Fat Man...Skinny Wallet

HYC Check In: Interim Goal Accomplished!

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:46:00 +0000

So I'm down to 274.8 this week! It took a very, very, god I'm so tired, very long time to get here, but I finally reached (and passed, if barely) my interim goal weight of 275 lbs, for a grand total weight loss to date of 60.6 lbs.

To be honest, I'm awfully tired of constant diet, diet and more diet. Exercise is boring me too. But I've come so far. Must resist the siren call of spicy chicken...At least in another 10 lbs I can go and reward myself with some books.

HYC Check In

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:09:00 +0000

So another week down, and notwithstanding tonight, I've been pretty good on the old diet. Current weight is 276.6 lbs for a total weight loss of 58.8 lbs. I'm so close to my interim weight goal I can taste it. Hopefully next week we'll finally arrive at that mark. Wish me luck.

As an incentive to keep focused and on the straight if not narrow, I have decided to make a list of weight target-related rewards. Here's what I have:

Weight Reward
265 Treat myself to some books at the bookstore

250 Spaced: The Complete Series

240 Grand Theft Auto IV

230 X-Men #2 (to celebrate the 100 lb loss mark)

220 Teeth Lost, Hearts Won

210 Brochelle 2006 Ridge Top Reserve Zinfandel

195 (GOAL) Hugo Boss suit and a really nice romantic and celebratory dinner with Mrs. Blubba

HYC Check-In

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:29:00 +0000

So it's been a while since I've checked in. Currently, I'm weighing in at a svelte 281. I've stalled a bit over the last month. I went off the diet while on vacation. And vacation was awesome. The Family Blubba went to Alaska to visit an old college buddy of Mrs. Blubba. It was an awesome trip. We went to Barrow, we hiked in Denali, we saw moose (and baby moose!), bald eagles, orcas, caribou and sea lions. Sadly, no bears. Guess we'll have to go back.

The diet was definitely hindered. With Baby Blubba (who, at this point, should probably be upgraded to Toddler Blubba), we couldn't dine at some of the finer Alaskan restaurants that might have been healthier. And, from my experience, Alaskan cuisine often comes in fried form. So it was a lot of fried food. Tasty, tasty fried food.

So, there was a little hiccup while away, but I'm back on track I think. We'll see over the next couple of weeks/months. I'm getting pretty close to my interim goal.

Another Reason to Lose Weight and Get Healthy...

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Courtesy of Mrs. Blubba (with a little help from moi).

七転び八起き(Fall Down Twice, Get Up Thrice)

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:49:00 +0000

So a while back, Andrew is Getting Fit was kind enough to tag me to write a six-word memoir.

As some of you know, I spent a significant part of my life living in Shimane Prefecture, Japan working as a translator/interpreter. It was a wonderful experience, and I often find myself missing terribly that part of my life. There are a ton of wonderful sayings in Japanese, but my favorite, is Nanakorobi Yaoki, which I will loosely translate as Fall Down Twice, Get Up Thrice - the rhyming sounds better to my ears than the actual translation, which is fall down seven times, but get up eight times.

I think this proverb is a great expression of how I've lived my life. I try a lot of things. And I fail at them, a lot. In particular, I've tried off and on for years to lose weight. Always unsuccessfully. I'm not sure if this is the time I will finally succeed at it. I think it is. But even if it isn't, I'm going to brush myself off and keep trying.

I'm not going to link to anyone - the last time I did, I got a earful of lame comment about how the person I linked to was too good for it. So if anyone is interested, please go ahead and tell me about yourself and link back.

These are the rules:
Write your own six word (max) memoir.
Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
If you're inclined to, tag at least five more blogs.
Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Belated HYC Check-In

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:58:00 +0000

My apologies for being absent. No excuses, I'm a slacker. But not on the getting healthy process...since my last check-in, I've hit two important milestones: I've finally weighed solidly under 300 lbs for the first time in a long, long, long time; and I've lost just over 50 lbs.

So...I figure I have at least another 90 lbs or so to go. I think on the BMI scale, I'm supposed to weigh under 180 to be considered healthy (I'm 5' 10"). I'm not sure that works with my frame. I can guarantee that at 180, I'd be less than 10% body fat. So my final, long-term goal is to get to a solid mid 190's, if possible. So, I'm about a third of the way there.

Here's to the halfway mark!

Hope all my fellow HYC'ers are doing well!

