I was afraid that my knees might not hold out to do the return trip back down the mountains.

It turned out to be a real victory. I was almost bounding all the way up, feeling almost like a teenager. The trip down was hard on the thigh muscles, but my knees held up very well. This trip was a great celebration of this new lifestyle that I've begun.

In case you don’t know, Whiteface Mountain is the fifth highest of 46 high peaks in upper New York state.  Whiteface is 4,867 foot elevation with a 2,535 foot ascent from the trailhead and an eight mile round trip via Marble Mountain (2,753’).  We also had enough time and energy to climb two sister mountains, Lookout (4,085’ el.) and Esther (4,240’ el.).  The trail to these mountains starts at 3,750’, so it meant that we were able to climb them by only adding 489 ft. ascent to our total.

Total workout for the day = 600 minutes hard work in an 11 ½ hour climbing day.  This was invested in covering  12.8 miles (20.6 kilometers) round trip and a total ascent of 3,024 feet (or two thirds of a mile).  Calories burned = 5,000 (or 1.4 pounds).  Map of Whiteface and Esther

It’s not so much about stats, but a few that are little signposts for me as I celebrate this new lifestyle:

• 54.5 pounds lost since start of Optifast
• 74.5 pounds lost since referral to Optifast program 20 months ago
• Size XXL to M
• Size 44 to size 32 pants

Now I'm seriously considering joining the 46er club. Wow, what a change!

 

Week Sixteen - Eating is Lots of Work

I missed posting here last week - not because of a lack of excitement - but I've been working like a dog building a porch, and I just haven't had the time to post.

I've been pleasantly surprised that I've continued to loose weight during transition (now starting week three of five transition weeks - probably due to the almost endless physical activity involved in porch building :-)

One of the biggest things I've found is that this eating thing involves lots of planning, strategizing, preparation, and problem-solving.  First we have to map out a week's food plan, then make sure we have the groceries, then pre-prepare food portions - where possible.  I am finding that this additional work is paying off though, because I have a carefully thought out plan I'm not tempted to go off and eat other off-plan stuff.

In group sessions now, we're talking about meal planning for post-transition, food preparation tips, and such things.  All very practical stuff.

Right now I am especially excited to our mountain hiking trip in one week's time.  Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain here we come.  This little get-together with some close friends will be a wonderful celebration of both my weight loss achievement and my new healthy habits for life.  If I'm able to climb the mountain, I might be a ADK 46er in due time.

A bit more porch building to get done first....

Here is my tool belt from 3 years ago - a little too big today.

Here is what my exercise program looks like these days...

Chewing - a Unique Experience!

Ok, so a mid-week update.  Three delicious meals so far.  Remember the criteria - 3 oz. protein + 1 cup non-starchy vegetables.  I'm thinking, 'Wow, that doesn't sound like very much food'.  Well I'm here to tell you that it was plenty.  I walked away having practiced 'mindful eating' (who knew you could chew a bite of food 40 times?), putting my fork down between bites, AND even left a little food on my plate.  And I thoroughly enjoyed the meal experiences.

Friday was Thai chicken soup - no noodles and no coconut milk, but spicy and delicious!  And a rice paper wrap filled with julienned carrot, cucumber and lettuce with a dipping sauce of vinegar, soy sauce, and Splenda.  Heaven on earth.

Saturday was a leisurely breakfast on the deck.  Omelet with 2 eggs, 1 oz. ham (1 oz. is not much ham!) and 1 cup of veggies - mushroom, broccoli, carrots, peppers, etc.  Very nice - thank-you, Sue.

Today was a nice lunch salad - 1 cup of lettuce/spinach with 1/2 cup veggies (mushroom, peppers, cukes, carrots, tomato,etc) topped with 3 oz chicken seasoned with some Old Bay seasoning.  For salad dressing, I used Walden Farms brand 0 calorie/ 0 fat honey mustard dressing - 2 Tbsp.

All enjoyed with 1 1/2 cup 0 calorie sparkling mandarin flavoured water.

