Day 356 - End of Week 51

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

07-31-2011 Front

07-31-2011 Side

I was doing fine this week until the weekend meal that throws everything out of whack.  No point in crying over spill milk. 

I had my annual eye examination this past Friday.  The new peripheral vision machine was so boring that I almost fall asleep on numerous occasion.  At least the old one has a mechanic actuator that makes sound, and a guiding voice to let me know that the examination is still on going.  This new machine just has a camera trained to my eye and dots somewhere at the corner of my vision.  Despite that, I still pass with flying color.

I was surprised at how little the corrective surgery will cost after I ask the doctor.  Seeing that my eye didn't require new prescrition for the third years in a roll, perhaps I should considered getting that instead of a new glasses.

I get off on-call next week, but also have strange schedule.  I have to be in the office by 7AM for training.  This will be interesting.

115/75/61 190lb 93 mg/DL
Week to Week -1.8lb
Total Weight Loss 138lb
Body Mass Index 27.26

Day 355 - Blood Donation Failed

It's odd that American Red Cross have been bugging me to donate blood since at least 4 months after my surgery.  I've let them know that I had surgery, and still they call.  Well, I finally tried to donate blood today only to run into their protocol.  No blood transfusion / contact with other people's blood within 12 months.  I'm 11 days from clearing that date.  I guess they really don't want my blood.

119/79/63 189.4lb 91 mg/DL

Day 354 - 140 Pounds Down

Well, after flirting with the actual number, I hit 188 pounds this morning.  This means I'm currently down 140 pounds.  It took almost 8 weeks for me to loose that 10 pounds from the previous milestone.  The good news is that my goal weight is now 14 pounds away.

110/73/54 188lb 97 mg/DL

Day 353 - Busy Weekend

Sorry about the late post again.  I've been on-call again this week.  While it hasn't been nerve wrecking, some of my usual activities have been curtailed.  Furthermore, I'll be having my annual eye examination tomorrow, and try to donate some blood on Saturday.  Lets see how those turns up.

104/71/45 188.6lb 99 mg/DL

Day 352 - Busy Busy

Yesterday, I didn't even finish the Molten Front dailies for all of my characters.  I got home at about 8PM, group 2 leader was nowhere to be seen.  Unfortunately, I was so tired, that I only got 3 of my toons through the dailies, thus I missed out on a lot of tokens and money.  But I got to get some sleep, since I'm waking up at 4:30AM now.

110/72/60 188.6lb 92 mg/DL

Day 351 - Stood In Fire

Last night, my hunter Kycilia went to her first Blackwing Descent to kill the final boss, Nefarian.  I got the token to get the fish head helmet Lightning-Charged Headguard.  Now, I have to go to Uldum to get the helm enchant, and while there, I noticed wall of fire outside the inn.  Deathwing was making his irregular charge, and my hunter died quickly.  My main character Dianora hasn't had the honor of being randomly killed by Deathwing.  So, log out of my hunter, and login to my paladin, and got Stood In Fire achievement.  I also managed to get my mage kill as well, but I did remember to take off her gears before getting kill.

All in all, a fun night.

109.74/72 189.4lb 93 mg/DL

Day 350 - Starbuck Coffee Spinach Wrap Experiment

I had my quarterly (and hopefully soon just bi-annually) 12 tube vitamin blood test this morning.  Since I don't usually eat anything other than water prior to my blood drawing, I was kind of at a loss at what to eat for breakfast.  I also started my on-call for work this morning, so my time is at a premium.

At Starbuck for my morning coffee, I noticed that they have a spinach breakfast wrap that basically whole wheat tortilla wrap with cheese, spinach and egg.  It doesn't have as much protein as my usual 3 eggs in the morning.  But the biggest challenge is that whole wheat tortilla wrap.  I tried to make sure that everything is chewed well enough, but still, 2 hours later, I'm still feeling that single tortilla wrap.  So I guess this isn't a good idea of a meal.

One major benefit of me loosing weight is that I'm now a lot easier to have my blood drawn.  In this morning's session, the technician just use 1 wrap, and only did a cursory tap at my arm to find the vein.  In all, the experience is more painless than usual, 

112/74/59 188.8lb 94 mg/DL

Day 349 - End of Week 50

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

07-24-2011 Front

07-24-2011 Side

A more steady week of weight loss.  At least I didn't get side tracked like the previous week.  Though my weight have been rather steady, I've actually dropped some from yesterday, despite that 6oz steak I had for dinner with mash potato and saute mushroom and onion. 

I still have a bit more weight to go until 140 pounds loss, but I have every intention of getting there before my followup examination in 2 weeks. 

