There is much to be excited for today. The first and foremost is that later today our friends Jeff and Sara R. from MD are arriving for a three night visit. They have been staying in the Tampa area in a rental something (really not sure if it was a house or a condo) since mid-January. On Monday they are driving to Stuart to stay with some relatives for a couple of days before taking the autotrain back up north later in the week. They have had such a lovely Florida winter that they have already booked the same place for two months next year!
The other reason I am excited today is that I cracked the 240s again and weighed in this morning at 239.4. I was super excited about that back on Oct. 2 when I did it, but a few weeks later I was on a cruise and back in the 240s. I went back down again shortly after that cruise, and by the beginning of December I had gotten down as low as 232. Then there was Thanksgiving and two more cruises. I went back to the 240s, even as high as 249 one morning. Geez. I have stayed there for several months until this morning.
I would be more excited about cracking back into the 230s except that we have our company this weekend. I love company, but I haven't learned to control those eating opportunities. There will be a big Shabbat dinner tonight. There will be a lovely lunch of everything I love at home tomorrow after shul, the kind of meal that allows for a lot of chances to overeat. There will be dinner out at the Stonegate Grille tomorrow night. Sunday includes lunch out in downtown old Kissimmee. I do not expect to be in the 230s by Monday morning when the weigh-in will be official. Last Monday I was 243, a gain for that week. Since Monday, I have lost over 3 pounds, which is very exciting. Now I'm just hoping that by Monday I haven't gone over 243 so that the week is a wash. Sigh. Timing is everything! LOL!
Time to run now. I am heading to the Palms to get weekend passes for our guests, and then I'm heading up to the Village to sell tickets for the Starliters show. I'm sitting at the Farmer's Market from 9:30 until noon at a ticket booth. The home for a quick bite of lunch, and who knows, maybe Jeff and Sara will already be there. We're not sure when they are getting here. No matter what, I'm heading out at 12:40 to go to the Cove to put in our three hours of volunteer time in the ANRL Library (1-4 p.m. every Friday). At 4:30 we will be home for good and our friends will definitely be here by then. Mark is making a crock pot chicken dinner for Shabbat tonight. It will be fun to have more than two people at the table for Shabbat.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Down again
This morning I weighed 241 even. Wow! I was impressed and happy. I'd love to get under 240 this week. I have challenges with company and dinner out beginning Friday evening and running through Monday morning. I will just do my best through that. What else can I say?
Yesterday Mark and I took a 31 minute walk, going 1.37 miles. That's not super fast, but we were happy we took the time to walk. I also jumped in the pool for about 10 minutes, just paddling around, but it felt so good. I had not been to the pool in a long time. The winter has been busy and too cold many days for outdoor swimming.
I ate 1240 calories yesterday, burned off 120 walking, and did not feel any cravings or desire to graze, binge, or cheat. It was an OUTSTANDING day on my weight loss journey.
Today should also be good. I have eaten a normal breakfast and there is no reason to think that lunch and dinner won't be perfect as well. I won't be out of the house as much in the afternoon or evening, which means more chance for prowling inside the pantry. Let's hope not.
Currently, I'm heading out for yet another rehearsal for Laughter on the 23rd Floor and watching GMA's special "Let It Go" from Frozen video with people all over singing bits of it, and now they are doing some live performances outside the studio with Idina Menzel. Wow! This song is amazing and taking over the world. I saw her sing it live last August at the D23 Convention, introducing it for the first time to everyone. We were all WOWED and haven't stopped. I can't wait to hear her sing it at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
Yesterday Mark and I took a 31 minute walk, going 1.37 miles. That's not super fast, but we were happy we took the time to walk. I also jumped in the pool for about 10 minutes, just paddling around, but it felt so good. I had not been to the pool in a long time. The winter has been busy and too cold many days for outdoor swimming.
I ate 1240 calories yesterday, burned off 120 walking, and did not feel any cravings or desire to graze, binge, or cheat. It was an OUTSTANDING day on my weight loss journey.
Today should also be good. I have eaten a normal breakfast and there is no reason to think that lunch and dinner won't be perfect as well. I won't be out of the house as much in the afternoon or evening, which means more chance for prowling inside the pantry. Let's hope not.
Currently, I'm heading out for yet another rehearsal for Laughter on the 23rd Floor and watching GMA's special "Let It Go" from Frozen video with people all over singing bits of it, and now they are doing some live performances outside the studio with Idina Menzel. Wow! This song is amazing and taking over the world. I saw her sing it live last August at the D23 Convention, introducing it for the first time to everyone. We were all WOWED and haven't stopped. I can't wait to hear her sing it at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Special Phone Call coming today
Around 10 this morning, we are expecting a special phone call. It's a 30 minute call from DVC Member Services to answer any questions we might have and be sure we understand how everything works. I am trying to think of a question, but it's hard. I have been thinking about, reading about, and planning for DVC for over 20 years. I'm pretty sure I understand it. LOL! Still, we got an email asking us to make an appointment for a phone call, and we did. Anything that DVC wants us to do we will do. It's all part of the fun and magic of being a new Mouseowner!
