Losing a part of me

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  • Day 528

    I looked at yesterday’s post online and had to laugh. As I sat on my balcony with my morning coffee and cigar, I tried to use voice to text to write it, and the Jetpack app (which replaced the WordPress app) kept deleting what I wrote. I finally gave up and started typing the article out… which was not going any better. In the end, I opened a Word Document and typed it out, and then copied and pasted the text into the app. Nevertheless, parts of the remnants of my app frustration remained. I decided to leave it in to remind me of the humour… and how frustrating technology can be sometimes. (I copied the article into my journal but did not include the repeated text and the aborted paragraphs. Sorry reader, you might have to go searching online for my blunders!)

    Yesterday was Canada Day. As a proud Canadian I was happy to celebrate. My first act of celebration was to sit on the balcony with a cigar, chat with my diet buddy, and then enjoy my coffee and cigar with a book. At one point a parade of vehicles turned into the street flying the Maple Leaf, with one of them blasting O Canada on repeat. I stood and waved (especially to the police and firemen, but to everyone really) and then went back to my book. In the afternoon I would drive to Strathroy to see my god kids and their parents, and it was a truly lovely afternoon and evening.

    I was worried that the scale would not be kind to me this morning. After all, I had a couple of fruit on my way there, I ate a hamburger and a hotdog for dinner (in addition to the salad and potatoes), and for dessert I had a decadent chocolate plus two much less decadent Oreo cookies. Add to that a bag of chips and then a protein bar (late at night), and I was not hopeful. I was not expecting, after nine straight days of weight gains, to see it drop by 1.4 lbs., but it did. I was relieved because I was flirting with the dreaded 270 lbs. If I can drop just a few more pounds this week then I can get to 265 lbs., and I can see my birthday weekend celebration as one last opportunity to be guardedly free with eating… before I revert the next week to a much stricter meal program.

    I am hoping that a couple of friends will come over for cigars this afternoon. We have discussed it briefly but until Sam says ‘Yes I am coming’ I never hold my breath. This is not due to unreliability, rather a busy schedule with family responsibilities and such. I left a message for him and would love to see him. If not, then I will spend a lot of the day on the balcony smoking and reading. The muscles in my legs are still sore from Friday’s outing; combine that with the light rain that is predicted all day and I think I am going to give them another day to recover. The forecast for tomorrow is also rainy, but as far as I can tell it will not be heavy and I might still be able to get out. Tuesday through the weekend promises to be much more agreeable, and I will walk if I do not jog.

    I started writing this article hours ago and have been distracted by all sorts of things since. I have come back to it six or seven times, which is quite embarrassing owing to the brief length of it. I have two dogs playing who have insisted on attention or treats, or who have just been a loud and cute mess the last half hour. They will join me on the balcony for my cigars.

    My food plan for today is to make chicken for lunch, and then for dinner I will enjoy the leftover salmon from Friday evening. With lunch I will likely make a salad, while dinner will be accompanied by rice. If I can stick it out and not cheat, then tomorrow morning I might just see another successful number on the bathroom scale.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 527

    I finally got to see my new doctor yesterday . She is a nice woman and is happy that I have been able to do so well with my weight loss, and promised she will continue to monitor me on a regular basis as Dr. Yates did. We talked about the ground I lost and why, and she is satisfied that I know what I need to do to get back on track.

    I finally got to see my new doctor yesterday . She is a nice woman and is happy that I have been able to do so well with my weight loss, and promised she will continue to monitor me on a regular basis as Dr. Yates did. We talked about the ground I lost and why, and she is satisfied that I know what I need to do to get back on track.

    I did not get back on track with my food yesterday. It was a very stressful day and I will not go into details. I am glad that I was able to get out to exercise. I did a 2 km jog followed by a 9 km walk. It felt good to be back at it. I did not sleep well last night, and my body battery did not charge, so I will take today off. I am driving out to see if I got kids today, so it works out fine tomorrow I will try to get out for another jog. In the meantime, I hope that I can stay on track with my eating, and I will do my best to be good and disciplined while I am there.

    Today is Canada Day, and I am celebrating being a proud Canadian. Last night I sat on the balcony with a cigar and my noise cancelling earbuds in my ear so the fireworks did not affect me too badly. I hope I will be able to get through today and tomorrow as well as I did yesterday. Fireworks are not my friend. Fortunately, Princess Sophie! took good care of me and knew that I needed support.

    Have a great day folks!

