Quick Report

I am 254.8 this morning.  That's a loss of 2.7 for the week and 21.8 for the seven weeks.  I'm quite pleased.  That's the number I would still like to see when we return on August 30.  My next weigh in will be on Saturday morning, August 31.  I'm going to do my best to stay in control on this trip.

I finished my manatee puzzle yesterday.  It's so pretty.  It was also so big that it barely fit across my puzzle table.  I'm also going to glue this one, like the alligator, and get it framed to hang out on the lanai.

It' 3:38 a.m. right now.  Our goal is to be in the car at 4 a.m., heading to the parking lot near the airport.  Our flight leaves at 7 a.m. and lands in San Francisco at 10:30 a.m.   I am sure I will be sleeping a good bit of that flight.  I don't think I had but three hours of sleep. I tried to go to bed at 10:15, but I couldn't fall asleep. 

My Keurig just finished brewing coffee, so I have to go start drinking that.  I also need to shut down the computer and pack it up for the trip.  I will write my next blog from Evey's house!

Relativity

Speed is relative.  Hm..I never took a physics class in my whole life.  All I know about physics is a famous quote from my father, "Evaporation is Refrigeration."  I guess that's physics.  I also know Einstein's Theory of Relativity: E=mc2, although I have no real idea what that means.

What I learned this morning is that no matter how fast I think I'm walking there will always be someone going faster!  LOL!

This morning I broke all my records for speed walking, even as some other lady, older, more fit, and sporting a long gray ponytail, blew right by me.  LOL!

I walked 1.52 miles in only 29:16.  I cracked the 20 minute mile, going one mile in 18:49.  I am truly impressed with myself.  This burned 124 calories.  I was huffing, puffing, and sweating like crazy.  You'd think more calories than that would have been used up.  Doesn't matter. I am very excited that I walked a mile and a half in under half an hour.

Also I got a cheery email from RunKeeper this morning saying that I had set a new personal best record, burning 2101 calories in one month.  Nice.

There will be no walking tomorrow morning because we have to leave the house at 4 a.m. to head to the airport for a 7 a.m. nonstop flight to San Francisco.  It's the start of our four week vacation.  I hope Evey is prepared for a very LONG hug when we get there.  We have not seen her since Thanksgiving.  And yes, I will hug Eric, too, although I suspect he will appreciate it even less than Evey will. 

My appointment with the radiation oncologist yesterday went very well.  Mostly we chatted about our families and got caught up on our news since we saw each other in January.  He liked my new hair cut and color.  He is a very nice doctor who takes a long time with you.  I guess that's a good thing.

I weighted 258 on his scale, which was TEN pounds less than when I saw him in January.  I was pretty happy about that. My BP was only 108/60. The nurse asked if I was always that low.  I'm not usually that low, but I'm rarely high. I'm usually textbook perfect at 120/80.  I'm not sure why I was so low.  My resting pulse was 60. I think my exercise is making me healthier even if I'm not losing any inches around my round apple middle.  This morning I put on a very old pair of shorts and realized that they still fit snug around that middle but the legs seemed loose.  Maybe I should have been measuring my thighs!  LOL!

This morning I have my annual mammogram of both breasts and an ultrasound on the left breast.  It's nice that I only have to do this annually now instead of every six months.  After that, Mark and I are heading over to Downtown Disney to renew our annual passes.  They will expire while we are in Arizona, and there's a big discount for renewing them before they expire.  It's worth it.  After that, we PACK!!  I really think we need to go to bed early tonight since the alarm is going off at 3 a.m. Crazy.

I am taking my laptop with me, and I should be able to write blogs most days.  I will certainly try to post some pictures of our trip here on the blog and on Facebook, too.

Tomorrow morning I will weigh in at around 3:15 a.m.  I don't know if that's a good time of day to do that or not, but I have no choice.  I will write a very SHORT blog to report that weight, but mostly i will be rushing around trying to get in the car by 4 a.m.  Don't expect much tomorrow!

Have a great day. 

Early morning walking

It's Monday.  I walked.

I always seem to walk better on Mondays than Fridays.  Well, duh!

Today I hit a new record for the last two months since I started my morning walks.  I went 1.51 miles in 31 and a half minutes.  My average pace was 20:49 minutes per mile. I was pretty excited about that.  It burned 131 calories, about 10 more than usual.

At 10:30 I have my radiation oncology appointment, and then we will go get Mark's comic books.  We didn't do any of our other errands yesterday after the movie because he had to go fill the heart med prescription.  So he is going with me to see the doctor, and then we can go together to the store.  At 1 p.m. I  am hosting Mahjongg again in my house.  When that's over, we are going to the Palms for our weight routines.  At that point, if the weather is good and my energy is still there, I'm going to go swim my laps.  I thought Friday was going to be the last day I could do that, but I realized while I was walking this morning that I could swim later today.  It will all come to weather and stamina!

In just two days we are flying to California.  It's starting to get very real and very exciting.  Printing the reservations and TripTiks and making our binder last night was a lot of fun.  It seems so tangible at that point.  I've got most of my clothes laid out on the spare room bed.  I'm feeling very good about only taking one suitcase this time.  I'm very excited about the whole trip!

My calories yesterday ended up at 1374, which is fine.

Here's today's meal plan:
Breakfast:  usual cereal, yogurt, and blueberries   182
Lunch:  usual can of tuna, tossed salad, cup of cherries  283
Dinner:  a new "plate" from Diabetic Living called Vegetables of Plenty, which is two recipes.  The first is Farro Risotto with Butternut  Squash for 267 calories and the second is a Vegetable Medley for 87 calories. Total dinner calories are 354.
Snacks:  banana and Arctic Zero ice cream  249
Total calories for the day: 1068 

That is a very low number, so it leaves me a little room to add something to lunch or the snack later in the day.  I love days like that!

Busy Sunday

We saw the movie Wolverine, and we both agreed it was just okay.  It's a samurai story, lots of fighting with swords.  Of course Hugh Jackman is shirtless a lot, so that makes it an easy movie to watch!  LOL!

We also spent some time around the Cove. It was Parrothead Weekend, the busiest weekend all year, but there's also a big raffle for Breast Cancer.  We bought $40 worth of tickets (60 tickets), which we put in various buckets for various prizes on Friday.  Today was the drawing, but we didn't win.  (What else is new?)  The Cove collected over $8,000 between this weekend and last weekend as a donation to Breast Cancer Research, so that's a good thing.

Now we are home, and Mark is about to print out AAA TripTiks for our Arizona roadtrip.  Of course, we will have our GPS and our cell phones, but we have a tradition of making a binder with paper TripTiks plus our boarding passes, hotel reservation confirmations, and any other tickets or confirmations we need.  He is going to start with the drive from Anaheim to Phoenix, which doesn't happen until August 13. Up until then, we will rely on the GPS to get around Calfornia.  It's fun because it means our big trip is right around the corner.

The big news today was that Mark ran out of his heart meds this morning.  He had a refill left, but he had not called it in.  So this morning he didn't have any to take.  The last time that happened was in February of 2012 when we went to a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.  He just forgot that morning, but he was barely able to walk and do things all day.  Finally around 3 p.m. while we were at the airport waiting to fly home, he realized his mistake and took the pill.  He felt better almost instantly.  So I have been worried about him all day.  He didn't do much walking or physical activity, mostly on purpose so he wouldn't feel bad.  Now we have the pills, but he didn't pick them up until 4:15, so he won't take it until 6:30 with dinner when he usually takes the second dose anyway.  I was just very relieved that he didn't feel badly all day because of that.

