etc. etc. etc.

This weekend, I went to put on my trusty Cubs hat and found that it was at least two sizes too big. I can slide about eight fingers in there and still have slack. I guess I had a fat head before.

I'm still hovering in the 196-199 range, which I am cool with. I am getting better at finding the right size/portion for off-plan stuff that allows me to partake, but not overdo it. And I'm getting pretty good at matching days of being off-plan (a slice of pizza with the family, for instance) with meals where I am very much on plan (boiled chicken for lunch the next day). I still weigh myself everyday and I make adjustments as needed. The only rough day I've had lately was Saturday, when we went to Shake Shack before a concert. The line was so long that when we got our food, we had just a few minutes to eat. Even though I'd chosen a veggie burger (and theirs are small anyway) to stay on plan, wolfing it down in a hurry made me VERY queasy. Other than that, I've been doing good. Most of my meals are still the stuff I ate when I was trying to lose: protein shakes, tuna, lean grilled meats, raw veggies. I still skip most sweets and have small portions. I still eat protein first.

Holy smokes, Laladee, that is outstanding! Good on you!

I went camping this weekend and took my favorite hat with me. It's a fitted Cubs hat. I hadn't worn it since last year. It's about three sizes too big. It's like being a kid and wearing your dad's hat.

Yep, I'm only 1.2 lbs. away. To tell the truth though, I consider myself more or less done. I'm already about 10 pounds less than wife. She's super proud of me, but it's maybe not her favorite thing to outweigh me. I think she looks great, but I understand the feeling.

So I'm down from 337 to 196. And that's been great. But there are constant adjustments. Some of these adjustments are... awkward. This is straight up male TMI info coming up so you have been warned. For instance, my entire adult life, my uh, business, let's call it, fit into underwear and pants a certain way, and sat a certain way. It was weird enough when I had to switch sizes on underwear over and over, then switch styles, finally settling on medium sized Adidas boxer briefs that manage to keep everything where I'm used to/comfortable with it, even without the help of a bunch of excess body fat pushing it outward... while I am standing anyway. But the latest thing--and I am truly sorry for bringing this up, but where the heck else am I going to talk about this?--is that it turns out that the change in my body shape now means I am sitting on my family jewels. Well, not on them, but they rest on the chair/seat now. OK, well not on the chair, but resting much lower than I am accustomed, such they they feel like they are. They used to sort of rest on my fat/splayed out thighs. This is truly weird and I'm still not used to it. It's making me think I need to find another kind of underwear again.

Another reason I truly appreciate this forum is because after a certain point, my wife and co-workers have heard enough and I don't have anywhere else to be proud and report results. I got new jeans yesterday: 32Wx34L. I'm wearing those with a medium shirt and I feel like I look good. But I feel like I'm getting annoying to the people around me in real life, so I'll just say that here and keep my mouth shut elsewhere.

I have a desk job. I did the surgery on Friday, then took the weekend and Monday off. I did half days on Tuesday and Wednesday and was back to full days by Thursday.

That ricotta bake recipe that floats around all of the bari groups and boards was my fave when I was at that stage. Where I'm at right now, my faves are sashimi (which I can't afford enough to eat regularly, but still, I love it), chicken burgers (my grocery's butcher section has them with feta and spinach mixed in and they're awesome), tuna fish in packets (boring, but I like the convenience, and I appreciate getting so much protein with so little calories and carbs), and lean grilled pork chops, which I make in a half dozen ways. Two other things I depended on before I went full solids were FairLife Skim Milk (which is filtered to be lower in carbs and higher in protein than generic skim milk) and Protein2o flavored waters. I was very careful about getting all of my protein and those things helped a ton.

It was! Thanks for remembering! Yep, she's working with a cessation counselor through our insurance company. She's down to 4 cigarettes a day (from 10-12) with a projected quit date of June 1. I'm pretty proud of her.

Hello there! You are about to have surgery and it's scaring you to death? You are thinking you made a mistake? Yes, that is normal. You will be okay. There are many threads about that. Have a look. You just had your surgery and you feel like crap? It's hard to swallow and you ache all over? You wish you had not done this? Yes, that is normal. You will be okay. There are many threads about that. Have a look. You're recovering from surgery, but the restricted diet is driving you up a wall? You'd like some assurances that there are things you can eat that won't make you bored senseless and/or nauseous, and if not, comforting words that this will pass and the next stages are better? Yes, that is normal. You will be okay. There are many threads about that. Have a look. It's been a few weeks since surgery and you're worried you're not losing as much weight as other people? Yes, that is normal. You will be okay. There are many threads about that. Have a look. It's been two or three weeks since your surgery and you seem to have stopped losing weight entirely? You maybe even gained a few pounds? Yes, that is normal. You will be okay. There are many threads about that. Have a look. It is totally cool to ask about all of these things! It's totally cool to worry and want some nice people to give you advice and tell you that you are not alone. Post anything you would like. But you can also take a few minutes and read some of the earlier posts. You should totally do that, too, as a) it will give you more answers to the thing that is bothering/scaring you more quickly and b ) it will help you see that you're not alone and there are nice people here who have had the same or similar problems and they turned out okay. Also, by posting your worries in the pre-existing threads, you will make the top of the forum less scary to other new people, as there won't be a half dozen posts on the same problem, just a few longer ones with lots of support and answers already in place. The forum didn't open this morning! Don't discount how much you can learn by reading what's already here. You are going to be okay. Settle in and read stuff. It will help, I promise.