HYC Check In-Week 20

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:52:00 +0000

So another week, and another 4.2 lbs down, for a grand total of 32.2 lbs lost. The weight is coming off pretty well, obviously. Over the weekend I went a bit off diet, but I'm back in the saddle again. My apologies for not posting much. Things have been crazy busy. Down now to 303.2 lbs. Getting past 300 is so close now. If I can just keep pushing, I should be in the 200's next week. Crazy! I haven't been in the 200s for years.

Andrew is Getting Fit has tagged me to write a six-word memoir. I'm not much of a deep internal thinker, but I will have something soon. I promise!!

Also, I need to get back on the Couch 2 5K program. Now that I've lost some significant weight, I think my knees can handle the added stress. Wish me luck!

HYC Check-In: I'm Melting!

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 21 May 2008 01:16:00 +0000

HYC Check-in Week 18

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:10:00 +0000

Another week down, and another week of progress. This week, I lost 5.2 lbs, for a grand total of 23 lbs. Wow, who knew how quickly the weight disappears when you eat under 1000 calories a day and exercise over 4 hours a week? I'm now down to 312.4. I promise to post more soon, once work slows down. Hope all my fellow HYC'ers are doing good!

Mrs. Blubba Here

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Blubba) — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:46:00 +0000

I just wanted to say two things:

1. YAY for Blubba! He's really hanging in with his low calorie diet. I'm enormously proud of him and I just had to throw that out there.

2. I've gone ahead and posted a new entry on Mrs. Blubba's Blog. Feel free to check it out- or not as you prefer. I do intend to post more regularly, though you know what they say about good intentions.

Carry on. And Happy Friday!

HYC Check-In

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:08:00 +0000

So another week down, and it's been pretty good. I've kept to the LCD ("low calorie diet") the doc has me on. I was also cleared to exercise by my cardiologist (apparently, I have an abnormal ekg, but after numerous ekgs, CT scans, chest x-rays and treadmill tests, the conclusion is that I have a surprisingly healthy heart for my age, weight and lifestyle...I just have a weird ekg). So last week Mrs. Blubba and I really increased our exercise. Although it wasn't daily, we exercised 5 days last week, and several days it was over 2 hours at a time. And, not so surprisingly, I'm down another 5 lbs to a current weight of 317 lbs.

This week, my doc has finally decided that my follow-up blood work indicates the necessity for medication to treat my hypo-thyroidism. Tomorrow I start taking synthroid. I'm not crazy about having to be on medication for the rest of my life, but there is a positive. Once my body gets used to taking the synthetic thyroid supplements, my body's metabolism should (hopefully) speed up a bit, and some other wonkiness in my blood work should clear itself up. It takes a while to see the effects, so I don't expect to notice any changes for at least six weeks or longer.

Hope all the HYC'ers are having a good week, too.

Still Alive! HYC Week 17

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:23:00 +0000

So it's been a while since I last posted. My apologies. The Family Blubba went off to the Outer Banks for a weeks vacation with the Grandparents Blubba, and a good time was had by all.

Upon returning to Hotlanta, I went and had my annual (or maybe semi-annual, as the case may be) physical and had a follow-up with a dietician. And boy, what great timing. Although it's not too surprising, my blood work has shown me to be hypertensive, pre-diabetic, vitamin B-deficient, vitamin D-deficient and to have hypothyroidism. Awesome.

I have, upon the mutual advice of the dietician and my doctor, enrolled in a physician-assisted diet program, which involves very little food and lots of supplements. All with the purpose of getting my blood pressure, glucose levels, and thyroid under control as soon as possible.

So, we're two weeks in and so far I've lost an additional 5 lbs from my last weigh-in. I'm currently at 322 lbs. Down 13 lbs overall. And hopefully this trend will continue.

Hope all my fellow HYC'ers are getting healthy and making progress, too.

Wallfloweritis

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:11:00 +0000

Photo from Daddy Long Legs courtesy of Crystal Tokyo Anime.

So I've realized that I've been remiss in going out and visiting my fellow HYC'ers in a while. My bad! It's all my fault for not getting out there and seeing what everyone else is up to. As Mrs. Blubba is always willing to point out, I tend to hang out in my shell, happy as a clam. So time to get back out there. Starting today, I'm going to go from A to Z on the HYC blogroll and visit everyone's site. And maybe even leave a comment or two. Or maybe just one - there's a lot of HYC'ers out there now....this might take a while...

