iCantCU.com » Weight Loss

Sometimes Things Look Different to Me

david — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:03:27 +0000

Every morning I weigh myself twice, once before I get in the shower and once after I dry off after the shower. Getting on the scale is also an eye test of sorts. Our scale’s readout is an LCD with two inch tall numbers. The weight only displays for five to ten seconds after it is calculated, so I have to be fast when trying to read it. Today, I was able to read it the first time before the shower. I was 154.8 pounds. Some days it takes me two or three times if my eye is dry or has a bunch of stuff in it. After the shower, and after a moisturizing eye drop, it took me two times to read it. I was 154.6, by the way. (It’s funny how most days I weigh less after the shower…) My goal is to stay around 155, which I’ve been since last summer. As previously mentioned, that is about 80 pounds less than I weighed when I changed my eating habits ever so slightly.

I get frustrated when I have to get on the scale multiple times. What is worse is when I think I see one number, then the next day the number is two pounds higher and I wonder if I actually read the number correctly the day before. Similar things happen when I read things on my computer screen. The word email looks an awful lot like small to me when both are all lower case. Lower case t’s and f’s, v’s and y’s, i’s and l’s are the worst. Sometimes it’s letter combinations that throw me, like rn looking like an m or ri looking like an n.

Today, when I was reading some tweets, I read down to one I posted last night. I tweeted: Tired of Safari quitting on me multiple times per day. Well, 10 minutes ago when I read it, it said this: Tired of Satan quitting on me multiple times per day. Hmm… Don’t give up on me Lu! (Of course I’m kidding, I don’t believe in satan like I don’t believe in god…) I did have to zoom in on the the word to make sure I typed Safari. Once I verified that I did, I smiled at what It looked like I had typed.

The same sort of things happen when watching TV or simply looking at objects. More times than not it is frustrating to me. (Last week, I left one Bang-Bang Shrimp on my plate at Bonefish Grill that Eliz had to tell me was there.) Today though, I smiled at what I thought I saw.

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Post tags: eye drop, eye test, inch, letter combinations, Satan, scale, test, Tired, tweets, two pounds

Who or What is Kane?

david — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:39:25 +0000

Todays delivery schedule took us into Wilmington with a styling chair and wall-mount workstation. We got a late start since we had quite a few orders to box up. (Besides selling on our site ForYourSalon.com, we also sell on Amazon.com as, wait for it, ForYourSalon — they won’t let us add the dot com since it might take traffic directly to our site.) We also had to head to Newark, DE to pick up our Clairol order. We love going down there, because we usually stop at Cheeseburger in Paradise to eat. Time was tight after we picked up the order, but we stopped for lunch (it was 4.30, but neither Eliz or I had time for lunch earlier.)

After placing our order, I wanted to go to the Men’s Room. Since we’ve been there more than a handful of times, I know where the bathrooms are located. At the time we were there today it wasn’t very busy, so I was pretty confident I could make it there without walking into someone even though we were on the other side of the restaurant. I verified with Eliz how I should walk over there and then proceeded to make my way there. When I arrived at the bathrooms, I looked at both doors. As I mentioned in my last post, my eyes have been extra sucky for awhile, so I couldn’t make out the words on the door. One door seemed to have four letters, while the other door had more. Neither looked like Men or Women.

Frustrated, I walked back to our table. I told Eliz I didn’t know which bathroom to go in (literally.) She had to walk back over there with me and point me into the correct bathroom. I was embarrassed. I asked Eliz what it said on the door. She said Kane was on the door. WTF is Kane? How ’bout putting the man stick figure on the door? It didn’t help that I was hungry…

I brought this up because I read a blog entry the other day on Jalapenos in the Oatmeal titled In the Land of Pretend. In the post, Jeff Flodin writes about how he pretends to do things to look busy or feel important. I don’t think I’m like that. I just don’t want to look out of place or feel stupid. Today it was both.

In case you’re wondering, Eliz had a burger with bacon, honey mustard and fries, while I had the Parrot Beach salmon with broccoli and rice. YUM!

