Losing a part of me

Category: Food

  • Day 89

    I am ashamed to admit it, but I ate a bunch of crap last night. I had my dinner earlier than I should have, so my last shake of the night at about 7:30pm. I was not satisfied, so I added a meal replacement bar to the evening. I was still emotional, so I broke down and had a bag of popcorn.

    I won’t go into the details, but sometimes we get emotional, sad, or whatever… and we veer from the program. I only hope it does not happen too often. I really have to get a handle on my emotions and exercise self-control.

    I am fighting with Air Canada. I have a flight credit that dates to August of last year; they assured me that I would have an e-mail confirmation with the code in ten days. Six weeks later I had not received it, but I needed to use part of it, and after spending several hours on the phone with them, I was able to… and they assured me that within ten days I would receive an e-mail with the code for the balance. That was September 20, more or less. That is 209 days… slightly more than ten days, once again. I spent an hour on the phone with one of their agents who assured me (after nearly an hour) that within ten days I would receive an email about it. I told him that his company was lying, as they have historically lied about this issue. Try as I might, he would not let me speak with a supervisor or manager. I am absolutely furious.

    My stress- and emotion-eating could have been worse. I was really tempted, especially after drafting my complaint letter to Air Canada, to go out and pick up… something. I don’t know if it would have been wings or a steak or whatever… it couldn’t be a pizza because of Passover, but it could have been a lot of things. I do not know what stopped me… other than knowing that I am going to the doctor’s office later this week, and I want to be able to reward myself after hitting that very important milestone; as bad as the crap that I ate was, it would only get worse if I didn’t stop.

    I do not know how it happened, but despite all that I ate over and above what I should be eating, my weight was down this morning. While it is still .4 lb higher than my best weight (last Tuesday), I was happy to be down nearly one full pound this morning. If I am able to maintain my rate of progress, then later this week I will be rewarding myself… with a steak.

    Yes, I said it. I have not had a steak since January. I told myself nearly a month ago that the day that I reach that milestone – losing enough to be able to weigh in on the doctor’s scale – that I would have a cheat day with a steak. I thought briefly about Buffalo wings or pizza or Chinese food… but all of those would have been too extreme. Yes, there are nearly 600 calories in an 10oz ribeye steak, which is more than I would eat in a meal on the program. It is a one-time reward… and I will enjoy it. I might wait until the weekend to enjoy it, but I will enjoy it nonetheless!

    I have some work to do today on the course I am writing for the end of next week, and this evening I have class. Somewhere between this and that I have to go shopping… I am out of vegetables, but that’s about it. Maybe I will take the opportunity to go for a good walk, which I have not done since my first 10,000 step day a few weeks ago.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 88

    There is a psychological characteristic in me that does not seem to want to accept certain types of moderation. I am not talking about food intake… although I suppose I am a glutton when I do not check myself. No, what I mean is this: I feel that when I veer from my program, even a little, I will be punished the following day on the bathroom scale.

    Yesterday (Saturday) I had my morning shake, and then around 11:00am HRF Princess Sophie and I hit the road. We drove to Caledon to see my friend (and now hers) Jacqueline, and her young puppy (I think she is six months old) Charley. A wonderful time was had, but shortly after we left the house, I realized that I had not taken any meal replacements with me. We stopped in at Bulk Barn, where I purchased a bag of red-skinned peanuts. Remember the previous day, when I bought a bag of peanuts from the convenience store? That bag cost me $5.99, and the peanuts were salted. This bag cost me $1.50, and the peanuts were exactly the way I like them. I enjoyed them as we drove up north.

    Jacqueline knows that I am on a diet, and also respects that it is Passover, so even if I was not on a diet, I really cannot eat any snack she might put out. She offered me coffee, which I enjoyed. We had a great time catching up – it had been far too long!

    We hit the road a little after 5:00pm, and no thanks to Waze on my iPhone, we got to the supermarket around 6:00pm. I know, I wrote yesterday that I would bring her home before going shopping, but we were an hour later than I thought we would be, and it was warm and sunny. Princess Sophie climbed up onto the back dash to sun herself while I ran in and picked up everything that I needed… except one crucial item. Oops.