Two more days until weigh in.  I will have eaten about 1350 calories today. I hope it's going to be a good weigh in.  I have done a good job again this week. I want my reward for that work!

Tomorrow morning I have my six month check up with the radiation oncologist, and on Tuesday morning I have my annual mammogram and ultrasound.  (At least I'm down to annual now on those and not every six months!)  Because of those two appointments, I won't be able to swim laps anymore.  I might have a chance to swim in some hotel pools or even the gym near Evey, but who knows.  I hope to get back to a regular routine with that when we return because I really feel it's been very helpful for me.

Peaceful Shabbat

This morning my SOJC choir performed "Sim Shalom" at the end of the silent Musaf Amidah.  They did a beautiful job.  I was very proud of them.  Now we have no more rehearsals until the day before Rosh Hashanah in September because I'll be gone for a month. 

After we got home, we had lunch and napped before heading up to the gym to do our weights.  I had not done the weights all week since the road to the Palms had been closed.  I didn't like the machines at the other gym.  I was worried I would not be able to do as much weight or reps as a week ago, but it all worked out.  I think the swimming has been building up my arm muscles.

Yesterday I swam for 50 minutes, 32 laps.  That's a half mile plus five more laps!  I was very excited about that. I also walked 1.3 miles in 32 minutes with Mark in the afternoon.  It was hot, but we were able to go back in the pool just to relax and cool off after we were done walking.  It was a lovely day.

Tomorrow we plan to go see the new Wolverine movie, do some shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, eat lunch out (I promise to be careful), go to Mark's comic book store, and end up at the pool if it's not raining.  It should be another great day.

When we get home tomorrow, Mark is going to start printing out all of the maps and TripTiks for our big trip to California and Arizona.  Even though we have our GPS, we like to have the maps, too.  It's our tradition.

My calories today should come in at 1311, which is a fine number.  I hope there is a loss for this week, but it's so hard to tell.  Once again I measured my waist and hips.  Still no change!  That's some stubborn fat cells in there!  LOL!

Sunkissed Apples

Yesterday I got highlights in my hair for the first time ever.  The stylist asked if I wanted something bright and "wow" or did I want it to look sunkissed.  Who wouldn't pick sunkissed?  I loved the sound of it.  I also was very pleased with the results when she was done.  It added time and money to the day, but it was worth it.  She also gave me a great style and cut.  I went in the salon at 10 a.m. and left at 3:45 very, very happy.

Because of the salon day, I did not swim yesterday.  Because I kept hitting snooze instead of getting up, I skipped walking this morning.  OY!   Now I'm trying to promise myself that I will go walk outside or in the track if it's raining later today.  There will be time, but will there be energy?  We shall see.   At least there will definitely be swimming today.

Wednesday I consumed 1257 calories and yesterday I had 1238.  Today's calories should be 1273.  Even without exercise, a person should lose weight with those numbers.

For dinner tonight Mark is making a "meals by the plate" out of his Diabetic Living magazine.  This magazine has been an amazing find for us since we first picked up a copy in Reno, NV last summer. Tonight's dinner is called Crispy Chicken Parmesan and comes with a spinach salad and a side of spaghetti.  We are leaving off the Parmesan, and I'm also leaving off the dressing from the salad.  I will have 2 ounces of challah and 2 ounces of Moscato at dinner since it's Shabbat tonight, bringing my dinner calories to 559.  That's fantastic!

I know I have lost 20 pounds now, but I still haven't lost any inches off the waist or hips.  That is so weird, but I just measured yet again this morning.  Still the same numbers since June 7.  Sooner or later weight should start coming from there.  I can see that my face and neck are smaller.  I also am hooking my bra strap one notch over.  Clearly, these twenty pounds have come from under my bust and in my face.  I am a giant, round apple!  I usually don't measure my bust because I don't really care about that measurement, but there have been times in the past when I did.  Mostly my bust and my waist are the same and my hips are about 6 inches bigger.  Even when I lost the 117 pounds and definitely lost a LOT of inches (going from size 32 to size 20), my proportions stayed more or less the same.  A giant, round apple, that's me. Now I'm a sunkissed apple.

Walking in the rain.

I took my walk and it started to rain pretty hard on me for about half the time.  That's the first time that's happened this early in the morning.  It was kind of entertaining. 

I still walked 1.4 miles in 34 minutes, which I think was the same as yesterday.

There will be no swimming today, although I did swim a half a mile again yesterday and even added one extra lap.  It took five minutes longer, so I guess I was going sort of slowly.  Doesn't matter.  I still got it done.

Today I am having "The Works" at the salon.  I'm having my hair cut, colored, and highlighted.  I've never had highlights, so that will be pretty fun and different.  I'm also having my usual spa pedicure, gel manicure with French polish, and facial waxing.  This is scheduled to run five hours, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  LOL!  The stylist said pack a lunch!

I checked my Lose It! program yesterday and saw that I had nearly 6k mg of sodium Tuesday.  Even though I showed a weight loss, I wondered if it would have been more if the sodium had been less.  To check that theory, I asked Mark to leave the scale out for one more day.  Yesterday I had only 1,900 mg of sodium, a much better amount. This morning I got on the scale and discovered that I have already reached BOTH my goals that I discussed yesterday.  I"m already down another 1.2 pounds to 256.2.  That means I have now lost 20 pounds and I'm almost a full pound lower than when I left for California last year.  Wow!  Now I will just continue to spend this last week doing everything I know I should do.  I hope I can lose another pound (or two) before we leave on July 31.  Then I am setting a goal of NOT gaining any of it back while we are gone.  Now THAT'S a challenge!

Almost there!

I am very happy and proud to report that this week I have lost 2.3 pounds.  Whoo Hoo!!

I was 257.5 this morning, very close to my goals. There were two goals.  First, I wanted to weigh no more than last year when I flew out west.  That was 257, so I'm only half a pound away.  The other goal was to lose 20 pounds in 8 weeks.  This morning I am down 18.8 in 7 weeks, down from 276.3 on June 7.  I think I'm going to attain BOTH of those goals!

Unless we eat lunch out on Sunday, which we often do, I will be eating all of my meals at home this week again.  I will continue my exercise routine as well.  Yes, this should be a good week, and I should reach my goals.  I can hardly contain my excitement!

I went out to walk this morning. I guess I was going slowly because it took me an extra 4 minutes to go the same 1.4 miles as yesterday.  I burned 126 calories doing it.  Later I will do my half mile of swimming again.  I figured if I did it once, I can do it again as long as I have 45 minutes to devote to it.  I am playing Mahjongg this afternoon, which I don't usually do on Wednesdays, and then at 4 p.m. we can go up to the Palms for our usual weight routines. I was really annoyed that the machines were so different and so weird at The Riviera.  As far as I know, the roads should be reopened today around the Palms.

The only wrinkle going on in my life this morning is that the recyle bins were not emptied yesterday.  What's up with that?  Our whole street and the cul-de-sac across the way got skipped.  I don't know if that's ever happened before or not, but it's the first time I remember it.  Our trash was emptied, as usual, but the recycle bins are still sitting there.  I hope someone has called the county about it.  Some people took them back inside, but about half of the street left them out.  I guess I'll leave it out all day and see if they come back.

