I survived!

Posted: June 28, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Exercise, Physical activity
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Greetings!

I survived my first session with the exercise physiologist this morning. I currently ache in some muscles I forgot I had, but it’s a good ache. Hope tomorrow will be the same story.

I arrived at the Bariatric Physician Specialist office at 10:00 and Cory came out to get us. There were several of us in the session, and I figured I’d be the one in the worst shape. Cory, one of the trainers, took us back to the workout area. It’s a well-appointed space with several treadmills, ellipticals and rowing machines, as well as some machines and free weights. There are lots of windows to look out over the parking lot at the health campus. (For those of you not familiar with the health care systems in Cow Country, the Health Campus is a sprawling cluster of buildings containing all sorts of medical offices… in addition to the bariatrics suite, there’s a women’s and babies hospital, a rehab center, a hospice facility, and soon to be a cancer center and forensics lab.) Not the most awesome view, but nice to get some sunshine.

Cory started things off by explaining their procedures. They require diabetics to bring their glucometers and test before and after workouts. There’s locker and shower facilities, and clean towels provided.

They wanted to get a baseline on me, so Cory started me out with 20 minutes on the treadmill. It was a little choppy at first, but I soon got going up to around 3.1 mph and on a slight incline. Not too bad for someone who hasn’t set foot in a gym for the better part of two years. After I was done on the treadmill, Cory took me over to the weight machines and had me do some chest work. They are able to modify the form, which is a good thing since I have a partial tear of my right rotator cuff. After a couple of 12-13 rep sets, we started with the “S” word. Squats. Or, the enemy. He was smart and broke up the squats with reps on a pulldown machine. After more squats and pulldowns, it was back to the treadmill for a ten minute cool down period.

After the workout was done, we checked blood glucose again. Before I started, it measured 110. Afterward, I stuck a 97. Both are good readings, but I did take a glucose tablet before I started the workout, since the 110 seemed a little low. Next time, I’m going to just see how far it drops, especially since Cory or Ryan will be there to monitor what I’m doing.

I can’t thank those guys enough… For the first time I actually feel like I might get something out of going to a gym. At the very least, I’ll learn the proper form for lifting. The funny part was I didn’t want to leave the gym. Oh, well… little steps are a good thing.

I have another session on Monday… I’ll be sure to tell you all about it.

Two posts in one day? Sheesh!

Posted: June 27, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Exercise, Stress, Weight loss
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Yup… you read the title correctly. I’m opting to use part of my break to write rather than attempt a distance record. See, the dogs were barking after last night’s walk. I thought it best to take an abbreviated walk rather than risk blister city and be knocked out of action for weeks until it fully healed.

So, tomorrow morning I have my first session with Ryan. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m also pretty intimidated. Here’s a guy who’s exceedingly fit, next to me, Captain Schlub. My biggest exercise is usually raising a fork full of food to my face. I’m looking forward to it because here’s a guy who can teach me how to get the most out of a workout. I’ve done the gym many times, and it never seemed to help. It was like I wasn’t getting anything out of it. Plus, I was always intimidated by the gym because of my bulk. Some of the looks you could get from other members were downright brutal. I got the impression that they were offended by the mere presence of a fatty among them.

This general feeling of not being welcome has become a constant. I’m not saying everybody is like that, but you can see the disgust that my weight causes in some. I said in an earlier post that it seems that fatties are the only group it’s still ok to discriminate against. Seems that the beautiful people are disgusted by what they perceive as unattractiveness. Found a good article at Jezebel.com about the anti-fat hate crimes that are taking place. Here’s a small excerpt:

People tend to have unconscious but powerful negative reactions to those they find unattractive. Weight specialist Dr. Ian Campbell: “It’s innate in people to dislike what they see as a lack of attractiveness. It makes them think such people are worthy of derision. Very young kids have been shown to have a bias against their overweight peers.”

It’s sad, really, and while this is one of the things that the bariatric program has taught me. It takes work, but you can lose the weight and be healthier. I know I can get there. I made it once from 410 pounds to 270. Now I’m going to learn how to finally make the life changes I need so as to not rebound. Whether or not I have an operation, there are medical options as well as surgical. Plus, I have support that I didn’t have before.

