Week 09

Nothing out of the ordinary this week, so I'm gonna jump right into the weekly update.

Also this week, I found an older pic of me (like a year old or so) this would have been me at about my  heaviest.

That's Lady, btw. She's our 100lbs German Shepherd.Just for reference on how big we both are. 

I almost forgot! I did have one small Non-scale victory this week. I had to go get an x-ray because I'm still having some gout issues and in the waiting area they had these:

Just a chair right? Nope. A chair with arms. Before my surgery I wouldn't have been able to sit in that chair without doing the fat dance. The fat dance is where you drop one of your hips down first, then as you let gravity do its thing your other hip falls into place and kind of wedges you in the chair. This is even more uncomfortable than it sounds. Further you run the risk of the chair refusing to let go of your body when you get up in a very cartoon-like fashion. Not this time! That chair is my bitch.

Current Micro-goal: 325

Three things

There are a few things I want to talk about today.

First, food.

Being as protein is so important now, I'm always looking for things with some extra protein in it. This lead me to discover Cheerios Protein.

Cheerios Protein. As in with protein?

However it is deceiving. Sneaky Cheerios. Turns out it actually has more fat and sugar than Apple Jacks. Wtf right?

I suppose the saving grace is that the Cheerios have more protein. I shall continue to my search for protein rich foods.

Secondly, more college stuff.

My ultimate educational goal is to get my MA in English so I can teach at a community college. The colleges I applied to don't require a foreign language for a BA, which is friggin awesome. However, after researching the MA programs at my universities I'll need to take a foreign language.

Fuckery indeed. Turns out, that the English graduate student must demonstrate the ability to read a text in a foreign language and then translate it into English.

This does not please me. I've taken Italian and Spanish and I just don't do well with foreign languages. However, if I want my MA, at least one in English, I'm going to have to figure out how to remedy that.

Now I'm considering a minor in a foreign language, most likely Spanish as it will be much easier to find people to speak Spanish with to keep it fresh. Whereas Italian, which is what I'd prefer to learn, I'd have to go out of my way to find people to speak it with.

Third, weekly update.

The pounds keep on coming off, which is the whole point. I'm starting to look into ways to be more active, I'd love to get a membership at the YMCA so I can swim. If by chance you wanna sponsor that let me know.

Also, I'm trying a new look for the weekly stats.

The screenshot is from an ap called, Monitor Your Weight.

College Applications

Last week I applied to transfer to four universities. It's very exciting. School is actually one of the reasons I had my surgery. I didn't want to have to go through at university what I went through at Hancock. The process went a bit like this:

1. See which classes I still need to take.
2. See which classrooms said classes are in.
3. Sign up for classes I know have desks that I comfortably fit in.
4. Scout out classrooms where I am unsure.

Pretty ridiculous right? It's understandable why I would want to avoid this. I'd like to be able to sign up for any class and not have to suffer through an uncomfortable semester. I had to do that twice at Hancock. Once was for Film 101, where I originally signed up for it because it was in a room that I knew I'd fit in, however it got moved to a room that sucked. The second class was Art 101, which was in the same classroom. That class had those seats with the desktops that swing up and then go in front of you, proving enough writing space only if you are in second grade. 

Now with the pounds coming off and finding myself at a size I haven't seen in almost ten years, I feel very hopeful for my future. I've always wanted to get my degrees but I've been afraid to transfer because of the seating issue and just because it would be someplace so far out of my comfort zone that I'd be nervous and a bit of a wreck all the time. Now the latter could just be me projecting my insecurities onto an unknown  situation, but was likely fairly accurate. 

Anyway, the schools I applied to are, in order of preference:

1. San Jose State University
2. Cal State Fullerton
3. Cal State Channel Islands
4. Cal State East Bay

SJSU and Fullerton are my top picks because they also have MA programs and ideally I'd like to do grad school where I get my bachelor's. I know I don't have to but I think having a rapport with the faculty can only help. East Bay also has a master's program however it's on the quarter system, whereas Channel Islands is semester with no graduate program. 

Now comes the waiting for the acceptance letters (or rejection). 

Non-Scale Victory (NSV)

I went and saw Guardians of the Galaxy today with my friend Vincent. I know, I know, better late than never I suppose. We were driving home and I had a bit of an epiphany.

See riding in Vincent's car used to be a bit like this:

In case you can't tell, I'm sitting with my hands resting on my stomach. I'm not the best artist, sorry. Anyway, now it's more like this:

Note that this is not proportional. I can still rest my hands on my stomach but it's now easier to rest them in my lap, I actually have to make an effort to keep them on my stomach. 

This was exciting.

Week 7

So I've been totally slacking on keeping up with this the last two weeks, so much so that I didn't even take pictures last week. Here's to getting back on track!

Full report!

I'm still having a gout flare up. Yes, from the one I posted about nearly three weeks ago. It's not a full on attack, More like a dull ache. I can function pretty well for the most part but I'm kinda gimpy.

Last week I saw my doctor and he put me on prednisone, that seemed to  help but it didn't get rid of the ache altogether.

I go back tomorrow for a follow up and we'll see how that goes. This is getting really irritating, I need to exercise and only being able to limp makes it a pain. Literally.

However I do have some good news. I met my first micro-goal of 375lbs!

Super exciting right?

Last week I've also started a full transition back to solid foods.

Granted I'm not eating stuff like that, but I did have a small bite of a sandwich last week and it was delicious. Seriously. Sooo delicious. Although for some reason beef and pork don't sit well. I've been afraid to try eggs too. I've heard that eggs are just one of those foods that don't sit very well in the beginning.

Time for the pictures and stats!

Sorry for the pictures being all smoky. There was an... incident in the oven and consequently the oven was a smoky mess. Didn't realize there was that much coming out of this door though!

Highest Weight - 457 (BMI: 63.7)

Current Weight - 372 (BMI: 51.9)

Goal Weight - 180 (BMI: 25.1)

New Micro-goal: 325

Completed Goals

375lbs: 10/07/2014

One more awesome thing.

I no longer own a pair of pants that will stay up without a belt.