Success!

This was a challenging week that included 6 meals in restaurants and 1 dinner party at home, but it was a success!  This morning I weighed 266.3, a loss of three and a half pounds.  Yes, it includes an extra day because it's Tuesday. I don't know what it would have been yesterday morning in the hotel because I didn't take the scale.   It doesn't matter to me because I wrote this weight down here and in my book, and I will also log it into Lose It!  I will mark the next point from here.

I'm very excited that I made this challenge.  From the first of the year, 12 total days, I have lost 8.3 pounds.  That's a lot of weight in a fairly short time, but most of any early weight loss is just water.

Once I put the slightly lower weight into Lose It!, it has taken 23 points away from me each day.  Last week I had 1533 as my calorie limit; today I have 1510.  Very rarely did I eat that many anyway.  I went over it on Saturday during the dinner party and last Wednesday eating two meals in restaurants, even though I tried to be somewhat restrictive.  It didn't matter because on Wednesday I walked miles and miles at Animal Kingdom to compensate!

Today begins a new week and many new challenges coming up. The first challenge is tonight.  We have been invited over to the home of Ed and Barbara, just a half mile up on our street.  We had them over on December 30, and now they are returning the favor.

Barbara is a plain and simple eater.  Mark had to be careful when planning a meal for her.  Now she is being careful for us to observe the kosher laws.  This has been a big learning experience for her, so her husband emailed us the menu and even included many of the ingredients.  Here is what we are having tonight, copied from his email.

Salmon Patties  (would be doubled)

2 C  cooked fresh or canned salmon without bones or skin and well drained

1  egg

1/4 C  oatmeal

2 T  finely chopped onion

1 T  parsley

1 T  tomato sauce (for color and acidity but a bit of lemon juice works ok, too)

S & P to taste

Combine the above adding an extra egg if the mixture is too dry or too crumbly or more oatmeal if it is too “wet”.

Form into six round patties no more that 3/4 inch thick.

Fry in 4 T oil at medium heat until lightly browned on each side (8 or 9 Min.)

Mashed Potatoes

Boiled potatoes

Butter

Milk

S & P

Cauliflower Au gratin

cooked cauliflower

white sauce (butter, flour and milk)

Swiss cheese

Green Peas

White sauce

Apple pie

 

Personally, I LOVE all these foods.  If I wasn't trying to make healthy choices (notice how I didn't say diet), I would go there all happy and eat huge portions of everything.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Also for Mark, every food that should be healthy has added carbs, like the cauliflower.  This is a very high carb, high fat, high calorie meal.  

So my challenge tonight is a big one.  When you are in a situation where Mark is not preparing exactly enough for two people and portioning it out on my plate with no chance for seconds or leftovers, then I have a problem. I am very poor at serving myself small portions and not reaching for seconds.  This will be a big challenge for me tonight because these really are many of my favorite foods.  Also, there is nothing like a big salad to fill up on.  These are the kinds of food that don't fill you up too fast, so the amount of calories consumed in even reasonable portions is very high.

If I take one salmon pattie and a small portion of each of the sides and a small slice of pie (which may not be possible if the hostess cuts the portions), then I will STILL have a large number of calories.  On Lose It!, my best estimate of calories for this dinner is 975!  Wow!  That's almost my whole day.  I will have 200 for breakfast (3 Morningstar links and a yogurt) and a can of tuna and a can of green beans for lunch.  Later tonight I can still have my banana.  That will add up to 1488 total, still under the limit.  I"m not sure there will be any exercise today either.  I got up late, am doing some computer things and chores in the house, will go to a mani/pedi appointment at 1 p.m., and then the big dinner out.  Well, I will do my best and eat what I've planned.  That's all I can do.

I have not uploaded the pictures from our little get-away to Old Key West yet. I hope to do it later today and post some tomorrow.

Also I will post more about Lowell's accomplishment tomorrow as well.  The short version is that his 9-track album, HeartWallClock, was released for download today!  He and his friends Dan and Chris have worked on this for six years.  I have downloaded it this morning and will listen to it little by little. I shared it on Facebook, so maybe some other people will download it, too. It's listed as Hard Rock, which isn't really my cup of tea, but it's my son's album!  He's the guitar played and singer!  Of course, I'll be listening to it.  

Congratulations, Lowell!  Dad and I are both very proud of you for this accomplishment.