So my wife sends me an IM from upstairs...

Bernadette: My internet connection is messed up
Jase: How so?
Bernadette: I can't get to some websites, but some still work
Jase: Which ones are you trying?
Bernadette: etsy, amazon, yahoo, gmail, google, etc.

Jase: OK, fixed
Bernadette: how?
Jase: genius, that's how
Jase: mad internet skillz
Bernadette: was yr PC doing the same thing?
Jase: yep
Bernadette: so what was wrong? browser?
Jase: I turned off the "lame website" filtering
Jase: it was only letting you connect to websites with positive coolness factors
Bernadette: when did this even got turned on?
Jase: back when you started liking Twilight
Bernadette: but we had no problems yesterday.
Jase: true. your favorite websites must have gotten less cool since then
Bernadette: google is not cool?? makes no sense
Jase: depends on what you're searching for, I guess
Bernadette: homepage.. Duh
Jase: lol
Jase: It must think you're looking for pics of Edward or something
Bernadette: why wld u prohibit me like this?
Jase: no, actually I just reset the internet connection on the router
Jase: Miss Gullible
Bernadette: :^o
Jase: :P
Jase: gotta save this chat log for posterity
Bernadette: >:P

Back for a Gastric Bypass Update!

I had my 1-year post-surgery appointments this week, and I needed to share them on the blog so that anyone who googles this stuff will know what's up.

Weight: 240lbs (at the doctor's office, fully clothed. At home, I'm 236)
Weight lost from day of surgery: 77lbs
Total pounds lost from peak weight: 99lbs

Everything's great. I've been getting fairly regular blood tests at my regular doctor to make sure I'm getting proper nutrition, so the surgeon didn't need to do a lot of tests. I've been very slightly low on vitamin D, but most everyone is in winter, so it's not all that unusual. They took a bone density scan and I'll get notified of the results on that in a couple of weeks. Not much to fear there, since I've been getting plenty of calcium.

I've had some blood pressure incidents which are most certainly not related to surgery. I've been running and finished the C25K program before Thanksgiving and I'm intending to actually run a 5K in the spring. At my latest "normal doctor" appointment, they noticed my pulse was in the 40s and tweaked my blood pressure medicine despite my insistence that a low pulse is hereditary and the running has driven it even lower. Well, the new meds didn't work and since then I've been trying different meds until just after Christmas it seems to be back to normal. I know, high BP and low pulse seems weird. My heart likes to pump hard but not very often, I guess.

I met with the nutritionist and admitted that I'm not formally documenting what I eat, but I told her my typical day's intake and she was impressed. I'm eating a bacon egg and cheese biscuit for breakfast on weekdays from the company comissary, drinking one diet soda poured over a 32-ounce cup of crushed ice (and taking all day to drink it), having a snack at 10am, lunch which is usually a sandwich at home, a snack at 3pm, and dinner which consists of 5-8oz of meat and some veggies, then a snack at night. I'm eating little to no sugar and drinking G2 or Powerade Zero after running.

I'm a little light on protein, she thinks, so she asked me to snack on protein bars instead of crackers or fruit. That's not going to be a problem, since I like the bars and they're portable.

She asked me what my goal weight is. I told her I never set one, but I wouldn't mind losing another 20 lbs, and she agreed that is a great place for me to be.

Before Thanksgiving, I went on a low-carb diet for two weeks and lost 5 lbs and kept it off afterwards, so I know I can lose weight like a normal person now.

I got some new clothes for Christmas, size 38 pants, size XLT shirts. I even got a size L shirt that fits, although I expect it to shrink when it gets washed. I'll save it for next winter.

That's the update!

If you've found my blog via google for gastric bypass, I urge you to do it if you're considering it. Just make certain that your surgeon is as good as mine is, and that his practice takes care of you after surgery to make sure you stay healthy. This has been probably the best year of my adult life.

Shutting Down For Awhile

I'm shutting down the blog for awhile. I haven't had much desire to post lately. I'll keep it up here for anyone that might want to see my gastric bypass experiences.

Everything's good, by the way. I'm stuck at 245 (I've still lost a ton of inches while staying the same weight, though), and I'm jogging, working my way up to 5K using the C25K program. Once I get to being able to run 5K, which should take another month or so, I plan on that being my baseline fitness level for the rest of my life, no matter what weight I am. I'm trying to stay off the scale except for once a week. I think I look good.

