Ok- it has been about six months since I last posted to this site and it is time for me to get back on the horse and resume the ride.  A lot has happened in six months that has both elements of very good and very bad.

On the good side is the site itself! It has done very well without me and in the one year since I started it there have been over 200,000 hits. Currently the average daily hit count is 1,000+. Far less to do with my brilliant and inspirational writing and far more to do with the draw of people who like to look at the funny pictures that are posted her.

While that statement is more true than not the site still does get some legitimate readers who, based upon posted comments, do indeed read the content and are motivated enough by that content to either praise me or cuss me out. For your information I do delete the posts with excessive vulgarity!

Continuing with the good are issues related to job, family and general life issues. It does amaze me how I am blessed beyond words.  Every day is a struggle in one manner or another but I face that struggle with great family, friends, Church and job.

The “very bad” side of things is singular in nature. It’s a dirty four letter word called knee- specifically left knee. I won’t bore with the full story but as was posted months ago on this site I started to develop worsening knee pain after I started running in this weight loss effort. The problem was diagnosed and surgery was performed, In my opinion the surgical effort was flawed and now I have been advised that I need full knee replacement.

What that situation has brought about is knee pain that runs from simply bad to sometimes unbearable. The end result is that I haven’t been able to exercise to any real degree and with that I have surrendered back much that I have lost. It’s difficult to accept that because I had been feeling so good physically and had worked so hard – just to have that injury suck my enthusiasm out of this effort.

God does provide though. I have wanted to get back at this weight loss effort but could never quite find the kick in the pants to get moving again. Well this past Sunday Janet kicked me in the pants! We were visiting my brother in-law’s Church in Exeter when my sister introduced me to her friend Janet who was an avid reader of “I’m Way 2 Fat” when I posted regularly. She mentioned that she missed reading the posts and like an idiot I promised her I’d write something this week! So here I am holding to my promise- and thanks to Janet I am ready to resume my walk back to health!

My plan is that next week I will weigh in and post the sad results here just as I had in the past. I never lied in the past and I won’t next week either no matter how ugly it might be! It’s unlikely that I’ll post every day due to time constraints with my new job but I will post at least once a week so I can list my results. If possible I’ll post more.

So if anyone still has an interest in reading about this renewed journey feel free to check in. If you want to join me in the walk back to health please do. If you’re new to the site look through some of the old posts – if nothing else the pictures are entertaining.

Daily fat humor:

You’re so fat when you were in school you sat next to everyone!

You’re so fat you’re on both sides of the family.

You’re so fat your blood type is o-reo

You’re so fat you have to iron your clothes on the freeway

You’re so fat they had to baptize you at sea world

Sorry folks but this is not a light hearted post with funny pictures that you are normally accustomed to. The topic is definitely a relevant one given the nature of this blog as it has to do with obesity and how others react to it. In this case to an extreme that led to the worst of possible outcomes- one young man dead by his own hand. A tragic loss of life that leaves nothing but devastation and heartache in its path.

Some of you may have read in the news this past week about the death of Private Keiffer P. Wilhelm at an Army base in Iraq. Only 19 years old Keiffer had arrived in Iraq just ten days before. No doubt he was experiencing many feelings including pride at serving, apprehension at being in a war zone and he was likely missing his family too for Keiffer was just a kid, A kid who chose to serve his country in a war zone while others his age were looking forward to their first college frat party.

It is reported that upon his arrival at his base in Iraq he was perceived to be overweight by some of his superior officers. As a result it is reported that these four superior officers “… abused Wilhelm with excessive physical fitness, said Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a military spokesman. One defense official told NBC News that Wilhelm eventually stopped going to public areas to avoid being harassed repeatedly for being overweight.”

Ten days into his deployment to Iraq this young patriot entered a portable toilet with his rifle and ended his life. The superior officers have been charged with various crimes by the military that can result in imprisonment for terms of up to 25 years.

This story touches me on so many different levels and leaves me feeling conflicted:

• I have two boys in the military- one of whom serves at Fort Bliss in Texas which is the same base that Keiffer and his antagonists were based at.
• I have been personally touched by the incredible tragedy that is suicide – especially by a young person.
• I have experienced the ability of people to be cruel – even publicly so- regarding me being overweight.

Yet…

The military is a unique organization where physical requirements are necessary and where dishing out excessive exercise to those not meeting standards is more the norm than it is the unusual.  How will criminal charges being meted out to these officers impact the mindset of other officers in the execution of their duties going forward?

I am not Barack Obama. I will not admit that I am without all of the facts and then proffer an opinion in this matter. I was not there and I have learned that there is always more to the story than that which is presented.  Were the actions of these officers excessive? I don’t know. Were there other underlying or contributing reasons for Keiffer making a dreadful and tragic choice? I don’t know!