TYPHOON LAGOON!!!!

Yes, that's right.  Today we are going to Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World.  It will be the first time we've gone there in decades. I really don't even remember the last time we did it.

There is a special Limited Time Magic Beach Party going on from now until Labor Day Weekend along the beach by the Wave Pool.  This is to celebrate the new Disney TV movie, Teen Beach Movie, that ran on the Disney Channel recently.  We watched the movie, which we thought was just okay, but we are excited to go to the Limited Time Magic event today. I'm also very excited to play in the Wave Pool because jumping in the waves has always been one of my favorite things.  Mark really enjoy the Lazy River ride, so he will do a bunch of that today.

We are also going Line Dancing this morning first.  Wow!

Yesterday we never ate at the food trucks.  We went up there, but there were only half as many trucks as we expected.  There were no fish offerings at all.  The only option for us would have been specialty grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  If I wasn't watching my calories and worrying about tomorrow's weigh-in, I would have ordered that five cheese sandwich on Texas toast in a heart beat!  But it was too many calories for me and too many carbs for Mark. 

Instead we walked up to the Bistro and ordered the flatbread veggie pizza.  We have had it before and know that it doesn't upset Mark's sugar levels.  The crust is really, REALLY thin and crispy.  There is no tomato sauce and just a thin layer of mozzarella.  Hopefully that was a good choice for me, too.

I had LOTS of exercise yesterday.  I walked 30 minutes in the morning, which I also did today, but then later I walked another mile in just 20 minutes in the indoor track with Mark.  I was pretty impressed that I could go that fast, but it's always easier to walk fast on the track.  I also set a personal record for swimming.  I had met a man on Saturday who swims in the same pool as I do. He told me that 54 laps was a mile.  Since I was already swimming 24 laps in 40 minutes, I figured I could add another 3 laps and make it a half mile.  I did it!  I swam a half mile in 45 minutes.  That burns a lot of calories!  Unfotunately I did not do my weights.  Our usual gym is not accessible by car for a few days because they are repaving the roads around it.  We went to the other gym in our community and found all the machines had been changed.  Instead of ones similar to the other gym, they had new ones that used bands.  I couldn't life anywhere near the same amount of weight on those, plus the bands made it feel like I had no control. I could move my arms in lots of directions instead of one proscribed direction like the regular machines do.  Anyway, I figured I burned a lot of calories with the half mile swim and two separate walks.

Today all my meals will be at home, so that always helps.  Even though we are going to Typhoon Lagoon, we are eating a packed lunch after line dancing before we head over to the park.  It's going to rain this afternoon (What else is new in central Florida in the summer?), so I hope we actually get to have some fun at the wave pool and lazy river.  Tomorrow morning I weigh myself again.  I am not expecting any big loss this week since I had so many meals out and too many calories at the party Saturday night.  I just hope I didn't gain anything.  I'm down to my final week before we leave for California.

What a difference a week makes.

Last Monday I was getting super excited about the weigh in coming on Wednesday. I had had such a fantastic week full of eating right and lots of exercise that I was anticipating a huge loss.  I really felt that my  clothes were getting looser.

Then I weighed in and was very disappointed with just that one pound loss.

This week I'm not at all excited to get on the scale Wednesday. I feel like I've gained at least two pounds, maybe more.  UGH.

I wrote about all the challenges this week would hold with many meals eaten out. I also went to the wine tasting party Saturday night. It was a LOT of fun.  There were six of us and we tried four different Malbec wines.  It was a blind taste test so we didn't know which were the cheap ones and which were the expensive ones.  We voted on our favorites and the cheapest one won! LOL!  I had planned to eat a piece of the sugar free coffee cake Mark brought, one ounce of each of the four wines, a bit of cheese.  I did eat all that, BUT I drank two ounces of each wine, twice as much cheese as planned, crackers to go with the cheese, several handfuls of cashews, and a bunch of pretzel bits filled with peanut butter.  Stupid, I know. I did my best to put all those calories into my program, and it appears that I ate a total of 2200 calories Saturday.  I guess it could have been worse, but I'm sure that's going to cause this week to be a gain, at best a maintenance week.  Tonight we are eating at food trucks.  Yeah, dumb, but we're doing it.  Last time we did this I had Cajun fish tacos and veggie spring rolls.  If I can eat them again, I can keep my calories under 1400 today.

When I was whining about not losing more than one pound last week, I was reminded that muscle weighs more than fat.  That's true.  Maybe I am putting on some more muscle. I am definitely doing my weight routines three days a week, and I have recently increased the weights.

I also read about checking measurements.  Maybe the weight is shifting around and inches are lost without actual weight loss.  So I measured.  Nope. I'm the same.  I had actually measured my waist and hips when I got back from Maryland on June 6.  I measured yesterday.  Exactly the same even though I have lost 17 pounds since then.  I don't know where the weight came from that I lost, but it didn't come from my waist or hips.  Any time I feel like my shorts or t-shirts are fitting looser is entirely a figment of my imagination.

I have already walked 1.4 miles in 30 minutes this morning.  At 10:30 I will swim laps for 40 minutes, and at 4 p.m. I will do my weight routines.  That's my normal Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine.  Even with the food truck dinner, I expect my calories today to come in around 1400 or a bit less.  Tomorrow all meals will be at home, and I will do line dancing and swimming. Maybe I can still hope for another pound down when I get on the scale Wednesday morning.

We are not alone.

No, Mark and I are not alone.  We are not the only ones.  Barb and Al are not the only ones. 

Check out the article on the Orlando Sentinel today called "Disney's magic lures grow-up fans to move to Orlando."

It interviewed two people who did exactly what we did.  They used to vacation here with their kids and then retired here when the kids were grown up.  One person made the decision as a little kid after his first visit to the Magic Kingdom.  His parents thought he would grow out of it, but he didn't. He moved his family and his business here when he could.  None of them regret their decision.

No, we are not alone.

Yesterday Mark and I really pushed ourselves in the exercise department.  We did weights, walking, and swimming between breakfast and lunch.  It was exhausting but a great workout.  Mark then went off grocery shopping while I stayed poolside until around 3 p.m. when I was tired of sitting under the shelter in the cold rain.  We did go to the movie, but we had to take our umbrellas for sure.  Today is going to be just as stormy.  Our high today will be near 90.  So much of the country is sweltering in the 100s, especially with the heat index from the humidity, while we are having relatively cool temperatures of 90 for a high and then a significant drop when the rain comes. 

This morning when I went out to walk at 6:45 it was only 73 degrees.

I just couldn't muster any energy today.  Maybe all the activity and exercise is catching up to me.  I went out to walk but couldn't get anything going. I only went a half a mile in 15 minutes and quit.  My right knee started aching when I woke up and didn't improve with walking.  The top of my left foot is also hurting when I take a step.  I just didn't have it in me today.  I hope the swimming goes okay later this morning.

My final calorie count yesterday was  1126 and 623 calories burned in exercise.  What a great diet day!

Today my plan calls for 1203 calories in and 452 calories burned.
Here's my food plan for today:
B'fast:  The Usual: Fiber One, Greek Yogurt, Blueberries     182 calories
Lunch:  The Usual:  tuna, cheese, salad, cherries                   333 calories
Dinner:  Challah, Wine, Spicy Ginger Marinated Chicken, Steamed Asparagus with almonds, and small baked sweet potato                583 calories
Snack:  banana                                105 calories

Tonight we have tickets to a special musical performance in Solivita.  It's at 7 p.m. and we'll have a late dinner when we get home from that.  The performer will play piano, sing an eclectic mix of songs, and also tell jokes.  Sounds interesting.

