Our story so far...

My good friend Topher suggested that I start this blog, to document some events going on regarding weight loss... Was it a good suggestion? Read on and see...

Going on two years ago, a series of events started with the death of my mother. The Lord had been gracious in walking me through Mom's passing, but I didn't realize what kind of changes would be following. I've been overweight my whole life, from a family of dimensionally challenged folks, but something in the loss of my Mom triggered something in me - telling me that it was time to make some changes. At the time, I was around 460-480 lbs, not moving much and getting sicker each day. My knees were blown out from my weight and arthritis, I had been diagnosed as a diabetic, etc. All the catalog of complications that arise from obesity.

In January of 2003, our insurance at Cornerstone University had switched to Priority Health, and one of the things that brings to the table is their cooperation with MMPC - Michigan Medical Center, a great place for overweight folks like me. Forward to January of 2004. Our doctor, Dr. Jill Bultje, had arranged for me to get a wheelchair, since I couldn't walk for more than a couple of minutes before my knees gave out. With that, I was able to move around a bit more, and realize just how much of life I was missing at my present weight... I did some research with Priority, and learned about the programs available through MMPC. My intent was to pursue gastric bypass surgery, but in order to do that, Priority requires their patients to go through MMPC's medical weight loss program - 12 weeks of fasting, using their supplements only, followed by 5 weeks of transition back to solid food. On April 1st of 2004, I started my first day of the fast, going from 3600 calories on Wednesday to 800 calories on Thursday. Oi!!

After losing 18 lbs the first week, and having a week long headache from the stress on my body, the doctor raised my calories to 900. Week two - 14 lbs, and calories raised to 1000. That was the level that worked the best, so we kept that throughout the rest of the program. End result? Right around 100 lbs lost, going from 486 lbs to 386 lbs in 17 weeks, and giving me hope of avoiding gastric bypass surgery by working on weight loss with diet and exercise alone. From there, I worked on maintaining and continuing on my own. I found I was able to maintain, after gaining about 14 lbs back, but couldn't seem to keep losing.

Forward to two weeks ago. While chatting with Gina from Priority, who was checking to see how I was doing, I happened to ask if they would ever allow me to repeat the medical program. I assumed not, since Priority uses it as a step toward the surgery. I explained my reasons to Gina, my hope to get closer to my goal of 270 lbs and to hopefully be able to have knee replacements after losing more weight. As I expected, Priority usually does not cover a second time through the medical program. But she said she'd talk to the medical supervisor, and told me not to get my hopes up.

This is where God steps in, in a very large way. The next morning, I got a call from our Dr's office, telling me that I was approved to repeat the medical program at MMPC. After getting off the phone with them, I heard from Gina - she said that because the first time through the program went so well, and because I was so motivated, they were going to cover the second time. Amazing!

And so, dear and patient reader, here we are - I'll complete my first week of this time through the program tomorrow, and we'll see what the scale says tomorrow at the clinic. I started at 407 lbs, so we'll see where we go from there.

This is enough for now. I'll go into some of the things the Lord is teaching me through the fast, both last time, and this one, soon. In the meantime, it's time for another yummy liquid supplement. :-)