Killing The Fatman-Day 5

Hunger and frustration have set in. I've been in this desert for what seems like an eternity. My team has disappeared one by one and I've taken notice of how much my right leg resembles a giant Turkey Drum Stick!



I am just kidding!


Let me begin by giving thanks to Father God because He has given me the strength and revelation to pursue this dream. It is by His power that I find myself alive and preserved.

I am So grateful for SO many people that have shared their support and well-wishes over the last 4 days! You have all been so encouraging and your comments have been simply delightful. It's an awesome thing to see that people really support and believe in what you're doing.

I would like to share one particular contribution that I received from a good friend I went to grade school with... I will not share her identity, but she is training for a successful career as a medical professional! You know who you are and thank you sweetheart!

>“I immediately became concerned upon reading your weight loss goal of 5lbs/wk— it is possible, but you really need to be under the supervision of a professional if you are going for a goal like that. You may be able to do it for the first few weeks, but that is mostly water weight. And after that, it’s very hard to sustain those types of numbers. It cannot be done on dieting alone; it takes A LOT of exercise in combination with dieting. I saw it time after time at the bariatric center—people started out with goals like that, did great for a few weeks, then after leveling out the grew discouraged and eventually gave up. I don’t want to sound discouraging here, but I especially don’t want you to give up. (skipping parts)

That leads me to my next question, have you ever considered either gastric bypass or the lap band procedure? I have seen people's lives transformed by these surgeries, but it's no cake walk (no pun intended!) (HAHAHA that was funny).

I know there are risks associated with these procedures, but to be perfectly honest, it’s not any higher than the risk that you are in at your current weight. To be eligible for a bariatric surgery a patient must have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 w/ associated co-morbidities (diabetes, hypertension, etc.) or a BMI of 40 without any of those co-morbidities. I’m sure you already know this, but at your height of 5’7 and a weight of 517lbs, your BMI is 81%. You would most definitely qualify for bariatric surgery and it could quite possibly save your life. I believe that insurance would even pay for the surgery at your BMI. If not, there are credit plans for health related procedures (called care plans) that are available. I know you are probably thinking NO WAY, I’m not doing the surgery, and if so, that’s fine, I just wanted to bring it up. But I sincerely hope that you will consider seeing a bariatric doctor so that he can, at very least, provide you with resources to help you achieve your goals more readily. He can also monitor your health status as your body goes through the changes of weight loss.”<

A funny thing happened to me after I read this... Instead of becoming angry and swelling up to the size of The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, I accepted what she had to offer. While I am determined in my heart to do this (for many reasons), I don't possess the no-how to get this done. While the average human may decide “Oh I need to drop a few pounds” I am literally removing an entire person from my gut, butt, and various regions of my girth. Truth of the matter is, every time I've ever started a diet, I would sprint out of the gate in the beginning, get minimal results, then stop well short of any real achievement... Forget longevity. Weight Watchers worked for a while but my heart wasn't in the effort. I didn't set any formal goals for myself and to be honest, I stumbled through the whole experience without any intentions of seeing it through. Nutri System was the same way and FYI no matter how appealing it looks on TV, Nutri System food tastes like CRAP.

In the late summer of 2007, I pointed my sites at Gastric Bypass Surgery. I borrowed some money against my house and began the necessary preliminaries to qualify through a hospital in Gainesville. They specialize in doing various forms of LAP BAND and Gastric Bypass surgeries on the “Morbidly Obese” (for you non doctor types, that means Dead Man Wobbling). I had a SLEEP APNEA test done,... you can imagine the results. I then met with a gastric surgeon/doctor who ordered a few more tests run.

About mid November (07) we loaded into the minivan and trekked across the Southeast to Memphis (city of the King) to see Hillsong United @ the Orpheum Theater (absolutely killer show). The trip was long and boring, the kids were miserable, my wife became agitated, my 1 year old grew restless, but I was going to make that show no matter what!

I spent some of the evening in the lobby of the theater rocking my daughter to sleep in her stroller while my crew was inside enjoying the show. Halfway through, my wife came out and relieved me. I don't know what song it was, nor the exact seat I was in, but I remember that as I worshiped the TRUE KING, (who is lives in more cities than Memphis) I heard a small voice whisper “ This is not my way”. I knew instantly what He meant. Much to the dismay of my family, I called off the surgery and anything associated with it.

Now I'm no fool & I know enough Word to know that this fight over my weight doesn't have very much to do with food at all! It's not about will power or mental issues. I'm not overweight because my momma beat me, or cause kids were mean to me.

It's totally and completely....

You ready for this.......

It's spiritual ~


I'm just beginning to seek God's revelation where my weight is rooted but I do know that His Word says... “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)” I'm not saying that some demon made me fat when I was a kid, I'm just saying that every thing we face; addiction, depression, anxiety, obesity, whatever... everything is rooted in spiritual influence. More on this later.

Now, to the Meat & Potatoes!

Taking my friend's advice to heart, I contacted my doctor's office today to ask them for a referral to a local Bariatric doctor. I truly believe that to be successful in my extreme weight loss, I must enlist the help of professionals to monitor my course. I will also be going to get another Sleep Apnea test done because my wife says I have moments that I don't breathe during the night. That sounds scary yes but at least I'm on the path to change.

