Living ~400lbs

Category: DayInTheLife

  • Hi there, February

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    1 comment on Hi there, February

    January both took forever and was a blur. Insurrection. Impeachment. Inauguration. On the personal side, I had used all 18 months of COBRA by the end of December 2020, so I started new insurance in January. Thanks to Washington state expanding Medicaid via the ACA and me earning … basically a pittance in interest and dividends … we are now on free insurance. Much better than the…

  • It came from the search terms

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    In the tradition of Captain Awkward I’m going to treat the search terms people used to find the site as questions. im 400lbs is it too late for me to get healthy?  This is completely up to you and to how you view health. If you are sedentary, you can probably be more active, and ideally have fun with it.  Depending on how you eat, you may want…

  • Frustration

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    [Note: Includes discussion of weight loss and history of intentional weight loss. Please avoid if you don’t want to read it.] Visited the endocrinologist again to follow up on my med changes. On my way into the office, the doc asks how the meds have made me feel; I said that I haven’t noticed much change except my step counter says I’m walking more. She weighs me and…

  • It Came From The Search Terms

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    Once again, a post inspired by search terms used to reach my site. how much does a woman who wears a 5x weigh This probably depends on the woman’s height, amount of muscle, and how many limbs have been replaced with cybernetics.  Really, some of those are heavy. what are the rules about having to buy an extra airline seat? Depends on the airline – and you’ll…

  • TSA Travels

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    I don’t fly very often. This is likely why it I didn’t go through a full-body security scanner until Friday and, again, today.  I don’t have strong opinions about the type of scanning used, although I do consider much of the airport security approach to be security theater. So I did the scanner instead of other measures. These were the millimeter wave scanners. The opening is narrower…

  • Halloween

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    6 comments on Halloween

    The company I’ve worked at for the last three years has parties for Halloween & trick-or-treating in the office. I’ve sometimes felt strange, in past years, to be the fat lady handing out candy.  (No cultural baggage there…!) This is the second company I’ve worked at to do the full-on trick-or-treating. Some years at the old company I stamped kids’ hands with bats and cats, but I…

  • Weight Talk, Business Travel Edition

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    8 comments on Weight Talk, Business Travel Edition

    I’ve been working with people in the UK and German offices of the company I work at since I started.  Now that I’m a manager, my boss mentioned that a trip to Germany for training may be in the works. …which would mean flying while 400lbs. In the interest of being diplomatic, I expressed interest and pleasure that I would have an opportunity to meet the folks…

  • Convenient Seat Belt Extenders for Cars

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    I’ve mentioned before that I have a seat belt extender for my car (provided by Toyota). In other cars I often use a shoulder/lap belt as a lap belt only, which is less safe, but the only way I can buckle the seat belt.   The friend I carpool with recently got a new car, and once again, the seat belt is too small — it was…

  • Weight Loss Myths

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    Shakesville posted about this Gina Kolata NY Times piece already, but I wanted to highlight this: David B. Allison, who directs the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham […] sought to establish what is known to be unequivocally true about obesity and weight loss. His first thought was that, of course, weighing oneself daily helped control weight. He checked for the conclusive studies…

  • Disney chat

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    8 comments on Disney chat

    I’ve had two emails since Friday about being fat at Walt Disney World.  I posted about a trip to WDW a few years ago, but if you want to share your experiences then go for it :-)

  • Day in the Life: the search term

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    One of the more popular search terms leading people to my blog lately has been “day in the life of an obese person,” leading to the series I did when I first started the blog. Being curious, I googled it. Some of the highest results? “News” stories about people in fat suits. Because seeing how a thin teen’s acquaintances react to their seeming to gain 80lbs overnight…

  • QOTD: Avoiding Pregnancy

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    [M]ost American women spend the majority of their lives trying not to get pregnant. According to the Guttmacher Institute, by the time a woman with two children is in her mid-40s, she will have spent only five years trying to become pregnant, being pregnant or in a postpartum period. So to avoid getting pregnant, she would have have to refrain from sex or use contraception for 25…

  • The Fat Life Isn’t

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    Internet is part of life, but it’s not all of life. The people I know offline aren’t surprised that I am married, employed, and co-own a house.  The emails I get from this site often assume these aren’t possible, or that I must be some sort of exception.  There’s also am assumption that my fat is the biggest problem I have. No.  So no.  A world of…

  • Haven

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    4 comments on Haven

    About 10 months ago I began to view my bedroom as a haven. It’s not just mine; I share it with the man of the house.  But the bedroom has none of my dad’s unpaid bills, bank statements, or benefit applications. It didn’t have boxes of belongings to sort through. It didn’t have my exploding to-do list. It especially did not have hospital or nursing home staff…

  • Reality

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    I’m not sure when I realized that yes, maintaining a regular schedule is GOOD FOR ME, if only because it helps me sleep regularly. Adrenaline does not automatically kick in to cover for lack of sleep now — perhaps it’s getting older? But anyway. Regular schedules. Regular sleep is good. Regular schedules also means I take my asthma meds regularly (even more important when I have a…

  • Office Breakfast

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    The man of the house had picked up a variety pack of instant oatmeal for a trip.  We didn’t eat it then.  Monday I brought it into the office with me. 2 packets in a coffee cup + hot water = hot breakfast.   I don’t eat it every day, but when I was too rushed to eat at home it’s a nice option. Usually with instant…

  • “Light bladder leakage” and Hourglass Pads

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    17 comments on “Light bladder leakage” and Hourglass Pads

    Apparently Poise is thinking “light bladder leakage” sounds nicer than “incontinence”, and that framing its products as “feminine” will do better than as “geriatric”.   They are probably correct. I do know I ran into one problem discussed in the industry. The New York Times quotes market researcher Rob Walker: “[T]he biggest challenge for the industry is that vast numbers of sufferers are too embarrassed to raise…