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Post tags: cheeseburger in paradise, Clairol, com, Eliz, flodin, Men, post, site, styling chair, Todays

Latest on My Eyes

david — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 07:32:46 +0000

For the last several days, I was thinking about what I was going to write for this blog entry. My eyes weren’t going to be part of the post. One year ago today I started paying attention to what and how much I was eating. Through mid-summer, I lost about 80 pounds. I’ve been in maintenance mode since then, eating about 1800 calories a day. I will create a post dedicated to how I did it and a spreadsheet to track your daily caloric intake. For now, just know that this scale was instrumental in my weight loss. It’s $25 and you get free shipping.

The thoughts on my post changed once I went to see my retina specialist, Dr. Garg. I figured in the last couple of days, there might be a conflict on what to write about because of my appointment, but only if there was anything new with my left eye (the one that sees more than light.) Sure, I’ve noticed my vision getting worse over the past months. It’s been brutally frustrating, but when we left for my appointment I thought I’d get a, “Everything looks okay, I don’t know why you’re having these new troubles…” Today, Dr. Garg noticed three things that are most likely causing the decrease in my vison and only one of them has to do with my retina.

It seems that the only issue with my retina is from folds that developed from my pressure being low for a long period of time following a trabeculectomy (glaucoma surgery) back in 2003. Dr. Garg told me that even though my pressure has been in the “normal” range (for me) over the last five years, the folds will never go away (just like you can never get a piece of paper completely smooth again after it’s been folded.) This will slowly take my vision. Dr. Garg said if that were my only eye issue, it really wouldn’t be too big a deal. The other issues Dr. Garg saw today were both cornea related. One is corneal edema, or swelling of the cornea. The other issue has to do with the transplant I had two years ago. He said there was some cloudiness behind the new (to me, 69 years old to the original owner) endothelia. Dr. Garg stated he thought that happens in about 25% of transplants. I’ll know more when I visit my cornea specialist in about 10 days.

When we left the appointment, I said to Eliz that at least there was something there and I wasn’t imaging it. I was somewhat happy. It seems that the cornea issues can be handled with meds and a “procedure” (which makes me think of City Slickers – “You’ll have surgery, but call it a procedure…”) After we returned home and I thought about it, I realized that for the first time in my life, I can’t keep my vision from getting worse. From the time I was a young boy, I was always told ‘there’s no way to improve your vision, we’re just hoping to maintain it.’ Of course, I had hopes and dreams over the years that something would come along… Now, my vision can’t even be maintained. I hope it’s not a slippery slope.

This post is sponsored by the EatSmart Precision Pro Multifunction Digital Kitchen Scale. It has an extra large LCD readout (which means that I can see it when I’ve got my reading glasses on) and an 11 pound capacity. I’ve used this product since last December to lose weight. I weigh everything in grams, because, to me, it is easier using a whole number. If you want to drop some weight, this is a tool that will certainly help you.

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Post tags: corneal edema, daily caloric intake, glaucoma surgery, post, pressure, retina specialist, scale, vision, Weight, year ago today

I Want to Go! Wait, Nevermind

david — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 06:28:03 +0000

It has been nearly a month since I last posted. I’ve been really busy adding products to ForYourSalon.com, taking an online course for WordPress, working on affiliate marketing sites (see WebHostingMarketReviews.info & TopCarInsuranceQuotes.net,) working on my friend Janice’s site for her new store – Small’s Treasures (this is going hand-in-hand with the previously mentioned class,) and, of course, following the Phillies. Sadly, the Phillies are phinished, so I guess that gives me a little more free time… It’s not like I haven’t thought about posting here. I’ve got a few great ideas. The best is yet to come: how I lost 80 pounds (it’s not as hard as you think, but more on that in the coming days or weeks.) Since I last posted, I’ve also been to a few eye doctor appointments. One with Dr. Ruffini, my general ophthalmologist, and a few with Dr. Astorino for “Low Vision Rehab.”

