Grow and Behold

A few weeks ago, Mark and I attended a lecture sponsored by our Solivita club, HEAL, Healthy Eating Active Living.  The lecturer lives here in Solivita, but he still owns a family farm in northern Baltimore County, MD.  His farm is family operated, pays his workers a living wage, and allows his animals to live full, happy lives grazing on natural pastures.  He talked at some length about this type of farming in general, not just his farm.  Mark and I came away committed to finding a kosher farmer like him.  And we found it.  It is in Pennsylvania and is called Grow and Behold.

They ship anywhere from their website at www.growandbehold.com.

They claim that their meat tastes better because of the life of the animal.  We have now ordered 4 Rib Eye steaks, beef bacon, and 4 chicken legs to try.  Yesterday morning Mark fried up some of the beef bacon with whole wheat toast and scrambled eggs.  AMAZING!!  Mark is going to use the rest of the "bacon" as a BLT for lunch today.  He has never had a BLT!  How cool for him.

Is it cheap?  NO!!!!  Of course, kosher meat is never cheap.  This costs even more than regular kosher meat plus shipping.  We have been paying to ship kosher meat from New York now and then already, so we don't mind the shipping charges.  The charges were essentially the same for both companies. The other company, Avi Glatt, sends absolutely delicious meat, usually overnight, in a refrigerated FedEx box, not frozen.  Glow and Behold shipped it in a few days, frozen.  We shall see which one tastes better, but we KNOW which one treats its animals in a humane and ethical way.

We are sold on it.  I can't wait to eat those steaks!

Now I must eat breakfast and be ready to leave in a half hour for our first read-through for the play, The Trial of Ebeneezer Scrooge.  Should be a lot of fun to hear it all the way through for the first time.

Hoping for shul and pool

Mark is reading haftarah this morning, so we will be heading to shul pretty soon.  Yesterday, he mentioned that we hadn't had a "shul and pool" day for quite awhile.  If the weather holds up, I think that's how we will roll today.  LOL!

Of course, when we get back from shul, usually around 1:15 or so, we will have lunch and then go to the gym do lift weights.  We never got there yesterday.  It was a beautiful day yesterday, but we spent it all indoors, reading on the lanai.  It was so beautiful to sit there with the fan on and the windows open.  Just perfect.

We also got an email saying we did get parts in the Scrooge play for November.  Mark is going to be Bob Cratchit and I'm Mrs. Cratchit.  Nobody read her part, so I have no idea what it is or how big it is. I'm thinking it's pretty small because I'm also the only one double-cast. I also play someone named Belle.  Those were the only two female parts that were not used at the audition, so I have no idea what they are going to be.  Monday morning is a read-through of the whole show, so then I'll know.  Since we will be wearing costumes, I'm guessing both of my parts are small and one is in each act. Otherwise how could I change costumes.  I'm sure I'll know all of this after Monday morning's read-through.

I'm doing well on my food plan. I have not exceeded my calories; I'm getting plenty of fiber; Im keeping the sodium levels down.  I am eating lunch out tomorrow and dinner out at Olive Garden on Monday.  The OG website has all the nutrition info, so I will plan my meal there in advance and feel confident that I can keep my calories in line. 

Last night, Mark made mini meat loaves from the Diabetic Living magazine.  We each got two little meat loaves, made in a muffin tin.  They were just so delicious that I begged him to make a bunch of them in the near future and freeze them.  I think they would freeze well and be handy for nights when he doesn't have time or energy to cook something fresh.  Also two meat loaf "muffins" were only 275 calories.  Yum.

Down Half

Last night, I asked Mark to leave out the scale, so he did.  I am down six tenths of a pound this morning, which means down the .3 I gained last week and another .3.  Today's weight is 243.4.  I feel okay about that.  It would mean that last week was a combo of a plateau and extra sodium just like I thought yesterday. My sodium level yesterday was only 1499, just at the limit of 1500 for someone over 51.  I suspect that 1500 is a bit draconian, and any day that I eat in a restaurant I'm going to exceed that.  Still, it's a goal to shoot for most days at home.

Yesterday Mark and I had a lot of fun in the morning!  We went to an audition for a play called The Trial of Ebeneezer Scrooge.  This is going to be done as a dinner theater in early November by the Solivita Theater Group, the same group that put on It's a Wonderful Life as a radio drama last November.  What a funny play!  Mark and I may not get parts, but we sure did have a few hours of fun listening to everyone audition. I think we both did okay at the auditions, but if there are more people trying out than parts, we might get eliminated because we would miss two rehearsals due to the cruise in mid-October.  The director is pretty fussy about not missing any rehearsals since there are only two rehearsals per week for one month before the show. It's very intense to get this ready in a short amount of time!  There were about 15 people trying out yesterday for 15 parts, BUT there is another day of auditions today.  If another 15 show up today, the director will be cutting a lot of people.  Mark and I fully expect to get cut if that happens, but we will buy a ticket and go see it.  It should be a lot of fun.

After the auditions, we did our weight routines, and then I decided to go with Mark as he did the weekly shopping. I hardly ever do that, but it was the only way I knew I would get any walking done.  I walked around Wal Mart for an hour as we shopped, so I guess that was something to burn some calories.  I also felt kind of out of control when we got back from the gym and were eating lunch.  I ate my can of tuna fish on salad and still felt hungry. Not just hungry but craving lots more food, mostly inappropriate food. I just wanted to MUNCH.  I was literally AFRAID to stay in the house by myself while Mark went away for a few hours to shop and get his comic books. I was afraid I would start grazing in the pantry and fridge, munching thousands of calories like the "old days."  Those old days aren't that far back right now.  So going out with Mark, I took a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, and a small apple.  By the time we got home at 4:30, the out of control feeling was gone.  Sheesh!  Dodged that bullet by making the right decision to get out of the kitchen. 

