new update on the gigantic primitive (10-06)

[franksolich]

http://drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11960&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=390&sid=e5a297235a803639c16d783eec348dfd

Skins's island is just really boring today, and I can't find Fat Che anywhere, so I decided to check up on the gigantic primitive, to see if he's down to 400 pounds yet, and passing out his resume for a job.

Ege Bamyasi
September 20, 2009

June 21, 2009 - 488 (-31 from Dec. 2007 lifetime high)
June 28 - 488 (unchanged due to quitting 3 daily doses of diuretics)

July 5 - 485 ( -3 )
July 12 - 478 ( -7 )
July 19 - 476 ( -2 )
July 26 - 475 ( -1 )

August 2 - 456 ( -19 ) ** (resumed diuretic and diabetic meds)
August 9 - 449 ( -7 )
August 16 - 454 ( +5 )
August 23 - 444 ( -10 ) (tried stopping lasix again -- no go)
August 30 - 449 ( +5 )

September 6 - 443 ( -6 )
September 13 - 442 ( -1 )
September 20 - 441 ( -1 )

This has been a pretty rough week, which is much of why I wasn't around for a while. First and foremost was the fact that my chafing was worse than I first thought, and it took several days for there to not be slight traces of bleeding from the inflamed areas. It's finally stopped with the use of lots of lotion and TLC, but the whole thing proved to be one huge monkey wrench in my exercise plans -- which were going so well! -- and as such I got a bit frustrated.

Additionally, our oldest cat Marmalade had an injury on her back paw which there was no visual evidence of a cause for, but which kept her from moving around much for a couple of days. She's coming around nicely on her own, thank goodness, but I was worried sick two days ago when we first saw her hobbling.

Finally, my sleeping habits have been so wildly pendulum-like from week to week it's enough to drive me nuts. As an added bonus, it appears we now have a state of "open warfare" with our #%^@#$ upstairs neighbors! We've had to complain numerous times about them carrying on like a herd of buffalo at midnight - 3 am and even later, and now they're in eviction proceedings as nuisance tenants. As such, they no longer care at all what they do. I wish I would have just recorded some of what happened on Thursday night with iMovie just using my computer's built-in mic, because you would have sworn there was either a polo match or a huge wrestling event going on up there. I honestly thought some jerk was going to come through our ceiling and land in our room from caving in the upstairs floor. No exaggeration -- it was really that far out of control. There was screaming which sounded like at least 3 or 4 people carrying on as loudly as they could, too!

We ended up calling the non-emergency police number a total of five times, resulting in officers visiting those neighbors twice. The second time they came, they just stood outside around the perimeter of the building and listened with mouths agape. Jeanette went outside to talk to the officers, and they said they'd be filing detailed reports with the apartment office.

The most logical thing in my opinion would be to come out and arrest every single person in the apartment next time and put them either in jail or juvenile detention for a few days next time, but being Vegas there's always someone even more vile to lock up. According to the office, these people should be gone in the next couple of weeks. They don't realize just how lucky they are that I'm not the type to bust heads. I fear for our safety until they're gone, the damn sociopaths.  

I've been eating lots of salad, bean burritos stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes and onions, and other delicious foods with more leafy green and fresh veggies in them. I've been spending almost all of my free time trying to accomplish various tasks on EverQuest 2, and that's another reason I've not been here as much. No need to fear -- there is absolutely nothing in my attitude which even closely resembles discouragement or wanting to give up. I'm just really into the game like I haven't been in a long time. Having a great guild of other online players to help me out makes a big difference too....

I'm surprised I didn't lose more this week, but the whole halting the exercise thing has definitely played a part. I will be trying to get on the recumbent bike again tomorrow. If I can get on and off it easily enough, my exercise problems should be solved because for some reason I don't chafe when I do that, as opposed to marching or walking. I will keep you all posted!

Ege Bamyasi
September 25, 2009

Nancy, thanks for stopping in. I'm okay -- I've just been spending a lot of time playing catchup with the online game we play. I'll still be here posting in my journal and checking up on people, but I just don't have enough time to spend hours here every day and still do other things I enjoy.