Speaking of Mouseowners, that's also the name of a web group of other DVC owners. I registered on that website as soon as we knew we were definitely buying into it. It's been a ton of fun logging on everyday and reading what other DVC owners have to say. Despite what some of you may think of me and Mark, we are NOT the biggest Disney nuts on the planet, not by a long shot! LOL!
Now on to the weight loss portion of today's blog. I'm down six-tenths of a pound. That's pretty good. This morning I weighed 242.4. As usual, I was expecting more, which is why I shouldn't get on the scale every day. I was up going to the bathroom almost every hour all night, so I thought there was going to be more weight gone. Doesn't matter. Sticking to the plan does bring weight loss.
Speaking of sticking to the plan, I have now gotten through three full days, but yesterday was already getting tough. I ended up having the correct number of calories, 1346. My plan is still allowing 1354 every day in order to lose two pounds per week as long as I still weigh 241.5 or more. The last time I recorded a weight into it was Feb. 10, and I weighed 241.5 then. I'm not putting in another weight until I am lower than that weight.
The urge to binge came upon me yesterday afternoon. I was feeling light-headed and super hungry when I got home from the morning rehearsal. It was lunch time, so I took half a bagel and some cream cheese. That wasn't on my list of things to eat. I was still hungry, so I took my planned can of tuna and ate it with 2.4 ounces of left over challah, which was NOT on the plan. The good news is that I immediately programmed all of that food into the app. Lunch then came to 459 calories. I drank a Coke Zero and chewed gum as I worked my jigsaw puzzle and watched some TV until my early dinner. I had to have dinner around 5:15 in order to go to the Starliter rehearsal. Dinner was a cup and a quarter of a vegetarian chili that Mark had made weeks ago. I had that with a can of green beans, making dinner only 285 calories.
That would all have been okay, both dinner and lunch, except for one thing. While I was watching TV, I grabbed a handful of almonds, which is about 160 calories. Then I grabbed a SECOND handful. Then I knew I was out of control. I was grazing. I was binging. I was doing all the things I know I should not do. It's like an addiction that is hard to stop.
I did one good thing though. I went to rehearsal, which gets me out of the house and away from food for about four hours. Then when I came home, I made a cup of decaf coffee in the Keurig, did some things on the computer, and watched Castle in the bedroom. Watching in the bedroom was a strategy I used to use in the "old" days of dieting. I didn't do it on purpose, but Mark was DVRing two other shows in the family room, so we had to watch Castle live in the bedroom. I ate two sugar free Popsicles and two sugar free jello cups, a total of 50 calories for snacks. I cut out the banana and the Arctic Zero pint I was going to eat, which would have been 285 calories. That saved me! Changing the snack at the end of the day absolutely saved the day.
So....here's my quandary. I want to be proud of myself for saving the day, for making some appropriate snack choices at the last minute to make the day's calories come out right and for logging all the inappropriate foods into the app for honesty. I want to do that. BUT, of course, I am also beating myself up about losing control, about eating half a bagel that I should NEVER have touched, about getting up and going to the pantry and grabbing a handful of Mark's almonds, TWICE! There is no excuse for doing any of that.
Why is beating myself up so much more difficult than congratulating myself?
Speaking of Mouseowners, that's also the name of a web group of other DVC owners. I registered on that website as soon as we knew we were definitely buying into it. It's been a ton of fun logging on everyday and reading what other DVC owners have to say. Despite what some of you may think of me and Mark, we are NOT the biggest Disney nuts on the planet, not by a long shot! LOL!
Now on to the weight loss portion of today's blog. I'm down six-tenths of a pound. That's pretty good. This morning I weighed 242.4. As usual, I was expecting more, which is why I shouldn't get on the scale every day. I was up going to the bathroom almost every hour all night, so I thought there was going to be more weight gone. Doesn't matter. Sticking to the plan does bring weight loss.
Speaking of sticking to the plan, I have now gotten through three full days, but yesterday was already getting tough. I ended up having the correct number of calories, 1346. My plan is still allowing 1354 every day in order to lose two pounds per week as long as I still weigh 241.5 or more. The last time I recorded a weight into it was Feb. 10, and I weighed 241.5 then. I'm not putting in another weight until I am lower than that weight.
The urge to binge came upon me yesterday afternoon. I was feeling light-headed and super hungry when I got home from the morning rehearsal. It was lunch time, so I took half a bagel and some cream cheese. That wasn't on my list of things to eat. I was still hungry, so I took my planned can of tuna and ate it with 2.4 ounces of left over challah, which was NOT on the plan. The good news is that I immediately programmed all of that food into the app. Lunch then came to 459 calories. I drank a Coke Zero and chewed gum as I worked my jigsaw puzzle and watched some TV until my early dinner. I had to have dinner around 5:15 in order to go to the Starliter rehearsal. Dinner was a cup and a quarter of a vegetarian chili that Mark had made weeks ago. I had that with a can of green beans, making dinner only 285 calories.
