Properly fitting clothes replace distress of "OL" readings

My clothes are no longer tight.

I do not grunt and struggle to get out of a chair or off the floor.

I can touch my toes. I can see my toes...

I am lighter and more flexible than I was in March when I visited my folks in Lakewood, N.J. I’ve lived in Lakewood for about six weeks now. Size-wise, I still consider myself a dancing bear.

But I definitely feel smaller. The question that haunts me is this: How big was I? Where are the haters when they are needed? Haters would tell me that I was so big I needed a personal zip code.

I asked my mom; I see where I got my diplomacy skills. “Well, you’ve been working hard (to lose weight) since you’ve been here,” she said. “That is all that matters.”

All my dad would say, after my prompting, was “Trust me, you were big!” But he won’t go any further.

The last time I was weighed was in mid-August. I was 306 or 308. It depends on which scale you believe. Both were in doctors’ offices. Both were those old stand-up scales. I stepped on a couple of digital bathroom scales in August. They registered OL, over limit or over load. Sigh.

Apologies to whoever found their scale smashed into bits in the wake of my visit.

“Can a scale really jump from two stories to its death, David?”

“Well, I’ve been in the news game for a while and I’ve seen all kinds of strange…Oh, look at the time! ‘Gotta go! ‘Gotta go!”

The most I ever weighed in my life was 330 pounds, according to my health records. That is NFL lineman big. That was in 2005 and, in about four months, I dropped to 270 after a doctor expressed concern.

But I was not on prednisone back then. Prednisone and methotrexate appear to be keeping at bay my lung and heart sarcoidosis symptoms (I’ll know more later this month), but prednisone makes me ravenous. Between mid-March, when I started the prednisone regiment, and mid-May I went from 295 to 321 pounds. I ate everything under the sun and asked for seconds. Thirds. I was on 60 mgs of prednisone, a high dose. There were other fun side effects, too, including mood swings. Not good. I got my appetite under control and weighed in at 297 in mid-July. However, it was difficult to maintain the discipline needed to fight the drug-fueled urge to eat all the time. So, I got up to 306-308...OL on the electronic bathroom scales! Damn...

However, these past few weeks...I think I finally got it together. I walk two to four miles a day, work out with barbells, TRY not to eat after 9 p.m.

Also, my prednisone dosage has been cut in half. This might be the edge I need to get a handle on the diet. I am reading about how hard it is to lose while taking prednisone, but, experts and patients alike, also say it can be done.

I am trying hard because reducing and controlling my weight is key to curbing sleep apenea, heart disease, making it easier on my lungs. Too much is at stake.

I visited a new internist four weeks ago. He recommended I weight myself every day to gauge progress. I chucked that idea. Instead, I try on clothing. I do that once a week. Slowly but surely, stuff that once was tight now fits.

Starting today, I am going to cut off food after 7 p.m. We'll see how it goes.

I will be weighed again on Sept. 22. Whatever the new weight I will let you in on it. I will be visiting a new cardiologist and, after my new routine, I anticipate encouraging news.

Whatever happens, I’ll write about it, draw inspiration from the event and will keep fighting to get things right.