Daffodil, we'd love to move out of this part of town, but most places we could go which are better would involve a much longer commute time for Jeanette to get to and from work. She already has to leave 80 minutes before her start time (work is only about 4 miles away!), and gets off at 5 but is lucky to be home at 6:30. We also have absolutely horrible credit and a lease abandonment which is probably still on our reports from back in 2004, when my mother's death and my inability to work due to plantar fasciitis caused us to be unable to meet our bills. It was either leave for a weekly studio or get evicted. We chose option one. We're the scum of the earth in the eyes of the world because of what a few pieces of paper would show, and until the system is fundamentally changed to give common people more rights and recourse over illness-induced poverty, that's not going to change.

bunsofaluminum, I really liked your comments about Runescape. EverQuest 2 is really just a much more graphically pleasing and complex version of a game like that. It costs money to play, and we have the Premium membership on each account, but since this is really all we do in terms of disposable income and leisure it's worth every penny. There are plenty of "free-to-play" online games out there, but every single one has a model set up where you will have to end up spending money if you want premium items and access to big chunks of the game. Under those models it's easy to get addicted and overspend since the pricing is often a la carte. At least here the monthly fee is set in stone.  

GREAT NEWS!! Those disgusting freakazoid neighbors upstairs are OUT. The fluorescent orange sticker is taped to their door, meaning that they are in major hot water if they break that seal and try to re-enter the apartment. It's been sooooooo beautifully quiet lately! I really hope that karma will come back to bite them in a sensitive place for the way they treated us while they were here. That usually ends up having a way of happening -- lucky me.  

Since I was away from exercise for a number of days, I shifted back away from including sprouted grain bread and tofu in my diet and concentrated more on huge salads and sauteed veggies this past few days. I don't know why, but lately I've had more stomach discomfort than usual. It may be just because of the elevated amounts of leafy green. I hear that's a common thing for some people. It's not like I'm in constant anguish or anything of the sort, but I am gassy and feel bloated at times when I didn't before.

The area where the recumbent bike is has finally been cleared out, and the machine is plugged in and ready for me to try out later after Jeanette leaves. I have a lot of uptempo, motivational music ready to spin on Winamp for my exercise. The only test I need to pass is that of being able to get on and off the bike without balance issues or pain from my shoulders or elsewhere. I really, really hope that I can do this, because I know it will change so much in my life and speed this process up greatly. I'll be back to let you all know how it goes, either later today or tomorrow!

To reiterate: I may not be here posting as much as I used to for now, but that doesn't mean there won't be times when I am here more. My philosophy is the same, my determination and attitude are still fine. I'm just in the mood now to be more social online in the game I've loved to play since it launched back in 2004, but often didn't because I was in too much pain or discomfort to give it much concentration. I consider this a very good thing that I'm able to do so much more easily now!

Ege Bamyasi
September 29, 2009

June 21, 2009 - 488 (-31 from Dec. 2007 lifetime high)
June 28 - 488 (unchanged due to quitting 3 daily doses of diuretics)

July 5 - 485 ( -3 )
July 12 - 478 ( -7 )
July 19 - 476 ( -2 )
July 26 - 475 ( -1 )

August 2 - 456 ( -19 ) ** (resumed diuretic and diabetic meds)
August 9 - 449 ( -7 )
August 16 - 454 ( +5 )
August 23 - 444 ( -10 ) (tried stopping lasix again -- no go)
August 30 - 449 ( +5 )

September 6 - 443 ( -6 )
September 13 - 442 ( -1 )
September 20 - 441 ( -1 )
September 47 - 440 ( -1 )

Another week, another pound. I will come on and post tomorrow (or later today I guess since it's now 2 am here) about what's been going on with me lately. It's a mixed bag, I guess.

Ege Bamyasi
September 29, 2009

To everyone who has kept my journal alive by replying to me, thank you.

