The day after Christmas I visited Dr. Gates's office and stepped on his scale--it's a really cool digital scale with electrodes that you hold on to after you have entered your gender and age.
January 2 of 2008 I had my first visit with Dr. Gates. I stepped on the scale and grabbed the metal bars. I remember how the orange numbers spun as they computed my weight. Suddenly, there it was: 226
I mean, 226? I had been satisfied (how strange it seems now) to be around 215, but the holidays had not been kind. My mom's cooking, visits with family where all I did was sit on the couch, these had pushed my weight higher.
Dr. Gates took me in for a consult, advising me to cut my calories to 1800 each day. He showed me how to keep a diet journal and gave me some points for increasing my exercise. Finally, he gave me a prescription for B12/Lipo.
It took about three weeks of journaling to get the calorie count down to 1800. Once I did, though, the weight really started coming off! through February and March the scale dropped: 220...215...210...205.
By May, I was down to 200 and feeling great. My bathing suit and most of my school clothes sagged below my waist.
I got off the B12 part of the diet in the summer, exercising and practicing some of the lifestyle choices I had made throughout the year. But I wasn't able to put it all together and return to losing weight.
My second visit to Dr. Gates's office two weeks ago took place at his Richmond Hill office. I stepped on the scale and watched the numbers spin.
209. Not what I had hoped. A 17-pound weight loss for the year nonetheless.
Of course the main impression I got was how much there is left to do. I had blood tests during my physical the week before, and they came back high in cholesterol, which is a real concern for me. The BMI that registered on Dr. Gates's scale was 30, which is still in the obese range, albeit far lower than the 34 I earned last January.
Dr. Gates discussed new goals for me. I want to reach a target weight of 175, hopefully by the time of the half marathon in April. I will return to the diet journal. He also gave me a new prescription for B12/Lipo and Phentramine (an appetite suppressant that he can only prescribe to local patients and not at MyDietSolutions).
I feel great to write this post seventeen pounds lighter than before I started Dr. Gates's program
I feel challenged at the amount of weight I still have to lose in this new year.
Anybody with me?
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