    We got home and I put the chicken into the air fryer, and the rest of it into freezer bags. It was only then, as I was getting ready to prepare my salad, that I realized that I had run out of balsamic vinegar the previous evening. Okay, I had a choice: Either I could make my salad another way (and while there are myriad ways to season a salad, I did not have too many options in the house), or I could forego the salad, and instead steam a head of broccoli. I opted for that second option, adding a bit of onion as well. I spread much less margarine than I had on my previous attempt, but also added some cheese (but not a lot). I forgot to add salt, but that is not the end of the world.

    Spoiler alert: While steamed broccoli can be quite tasty, steamed onion is less so… at least, not the way I prepared it. I ate it, but it was nothing to write home about.

    Later in the evening I had another meal replacement shake. That was the extent of my food intake yesterday.

    If you look at what I consumed, I obviously did not gorge myself. I did not eat tons of bad food, or even overeat the good ones. Yes, I had a little margarine and shredded cheese on my broccoli. Yes, I had a handful of peanuts (which replaced a meal). With all that, how could I possibly not lose weight?

    I did. After yesterday’s colossal two-pound gain (which followed the previous two day’s 1.5 lbs gain, I was hoping to be down at least a little. I was down a full three pounds from yesterday, and while I am not back to my best weigh-in of the last week, I am damned close to it… and most importantly, I am back under the 350-pound mark.

    I will mention as well that I think that moving the scale from the bathroom to the bedroom has done tremendous good for the stability of my weigh-ins. While I am neither an architect nor a builder, I suspect that the floors immediately adjacent to a load-bearing brick wall will necessarily be more stable than one nowhere near an outside wall, when the floor in the apartment has already been established as not reliably stable. It (the scale) is now under my window, which means I can just leave my phone on the ledge when I weigh in (which allows it to register the weight). Over the past few days (since I moved it) I know that there has been much less up-and-down before settling on a final weight… and so there it will remain.

    My plans for today: I am picking up the cleaning lady from the train station in about an hour. I would have stopped at the store to pick up a bottle of balsamic vinegar, but guess what? Yep, the stores are closed again for Easter Sunday. Sigh. I suppose for my salad today I will be making a slightly different dressing, with the fixings that I do have.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 87

    I almost asked for a recount. I got onto the scale this morning and was a full two pounds over what I weighed yesterday morning. I am back above 350 lbs, and I am not happy about it. I will focus today to get back to where I was… focused.

    This morning’s weight gain was not a surprise. I went to see Lyle and Dorothy yesterday, and as I headed for home, I stopped to pick up a small container of milk. I was hungry, which is never the right time to walk into a convenience store. In fact, when you are dieting there is never a good time to walk into a store whose entire business model is to sell you fattening and unhealthy foods that are overpriced. I picked up an all-beef pepperoni, and a bag of peanuts (in addition to the 2% milk). By the time I got home half an hour later, all that was left was the milk, and the empty wrappers.

    I was not feeling particularly weak when I walked into the store. I was not sad or despondent. I was simply tempted by the myriad food choices that were all calling out to me.

    It was far too windy for a cigar yesterday evening, but I did have my holiday dinner. A piece of fish, a piece of chicken, a bowl of chicken soup. I should have cut one of those three out… but it was the holiday, and I defrosted what I defrosted, and that’s life.

    I am relieved that last night I finished the last of the expired meal-replacement shakes. Some of them tasted better than others, but they were the old formula, and the new ones taste so much better. I am enjoying my first new one in several weeks. Aside from better flavour, they are also creamier and smoother. I am definitely glad that the old ones are done, and if another lot of them comes up for sale I will be passing on them.

