I was supposed to eat right yesterday, but I did not. I had turkey with gravy and stuffing for lunch, which I had no idea how to calculate. Breakfast and dinner were fine, but then I ate 1/3 of the pumpkin pie for a bedtime snack. I never left the house, although I did do some of my back exercises both morning and night.
The result is that this morning I weigh 267.9, up another 1.6 pounds yesterday. Now I weigh essentially the same as I did on September 22. I spent two months losing 8 pounds and two days putting them back. The story of my life!
Tomorrow there will not be a blog because we will leave at 7 a.m. for Miami in order to board the Carnival Splendor for a 7 night cruise to Belize, Cozumel, Mahogany Bay, and Grand Cayman with two sea days. I am very happy to go on this cruise, but I am also worried about the weight. I just gained 8 pounds in 2 days, so now I'm a little worried about how 7 days on a cruise ship will go.
Usually I gain a pound or more per day on a cruise, which is average for all cruisers. Last January when we started our six cruises in three months, I weighed 279 getting on the first cruise and 295 getting off the sixth cruise. That was a 16 pound gain during those months. I was quite unsuccessful in losing much of that weight for quite some time. This is just one cruise, but I'm already up, so this does concern me. Intellectually, I do know what I need to do to keep from gaining on the ship. It should be easy: exercise and eat right. LOL So easy to type. So hard to do.
We are going to the synagogue today because Mark is reading the Haftarah again today. When we get home, we will pack for the cruise. We already bought the wi-fi package, so I should be able to do email and Facebook. If I can write and post a blog during the cruise, I will. I never know if I the wi-fi is strong enough for that or if we will take the time to do it.
I hope everybody has another nice day. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is ending for some folks today in order to get home before the big rush tomorrow. Others will have to travel tomorrow, and still others, like me and Mark, didn't go anywhere at all. I wish you safe travels if you are traveling today or tomorrow, and I hope you had a wonderful visit with family and friends.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Friday, November 24, 2017
Better than average
Yesterday, the tidbit of info on the back of my Dave Barry daily calendar page was that the average person consumes about 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving. It didn't specify whether that was for the whole day or just the big meal, but I'm sure I am better than average because this morning I must sadly report that I have gained 6.8 pounds since Wednesday morning. Actually, I was one up yesterday morning, so I guess I only gained 5.8 for yesterday; however, that does NOT make me happier. I weigh 266.3 this morning. RIDICULOUS!
I have no one to blame but myself. I know I was putting more on my plate at dinner last night than anyone else. In fact, of the four of us at the table, I didn't notice anyone else other than me taking seconds. Our menu was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls with margarine, and for dessert, apple pie and pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips. During the day, I ate pumpkin pie for breakfast AND lunch. Then when we came home from the Westen's house around 9:15, I ate one-quarter of the apple pie, which was the entire piece he wrapped for us to bring home, AND I ate ALL of the rest of the bag of chocolate chips, which was about half a cup or more at least. Those were the two things that were the absolute WORST things I did because eating at dinner, even taking seconds, is not as bad as just out-of-control bingeing at night on things that I KNOW are bad for me.
Now, not only am I up 6.3 pounds but I also got a 129 blood sugar reading because the pie and chocolate chips right before bed are going to do that to anybody. Again, RIDICULOUS.
In all of this madness, there is one good thing. At least I was able to sleep all night in the bed! That's a sure sign that I'm almost fully recovered from Tuesday's fall.
I WILL log all my calories today. I WILL monitor what I'm eating. I WILL do my back exercises both morning and evening. I WILL drink all 8 glasses of water today. I am hoping some of those extra pounds are just water retention and will leave before we get on the Carnival Splendor Sunday afternoon.
I have no one to blame but myself. I know I was putting more on my plate at dinner last night than anyone else. In fact, of the four of us at the table, I didn't notice anyone else other than me taking seconds. Our menu was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls with margarine, and for dessert, apple pie and pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips. During the day, I ate pumpkin pie for breakfast AND lunch. Then when we came home from the Westen's house around 9:15, I ate one-quarter of the apple pie, which was the entire piece he wrapped for us to bring home, AND I ate ALL of the rest of the bag of chocolate chips, which was about half a cup or more at least. Those were the two things that were the absolute WORST things I did because eating at dinner, even taking seconds, is not as bad as just out-of-control bingeing at night on things that I KNOW are bad for me.
Now, not only am I up 6.3 pounds but I also got a 129 blood sugar reading because the pie and chocolate chips right before bed are going to do that to anybody. Again, RIDICULOUS.
In all of this madness, there is one good thing. At least I was able to sleep all night in the bed! That's a sure sign that I'm almost fully recovered from Tuesday's fall.
I WILL log all my calories today. I WILL monitor what I'm eating. I WILL do my back exercises both morning and evening. I WILL drink all 8 glasses of water today. I am hoping some of those extra pounds are just water retention and will leave before we get on the Carnival Splendor Sunday afternoon.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Happy Thanksgiving! Let's all be very thankful.
I am thankful for so many things this morning, not the least of which is that I didn't injure myself any worse than I did in that Tuesday morning fall!
I was surprised last night that I still couldn't sleep in the bed. I tried for about an hour and then gave up. I went out to the chair at 1 a.m. and slept soundly straight through to 7:30. Not bad, but I am still hoping I can get in bed tonight without so much pain. I even took the pain pill and muscle relaxer at 10 p.m. and thought that would do it. Oh, well....
I did not take anything this morning except some Advil because I don't want to be foggy-headed and sleepy all day. After we get home tonight, I'll take the other pills and try to get in to the bed for the night.
This is the first Thanksgiving EVER that we will not have any family members with us. Last year Evey and Eric were here, and we invited Barb and Ed Westen to join us, too. This year Evey and Eric are driving to southern CA to stay with Eric's Aunt Carol. Fortunately for us, Barb and Ed invited us to join them this year, so we will not be alone. They are becoming like family to us anyway. I'm excited to go there because they are planning a fabulous menu. I bought them a kosher turkey breast weeks ago, and they have been wonderful about checking on the laws of kashrut and checking in with us with their recipes and what is parve or not. They have certainly learned a lot with this experience! I think it's amazing that we have friends willing to do that for us. I am definitely thankful for them.
I do NOT plan to log in my calories today. It might make the poor Lose It! app explode. This is Thanksgiving, and I'm going to eat what I want, starting with pie. This morning I had pumpkin pie for breakfast, which I will also do tomorrow morning and Saturday until it's gone! Doesn't everyone do that on Thanksgiving? LOL Tomorrow I'll log them in, even the breakfast pie!
Later today I'm going to make pumpkin muffins with parve chocolate chips to bring to the Westens. That's my contribution to the dinner, along with the kosher turkey breast that we provided. I'm watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, drinking coffee with pumpkin pie, texting Evey as she and Eric are driving south in CA, and reading all the warm Thanksgiving day greetings on Facebook. I'm thankful for my life and everyone in it.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
I was surprised last night that I still couldn't sleep in the bed. I tried for about an hour and then gave up. I went out to the chair at 1 a.m. and slept soundly straight through to 7:30. Not bad, but I am still hoping I can get in bed tonight without so much pain. I even took the pain pill and muscle relaxer at 10 p.m. and thought that would do it. Oh, well....
I did not take anything this morning except some Advil because I don't want to be foggy-headed and sleepy all day. After we get home tonight, I'll take the other pills and try to get in to the bed for the night.
This is the first Thanksgiving EVER that we will not have any family members with us. Last year Evey and Eric were here, and we invited Barb and Ed Westen to join us, too. This year Evey and Eric are driving to southern CA to stay with Eric's Aunt Carol. Fortunately for us, Barb and Ed invited us to join them this year, so we will not be alone. They are becoming like family to us anyway. I'm excited to go there because they are planning a fabulous menu. I bought them a kosher turkey breast weeks ago, and they have been wonderful about checking on the laws of kashrut and checking in with us with their recipes and what is parve or not. They have certainly learned a lot with this experience! I think it's amazing that we have friends willing to do that for us. I am definitely thankful for them.