So none of that inspired to me to write? Yes and no. I’ve had things I’ve wanted to share here, but the timing wasn’t good. One day, a week or two ago, I had a great idea for a post, but I was in the shower. Now I’ve thought of doing a video blog, but didn’t think that would be the best time to start it… I’ve also had a whole bunch of people commenting on my slimmed-down body and thought that would be great to share with people. Seems that many folks are always looking to drop some weight. So what actually inspired me to write? An email I received today in an email account that I don’t check often titled Maximum Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour Coming to Philadelphia.

Stop laughing. Why did that inspire me? I saw the subject line and got excited. I love Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash too. Problem is, it is so difficult for me to use those programs since my vision has gone from sucks to suckier. As I opened the email, I had difficulty reading it. I squinted, enlarged the font size, zoomed in and finally saw that the seminar was this Wednesday. As I tried to read more, it dawned on me: if I’m having trouble reading a simple email, how will I ever A) Follow along as someone demonstrates Photoshop CS5, and, B) Ever be able to use any information gleaned in the software? It was a laugh out loud moment. I called myself a couple of things and proceeded directly to this blog.

I’m not happy about the fact, but that is the way it goes. A beauty industry friend has been blogging about his battle with lung cancer. I wish I had as positive an attitude as he has. I have always been a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy. I prefer the title realist. While I’d love to do cool things in PS, AI or Flash, I know that it will not be as good as those with the same skill set and sight.

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Post tags: astorino, blog, com, course, doctor appointments, email account, Photoshop, seminar tour, vision rehab, Want

It’s Been a Few Weeks, Not Much New

david — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:27:18 +0000

I haven’t posted an update for about three weeks. In that time, my vision still sucks and I’m wondering if I made the right choice to have the surgery. I visited the retina specialist on Tuesday and was told that there isn’t much difference on the macular edema from the last visit about a month ago (and that was only slightly different from earlier this year.) Seems a bit odd since during my appointment in May, he was able to point out the differences with my OCT scan then and the one earlier this year. I was also told that I had a bit of swelling in my cornea (cornea edema.) I don’t recall if that was an issue at my last cornea doc visit, but I’m scheduled to visit him this coming Tuesday (22 June,) so I’ll ask. At this point, my vision seems to fluctuate between slightly better than before the surgery to worse than before the surgery.

It is so frustrating to me that nothing can be done to get me back to where I was just days after the surgery. For about 10 days from 18 April, my vision was the best it had been in years. Seems now like that was a cruel tease. I’m getting tired of running to the doctors multiple times per month and not making progress.

In other news, Jacob is in Japan with a group of students from Westtown. The last few days they’ve stayed in Kyoto and taken day trips by rail to other cities and sites (Hiroshima, Miyagima-guchi, Miyagima, Kinkaku-ji.) Sunday, they move on to Tokyo where they meet their host families and prepare for a week at Tamagawa, Westtown’s sister school in Japan. The family Jake is staying with has a boy a year or two younger than Jake and seems to live a bit of distance away from the school. Eliz and I hope Jake can manage the train transfers…

Jane is looking forward to meeting her favorite band All Time Low on Sunday at meet and greet during The Bamboozle Roadshow. Monday, she heads to softball camp at Villanova for a week. She is also doing two weeks at an overnight camp at Bryn Mawr College in July and going to the Outer Banks in August with Margaret, Meghan, and Chris. Did I mention she spent yesterday (Thursday) in New York with her friend Rachel?

Since Eliz and Jane won’t be here on Sunday, I’m planning a day of football… Well, at least the last two games (Azzurri/All Whites and Brazil/Ivory Coast (sorry Slovakia/Paraguay, I’m not rolling out of bed at 7.30am.) So, if you want to watch some footie, come on over!