Today is the 8th day of Succoth, Shemini Atzeret.  We will go to shul, and there is Yizkor services.  Lots of people come for Yizkor to remember and honor their departed family members.  This service is done four times a year: Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret, end of Passover, and Shavuot.  We never miss it, so I had best stop typing and get ready to head out.

Plateaus suck!

All week long I had the feeling that I wasn't losing weight, and in fact, I felt that I had gained.  This morning I got on the scale and had that feeling confirmed.  I have gained weight this week.  It sucks.

I didn't gain a lot, but any little amount is frustrating.  When I first stepped on the scale, it showed up as a full two pounds up.  I screamed.  I made the bed and paced the bedroom in frustration for a minute.  Then I got on again, and it showed I was up only .6.  I stepped on it again, and it showed I was up only .3.  I decided to stop stepping on an off and write that down.  So I have gone from 243.7 last week to an even 244 this week, up three tenths of a pound.

I knew this week would be a challenge.  Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were Yom Tov and Shabbat dinners, including wine and challah.  Friday night we had red meat.  Sunday there was a party at the neighbors' house.  All of these are challenges which I felt I had met very, very well.  Maybe I was wrong about that.

Here is a recap of my calories and my exercise for the week:

Wednesday:  1304 eaten, 176 burned in water aerobics for 30 minutes
Thursday:  1392 eaten, 155 burned in weight lifting for 15 minutes and walking 25 mins.
Friday: 1317 eaten, 418 burned swimming laps for 45 minutes
Saturday: 1269 eaten, 59 burned in weight lifting for 15 minutes
Sunday:  1145 eaten, no exercise
Monday: 1048 eaten, 291 burned in 40 mins water aerobics and 15 mins weight lifting
Tuesday: 1276 eaten, 563 burned in an hour of line dancing


This is an average of 1250 calories per day.  My program allowed me 1369 per day.  My program also allowed me to eat back any calories burned as exercise, but I did NOT do that any day this week.  My program shows that as a net calorie intake far less than I am reporting.  For instance, yesterday, my program says I only ate 713 calories.

I could say that I am cheating and not writing down everything I ate, but that would be a lie.  I was very diligent about trying to record every morsel to the best of my ability. It's possible that I underestimated how much cheese I ate at the party Sunday night, but even if I claimed several hundred more calories, my average for the week would still be well within the daily range.

I could say it's fluid retention from too much sodium.  My program also tracks the sodium, so here is a recap of the sodium intake for each day:
Wed. 1238 mg
Thur. 2911
Fri. 2682
Sat. 1714
Sun. 1655
Mon. 1114
Tues. 2900

Now that I'm looking at this, I can see that I did exceed the recommended allowances of sodium on several days.  It just depends on whose website you check.  The dietary recommendations according to the Mayo Clinic site are 2300 mg per day for an adult, unless you are black, have high BP, or are diabetic.  I am not any of those things, BUT the fourth thing it said was unless you are over 51.  Well, I'm definitely over 51.  In that case, the Mayo Clinic recommends only 1500 mg.  If I follow that guideline, I exceeded the limit five of the seven days.  Wow!  I did not realize that.  Even if I was young, I exceeded the limit three of the seven days.   Three of the lunches this week included soup in a cardboard container, which has more sodium than my usual low sodium tuna.  Those days were Thursday, Saturday, and yesterday.  Interesting.  Also yesterday I had a lot of dill pickle chips with dinner, which have almost no calories but TONS of sodium.  Also interesting.

I guess it's either the dreaded plateau OR the extra sodium.  Anybody who has ever tried to lose a significant amount of weight over a long period of time will experience a plateau.  Weight Watchers used to talk about them a lot.  It's expected, so I need to keep focused and not panic.  (Easier said than done.)  If it's sodium, I can monitor that more carefully this week, skipping the soups and the pickles.

This week has the same challenges as last week.  Tonight and tomorrow night are Yom Tov dinners, and Friday, as always, is Shabbat.  There will be wine and challah all three nights.  Sunday we will have lunch out at Downtown Disney, and Monday night we are having dinner out with our friends Barb and Al.  If I stay the same for another week because of these challenges, then so be it.  I cannot change what is going to happen this week. I can only try to work it into the program.  Next week we have company and the week after that is a cruise.  There is always going to be SOMETHING to deal with!

I am glad I wrote this blog entry.  It did exactly what I hoped it would do back in October of 2009 when I started it.  It focuses my thoughts and helps me zero in on successes and mistakes.  It helps me get over my first emotional outburst of frustration and not seeing a loss for the week.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment for what I did right all week, which was stick to my program 100%.  I am not a failure. I can do this. I can continue to move along toward my long range goal.

My long range goal is to spend the rest of my life at a healthier weight, close to 200. If I ranged between 200 and 210 the rest of my life, both my doctor and I would be very happy.  My second long range goal is to get to that weight for Lowell and Emily's wedding on July 12.  I am only 44 pounds from that goal, and I have nearly 10 months to attain it.  No matter how many guests stay with us, dinners out we eat, cruises or vacations we take, I CAN DO THIS!

Dog with a Blog

Last year the Disney Channel started a new show called Dog with a Blog. Mark and I find it highly amusing, and the dog is really cute!  The premise is that this dog can talk, but only the three kids in the household know it.  (Remember Mr. Ed?  LOL!) Then at night, he gets on the computer and writes a blog about his day.  The funniest part is that these writers really understand dogs!  Anyone who has lived with dogs will laugh when this dog, who can speak intelligently with the kids, suddenly says or does something totally dog-like!