112/77/50 188.2lb 95 mg/DL
Week to Week 1.6 lb
Total Weight Loss 139.8lb
Body Mass Index 27.00  

Day 348 - Running Against Clock

Since I'm set to watch Captain America film today, going to Rose Hills yesterday is out of the question.  Unfortunately for me, Rose Hills closes at 5PM promptly.  Adding, further delay, I decided to take 134 -> 210 -> 605 route instead of the usual 134 -> 5 -> 60.  This is because when I left office at 3:30PM, I knew I probably didn't have time to go to Costco to pick up the flower.  Unfortunately, I learn only today that 210 east bound on Friday afternoon is a route best to be avoid.  Thus, it was with great effort that I arrived at Rose Hills Cemetery at 4:50 PM, barely enough time to buy the flower and set it at my mother's urn.

I decided to go to Noodle King and eat some fried stinky tofu.  Of course, I have another clock to beat.  I have company work scheduled to start at 7PM.  This I was barely able to accomplish, with Dodgers game starting, and all of my possible route going near the stadium.

Other than showing up at the theater 30 minutes prior to the showing, I did nothing today that requires clock.

115/75/59 188.8lb 94 mg/DL

Day 347 - Chicken Caesar Salad Experiment

I ordered small Chicken Caesar Salad from Speciality's for lunch today.  I pick it primary for the 36g of protein it has.  However, the relative high calorie (it's about 100 higher than the meals I usually eat for lunch).  And the fat content is also a wee bit high.  I didn't eat the roll that comes with it, but the croutons doesn't seemed to be a problem for me.  It's still a bit more than what I should be eating, so I might need to figure how to handle this in the future.

108/69/46 189.2lb 96 mg/DL

Day 346 - Blog Date Realignment

Yesterday I finally sat down and readjusted all of the dates on the post.  It would appear that I had a 13 days of jump ahead sometimes in December of 2010.  A major consideration when this blog increment its day count visually rather than by some automagic method.

The readjustment took me about an hour to go through and change the day number.  All of the URL links referred to the original date count.  And I'm not going to fix that.

114/70/68 189.4lb 92 mg/DL

Day 345 - Planning Meals

Even after 11.5 months after surgery, I am still surprised at my lack of ability to properly judge proportion.  With the food that I eat everyday, that's not an issue.  the problem arises whenever I eat at places I haven't been to in a while, and I always over eat.  Left over from a big meal is also a problem.

104/69/64 189.8lb 95 mg/DL

Day 344 - Typical Day Meals

Here's what I typically eat throughout a work day:

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy with dash of Tabasco sauce.  8oz 1% milk microwaved with 2tp of dietary fiber & other supplement.
Snack: Laughing Cow light cheese 50 calories 5g of protein (or one box of spicy seaweed).
Lunch: Steamed microwave meal.  260-330 calories.  One cup of coffee with dietary fiber.
Snack: Pacific Gold Beef Jerky 90 calories, 14g protein.
Dinner: At least 15g of protein.  8oz 1% milk microwaved with 2tp of dietary fiber.
Snack: 100 calories ice cream bar.

And a lot of decaffeinated coffee.  I'm not sure just what the calorie count of that is.  I don't always eat that list of food. 

114/75/74 189.6lb 90 mg/DL

Day 343 - Holding Pattern

With every passing days, it's clear that my pace of weight loss is grinding to a pattern. Holding onto a range of weight, and then small losses, following by more of the same holding pattern. I'm fine with this, so as long as I don't have large gain. But when I'm used to having pounds shed on a weekly basis, this is something I have to adjust to.

111/74/58 189.6lb 94 mg/DL

Day 342 - End of Week 49

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

07-17-2011 Front

07-17-2011 Side

As part of going to Rose Hills on Saturday morning instead of on Friday afternoon, I have more time to spend in going to lunch.  I opted to revisit the Korean BBQ place that I've frequent several times since my surgery.  I did myself no favor by getting a Papaya Milk while waiting for the restaurant to open.  Naturally, I over ate.

My brothers was too tired to cook dinner, so I picked up some take out from Sam Woo in Van Nuys, and this naturally also lead to over eating at dinner.  Overall, it could've been worst.  I only gain 0.8 pounds over yesterday, but gain overall of 1.4 vs last week.  Got to stay on the plan.

On today's picture.  I realized that I hadn't had the picture taken when I've already wear the knee bracers.  My brother is already away on-call, and I really don't have time to remove them.  So now you know what I have to use every morning as part of my exercise routine.