I do NOT plan to log in my calories today. It might make the poor Lose It! app explode. This is Thanksgiving, and I'm going to eat what I want, starting with pie. This morning I had pumpkin pie for breakfast, which I will also do tomorrow morning and Saturday until it's gone! Doesn't everyone do that on Thanksgiving? LOL Tomorrow I'll log them in, even the breakfast pie!
Later today I'm going to make pumpkin muffins with parve chocolate chips to bring to the Westens. That's my contribution to the dinner, along with the kosher turkey breast that we provided. I'm watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, drinking coffee with pumpkin pie, texting Evey as she and Eric are driving south in CA, and reading all the warm Thanksgiving day greetings on Facebook. I'm thankful for my life and everyone in it.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Much happened in two days.
Monday I played Mah Jongg in the morning and won three games, so that was nice. We picked up Mark's car, and nothing wrong was found. He is a little upset that the battery drained with no definitive reason why, but he will just drive and see what happens in the future.
Yesterday was CRAZY.
It was raining in the morning, so instead of going to water aerobics, we made the decision to go to the indoor track to walk for 20-30 minutes. On lap seven, I fell, HARD. My right foot didn't lift far enough and got stuck on the track. I was walking very fast, so I did not have time to correct and avoid the fall. I hit on my knees, arms, and stomach, rolled twice, and ended up on my stomach, unable to breathe! That was the scariest part. I panicked a little bit that I couldn't control the breathing, but after rolling over, sitting up (with Mark's help), and a little time, the breathing returned to normal. I sat a few more minutes and then got up and managed to walk the rest of the way around the track (I was farthest from the exit). I went downstairs and sat on a soft chair until Mark finished and then we got back home.
I was very lucky. I knew nothing was broken, but every muscle was screaming. I had trouble with laughing or breathing deeply, my arms hurt, my back all up and down, and both knees. The knees felt hot to the touch, so I put ice packs on them several times. I put the heating pad on my bag twice, and finally, I took leftover pain pills and muscle relaxers.
I held off taking the pills for hours because we had a Cove Singers rehearsal from 2-4 and tickets to see Love Never Dies in Orlando at 8. I asked someone else to lead the rehearsal, and finally at 5 p.m., I made the decision that I could not go to Orlando. I called five couples to try to give the tickets away, but no one was able to take them. So sad. Once I gave up going to Orlando, I took the pills, which make me very sleepy.
At 9:30 I was nodding off in the chair in front of the TV, so I decided to go to bed. That didn't work. I couldn't lay down on my back or my side. It was VERY painful, so I sat up in the living room chair all night. I know that I slept because I remember two different pieces of dreams, but it was a restless night. So today I cancelled our drive to Tampa to take Robin O. out to lunch and the aquarium. She was so nice and understanding about it. I felt bad that I had to cancel, but I really just want to stay home all day and take more pills. I have just taken the meds, so I'm trying to get this blog done quickly before my brain is too fuzzy! LOL
Today is also Weigh-inWednesday. I am disappointed because I gained some Sunday night at House of Blues. Even though I ate GREAT both Monday (1339 calories) and Tuesday (1204 calories), the weight did not drop. This morning I weighed in at 259.5, which means I'm reporting a gain for the week of 7/10ths. Not terrible, I know, but earlier this week I had actually hit two pounds less than this and was hoping to report a pound down instead of almost a pound up.
Now we are facing Thanksgiving and a cruise before I report the weight again. I hope that I can get through the week-long cruise just staying the same. It only happened once before, so I know it will be a challenge. I'm going to report my Saturday morning weight, but I won't report it any more until the Monday morning after the cruise. I will take the laptop, but I don't use the scales in the gym. They don't work when the ship is moving anyway, and I know that all scales are different anyway.
One good thing is that I finished another jigsaw puzzle. This one was fun and relatively easy because it was the covers of old board games like Monopoly and Chinese Checkers and many, many others. It was a Hanukkah gift last year from Cindy and really so much fun to do.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. We are going to Barb and Ed's house, so we don't have to cook anything tomorrow, which is a blessing. I'm going to make pumpkin muffins tomorrow morning, but those are easy. Have a great time. I'm thankful for a lot of things, but right now I'm thankful I didn't break any bones in the fall and that the muscles will heal in time.
Yesterday was CRAZY.
It was raining in the morning, so instead of going to water aerobics, we made the decision to go to the indoor track to walk for 20-30 minutes. On lap seven, I fell, HARD. My right foot didn't lift far enough and got stuck on the track. I was walking very fast, so I did not have time to correct and avoid the fall. I hit on my knees, arms, and stomach, rolled twice, and ended up on my stomach, unable to breathe! That was the scariest part. I panicked a little bit that I couldn't control the breathing, but after rolling over, sitting up (with Mark's help), and a little time, the breathing returned to normal. I sat a few more minutes and then got up and managed to walk the rest of the way around the track (I was farthest from the exit). I went downstairs and sat on a soft chair until Mark finished and then we got back home.
I was very lucky. I knew nothing was broken, but every muscle was screaming. I had trouble with laughing or breathing deeply, my arms hurt, my back all up and down, and both knees. The knees felt hot to the touch, so I put ice packs on them several times. I put the heating pad on my bag twice, and finally, I took leftover pain pills and muscle relaxers.
I held off taking the pills for hours because we had a Cove Singers rehearsal from 2-4 and tickets to see Love Never Dies in Orlando at 8. I asked someone else to lead the rehearsal, and finally at 5 p.m., I made the decision that I could not go to Orlando. I called five couples to try to give the tickets away, but no one was able to take them. So sad. Once I gave up going to Orlando, I took the pills, which make me very sleepy.
At 9:30 I was nodding off in the chair in front of the TV, so I decided to go to bed. That didn't work. I couldn't lay down on my back or my side. It was VERY painful, so I sat up in the living room chair all night. I know that I slept because I remember two different pieces of dreams, but it was a restless night. So today I cancelled our drive to Tampa to take Robin O. out to lunch and the aquarium. She was so nice and understanding about it. I felt bad that I had to cancel, but I really just want to stay home all day and take more pills. I have just taken the meds, so I'm trying to get this blog done quickly before my brain is too fuzzy! LOL
Today is also Weigh-inWednesday. I am disappointed because I gained some Sunday night at House of Blues. Even though I ate GREAT both Monday (1339 calories) and Tuesday (1204 calories), the weight did not drop. This morning I weighed in at 259.5, which means I'm reporting a gain for the week of 7/10ths. Not terrible, I know, but earlier this week I had actually hit two pounds less than this and was hoping to report a pound down instead of almost a pound up.
Now we are facing Thanksgiving and a cruise before I report the weight again. I hope that I can get through the week-long cruise just staying the same. It only happened once before, so I know it will be a challenge. I'm going to report my Saturday morning weight, but I won't report it any more until the Monday morning after the cruise. I will take the laptop, but I don't use the scales in the gym. They don't work when the ship is moving anyway, and I know that all scales are different anyway.
One good thing is that I finished another jigsaw puzzle. This one was fun and relatively easy because it was the covers of old board games like Monopoly and Chinese Checkers and many, many others. It was a Hanukkah gift last year from Cindy and really so much fun to do.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. We are going to Barb and Ed's house, so we don't have to cook anything tomorrow, which is a blessing. I'm going to make pumpkin muffins tomorrow morning, but those are easy. Have a great time. I'm thankful for a lot of things, but right now I'm thankful I didn't break any bones in the fall and that the muscles will heal in time.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Hello again. It's been awhile.
We have been having a lot of fun since I last wrote a blog. Here are some of the things that happened.
The book talk Thursday night in Boynton Beach was fabulous. It was really a lot of fun seeing our friends, the Herschlers and the Mollericks. The restaurant, Andros, was unbelievable. Every entree was a complete meal with soup, salad, entree, dessert, and coffee. So, of course, that was a lot more calories than I expected. I had vegetarian veggie soup that was amazing, an Andros Caesar Salad that included tomatoes, eggplant parm Andros style which came with spinach and steamed zucchini and carrots, and a small sized cappuccino mousse for the dessert. Absolutely delicious!