Well, now my neighborhood REALLY DOES have a Dog with a Blog!

His name is Brady, and he lives on the other side of my street about two blocks down from me.  Yes, it's true!  Brady, a Shih Tzu,  is writing a blog about life in Solivita from a dog's point of view.  His person, Carol, is one of the Mahjongg ladies on my street.  She has given me permission to tell you about Brady and his blog and to provide a link to it.  So here it is.  You, too, can read the dog's blog!

"Hello human friend,

I have a new blog. Check it out at http://bradystales.net. (Just click on it)

When you log in you will see my home page, but check to the right under recent posts and click to see my opinion about different things going on in Solivita. I will be doing new postings in the next few days, please check back, or if you register you can automatically be notified of new posts. It is best to go from the bottom in clicking on the posts, most posts are independent of others, but sometimes it will make more sense if you have read the one before it.

I love you.

Brady"

 

Party on Barcelona

Last night Mark and I had a fabulous time in the home of new neighbors just two doors down.  I think my whole Mahjong group was invited, and it seemed that most did attend.  We all brought something to eat to share and something to drink.  I mostly followed the plan that I talked about yesterday. I ate about a dozen Ritz crackers, a bunch of grapes, and hopefully no more than four ounces of the hard cheeses that I brought.  I took only one small graham cracker with some pumpkin/pudding dip on it that someone else brought and a lot of celery and red pepper strips.  Yay for me!  I said no to the homemade fudge, too.  And that was HARD!!

Our new neighbors are still only living there part time.  The rest of the time they are in NJ, but when they retire in a few years, they will be here full time.  They already have relatives who live here, so that's a lovely thing. I often think it would be so nice to have some of my relatives move here, but I'm sure that is never going to happen. 

The husband in the house, Ramon, played his keyboard and we all sang and dance.  Wow!  That was amazing!  I also learned that the neighbor on my other side, John, is an excellent singer.  Too bad he won't join Guys and Dolls! 

On a sad note, one of our neighbors passed away last week.  Although they are only four doors down on the other side AND they were members of Cypress Cove like us, we never met them.  I feel terribly guilty about that.  I had heard last Monday that he wasn't expected to last much longer due to a long battle with cancer, so it wasn't surprising that he passed away just a few days later.  What was heart-warming to see was the HUGE amount of cars on our street outside their house.  There was a beautiful outpouring of support from our neighbors and Cove members who came to the house for a celebration of his life.  Mark and I came back from synagogue Saturday afternoon and saw all those cars.  We knew immediately that he must have passed. Our first thought was that if they were Jewish it looked liked a shiva call.  SO many people came to their house.  That speaks wonderfully well for our neighborhood.

Today I have already planned my day's food.  My total calories should come to 1022 and I will be burning off an extra 291 calories with a 40 minute water aerobics class at the Cove and my usual 15 minute weight routine at The Palms.  I have recently increased the amount of weight on all the machines, so it's a challenge now.  Still the Lose It! program doesn't change the calories burned because it's by time.  As long as I'm doing only 15-20 minutes, I can't show more calories burned.  It doesn't matter anyway because I don't eat those calories back. Well, not on a regular basis anyway.

There is a 70% chance of rain today, so I hope we get that outdoor water aerobics done between 10:30 and 11:15 before the rain hits!  We also have to drive up to All Cars to get Mark's car back, and I'm playing Mahj this afternoon, as usual.

Hope you have a great day, too, no matter where you are!

Having too much fun!

I must apologize again for not writing any blogs since last Wednesday.  There has just been too much fun, I guess, and not enough news.

Wednesday night we had our first holiday meal, then again on Thursday night. Of course, Friday was Shabbat, always a holiday. In between we went to services at SOJC Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings.  When we got home, around 1 p.m. each time, we had lunch in the succah.  Mark has also eaten all his breakfasts out there, although this morning was the first time I joined him for that.  Last night, we actually ate dinner out there, too, since we went out before darkness set in.  I think it was Thursday evening, before dark even, that as soon as we came back inside from saying kiddush out there (wine, handwashing, and challah), a raccoon went scurrying across the backyard!  LOL!

The weather has been especially pleasant these last few days.  I went swimming at The Palms on Friday and swam 16 laps, which took me 45 minutes.  That pool is a lot longer than the Cove pool. I hardly ever swim there, but it was really delightful.  We did our weight routines on Thursday and Saturday since we ran out of time on Wednesday with so much to do to get ready for the holiday.  There is a lot of rain in the forecast, beginning this afternoon and continuing for several days. I don't know how much time we will eat outside or do outside exercise.  I can always walk the indoor track!

This morning we are heading up to the Regal Theaters at The Loop to see the new Hugh Jackman movie, Prisoners.  We are going there instead of our usual AMC Downtown Disney because this movie didn't have a morning showing at Disney, AND I have a gift card for my birthday from sister, Flyn.  This way we get to go for free!  Then we have to pick up a few things at Publix on the way back.  Hopefully, we can eat lunch in the succah if the rain hasn't started yet.

At 5 p.m. we are going to our neighbors for a little casual dinner party.  Everyone is to bring their own drinks and some appetizer to share.  Mark is taking a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey and I'm bringing a Coke Zero. For an appetizer, Mark is making his famous seven layer bean dip with tortilla chips.  I like it when he makes that because everyone loves it, so there is never anything leftover to bring back, except maybe some of the chips.  Also, I HATE it because it's full of sour cream and guacamole, so I am NEVER tempted to eat it.  LOL!  I am bringing Ritz crackers and four kinds of cheeses on a platter with some grapes.  My dinner tonight will consist of cheese, crackers, and grapes.  I have no idea what everyone else will be bringing, but they are not Jewish, so I'm sure there will be a lot of meat or shellfish involved.  That won't tempt me either, so as long as I monitor the cheese and stay out of the mixed nuts (Mark is also bringing those.), I should be okay.  This is the only meal all week that is going to be out of the house and difficult.  The rest of the week has included perfect meals and reasonable exercise.  I hope it pays off on the scale on Wednesday.