I'm here with juicy details today, but many of them aren't anything to be thrilled about.

My world has been reduced to little more than a battle with constant pain over the past week. My leg and foot are healing up, and the skin stitching itself back in place; but I liken what that feels like to the pain from a severe fracture or a very bad sunburn as they're healing. I can make this comparison because in my lifetime I've had both and was reduced to constant pain and discomfort for a period ranging from a couple to several weeks, depending on the incident. I have nothing I can take for it which will do any good, either -- and of course no way to see a "professional" about acquiring any.

Then there's this other, new thing I'm trying to cope with which involves my sleeping postures. As I have said before, I'm cursed with a very bad case of impingement syndrome in both shoulders. Excellent description here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impingement_syndrome

What this means is that it is a complete impossibility for me to be able to sleep the way I have preferred my entire life. What I like to do is tuck one of my folded arms under my head while lying on my side or stomach, with a pillow between my arm and my head. I cannot raise my left arm all the way up even after more than two years, nor can I raise my right hand above eye level after more than a year.

Due to this, I'm stuck with only one way to sleep; and that is my least favorite way of all, which is flat on my back with my shoulders square to the mattress. Tilting to either side by even a few degrees will result in one or the other of my shoulders just hanging without proper support, and the inevitable waking up shortly after the posture adjustment with a completely throbbing and even paralyzed arm.

It has taken me as long as 3 - 5 minutes of rubbing the affected shoulder with my other hand to get just to the point where I could move at all from the pain which would spread from the shoulder into the neck and down to the elbow. Did I mention that putting up with this for nearly three years has totally sucked?

Now I'm losing weight and I'm ever-so-slightly more mobile. Obviously this is a great thing. But, now that my brain knows this, it loves to send unconscious commands to the rest of my body when I'm sleeping to hurry up and roll over, so I'm sleeping in a way which is much more pleasing to me. This is something quite new, and it's been getting progressively more common over the past few weeks to the point where I'm affected by it several times nightly now on average.

As a result, I'm finding myself more and more waking up in a position where my knees are bent with my feet up close to my butt, and I'm turned about 45 degrees to one side or the other. This wreaks absolute havoc on me, and not just in the shoulders. One shoulder is hanging unsupported, while my body weight is resting on the other so now I'm finding that I will wake up with pain throughout my entire upper body. It gets even better! The fact that I'm not tipped a full 90 degrees to the side also means that my bent legs aren't touching the mattress from my hip to my foot.

So, the entire weight of both my legs is putting torque on one or the other of my hip joints too. My hips are not ready for this and cannot cope with it. I can count four separate occasions in the past week where I've woke up from one of these episodes to find that both of my arms and one or both of my legs were completely stiff and immobile for a period of several minutes, while I slowly worked my way back to a flat-on-my-back position; often just sliding my feet back down an inch or so at a time as I would force the pain to allow.

It is a miracle that I haven't had an "accident" of any kind yet, because if I decide to take a nap or go to bed before a water pill has had a chance to finish working, I might find myself having to get up once with a very strong urge to urinate.

Discovering that what I need to do is 5 minutes -- rather than 30 seconds -- away, plus full body pain on top of that, is like some new kind of torture. Did I mention that all of this sucks?

So here I am -- fighting my body for proper rest, exercise plans shot to hell from these new problems, activities like walking and standing even more painful at times now than they were back when I weighed over 500 and most importantly no avenues for proper pain management. So all I'm left with is diet in the absence of a solid exercise component, which I am now completely infuriated with myself and the world about.

That, and what has turned into a mere trickle of weight loss while I spend every waking moment praying to whatever cosmic force might give a tinkers' damn that someday I'll be far enough down into the 300s that at least the lower body pains will stop, that my legs will be somewhat intact again, and that I'll finally be able to move around without instant bleeding rashes behind my crotch.

I'm sticking to the plan faithfully, at least. I'm also shifting back away from richer foods like breads and tofu; not completely, but in far smaller quantities than of late. If I can't easily burn those calories then there's no point in consuming them. I continue to enjoy my huge mixing bowls of salad, and Jeanette is going to go back to fixing more soups.