Hope you can stay cool wherever you happen to be.  Ironically, and much like last summer, central Florida is NOT the hottest place on the East Coast.  Drink fluids and stay indoors in AC if you can.

Good Days

Yesterday we did exactly as planned and ate what I said I would.  We both enjoyed the movie and thought this sequel was better than the original.  The only thing I added to my food intake was a small cake pop at Starbucks in the afternoon and a bunch of plain celery sticks for a late night snack.  Mark and I have had the cake pops a few times because they are only 2-3 bites big. It seems like something safe when you're hungry and not at home.  When I got home, I decided to look up the calories and was shocked to find that a chocolate cake pop is 140 calories. It's hard to understand how something that small could have that many calories.  Some full sized cupcakes have that much.  Well, we are not going to get them anymore!

So my final calories yesterday came to 1562, which is over my allowance of 1481, but Lose It!  takes the exercise calories into consideration.  We did a lot of walking around the theme park, so I put down that I walked about an hour for 223 calories burned.  My Lose It! program thinks I was under my calorie allowance by 142 because of that. I also increased the number of calories on the lunch pizza because it seemed to have way more cheese than I remembered the last time we had it. It's hard to estimate restaurant food.  It was a flatbread margherita pizza that was a personal size, four slices.  I called it 590 calories based on some internet search.  I really have no idea if that's an underestimate or overestimate.

Today I will eat all meals at home, so that makes things so much more accurate.

Here's today's food plan:
B'fast:  1/2 cup Fiber One, Dannon L and F Gr Yogurt   140 calories (I'm out of blueberries today)
Lunch:  same as Tuesday, can of tuna, tossed salad, 2 slices fat free cheese   236 calories
Dinner:  Firehouse Enchiladas and Brussels Sprouts    458 calories
Snacks:  banana, shot of Bailey's Irish Creme   271 calories
Total calories: 1105
Exercise:  weight lifting 104, 40 mins of lap swimming 396

I overslept a little bit this morning, so I didn't go out to do my morning walk.  If it doesn't get too hot or rainy, there's a chance I could walk later today.  It's going to be a typical summer day, 90 and a chance of afternoon thunderstorms.  Yesterday we felt great at the park.  There was a lovely breeze blowing the whole day.  It never felt too hot and we never got rained on.  There was a bit of a rain, but we were inside a ride through most of it.  The park had 2 hour waits for the Despicable Me ride and for Transformers (until it shut down in the afternoon for some reason), but other than that, we never felt it was over crowded. It was more crowded than Epcot on Sunday, but it was just fine for us.

Tonight we are going to the free Solivita movie.  They are running Silver Linings Playbook, a movie we have been wanting to see for awhile.  

ONE!

Yeah, that's a song title.  "One, singular sensation..."

Hm...not feeling that love about my weight loss this morning.

ONE! 

That's how many pounds I lost this week.

If you read yesterday's blog, you know I did everything I could. I had a great week.  There was nothing else I could have done.  I drank water, recorded every morsel, averaged 1280 calories a day, ate 20 out of 21 meals at home, ate grilled chicken breast on greens for my one meal out, exercised two to three times per day.  There is nothing else.

For that I lost a whopping ONE pound.

Waaa   Waaa   Waaa

Okay, rant is over.

Now I'm trying to put this in some perspective.  My first thought was disappointment.  I also thought how frustrating it is to work so hard and get so little pay off.  My third thought was how out of touch with my body I really am.  During the week, I felt strong and healthy.  I felt like I was losing a LOT of weight because I got up and peed four times every night.  Plus I would have sworn my clothes felt looser.  I guess not.  LOL!  This morning my shorts feel tight.  I know it's all in my head.

My second thoughts are starting to kick in now.  An hour as passed since the shock of stepping on the scale.  My thoughts are starting to calm down.  Last week I dropped 4.7.  This week I dropped 1.  That's MORE than a two pound per week average.  This is not uncommon.  A big week is almost always followed by a little week.  Next week I might drop three.  I have lost weight so many times and recorded all of them in notebooks. I know that big weeks are followed by little weeks.  That doesn't make the little week any less disappointing, but it's a fact of weight loss.

Last week was a perfect week.  This upcoming week will not be.  I will not be eating 20 out of 21 meals at home.  I will be eating 17 out of 21 meals at home.  Today we are going to Universal Studios and eating lunch and dinner out.   Saturday night we are going to a wine tasting party with cheese and other snacks and desserts.  Sunday we are eating lunch out.  Monday we are eating dinner out at the food trucks up at the Village.  Plenty of opportunity for high sodium and more fat calories than eating at home.  The good news is that I will still be able to do all my usual exercising.

I have two weeks left to meet my goal of going to California at the same weight as last year.  I flew off to California in the summer of 2012 at 257.  I'm only 2.8 pounds from that goal and there are two weeks left.  I had held out hope that I might go below that weight.  It could still happen. I could definitely drop more than 2.8 in two weeks. 

Another good thing is that I have already surpassed the amount of weight I could expect to lose in 8 weeks.  Six weeks are gone and I am down 16.8 since we returned from Maryland in early June.  That's already averaging over 2 pounds per week. 

So...I have had a disappointment this morning.  So...I have gotten over it. 

I'm doing okay.  I have dropped nearly 17 pounds in six weeks.  I am in the two FIFTIES for the first time since last October.  Yes, it's only by a smidge, but it's just a start.  Next week I will be DOWN something, probably two more pounds.  I will continue to exercise, record every morsel, and make appropriate choices in the restaurants and at the wine-tasting party.  That's a promise!

Soon we are driving up to Universal Studios to go see Despicable Me 2 at the AMC Theaters at City Walk.  Then we will eat a margherita pizza inside Universal Studios and go to a few attractions.  In the evening we will have dinner at Denny's (about 640 calories) and then a choir rehearsal at SOJC. 

It's going to be another great day.  Hope your day is also great.

Tisha B'Av

Today is the ninth of Av, a major fast day, like Yom Kippur.  Mark stopped eating and drinking last night around 8:30 p.m. and will continue to do so all day until about 8:30 tonight.  Because he has some important medications, especially for the heart, he does take a little food and water in the morning for those.  Otherwise, nothing.

This day is the day that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, twice.  So it's a day of mourning, hence the fast.  Last night Mark sat on the floor, in the dark, with a flashlight, and listened to a recording of someone chanting the Book of Lamentations.  He will do that again this morning.  We didn't go to the synagogue last night for services because it was in Winter Springs, way up north.  Last year it was at our own synagogue, so we did go, but the Orlando area synagogues rotate who hosts this service.  It was just too far away this year.

I am not fasting.  I haven't fasted on Tisha B'Av in a long time.  I really can't remember when I stopped doing it.  I really can't remember when I did do it either.

Mark is going to stay in the cool, air-conditioned house all day because without being able to drink water, it's pretty silly to spend any time doing anything in the hot sun of a Florida summer.  Because I'm not fasting, I'm going about my normal day.

