Back in control

Weight gain and weight loss are always astounding to me.  Sometimes one off day will add several pounds while one good day can drop them.  Other times an entire week of perfect eating behavior will result in no loss whatsoever.  I have gained and lost hundreds of pounds in my 65 years, so I know this from my own experience.

Yesterday I had a perfect day. I logged everything in, ate all my meals at home, exercised, and lost three pounds.  This morning I weighed 277.5, which is pretty good.  Not actually good, but it's all relative.  I'm happy to hit that this morning.  My plan is to keep this up and get out of the 270s ASAP.  When I was doing so well back in 2009, I tried to take it in groups of ten pounds, so getting out of the 270s is significant.  Then I can work on the 260s, etc.

Today I will also be eating all my meals at home.  Right after writing this blog entry, I will be logging in all my food for the day in the Lose It! app on my phone.  Even though Mark and I decided not to go to shut today in favor of staying home and catching up on the several weeks of TV shows we are behind on, we will definitely go out and take a 20-30 minute walk at some point today.  Then tonight we will go to the Starliters performance at the Ballroom.  This is the second year in a row that I did not participate, and I won't be doing it next year either because January through March, when they rehearse, is also prime cruising season!

Now back to the cruise.  Our next stop after our overnight on Barbados, we had a sea day and then we went to Aruba and Curacao, two out of the three of the ABC islands off the coast of Venezuela.  Maybe some day we will get to Bonaire and have been to all three.

Today's pictures are of the sea day after Barbados and then Aruba.  We are almost done.  Just three moe days of the cruise are left, so tomorrow's blog will be the last entry of pictures.

Gorgeous ocean views from our balcony.  We really loved this extra deep, extra shady balcony.  We had absolutely perfect weather the entire fourteen days, and most of the time the sea was perfectly wonderful!

We noticed today that the doors to the Future Cruise desk on this ship were Mickey heads!  Our sea day involved lectures, a choir rehearsal, listening to our audio book, a matinee show, time in the indoor pool and Persian Gardens, lots of drinking, an evening show, and lots of food!  Typical day at sea for us!

The next morning we set foot on Aruba for the first time ever.

We chose this crazy open air bus excursion.

We all had a maraca and were instructed to play it along with the loud music the driver/tour guide played, especially when we passed people on the street.  It was remarkably fun.

Aruba is flat, dry, and dusty with a strong wind blowing all the time.  This is an aloe farm with a divi divi tree on the property.  Aruba has a factory right next to this called the Aruba Aloe Balm.  We did not stop or go inside, but that might be something we would do on a future trip.

Our first stop was at a church up on one of the highest spots,which wasn't very high.  The wind was blowing the dust all the time, so we had to be careful not to get it I'm our eyes.  There are cacti everywhere, which they use as roofing material and fences because they don't have big trees to use that for.

The little church is behind me. The original is gone, but they used the original doors and windows when they rebuilt it. Most people sit on the benches outside.  It doesn't rain very often on Aruba, so I guess that's rarely a problem.  

Our second stop was their lighthouse, which is currently undergoing restoration.

Me in front of our crazy bus.

View from the lighthouse area.

Our last stop was on Palm Beach, one of the longest and nicest beach areas in Aruba.  Our part was by a Holiday Inn and called Moomba Beach.  We got a chair and a coupon to buy a drink for $5.  If you wanted an umbrella, it cost more, so we didn't get it. Mark didn't even buy his drink.  Some of our previous beach excursions included a free umbrella and a free drink, so this one wasn't as nice.  This is the view from my chair.

The beach was full of little shells and some rocks along the shore line, so I was glad I brought my water feet.  Under the water, people said it was very mucky and slimy, but with my water feet on I did not notice that.

And I finally SWAM!  It was March 30, so I decided it was close enough to the end of my restrictions. I didn't get my face wet anyway.  There were no big waves.  The water was gentle, reasonably warm, and clear without fish or seaweed.  Delightful!

This is how Mark spent his two hours on the beach.

Back on deck we took naps on these loungers and did some reading, too.

Our show for tonight was an amazing violinist.