Friday we were able to get back to Solivita just in time for the Chef's Cheese Talk. Wow. Also an excellent event for a reasonable price. We all got one glass of complimentary wine, so I had a moscato. There were 10 cheeses with fruit and crackers to taste. We also received lots of pages of info on those cheeses as well as wine pairings for all kinds of cheese, fun facts about cheese, as well as cutting and storage tips. So much fun.
We rushed from there to the library where I was filling in for the usual librarian who was on vacation. I had lots of customers, so the time went quickly. The president of the library came in, and I sort of volunteered to work on Fridays all the time again if the current guy wants to quit. I hope I'm not sorry about that later!
Yesterday we went to shul and then to The Exterminating Angel, the current Live from the Met production at the Disney Springs AMC theaters. We were thrilled to learn that this is the history-making opera where the coloratura is asked to sing an A above high C. That has NEVER been done, and she did it twice, along with many high Es and Fs. What an unbelievable voice! The opera was astounding!
Today we are doing a double feature at Disney Springs: Daddy's Home 2 and Justice League. In between we are eating a packed lunch in the car, which is the same thing we did yesterday between shul and the opera. Dinner will be with Barb and Al at House of Blues. I'm hoping the meal can be reasonable there. We have eaten there two or three times before, and I think it can be okay.
Tomorrow we finally are going to get Mark's car back after a week and a half, and they found nothing wrong. Mark is frustrated, but we will pick it up anyway. All my meals tomorrow and Tuesday will be at home, so that's good.
After all the meals out, I gained three pounds, but this morning I'm down four! I weighed 257.8 this morning, which is so very close to my next mini-goal of 255, my weight at Lowell's wedding in 2014.
Finally, I bought SEVEN tickets for Frozen on Broadway for Mother's Day! Evey and Eric are going to be on the East Coast for a wedding in northern NJ. Mark and I are going to be in Maryland, so we are bringing Lowell up with us to NJ where we will meet up with Evey, Eric, Eric's mom Leslie, and her mom Dotty. It was almost unbelievable that we were able to get tickets for that matinee performance at a somewhat reasonable price, albeit in the last row of the upper balcony. LOL! Then we'll all have dinner at a restaurant in Manhattan near the theater. Leslie knows the area well and will set it all up. I wanted to keep it as a surprise for Evey as her birthday present in April, but that just didn't work out, so we told her last night. She was still surprised!
Here are a few pictures from the book talk.
The book talk Thursday night in Boynton Beach was fabulous. It was really a lot of fun seeing our friends, the Herschlers and the Mollericks. The restaurant, Andros, was unbelievable. Every entree was a complete meal with soup, salad, entree, dessert, and coffee. So, of course, that was a lot more calories than I expected. I had vegetarian veggie soup that was amazing, an Andros Caesar Salad that included tomatoes, eggplant parm Andros style which came with spinach and steamed zucchini and carrots, and a small sized cappuccino mousse for the dessert. Absolutely delicious!
Friday we were able to get back to Solivita just in time for the Chef's Cheese Talk. Wow. Also an excellent event for a reasonable price. We all got one glass of complimentary wine, so I had a moscato. There were 10 cheeses with fruit and crackers to taste. We also received lots of pages of info on those cheeses as well as wine pairings for all kinds of cheese, fun facts about cheese, as well as cutting and storage tips. So much fun.
We rushed from there to the library where I was filling in for the usual librarian who was on vacation. I had lots of customers, so the time went quickly. The president of the library came in, and I sort of volunteered to work on Fridays all the time again if the current guy wants to quit. I hope I'm not sorry about that later!
Yesterday we went to shul and then to The Exterminating Angel, the current Live from the Met production at the Disney Springs AMC theaters. We were thrilled to learn that this is the history-making opera where the coloratura is asked to sing an A above high C. That has NEVER been done, and she did it twice, along with many high Es and Fs. What an unbelievable voice! The opera was astounding!
Today we are doing a double feature at Disney Springs: Daddy's Home 2 and Justice League. In between we are eating a packed lunch in the car, which is the same thing we did yesterday between shul and the opera. Dinner will be with Barb and Al at House of Blues. I'm hoping the meal can be reasonable there. We have eaten there two or three times before, and I think it can be okay.
Tomorrow we finally are going to get Mark's car back after a week and a half, and they found nothing wrong. Mark is frustrated, but we will pick it up anyway. All my meals tomorrow and Tuesday will be at home, so that's good.
After all the meals out, I gained three pounds, but this morning I'm down four! I weighed 257.8 this morning, which is so very close to my next mini-goal of 255, my weight at Lowell's wedding in 2014.
Finally, I bought SEVEN tickets for Frozen on Broadway for Mother's Day! Evey and Eric are going to be on the East Coast for a wedding in northern NJ. Mark and I are going to be in Maryland, so we are bringing Lowell up with us to NJ where we will meet up with Evey, Eric, Eric's mom Leslie, and her mom Dotty. It was almost unbelievable that we were able to get tickets for that matinee performance at a somewhat reasonable price, albeit in the last row of the upper balcony. LOL! Then we'll all have dinner at a restaurant in Manhattan near the theater. Leslie knows the area well and will set it all up. I wanted to keep it as a surprise for Evey as her birthday present in April, but that just didn't work out, so we told her last night. She was still surprised!
Here are a few pictures from the book talk.
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| Dr. David Herschler, retired historian from the State Department, wrote the book on the life of Ralph Mollerick. |
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| Ralph was a captivating speaker. |
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| They took questions at the end. |
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Heading south
In just a few minutes we will be heading down to Boynton Beach to have dinner with Dave and Evey H. and Ralph and Phyllis M. After dinner we are going to Ralph's synagogue to hear him and Dave speak about their book Kindertransport. Dinner is at a Greek restaurant. I have no idea how those calories will go.
We will eat lunch at a Subway on the way down there and breakfast in the hotel before heading out early tomorrow to make it back to Solivita for a Chef's Talk about cheese. That's at noon, and eating the cheese will be our lunch tomorrow.
This morning I was either up one pound or stayed the same, depending on which time I got on the scale. LOL I actually forgot to test my sugar this morning, and I don't have a calorie count for yesterday because of the diner out. The show last night, Come Blow Your Horn, was a lot of fun, very funny and very well acted by our friends. We even ended up at table with friends Larry and Marilyn, whom we had just seen out at dinner the day before. What are the odds?
Mark and I had a great piece of fish that we thought was Mahi Mahi. We knew that it would be delivered to the table because it was a special order. Everyone else had a chicken breast at the buffet. So when our table was called, we went and got our salad, broccoli, roasted potatoes, roll, and butter and went back to the table expecting to find just fish on another plate. That's how it went before, but this time the plate was also filled with broccoli and potatoes! Mark was smart and did not eat the other pile of potatoes and only took half a roll. Of course, I ate everything plus the key lime cheesecake for dessert during intermission. So....I was happy to be up only one pound, relieved it wasn't two or three pounds, and thrilled when later it seemed I had stayed the same. Crazy.
I am not packing my scale for this one night trip, so I won't check my weight again until Saturday morning. I will probably not write a blog again until Saturday or Sunday either.
We will eat lunch at a Subway on the way down there and breakfast in the hotel before heading out early tomorrow to make it back to Solivita for a Chef's Talk about cheese. That's at noon, and eating the cheese will be our lunch tomorrow.
This morning I was either up one pound or stayed the same, depending on which time I got on the scale. LOL I actually forgot to test my sugar this morning, and I don't have a calorie count for yesterday because of the diner out. The show last night, Come Blow Your Horn, was a lot of fun, very funny and very well acted by our friends. We even ended up at table with friends Larry and Marilyn, whom we had just seen out at dinner the day before. What are the odds?
Mark and I had a great piece of fish that we thought was Mahi Mahi. We knew that it would be delivered to the table because it was a special order. Everyone else had a chicken breast at the buffet. So when our table was called, we went and got our salad, broccoli, roasted potatoes, roll, and butter and went back to the table expecting to find just fish on another plate. That's how it went before, but this time the plate was also filled with broccoli and potatoes! Mark was smart and did not eat the other pile of potatoes and only took half a roll. Of course, I ate everything plus the key lime cheesecake for dessert during intermission. So....I was happy to be up only one pound, relieved it wasn't two or three pounds, and thrilled when later it seemed I had stayed the same. Crazy.
