THE GAINITUDE 12/20

After hitting 121 last Wednesday, it pretty much stayed there for Thursday and Friday morning. And Saturday morning, I somehow dropped back down to 119. What. The. Eff. Granted, Friday wasn't my greatest eating day, but a two pound drop seemed a bit extreme. So as usual, I had to resolve to get the weight back.
Saturday was a great eating day thanks to some friends who kept stuffing me full of delicious treats while I helped them with a few tasks they needed assistance with. That got me back on track. And then yesterday included a giant feast in honor of my grandpa's 90th birthday party.

122.8 lbs
23.1 lbs in 53 days


It's weird how I initially thought the weekdays were going to be the gaining periods and then weekends were going to be where I stayed the same, and yet the last two weeks, it's been the exact opposite. Weight remains fairly constant during the workweek, and then shoots up during the weekend.

THE GAINITUDE 12/15 AND THE BONUS CHALLENGE

As I've already passed by "120 by Xmas" goal, I wanted to try to get to another marker as a way to keep motivated.

First off though:

121.2 lbs
21.5 lbs in 48 days


125 is obviously the next goalpost. I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that January 3rd was my next clinic appointment, but that I wasn't sure if hitting 125 by then was realistic.

So I figured I'd create a challenge for myself. Can I get to (or eclipse) 125 by then? I don't see this as a make-or-break type thing. If I don't hit 125 lb by 1/3, it's not going to ruin anything. My weight is still on an upwards trajectory and I'm going to weigh-in higher on 1/3/11 than I did on 11/29/10.

I just see this as an extra "bonus game" I can tack on to the regular Gainitude program. 125 isn't too far off, so with the right mindset and eating habits, I think it's attainable.

THE GAINITUDE 12/14

120.4 lbs
20.7 lbs in 47 days

A bit of a hover day, not that I expected another huge increase after the big weekend.

Yesterday was also my first day back at the gym after a few weeks off. The exercise routine is back on track.

THE MILESTONE GAINITUDE 12/13

Last week was a see-saw. One day up, one day down. I was staying between the 116-118 range, but I wasn't making forward progress. I really was worried I had hit a gaining plateau and it was going to take a major change to push it any further. Considering I was still under halfway to my goal weight, I didn't want a stall-out, or even worse, get stuck in a slow and gradual decline.
On Friday, I just refocused on trying to eat as many calories as I could over the weekend. I had the fortune of having holiday parties on both Saturday and Sunday where eating was the main event. A great way to pack in the cals. Add in extra snacks, a couple big meals, and a protein shake here and there, and the weekend was incredibly successful, and it showed on the scale this morning.

120.2 lbs
20.5 lbs in 46 days.


So yes. I hit my next Milestone goal. I had wanted to do it by Christmas...getting there with 12 days to go is nice.

I'm now over halfway to my goal. I've gained 20.5 lbs and need to gain 19.8 lbs to hit 140. I'm shocked I made it this far this fast. Back in October, 120 seemed like a distant pipe dream. And yet a month and a half later, I'm here and still going strong.

The next milestone goal is 125, which is the weight that my dietician at the CF clinic wanted me to hit. I'm not sure if I can hit 125 by my appointment on January 3rd, but I will try. Guess it's time to load up on the Christmas cookies.

THE GAINITUDE 12/06

I made a good effort over the weekend to pack on some extra calories to make up for whatever was lost in the neutral week.

 118.8 lbs
+19.1 lbs in 39 days


So I'm happy I got weight back on. I think this number may be a tad inflated, but I guess we will see what the scale says tomorrow. Regardless, I'm back on track towards 120+ by Christmas.

THE GAINITUDE 11/30

As I said yesterday, the clinic weigh in of 119.2 was awesome, but it's not the same as my morning Gainitude weigh-ins (empty stomach, less clothing, blah blah...I'm sounding like a broken record at this point). The good news is my weight is still trending upward, and had a nice little bump at this morning's weigh-in.
Hitting 119.2 (parity with the clinic weigh in) seems within reach over the next couple weeks or so, and getting to 120 before Christmas is looking more and more concrete.

118.2 lbs
+18.5 lbs in 33 days.

THE GAINITUDE 11/24

Not much to report today. Another hover day. Maybe my body is relaxing after the relatively big gains made over the past week and a half... or maybe my body is preparing itself for the all out warfare that is going to occur tomorrow. Gobble gobble.

115.6 lbs
+15.9 in 27 days

THE GAINITUDE 11/23

A bit of a hover day today. Didn't expect much anyway since my eating habits yesterday were a little wonky due to some hectic scheduling at work and a much appreciated nap at home. Like I said before, .2 in any direction isn't much to celebrate or fret over, but I'm still happy with being over 115. Proves Monday was not a fluke!