See you all soon!

Devastating News - HYC Week 9

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Okay, maybe not so devastating. I'm up .4 lbs. It sucks to have stalled for the last couple of weeks and then have an uptick. It's weird because I don't think I've been doing much different from before. Generally, I think I've been good at eating healthy meals and exercising. Sure, there's a candy drawer I've been drawn to at work...but really not so much. Maybe I'm fooling myself; I'll have to ask Mrs. Blubba and see if she thinks I'm being delusional.

Well, the only thing to do is refocus and get back to work tomorrow.

Thursday Tubbiness - HYC Week 8

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:16:00 +0000

I'm definitely not getting anywhere this week. I'm Maintainy from Plateau-town. No loss or gain this week. Which, I admit, is a good thing since this week included my personal but oh so tasty kryptonite.

Despite that, I still feel like Mrs. Blubba and I have been making good progress on the diet in general. It's not perfect, but compared to years and years of fast food on a regular basis we've made significant progress. And we've been working out fairly regularly. We can do better, though (especially since exercise gets derailed when we both have to work into the wee hours).

I'm thinking that there is more I can be doing besides trying to eat better, exercising more, and blogging about it. Tomorrow, I think I will contact my health insurance company and see what services with dietitians/weight loss professionals they have. I feel like it's about time to get some medical help (not in a stomach stapling surgery kind of way though) to assist with structure, as well as just making sure I stay healthy in this process.

Mrs. Blubba's Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Blubba) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:42:00 +0000

So, inspired by Scale Junkie and the lovely commenters over at the Healthy You Challenge, I have started Mrs. Blubba's Blog, a companion to Fat Man...Skinny Wallet. I may still post here occasionally, but you can follow my own weight loss and fitness journey over there, from a different perspective than you might get from Blubba.

You can find me here. Blubba has also helpfully added a link to me in the blogroll. I hope you'll drop by my humble abode every so often.

Edited to add: I fixed the links to Mrs. Blubba's Blog. How embarrassing!

Thursday Tubbiness- HYC Week 7

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:36:00 +0000

It's been a decent week on the exercise front. Mrs. Blubba and I have been exercising about 4 to 5 times a week, and so far it seems to be very doable on a long-term basis. I've joined others in the Couch to 5K challenge. My time-line for actually running, jogging, walking and/or limping a 5K is a bit long. Due to my weight, I'm very conscious of taking it as easy as possible so as not to hurt myself. At this point, I'm just getting my body used to walking a mile a day.

As for the scale, despite some bad eating over the weekend (fondue, beer, tasty Chinese take-out), it seems I've lost a pound. I wouldn't be surprised if I swing back, but I hope not. So current weight is now 328.2, for a grand total of 7.2 lbs lost. It's not fast, but I think losing a pound a week on average is pretty good. Although I am an impatient man by nature, I guess if this progress continues, I can make my first goal of weighing 275 lbs by March of next year. Wish us luck!

Frugal Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:34:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Freefoto.

This week's Festival of Frugality is up, courtesy of Broke Grad Student. Check it out for a lot of interesting and helpful articles. As Mrs. Blubba and I continue to work on cooking at home (for our health and finances), I found several blog-bites to be quite helpful:

When Buying Organic Pays Off and Doesn't at Greener Pastures: Personal Finance.

How to Soak and Cook Dried Beans at Squawkbox.

Save Money on Seasonings: MYOM (Make Your Own Mix) at Cheap Healthy Good.

And, since Mrs. Blubba and I are our own health club, I liked this post on How to Create a Frugal Exercise Club at Sound Money Matters.

Selling Castle Blubba (Food For Thought)

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Blubba) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:46:00 +0000

So, as a twist to Blubba's post below, I offer you this article from the NY Times regarding options. Apparently, people will continue to keep options open, even to the extent that it causes them detriment, because they do not want to experience the pain of closing those metaphorical doors. Beyond the sentimental reasons we have for keeping our house, I think the struggle about whether to sell has to do with this. We have a willing buyer with whom we will pay no broker commission, at a price I think we're all happy with, which will enable us to be entirely, completely, one-hundred-percent debt free. (I have not been debt free since I became an adult and could actually incur debt. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with myself.) When you add all those things together, combined with the fact that it is risky to continue renting the house (rental rates are at historic lows, and if we don't replace the renter, it is a serious strain on our budget), selling the house makes so much sense.

