Day 295 - Onelander

One and a half month after I contemplating this moment, it has finally arrived.  I'm below 200 pounds.  Now, 30 more pounds to go towards my goal weight, and I have about 2 months to do this (highly unlikely).

I've also started to wear my belt one more notch in.  this will be the 4th holes in.  It's still not the most comfortable fit for now, but I suppose I'll get used to it.

115/74/64 199.4lb 92 mg/DL

Day 294 - Trying Different Spec

My hunter Kycilia have been running around Survial/Beast Master spec since the start of that character.  I decided to switch out Survial spec and try Marksman spec for a change.  It's taking me a while (and 3 different run through dungeon) to sort of get the hang of mechanism of the spec.  Now, onto getting my warlock more gears.


113/73/64 200.8lb 95 mg/DL

Day 293 - End of Week 42 - 200 Pounds

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

05-29-2011 Front

05-29-2011 Side

Finally, 200 pounds.  Not yet in the Onelander territory, but more than within sight.  These last 10 pounds took me 52 days to cover.  Yeah, I'm definitely slowing on my weight loss.  But I'm still aiming for my target weight of 175 pounds.  25 more to go.

113/69/65 200lb 96 mg/DL
Week to Week 1.8lb
Total Weight Loss 128lb
Body Mass Index 28.69

Day 292 - Hearing "You've Lost A Lot of Weight" From A Total Stranger

I was out shopping today.  While at Best Buy, I handed both the credit card and my driver license for proof of identity when the cashier casually mentioned that I've lost a lot of weight.  I don't shop at brick and mortar stores normally, and I don't know the guy at all.  I look at the driver license photo (taken about 3 years ago), and sure enough, I really don't look like that anymore.  Perhaps it's time for me to update that photo as well as other statistics.

105/69/56 201.8lb 102 mg/DL

Day 291 - Korean Tofu Hot Pot

Another late post.  Being rather busy today, trying to get to the cemetery and beat the Memorial Day Weekend getaway traffics.   Managed to get myself stuck in traffic for almost 3 hours, going to and back from Rose Hills.

My work let us leave early for the long weekend, so I went to the Korean BBQ restaurant for the first time in months.  As usual, I go for a small pot of Pork Tofu Soup.  And this time, my stomach can handle the meal a bit better.  On my way home, I pick up some hot and sour soup from Sam Woo restaurant that serve as my dinner tonight and lunch for tomorrow.  Lets hope this act of stupidity doesn't cause any permanent issue. 

115/67/66 200.8lb 92 mg/DL

Day 290 - Driving Without Turning Head

I drove to the office today.  The dizziness spell is still there, and even as I type this, there's still this annoying background sensation of the dizziness.  I only get overwhelm when my head change position (such as getting out of bed or laying down to sleep).  One thing that kind of bother me is that while driving, I have to turn my head a whole lot slower to check my blind spot.  This is really annoying.

107/73/56 201.4lb 98 mg/DL

Day 289 - Missing Support Meeting

Due to my on-going dizziness spell, yesterday was the first support group meeting that I've missed since about 4 weeks post surgery.  In all, I've attended all of the meeting with regularity.  I do want to go, but safety first.

In regard with the sense of unbalance, I'm getting better, and I'll drive into work tomorrow.

110/70/59 200.8lb 100 mg/DL

Day 288 - Catch Up Reading

Last Friday, I noticed that the Advance Reading Copy of Larry Correia's third Monster Hunter series is available for sale.  Naturally, I hop on to WebScription webserver and duly pay for a copy of Monster Hunter Alpha.  However, before I start reading it, I went back and re-read the first two books of the series, Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta.  In the midst of downloading Monster Hunter Alpha, I also found a free digital copy short stories which includes the wonderful Tanya: Princess of the Elves that he was thinking of including into MHA.  However, since the vast majority of the novel took place in Upper Peninsula Michigan, tacking a short story that took place in Mississippi and Indiana really would be out of place.  As it stand, the short story really work well on its own.

The book cover does spilled some of the storyline a bit.

111/73/62 202.2lb 96 mg/DL

Day 287 - Loss of Balance

Another late post.   I really go to do these posts in a more timely basis.  So my dizziness return with a vengeance yesterday.  I was surprised that I managed to drive to the office and drove to the doctor's appointment afterward.  When I got to work, I knew I have to see the doctor ASAP.  This is not the first time that I had this kind of dizzy spell.  I also used to have some irregular heart beat a couple of years back.