    Today I am going to do my best to get back on track. In a little while, HRF Princess Sophie and I will head out to see my friends Jacqueline and Matt, and their puppy Charley. We will not be out too late – I plan to hit the road to come home around 4:00pm. I do have to do some shopping today, but I will likely drop Sophie at home first, and then head out anew. While she does not really mind it, I do not like leaving her alone in the car while I go into the store. I need to pick up chicken and fish, some veggies, and of course my distilled water. I cannot think of anything else that I will need.

    Leslie’s plane is landing at Pearson International Airport in twenty-three days and twelve hours… if anyone is wondering how badly I miss her. We speak for hours every day, but it is not the same. Yes, it is true… the fact that she will be here in just over twenty-three days means that in just over twenty-four days we will be in Cuba, and I am excited about that… but I am much more excited to see my girl.

    It is a beautiful day outside today. Last night’s rain seems to have washed away the dirt, and there is nowhere near the kind of gusting winds we had yesterday. I strongly suspect that there might be a cigar in my future.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 86

    I cheated last night… twice. I paid for it this morning on the bathroom scale.

    I had wanted to try to steam either broccoli or cauliflower for a few weeks, and I decided that last night was the night. I put a crown of broccoli into a corning ware with some water. I spread some margarine on it, covered the pot, and put it into the microwave. I asked Lyle how long I should leave it in for, and he told me that five minutes should do… but I should really cut it up first. Oops. Too late for that. When it might have been done, I pulled it out of the microwave, sprinkled it with salt… and grated cheese. I gave it another minute in the microwave, and then voila, it was served. It tasted delicious… but neither the margarine nor the cheese was part of the diet program. It was not the worst thing in the world though, right?

    Later on, during my class but after the dinner break, I was still hungry. I decided to munch on some salt and vinegar rice crackers that I had bought for Leslie. I will have to buy her more, because I finished them off.

    Two cheats in a day must be punished… and the scale took back some weight from yesterday. If I am going to be under 350 lbs clothed on my next weigh-in at the doctor’s office on Wednesday, I cannot cheat much more this weekend. I will need to stay on track. I suppose then that it is a good thing I was not invited to a Passover Seder this year. Yes, it is sad… but as much as I love the holiday, I know that the foods at the Seder are too tempting for me to turn down. Next year, when I am at my ideal weight, I can make the Seder a cheat meal.

    I had just finished writing the paragraph of what I need to buy at the supermarket today… only to realize that the supermarkets are closed today for Good Friday. Oops. The simple revised answer to ‘what’s for dinner?’ is: Whatever I have in the freezer! I don’t know if I have any chicken left, but I know I have a piece of salmon, so that might be it. I have enough veggies for lunch and dinner, and while I might run out of milk on my second cup of coffee, that I can buy at any convenience store. I also have distilled water on my shopping list, but that is not an urgency, that is for the next time the humidifier in my humidor runs dry.

    I just checked, and I have a very small piece of chicken, and a very small piece of salmon in the freezer. I am defrosting both, and my Passover meal will be a multi-course dinner… with a salad, of course. It just occurred to me that I might have a container of chicken broth in the freezer. While I cannot make matzah balls (I wasn’t even able to find matzah when the stores were open), I can at least have a nice bowl of chicken soup with vegetables. I might need to find some carrots and maybe a couple of other veggies – the only one I have that would go into the soup is onion. No worries, I will make do.

    I have a study session to join for the course I am taking, and after that I will make a salad for lunch, and then I’ll head over to Lyle and Dorothy’s for a few hours. It will be good to spend a few hours with friends.

    Have a great day folks… and whatever holiday you are celebrating this weekend… enjoy it!

  • Day 85

    I splurged a little bit and picked up some peanuts when I was at the supermarket yesterday, but that was really my only cheat. Oh, and I had a bunch of lozenges again.

    I am completely fed up with my bathroom scale. This morning I got ten different readings in a six-pound range. You would be fed up too. I decided in the end, after moving the scale into the bedroom and trying again, to keep two measurements in my journal – the one from the bathroom that was about the same as yesterday’s reading, and the one from the bedroom (which has me one pound heavier than yesterday). I am not going to move simply because I live in a nice apartment with absolutely terrible floors… but there are days when I am tempted to.