Finally, I’ve lost another pound, which I am trying not to do. I’m trying to maintain 163 pounds, but have been between 161 and 162 the last couple of days. I’ve bumped to 1800 calories per day (from 1700) to try not to lose any additional weight. It’s been tough this week, because we’ve eaten out four times and I’ve had to estimate my calories once and calculate my calories after the fact another time. By the time I added ‘em up, I was short by 200 calories (ate 1600 calories) and it was too late to have anything else if I wanted to go to sleep by 2.00am. At 161, I’m down 73 pounds since I started on 10 December 2009.

More next week, after my cornea doc appointment.

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Post tags: bamboozle roadshow, Brazil, bryn mawr college, Chris, cornea, Hiroshima, Ivory Coast, Jacob, Jake, Jane, Japan, kinkaku, Kyoto, macular edema, Margaret, Meghan, New York, Rachel, retina specialist, surgery, time, Tokyo, vision, week, Whites

Play Ball!

david — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:18:06 +0000

For the first time in a very long time, I got a chance to hit in a softball game. I’ve been looking forward to it since the middle of April, after my surgery. A few weeks ago, when my vision was heading in the wrong direction, I didn’t think I’d even try. After my visit to Dr. Garg a couple of days ago and starting the drop regimen, my vision seemed to improve a little, so I was back in.

After some stretching (okay, very little stretching on the parents’ part,) we grabbed a ball and warmed up. We threw the ball around like we do here: Jane to Eliz, then Eliz flips me the ball to me (I like to pretend I’m the second baseman and I’m turning a double play,) then I “fire” it to Jane. Jane will sometimes just give me grounders that I field (without a glove, I don’t want someone to think I can actually play and throw me the ball) and throw to her. After about 10 minutes of that the girls took the field and the parents went to the bench.

The batting order was determined by who went over and grabbed a bat first. I hit fourth. We went through the order all at once. After three outs though, if there were any runners on base, they came in and the next batter started a “new inning.” Wasn’t too different than t-ball for Jane about eight years ago. Two of the first three parents struck out, while the other grounded out. I felt no pressure stepping into the batters box, since I wasn’t going to be the first one to strike out. I so wanted to make contact. First pitch was a ball high. Second one was over the inside part of the plate, strike one. Third pitch was in the exact same spot, strike two. The fourth pitch bounced on the front of the plate, ball two. I probably saw that one the best and had the bounce been higher, I probably could have hit it — like in mush ball. The fifth pitch looked good, but I swung and missed, strike three. There were at least six strikeouts on our team, including Jane’s K of Eliz.

I noticed when I was batting that I couldn’t see as well if I looked straight at the pitcher, I had to glance toward first base to see the ball better. That concerned me, because that is what seemed to be going on over the last couple of weeks. My central vision wasn’t good. I went out with Eliz to stand in rightfield. As we were talking, I told her my vision wasn’t right. Since I started the drops, I had noticed an improvement. I even commented to Eliz on the ride to school that I’m glad I took the eye drop just before we left home and that I was seeing pretty well as I watched the cars on the road in front of us. How could my vision have changed so quickly? Was it the running around while we were throwing the ball around? Was it bright sun? I don’t know what the answer is, but my vision seems like it has gone back to how it was before I went to Dr. Garg on Tuesday. Once I finish with this entry, I will investigate macular edema a little further.

After two more drops today, my vision is bad. I had trouble reading most of the graphics on TV tonight and the text on the computer is fuzzy. Fortunately, I have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Ayres, the surgeon and cornea specialist. Maybe he’ll have an idea about the macular edema and the quick change in my vision. Most likely, I’ll have to wait until I go back to Dr. Garg on 15 June. It’s funny, I think if I had hit the ball, I don’t think I would have noticed or been bothered by the decrease in vision. I’m already looking forward to next years game…

Couple other short items… I spoke to Dr. Rist, my gp, today. She was calling to give me the results from a blood test I had yesterday after my appointment with her. They were all very good and well within the normal range. They were dramatically better than a year ago. My blood pressure yesterday was also pretty good, 104/68. All in all, the 1500 calories per day has been a good thing. I will be increasing my caloric intake to about 1700 next week, since I’m within a few pounds of my goal. The doctor calculated my metabolism and came up with that number. I asked the doctor if the results were back from the throat swab she had done yesterday (I’ve had a sore throat since early last week, along with chills the first day or two,) but they haven’t as of today. She prescribed Amoxicillin yesterday since she had noticed some things in my throat.