The doctor listened to my heart both sitting upright and laying down flat on my back, and really didn't hear that much difference.  However, she did noticed that if I train my eye on a far off object and move my head slowly, the dizziness lessened tremendously.  It would seemed that my inner ear balance mechanism is currently not working correctly, and she assured me that this condition is temporary.

Even as I type this, I still feel the after effect of dizziness and unbalance.  This is annoying.

114/79/54 202.2lb 94 mg/DL

Day 286 - End of Week 41

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

05-22-2011 Front

05-22-2011 Side

Other than the recurrence of the dizziness that happened  when I either get out or into bed, this is a good week for me.  I actually lost whole 3 pounds.  I'm going to have to see my doctor about this.

115/72/58 201.8lb 100 mg/DL
Week to Week 3lb
Total Weight Loss 126.2lb
Body Mass Index 28.95

Day 285 - Busy Day

Sorry about another late post.  Busy day: going to movie in the morning, going to Rose Hills to visit my mother.  According to Chinese Lunar Calendar it's the 4th anniversary of her passing.  I suppose I'll have another anniversary to observe in a couple of weeks.

109/70/49 202.4lb 91 mg/DL

Day 284 - Lightheaded & Dizzy

Short post today.  Woke up feeling extremely lightheaded and dizzy.  For almost a minutes, my vision and sense of balance was wobbling after I woke up.  Even now, I still feel odd.

110/70/60 203lb 105 mg/DL

Day 283 - Return of Pain

Ok, I'm keeping the current pace of 3.9MPH walk at 35 minutes a day.  However, I'm feeling heat and pain sensation from my left knee.  About a year prior to my surgery, I noticed that I was bending my knee in a bad position while exiting from cars.  I've since made a conscience effort to plant my left foot firmly and use both hands while getting out of the car.

Loosing 48% of my weight helps a bit with the pain on my knee, but in my heart, I know my knee is shot, and really nothing short of surgery will fix it.  In the meantime, I've bought a knee brace that I'll wear during my exercise and see if it'll help.

113/72/69 204lb 100 mg/DL

Day 282 - Stump of Time

As of this morning, all of my casters (Mage Nodame, Warlock Kasukabe, Shadow Priest Fidie, Balance Druid Lonchaneyjr) are all wearing epic trinket Stump of Time.  This is one trinket for caster class that can go a long way to make casting not miss their spell casting.  Cataclysm have such a steep hit rating requirement, getting to hit cap is the first priority for casters.  With this trinket, I can afford to re-forge a lot of my gears towards other stats.  Now, I just need to get my hunter and death knight their respective trinket as well.

122/72/51 203.4lb 95 mg/DL

Day 281 - Driving While Wet

Winter storm at Mid May. Well, turn my 30 minutes morning drive to 60 minutes. The drive home is better.

Yesterday, at lunch, I tried to take the elevator down stair at the office with the lunch crowd tying up all of the the carts. So I opted to walk down downstairs, all 8 floors. It was taxing, but I feel I can do it more regularly. However, today being of a mess at closing time, so I didn't have a chance to try this out. I'm not sure how this is going to work tomorrow.

117/72/72 203.4lb 97 mg/DL

Day 280 - Semi-Ramp Up

In my exercise this morning, I attempt to ramp up the speed to 4.0 MPH. As far as I can tell, my knees (especially the left one) should be able to hold up. However, the rest of my legs can't. Even though I only dial up to 4.0 for about 5 minutes, I am especially taxed at my right shin muscle and left calf muscle. I guess that speed can wait a couple of more weeks. Since I'm only on the current pace of 3.9 MPH for 35 minutes for about a week, it's a bit early to push it. According to the machine, I walked for 2.28 Miles today. Not bad for someone who used to have problem going up and down the stair.

Oh, you can definitely tell that I wasn't awake when I took my blood pressure measurement. Pulse of 48 per minute...

113/74/48 204.2lb 95 mg/DL

Day 279 - End of Week 40

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

05-15-2011 Front

05-15-2011 Side

Today is the day of great inactivity.  I did managed to ran many of my characters through heroic Zandalari dungeons.  The shadow priest Fidie is now my best geared alt thanks to the acquisition of 4 Zandalari loots as well as the purchase of Tier 11 chest piece.  However, my most satisfying run must have been my mage, when she acquired Swift Zulian Panther mount.  Here she is at Hakar's altar in Zul'Gurub with the Panther Cub companion pet:

Nodame on Hakar's Altar in Zul'Gurub

I'm going to try having both the fruit protein smoothie and just plan coffee tomorrow.  Lets see how that pans out.

