Losing a part of me

Category: Dog

  • Day 132

    As predicted, I was not going to win any prizes on the golf course yesterday. I hit a few good shots, I hit a lot of bad shots. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and I am happy I did it. What I should do is go to a driving range somewhere today. We will see about that. I have a game with a friend on Thursday, and wouldn’t it be nice to not suck up the course? We’ll see. I do have to do some shopping this morning. Maybe after I am done, I will go to the range.

    I did not cheat at all yesterday… although my schedule was off. My morning shake was normal, but then I did not have anything else to eat until after golf. I came home and almost immediately took the Princess for a walk, but not before I put the chicken into the air fryer. When we came home, I steamed the vegetables, and everything came out great. A couple of hours later I was still hungry, so I had a meal replacement bar… I am going to have to order more this week. At around 7:30pm I made a salad with a can of tuna, and around 9:30pm I had another shake. I ate within my program, only the times were off. Yes, I know I should not be eating at 9:30pm. I was 1.4 lbs down on the scale this morning, which is a huge yay!

    A trip to the supermarket is urgent because I am out of all of the provisions that I would need for a normal day on my diet program. I will buy vegetables, chicken (and probably a couple of pieces of fish), as well as some of the seasoning that I bought last time. Oh, and I think there is a vegetable seasoning that I might like for my steamed vegetables. I have enough milk for coffee, and I still have at least a half dozen cans of tuna. Chicken, fish, and vegetables, and some seasoning is all I will need. Oh, and I will look in the treats section to see if there is anything fun to bring to Dallas!

    Today is HRF Princess’ birthday! So yes, I will be spoiling her rotten. I might forego PetSmart and head to a gourmet doggie bakery to pick up some treats for her. While PetSmart is great, they can always be relied upon to have the same old stuff. I think if I head to Bark & Fitz there will be plenty of new options, which she will love. Yes, I plan to spoil my girl today… I will be mixing some chicken in with her evening meal for sure! I thought of just giving her chicken, but knowing her, she would expect that forever, and would never taste kibble again. No, I cannot do that.

    The high temperatures today is predicted at 31°c, which is about 88°F. It will be a good day to relax. I might call Lyle and see if he wants to smoke on his patio, which has a nice breeze. We’ll see.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 126

    The biggest inconvenience to having relocated my bathroom scale into the bedroom is that I very often forget to weigh myself. I get out of the shower, shave, and then head into the bedroom. In a perfect world, I would hop onto the scale immediately. In the real (and more perfect) world, I am immediately distracted by a gorgeous doggie who has been waiting patiently for me to finish in the bathroom so that we can go out for our morning walk. Some days I remember, and others I do not.

    Today fell into the latter category, and it was not until we were nearly home from the park that I remembered. We got home and I gave her a treat. I then put on the coffee before heading into the bedroom, disrobing, and stepping onto the scale.

    I do not know what difference an hour might make, or if the walk makes a difference. I do know that I was extremely pleased by the numbers on the scale this morning after the walk. I was down 2.6 lbs, and in line with my numbers the first morning back from Cuba, when I was shocked that I had actually lost weight. From there, over the next few days I would gain 3.4 lbs. I am now down to where I was eight days ago. Good. Now it’s time to get back on track!

    Leslie made a good point yesterday. I want to be clear that she is my most wonderful advocate and has not chastised me during my journey. She encourages me every day. She asked me yesterday why I continue to stop at Bulk Barn for peanuts, if I know that they are my kryptonite. I have given this a lot of thought. Firstly, peanuts are not my kryptonite. They are something that I really enjoy, that in moderation are not the worst indulgence in the world for my diet. My Achilles heel is that I do not seem to have the ability to leave any behind. If I buy ten peanuts, I eat ten peanuts that day. If I buy a thousand peanuts, I eat the thousand peanuts the same day. Buying for a few days is obviously not a good idea for me. Today I am going to go to Bulk Barn, and I am going to measure out my peanuts. I will not spend more than one dollar on nuts (taxes included). I do not know what the cost is per peanut (I know, they charge by weight. Go with it.) but I will verify that, and rather than filling a scoop to put into the bag, I will get a reasonable number. According to my research, one ounce of peanuts contains 160 calories. It also contains seven grams of protein, six grams of carbohydrates, and thirteen grams of fat. That is not a bad snack. I will bet you that when I measure that out at the store today, I will be unpleasantly shocked by how many servings I have been eating when I buy a scoop. I will report back.

    (For the record, I’m not sure what my actual kryptonite is, nor if it is only one single food. With that said, a plate of Buffalo wings would certainly be high up on that list!)

