Tag: weight loss

Let’s try this weight loss again

On By Michel McDonaldIn Health, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I quit smoking in 1996 because I was trying to be healthy, and I was just getting tired of smoking. I discovered food tasted so much better and I traded one bad habit for another and literally gained 50lbs in the first 2 months, which is the reason so many people won’t quit smoking. Gradually over time the weight went up, and now I am more than 100lbs overweight.

I have tried losing weight in the past and I have logged it here in my blog. I did the Noom app and ate Weight Watchers Smart Ones and one year I lost 70 lb in 6 months. That didn’t last and the weight went up eventually and I gained it all back and then some. I think the problem then was I had lost my motivation because I stopped losing weight and it didn’t seem to want to drop anymore. I just went back to regular eating and eventually overeating again.

In late April we went to the clinic and met our new doctor. She saw from my medical history that my blood sugar has been high and I showed her the “True Manager Air” log for my True Metrix blood sugar gadget and the highs were pretty much 180 to 200 daily. I take a medication called Trijardy for blood sugar because at one point it was in the 500’s. The Trijardy has helped bring it down, but it was still too high. She suggested trying something new.

She told me about a medicine that I can inject into my stomach that will trick my brain into thinking I’m not hungry which will make me eat less and some foods might make me physically sick or give me nausea. I said sure, sounds great. It took a while getting it because the insurance wouldn’t pay for Monjaro, so she changed it to Ozempic.

We went back to the doctor for my follow up appointment which was supposed to be after taking it for a month, but because it was difficult to get the medicine, the follow up was after 3 weeks instead.

Y’all! I cannot even begin to tell you how happy and excited this doctor was for me that I had lost 14lbs after just 3 weeks. She was more excited for me than I was. I really love her. I hope she will be my doctor for a long time. I hate that this clinic goes through doctors like TicTacs.

So she had me on .25 mg to start me out and after she saw I had lost weight, she changed the dose to .5mg. I am wondering if I have not gotten a lot of the side effects on the .25 mg that I might get the side effects from the .5 mg, maybe even more so. Not looking forward to that.

She told me the side effects could be nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and I forget what else. I can handle constipation and diarrhea because I’ve been dealing with that for a long time anyway. I hate vomiting, but I won’t vomit if I don’t overeat. I don’t mind the nausea because the nausea will tell me hey, maybe don’t eat that. We were actually walking through the grocery store in the bakery department, and something, I don’t know what it was, made me feel so sick to my stomach and I almost retched right there in the store. I couldn’t get away fast enough from that smell. I hope it wasn’t something that I loved.

So, in the past 3 weeks that I’ve been on this Ozempic, I have actually not been very hungry. I’m only eating lunch and dinner because I know I have to eat. So it really does trick my brain into thinking that I’m not hungry. Today we decided to go to Taco Bell and one taco literally filled my stomach. I couldn’t eat another bite after that. Which is great because it was only 170 calories.

I’m eating the Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners again and I’m snacking on low-fat string cheese and I told the doctor that and she said that’s great. Keep doing that if that’s what works for you. We also buy bags of frozen vegetables from Aldi. They don’t have a lot of calories and they will fill me up and the fiber from the vegetables is probably going to help me with the constipation issues lol. At least I think that’s how vegetables work. I’m not sure.

So the doctor told me that some people have lost over 100lbs taking this medicine and that’s great because I am 100 lb overweight. I was 115 lbs overweight, but now I’m only 100 lb overweight. I don’t expect to get back down to 150 which is what I used to weigh because I have built muscle over the years since I used to weigh 150 lb, but I would like to get back down to at least 160lbs if that’s even possible.

