Hello World

I am a fat man.

I would like to say I am a product of my generation, but the truth is I like to eat.

I was a heavy child growing up never very athletic. I had a small period in high school where my growth spurts matched my weight and I looked pretty good, but collage and a wife that cooks wonderfully took care of that quickly.

Now that I am in my late thirties my fatness is catching up with me. Diabetes and high blood pressure are just some of the medical problems, but more damaging is self-worth issues. I don't have the energy to do what I want. I am becoming lethargic and way to at home on my end of the couch. I am going to fix this.

I am not sure exactly when I decided on bariatric surgery. I have friends that were successful at it and one day I just made the appointment. My insurance makes me go through a 6 month period of doctor supervised weight loss as well as a host of other procedures so I guessed I would just try and decide later.

I am currently 3 months into that process and now I have made up my mind. Surgery is 3ish months away and I have a lot of prep to do, both mentally and physically. I decided that I needed some motivation so I am starting this blog. I am doing this for my own reasons. Writing things down makes them more real, but I am also doing this for you. If this is the life changing event I hope it is going to be then maybe it will be an inspiration to someone, if it is a horrible mistake perhaps I can prevent someone else from making the same one.

I had my metabolic test today and it shows that my metabolism is a bit higher than normal, but not much. Sitting on my butt I burn about 2000 calories. With normal activity I burn about 2500. Since I do not exercise at all and have a sedentary job this is what I have to work with.

My goal is 1800-2000 calories a day. Every 3000 calories I remove = 1lb of weight. So if I hit 2000 that should be 3.5 lbs a week right? Wrong. I will probably get that the first week, and maybe the second, but my metabolism will start slowing down with the lack of food and the reality will probably be much less, but any improvement is a good one.

When I have my surgery they are going to have to move my liver a bit to get at my stomach, and to do that my liver has to shrink a bit. To accomplish this you need to be on a downward weight trajectory since you lose fat from your liver first. So I diet.

Wish me luck.

-Stephen