I am not packing my scale for this one night trip, so I won't check my weight again until Saturday morning. I will probably not write a blog again until Saturday or Sunday either.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Today it's ALL GOOD!
I was successful yesterday. I lost the additional few pounds and hit 258.8 again. That's what I weighed three weeks ago, and it has been my goal to get back there. I gained 7.2 pounds in one week and took another two weeks to undo it, but it's DONE. Now to keep it off and keep moving down.
I have now lost 36.2 pounds since March 14, an average of 4.5 pounds per month. That's not super fast, but if I can keep losing about 4 pounds a month, one pound a week, then in another six months, I could be down 24 pounds by May 14. That would be about 234! I haven't been in the 230s since 2013! I would love that. So that's a goal worth working toward.
The challenge is what I said yesterday, a lot of cruises, parties, travel up and down the coast, dinners in restaurants and people's homes, and parties. OY! Lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh My!
My calories yesterday, if I estimated the three vegetarian tacos for dinner last night correctly, came to 1252 and 220 carbs. Well, the tacos were basically just refried beans and cheese, so that's a lot of carbs. My sugar was the lowest in several weeks, 101. Maybe getting under 260 is getting me down close to the normal range. Maybe tomorrow it will be under 100 again. I hope.
Tonight we eat at the fall play dinner. We are having a special baked fish prepared just for those who don't eat meat. I'm not sure what it comes with, but I suspect it won't be too terrible. Meanwhile, breakfast and lunch will be at home, and I'll keep them small. That's what I did yesterday, and it seems to have worked.
My MRI experience at the Celebration Hospital Imaging Center last night was amazing. The entire Imaging Center is decorated like a seaside beach resort. I was escorted into Sundeck 203 to change and wait to be called back. There was a chaise lounge, two manatees on the wall, two chairs, a TV, a sink, sliding glass doors, and a colorful curtain. Mark was allowed to wait there with me. I changed and was taken back to the MRI room where I was stunned to see the entire machine was decked out like a giant sand castle! WOW! I got great ear plugs AND warm, fuzzy headphones and a blanket. It was so quiet that I could not believe it! What a difference between the loud noise that left my ears ringing at the Simon Med machine up on Turkey Lake Road. It's also a lot closer to our house. I am never having any other MRIs anywhere else except at Celebration!
I have now lost 36.2 pounds since March 14, an average of 4.5 pounds per month. That's not super fast, but if I can keep losing about 4 pounds a month, one pound a week, then in another six months, I could be down 24 pounds by May 14. That would be about 234! I haven't been in the 230s since 2013! I would love that. So that's a goal worth working toward.
The challenge is what I said yesterday, a lot of cruises, parties, travel up and down the coast, dinners in restaurants and people's homes, and parties. OY! Lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh My!
My calories yesterday, if I estimated the three vegetarian tacos for dinner last night correctly, came to 1252 and 220 carbs. Well, the tacos were basically just refried beans and cheese, so that's a lot of carbs. My sugar was the lowest in several weeks, 101. Maybe getting under 260 is getting me down close to the normal range. Maybe tomorrow it will be under 100 again. I hope.
Tonight we eat at the fall play dinner. We are having a special baked fish prepared just for those who don't eat meat. I'm not sure what it comes with, but I suspect it won't be too terrible. Meanwhile, breakfast and lunch will be at home, and I'll keep them small. That's what I did yesterday, and it seems to have worked.
My MRI experience at the Celebration Hospital Imaging Center last night was amazing. The entire Imaging Center is decorated like a seaside beach resort. I was escorted into Sundeck 203 to change and wait to be called back. There was a chaise lounge, two manatees on the wall, two chairs, a TV, a sink, sliding glass doors, and a colorful curtain. Mark was allowed to wait there with me. I changed and was taken back to the MRI room where I was stunned to see the entire machine was decked out like a giant sand castle! WOW! I got great ear plugs AND warm, fuzzy headphones and a blanket. It was so quiet that I could not believe it! What a difference between the loud noise that left my ears ringing at the Simon Med machine up on Turkey Lake Road. It's also a lot closer to our house. I am never having any other MRIs anywhere else except at Celebration!
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Always some good and some bad
Yesterday I played Mah Jongg with my morning and my afternoon groups. I won games at both sessions, so that was very good. At 4 p.m. we attended the Book Club lecture at the Palms on Ivanhoe, a book I've always wanted to read because my Dad told me that I was named for the character Rebecca in that book. Then I spent the rest of the day at home with time to work on my jigsaw puzzle, read some of the two books I'm working on, study the weekly Torah portion with Mark, and eat all my meals at home. It was a very good day.
I kept my calories extra low yesterday, eating only 1134 and the carbs at 135. This morning my blood sugar was 106, a little lower than it has been. The best news was that I went down two pounds this morning to 260.5. This made me happy.
The bad news is that I'm still struggling to get back to the 258.8 that I hit on October 25. The week after that low number is when I gained 7 pounds, and I have not undone them in two full weeks unless tomorrow it shows up. Then I will have taken two weeks exactly to take off what I put on in one week. So sad.
The worst news is that beginning today there are very few days that I'm eating all of my meals at home for the next TWO MONTHS! We have 2 trips out of town, many meals in restaurants with friends and family, 2 cruises, Thanksgiving, and other parties in people's homes or at the Cove, two at the Cove in fact.
This morning Mark said that I should start exercising more and just not take much food at the restaurants and parties. Of course that is the ONLY right answer; however, it is easy for him to say and hard for me to do. For me, going to parties and restaurants and telling me not to eat much is like taking an alcoholic to a bar night after night and telling him only to drink a little. Neither one works. Alcoholics can't usually do that very well and neither can Foodaholics do well in situations where food is easily and readily available. Will-power only lasts so long.
Tonight we are meeting out of town friends at the Cove for dinner. They are here for a week, but our crazy schedule means that we can only see them tonight. It's Taco Tuesday night at the Cove, so that is our dinner. I have eaten an extra small breakfast and lunch in preparation for this dinner, and I'm hoping I will be okay tomorrow. No matter how carefully you think you are eating in restaurants, there is always hidden sodium and fats that you don't always see or taste and definitely are hard to calculate.
Tomorrow we have dinner out at the fall play, then Thursday morning we are driving to the Boynton Beach area where we will have lunch on the road, dinner at a Greek restaurant with friends, and breakfast and lunch Friday on the road as we drive home. That's just the start of our many times when we are not eating at home.
I kept my calories extra low yesterday, eating only 1134 and the carbs at 135. This morning my blood sugar was 106, a little lower than it has been. The best news was that I went down two pounds this morning to 260.5. This made me happy.
The bad news is that I'm still struggling to get back to the 258.8 that I hit on October 25. The week after that low number is when I gained 7 pounds, and I have not undone them in two full weeks unless tomorrow it shows up. Then I will have taken two weeks exactly to take off what I put on in one week. So sad.
The worst news is that beginning today there are very few days that I'm eating all of my meals at home for the next TWO MONTHS! We have 2 trips out of town, many meals in restaurants with friends and family, 2 cruises, Thanksgiving, and other parties in people's homes or at the Cove, two at the Cove in fact.
This morning Mark said that I should start exercising more and just not take much food at the restaurants and parties. Of course that is the ONLY right answer; however, it is easy for him to say and hard for me to do. For me, going to parties and restaurants and telling me not to eat much is like taking an alcoholic to a bar night after night and telling him only to drink a little. Neither one works. Alcoholics can't usually do that very well and neither can Foodaholics do well in situations where food is easily and readily available. Will-power only lasts so long.
Tonight we are meeting out of town friends at the Cove for dinner. They are here for a week, but our crazy schedule means that we can only see them tonight. It's Taco Tuesday night at the Cove, so that is our dinner. I have eaten an extra small breakfast and lunch in preparation for this dinner, and I'm hoping I will be okay tomorrow. No matter how carefully you think you are eating in restaurants, there is always hidden sodium and fats that you don't always see or taste and definitely are hard to calculate.
Tomorrow we have dinner out at the fall play, then Thursday morning we are driving to the Boynton Beach area where we will have lunch on the road, dinner at a Greek restaurant with friends, and breakfast and lunch Friday on the road as we drive home. That's just the start of our many times when we are not eating at home.