That would all have been okay, both dinner and lunch, except for one thing. While I was watching TV, I grabbed a handful of almonds, which is about 160 calories. Then I grabbed a SECOND handful. Then I knew I was out of control. I was grazing. I was binging. I was doing all the things I know I should not do. It's like an addiction that is hard to stop.
I did one good thing though. I went to rehearsal, which gets me out of the house and away from food for about four hours. Then when I came home, I made a cup of decaf coffee in the Keurig, did some things on the computer, and watched Castle in the bedroom. Watching in the bedroom was a strategy I used to use in the "old" days of dieting. I didn't do it on purpose, but Mark was DVRing two other shows in the family room, so we had to watch Castle live in the bedroom. I ate two sugar free Popsicles and two sugar free jello cups, a total of 50 calories for snacks. I cut out the banana and the Arctic Zero pint I was going to eat, which would have been 285 calories. That saved me! Changing the snack at the end of the day absolutely saved the day.
So....here's my quandary. I want to be proud of myself for saving the day, for making some appropriate snack choices at the last minute to make the day's calories come out right and for logging all the inappropriate foods into the app for honesty. I want to do that. BUT, of course, I am also beating myself up about losing control, about eating half a bagel that I should NEVER have touched, about getting up and going to the pantry and grabbing a handful of Mark's almonds, TWICE! There is no excuse for doing any of that.
Why is beating myself up so much more difficult than congratulating myself?
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday's official weight report
I was in such a rush last Monday that I didn't even get on the scale. I wanted to be sure that didn't happen this morning. I weighed in at an even 243 this morning. That's a gain of 1.1 pounds since the last time I reported it in the blog. My last official weigh-in report was February 3 at 241.9.
Last night we had a great new experience. We had dinner out with Barb and Al, not a new experience, but we went to Perkins. That was the new part. We had never gone to a Perkins, but the Olive Garden was a 35 minute wait. That seemed crazy when Perkins shares the same parking lot and had no wait. Mark and I were both impressed with the friendliness of the staff, the cleanliness of the restaurant and its restrooms, and the extensive menu. I ordered the Fit Lemon Tilapia, 430 calories, with a side salad (maybe 120 calories due to croutons), and half of Mark's dinner roll with a tad of butter. All in all, it was less calories than I had planned to eat at Olive Garden. The day's total calories came to 1303. Nice.
I had an excellent day yesterday, stayed within my calorie limits, and did do some walking around Downtown Disney. It wasn't much walking, but everything helps. I have now had two days in a row of doing what I should. Today is starting off right with my usual 182 calorie breakfast. Now I'm off to the morning rehearsal.
Hope the day is good for everyone!
Last night we had a great new experience. We had dinner out with Barb and Al, not a new experience, but we went to Perkins. That was the new part. We had never gone to a Perkins, but the Olive Garden was a 35 minute wait. That seemed crazy when Perkins shares the same parking lot and had no wait. Mark and I were both impressed with the friendliness of the staff, the cleanliness of the restaurant and its restrooms, and the extensive menu. I ordered the Fit Lemon Tilapia, 430 calories, with a side salad (maybe 120 calories due to croutons), and half of Mark's dinner roll with a tad of butter. All in all, it was less calories than I had planned to eat at Olive Garden. The day's total calories came to 1303. Nice.
I had an excellent day yesterday, stayed within my calorie limits, and did do some walking around Downtown Disney. It wasn't much walking, but everything helps. I have now had two days in a row of doing what I should. Today is starting off right with my usual 182 calorie breakfast. Now I'm off to the morning rehearsal.
Hope the day is good for everyone!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Good morning. I'm going for two days in a row!
I finally had a good day yesterday! I walked that 30 minutes for the Cancer Walk, and I logged all my calories into the Lose It! app. I ate 1267 calories, which is excellent. My program allows me 1364, and I burned 127 in exercise. That's an excellent day. I also drank 1 liter of water, 20 ounces of Coke Zero, a cup of plain hot tea, 3 cups of regular black coffee, and 1 cup of decaf black coffee. That's a lot of liquid.
My reward this morning is down 2.2 pounds to 243.8. I'm quite excited about that, even though I know that is mostly water weight.
Today's challenges are lunch and dinner out.
Our usual Sunday involves going to Downtown Disney for a movie and eating lunch at Pollo Campero. We are seeing Monuments Men at 11:05, then around 1:30 I'll have a late lunch of the vegetarian three bean chili and fruit cup at Pollo Campero. That's my usual Sunday lunch after the movie. I don't know exactly what the calories are, but I always estimate the chili using the Santa Fe Black Bean Chili from Sweet Tomatoes as a guide because it's probably the closest thing in the Lose it! file. That is 285 calories for a cup and a half. The fruit cup is probably another 100. So lunch today will be 385. Breakfast will be at home, 182 calories for my usual Fiber One cereal with sugar free Greek Yogurt and fresh blueberries.