I found these at Target this weekend. Expensive, but pretty good and a less guilty way to have a cookie:

(clears throat to bump this back up a bit, for the benefit of newer folks)

The other weird thing is, I went from looking very much like my youngest brother (who is overweight but not obese) and not at all like my older brother (who runs marathons) to nothing at all like the younger brother and very much like the older one. We're not twins or anything but we have a strong family resemblance now.

I'm wearing a new shirt today... it's a medium. Long road between XXXL and M, y'all. The relationship between size and weight is something I didn't really understand. I thought I would get down to about 175 before looking trim and that would would maybe be an XL. I'm down to 198 and nothing I wear anymore is bigger than an L and some of it is medium now. Some of that is probably the way sizes have changed over the years to flatter people. An M today is probably an L from 20 years ago. But still. It's weird.

Subject: sub 200 pound weight. Last seen: 1993. New sighting: my bathroom scale, this morning. I kinda feel like I'm kicking aging's butt this morning, y'all!

I've been lucky on my neck... nothing loose at all. Although I can hold a pencil under my butt cheek now, the way my sag is... (Not a joke. I tried it.)

There's not always a detectable rhyme or reason for how the weight comes off. I'm darn near thin now, but with very nearly the exact same love handles I had 135 pounds ago. Nothing to do for it, but ride it out and be glad the weight is coming off. Hang in there! If your gut holds that much weight, some of that will start to come off sooner than later.

Many different plans seem to work, yes. The only thing that seems like an absolute is that the people who succeed have a plan, execute it as best they can, track their results, and hold themselves accountable. Slip-ups here and there, sure. Differences in approach, you bet. Creekimp and I eat very differently, but what we share in common is a that we follow a plan and give it a lot of thought and consideration and put real effort into making sure we stay on track. Occasionally, people will say some very pleasant sounding stuff about "not worrying about all those numbers" and "just using your best judgment" ...and I have to bite my tongue not to remind them their best judgment made them a seriously obese person who needed major surgery to get their weight under control. Notice also how many of the "I'm not getting results!" and "I'm backsliding!" posts indicate the same kind of lack of plan and "going by what feels right" approach. This is not a coincidence. There are many different ways to do this right. But they all involve putting in effort and holding yourself accountable. Lots of roads to the same destination, but to get there, you have to get going, stay in motion, and follow your own map.

I drink a glass or two of wine from time to time. I've found though that red wine gives me a histamine interaction now, meaning I wake up in the middle of the night with both sinuses blocked, completely unable to breathe through my nose. It turns out this may have been something I had before but when I weighed an extra 135 pounds, it took more red wine to set it off, so it didn't come up as easily. White is still fine for me though. The other thing I've found is that I have to treat the no drinking liquids right before or after eating rule a lot more seriously if the liquid in question is wine. No glass of wine with dinner for me.

What's kind of weird is that, coming out of surgery, I weighed myself every day to see how much I was losing... But these days, I could probably weigh myself once a week for that. But I weigh myself every day anyway, now to keep track of when I need help to poop. "Hmmm, I'm up two pounds, even though I've stayed on my diet... I guess I haven't pooped in like five days... Probably time to take a stool softener."

Aw, that sucks. I'm rooting for you. You'll have to dance party double time to hold steady. Hang in there, hon!

My wife came home with some new shirts for me. All of them fit though one was maybe very slightly on the tight side. When I checked the tag I saw she'd accidentally bought a medium. I can wear a size medium shirt, you guys. I was XXXL. I am six feet tall. Medium? GEEZ.

Oh man, I wish your brother well. My brother came around on my surgery but his initial reaction was to say how proud he'd been of our dad for insisting on trying to lose the weight with diet and exercise. I was like, "You remember he died, right? His heart gave out and he died."

Ah, got it. My bad. I haven't had the Isopure clear drinks. I went with Protein2o, which I liked pretty well.