There are less concrete pluses as well, which are things like we would like to be unencumbered by real estate, so we can be free to take any opportunity that presents itself. Provided that either one of us remains in our current careers, we should never have any trouble continuing to rent, even though the rent on our current house is high, as compared to an apartment or townhouse. That freedom is much desired.

I think the only reason we struggle with the decision is because of the concept of keeping our options open. We might realize more profit down the line. We might move back. We might not be able to buy as nice a house (which, see above regarding the career. We are generally going to be able to buy an adequate house so long as we continue in these careers). We might not be able to invest that money as well as the house will grow it for us. But as commenter cammy said on the original post, "I'd see the sale as a known factor, whereas everything else feels like a maybe."

It is a very interesting concept, this idea that we will work to our detriment just to keep options open, and I am finding all kinds of applications for it in my daily life. I think if we can get the sale terms arranged, we're going to go for it. It's time to start closing some doors, I think.

Help Me, HYC Challengers! You're My Only Hope!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Blubba) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:14:00 +0000

So, obviously, I don't post that often, because this is really Blubba's show. But I do visit here often, read and make suggestions to Blubba regarding his posts, and almost obsessively check the comments and Sitemeter. So I'm more of a "behind the scenes" participant over here at Fat Man...Skinny Wallet.

But I am coming out of the shadows briefly here, because, having read the comments obsessively, I have seen how supportive the Healthy You Challengers are to Blubba. Which is so fantastic; I can't even tell you how much I appreciate it. And I agree with all of you that Blubba is too self-denigrating about his weight loss, and I have told him as much before. I think he feels like what we've been doing isn't horribly difficult, so it must not be effective, and that any weight loss is therefore a lucky accident. Between me and all of you, we can convince him that he's working hard and seeing results.

But that kind of brings me to why I am appealing to you, HYC readers. I mentioned awhile ago that I want to lose about 20 pounds, and I've been working just as hard as Blubba. We've been working out and eating so much better over the last two weeks, and I'm so proud of us. We've been doing great! Except...well...I thought I would be seeing some results by now. Even half a pound. Something. But no, the faithful Tanita remains stuck on the same number it showed me two weeks ago. Maybe it's mad at us. But in the absence of psychological games being played by the scale, I'm left to wonder...why?

So I turn to you, HYC readers, in a craven request for a little boosting. I realize that I am not as overweight as Blubba, so I wouldn't expect to see dramatic results as quickly, but I don't think I am unrealistic in thinking that I could have seen a half a pound or pound coming off right away. Help me, HY Challengers, help me! Please give me reassurances that I'm doing the right things, and that the weight will come off! Those of you who have managed to lose the weight and get healthy (you are so my heroes, by the way!), how soon can I see some results, given that I don't have a huge amount to lose?

Thanks guys. I'm feeling a little weak today in resolve because of the lack of progress, and I hope you can help me buck up.

Portion Control the Bento Way

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:58:00 +0000

One area where my desire to lose weight and save money comes together in beautiful harmony (Like apples and bananas! Sorry...can't get this song out of my head, it will be a relief when Baby Blubba's musical tastes are more advanced) is taking my lunch to work. In particular, I take bentos to work. For those not in the know, I spent about five years living in Japan, which is where I picked up my love of bentos. Bentos are small lunch boxes with several small compartments for different foods. Traditional Japanese bentos typically have a rice section, a fish/meat section, one or two veggie sections and a 'dessert' section (dessert being a 'loose' term in the land of the Rising Sun). Here is why bento boxing it is the way to go:

It saves a ton of money. Before Mrs. Blubba and I got serious about taking lunch to work every day, we were generally buying our lunch at the local cafeteria. This generally cost us somewhere between $60 and $75 a week. Running the numbers on taking lunch to work, we save around $50/week - that's around $2600 a year in savings. Sweeeet.

It's healthier. It's really hard to be unhealthy when you're making your own lunch. Fruit is always a part of the lunch. Our sandwiches are double-blasts of whole wheat and super fiberlicious. Compared to what our cafeteria usually offers (a main course of grease with a side of grease and a sprig of mint), our lunches are fantastically healthy. Thanks to the handy dandy compartments, bento boxes make it easy to balance your meals. This box for some veggies, this box for some grains, this box for some fruit; it's easy!