With regards to that we are also facing the problem of our roommate going almost totally incommunicado with the housework he has promised to do, which leaves Jeanette with even more of a burden of dish washing and kitchen straightening before she can even endeavor to cook. But the man sure knows how to keep slogging down that frozen pizza, pie, cake, ice cream and dead animal while all the time complaining that he feels horrible!

When and if we finally make it out of here, he's on his own. We took him in when he had nowhere else to go and did our best to instill some changes in his behavior, but I'm not his keeper and I'm not holding his hand over this stuff when I have enough of my own b.s. to live with, friend of 18 years or not.

So, that's my life lately. Please excuse my over-indulgence in self-pity. I just never foresaw this level of frustration and resistance by my own body as I tried to pull myself back together once and for all.

Have I mentioned it sucks??.

Ege Bamyasi
October 2, 2009

I'm just checking in very quickly to let all of you know that I'm still hanging in there. Things are not where I want them still, but I'm surviving.

Jeanette has taken the remainder of this week off to celebrate her birthday, so we're spending as much time together as possible. I may not post very much until Monday, but at that point I will have a lot to say in response to some of your recent posts.

Thank you all for continuing to stop in, read my journal and lend your support. I know I'm going to be fine, eventually. I just didn't expect the journey to be this tough at this point.

Ege Bamyasi
October 5, 2009

June 21, 2009 - 488 (-31 from Dec. 2007 lifetime high)
June 28 - 488 (unchanged due to quitting 3 daily doses of diuretics)

July 5 - 485 ( -3 )
July 12 - 478 ( -7 )
July 19 - 476 ( -2 )
July 26 - 475 ( -1 )

August 2 - 456 ( -19 ) ** (resumed diuretic and diabetic meds)
August 9 - 449 ( -7 )
August 16 - 454 ( +5 )
August 23 - 444 ( -10 ) (tried stopping lasix again -- no go)
August 30 - 449 ( +5 )

September 6 - 443 ( -6 )
September 13 - 442 ( -1 )
September 20 - 441 ( -1 )
September 27 - 440 ( -1 )

October 4 - 441 ( +1 )

I didn't expect a good week this week, since it was Jeanette's birthday and we let a Chinese place do some of our cooking for us. They promised no added oil, and delivered on that beautifully, but I probably got two weeks' worth of sodium out of 3 vegetable entrees which I ate over the course of a day and a half. I never binged or overate, but the effects of the salt in the food were apparent immediately. So, I guess this is yet another thing to file under "never again". We'll stick to making our own Chinese food with no salt at all except from Bragg's, which we tend to use sparingly anyway.

In other news, the hip problems I was having over the past couple of weeks have subsided... a little. However, my leg wounds are buzzing and itching as much as ever while they're continuing to show progress. It no longer hurts at all to clean the wounds out with a clean towel -- which was anything but true a month or two ago! -- but I end up paying for the experience afterwards when my new bandaging and TubiGrips are put on. There's gotta be an end to this eventually.

Since I'm still unable to exercise enough to really matter, I'm sticking to the promise I have made here before. All bread products and tofu are now "out", and will stay so for the foreseeable future. Everything I eat will be either completely MWL at this point, or will stray from MWL only in that it has a higher concentration of beans than MWL dictates. Jeanette made a batch of black bean soup last night which was just lovely. I'm having that today, along with another of my trademark huge salads and 3-2-1 dressing, and maybe some fruit for my sweet tooth.

Oh yeah -- back to exercise. I think my main obstacle to getting on the recumbent bike right now is the fact that I really don't have any comfortable protection for my feet. I have to lift my leg almost two feet off the ground to get on the recumbent, and it's way too easy to bang a foot on the metal frame while doing that. The last thing I want to do is invite more injury to what is already present, so I checked around online and found a really nice-looking pair of oversized house slippers for about $30. I got them in size 15 5E even though my feet are actually about 12 1/2 3E -- when they're not slightly swollen and very tender.

