Umm... Time for Gas?

I had my six-week follow-up with the doctor's office last week. I've officially lost 24% of my excess weight. They like to see at least 20% by that point, so I'm a bit ahead of the curve.

Woo-hoo!

Also, six weeks marks the point where I begin Phase III of the diet. Phase I was liquid-only. It was... survivable. Phase II was the solid phase where I had to purée everything. It was better, but still a bit of a pain.

Phase III is the real meat of the diet plan, and it lasts until my six-month check-up. So it's the stage between "still healing" and "the rest of my life." I don't have to purée things anymore, and I can eat small quantities of vegetables and fruit. Well, I can eat non-starchy veggies and soft fruits.

Solid State

So it's been a while since I updated the blog (duh), but life is slowly returning to normal.

My peanut butter experiment didn't go so well, though. I was a little nauseated afterward, and I didn't sleep well. So I haven't really had a taste for it since then. I know why (it's called conditioned taste aversion), but I hope it doesn't last, 'cause I really love peanut butter.

But at least I'm eating solid food now, even though I'm supposed to purée everything. Well, my food has to be the consistency of cottage cheese. So if it's already like that (refried beans, eggs, etc.), then I'm cool. Otherwise, I'm supposed to Cuisinart the food to death. As long as it looks sorta like it tastes...

So, I Discovered Something

I am not ready to get out and about.

After more than a week of recuperating at home, I decided that I felt pretty good. So I planned a day out on Monday to run a bunch of errands that had been accumulating on my To Do list.

Mistake.

I didn't think so at the time, but I wore myself out. Oh, sure, I was tired when I got home after 4 hours running errands, but I wasn't ready to collapse.

Then Tuesday hit. I was completely wasted all day. Even today, I still haven't recovered completely.

Begin at the Beginning

Most of you know that I've been a big guy all my life. As a HS wrestler at my fittest, I weighed 220 lbs. I've been up and down many times, but mostly up.

Fortunately, I'm in pretty good shape for a guy my size. I mean, I don't have heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. I can hike around campus with a 20-lb backpack and do it while having a conversation with my 20-something classmates. I can grind out 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical without feeling like I'm going to die.

But I just can't lose weight and keep it off. And believe me, I've tried. I did Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem back in the 80s. More recently, I did Atkins, South Beach, and even a medically supervised diet a couple of years ago. Everything worked... for a while.