In that same spirit of heeding advice, I joined Livestrong.com where I can track calories and make use of their incredible tools that are designed for people just like me. I also have decided to pursue a more reasonable goal of 100 pounds by December 1st. That's just under 3lbs a week and raises my daily caloric intake to about 3,603. My doctor is treating the Phlebitis (clots) in my leg until it clears up & once it does, I'll begin a slow but steady walking regiment with my wife.

Notes of Interest...

• I'm drinking a ton of water in the last few days (60+ oz.) which is a vast improvement over anything I've done before. Lo' & behold, all other beverages taste too sweet or bitter.
• I had some calories at the end of today so I thought I'd have cup of dry Cap'n Crunch... it made me sick and gave me the worst head ache. That was an experience I've never had before.
• I plan to go and weigh in this weekend at the local quick care up the street so I should have an actual weight posting soon.
  

It's late and my 2 year old is screaming at my wife that she's a nice girl and Rhondi should immediately read her a book; I better go referee....

Thanks for following my success and keep those suggestions coming as I continue the process of Killing The Fatman!

And So it Begins....

It's pretty simple and straight forward really,... I'm a fat guy.

I'm 5'7 on a good day.
I am 30 years old.
I weigh 517 pounds.

I'm not exaggerating, I weigh 517 pounds.

I've always been fat. As long as I can remember I've always loved sitting on my tail and eating food that wasn't good for anybody to consume (much less me). I don't have any rare, funky diseases; no worms, germs, growths, no inflamed or enlarged thyroid... I just eat anything I want, whenever I want to eat it. I'm not active, I hate exercise, & I usually go out of my way to be lazy and pathetic.

I am actually quite healthy (as a Clydesdale). My blood pressure is slightly elevated at times, but I don't have any signs of diabetes. I pant like a mountain climber after hiking simple stairs but at least I manage to conquer the beasts.

Lately however, I've noticed little things are changing...

My knees hurt. I can't sleep through the night cause my back begins to ache. I get winded when walking short distances. I'm exhausted and in great pain after a simple shopping trip with my wife through Walmart (Yes, I'm married but we'll approach that subject later). My heart started skipping beats about 10 years ago. Rarely at first, then about once every couple of days depending on the level of activity. My heels began cracking wide open about 8 years ago and I lost all feeling and nerve sensation there at the same time. About 4 years ago I found a “Superficial Blood Clot” in my lower left leg right above my calf muscle. It “went away” but I realized at that point I had crossed some invisible line.

Let's fast forward to last Monday. My leg started hurting again. It was kind of a burning sensation in my lower left leg. I knew what it was but refused to give in to my wife's pleas to visit my doctor. By Wednesday morning my wife had enlisted my mother in a verbal (repetitious) petition and I went to the doctor. It's always interesting to hear your doctor suck all the air out of the room when you show him an area of concern. Once he regained his composure, he confirmed my concerns that indeed I had 2 “Superficial Blood Clots”....

I have a beautiful wife. I married way outside my class. Actually my wife is proof that I am a world class salesman:) When we married, I gained 2 kids that are probably the smartest kids on Earth. A year later we added Hannah, and Holly is due in the next two weeks.

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Armed with the knowledge of who is counting on me, I walked out of the doctor's office with the understanding that SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE!

Yesterday I thought, “cool, I'll just watch what I eat and everything will be easy”... that crap doesn't work. By the end of the day I'd polished off 1/2 a supreme pizza and several squares of Baklava. As I laid on the couch watching reruns of The Office I thought, “I'm going to need some structure and discipline.”

I've been on every diet known to mankind; Atkins, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Slim Fast, Nutri-System, South Beach, Royal Canadian Air Force Diet, Fasting, Starvation, .... ugh. I'm sure all these diets work but I've never been successful at them. It's about determination. It's about will power (I couldn't type that with a straight face).

IT'S ABOUT DECISION-

I have decided that I want to lose 5 pounds every 7 days (basically 5 pounds a week). I will continue this for 20 weeks. That should be about 100 pounds. While 417 pounds is still considered MORBIDLY OBESE for someone of my stature and age, it will be a visible improvement in my immediate health.

SO HOW DO I DO THIS?

I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong first before I can figure out how to change. AA teaches us that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.”

It's common knowledge that calorie reduction is a good place to start but the kind of calories is also important. I know that I can't eat 15 Lil' Debbie's and call it a day. I remember from school (thanks miss Fournier) that a calorie is: a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree at one atmosphere pressure (okay I cheated, thanks Google). For our purposes: a unit representing the energy provided by food. I found the calorie formula information here. I currently consume 4780 calories a day. To accomplish my goal of 5 pounds every week, I have reduce my daily calories to 2280 per day. Sounds Simple right??? Maybe on day one.

THIS IS HOW I AM KILLING THE FATMAN~

First off, I'm starting this blog to gather support in my pursuit of health and to enlist your support in keeping me encouraged and accountable. If this is to work, I'll have to be proactive in what I do everyday as well. Several things I began doing today will have to become an everyday occurrence. I'll be sharing thoughts, ideas, recipes, and looking at your helpful suggestions as well. Below is the basic formula. I'm sure this thing will evolve as we go.

1. Write down everything I eat.


2. Read every label.


3. Count the Calories.


4. Measure every item.


5. Drink More Water (at least 64 ounces a day)


6. Be creative ( it's cliché but this must be a life style change).


7. Plan my meals.

Ultimately I want to encourage others by my fight... after all, I'm fighting for my life!