The One Where Jerry Loses His Dad Bod

Rather than having Jerry write another post today, I decided to just go for it and hope I don't say something stupid. This is my first time NOT taking my meds since my diagnosis in 2017, and I'm kind of nervous about it!

I talked to the pharmacist today and she was sympathetic but said that it was an insurance issue, so she suggested that I call the insurance company. I called when I got home, and they said that I have to pay out-of-pocket until I meet a $3500 deductible. The cheapest price I've been able to find for my medication has been $240 per month. I know people pay a lot more than that for medication, but I've always been lucky in that the most my co-pay has ever been was $30!

I called my doctor's office, and since my psychiatrist retired last month (the timing couldn't have been worse, right?!) they said they can't make changes to my medications. However, they had just gotten a cancellation for an appointment tomorrow morning with my new psychiatrist--so I jumped at the chance and said I'll be there. I'm guessing he'll prescribe me a comparable (and cheaper) medication.

But enough about that! I'm kind of excited about this new series I plan to do. I've had this idea for a little while now and Jerry decided he wants to go for it. Over the past five years or so, he's put on some weight; nowhere near his highest, but a considerable amount. The distribution of the excess weight has changed, too, maybe because he's older... but it's all gone right to his midsection. He admits that he's developed a dad bod, and he's unhappy with it.

When I asked him why he wants to lose weight, he said that while it sounds vain, he wants to look better. (Actually, his words were, "Not to look like a big sloppy bitch", haha.) He wants to feel better about himself--more confident. He also wants to lose weight for his health--he doesn't have any energy, and he feels drained all the time. He's been sleeping a lot more than he used to but he said it doesn't feel like restful sleep--he wakes up still feeling tired. I've noticed that he started snoring again, too, which he hasn't done in years.

Jerry's lost weight before (and gained weight right along with me), but we've never really publicized the process on my blog. When I suggested the idea to him, at first he thought no way--he doesn't want to fail when thousands of people are "watching". I told him it was totally up to him, but I thought that maybe making it public would help him stay accountable. It's helped me several times.

He liked that idea, so I asked him about his plans. I'll write it all out here and then once a week, I'll do a Tuesday weigh-in/check-in with him about how he's doing. I think he'll probably enjoy having people follow along!

We took his stats today: weight, BMI, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. For the record, he's 5'9" tall.

Day 1:

Starting weight: 193.6 pounds
BMI: 28.6 ("overweight")
Body fat percentage: 24.4%
Waist circumference: 37 inches

His "before" photos. Naturally, he couldn't be serious ;)

His goal weight is 180, which gives him 13.6 pounds to lose. He's not necessarily on a timeline, but he'd be happy to lose it by the end of March. His goal of 180 would still be considered overweight based on the BMI chart, but to be in the "normal" range would mean under 168--that's pretty low for him! He'd be happy at 180.

This is what he looked like at about 180 pounds:

His plan to lose the weight:

He wants to take small steps instead of making big changes all at once, which I think is a good idea. He still plans to eat a vegan diet, but he is going to reduce his portion sizes. For example, he always bring his lunch to work in the largest-sized nesting bowls we have, so he's going to switch to using the medium size ones (see pic below).

Portion control without actually measuring

He also plans to do intermittent fasting. This has worked well for him in the past, particularly when he's at work. His eating window is going to be six hours (he said if that's too hard, he'll increase it to eight hours). 

He's going to increase his water consumption. He drinks a ton of coffee all day at work, so he doesn't drink much water. His goal is to drink 64 ounces of water a day.

As far as exercise, he doesn't plan to do anything formal yet. He wants to get his eating under control first. He said he'll probably do the BeachBody workouts when he's ready (his exercise of choice is workout videos--I don't know how he can stand them!).

I think that's about it as far as the start of this new series! I hope it goes well; if Jerry is willing, I'll post his progress every Tuesday :)