2025

A new year. Surgery in 16 days. And now I am getting nervous.

I’ve gained weight. I’m afraid they’ll delay the procedure. If that happens, I’m in trouble. My new job starts February 10.

Can I lose the weight in 16 days? I don’t know. It took me a month to lose, like, 6.8 pounds before, right? I have half that long. But I don’t know my current weight. I need to get on the scale. Of course, at this point, I’m several days backed up. So it might not give me an accurate read.

It’s funny. My nutritionist wasn’t overly concerned about a few extra pounds. But the surgeon was. He said extra fat makes the surgery more difficult.

Okay, well, stressing out about it is not going to help me in any way. I’m just going to do the best I can moving forward.

• Try to stay on the low end of daily calorie consumption without sacrificing protein.

• Try to sleep better. Nine hours on CPAP last night.

• Don’t buy junk food or let it in the house. Easier said than done.

• I have a lockbox. I need to be more assertive about using it.

• Chia seeds.

• Gym, gym, gym.

• Stay out of the all-or-nothing mindset. Every choice is a new opportunity.

• There is no such thing as “I’ll start tomorrow.” My new motto is “What are you waiting for?”

What if I do all of this and still fail? I will assume it was too little, too late and learn from it. Maybe if they delay the surgery, I’ll have it scheduled out to the summer, so it won’t cause a problem with my job and I’ll have adequate time to heal.

I feel better now. It’s good to have a back up plan.

Desmond is sleeping over at a friend’s house, so today is a good day to sneak away to the gym.