The outdoor shoes I wear are that same size, and they're nice for going out and about in, but they're very hard for me to put on and take off because they have velcro straps I have to fiddle with. These slippers are just slip-ons. Hopefully with the foot protection and added traction I'll have an easy enough time getting on and off the recumbent that I can start using it when the slippers get here. I'm only a hair above the weight where I started exercising in earnest on a smaller recumbent back in 2003, and I had no problems then. I don't want to continue putting this thing off now. It's just way too important!

Now that Jeanette's back to working regularly, I will have more time to post here every day or other day at least. I'm going to take a break now to go get my heated bean soup that I'm having this afternoon, because I'm very hungry. But, I'll be back before long!

I hope all of you are doing well; and as always, thank you for taking the time to visit, read and post in my journal.

Well, damn, that's not good at all.

One's wondering now if the gigantic primitive's unfortunately dismal performance the past couple of weeks is because subconsciously he doesn't want to get down to 400 pounds, because he'll have to start looking for a job then.

[ColonialMarine0431]

This has been a pretty rough week, which is much of why I wasn't around for a while. First and foremost was the fact that my chafing was worse than I first thought, and it took several days for there to not be slight traces of bleeding from the inflamed areas. It's finally stopped with the use of lots of lotion and TLC

TMI !!!!  (too much information!)

If this person is 400-500 lbs, they need some kind of professional diet help.

[franksolich]

TMI !!!!  (too much information!)

If this person is 400-500 lbs, they need some kind of professional diet help.

Probably you're not familiar with the gigantic primitive yet, sir.

The gigantic primitive used to deal cards in a casino in Last Vegas, one of the fringe benefits being that while dealing, he got all the chow he wanted, from the casino kitchen.

Over a few years, he widely expanded.

Well, he got to where he couldn't deal cards any more--one assumes because his belly interfered with his hands reaching the table--and so got laid off.  This put him into a funk, and he chowed down even more.

The gigantic primitive is married to a long-suffering woman who supports both of them on her meagre wages in telemarketing.  There's a roommate too, male, middle-aged (the gigantic primitive is 40 years old), apparently chunky also.

Some months ago, the gigantic primitive got on our backs, being awarded social security disability.  So he's not only a burden to his wife, but to the rest of us, living the life of Reilly while we sweat and toil and labor.

I really want the gigantic primitive to succeed, to get his weight down to 400 pounds, so he can go out and get a job, so as to ameliorate the burden on his wife--and the rest of us--but it seems the gigantic primitive's hit some sort of plateau where he's stopped losing weight of any significance, perhaps subconsciously realizing that if he succeeds, he'll have to go to work.

The gigantic primitive was first spotted on Skins's island, but moved to this other web-site because he thought the primitives were "insensitive" to the trials and tribulations of grossly fat people.

[GOBUCKS]

I'm okay -- I've just been spending a lot of time playing catchup with the online game we play.
I really liked your comments about Runescape. EverQuest 2 is really just a much more graphically
pleasing and complex version of a game like that. It costs money to play, and we have the Premium
membership on each account.

This is why the enormous lazy tub of lard will not hold a job. His pathetic wife supports him and pays for
his internet game subscriptions, so why work?

Maybe this internet game is why he isn't showing up at the DUmp to give diet advice.

[Traveshamockery]

I read to the chafing part of his story and had to stop there.   There are just some things better left not discussed on the internets. 

 

[franksolich]

I read to the chafing part of his story and had to stop there.   There are just some things better left not discussed on the internets. 

 

Oh, but in the last update, in mid-September, the chafing gigantic primitive covered the matter in much more detail, at length.  This time around, the chafing gigantic primitive's hardly said anything, in comparison.

[GOBUCKS]

Oh, but in the last update, in mid-September, the chafing gigantic primitive covered the matter in much more detail, at length.  This time around, the chafing gigantic primitive's hardly said anything, in comparison.