I'm having dinner out with friends Barbara and Al, whom we have not seen in way too long. Exactly where we are eating is still up in the air, but it will probably be in DTD or somewhere in a Disney resort food court. I will have about 800 calories left after breakfast and lunch. If I'm careful, that should be enough. I'd still like to eat a banana at bedtime, and a large one is 130 calories. That would mean keeping dinner to around 670. That's easy at home but challenging in restaurants. The saving grace will be all the walking I should be doing around DTD. My Lose It! app allows me to eat back whatever extra calories are burned off in exercise. I usually don't do that, making my caloric deficit even bigger, but on days like this with restaurant meals, I might have to. I'll probably burn up another 100 calories in walking around, so that will make dinner okay even up to 770 plus the banana later. The other problem is that restaurant food is always loaded with hidden sodium, which causes water retention.
Now I just have to pray that I actually can keep dinner to around 770 at the most. We shall see!
Meanwhile, it's going to be a fun day. There is a 30% chance of thunderstorms today from 3-8 p.m., so we might be walking in the rain, but who cares? It will feel like summer in central FL, warm, and humid with afternoon thunderstorms. It's what we do here.
My reward this morning is down 2.2 pounds to 243.8. I'm quite excited about that, even though I know that is mostly water weight.
Today's challenges are lunch and dinner out.
Our usual Sunday involves going to Downtown Disney for a movie and eating lunch at Pollo Campero. We are seeing Monuments Men at 11:05, then around 1:30 I'll have a late lunch of the vegetarian three bean chili and fruit cup at Pollo Campero. That's my usual Sunday lunch after the movie. I don't know exactly what the calories are, but I always estimate the chili using the Santa Fe Black Bean Chili from Sweet Tomatoes as a guide because it's probably the closest thing in the Lose it! file. That is 285 calories for a cup and a half. The fruit cup is probably another 100. So lunch today will be 385. Breakfast will be at home, 182 calories for my usual Fiber One cereal with sugar free Greek Yogurt and fresh blueberries.
I'm having dinner out with friends Barbara and Al, whom we have not seen in way too long. Exactly where we are eating is still up in the air, but it will probably be in DTD or somewhere in a Disney resort food court. I will have about 800 calories left after breakfast and lunch. If I'm careful, that should be enough. I'd still like to eat a banana at bedtime, and a large one is 130 calories. That would mean keeping dinner to around 670. That's easy at home but challenging in restaurants. The saving grace will be all the walking I should be doing around DTD. My Lose It! app allows me to eat back whatever extra calories are burned off in exercise. I usually don't do that, making my caloric deficit even bigger, but on days like this with restaurant meals, I might have to. I'll probably burn up another 100 calories in walking around, so that will make dinner okay even up to 770 plus the banana later. The other problem is that restaurant food is always loaded with hidden sodium, which causes water retention.
Now I just have to pray that I actually can keep dinner to around 770 at the most. We shall see!
Meanwhile, it's going to be a fun day. There is a 30% chance of thunderstorms today from 3-8 p.m., so we might be walking in the rain, but who cares? It will feel like summer in central FL, warm, and humid with afternoon thunderstorms. It's what we do here.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Where does the time go? Just busy, as usual
I decided to write a blog today and was SHOCKED to see that the last one was Feb. 10. Crazy! Today is Feb. 22. I rarely let 12 days go between blogs. For those who have been regular readers, I apologize for letting you down. At this point, maybe nobody is reading anymore because if you kept checking and checking and finding nothing, sooner or later you are just going to stop looking. Sigh. I'm sorry.
So much has been going on that I barely know where to start. I can't even go back and talk about all of it. We have been busy with rehearsals for Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Starliters. We had a wonderful time on Valentine's Day. We went to the Marcelline to Main Street tour at the Magic Kingdom with the Solivita Disney Fan Club, and we spent two glorious nights on Marco Island with our good friends, Vinnie and Annette. I'm going to start with that.
We loved our time on Marco Island. It's beautiful! Vinnie and Annette invited us to stay a few nights in their time share. This time they had a huge, beautiful 3BR unit on the fourth floor. Just gorgeous, with a beautiful view of the canals and lovely homes. On Thursday, we took a private tour for three hours, covering the history of the island, including a museum stop. We also swam in the Gulf of Mexico! I had never even really seen the Gulf of Mexico, let alone swim in it. That was a dream come true, and I did not care how cold the water was. I SWAM!
This morning we participated in the Solivita Relay for Life Cancer Walk. This was our fourth year. Time flies! Because I'm obsessed with my weight, I went back to my logs and checked my weight at each of the previous walks. I was kind of surprised to see that I was at my lowest weight ever this morning for one of these walks. In 2011, I weighed 249; in 2012, I weighed 255; in 2013, I weighed 266. This morning I weighed 246. I must admit I was surprised.