It's great for losing weight. Bento boxes are fantastic for controlling portion sizes. There's only so much room in each little compartment. When trying to diet, it's a very effective tool for making sure you don't overeat.

My bentos are nothing special. But there is an art to them. Check out these blogs if you are interested in seeing some beautifully put together lunches:

Lunch Bucket Bento

Adventures in Bentomaking

Bento Yum

Bento Anarchy

To Sell or Not to Sell Castle Blubba

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:08:00 +0000

So Mrs. Blubba and I have been renting since our move to Hotlanta. Our old home in Charlotte has been rented out for the last year and recently our lovely tenants asked to buy the house from us. For the price we suggested (which, without brokers, means we make a 20% profit off of the price we originally paid for the home).

A part of me is a little bit reluctant to sell. Partly because I love being a homeowner (even when I'm not living in said home). Partly because I'm pretty bully on the house as an investment. Also, the house is where Mrs. Blubba and I started our new lives as parents to Baby Blubba. It's hard to say goodbye to that.

But we decided to rent the house out because we thought we'd end up moving back to Charlotte fairly soon and things have not turned out as anticipated. We're in Hotlanta for the foreseeable future. Which means the only reason to keep the house is for investment potential or for emotional reasons.

As I said, I'm pretty bully on the real estate market in Charlotte. But I won't lie, I've been burned before. And articles like this and this don't exactly comfort me.

Home prices have shot up so much, regardless of geographic region, neighborhood, population density or common sense that it seems certain that, after the real estate bubble has finished popping, home price appreciation will get back to normal levels (which is around inflation levels). And in the interim, home prices are falling in a lot of areas.

And if we sell it, we can pay off all our debts (as in, COMPLETELY DEBT FREE). And we'd still have a sizable amount left over for either investing or a down payment on a future home. In part, I'm definitely tempted thanks to great posts on this subject by Millionaire Mommy and various others on the subject.

I'm torn, though. I have fears that selling the house means we'll never be able to buy back into such a nice home in such a great neighborhood again. Here in Hotlanta, comparable neighborhoods have home prices easily in the $500K to $1M and up range.

Anybody have any thoughts on whether to stay homeful or go homeless?

Still Alive! HYC Week 6

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:48:00 +0000

So it's been a while since I've last posted. And posted seriously. Unfortunately, yours truly was struck with some vile cross between the Bubonic Plague and the West Nile Virus. I got better though. And as a result, I lost a huge amount of water weight. Sweet, sweet dehydration. It makes it seem like I've actually been eating right and working out.

Luckily, not to be misleading, I'm fully rehydrated. Current weight, as of this morning's weigh-in, is 329.2. Another loss of a nudge less than half a pound. Not great, but hey, we're still moving downwards on the scale. Soon the Tanita scale will be step-on-able once more.

Other good news, Mrs. Blubba and I have started to incorporating a significant increase in home-cooking and exercise. The cooking is helping a lot. The exercise is very gradual, but so far has been consistent.

There are a lot of ups and downs to the process of getting healthier, but I feel confident this week about being successful.

Thursday Tubbiness - HYC Week 5

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:42:00 +0000

So posting has been terribly light. Things have been stressful and in an uproar at Casa de Blubba, so there hasn't been a lot of time. Down another 0.8 lbs, so progress is still being had.

Hopefully 'normal' life will resume soon.

Tuesday Tubbiness - HYC Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (Blubba) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 01:23:00 +0000

I jumped on the scale this morning, expecting to be crushed by the results of a week and a half of being very weak-willed. Surprisingly I wasn't.

I wasn't exactly thrilled, though. I've maintained over the last two weeks, which I guess is a good thing given my excesses. But I really need to figure out how to be more discliplined. But sometime this all feels very Sisyphusian.

Looking for help, I decided to peruse the blogs of some of my fellow Healthy You Challengers. I can't say enough how much it impresses and energizes me to read (and see, with some of the braver bloggers who post their pictures) about people who have lost a tremendous amount of weight.

Check out John, who's lost over 80 lbs or Sara who has lost over 60 lbs. That's a whole person between the two of them (or two really really small persons). Look at Lady Vea's discipline to work out and eat right, which is humbling and inspiring.

I want to thank all my fellow Healthy You Challengers. It's nice to know I'm not alone in experiencing setbacks. And it's really great to know that winning this battle of the bulge is possible.

Next week will be better.