Week 5 & 6 Weigh-Ins

I meant to post after the Week 5 weigh-in, but obviously failed to do so. Apparently heavily cheating on the NutriSystem diet over several days will, in fact, punish you. I managed to gain a pound back in week 5, taking me up to 195.5. In week 6, even with a some cheating (who can say no to free lunch from vendors?), I still managed to drop 1/2 pound bringing me back to 195 as of last night. Bobbie signed up for NutriSystem last night as well, so it should help quite a bit with both of us on to remove some of the temptation food from the house.

On another note, I had surgery last Friday to remove a lipoma (think fat tumor) from my back that had been there growing slowly for at least 6 years. It was finally getting to the point of causing discomfort. Sucky thing about insurance: when I first noticed it back when it was very small and could have been readily removed at any doctor or dermatologist's office in a simple procedure I couldn't have it removed because it would have been considered elective cosmetic surgery. Instead, I had to wait until it grew big enough to cause me pain and require hospital outpatient surgery to have a 3-inch wide, 1 inch deep thing removed that was just shy of actually touching my spine. Yeah, go health care system. Anyway, the surgery went well, but I now have the luxury of a drainage tube hanging out of the middle of my back for the last 6 days in addition to the not so pleasant feeling of recovering from a 3-inch incision in my upper back. I'm hoping to get the drainage tube out tomorrow which would make things much better. With the tube in there, I can't really sit back in chairs and can't sleep on my back or roll over across it in bed. As a result, I have been getting very interrupted sleep since the surgery and it's really starting to wear on me. Hopefully not after tomorrow though (fingers crossed).

After the surgery, I found out that my dad had to have some removed when he was about my age, though they don't appear to be hereditary according to the medical materials that I have read. As a bonus, I am now also likely to basically have a permanent dent in my back where they removed the soft tissue. Not really a big deal, but lucky me, huh? Well, if nothing else, here's hoping they aren't hereditary and that Killian doesn't ever have to deal with one. Of course, this could explain my 1/2 pound loss this week. Heheh.

Lamb and that Biff guy

I just finished reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore at the suggestion of a friend. Those who know me know that I am not a religious fanatic by any means. That said, read this book. Read it and enjoy it, no matter what your stance on Christianity. I would be as amazed to see it offend as I would be to hear that it was found to be not entertaining. I really, really loved this story from cover to cover. It's not goofy and stupid. It's not preachy or sappy. It is simply a well written piece of literature. That said, it is primarily comic in nature. I can't really say much more other than offering mad props to Christopher Moore on a job well done.

My next endeavour is The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (and then the rest of the trilogy assuming that I enjoy book 1).

Burning a hole in daylight

That's what my grandmother used to say when we would turn/leave a light on in a room that was already well lit by natural sunlight. The one full on adult/parental activity that I constantly catch myself doing is turning off a myriad of electrical devices behind my family. It's a combination of financial concern (keeping the electric bill down) and environmental awareness that makes me hyper-aware of it, I think, and every time that I do, especially when it makes sense mid-day, I think of her phrase. Funny how things like that follow you through life.

Week 4 Weigh-In

As I get slower to post, the week 4 weigh-in brought surprisingly good news considering how much I cheated on New Year's Eve. Weighed in at 194.5, another 2.5 pounds down for a total of 9 pounds now. I'm averaging 2.25 pounds per week at that rate, so I'm content. Here's hoping that continues for the next 14.5 pounds.