If I leave you with anything tonight, please don’t ever feel ashamed to ask for assistance. If you feel you have nowhere else to go, search for bariatric physicians or ask your regular doctor. There are so many folks willing to help you be healthy and if you’re willing to listen, they can help. This is something I’m finally learning. I’m not alone. You don’t have to be alone either.

… We have news for the beautiful people. There’s a lot more of us than there are of you. – Lewis Skolnick

On today’s menu

Posted: June 27, 2012 in Cooking, Exercise, Physical activity, technology, The Management, Walking
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Good morning!

To all my Facebook peeps, I know I just posted a piece this morning… that was actually done last night. For whatever reason, WordPress doesn’t seem to like to post to Facebook automatically.

June 26 route

I set a new distance record last night on my walk. I’m posting a picture of it… gotta show what you do and a picture is worth a thousand words or something like that. The red is what I travelled and when I reach my goal, I will have covered the blue. Supportive Partner Woman (getting healthier in her own right!) tells me to take my time getting there and she’s right. After months of inactivity, my feet are still a little tender and it would be good to not get a blister again. You will note that there’s a little hiccup into a store. As it turns out, I won $100 through our walking challenge at work and I stopped to pick up some Propel Zero Kiwi Strawberry water for our team captain.

So, moving on to today’s menu. One of my favorite things to grill is pork tenderloin. I usually do a simple spice rub, mainly seasoned salt, garlic powder, and thyme.This time I’m going to try something new. For years, SPW’s sister has done a beef preparation that simply involves slathering horseradish on the meat before roasting it. The serious bite of the horseradish is pretty much roasted out, leaving a slightly zesty flavor that permeates the meat. I’m going to try this on the pork tenderloin. Since I have two tenderloins defrosting, maybe I’ll do one of each preparation and see which tastes better.

I also have soaked a bunch of black beans to make chili again. Since it went over so well the last time, I never got to freeze any of it, so I hope to this time.

Due to the prodding of SPW (aka The Management), I’ve started making use of an iPhone app called LoseIt. This helps me track my daily calorie consumption and subtracts calories burned through exercise. One of the neat features of the app is that you can use it to scan barcodes of your food and the app will pull in the relevant nutrition information. It’s not perfect. there’s some things you have to guess at, for example, it might take a while to enter a Chipotle meal, because each element of your burrito bowl needs to be entered separately. It allows you fo add custom foods, though, so theoretically you could easily total up what your burrito was and add a burrito line. I’m still exploring the app, but so far so good. There are many other apps out there to assist you in tracking calories… you might need to try more than one until you get one that suits you. That’s part of the fun.

One othe rthing I’m considering is posting a series of pictures of me and my weight over the years… from the good to the bad to the orca fat. I’d like the opinions of you, the readers, so I added a poll.

Until the next time, have a great day!

Cooking again

Posted: June 26, 2012 in Cooking, Food porn, The Management, Weight loss
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Good afternoon!

Pico de Gallo

I spent a good portion of the morning trying to make pico de gallo again. My last attempt was not bad, maybe a little too citrus. This time I added more tomato and cilantro in an attempt to moderate the sourness of the lime juice. At the very least, it’s very nice and colorful. It should cheer up any plate, even if I usually wind up putting it in a burrito.

It brought back to me that cooking should be fun. For me, one of my biggest beefs with my job is never really seeing the finished product. When you cook, you see that and it’s much easier to take pride in getting a perfectly diced tomato or onion. Getting beautiful diamond-shaped grill marks when you grill a steak or a piece of chicken. I’ve said before that cooking is not just about taste. It’s smell and appearance and texture, heck, even the sound if you’re eating fajitas.

I also cannot stress the importance of having quality cutlery in your kitchen. You can get by with substandard cookware, but poor quality knives make cooking much more of a chore than a joy. I speak from experience… I was always the guy to buy the 54 knives for $20, figuring a knife was a knife. One day, not long after The Management and I sealed the deal, I was attempting to thinly slice dry rubbed pork tenderloin. The cheap knives were shredding it and I finally reached my wits end. I said that we needed to invest in at least a good carving knife. The Management (aka Supportive Partner Woman (Possessor of Good Ideas!)) suggested taking some of the Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards that we received as wedding gifts and going to find a carving knife. We came home with a beautiful Henckels carving set in a presentation box. What a revelation! It went through the meat like, well, a hot knife through butter. Paper thin slices? Not a problem! It was like I had died and gone to paradise.