I am not sure the weight is budging this week despite my low calories and high exercise.  I measured my waist this morning, and it is UP again.  Weird.  I thought it had gone down an inch a few weeks ago, but today it seems to be up THREE from that number.  I don't think that's possible unless I'm bloated with fluid this morning.  Also I got on the scale at the gym yesterday.  It's a regular balance beam type scale, and of course, it's in the afternoon with clothes on, still I weighed 248 on it, which is the same as at the doctor's office over a week ago.  That could mean I haven't lost anything this week.  Ah, the dreaded weight loss plateau could be upon me.  We shall see.

Wherever you are reading this blog, if you have a succah, I hope you have a wonderful and peaceful time eating your meals out there.  Chag Sameach!

Good Weigh-in

Despite the challenges of the past week, I lost two pounds.  That's all I ever expect.  That's all my Lose It! program is promising me.

Today's weight is 243.7, down two from last week's 245.8.  Of course, the program rewards me by taking more calories away.  When I weighed 276, it allowed me 1498 calories.  Two weeks ago I was allowed 1396.  Now I'm down to only 1369.  Do you think that if this rate continues and I lose another 40 pounds, I'll be down to under 1000 calories a day?  I hope not!!!

Tonight begins the holiday of Succoth, which I described to some extent yesterday.  We are going to eat all our meals at home this week and all of those meals in the Succah, with one exception.  Sunday at 5 p.m. we are going to a party in the home of one of our neighbors.  Everyone is bringing a dish to share and their own drinks.  That will be our dinner, so I hope I don't graze too much at the party.  We shall see.  The rest of the week should be very well controlled and full of exercise. I am anticipating another good week.

Getting under 245 means that this is the lowest weight that I have hit since we moved to Florida.  Very exciting.  My next short goal is to get under 240. I have not been in the 230s since November/December of 2010 when I was on chemo.  I think I can make it under 240 by early October since it's only four more pounds.  That should be two more weeks.

Once those two weeks are up, we are in October and our friend Rudy will be arriving two days later.  One week after that is our first cruise.  It's just a short one on the Carnival Imagination with Rudy and his wife Georganne.  I just hope I can control myself on the cruise.  That would be something new for me, for sure!  LOL!  I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  We leave for Miami on a Sunday and return that Friday.  That means that part of the cruise is one week's weigh-in and part is the next week.  That might help.  Walking the track and going to the gym on the ship is also very important.  Controlling portions in the buffet and staying away from food between meals would also help.  Yeah, I always know what I SHOULD do!  Whether I do it or not is another story. LOL!

Meanwhile, I'm beginning a new week today.  My calories today are already laid out and planned for today. I will be eating 1156 calories and burning off 293 calories in exercise (weight lifting and water aerobics).  I will also be taking Mark to the comic book store and health food store, plus taking him to get his car back.  The whole trunk latch mechanism had to be replaced, very expensive unfortunately.  Then I'll go grocery shopping with him, which I almost never do, but I figure that's more walking around.  Never a bad thing.

Tonight we eat our first meal in the succah.  It WILL be before dark!  Our dinner menu tonight will be wine and challah, Farro and Vegetable Chicken Chili (305 calories a serving) and tossed salad.  That chili makes a huge pot, so we are having it tomorrow night and two nights next week, also.  Delicious!

If you are celebrating Succoth, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.  This is the fun reward for getting through the somber High Holiday period!  Enjoy the fun of eating in a succah with friends and family.  I will enjoy eating in the little one Mark built with just him and remember the times when we had a dozen in the succah every single night of the holiday.  Ah, those were the days!

Back to Blogging

I haven't written a blog since Friday morning.  I hope that's okay for all of you.  We were gone, as you know, and then I just didn't take the time yesterday to sit down and write.  I guess today will be the day to get back in the game.

Mark was busy yesterday for several hours putting up our succah.  The holiday of Succoth begins Wednesday night.  Back in Maryland, if we were home, we used to eat all our meals in it for the entire eight days.  In fact, we would invite people for dinner every night, up to a total of 12 sitting in the succah for dinner all 8 nights.  Sometimes we would get invited to someone else's succah, but there were years when we literally served dinner for 12 at our house for all the nights.  It was amazing.  Mark would shop and cook something different every night.  Our fridge was PACKED with food!  LOL!  There used to be lots of young families with little children.  Then we were slightly older families with 'tweens and teens.  Eventually most of the kids went off to college and weren't around anymore.  Finally, we were all older adults with few or no children left to attend our dinners in the succah.  Sigh.

Now we are in Florida with new traditions.  Our backyard is scary at night!  There are all manner of critters out there who could come wandering up.  We also have no outside lights in the backyard, so we would only have the little "succah" lights (a few strands of small outdoor Christmas lights) to brighten it up.  In fact, we have not put those lights up at all since we moved here. Also, now we have a very small succah that barely seats 4-6.  The poles for our old, giant succah never made it to Florida in the move.  We still don't know exactly how that happened.  We have invited a few people over in the past, but since we don't want to eat out there at night, it just doesn't feel right. 

New traditions.  Now we will eat breakfast and lunch out there and maybe early dinners before dark.  This year we did not invite even one family to join us.  Sigh.

