This diet that Andy's on is expensive. 

We pay $104 each week for his meal supplements alone and $25 a week on our balance that we owe them, currently $2500 and growing.  This balance consists of the costs of monthly doctor monitoring and tests, weekly weigh-ins, therapy, classes, vital monitoring.

In addition to this we are now paying $25 a week for Andy to attend therapy. 

So you can imagine that working the overtime to pay or all this and then realizing that your net loss for a month has been 3 lbs, when it could have and should have been closer to 3 lbs a week, is very frustrating.

People plateau for many reasons.  Sometimes they're still doing everything right and their body starts rejecting the process.  Sometimes their mind begins to reject the process thereby causing them to stop doing everything right. 

Losing weight is not a natural process for the human body.  It goes against all survival tactics to last through fast, famine, ice age, etc.  Packing on a few extra pounds and holding onto them used to be what kept human beings alive.  It's strange now that in the first world, fewer people have these problems.  We now have the opposite issue.  Our bodies though, are still programmed to fight against the loss of large amounts of weight. 

Often you see in patients that have lost large amounts of weight, they plateau, either physically or mentally. 

It was suggested to Andy by his weight loss doctor that he just get off the wagon for a little while, reprogram himself, and stop riding around in circles.  His therapist, who is wonderful and has been such a blessing, echoed this sentiment.  He said to him, "You don't have to do this."

And he's right.  Andy had lost 86 lbs.  He is probably no longer in as much of a life threatening situation.  There is no deadline for this weight loss.  He certainly is allowed to take a break and come back, or given the tools they've provided him in their nutrition classes, continue from this point on his own with some level of confidence in his ability to succeed.

Certainly he should probably keep seeing his outside therapist if that was the option he decided on, because people don't become morbidly obese because they like being heavy or they had a few too many cheeseburgers.  No no, there is a reason behind the reason, always.  Losing the weight is imperative, however, tackling the psychological trigger that creates such a large weight problem is essential if this is the last time he wants to lose that weight.

I've seen people who have had gastric bypass surgery, lost 100-200 lbs, and still reach for food when they get upset about anything.  I don't want that for my husband. 

There is something about hearing that you don't have to do something that makes it easier to do.

I would love for Andy to take a month off.  I really think he could do it, and I think when he's ready to transition back into eating solid food again, he'll continue to lose weight.  For me, tho, it's more about being a cheapskate. And on top of that, I hate to see him work all those overtime hours just to have a donut screw up his week. 

Carbs will mess up ketosis, and without the ketosis the body enters starvation mode until daily calories are raised back up to 1200.  It's a very delicate balance.  In ketosis, weight loss is guaranteed.  In starvation mode, the opposite happens.

So this was all bearing down on us and we felt like we were just running him on that hamster wheel going nowhere fast.  Then I had an idea.  It's hard to ride on a wagon by yourself.  Strength in numbers, yes?  So I got on.

In fact, I didn't just get on, I started driving, and threw everyone I could into the wagon.  Make no mistake, there is room for you as well.  Now I'm a careful driver.  I'm always checking the GPS.  I know where I'm going but I don't always know how to get there.  I started using a website and app called MyFitnessPal.  Through this program in the past 35 days I've managed to lose 10 lbs of my own.

Through the combination of me and my cohorts riding along, singing, "The wheels on the wagon go ROUND and ROUND, " (actually it's more like, "To the windoooww, to the WALL!!") and Andy hearing he could get off the wagon at any time, something fascinating happened.  Andy started driving.

YEE-HAWW!!  Now my husband has never needed a GPS.  If Andy is lost, he took that wrong turn on purpose, trust me. So now we're sailing down the road!  Look at us, we're FLYING!  90 lbs down!  ZZZZZOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Also helped that when I told him when he'd been on the road for 100 lbs, he could get that Nook he always wanted.  Ah yes... the real way that people successfully lose weight, BRIBERY.  (When I reach 175, I'm getting a pedicure, just saying.)  And every 10 pounds after that he can download a new book. 

Another motivator are the Non-Scale Victories (NSV).  If you know your final goal is a size six and you're a size 14, buy those size 10 pants and hang them on the closet door.  Every couple of weeks during your weight loss journey, try them on.  Eventually they'll fit and THAT is THRILLING.  

So along those lines, we've pulled out the 54s.  We have a large Rubbermaid tub full of our old clothes that had stopped fitting, but were still in good condition.  Back in the day when the hernia was growing and Andy weight was fluctuating, he decided at some point to stop wearing his pants below the belly and start wearing them over the belly, because we stopped finding shirts that were long enough to tuck in over the hernia.  So the pant sizes went from 54" to 62". 

When this weight loss process began, we realized that when he got into the high 50s again, he'd have to wear those big pants until he got back into his 54s or buy in-between sizes that he would only need for a short while.  We did buy one pair of 56s, but he's been belting and suspending the 62s (and 64s) to the point of looking like a little boy playing dress-up in his dad's clothes.

Finally, the 54s fit again and over the belly this time.  Hooray!  So now I'm going to grab all the rest of the 60s and put those babies up on Freecycle, kick them to the curb.  Getting the big clothes out of the house is always a good strategy.  Frees up room in the closet for new clothes.  He has some 54s, a couple 52s, a good amount of 50s, and one 48".  When those run out, we'll have to head to the store. 

We have no way of knowing when that'll happen or how much surgery will change his size and shape when the hernia is finally repaired.  That is far enough into the future that we don't have to worry about it just yet.  Andy is going to be meeting with his surgeon next week to discuss his progress, how much further down the road he needs to go, and also his recurring seromas from the last surgery. 

Coinciding with the start of this program in March, Andy's incision, which had healed beautifully, began having issues.  Bandaging his incision has become part of our daily routine, and that just does not seem normal.  Open sore on the belly is probably something we should be concerned about.

But in the meantime, this wagon is rolling!  Do you need a ride?  Hop on!  Enjoy complementary bottled water!  I'll even let you ride shotgun, assuming you don't mess with the radio too much.

ALL ABOARD!!

- C