I started thinking about upgrading other knives, checking eBay regularly, thinking that I should keep in the same family. I studied up on knife manufacturing and what to look for (full tang, balanced, polypropylene riveted handles, etc.) and I also found out that you could test the knives at Williams-Sonoma. One night around the holidays, SPW and I visited our local Williams-Sonoma and were gazing longingly at the cutlery when we noticed a decent sale on a Wüsthof starter block set. Wound up with a 10″ chef’s knife, two paring knives (serrated and non), a boning knife, a 9″ bread knife, a 5″ Santoku and a 6″ slicing knife. To say I’m happy with these would be an understatement. I even bought a knife sharpener to keep them at optimum sharpness. We’ve since added a tomato knife, a panini knife and steak knives to the block.

So, my cooking tip of the day is to spend the extra scratch and invest in good knives. Even if you don’t get a full block, a good chef’s knife will make all the difference. Whether you get Wüsthof, Henckels or even Shun, you won’t be disappointed.

Also, for the good of the order, I find it amazing that 90% of German cutlery is made in Solingen.

On the right track

Posted: June 25, 2012 in Bariatric surgery, Exercise, Food porn, The Management, Wegman's, Weight loss
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Greetings from the land of the slimmer!

I had an appointment this morning with the exercise physiologist and dietitian at the bariatric center. First thing, I got weighed. It was a cool 368 lbs. That’s a vast improvement over my last visit to the clinic for group where the number was 380. So, 12 pounds in about three weeks. Much better. The funny thing is that before you can have surgery, they ask that you lose 10 pounds. Guess I took care of that.

The first part of my appointment was with the exercise guy. I found Ryan to be very upbeat and encouraging. He was impressed by my walking regimen and wants me to keep it up. He also set up some appointments for me in their fitness center. It’s not big, but they only have six people at a time in there. They have shower facilities and most importantly, Ryan and/or Cory are there to show you how to exercise and lift weights safely and correctly. I start with a one hour session on Thursday and I’m really looking forward to it. Apparently, one of the risks with bariatric surgery is the  loss of muscle mass. As such, they want to build it up so you don’t lose all of what you have.

Cedar plank roasted Copper River salmon with mushroom risotto and steamed broccoli

Following my appointment with Ryan, I met Cory, the other physiologist. Then it was off to meet the dietitian, Shauna. She also seemed to be very supportive and was pleased with some of the dietary progress I’ve made. She was pleased to hear that both The Management and myself like to cook, and she was really pleased with last night’s dinner. We were at Wegman’s on Friday and I managed to pick up some Copper River salmon. I roasted it on a cedar plank with a sheen of olive oil, fresh ground pepper and sea salt on top. To go along with it, I made a mushroom risotto and steamed broccoli. The Management approved.

Today’s route.

So, I also added a new track to my walking playlist. I think my hair band loving friends will like it. Many might remember an 80’s hair band called Warrant. They were in the news in the past couple of years thanks to the death of lead singer Jani Lane. So, this weekend, XM 80s on 8 was playing a countdown from 1989 and Warrant’s little known track, Down Boys came on. It was very catchy and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It sets a pretty good pace and I’m kind of scared to check my feet, because I might have overdone it a little. I did manage to walk about half of the Red Rose Commons perimeter. This gets me a little closer to my goal.

The one constant today is that everyone assures me I’m on the right track. It’s not easy, but when I saw 36_ instead of 37_, well, that’s a nice motivator. I’d love to have a 35_ next time. We shall see.

Update

Posted: June 25, 2012 in Administration
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Well, the surprise party weekend is done with, so I can back to more of a regular posting schedule. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

I should have a real post ready to go sometime today.

The Book of Beetus? Nope.

Posted: June 20, 2012 in diabetes, Stubby the Wonder Toe, technology, The Beetus
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The bane of my existence is being stuck with the Beetus. Having to treat myself like a human pincushion is not on my list of fun activity. The insulin injections are annoying enough, but it’s the testing that I detest.

Diabetes sucks, but this is pretty cool tech.

