Why is it that every single year both Mark and I forget how long Rosh Hashanah services last?
Both days we left the house about 8 a.m. in order to allow a little extra time for rush hour and still arrive at the 9 a.m. start time. Services started promptly and then ended promptly at 2:05 p.m. both days.
Yup, that's a FIVE HOUR marathon of praying!
At least my little choir had to go up five times on each day to sing, so I couldn't get too complacent or nod off in my seat lest I miss our cue. LOL
On Thursday, because we somehow never remember this five hour length, we ate breakfast at 7 a.m. and got home at 3 p.m. We were both STARVING and EXHAUSTED. We quickly ate lunch and then promptly fell asleep until about 5 p.m.
On Friday we were smarter. We each packed a half sandwich in a cooler pack to eat as soon as we got in the car. What a difference that little snack made! We came home, ate the rest of our lunch, and then drove up the street to Barb and Ed's house to deliver some little special Baltimore snacks to them that we brought back from Maryland. We stayed, visiting, catching up, and generally having a heck of a good time for over two hours. I was never even sleepy! It was a much better day.
Maybe next year, we'll remember!
Also, because as we drove home yesterday after 2 p.m. and ran into some small traffic back ups as we worked our way past the Hotel Boulevard entrance to WDW, we remembered that we had decided not to book two nights in a local hotel for Yom Kippur. We thought we'd just save money and drive on home. HA! Seems like a good idea until it's after 2 in the afternoon, you're tired, and there's a WDW back up, and on Yom Kippur you have to turn right around after an hour at home resting to go back for the evening service. So Mark booked us two nights in the same hotel we used the last two Yom Kippurs, the Comfort Inn on Palm Parkway. That's only one mile from the synagogue and comes before any of the WDW traffic! Now we can get back to the hotel next week for an afternoon nap in between the five hour morning service and the three and a half hour evening service, not to mention the night BEFORE when we are at the synagogue for about three hours. Yeah, Yom Kippur is not just a 26 hour fast, it's also a marathon of time in the synagogue praying. But asking God for another year of life is pretty important, wouldn't you say?
My eating and weight are both doing very well. I have kept my calories well below the allowed amount, averaging about 1200 each day starting with this past Tuesday, our first full day at home. This morning I weighed 270! I was beyond thrilled. It's only a little longer before I'll be back in the 260s, which I haven't been since August of last year.
Sadly, my excellent days of controlling everything and eating at home are ending today. Beginning today, eight of the next nine days involves at least dinner out. Some of the days have lunch and dinner out. Never good for me. If I'm not careful, I'll easily gain a pound a day or more and undo all this work. That would make me very sad, hopefully sad enough to make good choices. Of course when eating out, even when you think you are making the best choices, hidden sodium and carbs used in the cooking that you don't know about or see will still sneak some weight back on.
My goal for the next nine days is to stay the same. If I can report that a week from Tuesday, October 2, I still weigh only 270, I will take that as a huge win! It doesn't stop there, though. The next night we have company coming for dinner. Two days later we are eating dinner out and six days later, on October 8, we are flying to Quebec City where we will spend two nights in a hotel before boarding the Holland America Zuiderdam for a 12 day cruise down to Fort Lauderdale. Geez. I love all the things we do in our Florida retirement life, but it is NOT conducive to weight loss! LOL
Meanwhile, the sugars are still above normal every single time. I had a blood draw from Quest on Tuesday morning. I got a call from the doctor on Wednesday with the results. I was shocked at the fast turn around. It actually took several more days for it to be posted on my Quest Portal. The doctor reported my fasting blood sugar at 106, while I had gotten a 112 at home that morning before I went to Quest. Of course, home test kits are never going to be as accurate. My A1C was 5.7, which was absolutely the lowest one I had had in THREE years!
This new doctor does not know my record though. They said OMG! 5.7 that's HIGH! 106 that's HIGH!. Pre-diabetes. Get on to a low carb diet. I said thank you. I know I have an appointment on Wednesday to meet with the doctor and discuss all this. I have had higher A1Cs every time, and I've had a 106 fasting in the past, but it's always been followed up with a 98 or so. I have waffled slightly above and slightly below 100 for three years. My previous family physician just pooh-poohed all of this because the numbers were so close. Also the A1C thing is because the bar has been lowered. 5.7 used to be considered normal. Now it's the number that is the border. The new guidelines say to be under 5.7 and I was right on it. Still, as I said, it's the lowest one I've ever had.
What is really different this time, is that I have been testing every day once or twice at home, so I know I never go below 100 any more in the morning or any other time of day. That is concerning.
None of this means I'm a diabetic. Pre-diabetes just means that if I continue to go the way I've been going, I could become a diabetic. So I am NOT continuing that way. I'm lowering my carbs, and I'm lowering my weight. I know with every confidence that this will give me perfect numbers in the long run with no sign of diabetes. That's the goal.
To meet that goal is to learn to overcome my biggest weaknesses, eating out or eating at dinner parties. Half of my time in Florida is doing one of those things, maybe more than half. I have mastered good eating in the home. In fact, I have mastered that a long time ago. I must work harder on the other two places because they are very hard. I still love to eat and love to eat large quantities of food. That might never change! LOL! Making good choices like no sugary alcoholic drinks, big salads for lunches instead of sandwiches and fries, limiting dessert to none or a bite or two for a taste, skipping the bread basket, THESE are the things I need to master next.
So today is Shabbat. Off we go to synagogue for a third day in a row. The good news is that regular Saturday morning services only last two and a half hours, and we usually get there an hour late! They also have kiddush, some light foods, right after services. This is one place where I easily avoid the food. For years I have not gone to that food table except to take a small bite of ritual challah, which I have actually programmed in my Lose It! app.
Tonight we are starting our eating out by going to Donna and Alan's house. She is making an asparagus and mushroom quiche, carrot and pineapple slaw, and ice cream for dessert. We are bringing the ice cream, so I've programmed that. It's so hard to figure out foods that you did not cook. To estimate it, I search through the Lose It! apps program for all the quiches. I discard all the highest and lowest calorie ones. Then I look for one that sounds the closest to this one, pick one whose calories are about 2/3 of the way to the highest one, and then choose the one that also gives a all the nutritional info instead of just saying n/a, which many do. I picked an Asparagus Quiche where 1/5 of a pie is a serving and gives 400 calories, 16 carbs. I picked a carrot slaw of a 1/2 cup serving for 140 calories and 15 carbs. We are bringing the ice cream, which is Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate with a 1/2 cup serving, 160 calories and 16 carbs. If this bears any resemblance to what I'm actually going to eat, then my diner will have 700 calories and 47 carbs. That's a good dinner!
We are having dinner with them because after dinner we are driving to the Winter Haven theater to see the new live production of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. This live show started in Germany where it was very successful and ran for several years; however, when it came to the USA, it never found success and never made it to Broadway. The original composer and lyricist wrote some additional songs, which are great. Mark bought the soundtrack album, so we've been listening to it. I don't know why it couldn't make it to Broadway, but at least it's now making its way around the community theater circuit. We will see it again in May at the Garden Theater, too. Very exciting!
Time to go to shul, so I will close this very long blog now. Have a great day and eat healthy!
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