Today we have another busy day.  I'm driving up with Mark to All Cars to drop off his car for some work.  We can pick it back up tomorrow.  Then we are going to Beginner Line Dancing and then swimming a little while to cool off.  We will eat picnic lunches near the pool and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing until it's time to go home for dinner.  Tonight I have a rehearsal for Guys and Dolls while Mark goes to the Travel Club meeting.  It's going to be a great day.

Tomorrow I will weigh in.  Yesterday I only ate 918 calories and burned 180 doing weights and walking.  Today I plan to eat only 901 and burn 758 in line dancing and swimming.  On the Fast Day, Saturday, I only ate 600 calories for dinner after sundown with no exercise.  I hope that makes up for the day before and after the Fast Day.  On those days I ate between 2000 and 2500 calories.  I hope it averages out for a decent week.  We shall see tomorrow morning!

Hope you all have a wonderful day. 

Yom Kippur begins tonight.

Today is Friday, the 13th.  Not sure that means anything, but I thought it was interesting to note.

It also means Yom Kippur begins tonight.  It's a solemn, holy day on the Jewish calendar.  It means a very long fast, no food, no water, for about 26 hours.  It means many long hours in the synagogue praying, atoning, asking for forgiveness from people we know and from God, asking for forgiveness from ourselves (always hard for some folks), and hoping we are all inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for another year.

This year Mark and I are continuing our new Yom Kippur tradition of checking into the WDW Resort.  Last year it was All Star Music, and this year it will be All Star Sports.  It's a nice cheap time because the resorts offer good discounts to Florida residents in the slow season!  We do it because the resorts are MUCH closer to the synagogue than our house.  This way we get to have a lovely day using the pool and enjoying the facilities at the resort this afternoon, a big dinner out at Landry's (a fantastic fish house near the synagogue), a short drive to shul, an easy place to go nap between 2 and 4 tomorrow when there is a break in the services and we have a pounding headache already from no caffeine, and a fun place to break the fast in the food court around 8 tomorrow night.  On Sunday we will check out and head over to a theme park for the day.  Not too shabby.

I'm packing my computer, but I will not be writing another blog until Yom Kippur is over.

As for my calories today, they are somewhat problematic.  There is a conundrum with eating around a big faast.  Since I'll be skipping breakfast and lunch tomorrow (and dinner won't be until 8 p.m.), I usually eat a very large dinner the night before.  On the other hand, my calories at breakfast and lunch aren't all that big, maybe 400-500 total for any normal day.  That's all I'm skipping.  I should NOT add them to tonight's dinner because I'm not skipping those meals today.  Tomorrow I could add them to the break-the-fast dinner, but typically after a long day of fasting, it's better to eat light.  So I guess between the two days, the calories average out.  I'm sure it's going to go over today and way under tomorrow.  We'll see.

To anyone reading this blog who is fasting tonight and tomorrow, I hope you have a meaningful fast and are inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for another wonderful year.


PS  I have decided not to take the computer with me to the resort.  I am going to go cold turkey on caffeine AND computers this weekend.  Well, caffeine will come back faster than the computer.  There WILL be coffee Sunday morning!

Great Check Up!

I just got back from an excellent doctor's appointment.  Everything was wonderful.

Weight 248 (with clothes, after breakfast, on her scale;  I was 245 at home earlier).  That was a drop of 14 pounds since she saw me in March.

BP 101/63.  Lately I have been getting these low pressures. Hopefully it's a sign of healthy eating and exercise.  She certainly didn't comment on it.

Pulse 59

Cholesterol 166,   down from 207 six months ago.
HDL, LDL, and Triglycerides are all fine, slightly changed from six months ago, but mostly in a good way. 

Fasting sugar  93

A1C  5.8

She is very happy with me. I'm very happy with myself.

I also got a flu shot. Yay!

The day is starting off nicely.

It's a beautiful sunny morning.  Okay, I admit.  That's not special in central Florida, but it still never gets old.  Mark is sitting on the lanai with the windows open, watching Good Morning America on his iPad, and working on emails, while eating breakfast.  It's a wonderful way to start the day.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table doing all the same things that he is, only on the inside!  LOL!  I'm sitting where I can see the big TV to my right and the lanai ahead to the left.  It's a nice view!

Well, now for the big announcement.  It's Weigh-in Wednesday. I didn't do much exercise this past week, so I've been worried.  Yesterday I walked a lot.  Mark and I went to the indoor track where I walked at a 20 minute per mile pace, very fast for me.  I walked 30 minutes at that pace, but before and after that fast walk at the track, I also walked another 25 minutes at a more normal walking pace.  That burned a total of 236 calories.  I ate 1411 calories total yesterday. It was a good day.

So....the results are...drum roll please... DOWN TWO POUNDS.  Yay!  And the crowd goes wild!

Yes, the scale said 245.8 this morning. I'm very pleased.  A two pound loss is all that is ever expected. 

I went back in my notebook and learned that this is exactly what I weighed in February of 2011, between chemo and radiation, when I left for Miami to take a cruise.  Of course three weeks later I was up six pounds from the cruise.  Most of the time I have stayed in the 250-260 range since then.  So really this weight ties the lowest I have ever been living here in Florida.

Now that's going to stop!  This week I hope to lose another pound or two and get OUT of the 240s by the end of September.  Well, maybe by mid-October, but I'm going to get there soon.

I have a new goal: Weigh about 210 for Lowell and Emily's wedding.  I need to lose 36 pounds more and I have 10 months to do it.  That means losing only 3 to 4 pounds per month to make that goal.  That is NOT a hard thing to do if I stay focused and keep my exercise up and my calories down. 