I admit, when I got my first test kit, it was kind of cool. Make yourself bleed a little, watch a drop of blood get drawn up the test strip, and viola, you have a blood glucose reading. It’s like diabetic sorcery! However, when you have to do it multiple times a day, well, it starts to suck. Since you’re pricking your finger, you have the worry about getting blood smear on your clothes, not to mention going too deep and hitting a nerve. I also found that tech has recently invaded the world of diabetes. Pharmaceutical giant sanofi-aventis has created the iBGStar glucometer which connects directly to a iPhone or iPod touch and uses an integrated app to import and track all glucometer readings. It’s actually kind of cool and I wonder if my insurance company would pay for it.

This is also what you run into when you are on insulin, especially by injection. Sure, the syringes aren’t too long, but there are certain spots where you bleed or other spots that sting a bit. Unless you’ve a masochistic streak, most people don’t enjoy that kind of stuff.

The other thing to consider is the actual measurements themselves. The measurement the handy-dandy meter gives you is calibrated in milligrams per deciliter. Normally speaking, a healthy human’s blood glucose reading should be between 70-130 mg/dL before meals. For me, this is a problem. I usually find myself chasing a reading and that’s not good. It’s not good to be outside the target range, but a low reading is worse than a high reading. For me, if I dip into the 80s, I can feel my hands start to shake and I generally feel lousy. Lower than that, the cold sweats and double vision. NOT fun.

There’s normally some variations in the readings. This can depend on many factors, some dietetic, some environmental, and some mental. I was guilty of chasing the readings, trying to figure out why some readings were higher than others and I didn’t have anything to eat. Luckily, my new primary care provider, Rachel Ho, was able to shine some light on why this happens. Seems that when you don’t eat, your body starts to use stored fuel (aka fat cells) and this can boost your glucose levels. It was the first time anyone ever really took the time to answer those questions in real words, not medical jargon. I must say that I’m pleased with this change in caregivers… Rachel isn’t an MD, but has a refreshing, no-nonsense air about her that just lets you know that if I don’t keep on the straight and narrow, she’ll give me a kick in the ass. In fact, Rachel impressed us so much that The Management made an appointment to see her, which she chronicles here.

Please, don’t take anything I’ve written here as the gospel truth. This is not the Book of Beetus, Chapter 1. Diabetes is a terrible disease and if you can do anything to avoid it, do it. The human pincushion impression sucks, it’s expensive and it will really make your life miserable. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, take it seriously and make sure you see a doctor who takes it even more seriously. If you don’t, well, I lost part of a toe. It could’ve been much worse. Take your meds and if they are causing you problems, talk to your doctor. If he/she won’t listen or pooh-poohs your concerns, find another doctor. If you have children, make sure they eat properly. It’s not a bad thing for them to have a treat now and then, but make the treat the exception, rather than the rule. If you think that diabetes is a joke, I have some post-operative pictures of my toe I can share.

 

The next few days

Posted: June 20, 2012 in Administration
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Greetings everyone…

I’ve got a ton of stuff on deck over the next few days, so there will most likely be some interruptions in my posting schedule. I’ll try to maintain what I’ve been doing, but I’m not sure I will have quite enough time.

No interruptions like the last time when I was out of circulation for a year or so.

Until then, friends… be well.

When walking feels more like swimming

Posted: June 19, 2012 in Exercise, Walking, Weight loss
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It’s never a good sign for keeping cool when the best way to describe the air outside is to call it “chewy.” Currently, it’s 79 degrees and 84% humidity. I’ve gone for walks in worse, but usually when I have a shower waiting for me afterward, or at least dry clothes.

Days like this present a problem for me as I’ve started to like walking at work during my lunch break. Conventional wisdom says it’s better to eat your bigger meal earlier, so I’ve started eating my dinner during my first break, walking over lunch, then either another walk or a little reading over second break. As I don’t want to go back to work after a walk smelling like a locker room, I was torn between walking and not walking. It was at that time I recalled the words of exercise physiologist Ryan, who said that anything was better than nothing. So I took a shorter walk with an air conditioning break in the middle.