Also, we’ve been getting more calls to our design company (Digital Graphics Design) as of late. I had to cancel a meeting with a prospective client earlier in the week since I wasn’t feeling well. Today we got a call from a professional looking for a small website. I am going to attempt this one on my own. Let’s see how that goes. When I took the call in the morning, I was seeing okay and was confident I could do it. Now I’m not so sure.

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Post tags: ball, batters box, double play, Dr. Ayres, Dr. Garg, Dr. Rist, Eliz, Jane, jane jane, pitch, second baseman, softball game, Today, vision

Wow, I was Wrong!

david — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:41:48 +0000

I say that like it doesn’t happen often. Today I had an appointment to see Dr. Garg, the retina specialist I visited several times in January and February. As far as I was concerned, he was my last hope of finding why I was having difficulty seeing over the last couple of weeks, after noticeably better sight after the cataract extraction on 15 April. I mentioned in this space last week that I didn’t think he’d spot anything. Fortunately, I was wrong!

After having difficulty reading the 20/200 line (their chart is different than all the others, the 20/200 line is CD not SL) I had my IOP taken (9 in the left, 28 in the right – that is high, but since there is no pain and virtually no sight, who cares,) I was given drops to dilate my eyes. After a 10-15 minute wait, we went to another examination room. Dr. Garg came in and asked me about the trouble I’ve been having and the surgery, then had a look. He noticed something and said he would like me to have an OCT scan. After another short wait, Tom called me in and did the OCT scan. After another short wait, we went into a different exam room.

Dr. Garg came in and immediately said that I have Macular Edema. I was pretty happy for a second. I thought, “Wow, he actually found something!” Then I though, “Uh oh, now what?” I asked the doctor how it is treated and then I was happy again. Eye drops (the name escapes me at the moment, but I think it begins with a D) four times per day. That is easy enough. He then showed Eliz and I (between my dilated eye and poor vision, I couldn’t really see much) the OCT scan from today and the one from 15 January. He pointed out the difference in the one today, which Eliz was able to see. After about two hours, we were done. I go back in four weeks.

Today was the first of three doctor’s appointments for the week. Tomorrow, I go to my general practitioner for a check-up. Perfect timing for me to visit her, as I’ve had a sore throat for about eight or nine days. I’m interested to see what she says about my weight. I was in the mid-180′s the last time I was there in March. I was 168 this morning. I know many of you have been asking about how I dropped a total of 66 pounds since 10 December 2009 and want to know my secrets. The short answer is 1500 calories a day and I weigh everything I eat at home (unless it is packaged, then I use the nutritional info on the package.) When we’re out, I use the restaurant’s own nutritional info. If a restaurant doesn’t provide the info, then I calculate it. If I can’t calculate it, we don’t eat there. Do you hear me Bertucci’s? I’ve kept a food journal since February and I’ll post it soon (I wanted to do it a couple of weeks ago, but my vision issues got in the way.) Friday, I visit Dr. Ayres for another post op check.

Lastly tonight, I went to Anthem Institute (formerly Chubb Institute) for a Graphic Design Advisory Board meeting. It was both good and bad. Good because I love talking about graphic design work, the industry, and the curriculum at the school. They’re making some positive changes there that will give students a deeper design knowledge that should translate into being better prepared to land a job once they graduate. The bad part about tonight was talking about new version of programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Flash. How is that bad? I so want to use them, start shooting pictures again, shooting videos (and editing them,) and cool stuff like that, but my vision is not cooperating. Maybe I’ll be able to get back to it once the drops work their magic…

Oh, and one last thing. Really. The parent daughter softball game is Thursday afternoon at Friends Central. I am hoping to get an at-bat. I will most likely strike out, if given the okay to hit, but I want to try. I’ll let you know how it goes. Fortunately, Lankenau Hospital is literally right around the corner…

