I’ve now lost 54.7 pounds since my surgery. I tried several challenges or programs at gyms and other places in the past, and 40 pounds was the most I ever lost in all that time. In one month I have already exceeded that amount.
I am a little nervous about the next month because I am going from seeing the doctor every week to checking in once a month, so I won’t have that same accountability for my progress.
I think for me the mindset this last month was, I have to go see the doctor this week, so I have to make sure I am drinking my water and doing my walking. Now that it’s going to be a month between visits my hope is that I don’t get lazy and think I can exercise less frequently because I eat fewer calories.
But my hope is to stay strong. So far I’ve been in a pretty good pattern with working out and eating right. They say if you do something for 30 days it sticks with you— it becomes a habit. I’ve been doing everything right for about a month, so I think I’m creating better long-term habits for myself.
And my wife helped me get over that nervousness a little bit. She reminded me that I can only eat 4 oz of food, so as long as I exercise I should keep losing weight. We also know that I will be losing at a slower rate than before. This week I lost 3 pounds, last week it was 6 pounds, but before that I was losing about 10 pounds every week.
So I know I have to be conscious about exercising this month. If I don’t lose at least 10 pounds between now and my next visit then I am probably doing something wrong.
I have confidence in meeting that goal though, especially because I am finding it easier and easier to eat less. For example, yesterday the only thing I ate was a protein shake, and I didn’t even do it on purpose. I went to bed and realized: Dang, I didn’t eat anything today. I just had a protein shake. That’s crazy!
I’m excited that I’m not spending all day thinking about food. I don’t have those cravings anymore. Today I’ve only had a protein shake and some water, and I feel fine. Usually by noon I’m thinking about lunch or planning a trip to Subway or something. It’s weird that I just don’t think about food anymore.
The other exciting development is exercise, which is something I’ve never loved. Yesterday I really surprised myself. I was listening to music, sort of in the zone, and I looked down and saw that I had gone 2.4 miles without even realizing it. I had never even seen 2.4 miles before, except maybe 2.4 miles to empty on my car.
I can’t really exercise my core yet as my stomach is still healing. The incisions on the outside are coming along nicely, but it will still be about a month before the inside heals well enough for me to do sit-ups and things like that. I’m really excited to get a full range of motion again. I can’t wait to play basketball or do MMA workouts with my brothers. I hate running, so I’m excited to have some fun with sports and still get that exercise.
I had a moment the other day that really put the weight I’ve lost in perspective. I was in the store buying some rice, and I told my son to pick up one of the 50 pound bags of rice. He said, “Wow! That’s heavy.” And I told him that’s how much weight I’ve lost, that’s what I was carrying around with me everywhere. It’s great to have that weight, literally, taken off my shoulders.
