So fat I gave myself a hernia, now I need to lose weight for the surgery so here we go

I’ve yoyo’d with my weight a lot over my adult life, and I didn’t react well to the last two and a half years of covid and life stresses and ballooned up to my largest by about 35 pounds.

Woke up on 9/7/22 with a small umbilical hernia that came out of nowhere (idk, maybe it was treking up and down the hills of seattle with my 6 y/o on my shoulders during a week of vacation).

Read up on hernias, okay, they never go away, always need surgery, don’t work out with weights or it will eventually get worse and could kill you. Huh. Also, you need to lose weight before the surgery so that your fat gut doesn’t just push your intestines through your abdominal wall again.

Now, in the back of my mind, I knew my life of eating crap, drinking, and staying up late playing computer games could lead me to die of a heart attack. But that was abstract.

This is, literally, a visceral reminder that I have been killing myself. And one of my kiddos is special needs autistic who needs some pretty physical wrangling.

So I immediately quit drinking, started walking, and cut down food to OMAD of non-starch veggies and some lean protein. In the past I had done a PSMF/Lyle McDonald stuff while losing weight and lifting. But now I couldn’t lift. So I started thinking why do the protein? I’m fat as fuck, I’ve been pretty strong in the past, and have experienced that there muscle memory, so what if I lose some muscle now?

I was already at 400-600 calories a day, and had gone through my glycogen, why keep giving myself the shits of veggie matter?

Last meal was a big salad and some ham on 9/11/22 at 6pm. Just got done a 4 mile walk. Feel really good, hunger is mostly in the background now, and I’m feeling the increased clarity (although also pretty tired, will nod off right after writing this).

I’m 5’8”, and a month ago I was 285 in about two weeks of activity with the kiddos while on vacation I got down to 275 without really trying. I was 275 on 9/7/22. Tonight, I’m down to 265.

Have first consult with surgeon tomorrow. Will learn how much I need to lose and how much I need to lower my blood pressure before the surgery.

Snake juice is on it’s way Thursday, and I’ve also got loose potassium, sodium, and magnesium from prior PSMFs. New better fitting pair of Vibrams and some compression shorts to help with the chub rub come tomorrow.

I was a former high school and college wrestler (DIII, rode the bench), so I’ve showed the discipline in the past, and always told myself “don’t worry, I’ll start getting healthy tomorrow” tomorrow is now here.

I’m shooting for at least a week and then we shall see from there.