The Perversity of Weight on my Body.

These are the calorie counts for each day this week and weight in the morning:
Monday         1423         275.9  (down from 283.2 the Monday after the cruise)
Tuesday         1338         273.9
Wednesday    1198         same
Thursday       1318          273 even
Friday            1450         same
Saturday        1305         same
Sunday          1208         275.8

WHAT?  Seriously?  I put back the whole week's weight loss in one day with calorie counts like that?

Of course, I haven't eaten those 1208 calories that are planned for today, but that's what I will do today.  Those counts are as accurate as possible. I use the Lose It! program, log it all in, never cheat, and get the calorie counts from either Mark's recipes that he makes from Diabetic Living, the product label itself, or a best guess from Lose It! or CalorieKing.  If I'm off, it's never by much.  I only ate two lunches out, Wednesday at Subway and Thursday at the Grille.  At Subway, the double turkey salad and Baked Lay's is a standard lunch for me when losing weight, and it is 320 calories.  At the Grille, the bowl of plain mixed greens and about a six ounce grilled salmon was estimated at 310.  It's possible there was more oil on that salmon than Calorie King might predict, but even if I added 200 more calories to that estimate, my day would not be over the limit set by Lose It!, which is currently 1566.  I have been well under my limit every day.

It's got to be the EXERCISE!  I have not exercised this week. Mark has been sick, so he did not feel up to doing weights or taking long walks.  I had only minimal exercise such as shopping, a little swimming, and leading rehearsals.  They probably don't add up to much.  On the other hand, taking a 20 minute walk and doing 10 minutes of weight lifting only burns a total of 126 calories.  Although the Lose It! program allows you to eat those calories back, I never do, but that amount of extra calories burned is not going to make or break a weight loss week.

Clearly, I need to do something, and there are only two things to change up.  I can eat less calories and exercise more.

This past week was supposed to be one of my best because there were only two meals out.  This upcoming week is going to be tougher.  I will be eating lunch out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, dinner out on Thursday, and then there are two SEDERS, Friday and Saturday nights.  Passover begins officially Friday night, but eating Passover food begins at lunch on Friday.  Although we didn't buy as much stuff as usual, there will still be a LOT more calories consumed during those seders and possibly the rest of the week.  I had really hoped to lose a lot this past week and now that opportunity is over.  I am a little bit bummed.

What I must do now is NOT GIVE UP! I need to continue to log it all in, try to incorporate some exercise when possible, and not beat myself up if I gain weight during Passover.  I can always lose it again after Passover.

During the two seders the meal will be four cups of wine, at least one board of matzoh, gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, turkey, stuffing, gravy, potato kugel from a mix, and my special asparagus with lots of margarine in it.  Then there are the desserts, both those we bought (chocolates) and those others are bringing (cakes and cookies).  And we get to do that TWO nights in a row.  Even if I eat only small portions of all those items, the sodium content and calorie count will be through the roof.

We will have eight for the seder Friday night and five for the seder Saturday night.  Dinner will be late Friday, about 8:30 p.m., and an hour later than THAT on Saturday.  It's tough when you eat a high sodium, high calorie meal so late at night, too.

Well, Passover is coming whether or not I'd like it to be this week.  I'm not going to give it another negative thought.  Once it starts and the company is here, I'm going to try very hard to relax and enjoy it.  Still, I will also program the calories, even if I go over the allotment.  It is what it is.

Meanwhile, the Celebration of Life went very beautifully yesterday.  I got through the song pretty well.  Fred was very moved, so that was nice.  I got a lot of compliments, so that made me feel great.

Today we are having a long dress rehearsal from 9 to noon at Lakeside for today's Cove Singers Recital.  The show is 2-3:30.  That's definitely going to burn up some calories today!  Maybe I'll start the week out tomorrow back at 273.  I would be so happy if that happens.  Stay tuned!