Here is what I do know- tragedy flows from all portions of this story. There are far more victims of this circumstance than just Keiffer. This young soldier’s decision will leave his family and friends forever wondering why and what if only…

The Officers that have been charged likely had many years of honorable service as patriots for their country that has now been washed away. Justice may or may not be served but their lives too are forever changed in a horrible, horrible way that no doubt will leave them also wondering for the rest of their lives why and what if only…

http://www.norwalkreflector.com/articles/2009/08/21/front/doc4a8efe36c0d90479457860.txt

While I haven’t posted in over two months this site has lived on throughout the world. The internet allows people to search on terms and find random sites- such as mine. I have a couple of different types of blog tracking fsoftware but they all point to people hitting this site based upon searches on various “fat” searches. If you are a stat geek like me you may be interested in that which is literally a worldwide interest in all things fat. Take a look at some stats here to show what I mean.

The first stat is that this site is averaging between 300 – 900 hits per day. Since it’s inception on February 22^nd there have been 47,000 hits to the site!

I have nine posts with over a thousand hits each:

Day 39 – Ridiculously Dressed Fat People7,208 Day 43 – Are You Trying to Kill Me?2,796 Day 41 – The Battle of Wounded Knee2,484 Day 29 – Fat Little Guy on My Shoulder1,994 Day 56 – Signs That You Are Fat1,563 Day 54 – Why Eat a Dead Man’s Food?1,479 Day 11 – Fat Man Food Tip of the Day1,370 Day 46 – Why hire fat people?1,361 Day 50 – Ramblings of a Fat Man1,013

Below is an example of this past days search terms that brought people to the site just today:

fat cat54 fat dog33 fat man26 fat people15 fat girl7 ronald mcdonald6 fat rat6 fat kids5 ice cream5 ridiculously dressed4 fat kid4 tattoo4 cow4 dress fat3 fat chinese3 fat ladies on beach3 fat people at the beach2 fat family2 2 fat kids2 fat fat baby2 fat guy eating burger2 fattest cat2 kfc fat kid2 fat person2 fat belly2 fat guy2 tight2 fat man in suit2 jokes of the day2 knee2 “eat more food”2 fat gorilla2 suit fat1 fat girl fashion1 wendy fast food1 squirrel underwear1 excited fat kid1 humor cow1 the fat cat1 fat man smimming1 man fat1 crazy baby1 nice looking fat girl1 pictures of chinese kid1 knee pain1 fat to skinny photos1 fat man eat lots of food1 happy chicken1 fat girls wear stores1 mr slap

Just yesterday I was introduced to a new blog tracking software that lets me track hits by geography and I was astounded in what it showed in terms of worldwide hits. Around the world people are interested in fatness! Below is a world map that shows hits from just the last 24 hours:

Even more amazing to me is the associated bread down list of hits by country for just the last 24 hours:

Australia

Brazil

Bulgaria

Belgium

Brunei Darussalam

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Denmark

Estonia

Europe

Finland

France

Germany

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Israel

Italy

Japan

Guatemala

Malaysia

Malta

Mexico

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Serbia

Singapore

Slovakia

South Africa

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Thailand

Taiwan

United Kingdom

United States

Vietnam

Now I like to think that I’m a fairly well educated person so am I the only one who has never heard of the country Brunei Darussalam? I checked Wikipedia- it is indeed a country with a popuation of 388,000!

Hey- bottom line out of all of this is that if this site helps a single chubby dude or dudette from Brunei Darussalam lose a pound or two then I can die happy!

Sorry if I bored you with stats but the geek in me made me do it!

For those who are silly enough to pay attention you may have noticed that I’ve been away from this blog for over two months!

The title is a bit if a stretch in that I really haven’t been “in prison” but rather imprisoned by life. This summer has been an incredible one in mostly positive ways but in some difficult ones as well. A quick review:

• My only daughter got married.
• One son- Janni the Marine- has been in Iraq and is scheduled to return in a few weeks.
• One son- Christian – the Army Medic is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in November.
• I received a quasi-promotion at work that has totally changed my schedule for the worse. Good job- bad schedule.
• We just completed a move from a home we resided in, and raised our family in. Sixteen years of memory in the rear view mirror. Much harder on Deb than I- but then if it’s hard on my wife it is by default hard on me as well.

There are other things in that mix too but I won’t bore you with the details right now. The bottom line is that life has been very, very busy and has kept me from my duties here on this site. I hope to change that from this point forward if anyone is still listening.