We completed the 1.5 mile course in just a few seconds over 30 minutes. I was pretty excited about that!
Annette's daughter is getting married just a few days after Lowell. He is on July 12 and Christine is on July 18. (Christine is just a little older than Evey.) So....Annette and I have made a pact to help each other lose 30 pounds by the wedding dates. I have recently given her this blog's URL, so I hope she is able to log on and find it. I hope she will post some comments on here, so we can all help support each other in our efforts. She has already bought her MOB dress, but she isn't worried at all about having it taken in a size or two if she is successful. I've been holding off on getting my MOG dress because I've wanted to wait to see what size I am.
I have been way off track lately, which is why I weighed 246 this morning. In early December, I had gotten down to 232. At that point, I was sure I could hit 210, or even 200, by the wedding. But instead of going down, I regained 14 pounds. UGH! Now I'm hoping to lose 30 by the wedding and be at 216 or thereabouts for the wedding. Not my original goal, but still a very attainable goal. I would feel good at 216 and look much better than I do now.
In between then and now, as always, there are many challenges: parties, many trips out of town, several sets of overnight guests, special restaurant meals, and even a week of Passover! This never changes. Whenever I think about a week and trying to get through it successfully, I report all the stumbling blocks in front of me. So far, I've been stumbling on all of them and then not getting back up on the horse, so to speak. In order to lose 30 pounds by July 12, I have to jump over those stumbling blocks, or pick them up and toss them out of my way, or walk around them. SOMETHING! ANYTHING! There have to be no excuses and no cheating. I have done it before. Yes, I have! I can do it again. Yes, I can! I WILL!
This morning, for the first time in MONTHS, I opened up the Lose It! app on my phone and programmed my breakfast. I also walked that mile and a half, burning 127 calories doing it. I am off to an excellent start today.
I will close this blog with a few pictures from the last few weeks, especially swimming in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday.
VALENTINE'S DAY
Mark got me this beautiful triple Mickey necklace for Valentine's Day. Haha! I got him a boning knife and an egg separator. It was also the day we had our DVC breakfast for new owners at the top of Bay Lake Towers.
MARDI GRAS AND BARENAKED LADIES CONCERT AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
The night after Valentine's Day, we went to US for the parade and concert. The BNL played for an hour and 20 minutes! We sat on a bench where we could easily hear them, see them live (itty bitty in the distance), and watch them on the big screen. It was a lot of fun, but it was a cold night, in the 40s.
MARCO ISLAND
We drove four hours on Wednesday, after our rehearsal, to get to Marco Island, which is on the west coast about the same latitude as Miami. The Valerios and their other friends, Jim and Susan, were waiting for us and called out for an Italian dinner to be delivered. Thursday we toured and swam and had one of the most fabulous fish dinners EVER. After a leisurely breakfast Friday morning, we headed home, which took nearly six hours. It is close to 200 miles from our house but totally worth the drive.
So much has been going on that I barely know where to start. I can't even go back and talk about all of it. We have been busy with rehearsals for Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Starliters. We had a wonderful time on Valentine's Day. We went to the Marcelline to Main Street tour at the Magic Kingdom with the Solivita Disney Fan Club, and we spent two glorious nights on Marco Island with our good friends, Vinnie and Annette. I'm going to start with that.
We loved our time on Marco Island. It's beautiful! Vinnie and Annette invited us to stay a few nights in their time share. This time they had a huge, beautiful 3BR unit on the fourth floor. Just gorgeous, with a beautiful view of the canals and lovely homes. On Thursday, we took a private tour for three hours, covering the history of the island, including a museum stop. We also swam in the Gulf of Mexico! I had never even really seen the Gulf of Mexico, let alone swim in it. That was a dream come true, and I did not care how cold the water was. I SWAM!
This morning we participated in the Solivita Relay for Life Cancer Walk. This was our fourth year. Time flies! Because I'm obsessed with my weight, I went back to my logs and checked my weight at each of the previous walks. I was kind of surprised to see that I was at my lowest weight ever this morning for one of these walks. In 2011, I weighed 249; in 2012, I weighed 255; in 2013, I weighed 266. This morning I weighed 246. I must admit I was surprised.
We completed the 1.5 mile course in just a few seconds over 30 minutes. I was pretty excited about that!
Annette's daughter is getting married just a few days after Lowell. He is on July 12 and Christine is on July 18. (Christine is just a little older than Evey.) So....Annette and I have made a pact to help each other lose 30 pounds by the wedding dates. I have recently given her this blog's URL, so I hope she is able to log on and find it. I hope she will post some comments on here, so we can all help support each other in our efforts. She has already bought her MOB dress, but she isn't worried at all about having it taken in a size or two if she is successful. I've been holding off on getting my MOG dress because I've wanted to wait to see what size I am.
