What I Learned Yesterday

The guideline for needing a bariatric ambulance is 250-275 pounds.

We had a call Sunday night for a person who had difficulty breathing.  The dispatcher said that it was a bariatric patient, and one of our guys who'd been there before had the dispatcher request additional manpower for lifting assistance.  The ambulance company brought their special ambulance for fat people (bariatric).  The guy decided not to go to the hospital Sunday, but we got called again last night, and did have to move him to the stretcher and get him into the ambulance.  Then one of our crews had to go with the ambulance to the hospital to help get him out of the ambulance.

The scary thing?  This guy was only about 260 pounds.  I was talking to the guys afterward about how surprised I was that 260 qualified as bariatric (not telling them why).

That's such a freakin wake up call.  I've been over 260 pounds for 10 or so years, and only last fall got below 260.  I NEVER thought that I'd need a special anything.  I didn't think I was that fat.  I didn't see it as that much of a problem (although my knee joints might think otherwise).

Enough about that.  All of us are here because we're doing something about it.

Here's the good news.  Now that I've lost 67 pounds from my highest, I'm 2/3-ish of the way to my ultimate goal.  I have in my head that I'll be losing 100 pounds, a nice, round number.

To highlight that this is the way I'll have to eat for the rest of my life, I calculated my BMR at goal weight.  It's only a few hundred calories higher than what I'm eating now.  I'm not starving, I'm eating like a thin person eats.  That should be sustainable, and will have to be.