Monday, November 13, 2017
Another day exactly the same. URRG
Another day of weighing 262.5 with a blood sugar of 112. That's three days in a row of a reading of 112.
Yesterday I cut the calories to 1200, thinking that numbers in the upper 1300 and low 1400s were not low enough. Well, maybe if I can do it for a week, I can lose something.
Here are the past 8 days of calories, carbs, and blood sugars. Actually the blood sugar reading is first and taken at approximately 7:30 a.m. each morning followed by the calories and carbs. Those numbers, next to the blood sugar, are actually from the day before.
Note that 4 of the 8 days had exactly the same blood sugar reading of 112, no matter the calories or carbs.
Nov. 5: 112..........1382..........130
Nov. 6: 106..........did not record the dinner calories and carbs
Nov. 7: ---didn't test because yesterday I did not record everything
Nov. 8: 114..........1330..........144
Nov. 9: 106..........1192...........104
Nov. 10: 120..........1490...........203
Nov. 11: 112..........1369..........115
Nov. 12: 112..........1412..........132
Nov. 13: 112..........1217...........98
Average blood sugar was 111.75
Average calories were 1342
Average carbs were 132.
During those same eight days I recorded my weight 6 of those dates including the first and last.
Nov. 5 262.4
Nov. 6 261.4
Nov. 8 262.4
Nov. 10 262.5
Nov. 11 262.5
Nov. 13 262.5
According to my Lose It! program, on a week of eating an average of 1440 calories at a weight of 262.5 pounds, I should lose 2 pounds per week. Clearly that did not work for me as I was, on average, 100 calories below that number and did not lose a single ounce.
According to an article that I read, the average person needs 130 carbs a day for proper brain health and functioning. I averaged 132, so even if my weight doesn't change, at least I'm keeping my brain healthy. I guess I can take some comfort in that.
Every single day, my blood sugars are in the pre-diabetes range. I thought that when I started getting numbers below 100, which is in the normal range for a non-diabetic, it was happening because I had lost just enough weight to allow my body to be able to metabolize the carbs and give me a low number.
I got a 98 back on October 8, the day after I went to the ER, a day I was still in pain, a day that I was taking Prednisone, a drug known to raise blood sugar. On that day I weighed 267.4.
Clearly my theory was wrong! LOL! I have no idea why I started to get normal blood sugars under those conditions, nor why I continued to get normal sugars for approximately two weeks before they went back above 100.
As I have often said to Mark when he gets a number he does not like and does not understand, "There is just no rhyme or reason to these readings." It never made him happy to hear me say that, and now I totally understand WHY!
It's very frustrating.
Yesterday I cut the calories to 1200, thinking that numbers in the upper 1300 and low 1400s were not low enough. Well, maybe if I can do it for a week, I can lose something.
Here are the past 8 days of calories, carbs, and blood sugars. Actually the blood sugar reading is first and taken at approximately 7:30 a.m. each morning followed by the calories and carbs. Those numbers, next to the blood sugar, are actually from the day before.
Note that 4 of the 8 days had exactly the same blood sugar reading of 112, no matter the calories or carbs.
Nov. 5: 112..........1382..........130
Nov. 6: 106..........did not record the dinner calories and carbs
Nov. 7: ---didn't test because yesterday I did not record everything
Nov. 8: 114..........1330..........144
Nov. 9: 106..........1192...........104
Nov. 10: 120..........1490...........203
Nov. 11: 112..........1369..........115
Nov. 12: 112..........1412..........132
Nov. 13: 112..........1217...........98
Average blood sugar was 111.75
Average calories were 1342
Average carbs were 132.
During those same eight days I recorded my weight 6 of those dates including the first and last.
Nov. 5 262.4
Nov. 6 261.4
Nov. 8 262.4
Nov. 10 262.5
Nov. 11 262.5
Nov. 13 262.5
According to my Lose It! program, on a week of eating an average of 1440 calories at a weight of 262.5 pounds, I should lose 2 pounds per week. Clearly that did not work for me as I was, on average, 100 calories below that number and did not lose a single ounce.
According to an article that I read, the average person needs 130 carbs a day for proper brain health and functioning. I averaged 132, so even if my weight doesn't change, at least I'm keeping my brain healthy. I guess I can take some comfort in that.
Every single day, my blood sugars are in the pre-diabetes range. I thought that when I started getting numbers below 100, which is in the normal range for a non-diabetic, it was happening because I had lost just enough weight to allow my body to be able to metabolize the carbs and give me a low number.
I got a 98 back on October 8, the day after I went to the ER, a day I was still in pain, a day that I was taking Prednisone, a drug known to raise blood sugar. On that day I weighed 267.4.
Clearly my theory was wrong! LOL! I have no idea why I started to get normal blood sugars under those conditions, nor why I continued to get normal sugars for approximately two weeks before they went back above 100.
As I have often said to Mark when he gets a number he does not like and does not understand, "There is just no rhyme or reason to these readings." It never made him happy to hear me say that, and now I totally understand WHY!
It's very frustrating.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Still not pleased with the numbers
Once again my weight is the same and the blood sugar is elevated. Today it was 112 on 1369 calories and only 66 carbs. I admit to feeling disappointed and a little depressed about that. Yesterday I exercised in the pool as well as doing the 20 minute routine morning and night for the back. There's just no answer.
We spent all day at the Cove yesterday from 10:15 to nearly 5 p.m. That's a good day!
Today is Shabbat, so we are heading out to shul. After lunch we have pledged to go for a walk for some exercise before settling down to TV for the rest of the day and evening.
I heard from Susie that Ed went home yesterday around lunch time and is recovering well. Our friend Hedy also had surgery this week, but she is also home recovering nicely at this point. That's all good news.
We spent all day at the Cove yesterday from 10:15 to nearly 5 p.m. That's a good day!
Today is Shabbat, so we are heading out to shul. After lunch we have pledged to go for a walk for some exercise before settling down to TV for the rest of the day and evening.
I heard from Susie that Ed went home yesterday around lunch time and is recovering well. Our friend Hedy also had surgery this week, but she is also home recovering nicely at this point. That's all good news.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Same same same
My weight this morning is still the same as Wednesday, and I can't get my sugars back down. This morning I was 120, the worst one yet since they went over the normal range on November 2. I admit that my total carbs for the day were high yesterday, 203, even though the calories were low, 1490. Today my calories should be only 1369 and the carbs 86. That's a very low amount of carbs, so I'm hoping that might bump my morning sugar reading back in to the normal range.
AAA came quickly yesterday, so we got Mark's car over to the repair place in Auburndale yesterday around 1 p.m. It's a new place for us, but it seemed pretty good. Hopefully they will find and fix the problem and bill the Extended Warranty plan.
Today I have a long appointment in the salon since I'm having my hair colored along with the usuals. Then I'm going to fill in at the library because Edward is on vacation. An easy, pleasant day.
AAA came quickly yesterday, so we got Mark's car over to the repair place in Auburndale yesterday around 1 p.m. It's a new place for us, but it seemed pretty good. Hopefully they will find and fix the problem and bill the Extended Warranty plan.
Today I have a long appointment in the salon since I'm having my hair colored along with the usuals. Then I'm going to fill in at the library because Edward is on vacation. An easy, pleasant day.
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Shoulder Doctor UPDATE POSTED
Yesterday was great. I stayed home all day doing a ton of chores! I also had time to read part of a chapter in Hamilton and even worked my new jigsaw puzzle for awhile. Mostly I worked on preparing music and folders on the two different choirs that I direct. I had to make lots of copies of things and email back and forth a lot with the Cove Singers accompanist. That choir work took nearly four hours! Just like being at work, only I enjoyed it more. LOL
Mark used my car all day for his errands and teaching his student in the afternoon. Then we had synagogue choir rehearsal last night, which went well.
We found out last night that the synagogue will not let us do a Synagogue Cruise as a fund raiser. They are concerned about it since we will be hiring a new rabbi who will start in the summer but the cruise is not until 2019. Whatever....the choir can all join me and Mark on the cruise anyway. We just can't use the SOJC logo or advertise it through their media.