115.6 lbs
+ 15.9 lbs in 26 days.

THE MILESTONE GAINITUDE 11/22

To be perfectly honest, I was sure my weight was going to hover this morning. My eating was just okay yesterday, but I slept in super late, resulting in only two full meals and one snack. Even with my G-Tube feed, I knew I was going to wake up very very close to my number yesterday. If I hit 114.7 (the magic BMI number) it would be a great day.

Well then.

115.4 lbs
+15.7 lbs in 25 days


First off, go back and look at the other Weighbot screencaps. The BMI number is highlighted in red. Now it's just a neutral dark gray. That's right, I'm out of the Underweight and into the Normal!

Second, I am over 115! I can pretty much categorically say this is the most amount of weight I've had on me since I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Maybe ever. I never had a need to track my weight in high school, but I was always just as thin then. So now, anything above 115 is pushing into new and uncharted waters.

I hit 110, which was returning myself to the top of my baseline. I hit 115, which was getting myself to the peak weight I've been at. Two goals accomplished.

The optimist in me wants to set a big next goal, like 125 by Christmas. But the realist in me thinks 120 is more manageable.

So yeah. 120 by Christmas. Ready?

THE GAINITUDE 11/21

I had a friend in from out-of-town. He's a big beer aficionado, and one of his favorite places is a small So Cal chain called Pizza Port. Even though the closest one is an hour plus (with no LA traffic) the quality of the food and booze is pretty well worth it.
My goal was to devastate one of their awesome deep dish pizzas by myself. I could have easily gone through a small, but I decided on a larger target.

This was my enemy for the night. A medium deep dish with sausage, olives, and enough cheese to make Kraft weep from jealousy.

I plowed into its gusto, but the heaviness of each slice was like an anvil in my stomach. I kept pressing ahead though. Even when my stomach was begging me to stop.

 This was the damage at the final bell. I didn't completely obliterate the thing like I wanted to, but I made a gigantic dent in the the thing. Something I would have never been able to do a mere few weeks ago. I ate this thing around 6pm, and my stomach basically said "NO MORE" for the next few hours. I've never ever ever been as stuffed as I was last night. But it was fun. I can now add my stomach to the list of body parts I have subjected to cruel and unusual punishment in my goal to be a healthy CF'er.

Anyway, onto the Gainitude.


If I had weighed myself last night, I would be posting up an insane gain. But in the spirit of honesty, I did the usual "morning time after GI evacuation"weigh in.

114.6 lbs
+14.9 lbs in 24 days.

I posted yesterday that anything over 114.5 would put me in the Normal weight catagory on the BMI chart. I actually found out today it's 114.7 lbs. So I need another .1 on the scale to get there. And then another .3 to hit the big 115 milestone. Considering my gains over the past week, I'll be there pretty damn soon.

THE GAINITUDE 11/20

This just goes to show when you have a middling weigh-in like I did yesterday, you just gotta keep pushing. I had a nice food (and beer) overload last night, which probably helped push my number up for this morning.

114.2 lbs
+14.5 lbs in 23 days


Getting tantalizingly close to 115! Also, a special thing to note is that when I cross over 114.5 lbs, my BMI technically goes from being Underweight to Normal. I still think 114.5 is underweight according to my metric, but considering how ubiquitous BMI is in determining if a person is at a healthy weight, getting into the Normal range is a nice little goal.

THE GAINITUDE 11/19

Well, the new scale finally came in yesterday. And today's number confirmed my theory.

113.4 lbs
+13.7 in 22 days

First off, I knew the 113.6 from yesterday was a bit of a stretch and that I'd be hovering close to that number for a day or two. So that's confirmed.

It's good to see the new scale giving a close number to what the old scale was giving. This one definitely seems to be more accurate, and it doesn't consistently adjust depending on where and how its positioned. So I feel the number is pretty much accurate.

Anyway, onto the weekend. Hopefully there will be some gains made so I can get this next pound or so taken care of.

THE GAINITUDE 11/18

Running a little late this morning and got to get to a meeting, but here's today's Gainitude.

113.6 lbs
+13.9 lbs in 21 days


Not sure if I trust that I gained a full pound yesterday, but the scale seemed pretty adamant about it. I'll take it, but with full realization that tomorrow's number will probably end up hovering very close to this.

THE GAINITUDE 11/17

This Gainitude update will be brief today. I have a much longer post I'm putting up later today all about lung function.

112.6 lbs
+ 12.9 in 20 days

Good progress. Things are looking to be on track to hit 115 right before my 11/29 clinic appointment.

THE PIZZAGONY

So last night after the gym, I came home and a wayward piece of Little Ceasars pizza made its way into my mouth. It sounded like a good idea at the time. I mean, when does pizza not sound like a good idea, especially when my entire goal is to be a comparative fatty?