I have been way off track lately, which is why I weighed 246 this morning. In early December, I had gotten down to 232. At that point, I was sure I could hit 210, or even 200, by the wedding. But instead of going down, I regained 14 pounds. UGH! Now I'm hoping to lose 30 by the wedding and be at 216 or thereabouts for the wedding. Not my original goal, but still a very attainable goal. I would feel good at 216 and look much better than I do now.
In between then and now, as always, there are many challenges: parties, many trips out of town, several sets of overnight guests, special restaurant meals, and even a week of Passover! This never changes. Whenever I think about a week and trying to get through it successfully, I report all the stumbling blocks in front of me. So far, I've been stumbling on all of them and then not getting back up on the horse, so to speak. In order to lose 30 pounds by July 12, I have to jump over those stumbling blocks, or pick them up and toss them out of my way, or walk around them. SOMETHING! ANYTHING! There have to be no excuses and no cheating. I have done it before. Yes, I have! I can do it again. Yes, I can! I WILL!
This morning, for the first time in MONTHS, I opened up the Lose It! app on my phone and programmed my breakfast. I also walked that mile and a half, burning 127 calories doing it. I am off to an excellent start today.
I will close this blog with a few pictures from the last few weeks, especially swimming in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday.
VALENTINE'S DAY
Mark got me this beautiful triple Mickey necklace for Valentine's Day. Haha! I got him a boning knife and an egg separator. It was also the day we had our DVC breakfast for new owners at the top of Bay Lake Towers.
MARDI GRAS AND BARENAKED LADIES CONCERT AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
The night after Valentine's Day, we went to US for the parade and concert. The BNL played for an hour and 20 minutes! We sat on a bench where we could easily hear them, see them live (itty bitty in the distance), and watch them on the big screen. It was a lot of fun, but it was a cold night, in the 40s.
MARCO ISLAND
We drove four hours on Wednesday, after our rehearsal, to get to Marco Island, which is on the west coast about the same latitude as Miami. The Valerios and their other friends, Jim and Susan, were waiting for us and called out for an Italian dinner to be delivered. Thursday we toured and swam and had one of the most fabulous fish dinners EVER. After a leisurely breakfast Friday morning, we headed home, which took nearly six hours. It is close to 200 miles from our house but totally worth the drive.
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| This picture doesn't show the sparkle of the beautiful Swarovski crystals. |
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| At the breakfast they let me take the coloring book and crayons laid out for the kids! |
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| Beautiful view from the top of Bay Lake Towers. |
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| Looking at our new "home", the Villas at the Grand Floridian. |
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| Mark made me a special dinner that night, including a watermelon martini. |
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| Mardi Gras at Universal Studios. |
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| View from our bench at the BNL concert. |
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| View from the balcony at Sunset Cove on Marco Island. |
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| Looking at the dining room and kitchen from the living room. |
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| Our first stop on the tour |
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| The Marco Island cat was found buried under shell mounds during housing construction. This is a large replica of a small statue, which is housed in the Smithsonian. |
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| Mock up of a Calusa chief on a shell mound. The Calusas were here for thousands of years, but finally were all gone by the 1700s due to disease from the Spaniards and being killed off on purpose. |
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| Nature walk. I picked up a pod from a Poinciana tree. Good for using as a maraca! |
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| Sample of the homes we drove past! |
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| With Vinnie and Annette outside the timeshare building. |
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| Vinnie and Mark setting up our campsite on South Beach. The sand is hardpacked and easy to walk on, with shoes, because it's crushed shells. |
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| The sun and air are warm, but the water is COLD! |
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| Didn't care about the cold. I was determined to swim. |
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| Warming up in the condo hot tub later. |
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| Vinnie and Annette in the parking lot at the restaurant for dinner. |
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| Lovely visit with Mark's high school friend. Nice. |
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| This restaurant was highly recommended for its fish, and it lived up to the hype. Delicious dinner! |
Monday, February 10, 2014
The week begins anew...
Saturday was a cold, dreary day. I awoke with cold symptoms, mostly a sore throat and fatigue. Mark and I decided to stay home from shul and just rest. In fact, I didn't even get out of my nightgown, robe, and slippers. I read, worked my puzzle, and watched a lot of TV. Every now and then I just need a day like that.
Yesterday, we got up early, despite still having cold symptoms, and went to Animal Kingdom. We had breakfast at Pizzafari (never knew that they did breakfast until then), walked up the Pangani Trail to look at all the animals (all very active because it was a cool, sunny, 60s), rode the Safari and Dinosaur rides on FP+ bookings, and had lunch at Restaurantosaurus, also new for us. Then we headed to DTD to see the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. It was long, but the time flew by.
Now it's Monday and the new rat race begins. Well, it's the retirement rat race: 9-12:30 rehearsal for Laughter on the 23rd Floor, 1-4 Mah Jongg at the neighbor's house, 5:30-9:30 rehearsal for Starliters. Crazy, right? Crazy in a wonderful way.
