OMG! I’m outta control, regained all my weight in just 3 weeks

Regular readers of my blog will consider this to be a shocking development. How could a man who worked really hard for 16 months to lose 120 pounds regain it all in just three weeks?

That, my friends, is a long story.

Hey, there are only two cherries in my fruit cocktail! What’s up with that?

I’ve always liked to eat fruit. Just about anything other than raisins and prunes. Not that they taste badly but I hate what mankind has done to innocent grapes and plums by torturing them into wrinkled states of their former selves. It’s just not right to treat fruit that way.

And that’s kind of the way I feel about my fruit cocktail these days. As a kid, a half century ago, we ate lots of canned fruit cocktail at our house. I always loved seeing a few cherries on top. It signaled that all was right with the world. But nowadays when I pop the top on a can of low-sugar fruit cocktail, the only cherries to be found lie at the bottom of the can.

What’s up with that?

Have I finally climbed the plateau and now headed downward?

Time will tell on that one. The first 100 pounds was relatively easy to lose with diet and exercise. I know. Easy is such a subjective, relative term. What’s easy to some is difficult for others to achieve. But I was focused and had excellent support through a great weight-loss program.

And I was motivated beyond belief because my weight had ballooned up so high that it intruded in a horrible way into every aspect of my life. But I refused to continue on that path. So, like I said, I was really motivated and it was easy to lose that first 100 pounds.

Since since then, the going has been slow.

Weight Loss Wars: Airline was wrong in treatment of oversized movie director

Most of the time, I prefer blogging about my personal experiences in weight loss. But once in a while something so darn stupid happens that even Mr. Husky can’t resist donning his opinion hat and pontificating.

The whole incident with oversized movie director Kevin Smith getting tossed off a Southwest Airlines flight because he was too fat both amuses and angers me. But mostly it angers me and here’s why.

Help, I’m s-h-r-i-n-k-i-n-g

Last fall, I had my wedding ring resized smaller because it kept slipping off when I washed my hands in hopes of warding off the swine flu. The handwashing worked and the resizing prevented me from having to explain to my lovely wife why my ring was missing.

I mean — who’d believe it came off while washing his hands in the men’s room at the 7-11 and dissappeared down the drain?

Earlier, I’d had my wristwatch band resized too. In fact, I had links taken out twice because the darn thing was flopping all around my wrist and arm.

Well, it’s time for history to repeat itself — again — because my fingers and wrist continue s-h-r-i-n-k-i-n-g.

After a month with the rowing machine, now I pedal like ‘mad’

Since beginning my weight loss adventure about 16 months ago, I have shed my former sedentary ways and become quite the exercise fiend — well, at least for me. Like millions, I was a couch potato supreme once upon a time. Partly because of laziness. Partly because I was just too darn fat to do much before breathlessness set in.

But since losing 120 pounds, regular exercise — walking, treadmill, exercise bike and now a rowing machine — have all become part of my regular lifestyle. And the strides I’ve made in the duration and intensity of my exercise routines have stunned me.

‘Hey, you’re half the man you used to be’

There are different ways to interpret that statement. It could be said in a positive vein. A way to bolster someone’s confidence, to give them solid positive feedback. Or it could come as a nasty put-down — the ultimate insult.

But when it comes to weight loss, it’s music to Mr. Husky’s ears.

It’s what a former neighbor told me today when we had a chance encounter at the local vet’s office while tending to some ailing pets.

Weight Loss Wars: The scale, at long last, is headed in the right direction

My weight loss this week hit 2.5 pounds. At first, I thought it was going to be three pounds but stepping on the scale twice showed 2.5 pounds both times. I might have tried a third time, I suppose, but with my luck the third time might have showed two pounds instead. Why tempt fate?

So why did I lose two-and-a-half pounds this week? Simple.

I ate less.

Weight Loss Wars: ‘Hey, Mr. Pound, didn’t I already lose you once?’

I’ve been stuck in a rut. In a rut. In a rut.

See, I’m still stuck. Why? Because for the past couple of months, I’ve been losing and regaining, then losing and regaining and then losing and regaining the same five pounds. Over and over and over.

Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. I just know it’s getting f-r-u-s-t-r-a-t-i-n-g!

Weight Loss Wars: ‘Are you shrinking?’

My wife bought me a new jacket for Christmas. It’s a nice one. Not too thick — not too thin. Perfect for days when the mercury gets down to about freezing. Much colder and it’s time to dig out the Eskimo parka but the jacket is perfect for temps down to 32 or so.

But the jacket’s sleeves are just a tad too long. If I let them, the sleeves will drop down over my hands and thus give the appearance that my arms have shrunk in length.

Knowing that I’ve lost a ton of weight in the past 15 months through diet and exercise, a co-worker asked casually the other day, “Are you shrinking? Did your arms get shorter?”

“Sure,” was my response.