I just can’t stand this weight anymore. It’s like carrying around a child and I don’t even have children. Not being hungry all the time will definitely help me lose weight. The method for which getting this medicine into my body is injecting it into my stomach once a week. The needle is so tiny it doesn’t even hurt, I don’t even feel it. I have to press it into my stomach while pinching my skin (and fat lol) and press the button on the pen to make the medicine go into my stomach, and then I have to wait I think she told me 10 seconds, but I can’t remember so I hold it in for 30 seconds just in case. They said to hold it in for a little bit longer just to make sure that all of the medicine gets inside my body.

Suddenly I finally have motivation to lose weight and continue trying to lose weight until it’s all gone because I have something that will make me not feel hungry all the time. And that’s my problem. I’m hungry literally all the time. We will go to a restaurant and I will come home stuffed and literally an hour later I’m hungry again. I don’t like being hungry all the time. My stomach must have expanded so much that it needs more and more food. By not eating so much food all the time, my stomach will shrink down and I will get full faster by eating normal portions. Once that happens and I’ve lost enough weight, then I will be able to continue living my life and eating like a normal person and be full a lot faster than I do now.

So, I was 265 lbs in April when she first weighed me and as of this writing I weigh 248 lbs. I would like to get down to 160 lbs at least. My blood sugar like I said before was between 180 and 200 and today it was 105. Normal is between 80 and 120.

So my weight loss story will continue and I will update my progress.

Smaller Appetite After Surgery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, keto, WeightLeave a comment

I have always had a huge appetite since I was at least a teenager. At dinner, my mom would always make enough so everyone could have seconds, and I was typically the only one who would actually take seconds. I was so skinny and my mom never understood where that food went because I never gained any weight no matter how much food I ate. I kind of hate my younger self right now lol. I was also active, and when I say active, I mean like gym class, running from the school to escape bullies, then walking home from school. You know, typical teenage angst lol.

So the time of my life I’m referring to was when I was around 13 years old and I was 150lbs. Fast forward to when I was 26 and I was still 150lbs, then I quit smoking and that all changed. Suddenly I was gaining weight because I was discovering how wonderful food was. Before then I was eating to survive on what we could afford. After, I was eating for pleasure, and I wasn’t holding back. I was getting a lot more food than normal and within 2 months of quitting smoking, I had gained 50lbs. So there I was 200lbs with a fat belly all of a sudden and my appetite was out of control, but I was trying not to go over 200lbs.

Over the years I’ve gained weight because of my enormous appetite until I was at my highest last year at 267lbs. I bought a Fitbit Charge 4 watch and a Fitbit Aria scale and I tried working on my weight. When I got the scale I was 265lbs and by January this year I was 254lbs, then the surgeon told me to lose 15-20lbs for my surgery and then I went down to 230lbs. Now after surgery I have gone down to 225lbs.

And now to the subject of this post. I had my surgery where they reduced the size of my colon, which is a nicer way of saying they removed a section of my colon to remove the possibility of colon cancer. But ever since I had my surgery, I haven’t been very hungry. They fed me 6oz of soup and some other things like pudding or jello and some juices and milk. Well, that tiny amount of food and drinks made me feel so full. When I came home from the hospital I was still getting full from such a tiny amount of food. I left the hospital on Thursday and today is Sunday and I’m still getting full from 6oz of soup. I made myself tomato soup, a 3oz glass of sugar free Jell-O and a chocolate pudding cup and I couldn’t even eat the Jell-O or the pudding. It was literally too much food.

This will be to my advantage to help me reduce the size of my stomach. If I eat and I get full fast, then I won’t have the chance to make my stomach too big again, and that will help me lose weight, especially when I go back to eating my Keto food. This will also prevent me from even wanting to go to a buffet because if I’m not hungry for such a huge amount of food, then I won’t be tempted to go, thus I won’t overeat and gain weight again. So I see this as a huge win for me.