I'll start posting again whenever I think there's something worthwhile going on.

What a difference a year makes!

Remember when I said I wanted to be thin by the time I was 40? I'm not quite there yet, but I can be pleased with the progress so far.

Old me:


New me:

Award-winning Pictures

Not really much need for words here. This was our Canada vacation:

We're Hooooooome!

Whew. Got back at midnight last night - sans luggage. I went to work today and it felt like a whirlwind. A grocery trip, a quick visit to my mom and dad, and here I am - in front of the computer with a million things to write, but no energy.

The trip went great and I'll write all about it tomorrow. Bear with me - I'm tired.

Heading Up North, Eh?

Tomorrow morning, we're on a plane for Calgary. 8 days of lovely vacation...ahhhhh...

We've got no concrete plans, but we do want to take a hike on Banff, see a glacier, go to Drumheller and see the dinosaurs, experience Calgary's Chinatown, and above all, relax.

This may be the first vacation we've taken where taking pictures is a primary goal. It's supposed to be beautiful up there, and Bernie just finished a photography course.

I can't wait.

Addendum: New York trip

I ate constantly for 3 days and lost 3 pounds. That's what walking does for you.

Now at 248. If I lose another 4 pounds, I'll start up the graph again.

***Reminder - inaccurate scales have caused me to stop tracking my weight loss on the chart to the right. I've replaced the scale and will start tracking again once I lose the 10 lbs that made up the difference between the previous scale and reality.

Trip Report: New York

Well, we just flew back from NYC, and boy are my arms tired .

At least our feet are tired - well, everyone's except mine. The Montrail hiking shoes that Bernie got me for my birthday last year are really comfortable, and I was the only one out of the family that didn't have any soreness from all the walking we did.

We flew in early Friday morning and dropped off the bags at the Westin at Times Square. Then we walked to Radio City Music Hall and did their tour, which was much more interesting that I expected. I had no idea that their stage was really three platforms which rise and descend on hydraulic lifts that were built in 1932. Apparently, the system is the engineering wonder of the world. Very cool.

After that, we had lunch at a place that Bernie found on some NY native internet forums, a French place called Le Bonne Soupe. Mom and Dad had a prix fixe meal consisting of onion soup, a salad, and creme caramel for dessert. Bernie had a crepe with ham, egg and cheese, and I spotted something intriguing on the menu - a sort of lasagna dish made with a crepe rather than noodles, with bechamel and bolonaise inside and mozzarella baked on top. That was just terrific. The crepe made it a much lighter dish than a real lasagna.

We went back to the hotel and napped to make up for having to get up at 4 am for our flight, and later on we had dinner at a place that got rave reviews as a Chinese bakery, Fay Da. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a big disappointment as a bakery, but it did have cheap eats - a five-choice for $5 cafeteria (Bernie and I split one). It wasn't great, but for five bucks, it was okay.

All in all, this was about 5 miles of walking on Friday.

On Saturday, we got up and had breakfast at a little bakery right next door to the hotel, Europa Bakery. Basic eggs and waffles, french toast, etc. I had a breakfast panini (well, okay, half of one was all I could manage, but it was really good).

We decided to learn the subway that day, so we rode around, went to Chinatown (big disappointment - take it off your to-do list. Very few Chinese businesses left, and the ones that are are just selling junk and are quite nasty attitudes.) We found out later that only the losers stayed in old Chinatown, and the rest moved to Flushing.

Lunch on Saturday was the famous Katz' Deli, where we all had corned beef or pastrami sandwiches (Bernie and I sharing again). This place lived up to it's long-enduring reputation very nicely, as I have never had pastrami that good ever before and don't expect to ever again. Yum.

After a little shopping and more subway sightseeing, we had to go to the fancy party that was the reason for the trip. This was a retirement/45 anniversary party for a business associate of my father's. The couple happens to be Chinese, and they learned about Bernie from my father, and they wanted to meet us, so we got invited to the party as well. We dressed up nice and took the 7 train to Flushing to a restaurant named Mulan. This is where we discovered the Chinese community in New York. Much much nicer and cleaner than old Chinatown. We lucked out and just missed the crowd attending Paul McCartney at Shea Stadium (the previous subway stop) both coming and going.

