PAGE 1 • PAGE 2 • PAGE 3

11/12/06: 260 lbs. (-84, 170 days)

Slow and steady as she goes.  I had a brief scare recently that my weight was climbing back up but I changed the batteries in my scale and the number instantly went to where I thought it should be.  I'm still having a bit of trouble digesting beef but otherwise, my dining is normal but for portion size and an almost total absence of anything carbonated or containing sugar.  I find I do best with moist foods that are already ground up or otherwise shredded.  Turkey meat loaf goes down better than turkey, for instance.  I'm also better off with lasagna or penne than with spaghetti since it's harder to chew spaghetti noodles down to mush.  At times, I forget that I can't eat the way I used to and I eat a bit too much or eat a bit too swiftly.  Have to stop doing that.

11/26/06: 258 lbs. (-86, 184 days)

Two more weeks, two more pounds...only it's not as precise as I might like.  I go up, I go down.  The overall trend is down but there are days when I seem to have gained three or four.  My stomach seems to be functioning pretty much as it did before the surgery, only at a lower volume.  That surgery, I should note, was six months ago today.  Overall, it's been a great experience with big rewards — my overall health — and lesser ones. Among the latter would be the lady at the airport who hesitated about letting me on the plane because the photo on my Drivers License is that of a much heavier man.  Fitting into an airline seat and not having to request the seat belt extension is a pleasant perk, as well.

12/23/06: 258 lbs. (-86, 211 days)

Another month of up and down.  Went back up to 264 at one point but came back down...though people (and my mirror) are still telling me they can see more weight loss.  I think it's like I said on the first page: My body tends to carry weight in a way that isn't obvious.  It's still coming off my face and chin(s) and that's noticeable...but it's shifting into my thighs and belly, and that isn't.  This is not a bad thing but I'm sick of seeing the same numbers on the scale.  Still having occasional problems with beef or anything that's too dense or dry.  I've started sessions with a Physical Therapist to try and get rid of an occasional pain in my left shoulder blade that seems to be related to my sudden change of posture.

1/27/07: 255 lbs. (-89, 246 days)

Hello again.  Since I last reported, my weight has gone back up to 265 or so again, then back down.  Some of that may be to that exercise program turning a bit of fat to muscle...though I'm not exercising that much.  Two days of some sort of stomach virus also helped drop a pound or two.  I'm now 111 below my estimated top weight, which is nice.  So is the fact that some of my hair, which disappeared along with my girth, seems to be making a slow reappearance.  I'll let you know in a month or so if this trend is continuing.

1/30/07: 253 lbs. (-91, 250 days)

Two more pounds in three days?  That's what the scale says...and I do feel a tad lighter.  I have the feeling that stomach virus I had last week has something to do with this.  I didn't eat the whole day I had it and my appetite, which was already modest compared to pre-surgery levels, has yet to fully return.  This morning, I tossed out (or into the giveaway pile) more pants.  That's not new — I've been doing that often since Bypass Day.  What's new is that these are pants I bought after the operation with waist sizes like 48 and 46.  Even the 44s that I now wear are feeling a bit too roomy.  Haven't tried it on yet but I'll bet I could now fit into that tuxedo that I purchased to wear to the 1983 National Cartoonists Society dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  I still have it in the closet and the waist size on the pants is 42.  Now, if I only had somewhere to wear it...

2/18/07: 247 lbs. (-97, 268 days)

I haven't been getting on the scale often enough, I guess.  I completely missed 250...though the way my weight's been going lately, I'll be back up to it a few times before I see the Century Mark of 244.  For some reason, the pants with the 44 waistline now feel tighter than they did when I was at 253.  Maybe that elastic waistband is shrinking more than I am.

3/10/07: 246 lbs. (-98, 288 days)

As expected: I saw 250 again — twice — before I got back to a new low.  I really don't understand the disconnect between what I eat and what I weigh.  Some days, I eat very little — about a fourth of what I ate before the surgery — and the next morning, I'm up two pounds.  Then I'll have one of my hungrier days where I'll eat twice that much and when I weigh myself, I'll be down three.  I thought my scale might be out of whack but as I go to doctors (or take my mother to hers), I always hop on a scale there and it seems to correspond to my at-home weigh-ins.  Some of this is water retention but not all of it.  So I'm up, I'm down...but since the "downs" eventually reach new lows, I guess it's fine.  I also just plain feel better.  A longtime numbness in my feet is going away and I can walk or stand for much longer periods than I could before the weight loss.  A venus stasis circulatory problem in my lower legs is greatly diminished.  Even most of my skin tags are going away or have already disappeared.  It's still amazing me.

9/10/07: 249 lbs. (-95, 472 days)

I haven't updated this in six months because there really hasn't been much to report.  Three pounds up, three pounds down.  Today, I happen to be on the "up" side.  A month or so ago, I was up ten.  As I mentioned, I don't see any particular link between my weight and what I eat or even how active I am.  I'm still healthier than I've been in more than twenty years.  For a while about two months ago, my biggest problem was that my blood pressure was too low.  For years, it was too high and my doctor had me bringing it down with daily doses of Cozaar or Hyzaar.  I also had a pre-Diabetic blood sugar problem which we were treating with Metformin.  Now, I take neither.  In fact, I take no medication at all...just a lot of vitamins.  It's all still amazing.  A few months ago, I went in to appear in a video documentary on Mel Blanc that will be on an upcoming cartoon DVD.  I do this kind of thing from time to time. When I was in the make-up chair being dolled up, the lady applying the Max Factor to my face asked me if I had an older brother.  I told her no.  She said — and I don't think she was putting me on — "About a year ago, I made up a guy who looked a lot like you except that he was older and fatter."