How long do you think it will take me to get down to 200lbs if I am 225lbs now? I pretty much lost 22lbs from mid-January to the end of March. So do you think I will be down to 200lbs by June or July maybe? And if I get down to 200lbs by then, I will just keep going and lose all the weight I can possibly lose. I really would like to get back to 150lbs, but I will be happy if I can get down to 160 or 170. When I finally get down to the weight I want to be, I’m going to continue to maintain my weight by eating Keto foods, and if I still lose weight, well then good for me.

I did it! I lost 15+lbs for surgery.

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ketoLeave a comment

With all the struggling that I did during the last couple of months trying to lose 15 lb, I never thought that the weight would actually come off. I’m so happy that I finally lost 15 pounds and now I can get my surgery.

I still have four more days until I see the doctor to check my weight. He said 15 to 20 lb, so who knows how much more weight I might lose until then.

My appetite is under control and I am only eating breakfast, lunch, a 3:00 p.m. snack which is a 70 calorie Fiber One snack, and dinner at 6:00 p.m. I’m drinking coffee from when I wake up until a little after noon and then water for the rest of the day.

Like I’ve said before, I’m going to continue losing weight after my surgery until I get down below 200 lb. I would like to get down to 160 or 170, but I guess I’ll see what happens when it happens. Got to just keep going.

My weight loss update

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, ketoLeave a comment

I started my Atkins Keto diet on January 12, 2021 at 253lbs per my surgeons request. On February 17, 2021 I had lost 11.6lbs, but then the weight stopped dropping and I had gained a few pounds and I got extremely frustrated.

I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. I was always hungry, so I figured I needed a supplement, so I went on YouTube to find out what works, and someone said Apple Cider Vinegar, so I went on Amazon and found something in pill form called Apple Cider Vinegar+KETO in a bottle with 120 capsules. Instructions were to take 2 pills in the morning with food. I did that and the first couple of days it helped me to suppress my appetite, but then it stopped suppressing my appetite and I was always hungry again. So then I bought a bottle of Metamucil with Psyllium Husk Powder and the instructions were to take 2 rounded teaspoons with 8oz glass of water before every meal, and that actually helped to suppress my appetite. I took it for 3 days in a row and started feeling horrible stomach cramps, but I took it for a 4th day and I regretted taking it. I looked on Google for how long you should take Metamucil and it said maximum of 7 days. Well, 4 days was too many for me. Perhaps 7 days if you only take 1 rounded teaspoon before meals.

Yesterday and today I didn’t take anything. No apple cider vinegar, no metamucil and I seem to be doing fine with my appetite. My stomach is still cramping up a lot, but that’s going away. I don’t feel hungry between meals and that’s pretty much the whole point of me doing that, to help shrink my stomach and to help shrink my appetite. I weighed myself this morning and I was 239.4lbs.

My goal is to lose 15-20lbs for surgery, and my appointment with the surgeon is on March 11, 2021 to check my weight to see if I have lost anything to be eligible for surgery, which is in exactly 1 week from today. I am hoping to get down to 233 by then, but I will be happy if I’ve only lost 15lbs. Then of course there will be from the day of my appointment next week until the day of the surgery, and I may possibly have gone down to 233 or lower.

I have to lose weight for surgery, but I want to lose weight for my health sake. I have sleep apnea and I have bad knees, and I’m guessing is due to the fact that I am, or was 100lbs overweight. I’m still at least 90lbs overweight. I was 150 before I quit smoking and gained all this weight, and I don’t expect to go back down to 150lbs, but I’d at least like to get down to 170 again. I know I can do it if I try hard enough, but that all depends on my appetite. I’ve always had a huge appetite since I was a kid when I was skinny and couldn’t gain any weight even if I tried because I was very active.

Of course I will keep this blog updated when I go to the appointment next week and when I have the surgery, and when I lose more weight beyond the surgery.

Oh and just to make it clear, the surgery isn’t for weight loss as someone thought on Facebook. The surgery is to remove some colon polyps that they couldn’t remove during my colonoscopy in September of 2020. I need these extra polyps removed before they turn to cancer. Even if it was for weight loss, I’m sure I do not qualify for weight loss surgery because I am not an extreme case like you see on tv.