Well, the pizza decided to exact its deliciois revenge on me this morning. I put this on the Twitters, but I have an acute case of TUM TUM HURTS. Yeah, my stomach is not happy. It happens, we all eat something every once in awhile that disagrees with us. I took some pepto pills, so hopefully everything evens out before lunch.

The good news is that the Pizzagony didn't hinder my progress.

112.2 lbs
+12.5 lbs in 19 days

I was a little worried that yesterday wasn't a solid eating day, but I guess that wasn't true. A nice little boost for the start of the week, to be sure.

The new scale that hopefully won't be a dirty little fickle liar is supposed to be arriving today. So the numbers tomorrow might change based on the new guy's accuracy, versus this Homedics piece-of-shit-i-cant-wait-to-give-to-goodwill.

THE WEEKEND, REVISED

So after all that fretting yesterday about being stuck at 111.2 seems a tiny bit silly. I stepped on the scale this morning and got this.

111.6 lbs
+11.9 lbs in 18 days

Assuming the 11.6 is accurate, I gained almost a half pound over the course of Friday-Sunday. This is actually good, steady weight gain. My frustrations yesterday now seem a little unfounded.

I did make a minor tweak to my diet yesterday as a test. In the past, I've been having my high calorie shake at night, usually very close to my G-tube feeds. Last night, I skipped the shake and made a simple egg and cheese breakfast burrito. It was less feeling, and less calories, but it was a good snack. And I gained weight yesterday with what I would consider a consistent diet from previous days. Minus the shake of course.

Now part of me wonders if the days where I was doing both the high-cal shake and the start of the G-tube feeds so close to each other might have sent my body into overload. That's ALOT of calories to take in during a relatively small period, and perhaps my body wasn't reaping the full benefit of the tube feeds.

So the experiment for the next few days is this: I'm going to space out the time between my shakes and the start of my feeds and see what happens.

THE STUCKITUDE

I always figured weekends would be the most difficult time for achieving results, simply because schedules get varied so much. Historically, that's always when I felt it was okay to skip G-Tube time. Even on this new Gainitude plan, I was prepared for weekends to be the breathing room time.
I had a fairly slow weekend. The girlfriend was busy with family stuff, so I just decided to work in my Gainitude eating and fitness regimen into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I figured maybe an extra half pound plus over the end of the weekend would pay off in dividends.

But as of right now, I seem stuck.

111.2 lbs
+11.5 lbs in 17 days

This is the identical number I had on Friday, and is actually .2 down from Saturday, where I weighed 111.4 lb. I'm not worried about the .2 variation, but I am worried that I seem to be hovering around the same number every morning for the past three days, even with doing everything I should be.

My mind is in paranoid mode now.

Am I eating enough? I am pretty damn sure I am!
Are my enzymes working? Have no reason to doubt it.
Does my scale hate me? Well actually maybe. I'm using a Homedics scale at the moment that I know doesn't work very well. The first time I step on it, it will give me a completely inaccurate weight, usually 3-4 pounds high. I have to get off and then get back on for it to give me the "proper" reading, and I do this three times to make sure it's constantly saying the same number. This is what I've been inputting my Weighbot numbers from. I've been consistent with doing it in the morning and with the same amount of clothes for accuracy, but I still feel a little wary of what the scale is telling me. I have another coming from Amazon this week that I hope will be more consistent.

I will keep plowing ahead and doing everything I should be doing. If I see no improvements over the course of the week, then it's time to re-evaluate my current Gainitude eating plan.

THE BURST SLOWS

As expected, the initial accelerated weight gain I was experiencing has begun to slow. What started out as a sprint will now most likely become a marathon. I have to keep trudging away until I'm at my goal of 140 pounds.

 111.2 lbs
+11.5 lbs in 15 days

THE BURST AND THE MILESTONE

A combination of sticking to the diet and sticking to the exercise routine has paid off in dividends. The Burst is still cresting.
Most importantly, the first milestone on this long journey has been reached. 110 pounds. I'm now 30 pounds away from my goal of 140.

110.4 lbs
+10.7 lbs in 13 days

THE WEEKEND BURST

Most people's weekdays are structured with work or school or whatever. You know the basics of where you need to be and when. So it makes it easier to then schedule your eating and exercise around that.
But weekends are a wildcard. Things change, you go different places, you get home at different times. Can you still keep up the same plan?

Well, in terms of THE GAINITUDE...yes!

107.4
+7.7 lbs in 11 days


I still consider this very much part of The Burst. I'm definitely getting the minimum necessary weight on for more strenuous cardio and weight lifting.
It's going to be a bummer when the day-to-day Fatnessing increases slow down. But I'll enjoy this while it lasts.