We have much to be thankful for.

[franksolich]

We have much to be thankful for.

Yeah, the part where he described how his wife was compelled to remove his corroded underwear.

[crockspot]

I too did not get past "chafing".

[GOBUCKS]

Yeah, the part where he described how his wife was compelled to remove his corroded underwear.

A job for DUmmy Joanne98.

[The Village Idiot]

Half-Giant FGL

Well, my weight see-saw is back up again. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

I feel sorry for the Gigantic Ginormous Blob of DU (a tad), but its like a train wreck, makes my life seem better.

My weight doesn't keep me from walking a mile in the morning. I can get up and do things.

Sure I have bad eyesight, bad gums, psoriasis, bad dandruff and ugly toes but at least I ain't him.

God gives all of us little miracles.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

TMI !!!!  (too much information!)

If this person is 400-500 lbs, they need some kind of professional diet help.

These sorts of people also smell pretty rancid.

Some even have roaches and other bugs living in their rolls.

no shit

[The Village Idiot]

These sorts of people also smell pretty rancid.

Some even have roaches and other bugs living in their rolls.

no shit

oh crap. I am glad I am not big enough for that. I shower at least .. weekly...

[BlueStateSaint]

Half-Giant FGL

Well, my weight see-saw is back up again. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

I feel sorry for the Gigantic Ginormous Blob of DU (a tad), but its like a train wreck, makes my life seem better.

My weight doesn't keep me from walking a mile in the morning. I can get up and do things.

Sure I have bad eyesight, bad gums, psoriasis, bad dandruff and ugly toes but at least I ain't him.

God gives all of us little miracles.

True enough.  Praise the Lord that He didn't give you the DUmmy's ailments. 

[The Village Idiot]

True enough.  Praise the Lord that He didn't give you the DUmmy's ailments. 

So true. And I can laugh and smile. Something they never seem to do.

[ColonialMarine0431]

So much for my apetite.

 

[RobJohnson]

my inability to work due to plantar fasciitis

 

[GOBUCKS]

my inability to work due to plantar fasciitis

It's more likely Planter's peanuts.

[delilahmused]

I'm still amazed (stunned beyond words, actually) that someone can let themselves go like this. It's enough to make a girl downright anorexic. Wonder what kind of exercise he does.

Cindie

[thundley4]

I'm still amazed (stunned beyond words, actually) that someone can let themselves go like this. It's enough to make a girl downright anorexic. Wonder what kind of exercise he does.

Cindie

His exercise consists of raising spoon/fork to mouth and not pushing himself away from the table.

[Ree]

12oz curls?

[Celtic Rose]

I wish him luck with his weight loss, but one would think that after nearly of month of minimal loss/slight gains he would start to consider that he needs to change something.  It sounds like his portions may still be out of control (mixing bowls of salad, etc.) which combined with a complete lack of exercise are not leading to any weight loss. 

[BlueStateSaint]

my inability to work due to plantar fasciitis

This primitive probably doesn't watch any NFL football, because Giants' QB Eli Manning has the same injury to his right foot (suffered last Sunday), and he's probably going to play this week against the Raiders.

[jtyangel]

This primitive probably doesn't watch any NFL football, because Giants' QB Eli Manning has the same injury to his right foot (suffered last Sunday), and he's probably going to play this week against the Raiders.

Lot's of people who workout have this. Stretching helps it immensely if practiced regularly. I have had problems like this, along with a sore Achilles Tendon. Stretching regularly really helped it. It took a bit, but I worked out the whole time, dropped intensity if needed, and kept stretching. I bet the gigantic primitive always looks forward to any excuse to take a break. I did too when I was fat(and no, I was never this fat). Oh, and the main cause of it in the non-athletic is a high body mass index. Hmmm...

[thundley4]

This primitive probably doesn't watch any NFL football, because Giants' QB Eli Manning has the same injury to his right foot (suffered last Sunday), and he's probably going to play this week against the Raiders.

IIRC, Albert Pujols also had the same problem a year or two ago.