My Keto Diet Issues

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ketoLeave a comment

I’ve been doing the Atkins diet as per doctor’s orders on January 12, 2021 so I can have surgery to remove polyps that could not be removed during my colonoscopy in September 2020. In one month I managed to lose 11lbs.

There have been some difficulties throughout my quest to lose weight for surgery. For one, I’m not going to the bathroom as often as I would like, and I looked it up and apparently it’s a thing. Here is a quote from Keto Krate.

When you produce less waste, you poop less often–and on Keto, you’re going to poop less often. The body is very efficient at extracting nutrients from meats and fatty foods. The result is less waste. So don’t mistake fewer bowel movements with constipation.

Keto Krate

There was another website, and I can’t find the source, that said that during the time you aren’t going to the bathroom, the digested food that is still inside your body will start to putrefy, which will cause terrible smelling farts and bowel movements. Well, I do not want that lol. They said to fix this, add Psyllium Husk to your diet. I went on a search and discovered Metamucil, Psyllium Husk Powder Fiber Supplement 180 teaspoons for $25. We actually found this at Albertsons, but I believe it was 110 or 120 teaspoons for $22. So I think I got a better price on Amazon. I hope that will help me go to the bathroom more often.

I think it’s odd that my body would not want to remove all the food I am eating. I mean sure, extract all the nutrients, but shouldn’t there be some waste? I do eat a lot of veggies, broccoli and cauliflower to be precise, so I’m just confused as to why that isn’t coming out.

I drink 96 fluid ounces of water every day after I finish drinking my coffee. I have a Blender Bottle that I just drink water from. The bottom of the bottle says 28oz, but when I fill it up with water it’s 24oz. I know this because I weighed the bottle, then tared it, then poured water in it from a pitcher and it was 24oz. and it was very close to the top of the bottle. They say to drink 8 cups of water, which comes out to 64oz, so I think I have that more than covered.

I have another 2 weeks until my doctors appointment, so in order to be approved for surgery, I need to continue losing weight, and I’m not sure that will happen at the rate I’m going. I am getting frustrated because I am eating all the right things, but not losing weight as fast as I would like. I hope I can drop at least another 5lbs before my appointment, but we will see.

Oh and I bought a Dash DMW001BK to make chaffles. One recipe I found makes an oreo cookie chaffle. The guy in this video shows 2 recipes, the first one he says tastes exactly like an oreo cookie, and the second one he says tastes like a hostess cupcake. I want to make the second recipes because I want to eat a hostess cupcake, especially for my birthday.

Why I stopped going to the gym

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, gym, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I stopped going to the Planet Fitness gym more than 2 years ago for various reasons. And… I’ve been paying for it all this time.

One reason is I have an overactive bladder. I would go to the bathroom before I even started exercising just so I wouldn’t have to run to the bathroom. I would get on a machine and in 5 minutes the overwhelming feeling to urinate would hit and I would have to literally run to the bathroom because I had to pee NOW. I’d go back and in 5 minutes it would come again. I would get on the treadmill and literally walking for 5 minutes and I had the urgent feeling to urinate again. It was too much.

I spoke with my doctor and she said it’s probably a urinary tract infection and to drink cranberry juice, which I absolutely hate, but I did it anyway and it didn’t do me any good.

At home I have to go to the bathroom at least 20 times in a day. That’s been going on for more than 2 years and nothing I have done has helped. Until now.

I started drinking water and the feeling to urinate has dramatically gone down. I’ve been drinking Crystal Light for many years instead of drinking soda to help with the weight loss, and I’m not positive it has helped, but I’m almost certain it has contributed to my overactive bladder and I say that because when I stopped drinking it, the problem went away.

Now that I don’t have to constantly urinate, I’m going to try going back to the gym to help me lose the weight I’m supposed to lose to get my surgery.