The cruise is a four night one out of Tampa on Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. Mark and I have never been on a Royal Caribbean, but our friend Evey Herschler once said it was her favorite ship of all time. We already booked an inside cabin, so if anybody joins us that's fine. I sent an informative email to everyone in the SOJC choir last night. It's leaves Thursday, January 17 of 2019 and returns Monday January 21. It has four nights, but only one port, Cozumel. There are two and a half sea days. Should be fun. Anyone can call my travel agent, Marcy Brown at Zenith Travel in Maitland, FL and book a room. She has already put all kinds of rooms on hold for as long as we need. If you are reading this and want to go on this trip, just call her, but mention that you are part of my "group." I'm sure if you mention my name, she'll know what you mean. I'm going to call her later today after the shoulder doc appointment to tell her that we can't call it a synagogue group.
I'll post doctor results about the shoulder as an update to this post when we get back.
I'm back from the shoulder doctor. He took several X-rays which showed that I have arthritis in both of the shoulder bones, near the ball and the socket, as well as arthritis on the clavicle. I am not complaining of the clavicle, but it's there anyway. He said that I had a choice. I could get a cortisone injection today and give it a week then come back. If it didn't help, he'd send me for an MRI. Or I could get an MRI first, come back, and if it showed a rotator cuff tear, then we'd talk about options. If it didn't show a tear, then I'll get the injection. I opted for the second choice because I honestly don't think it's the arthritis I'm feeling. Because I've been on Prednisone three times since August 10, and on muscle relaxers and pain pills since October 5 or 6 when I went to the ER for my back, I don't really think it's just arthritis. Those things took care of my back problem and vocal nodes just fine, but they haven't touched the shoulder pain. He agreed, he said. So I'm waiting to be contacted by Celebration Hospital for the MRI. Then I'll go see him again for the results. I think that is exactly the right thing to do.
Mark used my car all day for his errands and teaching his student in the afternoon. Then we had synagogue choir rehearsal last night, which went well.
We found out last night that the synagogue will not let us do a Synagogue Cruise as a fund raiser. They are concerned about it since we will be hiring a new rabbi who will start in the summer but the cruise is not until 2019. Whatever....the choir can all join me and Mark on the cruise anyway. We just can't use the SOJC logo or advertise it through their media.
The cruise is a four night one out of Tampa on Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. Mark and I have never been on a Royal Caribbean, but our friend Evey Herschler once said it was her favorite ship of all time. We already booked an inside cabin, so if anybody joins us that's fine. I sent an informative email to everyone in the SOJC choir last night. It's leaves Thursday, January 17 of 2019 and returns Monday January 21. It has four nights, but only one port, Cozumel. There are two and a half sea days. Should be fun. Anyone can call my travel agent, Marcy Brown at Zenith Travel in Maitland, FL and book a room. She has already put all kinds of rooms on hold for as long as we need. If you are reading this and want to go on this trip, just call her, but mention that you are part of my "group." I'm sure if you mention my name, she'll know what you mean. I'm going to call her later today after the shoulder doc appointment to tell her that we can't call it a synagogue group.
I'll post doctor results about the shoulder as an update to this post when we get back.
I'm back from the shoulder doctor. He took several X-rays which showed that I have arthritis in both of the shoulder bones, near the ball and the socket, as well as arthritis on the clavicle. I am not complaining of the clavicle, but it's there anyway. He said that I had a choice. I could get a cortisone injection today and give it a week then come back. If it didn't help, he'd send me for an MRI. Or I could get an MRI first, come back, and if it showed a rotator cuff tear, then we'd talk about options. If it didn't show a tear, then I'll get the injection. I opted for the second choice because I honestly don't think it's the arthritis I'm feeling. Because I've been on Prednisone three times since August 10, and on muscle relaxers and pain pills since October 5 or 6 when I went to the ER for my back, I don't really think it's just arthritis. Those things took care of my back problem and vocal nodes just fine, but they haven't touched the shoulder pain. He agreed, he said. So I'm waiting to be contacted by Celebration Hospital for the MRI. Then I'll go see him again for the results. I think that is exactly the right thing to do.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
LOUD MRI
Yesterday morning I had the breast MRI. Wow, it was so loud and somewhat uncomfortable. The traffic was so bad in the morning that it took 90 minutes to get there but only 50 to come home. When I got out of the machine, my ears were ringing. Other MRIs have given me headphones and music to listen to. This one just gave me sponge earplugs, which didn't work very well. My hearing is still impaired this morning. I can hear everything, but I also hear a constant whooshing noise in my left ear. I don't expect it to show anything, and if it damaged my left ear, I'm going to be very sorry that I did it.
My weight this morning is 262.5. Not good, but Monday night's dinner at the Enzian sent me up three pounds yesterday morning. I was good yesterday, so I'm down two of those three, but not as far down as I was Monday morning. I am down 3.5 for the week, but I still haven't made it back to the 258.8 on October 25. I have three more days of all meals at home. We might be eating lunch out on Sunday, but that depends on how well Ed heals up from his hernia surgery on Thursday. If he is not able to go out, we will go to the movie by ourselves and come home for lunch. At that point, I can eat all the rest of my meals at home through next Thursday morning when we drive down to Boynton Beach for an overnight trip to hear Dave H. and Ralph M. talk about the book Kindertransport: A Lifelong Journey of Survival and Redemption. The book is great, and I am looking forward to seeing our friends talk abut it.
Today we are down to one car, mine. Mark's car was dead yesterday morning when he tried to go to water aerobics. The battery is barely two years old and has a six year warranty, so it shouldn't be dead. It wouldn't even accept a charge. Now he has to call AAA to get a bigger jump start or a new battery again. He fears something in the electrical system is the problem, so he wants to take it up to CarMax where he can use his Extended Warranty for the possible repair. Meanwhile, although my car is in great condition, it STILL does not recognize my key fob regularly. One of the things that I did at Mullinax Ford last week was have them change the batteries in both fobs and reset everything. Mark's fob works fine, but mine is hit or miss again. Up at the imaging center yesterday, I tried all four doors, maybe about 20 tries, and started to feel that I would be stuck there. Even the clicker part of the fob didn't work. At last, it finally recognized my fob and I got in the car. It always recognizes it from the inside to get the car started, it just doesn't recognize it outside trying to unlock the car. Now I need to call Mullinax Ford and have them look at it again, but not until we get Mark's car straightened out. A lot of people in our neighborhood get by on one car and a golf cart, but so far we have both made plans for doctor appointments, classes, rehearsals, exercise, etc. without regard to the other person's schedule, assuming we each have a working car. Now we have to start juggling things to get by on one car for awhile. Next Thursday when we take off for South Florida for the book talk, we really need at least ONE reliable car!
My weight this morning is 262.5. Not good, but Monday night's dinner at the Enzian sent me up three pounds yesterday morning. I was good yesterday, so I'm down two of those three, but not as far down as I was Monday morning. I am down 3.5 for the week, but I still haven't made it back to the 258.8 on October 25. I have three more days of all meals at home. We might be eating lunch out on Sunday, but that depends on how well Ed heals up from his hernia surgery on Thursday. If he is not able to go out, we will go to the movie by ourselves and come home for lunch. At that point, I can eat all the rest of my meals at home through next Thursday morning when we drive down to Boynton Beach for an overnight trip to hear Dave H. and Ralph M. talk about the book Kindertransport: A Lifelong Journey of Survival and Redemption. The book is great, and I am looking forward to seeing our friends talk abut it.