Today I am going up to the gym for the weight routine and then I'm swimming 30 minutes of laps at the pool.  Breakfast and lunch are at home and normal (meaning low calorie), but dinner is out at a Democratic Club Meeting.  It's a tuna salad sandwich in a "box lunch" type of thing. I have no idea what else is included in there, but I'm hoping that by keeping breakfast and lunch low, it won't matter what the dinner is.  In general, I have found that as long as two out of three meals are either at home or very low, one meal can be much bigger. 

Springfield

Yesterday we were surprised to see that there was not even one movie at AMC Downtown Disney that we wanted to see that was being run before noon.  Crazy.  So we looked at AMC City Walk at Universal and found an 11 a.m. showing of Two Guns with Denzel Washington. It was a fun movie and we were LITERALLY the only two people in the theater.  Haha!  That was fun because we laughed out loud and talked to each other about it as if we were home in our living room.  Nice.

Then we went into Universal Studios to see the newly opened Springfield area.  We had a spicy black bean burger at Krustyburger, but next time we will probably go for the fish tacos at the new taco truck.  There is also a donut store called Lard Lad. I hope they don't really use LARD.  UGH!  They have a donut milkshake on the menu that sounded unusual.

Mark wanted to ride the new ride, Twirl and Hurl. It's a glorified Dumbo type ride, but he had a great time.  Then he rode the Simpson simulator and Men in Black.  We took a nice walk around the park for some exercise, but I didn't get as far as I wanted because it was very hot and humid. I wore out a bit earlier than I expected.  We went into Terminator, one of our favorites, did a little shopping (I got myself a Universal Studios hat), and got home by 6.  Still it was an 8 hour day out of the house.  Crazy, but fun.

Now it's Monday and back to some normalcy. I hope to play Mahjong at 1 this afternoon for the first time in months.  After Mahj, we will go up to the gym for our weight routines. We also have two sets of workmen coming in.  Sometime between 8 and noon we have Service America coming to tune up/check out the A/C unit. It seemed to be acting funky back in July before we left, but it's been fine ever since we got home.  Between 5 and 6 tonight I have a general contractor coming to give me an estimate for some bathroom remodeling. I want a partial wall removed from the master bath shower and an all glass enclosure installed.  While he's here, I want him to give me some estimates on a few other smaller jobs, including adding more lighting over the kitchen sink.  It's always dark there even though there's a window.

As for my weight, I have the fear that this has not been a good week.  We had roast beef for two nights of Rosh Hashanah plus challah and wine.  Yesterday I had the burger and fries.  My calories yesterday came in around 1600 with far less walking than I had intended.  So I am thinking this is a maintenance week.  Maybe that's not such a bad thing.  In general, I'm far worse at maintaining a weight than losing or gaining!  LOL!  We will see on Wednesday.

Springfield pictures:

How nice is Arizona?

VERY NICE!

And I don't just mean the history or scenery.

We found that Arizonans, in general, were among the nicest people we ever encountered.

Exactly what do I mean?  Well, when you think about NYC, you think people are rude, loud, moving fast, not particularly polite.  And there is some truth to that in some people.  When you think about people in the deep south, you think people are slower, more polite, kind to each other.  These are broad generalizations, but I'm sure you can all think of instances when you were in the south or in NYC when you encountered a clerk in a store who was just like that.  In Maryland and in California, and in a lot of other states we've traveled through, most people are just so-so.  By that I mean, we run into a fair number of polite, even pleasant, clerks or receptionists, but we also run into a fair amount of them who are at best barely doing their job or at worst downright rude.  There was never the feeling that going to a store or an office would be a great experience or a bad experience.  It was just whatever it was, and if it went to an extreme at some point, then that was noteworthy.  Here in Florida, Mark and I have found store clerks and receptionists and wait staffers, in general, to be much nicer than those in Maryland.  Florida is not considered "deep south," but it does have some very nice people here in the retail and service industries.  Maybe that's because it relies heavily on the tourist dollar.

Not in Arizona!

We drove from Anaheim into Phoenix that first day, so our first experience with Arizonans was at the Super 8 in Phoenix and the waitresses at the Denny's that night for dinner.  Mark and I both enjoyed those experiences and commented that those people were really friendly.  In fact, at Denny's that night, as we spoke to each other at our table for two, TWICE people from different tables who obviously overheard us, just chirped up cheerily to chip in their two cents worth about whatever it was.  One conversation was about baseball and the other was about where we might find a grocery store.  We had lovely conversations with the families at both of those tables during dinner, and when we left, we talked at length in the car about how unusual it was that people from other tables felt comfortable jumping in to our conversations and about how pleasant the wait staff had been.  Then we didn't give it another thought, chalking it up to an isolated incident.

How wrong we were!

The next day we went to the ballgame.  We walked the half mile or so the stadium.  It was 108 degrees out, so there were not a lot of people walking, but those who did smiled or nodded as we walked.  That happens here in Solivita, but not always everywhere else.  When we got to the stadium, the ticket taker was super nice.  So was the usher.  So was every woman I ran into in the ladies' room.  So were the other spectators sitting around us.  Especially so was the traffic cop on the corner when we walked home.  He was so friendly that we almost missed our walk sign having such a fun conversation with him!  After that one, we both said when did we EVER have a pleasant experience with a traffic cop in downtown Baltimore?  NEVER.

And it went on and on and on.  Every city, every hotel, every restaurant, every store, every museum docent or ticket taker.  We NEVER encountered a rude, rushed, unpleasant person in Arizona. Is that possible?  Is it a state culture of niceness?  Maybe.  I don't really know.  But I do know it carried over into their driving habits.  EXCELLENT drivers are in Arizona! 

Anyone driving up and down the east coast or even in California has witnessed terrible driving, rude driving, downright unsafe driving.  But not in Arizona.  At no time did someone pass me unsafely, fail to let me in the lane when my turn signal was on, weave in and out, or speed excessively.  It was delightful.