114/72/52 189.8lb 96 mg/DL
Week to Week -1.4 lb
Total Weight Loss 138.2lb
Body Mass Index 27.23 

Day 341 - Carmageddon 2011

Carmageddon 2011 turns out to be an almost non-event.  After hearing from the local news channel that traffic is lighter than usual, I decided to go through Rose Hills this morning.  I managed to get to Montebello Costco in almost record time due to the light traffic.  Also found out that roses are delivered to that store on Saturday morning, which means I really should go there on that day as well.

Just to test out my luck, I had to drive to Van Nuys to get some take out dinners for the house.  That means driving east bound on 101 and then take north bound 405.  Traffic is still unbelievably light, and I manage to get to and back in less than 40 minutes.

As someone who was in Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympic, the magical 3 weeks when the Freeway was actually cleared of most traffic, this is a welcome flashback.

118/74/59 189lb 89 mg/DL

Day 340 - Carmageddon D Minus One

Technically Carmageddon 2011 starts tonight when Caltran shutdown the southbound Interstate 405 through Sepulveda Pass.  Since I live west of the 101/405 interchange, my commute home (US 101 is pretty much the only way I get to and back from work) will inevitably be tied up in gridlock.  I don't see much of a reason to venture onto the freeway.  This of course means that I might have to have alternative means of getting to Rose Hills this weekend.  


118/80/70 189.4lb 92 mg/DL

Day 339 - Wonton Soup Dinner

Some of my co-workers was craving Ding Tai Fung dumpling on Tuesday.  I end up having too much food for lunch, as usual, and I ordered Wonton Soup take out for meals later.  That later turns out to be yesterday.  I was able to consume the wonton without much difficulty, but the soup is a bit much.

I'll try out something else for lunch today. 

118/75/70 189.8lb 98 mg/DL

Day 338 - Dual Knee Bracer

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm starting to get some pain that's not unlike hyper extension I had about 25 years ago (damn, that was a long time ago).  Since I'm supposed to get my feet check as well as my eyes yearly, perhaps it's time to make another appointment.

The exercise today went without a hitch, much less pain on my right leg.  My left knee is same as always.


123/81/68 191lb 95 mg/DL

Day 337 - Knee Pains

As I wrapped up my 45 minutes walk this morning, and unwrap the knee brace from my left knee, I felt nagging pain from my right knee.  I guess I'll have to start wearing that one as well.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I ate some random leftovers in my dinner yesterday, and that shows up in my weight this morning.  Today is support meeting night, so that means I'll most likely have another 2 cups of coffee at the evening hours just to stay awake.  At least I know what I'll be having for dinner tonight.

117/79/66 191.4lb 94 mg/DL

Day 336 - Busy Day

Well, today is more busy than usual.  Ate left overs for dinner, not the most sensible way of keeping on the plan, but these days happens.

106/74/55 190.8lb 90 mg/DL

Day 335 - End of Week 48

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

07-10-2011 Front

07-10-2011 Side

Not as spectacular of weight loss as last week, only 2.2 pounds.  The 45 minutes exercise is going well, the problem being that I have to actually start early enough as not to run into other people's schedule.  Right now, it takes me almost 30 minutes between my alarm clock going off and actually stepping onto the machine.  I really need to get that time down to something more reasonable.

I've been playing around with Google+ on and off this weekend.  Not being much of a social network user, I'm still not sure what to think of it. 



110/78/63 188.4lb 91 mg/DL
Week to Week 2.2lb
Total Weight Loss 139.6lb
Body Mass Index 27.03

Day 334 - Eleven Months Out

Only one more month to go until my first anniversary of the surgery.  Surprisingly enough, I did better than last month.  However, loosing 14.4lb next month is asking a bit much at this stretch of the game.  Well, back to work on this lovely Saturday.

110/73/67 188.4lb 87 mg/DL
Month 11 10.4lb

Day 333 Dealing with Hot Weather

I felt freezing all throughout the winter and spring after my surgery.  I figure that with much less fat insulation around my body, I should be able to handle warmer weather.

It really haven't gotten as hot as it will likely to get in August, and already I know that I won't like the hot temperature as well.  At least I'll be getting newer clothing, again.

115/74/69 188.4lb 89 mg/DL

Day 332 - Some Progression

Progression in World of Warcraft that is. After 1.5 weeks of banging our head against the wall, and having to endure pug dps/healer/tank, our raid group finally down the first boss in Fireland raid instance. It took 3.5 solid hours of wiping, but down he went. Tanking pants drop, and of course, I didn't get it :)

I found out that the treadmill elevation at 4' is wrong setting, and it has been lowered to 3', which makes my workout a bit easier. With the weather currently hot and humid, even early in the morning, I loss almost 1 pound with 45 minutes of walk at 3.9 MPH.  The machine claimed that I burn about 246 calories, I'm not sure how they managed to get that.