It's also Weigh-in day. It's essentially the same. I am 241.5 this morning, a loss of only four-tenths. That's basically staying the same. Of course, I know that I didn't do that! I hopped on the scale every day, and I know I went up and then down. That doesn't matter! Only today's official number counts.
Every week seems to come with its own challenges. This week I will be eating lunch and dinner out on Wednesday (NARFE meeting lunch, HEAL meeting vegetarian potluck dinner), breakfast and lunch out on Friday (DVC breakfast at Bay Lake Towers and lunch at the Cove), and lunch out on Saturday (Solivita model homes). If I can only keep the snacking to a minimum at night watching TV, I should be fine. It's really not always these meals out. It's my grazing in the house that's screwing things up. It's also the lack of walking. I walked a lot yesterday at Animal Kingdom, but mostly I haven't done any regular exercise anymore.
So here we go. The week begins.
Yesterday, we got up early, despite still having cold symptoms, and went to Animal Kingdom. We had breakfast at Pizzafari (never knew that they did breakfast until then), walked up the Pangani Trail to look at all the animals (all very active because it was a cool, sunny, 60s), rode the Safari and Dinosaur rides on FP+ bookings, and had lunch at Restaurantosaurus, also new for us. Then we headed to DTD to see the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. It was long, but the time flew by.
Now it's Monday and the new rat race begins. Well, it's the retirement rat race: 9-12:30 rehearsal for Laughter on the 23rd Floor, 1-4 Mah Jongg at the neighbor's house, 5:30-9:30 rehearsal for Starliters. Crazy, right? Crazy in a wonderful way.
It's also Weigh-in day. It's essentially the same. I am 241.5 this morning, a loss of only four-tenths. That's basically staying the same. Of course, I know that I didn't do that! I hopped on the scale every day, and I know I went up and then down. That doesn't matter! Only today's official number counts.
Every week seems to come with its own challenges. This week I will be eating lunch and dinner out on Wednesday (NARFE meeting lunch, HEAL meeting vegetarian potluck dinner), breakfast and lunch out on Friday (DVC breakfast at Bay Lake Towers and lunch at the Cove), and lunch out on Saturday (Solivita model homes). If I can only keep the snacking to a minimum at night watching TV, I should be fine. It's really not always these meals out. It's my grazing in the house that's screwing things up. It's also the lack of walking. I walked a lot yesterday at Animal Kingdom, but mostly I haven't done any regular exercise anymore.
So here we go. The week begins.
Friday, February 7, 2014
DVC DAY!
Today we finally bought into the Disney Vacation Club! We looked into it in 1992 but decided we could not afford it. Now the time was right! We had an early breakfast at Saratoga Springs Resort and then walked down to the DVC offices for our 8 a.m. appointment. We bought two separate contracts, each 120 points. The incentive for new purchases right now was that amount points post-dated for 2013 with NO maintenance fees. That's like free money!
After we finished signing all the papers, they take you to their special Ice Cream Parlor for some free ice cream. Mark had sugar free chocolate swirl and I had espresso chip. Then it was time to head over to our new home, The Villas at Grand Floridian. We visited the new lobby, had the DVC man show us a 2BR room so we could ooh and aah over it, walked all around the whole GF resort, and ate lunch at the Gasparillo Island Grille, their quick service food court restaurant.
Wow!
Then we went home and called Member Services to book up those 2013 points.
Here's what you can get for 240 points, including banking some into the next use year, which begins August 1:
One night in a 1BR standard view at the Grand Floridian on March 12 for Mark's birthday;
Four nights in a Deluxe Inn room ocean view at Vero Beach May 12-16, just because we never have been there;
2 nights in a Studio Lake View at the GF Oct 3-5 for Yom Kippur (so much nicer than All Star Sports like we did the last two years!);
2 nights in a Studio standard view at the GF Dec. 22-24 for our 39th anniversary;
and there are 8 points left over to combine later with a few from the 2014 points!
Then I will bank the rest of the 2014 points into 2015 for a full week in a 2BR Island View at Aulani in Hawaii to celebrate my 65th birthday with Lowell, Emily, Evey, and Eric!
This is a dream come true!
Monday, February 3, 2014
Disappointing and only 147 days to go
My official weight this morning is 241.9. Last Monday I was 244.4, so that's a loss for the week of 2.5 pounds. I should have been happy, but Friday I reported I was 240.4. Instead of being pleased with a two and a half pound loss in the week, I'm upset that there's a 1.5 pound gain since Friday.
This is why I should HIDE the scale during the week.
Friday night we went out. Saturday night I had the banquet. Yesterday was perfect with lots of walking. I was up almost every hour going to the bathroom, so I thought I was going to be at the 240.4 mark at least.