It's almost enough to  make me want to move to Arizona.

Almost, but not quite.

Second day

First day of Rosh Hashana is over. It went well.  My little choir of 8 (counting me!) did very well.  We sang the same two songs twice during the service.  There were more people there during the first time.  Today we will only sing them once at the end of the service.  Not many people will be left by then, but that's okay, too.  It's nice that they did a good job and feel good about what they did.  I am sure they enhanced the spirituality of the day for themselves and the congregation.

We had the exact same dinner last night that we had the first night except we had asparagus instead of green beans and mango slices instead of apple slices.  Very delicious.  Both Wednesday and Thursday my calories were 1400.  I even went up to the gym on Wednesday.  My cold is definitely on the way OUT.  I'm so thankful for that.

Last night we watched the movie Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley.  We had both been wanting to see it since it came out, but I had not heard great things about it.  It got a lot of Oscar nominations, but that doesn't always mean I enjoy it.  Well, I did enjoy it. It was a long movie, but it went quickly.  It was a weird version, sort of set as if it was a stage play, but that was a sort of on and off thing.  Very odd, but I think it contributed to why the time went quickly.  I never read the book or knew too much about the story, so it kept me thinking to follow it.  I guess I'd give it a B+.

Wishing everyone a great second day of Rosh Hashana.  Have a sweet, healthy, happy New Year.

Wow! It's a Wednesday Weigh-in Again and Erev Rosh Hashanah. L'Shana Tovah everybody! And Happy 2nd Anniversary to Evey and Eric!

This is the first Wednesday that I have had a normal weigh-in for at least six weeks.

It was fine.  I am the same as Saturday, 247.8. 

I guess I'm okay with that, but I was hoping for a smidge less.  I ate well, but I did not really exercise because the cold sapped my energy.  Hopefully, this week I will be on the mend from the cold and be able to add more walking and swimming back into my routine.  I'm a little worried about the week, though, because of all the holiday meals coming up.  Tonight and tomorrow night are Rosh Hashanah dinners and then there's Friday, which is always a holiday meal!  Other than those three dinners, there is no excuse for eating what I shouldn't.

This morning Mark and I are heading down to Quest for fasting blood draws.  We both have our six month (used to be four months) check ups next week with our PCP.  She should be happy with me because I should be down 10 pounds since she saw me six months ago, and that was down ten pounds from the four months before.  In her world I should be showing about a 20 pound loss for the year.  She will never know that I walked out of her office six months ago at 258 and went right on up to 278 and then turned around recently and went down to 248.  Maybe I'll even be down one more by then.

So, I'm back from Quest and started to add up the dinner calories.
Menu tonight:
Raisin Challah
Wine
Chopped Liver
Brisket
Potato Kugel
Green Beans
Mark's homemade Low Carb Honey Cake
 total calories: 1040.  At least that's my best estimate from what I can figure out.

Breakfast then is two links and a yogurt for 160 calories.  Lunch is a can of tuna and some baby carrots for 155 calories, making the day's total 1355.  That's right on target since I'm allowed 1396 now.  If I exercise at all, it will be even better.

Now I'm heading up to the car shop for an oil change.  When I get back, I have some things around the house to do and then I'll see if I feel like exercising.  It would be good to get to the gym for the weights at least.

And I would also like to take this time to wish everybody a happy, healthy, sweet New Year.  L'Shana Tovah to all!

And one more thing, it's Evey and Eric's Second Wedding Anniversary.  They treated themselves to five days and four nights in Hawaii on the island of Kauai.  They took the red eye back over night, so I guess they are landing in San Francisco about now.  I know they had a spectacular time.  Happy Anniversary to both Evey and Eric. Love you both Lots and Lots!  Many more wonderful years are still ahead of you.

Tuesday after Labor Day. Back to work for everybody.

For me, back to work means I put a load of laundry in.  I'm also going to the bank, the post office, Wal Mart, and the pool.  Yesterday I stayed home all day, in my nightgown, nursing my cold.  I didn't lift a finger except to type or turn a page or push a button on the remote.  Slow day.  Oh, wait, I did make dinner, but that wasn't too hard. 

Today we have to leave the house because my cleaning lady, Carol, is coming this afternoon.  We will go out and do those errands and then hang out at the pool between 1 and 4 while she is here.  Then the evening is busy.  As soon as we get in at 4, Mark has to make a quick low carb pizza because we have to leave again at 5:15 to head to our shul.  At 6, there's a "work party" to put up a few hundred folding chairs for the High Holidays, which start Wednesday night.  At 7, I am having a final rehearsal for my little choir to sing at the Holiday services.

I'm very worried about this choir this year. I started it last year.  There were 11 singing last year, including me.  We got one new member this year, so I thought 12 would be fantastic.  Unfortunately, I have now lost 4 key singers in the last two days.  One singer is me because of this lousy cold.  In MD I never had to be both the director and a singer in the choir, but last year they needed me to sing with them.  Another lady emailed me yesterday that she is also sick and will bow out from the holidays.  Two others are a mother and son who are going to Rhode Island today for the entire holiday season because her brother isn't well.  Now I have only 8 singers, less than last year instead of more.  It's also been six weeks since the last rehearsal because of my trip out west.

I named this choir "Low Stress" to try to entice people to join and to remind myself to keep it low key.  Haha!  Now I'm high stressed about this, just like I always was back in MD!  I sent them all an email last night asking if they thought we could still do it with just 8 people, 1 of whom isn't going to be there tonight and only came to 2 rehearsals back in early June because she was gone all summer, 1 of whom only came to 1 rehearsal, 1 is new this year and still learning.  No one responded to that email. Yikes!  I'm stressed.