    My eye has now been bothering me for three days. It was because of that I thought to walk into an optometrist near my barber to make an appointment for a checkup. That will be next week, which is not a problem… or is it?

    It was supposed to be a relaxing day, and when I got back from having my haircut and doing some shopping, I made lunch (the usual), and then decided that I might like to take a little nap. I was not nearly asleep when Leslie called on video chat, and she asked about my eye. She told me that she could tell it was getting worse, and I decided that I would go to the walk-in clinic to see if there was anything seriously wrong with it. Sure enough, it looks like there’s a minor scratch on the eyeball. I have to put drops in twice per day (blech!) for the next five days, and I am wearing an eye patch for a few days to try to rest that eye. Hopefully it will be completely healed in time for my appointment with the optometrist, but I will ask her about it anyways.

    I defrosted chicken for dinner and had the usual chicken leg quarters and a salad. I had a shake for breakfast and another for my evening snack, and so aside from the peanuts, I did exactly what I should be doing. Even though the temperatures were pretty warm (I wore a short sleeve shirt out today, although it was a bit chilly when I walked from the barbershop to the bank and optometrist… in the rain) I did not have time to sit on the patio with a cigar… the surprise trip to the clinic fixed that. Hopefully today I will be able to do that.

    Today is Thursday. I have some reading to do, but aside from that, it is only my class this evening. The forecast predicts rain until around 1:00pm, at which point the sun will come out. I will stay inside until then and will go outside for a cigar and some reading once the weather is a bit nicer. I decided to wear Leslie’s favourite shirt today, and I hope that when the sun comes out it will be warm enough that I can show it off for her. Other than that, the plan is to try to enjoy the day. I hope you enjoy it too!

  • Cravings

    I dropped Leslie off at the airport a few hours ago and miss her already. After trying (unsuccessfully) to run a couple of errands, I came home to make dinner. I made boneless and skinless chicken breasts that I had been marinating since yesterday, and I a nice salad. I have to remember to buy more lettuce tomorrow. I think I have all of the other vegetables I usually put into my salad, but I will check before I go out.

    Following my meal, I was still hungry… or at least I felt hungry. I wanted to eat something else… and I know that I have a lot of food in the house that I could have turned to. I was tempted to have a meal replacement bar to satisfy my cravings, but I decided not to do that either. I know that the hunger is not real, rather it is my emotions telling me that since Leslie is gone… since I am sad, I should fill the void with food. I drank two glasses of water and washed the dishes instead of eating, and then came to my desk to join my class. Sometime in about two hours, the instructor will give us a twenty-minute break for dinner, and I will have my evening shake. I am glad that I had the willpower to overcome the temptation, and to defeat my emotions.

    One tool that I could have used when overcoming the temptation is my blog. This morning, when I got off the scale and saw how well I had done – and how much weight I have lost over the last few days. I have lost six pounds since Thursday morning, and I was elated each morning when I got off the scale. I do not want to ruin all of that with what… a jar of peanut butter and a spoon? Whatever I might have eaten, it would not have been as satisfying as knowing that this weekend I put on a pair of jeans that had not fit in a year and a half. I also know that a single misstep can begin a slippery slope that would lead to all of those great colourful and flowery shirts and bathing suits that I bought for our Cuba trip no fitting me.

    I won’t do it. I will check myself every time I feel the need to indulge. I will call Leslie I will call my diet buddy if she is not available. I will do whatever I need to do in order to not fall off. I have come so far… I have not lost fifty pounds yet, but it is close. While I am nowhere near where I want to be, losing nearly fifty pounds is huge, and I have vowed to not go back. Every bit of progress, every milestone, every pants size, every pound lost is a bit of progress, milestone, pants size, and pound that I never want to see again. I know I will fall from time to time – I have done so already, and I am sure I will again – but falling down and getting right back up again is so much better than falling down and giving up. I will remember the Japanese saying… Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

    I am going to start paying attention to my class, but I will be back tomorrow morning. As I seem to write at the end of every article… Have a great evening!

