Two Months Later...

 Sorry I haven't written more lately. Been very, very busy with work, work and more work, plus settling into our new house and getting it ready for the summer backyard entertainment season. This, of course, means one thing and one thing only: $PENDING MONEY!

The house...hmm, how to be charitable about this? It came with more issues than a newsstand. The latest & greatest is that while we do have a rather large backyard entertainment space, it's divided into fourths: Cement patio/BBQ area, mulch area w/water feature, stone-covered area and a small lawn about 20x20. The lawn area has an integrated irrigation system that also allows three or four water spigots around the perimeter to operate. Only problem is, when the valve that charges that system is open...we were leaking water. 

A LOT of water. And, because these things are never, ever obvious -- the leaks were underground and thus, invisible. Long story short, we contracted a company that uses some kind of ground-penetrating audio leak detection system and they found two leaks, and our gardener dug them up and fixed the SHIT out of them. Now, when that valve is open, the water meter isn't spinning like a 45 in a Wurlitzer. 

Now, back to me: As of my last weigh in, this past Saturday...319.2 lbs. Down from 375 in December. So, in the last six-ish months, I've lost 57lbs! Then my lovely wife pointed out that from my lifetime high of 420lbs, I've lost OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS! 

And in even MORE EXCITING NEWS, it's quite possible that I won't need my CPAP anymore! I've fallen asleep 2 or 3 times in the last few weeks without it, and according to The Lightest Sleeper Known to Man (she'll wake up if I change my mind) I've been utterly silent. No snoring, etc. What's interesting about that is just recently we discovered that when someone loses weight, their tongue loses mass, too. And since my tongue falling back to block my airway is what the CPAP prevents... 

Don't get me wrong; I love my CPAP and I fully credit it's dutiful, every-night usage for (counting...hang on,) almost 24 YEARS to the fact that I still draw breath. My father, rest his soul, died at the tender age of 47 and had a RAGING case of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. He could snore the wallpaper off the walls. CPAP technology wasn't readily available back in the 1980s. 

My daily fasting sugars also are remaining wonderfully low. Never more than about 125, but usually around 90-110. I'm down TEN INCHES on my waist, two full shirt sizes! I used to wear a 5XLT, and am down to 3XL! Even some of those are starting to get "roomy." I will probably finish around a 2XL, and I'm FINE with that. 

One of the sadder things I went through at 5XLT with a 56-inch waist was that, well, the clothing available in the Big & Tall stores (aka: The Fat Man Store) above 3x were boring and generic. I love T-shirts, and all the cool T-shirts I wanted to wear stop at 3X. 

So, I've sorta been  on a T-shirt buying spree. I have to stop for a while, because I'll probably drop to 2x soon. I actually went through my closet yesterday and, uh, liberated like 20 5X shirts. 

We bought 3 pair of pants in January because I'd already lost so much weight that my 56-waist pants aren't fitting me. Never wore them once. (I wear cargo shorts almost every day.) We have a family function next weekend that requires a tad more decorum than cargo shorts, so we went down to that Fat Man Store again to get a single pair. 

I walked in and saw the dress pants and took a 48W and, then, hopefully-but-prepared-to-be- disappointed, a 46W to the changing room. Annie said to try the 46 on first. I had little hope, but dammit! I stepped in and they FIT and I zipped 'em up and was completely blown away by the fact they fit COMFORTABLY and I looked AMAZING in them! 

This is important.... 46 is only TWO inches away from 44. Most mainstream clothing manufacturers stop at 44 waist for men's clothes. So, in short order, I'll be able to buy clothes at other stores rather than Big & Tall!!!!!!! YAAAY!

A lot of people have been cheering me on during this journey. I posted some stats on a Facebook post and people I have literally not seen in 40 YEARS (HS classmates) are "liking" and "hearting" that post. I get asked a lot how "hard" this journey has been. How "difficult" has it been to have to completely utterly change my life and diet. My sister keeps texting me to ask "which " diet I'm on. 

I finally answered her yesterday: "Mine."

If I had to describe my diet in the way the diet & beauty industry insists on, it'd be: Zero sugar, low carb, no artificial sweeteners AT ALL. Lean meat, strict portion control, salads, veggies. A severe reduction in alcohol consumption.

And, I'm eating a lot less volume than I was before. And I have to credit modern pharmaceutical science for that. I'm on a drug called Mounjaro. It's a once-a-week self-injection. A similar but less-effective drug people seem to be more aware of is named Ozempic. When you start taking Mounjaro, it's a very low dose. 2.5mg of the drug in a .5ml solution. Every month you increase the concentration: 2.5, then 5, then 7.5, then 10, then 12.5 and finally, 15mg in a .5ml solution. I'm at the 15/.5 concentration as of this Saturday. 

Mounjaro helps Type 2 Diabetics (aka, diet-controlled diabetes) by doing the magical thing of suppressing my appetite. I'm just not as hungry as I used to be. I don't feel tempted to graze between meals, and I get fuller faster and feel fuller longer. That has been a GREAT help over the months. It didn't really start to kick in for me until the 7.5mg/.5ml  dose around February, and it has certainly accelerated my weight loss.  

We generally eat dinner around 7:00pm. Last weekend we got up on Saturday and were going to go have lunch a few towns away and then go see our son-in-law's band playing at a local winery. We left the house around 1, 1:15. By that point it had been 17+ hours since the previous night's dinner, and I was just, just beginning to feel hungry. These days, it's more of "Huh...haven't eaten for a while, I should probably have a little nosh..." rather than "FEED ME!" like it used to be. 

So, to coin a phrase: I'm 319...and feelin' fine!