I'm not sure what accounts the dramatic drop of weight back a couple of days ago.  I still have 2 pieces of StoneFire Grill chicken that I need to finish up before I can start on my garlic marinated pork.

In terms of my weekday meals, I've really simplified my plan a bit.

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, with 3 dash of Tabasco sauce.  8 oz 1% milk for my double shot latte.
Snack: V8 Low Sodium
Lunch: Healthy Choice Steam Lunch
Snack: Beef Jerky single serving
Dinner: Fish/Pork/Beef/Tofu, with soup.

I'll also have some sugar free ice cream bar for after dinner snack.  I can probably cut this out, but it doesn't seemed to be hindering my plan.

117/69/58 189.8lb 94 mg/DL

Day 331 - The Goal in Sight

My revised goal weight is 174 pounds (used to be 165 pounds, and I thought it might be more realistic to be not overweight), which would put me at BMI of 24.96. That's only about 17 pounds away. At my present pace, it'll be another three to four months away, but a goal within reach. I won't make my revised goal by the time I get to my surgery anniversary, but I'll be close enough.

111/74/55 190.8lb 85 mg/DL

Day 330 - Feels Like Monday

The day after a long weekend always feels like Monday, even though it's Tuesday. In my case, that means waking up at 5AM instead of 6AM, and getting things done two hours earlier. For example, I was done eating breakfast by 7:15AM this morning. On July 4th, I finish my breakfast by 8:30AM, not counting the extra effort in steaming the latte milk.

113/76/53 191.4lb 95 mg/DL

Day 329 - Things That Now Stands Out

Back when I'm wearing 4x pants with elastic band pants from the Big & Tall stores, I hardly ever pay attention to anyone's physique, myself especially. After all, I'm fatter than most people I meet, with some rare exception. It's been 10 months after the surgery, and I'm still hunting for clothing that fits, and now how people looks stands out more.

I know this surgery is a gift that will has already have tremendous positive effect on me. Back muscle pains, the often reoccurring issue that has plague me for over a decade is a vague recent memory. I'm not taking any medication as part of my daily regiment. Even as I look back at my spending, I'm no longer doing the daily $9 lunch (my lunch usually cost about $2 nowadays).

It's just that I'm paying much more attention to myself that have cross over to observing others. Not sure if this is positive or negative.

We have another round of StoneFire Grills last night. And this time, I went out of my way not to over eat. Works a bit better than the last round. Despite the sweet BBQ sauce, my blood sugar is still normal.

117/73/61 190.2lb 92 mg/DL

Day 328 - End of Week 47

08-07-2010 Front

08-07-2010 Side

07-03-2011 Front

07-03-2011 Side

I went through my closet last night.  I recognize clothing from more than 10 years ago from my previous jobs.  And they don't fit either.  So off to either storage or donation they go.  Right now, my closet consist of 1 pants from my 4x days (though I still need to actually find it.  It has grown legs and ran away), a couple of suits (that probably don't fit either), ties and the shirts and pants I bought this year.  I'll hold off on buying anything else until I hit my goal weight.

Did another 45 minutes of exercise this morning.  It still feels fine.

This has been an odd week for me.  I saw a weight meter swing of 6.8lb from Monday morning (constipated) to this morning.  This despite the fact that I actually ate a lot of food (by my standard) between Friday and Saturday.   Sometimes this weekend, we're going back to Firestone Grills, so that'll be a challenge as well. 

115/71/64 190.6lb 96 mg/DL
Week to Week 5.4lb
Total Weight Loss 137.4lb
Body Mass Index 27.35

Day 327 - 45 Minutes

As I was doing exercise this morning, I put in Battle: Los Angeles into the DVD in the exercise room.  I sort of lost track of time, and by the time I realized that, I've already put in 42 minutes on the treadmill.  I went ahead and did another 3 minutes and still feel good about the exercise.  I guess I've graduate to 45 minutes.

The stinky tofu / Oyster Omelet  lunch combine with the pork chop rice dinner (no, I'm saving the pork chop for the rest of the weekend) I had yesterday didn't seemed to spike my glucose reading too much, despite of having a 3/4 bowl of rice.  Lets see how the rest of the holiday weekend pans out.

108/70/64 191lb 97 mg/DL

Day 326 - Warcraft Patch 4.2 Day 3

Sorry about the late post.  Yesterday sort of got away from me.

I guess they've fix it so that the characters can now get into Molten Front on the first day of their try by giving some of the World Tree tokens in the non-daily portion of the quest.  Too bad my hunter won't get there until later this week.  Meanwhile, all of my other character have gotten into Molten Front.

114/80/62 193lb 92 mg/DL