106/69/55 204.8lb 97 mg/DL
Week to Week 0.8lb
Total Weight Loss 123.2lb
Body Mass Index 29.38

Day 278 - Yogurt Fruit Smoothie

I've decided to mix things up a bit.  Instead of using the protein powder in my morning latte, I'll mix it into a smoothy consist of 1/3 fruit, 1/3 Greek Yogurt and the rest milk.  I still have a full tub of uflavored powder that really doesn't go well heated.

The batch I did this morning works as well as can be expected.  Next time, I'll put in fruits first, powder, milk and then the yogurt before blending.

110/74/51 204.6lb 101mg/DL

Day 277 - Friday the 13th

At least I've caught up with document all of my receipt.  I couldn't find my last gas receipt for almost a week and it drove me insane.  Well, probably more post later in the evening.

109/75/69 205.4lb 97 mg/DL

Day 276 - Body Fat

Well, today's the 9th month post surgery followup.  No real surprises.  My cholesterol numbers are good: 47 HDL and 97 LDL.  I went on the body mass measurement machine again, and the result is as I expected.  I lost about 20 pounds in the past 3 months.  According to the machine, 3 months ago, I have 83.1lb of fat.  Today I have 62.0lb.  So almost ALL of my weight loss have been the lost of fat.  My muscle mass didn't increase, which is a bit troublesome.  I'm ahead of the schedule that the program have in mind for me.  I'm just behind in my own mind.

This post is supposed to come out on Thursday evening.  The ongoing blogspot outage sort of delay that.  I'm grateful that my blog still works, unlike Anne Althouse's blog.

114/76/71 204.2lb 91 mg/DL

Day 275 - Not Morbidly Obese, Just Overweight

I recently looked up my own BMI and it reads 29.3.  Back when I enrolled into the bariatric by-pass surgery, my weight (the all time high weight that I actually keep track of ) is 355 pounds, BMI of 50.9, well into the morbidly obese territory (above 40).  By common reckoning, I ceased to be morbidly obese back in October 10, and crossed into the merely overweight back in April 22.  My current revised goal is just above the normal range, but I think I can live with that.

In terms of exercise, at the current 3.9MPH, I start feeling a twig around the 26th minutes mark, but did the entire 35 minutes routine.  I am feeling fine.

114/76/71 204.2lb 91 mg/DL

Day 274 - Joy of On-Call

Waken up at 2AM.  Call ended at 4AM.  Cannot go back to sleep.  Happy Happy Joy Joy !!

Since I cannot fall back to sleep, I opted to start my exercise a bit earlier.  And for a change, I did 3.9 MPH pace and my knees actually held out at 35 minutes.  Joy!

132/73/56 206.8lb 99 mg/DL

Day 273 - Jadefang Companion Pets

Yesterday just before going to sleep, I finished off all of my level 85 character's collection of Tiny Shale Spider companion pet.  The rare spawn Jadefang is on a long timer (about 8 hours), and the only way to get to the niche he resides in is via a quest Underground Economy in which you can get the bomb that can place you there.  Now, hunter also want this green Shale Spider to fill the niche of the party that does not have paladin or druid.  And it looks good.  In all, I killed Jadefang 7 times for the Tiny Shale Spider and tame it once for my hunter.  The very first time I encounter him is with my hunter Kycilia while trying to find and tame it:

Kycilia with Jadefang as combat pet

At that time, I haven't had the foresight to get all of my level 85 characters to get the quest (the quest isn't available daily, just some of the days), so the very next time I encounter it, only Kycilia has the bomb.  So I made the best use of the situation and got Kycilia her rare companion pet:

Jadefang with Tiny Shale Spider

After the next time in which the quest became available, I got all but my death knight the quest with bomb and prepare to get everyone her companion pet.  Paladin Dianora is the first one up:

Dianora with Tiny Shale Spider

Mage Nodame is next:

Nodame with Tiny Shale Spider

Warlock Kasukabe got it back in May 1 2011:

Kasukabe with Tiny Shale Spider

Shadow Priest Fidie also got it later that day:

Fidie with Tiny Shale Spider

When I realized that my Death Knight Ogiue didn't have the quest, I waited until it's available, and she's the next one to get the pet:

Ogiue with Tiny Shale Spider

Finally yesterday before going to sleep, my boomkin druid Lonchaneyjr got hers:

Lonchaneyjr with Tiny Shale Spider

In all, it's an round of interesting game of stalking and waiting.  Now that's over, I can stop parking my hunter there, and she can participate in more useful activities.