See, we’re fortunate to be located near a shopping center with a lot of big box stores. My goal is to get to the point that I can walk the entire perimeter of the shopping center in a half hour, hopefully without huffing and puffing too hard. Then, maybe get to the point where I can do it in 15 minutes. On the map to the right, the lines in red are today’s walk, the blue lines are the goal, and the pinkish ones are my farthest walks so far. I’ve tried to increase the distance walked each day, going to a different store as an easy way to mark distance, since iPedometer isn’t always accurate.

Today, I just went to Home Depot and wandered around, not really stopping, but doing a lap of the store to keep moving. It cooled me down so I wasn’t drenched by the end of the walk. It was nowhere near as nice as it was last night. The Management and I got a nice walk in, going from the parking lot to the concert and back. If you’ve ever been to the Philadelphia sports complex, it can be a hike, depending on where you are parked. Look at the map to the left… our path is in red. Since the weather was so nice, it wasn’t too bad.

Moral of the story, every bit helps. If you can’t get your full walk in, do some of it. If you don’t feel like it, tell yourself that you’re only going to do a little, then when you get to that point, you’ll probably want to keep on going. I know I usually feel that, mainly because I’m outside and don’t necessarily feel like going back to work after I’ve been out on a lovely evening.

Also remember, if you’re going to walk, be mindful of traffic. Cars don’t always see you, even if you’re a big galoot like me.

Concert Review

Posted: June 19, 2012 in Neil Diamond, Weight loss
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Neil Diamond – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA – June 18, 2012

Neil Diamond proved that a 70-year-old man can still rock the house. During his 150 minute set at the Wells Fargo Center, he played without an intermission and without an opening act. And the audience went nuts.

The band came out and started playing a track with an African feel, lots of percussion and flute. The track quickly morphed into Soolaimon when Neil hit the stage and it really set the tone for the evening. Most of the evening was devoted to the all-time Diamond hits. Some highlights would be a double shot of I’m a Believer, which he ran through as a ballad, then proceeded to play again, in its more recognizable uptempo version. He also performed Cherry, Cherry, and turned it into a band feature. He closed the regular set with Sweet Caroline, followed by I Am… I Said. After a brief break (3 minutes or so) Neil came back with a different jacket and launched right into Cracklin’ Rosie, America (which he dedicated to his grandmother), Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show and finished with I’ve Been this Way Before.

It’s seems unbelievable that it’s been 40 years since he recorded Hot August Night at the Greek Theater. He performed a selection of songs from that classic concert, including Crunchy Granola Suite, Morningside and crowd favorite Holly Holy.

Diamond’s band is certainly tight, as you might expect from people playing together for over 30 years. And the core members aren’t young. Drummer Ron Tutt is 74, and the other guys (and gals) aren’t much younger. It’s nice that Diamond is quick to credit the band and his concerts usually contain a song for the band to showcase their skills. The prior tour that I caught, in support of his Three Chord Opera album, had the band taking a little known song from Diamond’s Heartlight album called Starflight, and bringing down the house at Reading, PA’s Sovereign Center.

Perhaps the only low note of the show was You Don’t Bring Me Flowers. The song was originally recorded as a duet with Barbra Streisand and it makes it hard for anyone to match up. Diamond’s backup singer, Linda Press, just didn’t sing it with the same amount of skill as Streisand would’ve done.

As enjoyable as the show was, the usual issues I have with attending a show were in full evidence. First off, $20 to park. Sadly, I actually paid $30 to park for a Jimmy Buffett show. I understand that the venue operators need to make their cash, but if they are going to screw you on parking, the least they could do would be to maybe NOT charge $5.00 for a medium (20 oz) fountain beverage. The prices make Disney prices seem reasonable. I won’t even get into the price of watered-down, pissy tasting beer. Diamond T-shirts and souvenirs were selling briskly in the concourse as well, at typical merchandise prices like $25-$35 for a t-shirt.

The Diamondheads rise for the National Anthem… aka Sweet Caroline

My other complaint is that the seating itself is not designed for a person of size. I’m very lucky I was on the end of the row… had I been shoehorned into the middle of a row, it would’ve been even worse. Not only for me, but the folks on either side. It really pointed out just how far I need to go in terms of weight loss. I’ve made some progress, but it would be nice to actually fit in a seat.

In short, helluva concert that I would gladly see again. I only hope that he  keeps making music.

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