Today we are down to one car, mine. Mark's car was dead yesterday morning when he tried to go to water aerobics. The battery is barely two years old and has a six year warranty, so it shouldn't be dead. It wouldn't even accept a charge. Now he has to call AAA to get a bigger jump start or a new battery again. He fears something in the electrical system is the problem, so he wants to take it up to CarMax where he can use his Extended Warranty for the possible repair. Meanwhile, although my car is in great condition, it STILL does not recognize my key fob regularly. One of the things that I did at Mullinax Ford last week was have them change the batteries in both fobs and reset everything. Mark's fob works fine, but mine is hit or miss again. Up at the imaging center yesterday, I tried all four doors, maybe about 20 tries, and started to feel that I would be stuck there. Even the clicker part of the fob didn't work. At last, it finally recognized my fob and I got in the car. It always recognizes it from the inside to get the car started, it just doesn't recognize it outside trying to unlock the car. Now I need to call Mullinax Ford and have them look at it again, but not until we get Mark's car straightened out. A lot of people in our neighborhood get by on one car and a golf cart, but so far we have both made plans for doctor appointments, classes, rehearsals, exercise, etc. without regard to the other person's schedule, assuming we each have a working car. Now we have to start juggling things to get by on one car for awhile. Next Thursday when we take off for South Florida for the book talk, we really need at least ONE reliable car!
Monday, November 6, 2017
Still heading in the right direction.
This morning I weigh 261.4, still up 2.6 pounds from October 25, but I'm down 9.6 from this past Thursday. I'm still trying to get back to 258.8, which I hi on October 25. It sure has been a roller coaster of weight loss-gain-loss this last week and a half.
I'm eating dinner at the Enzian Theater tonight, and then I have five more days in a row when I will eat all my meals at home. Eating at home is clearly the key!
Today I have my follow up to the back orthopedist. I have three questions for him:
1. Is it safe to start some easy yoga with my friend Susan, who recently retired as a PT Aide and who is a professional yoga instructor?
2. May I have two more of the Back Exercise booklets to give to friends?
3. What steps should I take if I have another painful flare-up like I did on October 6 that started all of this?
Other than my questions, I'm sure he is going to be pleased with me because I have done the exercises, and I feel more or less the same as I have for some time. Although I still weighed 258.8 when I saw him on October 27. I was supposed to lose weight in these two weeks, so if he notices that, he will be disappointed. Hell, I'M DISAPPOINTED!
I will not have time to get back on this blog today since we are just running from thing to thing. I'll post what the doctor says in tomorrow's blog.
I'm eating dinner at the Enzian Theater tonight, and then I have five more days in a row when I will eat all my meals at home. Eating at home is clearly the key!
Today I have my follow up to the back orthopedist. I have three questions for him:
1. Is it safe to start some easy yoga with my friend Susan, who recently retired as a PT Aide and who is a professional yoga instructor?
2. May I have two more of the Back Exercise booklets to give to friends?
3. What steps should I take if I have another painful flare-up like I did on October 6 that started all of this?
Other than my questions, I'm sure he is going to be pleased with me because I have done the exercises, and I feel more or less the same as I have for some time. Although I still weighed 258.8 when I saw him on October 27. I was supposed to lose weight in these two weeks, so if he notices that, he will be disappointed. Hell, I'M DISAPPOINTED!
I will not have time to get back on this blog today since we are just running from thing to thing. I'll post what the doctor says in tomorrow's blog.
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Great Shabbat
I had so much fun singing in services yesterday! I certainly did miss it, so it's nice to have my voice back. It didn't sound exactly right, and a few notes were "late" coming out. By the time services ended, I felt vocally exhausted and a little tight in the throat. Well, the ENT said it would take a little while to get back to normal, but the main thing is that it's safe to sing since the nodes are gone. He did caution me that over-doing it could bring them back.
Mark and I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of working on my jigsaw puzzle, reading Ivanhoe, and watching our weekly Disney movie. This week we were up to Aladdin. Wow! It came out in 1992, but all the Disney animated features sure do hold up well.
At 6:15 we headed over to Susie and Ed's house because he drove all four of us to the Orlando Science Center for the first movie in the series of five films for the Jewish Film Festival. Both the short film that came on first, The Chop, and the main feature, The Pickle Recipe, were outstanding. We were all laughing aloud at The Pickle Recipe! And the theater was nearly packed. They announced that it was the biggest crowd yet, and this was the 19th year.
This morning we are getting ready to head out to see the new Thor movie. When we get home around 2 p.m., we will eat a late lunch followed a few hours later with dinner at 6 p.m. before heading up to another Jewish movie called Hava Nagila, sponsored by the Shalom Club. It's a documentary about the famous song, its history and evolution. Sounds great! They are serving desserts, which if I'm smart I will avoid.
My weight continues to go down. This morning I was 262.4, which is great and definitely on the way back to the lowest for this round of weight loss, which was 258.8. I want to hit that number as soon as possible and then lose more before we go on the cruise November 26.
I was too tired when we got home last night at 11 p.m., so I did't do my evening back exercises. I did the morning ones this morning, and I should be able to do the evening ones tonight. I will be seeing the back orthopedist tomorrow morning at 9:45. I know he'll be excited and pleased with my improvement. I will definitely ask him about what to do in the future if I have another flare up.
Mark and I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of working on my jigsaw puzzle, reading Ivanhoe, and watching our weekly Disney movie. This week we were up to Aladdin. Wow! It came out in 1992, but all the Disney animated features sure do hold up well.
At 6:15 we headed over to Susie and Ed's house because he drove all four of us to the Orlando Science Center for the first movie in the series of five films for the Jewish Film Festival. Both the short film that came on first, The Chop, and the main feature, The Pickle Recipe, were outstanding. We were all laughing aloud at The Pickle Recipe! And the theater was nearly packed. They announced that it was the biggest crowd yet, and this was the 19th year.
This morning we are getting ready to head out to see the new Thor movie. When we get home around 2 p.m., we will eat a late lunch followed a few hours later with dinner at 6 p.m. before heading up to another Jewish movie called Hava Nagila, sponsored by the Shalom Club. It's a documentary about the famous song, its history and evolution. Sounds great! They are serving desserts, which if I'm smart I will avoid.
My weight continues to go down. This morning I was 262.4, which is great and definitely on the way back to the lowest for this round of weight loss, which was 258.8. I want to hit that number as soon as possible and then lose more before we go on the cruise November 26.
I was too tired when we got home last night at 11 p.m., so I did't do my evening back exercises. I did the morning ones this morning, and I should be able to do the evening ones tonight. I will be seeing the back orthopedist tomorrow morning at 9:45. I know he'll be excited and pleased with my improvement. I will definitely ask him about what to do in the future if I have another flare up.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
They're GONE.
YAY! My vocal nodes are gone! To celebrate last night I had a whiskey on the rocks for Happy Hour and a small glass of Bartenura Moscato at dinner. I also sang along with Mark on the prayers before and after the Shabbat meal. I haven't done those things since August 10.
I tried to sing a little yesterday, and it sure feels rusty. The doctor said it will take awhile for the singing to feel normal again. It's like a muscle that hasn't been used for awhile and is stiff and weak. We are going to the synagogue this morning, and I'm going to sing the prayers, also for the first time since August 10.
This evening we are joining Susie and Ed to go to the Orlando Science Center for the first film in the Jewish Film Festival.
We have also decided to skip the Food and Wine Festival both Sunday and Monday, which will help my weight a lot. This morning I was down to 65.6, so that's a good start. By eating all my meals at home yesterday, today, and also tomorrow, I should make some progress. I also took a 22 minute walk in the neighborhood yesterday. Monday we are eating dinner at the Enzian Theater for a double feature of films that are part of this year's Jewish Film Festival. There's no getting out of that one. After Monday, I will have another five straight days of all my meals at home. I expect to get back in to the 250s by then.
Sunday Mark decided he'd rather go see the new Thor movie than Epcot. Monday we now have to go to the car Title and Tags office. Somehow Mark is driving on a license plate that says March 2016. He has no idea how or why he did not register his car, but now he has skipped two Marches because the tag should say 2018. He is beside himself, so we will go Monday as soon as I get back from the orthopedist visit. We are pretty sure it's going to cost over $300 because there are going to be penalties and fines for not having kept up to date on his registration.
For at leat a year and a half, no police in either Florida or all over the northeast and Maryland has noticed that he's out of date. I guess he's been lucky!
Monday we are also having our house and pavers power washed. It's been quite awhile, so I'll be happy to have it done. Unfortunately, I think he's charging me twice as much as he did last time. Oh, well....next time I'll call someone else. In 2019 the whole house has to be painted again!
I tried to sing a little yesterday, and it sure feels rusty. The doctor said it will take awhile for the singing to feel normal again. It's like a muscle that hasn't been used for awhile and is stiff and weak. We are going to the synagogue this morning, and I'm going to sing the prayers, also for the first time since August 10.