I walked this morning, although not quite as far or as long as yesterday. I did 1.16 miles in 25 minutes and burned 101 calories.  At 10:30 I will be participating in the Beginner Line Dancing class like last Tuesday. I danced for 40 minutes last week. I hope to go that long or maybe a few minutes longer today.  Then I'm going to swim for awhile.  No weight lifting today.  I will eat my lunch poolside and just generally enjoy a day by the pool until the rain comes later in the afternoon.  Nice day.

Tomorrow is weigh-in Wednesday, and I admit I am getting very excited for that scale to return. I feel I have had an excellent week.  There wasn't anything else I could have done to make it better, so I am hoping for a great weight loss.

Here's today's food plan and calories:
Breakfast:  Fiber One, Dannon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt, 1/2 cup blueberries  182 calories
Lunch: can of tuna, tossed salad, 2 slices low fat cheese   236 calories
Dinner:  Sweet Pepper and Hash Brown Eggs (Diabetic Living), Green Beans  259 calories
Snacks:  2 Plumtastic Cookies (Mark made) and 1 pint Arctic Zero    272 calories
Total:  949
Exercise: walking, line dancing, swimming  Calories burned 874

Wow! This is going to be a great day for dropping some weight!

Here's my caloric intake and output for the week:
Wed, 7/10    1131 in       424 out
Th, 7/11       1240 in       446 out
Fr, 7/12        1285 in       124 out
Sa, 7/13       1306 in        104 out
Sun, 7/14     1454 in        257 out
Mon 7/15     1372 in        625 out
Today  7/16  949 in         874 out

If I can't lose weight from a week like this, then it's hopeless.  Check back tomorrow morning for the big reveal!  LOL!

La Fete Nationale

A lot of plans for yesterday changed for the better.  The best part was that it never rained on us, which was the first time all week.

Mark's Cheddar Biscuits were fantastic. He actually had his with sausage gravy (veggie sausage), but I skipped that part.  He made so much that he's having it again this morning!  The problem was that after breakfast none of the movie times for Despicable Me 2 worked so that we could also see the Limited Time Magic show at Epcot.

Solution:  Skip the movie.

We went straight on over to Epcot and had a blast!  We were so glad we did because on the drive over we both realized it was July 14, Bastille Day.  What better way to celebrate than hanging out in France, Epcot France, that is.

When we got to Epcot, we weren't too far back in the parking lot, just two rows behind the trees and nearly at the far end of the row.  We decided to set the RunKeeper and walk all the way to the American Pavilion.  On the way we took a slight walk off to the right to pick up a Fast Pass for Soarin' later in the day.  We also made a small pit stop at the food kiosk in France and got a chocolate crepe to share.  Mark's blood sugar was dropping, so this was a good snack for the morning.

We took the crepe to the American Pavilion tables (is that kosher?) and ate it while we were waiting to go into the show.  This show was called Mickey's American Streetbeat.  We didn't go to it with any idea that it would be as much fun as it was.  Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald were on the stage with an energetic cast of young men and women, dancing and drumming.  I literally grinned from ear to ear for the entire 25 minutes.  Wow!

After the show, we went to France to have lunch in the newest food court in the back of the building that used to be just the gift shop exit from the movie.  We had seen it there months before, but this was our first chance to experience it.  We got a plate of fromages on lettuce to share, and we each ordered a Quiche Florentine.  Mark also got a glass of Pinot Noir.  It was all very delicious.

Then we went to the movie, Impressions de France.  It's a beautiful 18 minute film with classical music by Debussy, Saint-Saens, and other French composers in the background.  We like it because it's the only movie in World Showcase that has SEATS!  It had been a year since we had been in the movie.  We went last summer with Reuben.  After that we went into the brand new Artisan Ice Cream and Sorbet shop.  I got one scoop of mango sorbet that was just spectacular.  The day wasn't all that hot, so we sat outside at a cafe table in the sun.  In fact, all of Epcot was pretty lightly attended yesterday, and considering how great the weather was, that seemed odd.

Our Bastille Day celebration over, we went to Canada and listened to Off Kilter, always a favorite.  Then to Journey into Imagination, one of my personal faves, followed by doing everything in The Land pavilion. There's never a line to see the ecology movie, Circle of Life, and then we hopped on to the boat ride Living with the Land because there was shockingly NO LINE there either.  We took a break to have a cup of coffee in the food court, and then it was time for our Fast Pass ride on Soarin'.   This was just a wonderful day at Epcot!  We walked all the way back to the car, making our walking a total of slightly over 3 miles for the day.  Not too shabby.

We went home and watched the FIRST Despicable Me movie while Mark made our Haddock with crushed Pine Nuts and Parmesan with spinach for dinner. 

It was such a lovely day.

Today is a normal Monday:  Walk 1.25 miles in 30 minutes, lift weights for 25 minutes, swim laps for 35 minutes, play Mah Jongg, work on my jigsaw puzzle, read, watch TV, eat all meals at home.

Hope your day is a great one wherever you are.

Record Setting?

We have no idea if we set a record for Cypress Cove yesterday.  As they were trying to get more people registered, they announced 310, but we saw more enter the pool after that.  Eventually it will be reported, so we'll see.  It was fun and the rain held off until nearly 4 p.m.  We also did our weight lifting routine and took a tour of the new hospital.  The Poinciana Medical Center is opening in August.  People have been looking forward to that event for over a decade!  It was really beautiful.

I am sure missing my scale this morning!  I feel like I've done such a good job this week.  I can't wait to get on that scale Wednesday morning.

This morning Mark is making CarbQuik cheddar cheese biscuits. I calculated the calories at 108 each.  I'm also eating an 80 calorie Greek Yogurt and 2 pieces of Smart Bacon.  Total breakfast calories will be 228 and DELICIOUS.

I'm not sure about the rest of the day.  If the weather is reasonable, we are going to go see Despicable Me 2 at Downtown Disney, eat our veggie chili at Pollo Campero, and go to Epcot to hear a concert at the American Pavilion, and come back home for dinner.  Tonight Mark is making the fabulous Halibut with Pine Nuts that he made a few weeks ago.  Although there will be no specific exercise today, just walking to and from lunch and to and from the American Pavilion at Epcot will give me several miles of walking.  I see another good day coming up.

Guinness Book of World Records, sort of

I think a lot of people would like to be part of something that's in the Guinness Book of World Records.  There's something kind of interesting about doing something that's record breaking.  I bet that's a motivating factor to many Olympic athletes.

Well, Mark and I had that chance back in 2010 to be part of a world record event that was sanctioned and recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records.  It was sponsored then by AANR, The American Association for Nude Recreation.  We were part of the world record skinny dip!

WHAT?  What did you say?  Skinny Dipping?  NUDE Recreation?

Oh, yes.  That's what I said.

All I can say is don't knock it until you've tried it.  It's a most pleasant experience.  We have been skinny dipping for over 15 years.  In fact, I have a really hard time making myself put on a bathing suit to swim in a regular pool.  Of course, I do it all the time because there are simply more pools and beaches that require them than resorts and beaches that ban them.  In Florida, because of the wonderful year-round weather, there are many clothing optional beaches and resorts that actually prohibit swimsuits in the pools.  When you come out of a clothing optional beach or pool, your skin just dries up naturally and quickly, like coming out of a shower.  When you come out of a textile pool or beach, that swimsuit stays damp, cold, and clammy for hours.  Part of that is because I'm big and old!  LOL!  MY swimsuit is HUGE and full of multiple layers of fabric!  It takes DAYS to dry off.  UGH.  I hate the clammy, skin-chapping feeling of damp fabric on my body for the rest of the day.