  • Day 83

    It is extremely important on days when I do not lose (or actually gain) weight that I take not of and remember all of the cheats that I took throughout the day… even if they are minor and insignificant. It is equally important on days when I lose weight – especially significant loss – to do the same. This morning I woke up and I was more than a full pound down from my weight yesterday morning, and I am thrilled about it.

    I did, however, have a number of minor cheats and deviations from the program. For example, I made Leslie a tuna melt on a challah roll for lunch. I prepared enough tuna for her sandwich and for me to have a bowl of it. I used low-fat mayonnaise, as well as onions (of course). For her sandwich, I added extra mayo onto the roll, and sprinkled generous amounts of shredded cheddar into it. I also melted butter into the bottom of the pan that I heated it in. It looked and smelled delicious; suddenly my tuna salad looked boring. Leslie ate most of her sandwich, but when she left over a bit of it, I took three bites of it. The difference that the cheese and butter and challah roll made was night and day. It was absolutely delicious! I am glad I did not make one for myself, but I am glad I got to taste it.

    I had a couple of pieces of dried mango, which were also absolutely delicious. I limited it to two pieces, which was enough to satisfy my cravings.

    For dinner (our last dinner together for nearly a month) I prepared a couple of gorgeous salmon steaks, and she prepared the jasmine rice. The scheduling screwed us up for eating together, but the food tasted delicious. The rice is not on my plan, but I did not see the harm in having a little bit… especially since Leslie prepared it with love.

    It is extremely important that I remember that I got away with these cheats yesterday, but that I cannot make a habit of it. I will not say to myself ‘Well, I had some challah bread and rice that day and I lost weight, so I guess I can always do that!’ That would be a bad idea. I need to remember that there are some things that I can take a bit of for the occasional cheat that I cannot make a regular part of my diet. Just like when I do reach my ideal weight, there are some foods that I will be able to enjoy very rarely for a special occasion but cannot be a regular part of my diet.

    One of the phrases that the original program that I went through kept telling us – and that I truly believe is the key to long-term success – is that I need to break my unhealthy relationship with food, which means that so many of the foods that I used to love on a regular basis cannot ever be that again. Not only that, but I will also have to adjust my idea of a regular portion size. If I can do those two things – stop craving the fattening (and terribly fattening, and disgustingly fattening) foods, and keep a better handle on my portions (of healthy and especially of unhealthy food), then I should be able to get thin and to stay thin. That means that I should not go searching for whatever tempting foods that my loving girlfriend might have hidden from me in anticipation of her leaving. Yes, I was able to eschew the bag of dried mangos that sat next to her desk all week… but that was a short-term resistance; It was resisting temptation while she was here, and even if I was to get tempted, she was here to support me and to encourage me to make the smart decisions – the right decisions. When she is gone, when I am down and despondent and low, and especially while I am sitting at my desk for five hours every night listening to a mostly boring class for the next three weeks, it would be so easy to reach over there and grab a handful… just one would be all that it would take for me to finish the bag. I cannot do that.

    I sometimes take for granted how helpful Leslie is to my weight loss. Her presence here is so important for many reasons, not the least of which is that I would be ashamed if she saw me chow down on fattening and unhealthy foods. She has told me time and again that she loves me and will love me no matter what… and I believe her. To the extent that she needs to do so, she has proven that over and over again. It was never she who was encouraging me to start the diet, and she has told me time and again that I should not be dieting for her. She has also told me, since I started my diet, that she remembers sitting with me before the diet, and being amazed at the amount of food I could consume. She never said it in a judging way, rather in response to something that I said about how I have to change my ways. I am so grateful to have her in my life, and while I am not dieting for her, I hope that by losing the weight I will be able to live a longer and healthier life with her. Today is the day that she and I always dread – the day I have to drive her to the airport, the day we set the countdown timer to her next visit (27.5 days, for those who are counting down with us). I am going to miss her terribly, but I have to make sure that in her absence I do not fall off the food wagon. It may not be fast enough for my liking, but I have been losing the weight at a decent pace, and I have to continue to do so… whether the love of my life is here or not.