This evening we are joining Susie and Ed to go to the Orlando Science Center for the first film in the Jewish Film Festival.
We have also decided to skip the Food and Wine Festival both Sunday and Monday, which will help my weight a lot. This morning I was down to 65.6, so that's a good start. By eating all my meals at home yesterday, today, and also tomorrow, I should make some progress. I also took a 22 minute walk in the neighborhood yesterday. Monday we are eating dinner at the Enzian Theater for a double feature of films that are part of this year's Jewish Film Festival. There's no getting out of that one. After Monday, I will have another five straight days of all my meals at home. I expect to get back in to the 250s by then.
Sunday Mark decided he'd rather go see the new Thor movie than Epcot. Monday we now have to go to the car Title and Tags office. Somehow Mark is driving on a license plate that says March 2016. He has no idea how or why he did not register his car, but now he has skipped two Marches because the tag should say 2018. He is beside himself, so we will go Monday as soon as I get back from the orthopedist visit. We are pretty sure it's going to cost over $300 because there are going to be penalties and fines for not having kept up to date on his registration.
For at leat a year and a half, no police in either Florida or all over the northeast and Maryland has noticed that he's out of date. I guess he's been lucky!
Monday we are also having our house and pavers power washed. It's been quite awhile, so I'll be happy to have it done. Unfortunately, I think he's charging me twice as much as he did last time. Oh, well....next time I'll call someone else. In 2019 the whole house has to be painted again!
Friday, November 3, 2017
Back to the ENT today.
I am heading out to the ENT office today for my next check up on the vocal nodes. Today he is going to go back down in with the camera. After the first visit on August 10, I no longer fear having that done. On the contrary, I am looking forward to it very much to see if the nodes are gone. I can tell from speaking and occasionally a little singing that they are better. I'm not sure they are gone, but if they show measurable improvement, I will be very happy and willing to continue the regiment. I am wondering if he will still send me for Speech Therapy if there is a good bit of improvement visible. I'll report on this visit tomorrow.
Yesterday I didn't write a blog. I was disgusted with my weight, up FIVE pounds in one day from what I reported on Wednesday. My official weigh-in on Wednesday was 266 and then yesterday I wash SHOCKED to see 271 on the scale. I ate at Buddy Freddy's Country Buffet for our NARFE meeting. I think I did well. I only got a cold salad with two hard boiled eggs and a little shredded cheddar for protein. I did put a little cole slaw and a little carrot slaw on it because I don't use salad dressing. For dessert I took only sugar free jello. Mark made a salad for dinner with grilled tuna steak on it, so that was also good. I was down two and a half pounds this morning to 268.5. I am hoping this is a new trend. Today and the next two days should have all my meals eaten at home. Then Monday I have to eat lunch at the Food and Wine Festival and dinner at the Enzian Theater in Winter Park, so that's going to be rough. I need to exercise and eat right each of these three days in preparation for that! Before we know it, it's going to be Thanksgiving and then we get on a 7 day cruise the Monday after Thanksgiving. I was hoping to be in the low 250s if not 240s by then, but now I've gone up so much that I'll be happy to be in the high 250s by then. I'm not even sure I can do that!
I have continued to do my morning and evening back exercises, and I continue to be almost pain free. Every now and then or if I walk too far or stand up for too long, I start to get the old twinges that I've had for years. The difference is that now I know what it is and how to take care of it. I'm still on the night time pain pill and muscle relaxer. I don't know if it will be worse when I don't have any more of them or not. I see the orthopedist again on Monday, and that's a question I will ask him.
Yesterday I didn't write a blog. I was disgusted with my weight, up FIVE pounds in one day from what I reported on Wednesday. My official weigh-in on Wednesday was 266 and then yesterday I wash SHOCKED to see 271 on the scale. I ate at Buddy Freddy's Country Buffet for our NARFE meeting. I think I did well. I only got a cold salad with two hard boiled eggs and a little shredded cheddar for protein. I did put a little cole slaw and a little carrot slaw on it because I don't use salad dressing. For dessert I took only sugar free jello. Mark made a salad for dinner with grilled tuna steak on it, so that was also good. I was down two and a half pounds this morning to 268.5. I am hoping this is a new trend. Today and the next two days should have all my meals eaten at home. Then Monday I have to eat lunch at the Food and Wine Festival and dinner at the Enzian Theater in Winter Park, so that's going to be rough. I need to exercise and eat right each of these three days in preparation for that! Before we know it, it's going to be Thanksgiving and then we get on a 7 day cruise the Monday after Thanksgiving. I was hoping to be in the low 250s if not 240s by then, but now I've gone up so much that I'll be happy to be in the high 250s by then. I'm not even sure I can do that!
I have continued to do my morning and evening back exercises, and I continue to be almost pain free. Every now and then or if I walk too far or stand up for too long, I start to get the old twinges that I've had for years. The difference is that now I know what it is and how to take care of it. I'm still on the night time pain pill and muscle relaxer. I don't know if it will be worse when I don't have any more of them or not. I see the orthopedist again on Monday, and that's a question I will ask him.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Disappointing Weight Report
This morning I am 266, exactly the weight that I reported two weeks ago on October 18. I lost a bit over 7 pounds last week and put exactly that amount back this week. That's a pound a day, so I might as well have been on a cruise. Oh, well....
Even though I walked TWO times around the Glendora Pond yesterday AND danced four times at the Monster Ball last night, it was not enough to account for the huge meal I ate at the party.
This upcoming week I will eat out or have a party four times, which is only one less than this week. The other thing that I did so very, very wrong this past week was binge-eating Halloween candy and cookies in the house between meals. That definitely did not help my situation. Well, the candy and cookies are now GONE! YAY! That's going to help a lot and there will be no more of that coming in to the house either.
Tonight we are serving the entree to the Goldbergs and Sterns for our four-times-a-year Progressive Dinner nights. Mark is making a Diabetic Living meat chili and a low-carb, parve cornbread. He's made those things before, so I know how to program them. Unfortunately, there are going to be delicious cheese quesadillas as an appetizer at the Sterns house first and desserts afterward at the Goldbergs. All I can do is be sure to get out walking this morning and try to make good choices at the other two houses. As we have seen this week, I still don't know how to do that.
I was so tired when I came home from the Monster Ball that I skipped my night time exercise routine and heating pad time. I ached all over like I had the flu! I am not really sure why I felt so bad, but I went to bed at 10 pm., read a book for twenty minutes, and fell asleep quickly. I woke up at 7, feeling much better, so I did the morning exercises. Soon Mark and I are going to the indoor track to walk because we still think it will be too cold to go to outdoor water aerobics. I just have to pick myself up and try to lose those seven pounds again.
Even though I walked TWO times around the Glendora Pond yesterday AND danced four times at the Monster Ball last night, it was not enough to account for the huge meal I ate at the party.
This upcoming week I will eat out or have a party four times, which is only one less than this week. The other thing that I did so very, very wrong this past week was binge-eating Halloween candy and cookies in the house between meals. That definitely did not help my situation. Well, the candy and cookies are now GONE! YAY! That's going to help a lot and there will be no more of that coming in to the house either.
Tonight we are serving the entree to the Goldbergs and Sterns for our four-times-a-year Progressive Dinner nights. Mark is making a Diabetic Living meat chili and a low-carb, parve cornbread. He's made those things before, so I know how to program them. Unfortunately, there are going to be delicious cheese quesadillas as an appetizer at the Sterns house first and desserts afterward at the Goldbergs. All I can do is be sure to get out walking this morning and try to make good choices at the other two houses. As we have seen this week, I still don't know how to do that.
I was so tired when I came home from the Monster Ball that I skipped my night time exercise routine and heating pad time. I ached all over like I had the flu! I am not really sure why I felt so bad, but I went to bed at 10 pm., read a book for twenty minutes, and fell asleep quickly. I woke up at 7, feeling much better, so I did the morning exercises. Soon Mark and I are going to the indoor track to walk because we still think it will be too cold to go to outdoor water aerobics. I just have to pick myself up and try to lose those seven pounds again.
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