Why am I bringing this up today?

Today AANR, along with TNS (The Naturist Society), are jointly sponsoring another World Record Skinny Dip event.  At 1 p.m. local time, any beach or clothing optional resort or private pool or hot tub can participate.  We are going to the local nude resort called Cypress Cove, which is just six miles from our house.  At 1 p.m., weather permitting, Mark and I will be in the pool, nude, with hundreds of our closest friends, to be counted as one of the thousands of participants.  The number to beat is 14, 288 from 2010.  This number will be compiled from multiple locations reporting in across the whole USA as well as Mexico and Canada.

Unfortunately, this one is NOT sanctioned or recorded by Guinness.  I'm not sure why they didn't do that this year, but it will still be fun.  The weather is always "iffy" in the afternoons in the summer in Florida.  We are all hoping that it cooperates until we've dipped and been counted. 

TGIF

Today I got up at 6:15 a.m., as usual.  I put on my sneakers and walking clothes, turned on Pandora and RunKeeper, and hit the pavement at 6:40 a.m.  I started doing the early morning walking routine on June 7 as soon as we got back from MD; however, this is the first full five day week that I walked every single morning.  Each of the previous weeks had things to do that involved a lot of walking, like theme parks, or early morning appointments at doctor's offices that made the morning walk too hard to fit in.  So I'm pleased that I walked five straight mornings.

Today I walked 30 minutes and went 1.4 miles, burning 121 calories.  That's a pretty fast pace for me.   At some point today I plan to do my weights at the gym, but I don't know if I can swim.  Our day is packed with other activities, including a mani/pedi.  If it's not raining around 4 p.m., I will swim, but that's probably not going to happen.  It has rained some part of every afternoon this week. 

Yesterday I ate 1240 calories and burned up 448 calories in exercise.  Mark made an outstanding main dish for dinner called Firehouse Enchiladas, which has 363 calories.  It was amazing, very delicious and spicy.  The Diabetic Living magazine has been a real find for us.  Tonight's main dish is also a new recipe from that magazine. It is a Chicken BLT Wrap.  It uses bacon, but we will use Smart Bacon, a vegetarian product.  It also calls for avocado, so he's leaving that out of mine.  It will only have 200 calories, which for a main dish is amazing. I bet it tastes great, too.

Today's meal plan:
B'fast:  Fiber One Cereal and Dannon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt  140 calories
Lunch:  grilled chicken on tossed salad, no dressing     225 calories
Dinner:  Challah (2 ounces), Sweet wine (2 ounces),   raw veggies (carrot, celery, broccoli), Chicken BLT Wrap,   shot of Whiskey   563 calories
Snacks:  banana, 2 of Mark's Plumtastic cookies, 1 cup fresh cherries   360 calories
Total calories: 1288.   Exercise:  walking and weights  207 calories burned.

TGIF everybody.  Enjoy your day.

Just a little snakey love

Florida is known for its wildlife, and I love most of it. I always enjoy watching deer, turkeys, and Sandhill Cranes stroll through my backyard.  I love the little lizards that are sunning on the wall or darting about, puffing out their big red throats and eating the insects.  The wading birds along the lakes and canals are all majestic and beautiful.  There are Ibis, Blue Heron, Egrets, Storks, Limpkins, Anhinga, and Cormorants, among others whose names I do not know.  And there are my favorites, the alligators.  I love trying to spot one floating on the surface of the water or, on special rare occasions, sunning himself up on the bank. 

Yesterday we saw three other critters.  First, I saw a wild pig.  Those are NOT my favorite Florida critter.  This one was dead on the side of the road. It was a fairly big, black, wild boar.  I guess it didn't make it across the street.

When we got ready to go out to do some errands in the afternoon, we went out to the driveway where we had left the car after returning from swimming.  We got in the car and looked up at the garage and saw a cute little green frog clinging to the wall near the door.  One of those actually came into the house once, but we were able to rescue it and take it outside.  We see these often after rainstorms or in the damp evenings, but it was pretty unusual to see it at 1:20 in the afternoon when it was 96 degrees and dry.

Mark wanted to go into the garage to get some magazines out of the other car.  This is when the real fun began. I hit the clicker to open the garage as Mark got out of the car.  Suddenly, he's saying, "Shut the garage door!  Shut the garage door!"  I did.

He got back in the car and said there was a snake in the garage.  He didn't want it to GO into the garage, so that's why he said shut the door, but once I shut the door he realized it was already INSIDE the garage.  I opened the door again and got a good look at it.

Yup!  That was a snake all right.

It wasn't a nice ordinary black snake.  We see those around here and there, often in the bushes near the pools, but we have never seen any kind of snake in our garage.  This one was a kind I have not seen before.  It was very, VERY thin.  It was a grayish color, but neither of us got close enough to it to notice if there were any markings.  It seemed to be about a foot and a half long.  It was lying fairly loosely coiled with its head up just inside the garage door.  We know it wasn't there earlier in the morning because we went in the garage and backed the car out right where it was lying.  There is a small gap at both corners of the garage door where we can see light shining through.  Insects and small lizards or frogs could easily get through there.  We've actually seen a lizard go in and out, but I always thought it was too small for a snake.  WRONG!  This is a very skinny snake and I really think he went right through that gap.  Great.  Now I'll always be afraid in my garage.

So, what to do?  My Mark is now my hero!  He went in the house through the front door and came out into the garage through the laundry room with a dust mop in hand.  He walked up very close to the snake with the mop out in front and gave it a big shove right out of the garage. I was trying to keep my eye on it, safely from inside the car. I saw him push it and then I never saw it again.  It's like it just vanished.  We hope it landed in the bushes off to the side of the driveway or hit the pavers and slithered super fast into the bushes.  In any case, it was no longer visible.  We closed the garage door and went about our errands.  But I can tell you our adrenalin was PUMPING!

Later we decided the scenario went like this.  The snake saw the little frog as lunch.  Froggy ran up the wall of the house to escape, but Snakey thought he went through the gap into the garage.  Snakey went in to look for him.  All this must have transpired shortly before we came out the front door for our errands.  Hey, it's as good a story as any.

Our errands were very successful. Mark got his week's supply of new comic books.  Then we went to the Polk County Health Department where he got two Sharps containers.  And we finally got library cards.  The Haines City library was very beautiful, large and spacious.  It's only about 25 minutes from our house.  Unfortunately it did not have any books in the Game of Throne series on the shelves.  Too popular, I guess.  We came home with no books.

I did all my exercises and ate only 1131 calories.  It was a good day.

Today I have walked one mile in 23 minutes.  Around 10 a.m. we will head to the pool for laps.   Then Mark will do grocery shopping while I stay home and pay some bills, play with my new Manatee shaped jigsaw puzzle, and read on my Kindle.

This week we are going to eat all of our meals at home.  That's a rarity, for sure.  It should be a great week for another good weight loss.

Enjoy your Thursday!

A very good week

Last Wednesday, 265.5.  Today 260.8. Yay!  That's a loss of 4.7 pounds.  A very good week.

