March 21, 2023

Jerry Loses His Dad Bod: Week 10


I told Jerry to let me know when he wanted me to take his picture for this post, but then while I was on my computer, I got an airdrop from him--apparently he used the timer on his phone to take his own, hahaha. 

We didn't end up having a bonfire last night after all. The time flew by yesterday and we were exhausted. Today is another nice day, though, and I spent the late morning and early afternoon working on the sliding patio door. I had no idea how easy it was to remove the door--you don't even have to unscrew anything! You just lift it up an inch or so (from inside the house) and pull the bottom slightly inside. Then lower it so the bottom touches the floor and voila--door removed.

I laid it on the floor and then removed all of the old pile weather stripping, cleaned it really well and put new stripping on it. Then I removed the wheels on the bottom and cleaned them very well (it took a long time!), then oiled them and put them back on. I'm so glad to have gotten that done. I *never knew* that the door could be removed like that, so I've only ever cleaned the track at the bottom by cleaning what I could reach. This is definitely something I can do every spring and fall.

Anyway, I'm writing this before Jerry wakes up, so I'm not sure yet how his weigh-in will go. I wanted to write this first because it doesn't matter what his weight his--from what I could see, Jerry did really great this week! True to what he said last week, he didn't try to deliberately eat less for the last couple of days to try to make up for overeating early in the week. He was consistent all week long.

I'm curious if what he has to say reflects what I noticed. I don't know how he did at work, but I'm sure he'll probably write about it below. Here's Jerry...



Welcome back, friends! 

This past week was extremely challenging. Care to take a shot at what the hardest part was? Listening to my body. It wasn't about anything else. I drank my water. I felt like I was eating slower. But, it took me until Saturday to really, really think about it while I was kind of reflecting on my week.

Katie had made some vegan shawarma and I was packing some up to take to work. Normally I look at my food that I take to work and think 'Is this going to be enough food for 12 hours?' That popped into my head a couple years ago when Katie always used to ask me that. She would look at the food I was about to bring to work and always worried that I was going to be 'starving' at work. So, she used that question a lot and it just got stuck in my head.

Then I would bring something extra just in case it wasn't enough and I would eat it just because. Fast forward to now, looking down into my lunchbox I realized... that's totally enough. The tough part was yet to come.

When I got to work I performed my inspections on the two areas I cover (where the temp is hot) and went back into the control room to cool off and down some water. I looked at my lunch box and just wanted to eat. I had the urge. That's when I realized that I'm not even hungry. Why am I trying to eat right now? Because it's a habit. It's routine. It's what I do.

A couple weeks ago I think I mentioned that it was easier to stay on track with food at work as opposed to home because of the availability. Obviously I have more access to food here at home and I only have access to what I bring with me at work. But, combined with bringing 'enough food for 12 hours' to work, eating at the start of the shift, and then snacking a couple times I can keep the weight on fairly easily and then throw my hands up in the air saying 'I don't know what I'm doing wrong'.

So, all that realization came on Saturday. Sunday was fine and Monday was surprising. Monday was surprising because I snacked, then I stopped because I was satisfied. But it wasn't just any snack. It was the new Lays Wavy Funyon flavor. F**king delicious. And, normally I can house a whole bag of chips like it's nothing.

But I stopped, closed them up, and put them away. That's some discipline. That's willpower. And this is what I've been trying to do this whole time. Katie asked me if I remember what my starting weight was before I had started this post and I was thinking 196 or something like that. When she went back in the blog and looked it up, she told me it was 193.6 I was a little shocked. A little dejected.


However, it occurred to me that I don't care about that. I'm learning so many little things here and there. When I don't get the result I want on the scale I reflect on what I could've done differently. I have little epiphanies here and there that I share on here. I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has little epiphanies like that.

But, maybe I'm a rare breed when it comes to admitting my faults, type them out, and have my wife publish them on a blog. "The greatest teacher, failure is." -- Yoda to Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi. 

That quote couldn't be more true. How much easier would life be if we failed, admitted it, learned from it, and moved on with that knowledge? And what good is knowledge if you don't pass it on? So while I might fail it feels good to admit it and pass on what I'm learning to everyone else so that they might benefit if they are in the same boat.



Even though Jerry's weight is going down slowly, it's been consistent since he started; so, that's working well for him. And he broke into the 180s today! I think if he stays consistent and keeps making small changes like he has been, the weight loss will pick up; even if it doesn't, he'll continue to lose slowly.

I like that he's making small changes like this because in the past, he usually gets very gung-ho about weight loss and makes changes that aren't sustainable for the long haul. From what I've seen, everything he's done so far are habits he can keep forever.

I've had a really good week and I'm hoping that the scale reflects that tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. I love all these reminders of sustainability. I haven't been able to run (or really walk) for months now and the weight has crept up even more. I want to dive into a huge plan of action and I know that does not work long-haul. Congrats to Jerry on the loss this week.

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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