I’m sure you all have one question on your mind and I’m not telling you yet. More than for any other reason I haven’t been on a scale in almost two months. I don’t think it’s real bad but not likely to be as good as it was.

One of the things that has stopped me from getting back to this sooner is how big of a job it will be to catch everyone up on where I am now- how I got here and what I see going forward. Because of that I’m going to have to break this effort up into smaller posts over a period of time.

If ya’ll are still willing to read I’m willing to start writing again!

I wanted to post something here quickly that is a bit of a different type of progress report.

The thought came to me as I was in the garage using a hammer and nail to professionally add a new hole to my brown belt. This isn’t the first time that I have had to do that in the fifteen weeks of this effort as I have withered away to being just a fat guy as opposed to the really fat guy I was previously. As I proceed further in this effort I will likely become quite a good leather smith!

So instead of posting just pounds lost or pictures of my shrinking stomach here is another visual aid to measure the progress thus far. My belts!

If you look closely there have now been four holes used on my two belts now with the inches between them being three inches. Three inches doesn’t seem like much of a difference but it feels like a huge difference. In fact it feels like a 42.2 pound difference so far!

So carry on I will- and carry on can you if you need to/choose to as well.

Week #15

254 last week

250.4 his week

3.6  pounds lost week fifteen

42.2 pounds lost in fifteen weeks

14.42% overall weight loss in fifteen weeks

Chart for all weeks listed below:

I am alive and I am well- despite rumors I was not captured by aliens nor did I get caught breaking into Burger King and subsequently jailed! I did miss lat weeks update not to mention any other postings so let me explain myself. The week that would have been covered by last week’s weigh-in was a vacation week for me in theory alone. The after wedding week was filled with family from out of town and more trips to the airport than one could imagine. To say the least it was very, very hectic indeed. There was anything but a normal schedule and I paid for it on the scale as I only lost .3 pounds that week While that may not seem like much I do want to point out that is in fact 4.8 ounces! J

After that week, (all of last week) was my first full week in my new job. While I am very happy with the position the hours are longer and I’m getting home at least four hours later than we are used to. My wife and I are still trying to transition and adjust to that new schedule. Whereas I had primarily been the one with time for meal planning and food prep for dinner that has all changed and we are trying to figure it all out.

Additionally my knee has been fussing again which has slowed me down a bit physically but that’s just a part of life and I accept that I won’t be running any marathons anytime soon!

The good news is indeed this week’s weight loss of 3.6 pounds. Next week I will be in the 240’s and that will be the first time in many, many years I can say that I bill have been in the 240’s and I’m pretty excited by it. All I can think about now are the 230’s and the… and the… you get the point!

The even better news is that I am just as committed as ever to this effort and have no desire to stop. I don’t have a goal weight but I suppose I’ll know it one day when I look in the mirror!

I do look forward to working this new schedule out and being able to post more regularly again. I definitely would like to address a couple of issues as it pertains to this weight loss process that I find interesting indeed.

To all of my loyal readers and supporters I thank you for caring enough to check in even when I do not! Most of all to all of you out there who are struggling with weight loss do not give up hope- you can do it- I assure you!

Week Thirteen– I’m Way 2 Fat results

Week #13

253.4 last week

254.3 this week

.9 pounds gained week thirteen

38.3 pounds lost in thirteen weeks

13.09% overall weight loss in twelve weeks

Chart for all weeks listed below:

I have never been so happy with weight gain!

As regular readers know this past week included my daughter’s much anticipated wedding. As part of that there were three straight days of festivities that I knew would negatively impact my weight loss efforts. The fact that I gained less than one pound makes me very, very happy!

What was interesting is that food was little or no issue for me. Even though I was presented with many, many food temptations I was absolutely not tempted. I ate exactly as I have been eating all along. This includes eating perfectly normal food if appropriate in social circumstances.

What did cast me the most was falling off the proverbial wagon. I did drink beer and Jack Daniels to some degree on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I would like to say unequivocally that I don’t regret that decision! Those three days were just flat out fun and produced memories that will last a lifetime. Best of all is Monday morning when the festivities were officially over I am right back to my normal healthy lifestyle.

So to that end it was good to see that deviating from this healthy course for a short  time does negatively impact the results on the short term but by no means will it stop out this overall effort.

For those of you that have an interest I am including a link to my other site that includes some candid pictures of the event that will let you see how beautiful my daughter was!

http://onemanoneview.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/nikki-marks-wedding-may-24-2009/

Looking forward to posting next week with results that eliminate the gain plus some extra as well!

Week #12

256 last week

253.4 this week

2.6 pounds lost week twelve

39.2 pounds lost in twelve weeks

13.4% overall weight loss in twelve weeks

Chart for all weeks listed below:

Unfortunately this has to be a quick post due to an early morning for work and I won’t be back home until later tonight!

