The Weight Loss Story: Chapter IV

Read chapters one, two and three…

I looked like shit.

I was beginning to outgrow size 42 waist pants and had already purchased dress shirts with a 19-inch neck so I could stretch them across my torso. None of my suits fit. I looked…swollen.

I felt like shit.

Energy? Riiiight. My lower back, which has always been a trouble spot, was in horrific pain. My upper back was constantly out of alignment, likely because the muscles were busy lifting and moving a mass they were not accustomed to. I was breathing heavier and shallower. I could not get comfortable.

Prior to visiting Dr. Scinta, I was (physically) a mess of a person.

By the time the snow had melted (Side note: It snowed on Mother’s Day 2010 in Syracuse.), there had been significant progress. My 30-pound checkup on April 16 (14-15 weeks) showed:

• Weight loss of 39 pounds (2 pounds of muscle, 6.5 pounds of water and 30.5 pounds of fat)
• Body mass index down 5.1 to 38.8
• Fat percentage down 4.7 to 38
• Four inches off my waist
• Resting BP of 118/74 (my kickoff BP was 132/84)
• Resting pulse of 68 (was 91)
• Fasting glucose down 23 to 68
• Fasting insulin at 12.1, well within the healthy range. My first measure had been, wait for it, 717.
• A1C of 6.0, down from 7.3.
• Cholesterol at 119, down from 253.
• ALT (liver enzymes) down 17 to 24.
• Vitamin D levels up from 6 to 33.

The new joke was that by getting under a 40 BMI I was no longer morbidly obese. Instead I was obese and morbid.