The party was great, but no one told me that it was a 12-course dinner until after the third course! I doubt anyone reading this would want a recitation of everything that was said or served, but the meal included roast pork, shrimp, chicken, lobster, Peking duck, shark fin soup, abalone, noodles, pineapple fried rice, steak, steamed sea bass, noodles, fruit, and flan with caramel for dessert. I think I managed to at least taste everything. It was a good thing the courses were spread out over two and a half hours or I couldn't have even done that. I think Bernie really enjoyed it most of all, since she hasn't seen this kind of food since our wedding reception, four years ago.

After riding the subway back to the hotel, we slept and got up on Sunday to hike the streets again. We had seen cruise ships and military ships docking from the hotel room window all weekend, and we decided to walk to the river and see them up close. Of course, it was a lot farther away than it looked from the 28th floor. We made it, however, and we got to see the USS Intrepid, two NCL ships, and three destroyer ships - two Australian and one American. We got to watch the docking of the American ship, assisted by two tugboats. Then we hiked back to the hotel in time to pack and catch our taxi for the airport.

I'm hoping Bernie will post her pics, because we took a lot of them.

Oh, I forgot to mention my accident. You know how hotels have suddenly decided it's cool to put a towel rack in the shower so your towels stay damp all the time? Well, in our hotel, the side of the shower opposite the rack was blocked by the sink and vanity, so you had to enter the shower on the end with the rack, which was exactly at eye level. So Saturday morning, when I'm sleepy and not all that attentive, I get in the shower and BONK! Right on the bridge of my nose. One small cut, but a nice little purple bruise to show for the incident. I look like I got into an MMA event.

Going to New York

Today's my last day at work this week, because we're going to NYC in the morning (EARLY - 6am flight).

On the agenda:

Katz' Deli
Rockefeller Center
Radio City Music Hall
Chinatown
Central Park
Fancy Party at Mulan in Flushing

Is it bad that I'm more interested in NYC food than I am in sightseeing?

This is our mini-vacation before we go to Calgary in early August.

This Week...

A brief update:

Losing weight again, just not as fast. The new scale reads 10 lbs higher than the other, so I'm not updating my curve again until I fall below the last reading on the previous scale. That's getting close.

We didn't go to the gym at all last week, and it threatened rain all week as well, so we didn't swim. At least we 'hiked' IKEA and Concord Mills this weekend for exercise!

I've switched at least temporarily to the Tenor Sax for band, which of course means that I have to spend some money to put my tenor into reasonable condition. Looks like the director wants to have a full-fledged jazz band concert this summer, so I may actually have to start practicing my improv.

I don't know how parents can afford to have their kids play instruments these days. $5 for a reed!

We've got a short work week - going to New York for a 3-day weekend on Friday. Big party for a friend of the family on Saturday night, and sheer tourism for the remaining time. The party is at a really fancy Chinese restaurant - hopefully, we'll have some good pictures when we get back.

This weekend, I learned to make homemade ginger ale. The best ginger ale I've ever had was Blenheim red cap before this, but the homemade stuff beats it. Very nice.

Happy July 5th

Since I played with the band for the fireworks at Tega Cay yesterday, we had our July 4th cookout on the 5th today.

I am worn out. Two hours of playing the saxophone with the concert band, followed by two more hours playing with the jazz band, getting home around 1am, then prepping for the cookout this morning, cooking, and cleaning up this afternoon.

It's a good thing I have tomorrow off. I need the rest.

Scale Has Been Replaced

We got the replacement scale from Taylor the other day and I put it in service yesterday. It does indeed seem to be accurate. Of course, that means it reads 10 pounds higher than the one we've been using - but it agrees with the doctor's scale, so that's really good overall.

It also confirms that I'm losing weight again and the dreaded plateau has been broken.

Here's my theory on why I hit that plateau in the first place:
It's all about stretching the stomach pouch. I've been drinking soda again for awhile now, even though they warned me not to. I thought I was being careful - just sipping it slowly and taking all day to finish one bottle so that the carbonation wouldn't stretch the pouch. Apparently I wasn't being careful enough and during the plateau weeks, I noticed my appetite increasing during meals. So I fixed it - not by quitting the sodas - but by pouring my soda in a glass over ice to get rid of the carbonation, instead of drinking from the bottle. It didn't take two days before I noticed that my appetite and capacity had gone back down to post-surgery "normal", and sure enough, the weight started coming off again.

