One month in!

Well it's been a month since I started all this and I'm proud to say, I'm still doing pretty good. The problem is, when I started I weighed on 3 different scales and they all had different numbers!

I believe when I started I was in the 331 - 336 lbs. range. I weighed at the Surgery Center last Thursday and was 326.7 lbs, so I know I have been losing weight! I settled on saying 331 pounds as my initial weight, that's what the digital scale at Tri-State Ortho said, so I'm a believer!

Now another "problem" of sorts; we have quit the Surgery Center cleaning gig! No place to weigh again. Anita started a full time job, with benefits this past Monday, so we are no longer cleaning 'til 8 or 9 PM most nights!! I'll just have to find another weigh in spot. Hooray!

I really disliked working there, but I really disliked having my wife there till 10 or 11 PM every night by herself. I loved the people working there and will miss them all, but I was never comfortable with her taking trash out to a dark dumpster and the thought of some crackhead scoping the place out in search of pain meds coerced me into helping. Thankfully we never had a single issue, but I felt better knowing at least I was the one now taking the risk of getting conked in the head!!

Anyway the healthy eating has really not been a problem. It's almost always plain oatmeal, a banana and apple for breakfast. Healthy Choice at lunch, then a sensible dinner somewhere! I can honestly tell I'm losing weight too. In the face, arms, etc.. and especially the chest or "man boobs" seem to be getting smaller! The Livestrong website has made it fun to track food and has really opened my eyes to better choices. My sodium intake was astonishing sometimes as to what I was eating. We went to Denny's one Sunday morning and I had my usual Lumberjack Slam. Almost 1,800 mg. of sodium right there on one plate. That was 186% of my daily intake right there. Pretty amazing, when you start paying attention.

I have also noticed my blood sugar reading have gone down quit a bit as well. My blood pressure has not been so lucky! It seems to be still running high and I have another appoint for that next Thursday and I expect a medication change.

I finally ordered my a bike too! I had hem hawed back and forth on several different bikes, but eventually decide to stick with what I've had in the past, which is Specialized! I had a Hard Rock a few years ago and sold it, but always felt like they made awesome bikes. I had actually offered to buy a Rockhopper 26" bike from some dude of eBay. Actually he didn't receive any bids and I offered him $435 shipped for the bike. He never seemed to receptive to shipping the bike, and I now wonder if it was stolen or what. Anyway, I looked at the 29er's at Dan's in Mt. Vernon and would have bought from them again, but the guy I was dealing with just didn't seem to want to "deal"! My Dave Ramsey teachings was ready to offer a cash for the deal, but he just didn't want to talk. They would have had to ordered the bike anyways, and maybe once it arrived they would have been in a dealing mood, but it made it easy for me "just walk away".

Anyway, I called every Specialized dealer in the area, hoping to find one in stock, but to no avail. I even convinced myself to go with a Cannondale in Bloomington, IN and even started that way, but waffled back to the Spez!

I ordered it from Breck's Bikes in Owensboro, KY, got a deal and awaiting it's arrival as I type. It's black with some brown accents and looks pretty sweet to me, especially considering the other color choice is sea foam green!

I saw Dr. Whitacre this week as well and it seems like my back/leg problem is getting better. I do still have some pain at times, but just in the upper part of my butt cheek! I really think once that pain radiates down towards my leg, the epidural injection blocks it there. I'm not a doctor, but that's my diagnosis! I asked him about biking and he felt it probably wouldn't be a problem, but hell, who knows. He said they also "last" from anywhere from a few weeks to even years, so I'm optimistic it lasts a while.

If the new velocipede makes it here by the weekend, I plan to do some riding to just see how much pain I have. Hopefully none.