Atkins diet for surgery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Doctor1 Comment

I had a colonoscopy in September. After the procedure they told me that they were able to remove a couple of polyps, but there were also a couple of polyps that were lying flat in my colon and they couldn’t cut them out, and I would need surgery to get them.

I had an appointment with a new surgeon in November, but apparently he had gotten the wrong chart or the wrong information and he insisted I was there for the world’s worst hemorrhoids. I don’t have hemorrhoids. I tried showing him the pictures from the colonoscopy, but he refused to even look at them.

In December I had a teleconference appointment with the doctor who did the colonoscopy and he was upset that the surgeon thought I had hemorrhoids and actually called him on another phone. He told me they would call me in a couple of days, and they never did.

Last week I remembered to call them to schedule a new appointment and this time he had the correct chart. He told me the only way he can do my surgery was if I lost weight. I was 253lbs when I saw him, and he told me I need to lose at least 15lbs (but better if more) in 8 weeks.

He told me to go on the Atkins diet. He gave me papers that show which foods are low carb. I installed the Atkins app and started eating low carbs immediately. He told me to eat no more than 50 carbs a day.

My problem is I love carbs. I love pasta and bread and I know those turn to sugar and cause weight gain, but it’s so good.

We went to the store and all the low carb stuff is expensive. We bought a loaf of bread that is low carb because we bought lunch meat, which apparently have no carbs, but the amount of carbs in the bread is still too much, so I’ve decided to eat salads with the lunch meat and use the bread with dinner for bread and butter, but only 1 slice. And this bread is tiny lol.

We still have a lot of weight watchers smart ones and lean cuisine in the freezer, so I’ll eat one every night until they’re gone. They have carbs, but it’s not too many, and I still fall under 50 carbs a day.

So I’ve been eating scrambled eggs for breakfast, chefs salad for lunch and weight watchers or lean cuisine for dinner. Although, last night I had boneless skinless chicken breast with broccoli and cauliflower for dinner.

If this allows me to lose weight, I’ll continue eating low carbs. I’ll try to make this a lifestyle choice, but it’s hard.

I saw they sell Atkins frozen dinners and even shakes and snacks, so even though those are expensive, I’ll buy them when I want a snack. They have their own version of M&M’s. I’ll look forward to that, but I’ll wait until after the surgery.

I have type 2 diabetes, sand my blood sugar has actually dropped since I started this diet. I also have sleep apnea, so if I lose weight, it will be easier to sleep. I hope it works. I’ll continue tracking with the Atkins app.

Fitbit Aria Air on Amazon

On By Michel McDonaldIn App, WeightLeave a comment

I bought a Fitbit Charge 4 watch in June 2020. I wanted to buy a scale, but I had to wait until I had more money. I finally bought the scale when I got my check in August 2020 because I wanted to be able to weigh myself and have it automatically enter my weight into the Fitbit app along with my BMI and body fat percentage. But apparently it only logs weight. Well, I could have done that manually lol. I bought this because the listing on Amazon (as you can see) says BMI.

While I was waiting for my scale to arrive, I went back to the listing and started reading the reviews. Most reviews mentioned it did not show BMI at all, and that it doesn’t pop up in the Fitbit app like it is supposed to when you step on the scale. I started getting mad, because I paid $58 for this scale (with the insurance and taxes, shipping was free with Prime). Then I thought, well maybe I should cancel this and get the Aria 2, but that’s $150 lol. So, I didn’t cancel this.

So here is what I have found out about this scale once it was in my possession. When I first opened the box and set the scale up in the Fitbit app, I weighed myself and it popped up in the app in a few seconds. But, several times later in the same day I tried and it didn’t pop up in the app. I didn’t understand, because it is supposed to work every time you weigh yourself.