Let this be a lesson to you gastric bypassers - don't drink carbonated drinks. If you fall off the wagon, pour it in a glass and over ice to minimize the bubbles.

Back in the Gym Today

The needle on the scale started moving downward a little in the last few days. Not enough to count yet, but encouraging. For some reason the portion size at meals that I've been able to tolerate has gone back down to where I think it should be, in the last few days. I've also cut way back on carbs for snacks. All snacking is nuts, nuts, nuts, and some homemade beef jerky.

Today I got to the gym for the first time this week. We went swimming over the weekend and on Monday, I was verrrry sleepy for some reason and didn't want to work out. Tuesday was a very stressful rehearsal for the concert band, so today was my first time back this week, and nearly all I did was cardio. I changed my routine to doing some hard reps on the elliptical and getting a good sweat going. When I couldn't lift my feet any more, I switched to the bike. I did get in one set of chest presses.

Today (Wednesday) at the Gym

Yesterday was band practice, so no workout. Today was day 2 at the gym:

25 minutes on the stationary bike, level 6, HR up to 120.
3 sets, each arm, cable pulls (trying to emulate a baseball swing)
3 sets of 20 reps on ab coaster (center, left, right)
3 sets tricep press
10 minutes stationary bike, level 7 (cool down)

Today at the Gym

25 minutes on the stationary bike, level 7. Last 3 minutes sprinting, HR up to 120.
3 sets bicep curls
3 sets reverse curls (triceps)
3 sets of 20 reps each on the ab coaster (1 center, 1 left, 1 right)
3 sets each arm - cable pulls
10 minutes stationary bike, level 7, cool-down.

Note to self: You can play solitaire on the iPhone while pedaling.

The Latest Updates!

Been a busy, but only moderately interesting, week.

I still haven't lost a pound in 3 weeks, but I haven't been going to the gym regularly either, so it's probably nothing to worry about (much).

I played a jazz concert with the Charlotte Jazz Band on Friday night. Our regular tenor sax players have stopped coming to rehearsals, so I have been promoted from 2nd Alto to 1st Tenor - and I had one rehearsal and two days to prepare for it. Luckily, we're not doing stuff that's incredibly hard, and my improv solos sound better on tenor anyway. It was a lot of fun, actually. I even think Bernie had fun with the "band-wives".

We had our neighborhood yard sale on Saturday morning after that. We had to get up at 6am to set up. We've been hearing in the papers that our Latino population has been leaving the country due to the poor economy, and it really showed in the turnout for the sale. We made about $200, got rid of the old TV sets, and I ended up giving away some stuff just so I wouldn't have to dispose of it. I kept some of the unsold "fat" clothes and we'll try to sell them again in the fall. Nobody's buying corduroy pants in 93-degree heat.

On Sunday, we had a Father's Day lunch at my parents' house. I made bbq ribs on Saturday and refrigerated them, and then I re-heated and sauced them in my mom's oven. Everybody liked them, except me. I guess I can chalk this up to more changes after gastric bypass.

I'm going to get back into the gym this week on a serious basis. 4 days out of 5 is the goal. (Band practice is on Tuesday, so I can't go to the gym that day).

I've started on protein shakes for breakfast again - just in case that's the problem with the weight loss plateau.

We'll be heading to NYC in a couple of weeks for a long weekend, and in August, we'll go to Calgary for our vacation and to attend one of Bernie's friend's wedding. Spring just flew by this year, and it looks like summer is going to do the same thing.

We saw a deal where Singapore Airlines has a RT to Malaysia for $698. I've asked Bernie if she wants to go, since the timing is ideal with her not working. She's interested but hasn't followed up with me on the idea. I think I'll ask her again tonight. I can't go, but I know she's pining to see her family. We'll see.

Dry Spell

I've hit a HUGE plateau for my weight loss. No pounds lost in 3 weeks, and I'm going nuts trying to figure out what's wrong. I've increased exercise and cut back on my eating somewhat, increased dosage of fish oil and vitamin D.

I've got some ligament issues in my feet that I'm hoping the fish oil will fix and then I'll try jogging if I have to. I hate jogging.

I hope I haven't stalled out permanently at 245. That would really suck.

Okay, I totally want one of these

Nothing Newsworthy

Not much is going on, folks. I haven't abandoned my blog - there's just nothing worth writing about.
We'll be making trips to NYC and Calgary this summer, so there's stuff coming up. Stay tuned!