I am under 300 pounds!

Hi Everyone,
Today’s big news is that I finally dropped out of the 300s. My weight yesterday was 298.9 and this morning’s weigh-in put me at 297.8. This is the first time I have been under 300 in several years. My peak weight was in 2020 when I weighed in with the doctor at 340 pounds. Back in October of 2023, I was at 334 pounds. This mean’s I’ve had over a 35 pound drop since October and over 20 pounds lost since the beginning of the year. It’s hard to express how happy I am to finally be back in the 200s. I’m not the sort of person who jumps up and down and cheers, but in my mind, I’m jumping up and down and cheering. Of course, I still have a long way to go, but I am thrilled with the progress.
My goal for the year is to drop down to 250 pounds or lower. I started the year at 318.3. By the end of January I had dropped just over 11 pounds. I told myself in February that a six pound drop would be the goal, because that would keep me on track to reach 250. With today’s weigh in, I have dropped over 9 pounds in February. That is a spectacular number, almost on par with the longer month of January. I won’t lie. February has been a challenging month. My weight hit a couple of plateaus throughout the month that were frustrating, but they’ve been followed by substantial drops so it was worth it.
In addition to that, switching to keto has been stressful. It isn’t that the diet itself is hard, so much as the transition from one way of eating to another has been stressful.
I’ve spent more time than I would like thinking about food. It becomes the primary focus when you are on a diet. You think about food constantly. You think about what you can have, and what you can’t have. It becomes an even bigger deal if you go out to eat. Pure keto dishes are rare, so you have to modify menu items to get something close to what you’re looking for.
That said, the results have been great. I finally had someone mention mention my weight loss this week, which was wonderful. My shirts feel looser. Some of them feel like they are just hanging on me. It’s a big change from wondering if things are too tight. In my past experience, 25 pounds tends to equal a clothing size for men. I’ve gone from contemplating getting 4x shirts to feeling like my 3x shirts are loose. I’m not ready to buy a new wardrobe yet, but I am happy that I can fit into some of the shirts that were too tight a few months ago. It’s a similar situation with my other clothes, but I see it the most in the shirts.
Right now, my short term goal is to drop to somewhere in the 280s before my MRI and CAT Scans on May 1st. When I got my last scans at the beginning of December, I weighed in at 327. I would be thrilled to weigh in at 287 or lower next time. That would be a loss of 40+ pounds and I know my Internist at Mayo would be thrilled to see that.
I realize the journey isn’t just about weight loss. I also need to lower my blood pressure, my blood sugar, and if possible get my good cholesterol up into the healthy range. On top of that, my stretch goal is to somehow re-inflate my collapsed lung. It’s a tall order, and I know even by May I will have a long way to go, but it is my next big milestone and I think I can make it count.
Since this is the end of the month I went ahead and did my measurements. I am currently at 52 inches at the waist, 44 inches at the hips, and 17.5 inches at the neck. The hips and neck are unchanged from my last measurements about two weeks ago, but it does represent another inch dropped at the waist, which is the key number since losing belly fat is my biggest concern health-wise. The less fat in the belly, the less fat surrounding my organs, and that is key to long-term health.
Looking at my measurements from the beginning of the year, I’ve lost an inch and a half at the neck, four inches at the waist and three inches at the hips. That’s some terrific progress in just two months.
Because this video was mostly numbers anyway I only need to add at this point that my blood sugar was a very reasonable 94 this morning and my ketones were fantastic with 1.1, showing I am firmly in nutritional ketosis now, burning fat instead of sugar.
I’ll leave you with my Terry Pratchett quote of the day. This one is from Guards! Guards!
“She couldn't do any worse, but then, he couldn't do better. So maybe it balanced out.”
Thanks for watching. Please like. Please subscribe. Please comment, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

[@The0Patt]

Congrats!!!!

[@JohnHewittpoewar]

Thank you!

[@user-ft5yn4cb6l]

Great job🎉

[@JohnHewittpoewar]

Thank you! 😁

[@lisafiona2543]

Congratulations!

[@JohnHewittpoewar]

Thank you! It's a nice milestone.

[@spacebunsarah]

hey, congrats dude! if you can do keto it works but it absolutely didn’t for me and wrecked my dieting. be sure you test often to know if you’re really in ketosis or just tormenting yourself for less benefit than a normal diet.

[@JohnHewittpoewar]

Thanks. I test every day. I'm at 1.1 today.