Now my Lose It! phone app says I have a 147 days to my goal of 200. It always says it with a cheery disposition. How nice. I counted the days on the calendar, and 147 days from today is July 7. The wedding is July 12. I'm starting to think I won't make that goal of 200 by the wedding because there are just too many times to screw up between then and now, including Passover. Actually if I got to 210 or even 215, I would feel pretty happy with myself. That's probably a more realistic goal at this point.
So back to the drawing board. Today should be perfect because all meals will be controlled at home and I will be so busy and out of the house so much that there will be very little opportunity for snacking. I also have an hour of rehearsal tonight that will include dancing. That's a good thing.
This is why I should HIDE the scale during the week.
Friday night we went out. Saturday night I had the banquet. Yesterday was perfect with lots of walking. I was up almost every hour going to the bathroom, so I thought I was going to be at the 240.4 mark at least.
Now my Lose It! phone app says I have a 147 days to my goal of 200. It always says it with a cheery disposition. How nice. I counted the days on the calendar, and 147 days from today is July 7. The wedding is July 12. I'm starting to think I won't make that goal of 200 by the wedding because there are just too many times to screw up between then and now, including Passover. Actually if I got to 210 or even 215, I would feel pretty happy with myself. That's probably a more realistic goal at this point.
So back to the drawing board. Today should be perfect because all meals will be controlled at home and I will be so busy and out of the house so much that there will be very little opportunity for snacking. I also have an hour of rehearsal tonight that will include dancing. That's a good thing.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Good Shabbos
For some reason, I woke up at 6 a.m. and stayed awake. That's unusual for me, so I'm pretty sure there will be a big nap later this afternoon. I will be out tonight from around 6 p.m. to at least 11 p.m., so I'm sure I will need that nap!
I didn't rise to the challenge yesterday of following my diet. When we ate lunch out, I ordered a spicy black bean burger with onion rings. Mark got fries, so we each ate half an order of fries and half an order of rings. Delicious, but stupid. Then at dinner, I had too much challah....so predictable. There were cheese and crackers and fresh pineapple for appetizers. I had too much of that before dinner. Dinner was GREAT, though, broiled salmon, baked potato, and salad. Perfect. Dessert was a delicious frozen yogurt in a small waffle cup with one cookie. Maybe it wasn't too bad. I haven't weighed myself this morning. I think it will be better to wait.
Today I'll have breakfast and lunch at home before heading to the Rosen Center for the banquet. It probably won't be too bad since the plated dinner will control the portions.
It was gray and rainy all day again yesterday. That's three days of cold and rain, very unusual for this area. I actually wore my winter coat for two days, and that's the first time it has come out of the closet since we moved down here. Today it is supposed to go all the way up to 82, but the rain and thunderstorm icon is still showing up on my phone app. Looks like there might be a little sunshine for a few hours between the morning rain showers and the late afternoon thunderstorms. Then Sunday through Tuesday should be dry, sunny, and warm before any rain returns. I'd love to go to the pool again. It feels like a long time since that's happened!
I will end by quoting yesterday's diet tip from the Beck Diet Solution website:
"Just as you’ll likely never leave an event and think, “I wish I had eaten more dessert,” you’ll probably also never leave a party and think, “I wish I had had more to drink.” In fact, just the opposite is true: Once the situation has passed, you’ll feel so great what you didn’t eat and drink, not regretful."
I'll keep this in mind tonight at the banquet!
I didn't rise to the challenge yesterday of following my diet. When we ate lunch out, I ordered a spicy black bean burger with onion rings. Mark got fries, so we each ate half an order of fries and half an order of rings. Delicious, but stupid. Then at dinner, I had too much challah....so predictable. There were cheese and crackers and fresh pineapple for appetizers. I had too much of that before dinner. Dinner was GREAT, though, broiled salmon, baked potato, and salad. Perfect. Dessert was a delicious frozen yogurt in a small waffle cup with one cookie. Maybe it wasn't too bad. I haven't weighed myself this morning. I think it will be better to wait.
Today I'll have breakfast and lunch at home before heading to the Rosen Center for the banquet. It probably won't be too bad since the plated dinner will control the portions.
It was gray and rainy all day again yesterday. That's three days of cold and rain, very unusual for this area. I actually wore my winter coat for two days, and that's the first time it has come out of the closet since we moved down here. Today it is supposed to go all the way up to 82, but the rain and thunderstorm icon is still showing up on my phone app. Looks like there might be a little sunshine for a few hours between the morning rain showers and the late afternoon thunderstorms. Then Sunday through Tuesday should be dry, sunny, and warm before any rain returns. I'd love to go to the pool again. It feels like a long time since that's happened!
I will end by quoting yesterday's diet tip from the Beck Diet Solution website:
"Just as you’ll likely never leave an event and think, “I wish I had eaten more dessert,” you’ll probably also never leave a party and think, “I wish I had had more to drink.” In fact, just the opposite is true: Once the situation has passed, you’ll feel so great what you didn’t eat and drink, not regretful."
I'll keep this in mind tonight at the banquet!
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