Back to Basics

The train trip home was great.  There's something exciting to me about boarding a train. I got that feeling just driving up to the station.  We had dinner and breakfast on board and watched the animated movie Hotel Transylvania before bedtime.  We couldn't afford the sleeper car this time, but we both felt that we slept pretty well in coach.

When we got off, it was POURING!  Thank you, tropical storm Andrea.  By the time we got to Kissimmee, the rain was lighter.  Mark picked up his comic books, and then we had a Subway lunch and did the week's grocery shopping at Publix.  Once we got home at last, around 2:30, it took NINETY minutes to empty the car and get everything put away.  We were EXHAUSTED.  At 4 we took showers, a short nap, and then went to Stonegate Grille for a salmon dinner before heading to the free Thursday movie.  This week's movie was Argo, something we had been wanting to see. It was really excellent.  The audience applauded when the plane was safe and when the movie ended. 

Now it's a new day and a new set of rules:  Eat right.  Exercise regularly.  

So the blog is going back to basics.  It started out as a way for me to keep myself on track when I was dropping the 117 pounds in 2009.   Around October of that year, I was drifting off track and started the blog to have some sense of accountability to someone.  I guess that was really just me needing to talk about what I was doing.  It worked and I got back on track. 

But anything can get too comfortable.  Lots happened, including the breast cancer.  The blog became a way to help cope with the scary details of fighting cancer.  Then it just became a daily travel diary sometimes.   I'm just using it as a diary of what I did.  Not what this was supposed to be about.

So here it goes.  Back to Basics.  Back to weight loss. 

I have to do it.  This morning I am up yet another three pounds.  I got on the train at 273.6 and this morning I was 276.3.  Just unimaginable. This morning I looked over my weight log that I keep in a notebook by the bed and realized that I have been in the 260s since last November and the 270s since January.  There has been a steady increase for an entire year. 

This stops NOW.

Last night I set the alarm for 6:10.  By 6:30 I was outside walking 20 minutes with my RunKeeper on and music playing on Pandora.  It was sunny and 70 degrees, perfect for a walk. 

Today I will eat the following:
Breakfast: 3 Morningstar Links, 1 yogurt  (200 calories)
Lunch: Grilled Chicken on salad greens, no dressing  (200 calories)
Snack: blueberries (50 calories)
Dinner:  Fish recipe Mark got out of the Diabetic magazine, salad, string beans, challah, wine (600 calories)
Snack: banana, 2 sugar free jellos, 2 sugar free popsicles (180 calories)
Total calories: 1230.

I have walked 20 minutes already.  Later I hope to swim 20 minutes in the pool in the afternoon if it doesn't rain.  If it's raining, Mark and I will probably walk in the indoor track instead.

I have to admit that walking is getting hard.  When I weighed 210, I could walk a 5k in a bit over an hour.  Now that I weigh 276, I can barely do 3/4 of a mile in 20 minutes.  My back was hurting after the first five minutes.  In ten minutes both hips were hurting and my left knee was screaming.  Not good.  This is how it used to be.  I thought those days were over.  I have to bring them back, starting today.