Losing a part of me

I stepped onto the bathroom scale this morning and I swore at it. While it is probably okay for me to eat all the rice I ate at lunch, and it might even be okay to have all the bread and starches that I ate at dinner, it is certainly not okay for me to do both in one day. Or at least, not if I expect to lose weight. Up 1.4 lbs. from yesterday.

Leslie and I had our leftovers for lunch, which for me consisted of her leftover Buddha’s Feast and brown rice from our Chinese meal. Oh it was so good! That was bookended by a meal replacement shake for breakfast and a protein bar mid-afternoon, and I was not hungry again until it was time for us to prepare dinner. Leslie took the reins in the kitchen and made us a cheat-meal which we had discussed before, and which was so good! She air-fried meatless burgers and sweet potato fries. I ate two burger patties, the first of which I had on a yummy bread that has 27g of carbohydrates per slice, but zero sugar. The second patty I ate without the bread, only with the veggies and a bit of mustard and ketchup. Was it an opulent meal for my weight loss program? Yes. Do I think it will hurt me? I do not; in fact, I think that having the cheats I have these last few days will help me to restart my full-fast program on Thursday, knowing that I was able to enjoy them again… and what I have to look forward to when I start eating proper foods again.

My plans for today are to drop a couple of packages off at the post office; I do not want to forget and then either have to ship them from Canada or ask Leslie to do it. I will also spend an hour or two at my cigar lounge, enjoying a cigar and seeing some of the boys… and meeting some of the ones I have not yet met. Leslie has to work during the day, and anyways it is too cold outside for us to sit out comfortably. For those of you who are thinking that Dallas does not get nearly as cold as Burlington Canada does, I should mention that a) I have a propane heater on my balcony in Canada, and b) I brought neither my winter jacket nor my scarf with me, so sitting out in 4° weather is not an appetizing thought. After dinner, I asked Leslie what she wanted to do, and she asked if I wanted to go outside to freeze with a cigar. When I told her that I could be convinced, she made it quite clear that though I might have, she has not taken leave of her sanity. The cigar lounge it is, if I plan to smoke at all.

Leslie is on calls until 1:30pm, so I am going to get out of her way… but have scheduled to leave the lounge in time to pick up salads for lunch and be home exactly in time for that last meeting to end. Because I am teaching tomorrow, this evening will be our last sit-down dinner together, and I will cook the salmon. I do not know what side dish we will have, but as long as we do not have the bread and sweet potato fries that we had last night, I should be okay.

Leslie has a beanbag chair in her living room that we call the poof. It is big enough for both of us to snuggle in quite comfortably, and it has always been her favourite napping spot. We have sat in it a few times this week, and I realized that for the first time ever, I am able to stand up out of it without much effort. I remember the last few times I tried, I had to get onto my knees on the floor and then hold on to something. This is another huge non-scale victory for me. Keep them coming folks, I am happy to collect as many of those NSVs as I can!

For those of you who are wondering, I am still within my ‘victorious’ range on this trip. I have said since before I left Canada that if I gain two pounds or less while I am here then it will be a victory. I am right there… bot not higher. Tomorrow’s numbers will be lower, and so will Wednesday’s.

Have a great day folks!