    My friend the cleaning lady is coming this afternoon, which means that the apartment will be in order again. It also means that, weather permitting, I will stay out of her way by sitting on the balcony with a cigar or two. What can I say? I am pretty predictable in a lot of ways.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 102

    I was able to stick to the plan yesterday. I admit thinking at one point that a meal replacement bad – in addition to what I had eaten already – would have been nice. I did not indulge – to whatever extent a meal replacement bar would be considered an indulgence – and I went to bed having eaten precisely what I had set out to eat throughout the day. In addition, I enjoyed a single cigar on the balcony, as well as a pot of coffee (enjoyed throughout the morning and early afternoon). It was, in short, a day that went according to plan.

    I am still unsure what my plans for today are. I will either be seeing Lyle and Dorothy, or Ryan and the gang. In the next hour I will make some calls and decide. It is a rainy day out though, so my thinking is that Ryan’s is the more comfortable option; Lyle’s would be to support him through a difficult situation, and if he asks, I will be there.

    Either way, I have to try to stick to the plan. My weight was down this morning, but only very slightly. I know I am seeing the doctor this Wednesday for my official weigh-in and would like to be a couple of kilograms down from last time. In other words, falling off the program (even for a day) would not bode well for that. Also, in ten days I will be on a beach in Cuba with Leslie, and I want to look as good as I can for her in my swim trunks! Okay, I am mostly kidding… but I did buy six shirts for the trip (along with my two bathing suits), and I want them to fit me as well as possible, and not too tight.

    I mentioned earlier that it is rainy out today. Leslie is thinking that might be the reason my knee has been hurting – that it has, as will happen with older people – turned into a barometer. She might be right, although I hope not. I am hoping that the only reasons my knee has been bothering me is because, thanks to HRF Princess Sophie, I am often required to sleep in less-than-completely-comfortable positions. I will have to pay attention to it over the next few weeks though… if it is true, then I will at least know when to expect it. Yes, my younger lady derives quite a bit of humour out of reminding me that I am getting old!

    It is a lovely and typical spring day, and my allergies are in full force. I have been taking allergy meds every day for the last week or two and will make sure I continue to do so. I have suffered from bad allergies since I was a child, and I am at peace with the fact that I might not be able to completely alleviate them, but at least by taking the proper precautions I can keep the worst of them at bay.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 63

    HRF Princess Sophie asked me very politely to take her out at 6:00am. She does not wake me to go out very often, so when she does, I take her seriously. The last time she asked, I was much heavier; it probably took me fifteen minutes to get dressed. This morning, we were out the door in under 6 minutes… and that included time for me to pee. I will chalk that up as a non-scale victory. The times she has awakened me at 3:00am I always go right back to bed. While my alarm does not go off until 7:15am, I decided not to lie back down right away this time. I had a couple of appointments that I needed to reschedule.

    I decided that Friday I am going to drive to Montreal for the weekend. I realized as I was going to sleep last night that the Princess has a vet appointment for Friday, and I have an appointment in the evening. Both were booked online, and so I sat down at the computer to rebook them. My appointment was easy, and I was easily able to create another appointment for tomorrow morning. I will have to wait back from the vet for confirmation, but I cannot see this being a problem.

    Coupled with the early hour, there was a bit of freezing rain when we went out, and Princess did not want to spend more time than was strictly necessary outside, so the walk was a brief one.

    My diet yesterday was again mostly good. I was out and about for a few hours when I realized I was hungry, so I stopped at Bulk Barn and picked up a small handful of peanuts. When I got home, I prepared my dinner – a piece of salmon with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh dill. It was delicious! I have not yet stepped onto the bathroom scale, but I anticipate good things from it.

    I have an appointment to get weighed today, and I am looking forward to being down at least a few kilograms from my last weigh-in two weeks ago. Yes, doctors in Canada use the metric system, which does not bother me at all. In fact, the only reason I use the imperial system for my weight loss is because a full pound lost is less than half a kilo, which does not sound or feel nearly as impressive. In truth, despite the big switch to the metric system in the 1970s, I was always taught pounds rather than kilos, and while I try to get excited about the more sensible metric measurements (where a kilogram is the weight of a litre of water, and not based on a weight found in a Paris vault for hundreds of years), but I confess I still think in pounds. I doubt this will change, but I hope my children will understand kilos better. For the record, I think in kilometres (although I can do the conversion to miles in my head).

    I can already feel it… there will be a nap in my future. I have a couple of errands to run today, but I should be home by noon. The forecast high is only 6°c, and there might be a little wind still. Hopefully my phone appointments will be considerate and work around my need for a mid-afternoon nap. They are restorative, after all!

    I will write more after my weigh-in, but in the meantime, have a great day folks!