I lost another 5.5 pounds this week. I'm getting closer to fitting into my old suits, but at 250 pounds even, I figure that I'm a good 20 to 25 pounds away. I have three weeks to go before my Sept 1 presurgery appointment. Perhaps I can lost 12 to 15 more pounds by then. Then it's probably a good time waiting until I can once again enter the positive choice program- it could be as long as 6 weeks, depending largely on my recovery from knee surgery. It's tempting to continue the fast until September 8 and lose another 4 to 5 pounds before I go on hiatus. But I'm trying to keep the long term in view, here.

8/12/2016 255.5 to 250.0, 5.5 pounds lost

Thinking about another member of the 100 club

The 100 pound club. When I started on the journey of weight loss a couple years ago, my goal was to be a member of the 100 pound club. I read about men and women who had lost over 100 pounds and was inspired. Two of my friends lost the weight through surgery, but I focused on people who had lost weight through a restricted calorie diet- particularly Optifast, where you subsist on 400 calories/day.

One man whose blog I read with some enthusiasm was "Optifast Loser"- he lost close to 200 pounds, then gained some of the weight back. Then his blog entries stopped. I always wondered what had happened to him. Was he successful, but just tired of writing these blog posts? Did he backslide, like I did, and became too embarrassed to share this with the world?

So, far it looks like I'll be successful in beating down the weight again. I've been pretty perfect with my diet over the first 39 days (with 35 lbs lost as of last Thursday) and I can see reaching 199 again to even out at 215 lbs.

But, I think I myself suffered a bit from the embarrassment factor. I didn't want to admit to everyone that the weight had come back again. Really, when I hit 250, I should have signed up again for the program, but I delayed and it was 40 pounds later that I refocused myself. Better late than never, though?

To make this work long term, I need to refocus myself and keep myself accountable for the months after this current weight loss. This means, constant weighing of myself and being frank about the weight gain when it happens.

Some thoughts...

Thirty Five pounds down! Race to surgery

My new chart

7/1/2016 290 lbs
7/7/16 274.5 15.5 lbs lost
7/14/2016 272 2.5 lbs lost
7/21/16 266, 6 lbs lost
7/28/16 261.5 4.5 lbs lost
8/4/16 255.5 6 lbs lost

I've got until September, when I undergo my surgery. I have to take time off the diet for knee surgery, but am hoping to lose another 16 lbs prior to going under the knife. 239 sounds like a nice number.

My Positive Choice instructor Steve used to say that just because you've fallen down the stairs, there's no reason to keep falling. After some 9 months of maintaining my weight, between November 2015 and June 2016, my weight went from 214 to 290. In between, I hurt my knee in a cycling accident, which contributed a bit to the gain.

So, starting July 1, I've been back on product. So far, so good. Twenty four pounds lost.

Starting weight 7/1- 290 lbs
7/8- 274.5 lbs
7/15- 266 lbs

I'm planning to "re-zero" my weight down to 199, eventually. Then I'll rebuild my muscle, just like last time. However, in 5 to 9 weeks, I will likely be scheduled for my knee surgery and will, I think, have to take a break from the product to prepare/recover from the surgery.