I have now gone from 276.3 to 260.8 in five weeks. I had set a goal of losing 20 pounds in 8 weeks, even though I knew 16 would be more realistic.  At this point I've lost 15.5 pounds since I started this diet on June 7.  That's amazing.  There are exactly three more weeks left before we head to California.  I need to lose 4.5 pounds to make my original goal of 20 pounds.  At that point, I will weigh just slightly less than I was when I left for California last summer.  Sadly, at one point last summer I was as far down as 247.  I won't make that, but I should make my goal of 257.

Mark and I did the beginner line dancing class yesterday.  The teacher goes on for 90 minutes and slowly moves from beginner to more advanced steps.  Mark and I left after 40 minutes, exhausted.  We both got foot cramps shortly after we stopped.  It took me a long time to get my foot and toes to relax.  Then it came back with a vengeance during the night.  Bummer.  Clearly even though I walk, swim laps, and lift weights, line dancing uses an entirely different set of muscles.

Today I have already walked 30 minutes, 1.3 miles, 115 calories.  Around 10 we will be in the gym doing our weight routines for 20 minutes, and then we will go to the pool where I will swim 20 laps in 35 minutes.  Total exercise calories today will be 561.

We are also going to the Haines City Waste Management Center today to get sharps containers for Mark.  He's been putting his lancets in a plastic bottle since we moved here.  Now he has two full bottles.  We have discovered that you can get an official sharps container from Polk County, and when it's full, turn it in for an empty one.  We are also FINALLY going to the Haines City Public Library to get library cards.  Then we can also get books out of the Osceola County system libraries. I'm hoping to get the second volume in the Game of Thrones series.  If there's still time, we will head to Mark's comic book store because Wednesday is the best day to go because the new shipments have arrived.  Tonight Mark is going to the Democratic Club meeting while I go to SOJC for one of the final three choir rehearsals before the High Holidays.  Busy day!  Busy days are GREAT days!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of taking my former co-worker and friend Tom W. and his wife Allison out to dinner.  Tom and I worked together at Pikesville Middle School for seven years.  At least one of those years we even shared an office.  I have worked with some very, VERY wonderful people in my career, but Tom will always have a special place in my heart. He is an outstanding teacher and an easy-going, pleasant, funny person to be around.  I don't think he even knows I have this blog, but if by some chance he stumbles on it one day, let me say, "Thanks, Tom, for stopping by." 

Me and Tom W.

Getting Closer

I had another good day of eating yesterday.  I ate 1263 calories and burned 531 exercising.  My Lose It! program will also track all sorts of nutrients other than just calories as long as it's a food it recognizes.  Yesterday I had 73g of protein, 226g of carbs, and 25g of fats.  The percentage breakdowns were 21% protein, 64% carb, and 16% fat.  The grams and percentages vary from day to day, but I've noticed that I am always more than half carbs.  My carbs are usually pretty healthy ones from fruits, veggies, and whole grains, so I'm not too worried about it.

Here are some more details about yesterday's food:
24.7 fat grams
6.8 saturated fat
81.6 grams cholesterol
1,325.7 mg of sodium, which is EXCELLENT!
37.4 g of fiber
97.4 g of sugar
73 g of protein

Evey, if you are reading this blog at any point, would you let me know if this breakdown is a healthy one?  Thanks!

Today I thought all three meals would be at home, but now we are going out to dinner.  A former co-worker and friend, Tom W and his wife Allison, are in town.  We have plans to have them come to our house around 4 or so this afternoon and are going to take them to dinner at our Solivita Stonegate Grille.  My breakfast and lunch will come to only 348 calories, so that should leave me over 1000 calories at the restaurant.  I'm sure I will be okay except for the sodium.  You just never know how much sodium is in restaurant food, but it's usually A LOT!  This could affect my weight for tomorrow morning's weigh-in.  Currently, I expect to have a loss of 3 pounds.  I hope I don't screw that up tonight

Later this morning, I'm going to do Beginner Line Dancing for 30-45 minutes.  The class starts out for beginners and then morphs into more difficult routines over the hour.  Mark did it last week and lasted almost 45 minutes before dropping out. I had blisters on my feet last Tuesday, so I didn't participate.  Today my feet are fine, so I'm looking forward to the dancing!  The best news is that the dancing class is in the clubhouse next to the pool.  As soon as we are done dancing, we can cool right off in the pool.

Trying to stay on track

That pesky scale is still on the floor.  At this point it might as well stay since it's only two more days to Weigh-in Wednesday, and I've already been on it today.  It said I am up 1/2 pound.  That's why I shouldn't get on it.  Still, there are two more days that should be excellent with all meals eaten at home and lots of exercise.  A little change up or down should not be significant.

Saturday I ate 1435 calories, but I had no exercise.  On Sunday I at 1306 calories and walked at least a half hour because we went into the Magic Kingdom for the afternoon parade. 

Mark made a new special Sunday breakfast yesterday morning that I hope he brings back some day.  It was called Bacon-Pea-Swiss Scramble.  He used Smart Bacon (soy) instead of the turkey bacon the recipe called for. It was 194 calories, 5 g of carb, very delicious!

Saturday we enjoyed the services and the luncheon to honor our friends' anniversary.  It was number 48 for them.  Nice.  I ate a big plate of tossed salad, to which I added some extra celery sticks, baby carrots, and red pepper strips.  On top of that I put about a cup of tuna salad and took 5 Flaxseed chips.  That was it, so I was pretty proud of myself!

When we got back from shul, I sat on the lanai reading from 2:30 in the afternoon until 6:30 when it was time to come in for dinner.  I finished Game of Thrones, and then I finished Peony, also.  Now I need to find another book!  I actually think I have some more on my Kindle, so I should look there first.  I want to get the second volume of Game of Thrones, too.

Today we will go to the gym for weights, then to the pool to swim, and I already walked 1.1 miles in 25 minutes, which burned 95 calories.  My Lose It! program claims that swimming laps burns a ton of calories.  I don't know if that's true for me because I'm such a slow swimmer.  If I swim 35 minutes, the program says I burned 353 calories.  I log that in on the program, but I never allow myself to eat those calories back because I really doubt that I burned that many.

Besides exercise, I will also play Mah Jongg this afternoon and go to a HEAL (Healthy Eating Active Living) club meeting.  There is a speaker today, so I hope it's interesting.

Two more days and then my official weigh-in.  I'm actually excited for it to come this week.

Following the plan

When I came home from Maryland, I knew I had 8 weeks before heading out to California and Arizona. I set myself a goal of losing 20 pounds in those 8 weeks.   As of this morning, I have lost 14 pounds in just 4 weeks. I am quite happy.  This morning I was down another half pound to 261.9.  I am getting quite excited about getting out of the 260s.  I've been hanging around there for far too long.

Last year I was 257.6 when I took off for our west coast trip.  That was my goal for this year, too, which would have required a 19 pound loss in the 8 weeks.  Now I'm thinking I might get even lower than that in the next four weeks.

I ate 1400 calories yesterday and burned up about 450 calories walking, swimming laps, and lifting weights.  It was a good day.

Today breakfast and lunch will be at home, but lunch will be at the synagogue.  Our friends Ed and Marian are sponsoring a luncheon in honor of their anniversary.  We have been invited and cannot say no.  I don't want to say no, but I do have to watch what I eat at the luncheon.  Fortunately, our Saturday night dinner of griller burgers on a deli flat is a very low calorie dinner.  This leaves me the majority of the day's calories for lunch without a problem.  I'll report tomorrow how I did on that.