I was surprised by a few things:

• While the eating/tasting was great, the actual chewing part was not as exciting as I thought it would be - I've never felt deprived on Optifast and I got chewing from shaved ice in the shakes.
• I was amazed at how full I felt after each meal - not over-full, but yet stuffed and very, very satisfied.
• I didn't miss starch.  In days of yore, a meal would not be complete without a good dose of starch, maybe two different starches.  Funny, eh!  It's like my eating habits have been wiped clean - now it's up to me to choose my new eating habits.
• It took a lot of planning and work - I had to map out a week's food plan, order the groceries from my favorite shopper (thanks, Sue!), cook, clean up.  But it was social and fun to do.
• So far my stomach has not reacted badly to food - I was expecting acid reflux, IBS symptoms, etc, but nothing like that yet.  Well, there was an episode of impacted colon today (google that for fun reading, or not!), but not bad, all-in-all.

Here's looking forward to the rest of this week's meals - basically repeats of the first three.

Here's to a new and improved relationship with food - for life!

Week Fourteen - Milestones

Four important milestones this week:

1. Today the medical program is half completed.

I have mixed feelings about this – part happy that it’s half over; perhaps a bigger part is sad that it’s half over. I feel like I have so much more to learn, so many skills to practice. Three more months doesn’t seem like enough time.

2. Tomorrow I get to eat my first solid ‘meal’ in three months.

This is wonderful. This coming week is the first of five weeks of transition to solid food. Week T1 will be three Optifast shakes and one ‘meal’ consisting of 3 oz protein and 1 cup non-starchy vegetables. I think the keys here will be planning, simple ‘meals’, and avoiding food cues /'high-risk' foods. The last three months have been very easy – lots of thinking and talking about food, but the only choice has been chocolate or vanilla.  There have been no real cravings or difficult food choices – the next three months will be very full of all this, and it’s scary.  In case you're wondering, my first 'meal' will be Thai chicken broth soup - no noodles and no coconut milk, but lots of vegetables with a small rice paper wrapper with julienned veggies.  This seems like a wonderful way to 'break' 'fast'.

3. Today I weighed 165 lbs.

That’s a loss of 45 pounds. over 3 months, and 65 pounds over 19 months. I feel really good – much fitter and more energized than before. I have been very pleasantly surprised by how much weight I’ve lost. Based on the "15 to 20 percent of starting weight" that I was told at the start, I was conservatively expecting to reach 180 lbs and desperately hoping to reach 170 lbs. Now I’m beginning to think that I might even get to 155 lbs – at that point I would move from ‘overweight’ to ‘normal’ on the BMI charts! I can kind of relate to people with anorexia – feeling like ‘just a few more pounds’ and I’m good. I’ve got to really focus on the fact that I feel wonderful, and even if I don’t lose another pound I could be happy here for life. I might even put the scales in the spare room for a while.

4. Three weeks before we head out for mountain climbing.

I’m really looking forward to this time with friends to celebrate the healthy habits I’ve adopted for the second half of my life. I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to climb (and get back down) this 4,000+ mountain. It will be a real test of my fitness, and an estimate of how well I’ll be able to do hiking the Peninne Way and Hadrian’s Wall next year.

All very exciting stuff.

Week Thirteen- Grocery Store Tour

So Thursday, July 30^th was a grocery store field trip with dietician Sara.  I already knew quite a bit about reading labels, but I learned a lot more about food labelling and ‘better’ healthy choices – and it was lots of fun!

The transition to solid food was delayed one week, so we start to eat one meal of solid food per day on August 6^th – like it was originally planned.  Good – another week for good weightloss, and a bit more time to plan and prepare for transition.  We’re told that we will continue to lose weight (after some weight re-gain the first week of transition), but at a slower pace than we have been doing on full Optifast.  I suppose it was too good to last forever.

A few things I’ve noticed this week:  

• A couple times now I’ve been referred to as ‘the little guy’ and I was volunteered to stand on a table to fix a projector – nope, not a chance 18 months ago.
• A few times during the digging out of flowerbeds with big shrub roots, I’ve noticed that I miss those extra pounds when I’m jumping on a shovel, trying to get a good bite of dirt.
• On walks I’m the one that wants to walk farther instead of being the one to want to turn back, and I'm not so easily winded on walks,etc.

Not bad.