I also got on the scale this morning (yes, I know that's bad!), and I'm up a pound.  Yesterday I was down another half pound, so that means this is a pound and a half since I reported my loss for the trip.   Tomorrow morning will be my official weigh-in for Wednesday.  I'm guessing that although my calories were fine the last two days, the lack of exercise and maybe more sodium could be the culprit.  Because of the hot dogs and canned chili, my sodium count topped out at nearly 6,000 mg.  Way over what should be consumed in a day! I don't plan on actually exercising today, but there will certainly be more activity because of the shopping, putting up chairs, and rehearsing. I might even swim a little in the pool if I feel up to it this afternoon and it's not raining.  My calories will be fine again today, so hopefully this weird pound will be gone by tomorrow.

Tomorrow evening begins Rosh Hashanah.  It also begins a month of Yom Tovs and extra big dinners.  Yikes.  The fall season is a tough time to stay on a diet. I'm going to do my best because I do NOT want to find myself over the 250 mark EVERY AGAIN!

Happy Labor Day

(DISCLAIMER:
I sat down to write a normal blog and ended up with a rant or lecture or something I didn't start out to do.  So there. Just giving you a heads up.  Proceed at your own risk.)

Many people are off today in honor of Labor Day.  I used to approach this day with mixed feelings.  Although it was great to have a Monday off, it meant the beginning of the school year.  In the "old" days, when I was a kid and when I was a young teacher, school actually started the day after Labor Day.  During my career of teaching (1972-2010), school kept creeping up earlier into the calendar.  For the last two decades or so, teachers came in two weeks before Labor Day, and the kids started the week before Labor Day.  Down here in Florida, kids go back several weeks before Labor Day.  So that dread mixed with excitement that I used to get about the new school year starting the next day doesn't really exist for anyone anymore, I guess.

I also realized there are many people who never had Labor Day off.   Nurses and other hospital workers, like my mother, could never count on that day off.  They might get it or they might not.  The hospitals always have to be staffed.  Sick people don't get to take the day off, so they need those dedicated to helping them.  The military, fire fighters, police, and others who serve the public can't count on having that day off.   They protect and serve no matter what the day is.  Currently, there is a huge fire still raging in the Stanislaus National Forest and creeping into Yosemite National Park.  Those are areas that I drove through in August.  That forest fire is not taking the day off.  I'm sure there are thousands of fire fighters out there all day today working to contain the fire.

No matter what Labor Day means to you or your family, I hope you take a minute to think of those who have labored long and hard to bring this holiday to everyone and to those who cannot take the day off because their jobs never take a break. 

Now that I'm retired, every day is potentially the same to me. I don't have to get up and go to work ever again.  I get to choose when I get up and what I do all day.  I can make a weekend different from the rest of the week or the same.  It's all up to me.  Still, I never forget that this life I lead now of seeming leisure is something I earned by working hard for 37 1/2 school years, by paying into my retirement system regularly, by paying into the Social Security system regularly, by staying with the same company for my entire career.  Mark did the same with the federal government.  To some extent we feel like dinosaurs, a dying breed.  Those who are working for those same companies will not receive the same benefits we have because they are in the "new" retirement systems.  Many people have no retirement plan at all through their companies.  Instead, they must rely on their own savings plans, IRAs, and the forces of the stock market to make a nest egg for their future retirement.  I just hope that my kids and family members who are in these situations are able to have a decent retirement when their time comes.  I guess I'll never know for sure.

No matter what is happening in your life today, take a minute to reflect on what Labor Day has been in the past for you and your family and our country.  Take a minute to think about those who are working today because they have no choice.  Take a minute to enjoy your day, no matter where you are or whatever you are doing.

(OK, now that I'm finished my blog and re-red what I wrote, I am surprised at the direction it took.  Maybe it's my nasty cold. I was going to go play Mah Jong, but I cancelled.  I don't think I need to take these germs to Maureen's house.  I don't think they want to hear me cough, blow my nose, and then touch their tiles. YUK!  No, I'm staying home all day.  Mark can go to the gym without me.  I'm giving myself up to this cold today.  If I was a person still working in a job that required work on Labor Day, I would have called in sick!)

Sunday routine

I really feel back to normal today.  We are following all of our regular Sunday traditions.

Mark made me a delicious breakfast of low-carb pancakes, Morningstar links, and scrambled eggs (446 calories).  I slept in, mostly because I have a rotten cold and I took Dristan last night, then I worked on emails and Facebook while he was cooking.  Soon we are heading to Downtown Disney for a movie.  Today's choice is the one with Oprah Winfrey, The Butler.  I am betting it's going to get some award nominations.  After the movie, we will walk over to Pollo Campero and have our veggie chili lunch. I always get a fruit cup with that, too (311 calories).  That is followed up with some shopping in World of Disney. I have dropped my iPhone so often that the Minnie Mouse case is just too shattered.  It's got sharp edges, so it's time for a new one.  I'm also picking up some Disney baby things for Laverne's daughter.  Her first baby, a boy, came a little early!  If we still have some energy and it's not raining too hard (a big IF in Florida by 3:30 in the afternoon), we will head over to the Magic Kingdom.  Today's Limited Time Magic feature is a Dog Days of Summer Dance Party in Tomorrowland.  Bolt and Doug are going to be there along with Pluto and Stitch.  We have never seen Bolt live, so that's an attraction for us.  At that point, we will finally head home.  Mark will make me a grilled tuna steak, salad, and broccoli (341 calories), and finally we will relax and watch some TV.  For a late night snack I will eat a peach and a banana (223 calories).  My day will have 1320 calories and at least 90 minutes of walking (213 calories burned).  It's going to be a great day.

Happy September to all and have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!