Tuesday Report

I don't remember how it was that Tuesday became the start of my week for weight loss. It might have gone back to the 1980s when I first started Weight Watchers back in Laurel. I think my meeting was Tuesday nights, so that's when I weighed in. Actually, that should make Wednesdays the start of my weight loss week, but at this point I am too used to it being on Tuesdays. LOL

Last Tuesday I was driving from Boston to East Brunswick in the remnants of Hurricane Lee as it moved up the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. From White Plains, NY to East Brunswick it was just a torrential downpour the whole way, turning a one hour drive into a three hour drive. I have no idea what I weighed that morning because I didn't take the scale out of my car. I do know that I ate a hearty breakfast at the Hilton in Back Bay before we took off. Then I had half a really big medium extra cheese pizza and a bowl of gelato for lunch followed by baked grouper and potatoes in a Portuguese restaurant for dinner. Delicious, but not good for weight loss.

When we returned home Friday night, I had also eaten a large dinner that night at Logan's Roadhouse in Kissimmee, including way too many peanuts in the shells, which they have on the table in a bucket when you are seated. We had the Health Nut grilled salmon, broccoli, and salad for our entree, but we started it off with a big appetizer tray of mozzarella sticks, mushrooms, and onions, all fried, of course!

Well, then, it's no surprise that I had gained a lot of weight during the two week trip up and back to Boston. Saturday morning I weighed in at 254. Scary.

I did get right to work at behaving myself and exercising, so I'm proud to report that this morning I am 247.7, a loss of 6.3 in just three days. Obviously, that's not really a weight loss of fat; it's the water weight accumulated from all that food and sodium consumed recently. Now comes the hard work of actually trying to lose fat.

My goal is simple right now: get back to the pre-chemo weight. The day of my partial mastectomy, September 16, 2010, I weighed 219. That represented a gain of 14 pounds from my lowest point of 205 prior to retiring at the end of February of 2010, but it sure is a LOT better than today. I have been in the 240s since January, just going up and down the same 6 or pounds. Somehow the wedding did not give me the motivation to get the weight off, and eventually, I was only inspired to remain in the mid-240s to fit into the dress. The dress fit, so I guess I was successful.

I don't intend to make that goal of 219 quickly. I need to get back to good habits and good routines that bring about slow and steady weight loss over a long period of time. I know those things; I know what to do. I have written in the past about exactly what I do and how it works. The problem lately has been the focus and inner strength to stick to it.

The biggest pitfall for me lately is RESTAURANTS! I have NOT learned how to eat in restaurants successfully. I spent the summer of 2009 traveling around for six weeks with Mark in a car, eating every meal in hotels and restaurants. I LOST weight! Why? Because we ate virtually every meal at Subway and Denny's, the two restaurants I have learned to control.

Still, if we go to a nice local, non-chain restaurant, recommended by AAA, or if we go to a nice sit-down restaurant on the Disney property, I get totally distracted by the choices. I want the appetizers, the bread, the specialty alcoholic drink, and the desserts. Hm...YUM. I need to look at my habits in this type of restaurant. Why can't I say NO to these things? Why can't I be satisfied with the fish entree, salad, and vegetable? Well, because it's NO FUN!! Right? Right! Even Mark succumbs to the dark side in this kind of restaurant now and then.

So, my goal is really two-fold now. First, eat at home as often as possible because I have learned to control myself at home. (Well, it's easy because Mark shops and doesn't bring anything in for me to snack on other than what I'm supposed to have. Thanks, Mark! Really! Thanks.) Second, I need to learn to control myself in good restaurants because they will happen. I cannot go through the rest of my life only at Subway and Denny's. That would be ridiculous. There will also be holidays in the house with extra food, so that's a bit of a challenge coming up in the near future.

Today I'm going to the dentist to replace my temporary crown with the permanent one. Not fun, but necessary. Then tonight I will have some real fun. I'm joining the choir! Tonight will be my first rehearsal with the Solivita Guys and Dolls. The holiday show is December 2, 3, and 4 at the Starlite Ballroom. It's going to give me an outlet for my musicianship once again. I do miss it! I'll let you know tomorrow how it went. It will also give me several hours out on Tuesday nights when there will be no opportunity to EAT. LOL!!