    It is the most gorgeous day of the week. The sun is shining, and the temperatures are in the mid-teens. Once I have posted today’s article, I will sit on the patio with a cigar while Leslie is working. When she is ready, we will get into the car for that sad drive, but we do so knowing that the next time she arrives – four weeks from tonight – we will be together again… and we will be going on vacation to the islands the following day!

    Have a great day everyone!

  • Day 81

    On Day 12, I wrote that I sorted all of my clothes into five storage bins. This afternoon, with Leslie by my side, I opened the one that read “Pants and Shorts, Size 42.” There were several pair of shorts and pants. The first pair that I tried on fit fine, but they are an ugly pair of black pants, and I decided to put them into the pile marked ‘Donate to Cuba.’ That they fit was only a minor victory, because they were a pair of stretch pants from Walmart.

    The next pair that I tried on did not fit… nor did one pair of shorts. Everything else in the bin fit! This was a huge non-scale victory… and the piece de resistance was the pair of Levi’s 501 button-fly jeans, which are usually the last pair in a size that will fit. Guess what I wore the rest of the day? You guessed it… My Levi’s! I always saw Levi’s as a real indicator of progress. The first time I lost a lot of weight was when I was testing for my Black Belt; I remember we (the family) were down in Buffalo, and the mall had a Levi’s outlet store. I decided to try on a pair to see… mostly because I remembered one time going into a similar store and being told that Levi’s did not make pants in my size. When they fit, I was elated.

    I was elated yesterday too… and probably more so. The fact that Leslie was here to celebrate a huge milestone was so wonderful for me. Over the next few months there will be many more milestones, and whether she is here with me in person, or if we share them over the phone, I am so happy to have her in my life and as my weight-loss (and improved-health) cheerleader!

    There were three pair of shorts that either fit or nearly fit… which means that in a month when we fly to Cuba they will fit perfectly. If I have three pair of Size-42 shorts that fit, then I will be donating all of my Size-44 shorts. I have made the decision that this is it… once I have three pair of Size-42 pants that fit I am done… after that, I will never wear a Size-44 again.

    We drove out to Cambridge, where we spent the afternoon and evening with Ryan, Glenn, Lindsay and her boyfriend. As always, a good time was had by all. We watched the last bit of The Masters on TV, and I played a few rounds of darts against Glenn. It is great playing against someone who has been drinking all afternoon… not matter how poorly I might throw, there is very little chance of my actually losing a game.

    Yesterday and today, we shared an omelet. I made it with three eggs, cauliflower, onion, mushrooms, and a little bit of cheese (although yesterday I skipped the cheese). Leslie calls it the Omelet of Justice and Power and Might… we love being silly together, and I love that we can be serious but also fun and silly. I just might have to do something drastic…

    Today we will head on over to Lyle and Dorothy’s house for a few hours, and then we will come home for dinner. While it is nice to see our friends, we also have too little time together, so spending time together alone is hugely important.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 80

    Woohoo! The bathroom scale registered me below 350 lbs for the first time in a very long time today. While I suspect the next few days will have me above that mark again, it is indeed a banner moment. I had not mentioned it in any previous article, but that is the magic number – the maximum weight on my doctor’s medical scale. Of course, when I get weighed there, I am fully clothed, and so I have to plan for 3-4 pounds more loss before I can weigh myself on the imperial scale there. (On the metric side of the scale the maximum is 160kg, which is 352lbs.)

    Leslie and I decided on seared tuna for dinner last night, and if I do say so myself, it was quite nice. The fish monger only had frozen tuna steaks, but they defrosted in time for me to prepare them. It was the first time I ever cooked seared tuna, and I think it came out well… although there is plenty of room for improvement. I heated the frying pan to the hottest the burner would go, and then I seared each piece for 15 seconds on each side. Leslie made the rice, to which we added furikake (a Japanese seasoning that she has been raving about, and which I really enjoyed). I sprinkled black sesame seeds onto my tuna, but she did not. We finished the presentation with a dollop of pickled ginger. It was, if I do say so myself, an amazing meal! Yes, tuna is a fatty fish (as is salmon), but it is very healthy… and I like that we are experimenting in the kitchen.