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Post tags: cataract extraction, Dr. Ayres, Dr. Garg, info, last hope, OCT, perfect timing, poor vision, retina specialist, Today, Tom, vision, wait

I’ve Lost Over 30 Pounds (without cutting any body parts off!)

david — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:39:00 +0000

Back on 9 Dec 2009, my doctor told me to join Weight Watchers or do some other diet program. I told her that it would not happen. We were in the process of boxing up the inventory at our business location in the Delcroft Shopping Center (you all know the one: lots of water, super high levels of hazardous mold, and mushrooms growing out of the carpet.) My doctor and I went back and forth and she told me that I had to lose weight. She told me I could try on my own by eating 1500 calories per day. Okay, I’ll do it. I don’t know if she believed me or not.

The next day, I started counting every calorie. Before we go out for dinner, I look up the calories at the restaurant we’d like to go to eat. If the restaurant doesn’t have the calories listed on their site, we usually pick a place that does instead (and go to the place that doesn’t list the calories only after doing some strenuous activity which would give me some extra calories to eat.) I usually eat a salad for lunch, which consists of a bag of Fresh Express or a similar brand, some mushrooms, sometimes some peppers, sometimes some walnuts, and either balsamic vinegar or a low-fat dressing. Breakfast is either two Dannon Fruit-on-the-Bottom yogurts (280-300 calories total,) McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal (two servings = 300 calories,) or two eggs with low-fat cheese (about 240 calories.)

Dinners are are anywhere from 500 to 800 calories (unless I’ve been doing some physical labor…) It was apparent early on that I couldn’t do this without knowing some foods serving size. Sure, a Gardenburger on a Martin’s roll with the low-fat Cracker Barrel cheese was easy to figure out (100+140+80=320,) but what about a serving of walnuts? So I bought a scale from Amazon.com. So, back to the walnuts. I serving is 180 calories. Serving size is 30 grams. 30 grams is a better than average handful of walnuts! Half a serving will do on my salad…

Snacks include blueberries, grapes, celery with salsa, raspberries, blackberries, an apple, a grapefruit, cassava chips (these — available from Whole Foods – are my fav,) pretzels (both gluten-free and regular,) pumpkin seeds and air-popped popcorn. Grapes are my single most favorite food. It is absolutely horrifying how many I used to eat as a snack at night. Now I usually have 100g-200g, depending on how many calories I’ve got left to “spend.” The other fruits I’ve mentioned also are things that I used to snack on before and have just lowered the amount I eat at a given time.

I have always drank plenty of water, between two and three litres per day, which I still do. I also drink hot tea in the morning (a Teavana blend,) and evening (Stash Lemongrass and Ginger Tea, Eliz’s fav and sometimes hard to find.) I don’t add anything to either of those “cups” of tea. In the afternoon, I sometimes have either Red Rose black tea hot or cold. I add lemon juice from half a lemon. If I’ve got 50 calories to spare, I might add honey to the hot tea.

There are certainly things I haven’t had since I started the 1500 calories per day. Some I miss, like the Apple Chai Infusion from Starbucks. Maybe once I work some exercise into my daily routine, I can get that again…

My goal is to continue at the 1500 calories per day for as long as I can take it (and Eliz and the kids can take me…) I’m not sure why I’m doing this. I think it is more for the challenge than being fat. I don’t think that I’ve felt any better or worse since I started losing the weight, but I have noticed that I have more energy. I still get a little more than five hours of sleep per night, except on the weekends when I sometimes get eight or nine hours. I’ve already gone from my clothes being snug to just right to I-might-need-smaller-size. I guess I can still do somethings…

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Post tags: Apple Chai, Apple Chi Infusion, balsamic vinegar, calories per day, cracker barrel cheese, day, doctor, Ginger Tea, irish oatmeal, low fat cheese, Martin, Rose, tea, water, Weight