Just did a modification of this post.  This is actually the 9th after the surgery, rather than yesterday.

115/73/77 205lb 92 mg/DL
Month 09 4.6lb

Day 272 - End of Week 39

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

05-08-2011 Front

05-08-2011 Side

The pain in the neck from Friday night hasn't gotten better. But it hasn't gotten worse, which I can be thankful for.

I ran out of shorts that fit for today's picture.  So I have to use one of the old ones.  It's a bit of a challenge to get it NOT falling off.  I didn't get a change to do the shopping I've been meaning to do, and I go back on-call on Monday, so that chance is even more remote

For the first time in 2 weeks, my measurement on Sunday is actually less than the previous weeks.  It's now actually my lowest weight.  Lets see if I can keep it up.

For my morning exercise, I decided to add extra 5 minutes, which I should be able to spare.  God knows it takes me 20 minutes just to go to the machine.

115/79/59 205.6lb 92 mg/DL
Week to Week 2.4lb
Total Weight Loss 122.4lbBody Mass Index 29.50

Day 271 - Pain in the Neck

I literally do have a pain in the base of my neck on the left apt side.  I've had this happened before while morbidly obese.  So even with me loosing all that weight, bad posturing will still get me.  Time for the hot wrap to loosen the joints.

117/77/70 206.6lb 103 mg/DL

Day 270 - Second Belt, Third Notch

I've been wearing my belt one more notch in for about a week.  I've grown comfortable wearing it 2 notch in for a while, and this does feel tight.  The previous notch is at the same width as my pelvis bones.  So this one is actually a bit smaller.  I really need to work some resistance training onto my routine.

105/70/50 207.6lb 97 mg/DL

Day 269 - Vitamin D II

The surgeon's office called me yesterday about my blood test result from last week (my follow up appointment is next week).  All is normal except Vitamin D.  They faxed me a prescription for massive vitamin D dosage (50,000 unit weekly for 4 weeks).  I'm still trying to figure out why the vitamin D I got from the multi-vitamin isn't enough.  Well, after the 4 week dosage, Perhaps I need to add additional daily vitamin D.

107/69/57 206.8lb 93 mg/DL

Day 268 - Shoes

As I mention back in October 18 2010, I've been wearing ECCO Track II Low for years.  I've noticed that in the past couple of weeks I'm having problem with shoes being too large.  Back in 2009 when I was under Actos induced feet swelling.  And back then, I weight about 355lb.  I know that the shoes felt too small.  Right now, I know that the shoe is too large.  This have lead to my feet banging around inside the shoe.  My small toes have are getting really uncomfortable.  And I really hate shopping for clothing.  I've been wearing the exact same shoe for years because I finally found one I like.  Well, it now looks like I might need to buy new shoes.  Or at least, thicker socks.

112/71/59 206.8lb 94 mg/DL

Day 267 - More Stalls

I'm currently in the third week of my current bout of stall. My weight will oscillate between 206 and 209. No real pattern. I am upping my exercise routine, though I tried the treadmill at 5' incline and that's almost as bad as the 3.9MPH pace. So, I'm stuck at 30 minutes of 3.8MPH at 4' incline. I am working up a sweat by the time my routine is done.

111/71/81 206.8lb 99 mg/DL

Day 266 - New Pets

I spend this past weekend getting ALL of my level 85 toons in position to grab the new Lashtail Hatchling, which involved a rather long drawn out quest line in Northern Stranglethorn.  Two of my toons also managed to get the Tiny Shalespider for pet.  My hunter is still station at the tunnel waiting for Jadefang to respawn.

115/75/59 207.6lb 92 mg/DL

Day 265 - End of Week 38

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

05-01-2011 Front

05-01-2011 Side

Another week of backwardness. And to think in mid week, I was making progress.  Well, I can't dwell on that already occurred and concentrate on what needs to be done.

115/74/58 208lb 94 mg/DL
Week to Week -0.4lb
Total Weight Loss 120lb
Body Mass Index 29.84