Overall 12 consecutive weeks with negative numbers and I came within 3.4 pounds of my first goal of 250 pounds by the wedding.

Quick question for the crowd…This is wedding week coming up and I can assure you that while not going out of my way to do so I am likely to have my first bad week. I am going to be surrounded by friends and family that I haven’t seen for a long time and quite frankly this is one week where I will be less prone to staying as regimented. I may indeed also have alcohol for the first time in ten weeks as well.

My question is do I stay true to the weekly weigh-in or skip next weeks with the second week out being the next weigh-in. I think I already have my answer but I’m curious as to your opinions.

Today Suzanne, one of my most faithful and earliest supporters, posted the following comment to yesterdays post:

OK, so how are you specifically taking care of yourself today?

You will be walking your daughter down the isle in less than a week … you are in a new job and in the midst of training, not to mention being unable to exercise, in pain so unable to physically relieve the stress?. Any one of these life events would be highly stressful for the normal person. Your BLOG sounds too rosy a picture to me.

In reading that I found it to be a fair question to be posed at this juncture of my efforts at leading a healthier lifestyle. There has to be a balance in life and if one portion of your life is out of kilt then that does indeed pose the possibility of negatively impacting other areas- including a healthier lifestyle.

I do indeed have a lot going on in my life right now including a great deal of change. What I can tell you is that by the grace of God I am incredibly happy and blessed even during this new season of my life.

My daughter is indeed getting married on Sunday and overall the wedding preparations have gone very well- most likely because I have been wise enough to stay out of the way! The whole process has gone so smoothly that the greatest drama was related to melting M&M’s in the wedding favors!

I am the proud Dad of three great kids that I am very proud of and I am married to a saintly woman who is without a doubt my greatest earthly blessing. Deb and I have been together since she was fourteen and I was sixteen. Living with me has certainly entitled her to an E-Z Pass express lane through the gates of Heaven!

I am indeed enduring the pressure and stress of a new position in my company for which I am finishing my fifth week of training. The new job will be a challenge but here’s what is great about that… I hated my old position. I prayed for deliverance from that position and my prayers were answered. I look forward to this new challenge.

As to my aching body including both knees, hip… all I can think is that the older I get the better I was! I’m turning 50 this year and while I have the thought processes of an adolescent I have the body of a man who is indeed turning 50!  As to exercise I will do what my body allows when it allows it and I just need to accept that my weight loss will be slowed as a result- but it will not be stopped!

My efforts at getting healthy have gone very well and I am no less enthusiastic about this effort today than when I started it 81 days ago. I feel so much better and look so much better with more great results to come. Best of all is that along the way I have been able to help others as well, at least in a small way, through this blog and encouraging them towards better health.

The reality is that I am a man of great faith and I thank God every day for how he blesses my life.  To be certain I have indeed had a life full of great trials and sadness- yet God’s mercies to me and my family have far, far, outweighed the challenges that the Lord has placed before me.

So as I round out a long answer to a short question let me say this… I am doing pretty well thank you! I would hope that all of you could be as happy and blessed as I am.

Thank you Suzanne- and everyone else who has been one of those blessings to me in this process.

When I started this effort 80 days ago I had imagined that it would simply be a site that would be occasionally visited by a few friends and family members. It was, as you can read in the earliest posts, a feeble attempt to shame myself into weight loss. The site was all about me and honestly I never really expected it to work. Everything else that I had tried in the past had failed so why should I expect otherwise here?

To my surprise this time would in fact be different. Instead of receiving the public goading/humiliation that I had expected surprisingly I received support, direction and a true sense of caring by people I knew- and amazingly from complete strangers as well.

Thanks to the efforts of all of you I have not learned how to diet, but rather how to change my lifestyle. No longer do I approach food instinctively but rather I carefully consider it. Nutrition, portions, preparation…. All play a roll in my success to date. Best of all is that I can’t think of a single time in these eighty days that I have felt hungry. If anything I feel like I eat more now than before!

As a measurement of the support I have received in this effort today this site reaches the milestone of 10,000 hits. I could have never imagined it. By my calculation that is 273 hits per pound of weight that I have lost. So using my fuzzy math logic I simply need 15,288 more hits to put me under 200 pounds!

To all of you I give you a sincere and heartfelt thank you.

To any of you who are out there thinking that you can’t be successful at weight loss I’m here to tell you that you are wrong! Read the earliest posts on this blog to see how uneducated I was and the wrong approaches I had taken. More importantly focus on the comments left to those posts especially in the early days. Those comments were my roadmap to success and they can be yours too.