    While I do not mind the boring chicken – salmon rotation that is my usual dinner, I do not want to drag Leslie into my boring meal routine. I have a friend in California who would come over with her dog, and she would make fun of me for it. ‘Let me guess… you want to make chicken and salad for dinner? Wow you are so predictable!’ I stick to the routine because it is easy, because I like it, and because I know that it does not hurt my diet. However, I do not mind expanding beyond that… especially if it helps my culinary knowledge! The first time I bought salmon I was really hesitant, and it came out really well. Now I have expanded even further and can keep going if I like!

    Cam and Amanda had to cancel our plans for today, which is too bad, but makes our life a little more convenient. We will probably drive to Cambridge to spend a few hours with Ryan and company, but Cambridge is a 40-minute drive each way, whereas Strathroy is a 100-minute drive each way. I would have loved to introduce her to my friends and my godchildren, but that will have to wait until a later trip. In the meantime, I am sure that Cam and Amanda will invite me to see the kids in a few weeks, which is just fine by me.

    I wanted to try my next size of pants down on this weekend. Leslie said that I shouldn’t; knowing that I have a huge scale victory today, I am going to see if I might also have a non-scale victory to report. We will see. I think I am going to… if only to see how far I have left to my next size-switch.

    Speaking of sizes: Leslie brought the shirts and bathing trunks that I ordered to her address for our Cuba trip. Of the six shirts and two bathing trunks, half fit. That’s right, three shirts and a bathing suit fit. The other three shirts were still too small… but the other bathing suit was way too big. Okay, no problem… we will return those to Amazon, and we ordered new ones – this time different patterns of the styles that we already know fit properly. We are very excited to be heading out on our first vacation together… we leave one month from tomorrow and could not be more excited!

    Whatever your plans are for this weekend, have a great one. See you tomorrow!

  • Day 79

    Yesterday was another good day for the program. I did not do a lot of moving or exercising, but I was true to the program. My goal for today is to try to do the same, but to get a longer walk in. Maybe Leslie and I will go for a long walk this afternoon without HRF Princess Sophie, who impedes the flow and continuity of a walk too often for it to be genuine exercise.

    I do have a couple of planned aberrations from the program. Firstly, either today or Sunday I suspect that we will be going to our friends’ house for dinner, and Lyle is a gourmet chef. While he will be partially respectful of my diet, he usually goes a bit over. Also, the last time we were there, I opted to have a piece of cake… I should not do that again. Tomorrow we are going to Cam and Amanda’s for the afternoon, I am not going to try to get Amanda to cook around my diet; not as the mother of two young children who also has a full-time job.

    I am happy that I have not been tempted by any of the snacks I bought for Leslie. Even right now, there is a large bag of dried mangos within easy reach of my desk… not to mention the bag of marshmallows (one of her weaknesses). I am much more interested in the mango than the marshmallows, but I know that both are full of sugar, and I have to stay away from both.

    I don’t have a lot to do today, but I have some… I will split the workday between working and smoking cigars. I also have to go to the supermarket to pick up some fish for dinner. Leslie will prepare the rice and I will prepare the fish and a good meal will be had by all. I do not think I will pick up salmon… I have had a lot of that lately, and I know that it is a very fatty fish. I see that Fortinos has Pacific halibut steak on sale, and I might pick up a couple of those. We will see. Whatever I pick up, we will have a nice fish for dinner. Yes, it is Friday… trust me, my dietary choices are not the least of the issues the Vatican might have with me.

    It was raining when I took Her Floofness for her walk earlier, but it is looking much brighter now. I am going to make an omelet for Leslie (she had meetings all morning, so breakfast didn’t work out), and then I will probably sit on the patio and read the book I am using to write the course from.

    Have a great day!