dkorb01
Year 2 of my Journey
Mar 03, 2015
Let me bring all of you up to date...2 years ago I was 596 pounds and had essentially given up. My wife, and Daughter were unhappy with me, my family has all but disowned me, and my house is slowly falling into disrepair. I was diagnosed with right side heart failure, with severe obstructive sleep apnea, as well as nerve damage via carpal tunnel syndrome in my hands having been a hardware and systems administrator for the past 12 years. I had been working myself into an early grave not eating breakfast in the mornings commuting to NYC to my various contracts, sometimes working 16 hour days, and the days when I wasn't working those kind of hours I would come home and hang out on the computer playing video games with my online friends. I had Isolated myself from the outside world other then my wife and my immediate family. When My wife and I met, I was in the New York Army National Guard, and I had a job working in Business Machines at Staples, as well as running my own side business helping people with their various computer problems. I was young, strong, and weighed around 200 pounds. I walked everywhere I went, somewhere along the line I got lazy, started driving a car everywhere, eating fast food and simple carbs all the time, mostly Pasta's, Dr. Pepper, Pizza.
I continued to become depressed that I had lost control of my life...The doctors would not clear me to go back to work, and my job @ time warner would not allow me to return without a Doctors clearance...I ended up on short term disability, which turned into long term disability from 2006-2009, my depression had taken on a whole new meaning by that point as we were unable to pay all of our bills on a regular basis, and my wife whom I had always supported, felt she had no choice but to go to work full time...she started at working at McDonalds and shortly afterward was made a shift manager. I don't want to say that I was Jealous of my wife, but I was in a very bad place, a she was able to do well and I was stuck in the house having grown large enough that I was incapable of driving myself anymore. Together we were still unable to keep up with our bills without borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. I continued to gain weight, and I ended up developing edema in my legs. Then we got some good news, I was approved for Social security and they gave us back pay to 2006...We took that money and paid back some of the bills that we owed and then we bough a House to live closer to my family so that my daughter had kids her age she could grow up with as I was to large to give my wife another child.
4 years of living in the new house, my wife came home from camp that she worked at during the summer to bring in more money and informed me that she had met someone who was bigger then me, and was working with a Bariatric doctor on a non surgical weight loss diet. I figured, hey sounds like a plan at this point I was 596 pounds. the diet was the Advanced Health Systems Diet from Robard. I ate 3 Protein Bars a day and 2 Protein Robard Meals (chili and beefaroni) which tasted pretty good, then I would have an 18oz Ribeye, with a salad. I dropped from 596 pounds to 554 in a matter of 3 months. The biggest issue I had was being able to afford all of my bills, + food for the rest of the house, + buying the products from the doctor...so it was always a struggle...but then the doctor made the decision for me...she got married on the spur of the moment and moved away to Hawaii with her new husband. when this happened her clinic closed down...and the next closest doctor that sold the products was nearly 100 miles away. I made the trip to that office twice, but my truck was having some issues...so my wife and daughter and I all sat and discussed that the diet was essentially an Atkins like diet.
As a family we all went on the Atkins diet figuring we would buy all the frozen meals and bars from Wal-Mart and my daughter and I joined the local YMCA and started using their pool every other day as a low impact aerobic workout for 45 minuets a day. essentially I would walk into the pool swim to the deep end and then hold the ladder, then I would stretch and move constantly for 45 minuets...then I would swim to the stairs and walk out of the pool ( this was the hardest part as gravity took hold). One day as I was coming out of the pool I heard an audible crunch in my right knee. I hadn't broken it but I did put a strain on it. The doctor told me to stay off the knee for a while and when I felt better go back to doing what I had been doing. Then a week or so after this had begun I weighed myself and I had gained weight and so had my daughter and wife...the first week we chalked it up to the exercise we had been doing. Maybe we had built some muscle, the second week I gained again, so we began to do some research...If you go to the Atkins meals website, and read the fine print, they tell you to only eat 2 Atkins products a day as there are hidden sugars they don't report..ala what a crap way to find out right?
Then my truck broke down, the only vehicle that I could use to get around. then the pain in my right knee moved to my left knee, 2-3 weeks later I started having back issues, eventually it went away...after this I was at a loss, financially we couldn't get a new vehicle that October my daughter turned 18 and my social security was reduced by 700 dollars a month, which put a big strain on our bills...ad to that my wife's job was through a college so when the students weren't in session her company would lay her off for the summers and the Winter and spring breaks. Over 4 years that caught up with us...combined with issues pertaining to our utilities, my bills were out of control again. So I just lived day to day waiting for something to change. In June 2014 my back issues randomly came back...I don't even know what caused it...eventually It got so bad that I could only get out of bed long enough to get to the bathroom and back while my back continuously spammed. For the first time I was taking a serious look at how my life was affecting my wife's and daughters...I was no longer distracted by video gaming and my own selfish needs. I was stuck in bed looking up at the ceiling wondering if I would ever not feel pain again...I was watching the stress in my wife's face and listening to how the kids dealt with me as an inconvenience. That's when I made the decision to try to find a rehab center I could go to. I found some that had potential but the costs were prohibitive. One day my back got so bad that I finally told my father to call the hospital. They took me there and the hospital was more interested in making sure I wasn't having a heart attack then whether my back was okay. I practically begged them to admit me but the doctor wasn't having it...I explained to the doctor that I don't have a way of following up with a PcP and that I need help so he gave me a Social worker, who made arrangements with my insurance carrier to help me through their network.
Tom, my social worker, has been a god send, he makes sure that I have an ambulance to get me from my house to the doctors, he arranges my appointments so that I can see multiple doctors in a day...I now have a primary care physician that I haven't had in over 8 years. I had my heart and pulmonary checked out for the first time since 2006. apparently because I have used my cpap machine every night as I was told in 2006, my heart failure has healed itself. It took a little bit of doing but I found a diet that I am having no trouble sticking to...who knew I would like protein shakes ( I had never liked them before) but I found Premier Protein premade shakes 30g protein you can buy a case of 12 for 18-20 bucks at BJ's wholesale it tastes a lot like a chalky Yoo-hoo.
I have been doing this diet since 2/18 and my first weigh in is 3/11. My biggest concern is I was told to eat 2300 calories a day as my resting metabolism is around 5100...I have had a very hard time trying to attain that calorie level without eating an 18 oz. Ribeye every night. I tend to begin my day with a protein shake, 2 hours later Ill eat 1 cup of cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of un-sweetened mixed fruit for breakfast. Then I have another Protein shake for midmorning snack. Lunch I will make Tuna fish with 1Tbs of Helmans mayo, on 6 leaves of Romaine lettuce half an onion and 2 pickle spears. I will have cottage cheese and unsweetened fruit again for my afternoon snack then for dinner I eat any meat generally 12-18oz with a salad, or 2 vegetables. Note what's missing...No bread, Pasta, Milk, Sugar, Pizza, Sandwiches, Soda, Coffee, Tea...I drink roughly 64 ounces of water throughout the day as well. I figure this is essentially the diet I'm going to be eating after the surgery, and honestly I could almost just drink protein shakes if that's what the doctor wants me to do, but I haven't met the Surgeon yet.
So here is where I'm at so far...I will keep this blog updated as I go and let you know my progress.