Also, Saturday is my day off from exercise.  I did not go out to walk this morning; I don't lift weights unless I missed it Friday (and I did not miss it yesterday); I may or may not get to the pool.  So, we shall see if this day turns out to be a good day on my diet plan or not.

I finished reading Game of Thrones yesterday, and then we watched the fourth episode in the first season of the show.  What an amazing story!  Thanks to Cindy for sending Mark the book for Hanukkah and to Mark for suggesting that I read it, too.  

I'm also halfway through Peony by Pearl Buck.  Thanks to Tom K for suggesting that one. I'm enjoying it very much.

Hope your fourth was awesome.

Our Fourth WAS most definitely awesome.  The weather was delightful, not too hot, not too cold, slightly breezy.  The Patriotic Sing-Along at 4 p.m. was just SO much fun.  A group of 9 singers, a drummer, and a guitarist led about 40 people through an hour's worth of folk songs and patriotic songs.  I hadn't sung some of those songs in a very long time.  They sang all the armed forces songs and gave flags out to veterans.  It was a warm and fuzzy hour, for sure.

The food trucks and entertainment and fireworks at the Solivita Village were all better than anticipated.  We met up with a friend and her extended family to eat dinner in the ballroom, but we ran into dozens of other friends and neighbors as we walked up and down the street.  It was another warm and fuzzy three hours of food, fun, music, and fireworks.

Considering this was the first year Solivita set off fireworks over the lake, everyone was AMAZED at how fantastic they were.  The display lasted 15 minutes and was much more massive and impressive than I expected it to be.  We took our camp chairs and had a PERFECT view! 

I ate about 1800 calories yesterday, but I also swam 20 laps in 35 minutes, walked 25 minutes, and did another 15 minutes of water aerobics.  My LoseIt! program said I was still under my daily calories limit because it allows you to eat back those exercise calories.  Normally, I try not to do that to make my loss go faster.

Today we are doing our weights and swimming laps. I already did my early morning walk.  Geez, I was slow and unmotivated this morning. I only did .8 of a mile in 20 minutes.  Just couldn't seem to get into it, but at least I was out there at 6:30 a.m.!  All of our meals will be at home, so that always helps. 

The scale is still out, so it called me to hop on it this morning.  I was the same as yesterday morning, so that made me happy.

Enjoy your day after the fourth and the upcoming weekend.  I am looking forward to seeing The Lone Ranger on Sunday, even though it's not getting great reviews.  I think Mark and I are going to love it!

Happy Fourth of July to all!

Last year on this day, we were up in MD and attended a party at Denise and Kip's house.  Lots of fun.  We all watched our favorite holiday video, 1776, together in the afternoon.

Today should also be a lot of fun.

First, I went out and walked 25 minutes, 1.2 miles, burning 100 calories.  That's a good start to the day. I was motivated by a 2.8 pound weight loss between yesterday and today!  I knew I was having a great day yesterday, only 955 calories eaten and 450 calories burned.  That's why I asked Mark to leave the scale out for one more day.  This should be a great week because I am eating dinner out tonight, as we do every Thursday, and lunch out on Sunday, which is also our usual thing.  All other meals will be at home with plenty of time to keep up with the walking, weights, and swimming.  I expect a great loss this week!

About 10:30 I will be swimming laps.  Yesterday, I swam 20 laps in 35 minutes.  I hope to do the same today.  (These are not regulation laps because this outdoor pool is not Olympic length.  It's probably half that.)  I was pleased with 20 laps in 35 minutes because the day before I had done 12 laps in 25 minutes.  I thought that was a good increase.  I hope to at least match the 20 in 35 today.

I'll be eating a grilled chicken breast on salad greens for lunch, very low fat and calories.  Then at 2 p.m. there is a sing-along of patriotic songs in the clubhouse by the pool!  What a fun thing to do!

Between 6 and 9 p.m. we will be up at the Village Center.  This is Solivita's first big July 4 Extravaganza that will have fireworks. It will include a dozen food trucks parked along the main street, limited menus in the two restaurants, two bars, three or four music groups performing in various locations, and the first EVER fireworks at 9 p.m.  It's all free except the food or drinks you buy.  There will be tables under tents outside as well as  tables inside the ballroom and other locations.  We are also welcome to bring our own chairs.  I know some of my neighbors are also going, so it should be a lot of fun.

I am still hoping there might be enough time and/or energy at some point today to watch 1776 also!

Today's breakfast and lunch are going to be perfect. I've walked and I will soon be swimming.  Now I just have to watch my dinner calories.  If the food trucks don't have anything decent that's fish or veggie, we will probably go for the pizza in the Bistro.  As long as I watch the portions, it should be okay.

Meanwhile, I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday today!

Time to pay the piper

Last Wednesday Lowell and Emily arrived, and as I already said in a previous post, there was PLENTY of eating and drinking. There was also plenty of walking.  Once they left Sunday morning, I had intended to get back to a strict food regiment.  Let us just say I have not been entirely successful with that.  On the other hand, I have been doing a lot of walking and swimming to mitigate the eating.

So here's the damage: up one pound.  Last Wednesday I was 264.6 and this morning I was 265.5.  I guess that's up .9 to be exact, but the scale is only accurate to +/-.2.

Yesterday we went to the pool, and I swam 25 minutes of laps.  Then we went to the Magic Kingdom and walked all around.  Just getting in and out of that park is a big hike.  We ate breakfast and lunch at home and dinner at Pecos Bill in Frontierland.  We always have a veggie burger with fixin's from the bar.  I had a big plate of sauteed mushrooms and onions, probably about a cup of each.  On the burger I added some shredded cheese, and unlike Mark, I did eat the bun.  We both had a small ear of corn as our side instead of fries.  The big extra that I ate was a Mickey ice cream bar.  Yay!  Those are awesome but 330 calories.  I also had half of a root beer slushie in a special Lone Ranger Boot mug.  Getting that mug was one of the main objectives for the day.  Mark made sure I only had half.  Then he took it to the men's room and dumped the rest out. 

The other objectives were to play the Pirate's Adventure game and see the special summer afternoon parade, castle show, and fireworks.  We did everything except the afternoon parade.  It got cancelled due to rain, but they gave us a consolation parade called the Rainy Day Cavalcade of Characters.  We had no idea there was such a thing, so that was pretty exciting. 

Since seeing the new Pixar movie, Monsters University, on Sunday, we have wanted to hit the Monsters' Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland.  We enjoyed doing that and seeing the new tweaking that they did to the decorations and the show to reflect the new film.  We also had time to go to Carousel of Progress, always a favorite.

Now I have exactly four weeks until we take off for California. I could easily lose 8 pounds in four weeks or even more.  That is perfect because I was exactly 8 pounds less than today's weight when I flew off to the west coast last summer.  While we were gone a month last year, I gained 6.5 pounds. It would be REALLY WONDERFUL if I could just skip that part this year.  LOL!

This morning is the first bright sunny morning in several days.  It's been gray and rainy mostly all day since Sunday.  Now the temps are predicted to be no higher than the mid-80s with a much lower chance of rain for an entire week.  How nice!  There will be lap swimming this morning right after lifting weights in the gym.  All meals will be eaten at home today, so that should give a good kick start to the week.  As far as I know, this week I will be eating dinner out tomorrow night and lunch out on Sunday.  That might be it.  I hope that's it.  Eating at home is the single best thing I can do for my dieting.