Yesterday morning I went to weigh myself and it didn’t show up in the app, so I figured that I would probably have to start over, so I removed it from the Fitbit app and tried to reinstall it, but apparently you can’t do that, you have to reset the Fitbit Aria Air scale by pressing the button before you are even able to use it again in the app. So I went through all that only to find out it isn’t going to install again because something was happening with my phone and I needed to reboot it. I finally got it rebooted and it installed just fine like the first time, and it took 15 seconds to even pop up in the app.

This morning I wondered if this thing was going to work and it didn’t pop up in the app at all. I figured the problem isn’t the scale or the app, the problem is my phone. So I rebooted my phone and tried again and the weight immediately popped up in the app when I weighed myself.

So this is my solve for anyone else who has trouble with this scale. Just reboot your phone if it isn’t working immediately. Or, reboot your phone before you attempt to weigh yourself.

I had an issue with the listing saying BMI smart scale, when in fact it does not show your BMI, but upon further inspection, and a little Googling, I discovered the app actually does show you BMI. Not the scale. So how to find that is when you are in the app, look for the weight block, tap that, then you see the graph on the screen that says Weight Trends (30 days (lbs), swipe that to the left and it shows Lean vs Fat, swipe it again and it shows BMI past 30 days, swipe again it shows Body fat %. The Aria Air doesn’t include body fat %, you have to enter that manually, but if you don’t even know what your body fat % is, that graph will be empty. I don’t know how to find out body fat %.

Edit: I discovered there are apps that calculate body fat percentage based on measurements you have to take manually with cloth measuring tape. So yeah… there’s that.

So buy this if all you have to spend is $50 plus taxes plus insurance, and trust me, you want the insurance because it’s only $3 extra. You just never know. It is a good scale, even though it has limitations.

Oh, before I go I also wanted to mention that this scale has the option to see your weight in pounds, stones or kilograms. So if you prefer to see your weight in any other format, you have the option by pressing the button on the bottom of the scale. It shows it on the screen when you press it. You can also choose to change it in the Fitbit app.

Week 10 Weigh In Day

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ExerciseLeave a comment

I am not very happy that my weight is going down as slow as it is, but, I am glad that I am still losing weight. At least I am losing weight, and that’s all that matters right now.

I have been eating less and doing more cardio than I was doing before. I was walking on the treadmill for 2 hours a day, but it was causing more stress on my knees and giving me blisters on my right heel and my left foot below my toes, so I had to knock it down to 1 1/2 hours per day. It has also caused me to have more pain in my spine. I have Scoliosis, so it’s probably not very good to do that to myself. They say no pain, no gain, but I don’t think they mean in my spine or the bottoms of my feet lol.

Weight loss is important to me, but not at the expense of my joints and my feet, so I will start doing other cardio exercises, like 1 hour on the treadmill and then 1 hour on the exercise bicycle. I’ve tried the elliptical and that is just as hard on my legs and my back as walking on the treadmill. I think sitting on the bicycle is probably better on my legs, feet and back.

I will persevere.

Week 9 Weigh In Day

On By Michel McDonaldIn WeightLeave a comment

It has been a rough week for me, but I finally lost some weight. I decided to only do cardio and not do any muscle stuff this week because I haven’t seen any results in a couple of weeks. It gets frustrating when you are working your butt off at the gym and your weight either stays the same, or it goes up.

I only go to the gym every other day, and this week I walk on the treadmill for 1 hour with a 5 minute cool down, then take a few minute break, then get back on the treadmill for another 1 hour with a 5 minute cool down, then I use the massage bed because after 2 hours of walking, my back is killing me. But, my feet are also killing me. I have blisters on my right heel and I also have a blister on my left foot below my toes. I had those gel insoles, and they basically shredded from either my weight or from walking so much, so I had to buy new insoles and I bought the memory foam ones, and of course they flatten out and they don’t really do any good at all.

Well, more work, more exercise, more trying to resist temptation because I have a LOT more weight to lose. See you in a week with my next report lol.