    The Jetpack app is killing me as I try to write this so I am going to s

    I did not get back on track with food yesterday

  • Day 526

    I saw my doctor this morning and she is a nice woman. We talked about what my situation is and she is extremely proud of my weight loss progress. While I have gained nearly 5kg since my last weigh-in, I was certain that would be higher so I am relieved. I am in a really crappy mood this morning – everyone wants a piece of me, so I have to prioritize. I am also not able to eat because of my schedule. I will eat when my friend goes home.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 525

    I suppose I did marginally better yesterday than I did the previous day. I was about to write that it is all I can hope for, but I have written too often that hope is not a strategy to believe that. It is my actions and my resolve that will get me back to my best weight, and I am far too far from there to think it will happen quickly. Yesterday was slightly better. Today will be slightly better than yesterday. I will keep trying to improve so that I can reverse this recent trend and get back on track. I will not be Algernon.

  • Day 524

    This day did not start the way it was supposed to, but at least I got my car washed. It has really needed it! I showed up at my new doctor’s office only to be told that she had taken the day off, and that they had called everyone to reschedule. Everyone except me, that is… my name got deleted so they put me in as ‘Mystery Patient.’ I was not informed that my appointment had been moved to Friday. Of course, if I cannot make it Friday morning at 9:00am, I have to wait until late July… for a date when I will be out of town. I will move my Friday schedule around and will be sure to make it to that appointment. I was not impressed.

    I will try to do better today than I have these last few days. That is all I can do.

  • Day 523

    I know I have to get back on track. I just have to redouble my efforts. Today was another rain day – the rain was supposed to be drizzling in the morning and then clearing in the afternoon. It poured most of the afternoon so I did not jog. I ate. I have to stop doing that.

  • Day 522

    The last few days were hard for me. Today will be a little better, and tomorrow better yet. That is the only thing I can aspire to. I want to get back onto the wagon. I am happy that I did not gain weight during Leslie’s two-week visit, but I do feel that I was doing much better and then lost ground these last few days. After I dropped her off at the airport I returned home to a slew of leftovers and a feeling of sadness that had the fridge calling me.

    The weather today will be the deciding factor on if I jog or not. It has been raining on and off all morning and is forecast to do so until just after 5:00pm, but if it is more of a drizzle then I might just suit up and brave it anyways. As we drove yesterday we were on a road that I have jogged a few times and I said to Leslie that I should jog there this week. I then realized we were far enough from home that it would require a nearly-10km loop to get there, and that I would be smart to lower my expectations of myself for my first week back at it. Last week I jogged a few times, doing two or three kilometres before slowing to a walk. If in the next few days I can get that up to a 5km run then I will be happy.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 521

    We spent a lovely day together knowing that it was going to end with my waving to her as she walked into the terminal at Pearson International Airport. That her flight was a couple hours late gave us a little more time together, but it is difficult saying goodbye to her… even if we will be together again in less than three weeks.

    Tomorrow I start exercising again.

  • Day 520

    Yesterday went about as planned, and I regret nothing. The rich creamy mushroom pasta I enjoyed for dinner was delicious; so was the chocolate tartuffo I had for desert. Today we are having toasted challah for breakfast before I go to the café to pick up our morning drinks. We will meet my sons for lunch at a Greek restaurant. I will be mindful these next two days, but I will resume a stricter diet and exercise regimen on Monday.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 519

    We are out and about early and I wanted to leave a placeholder in case I forgot. I cheated way too much yesterday and I paid for it. Will do better.

    —

    It is now late afternoon and two of our three social engagements are behind us, with one more to go. All of them involve food. We had to leave the apartment early this morning because the lines in the parking lot were being painted, so after I came in from walking the Princess we headed out for breakfast. I ordered avocado toast which I consider a good decision. We had lunch with Lyle and Dorothy who prepared a delicious chicken salad with a miso dressing which was also delicious, also a good decision. We met Dimitrios for afternoon tea where I ordered a café latté and a flatbread, which was not a great decision, but I did so with my eyes open. This evening we will meet Eduardo and Gladys for dinner at a favourite Italian restaurant of ours. While it will not be a diet meal by any stretch, I am nonetheless confident that I can order smartly and eat well without going completely off the rails. I do not expect the numbers on the bathroom scale to be down tomorrow morning, but I also do not expect them to be a total shock.

    I knew in advance that there would be no opportunity to exercise today, which was not terrible because according to my fitness watch my Body Battery (which has been low all week) has not risen above 45 today. My last three days of exercising have not seen it rise much above that, with lows at night between 3-5. My body needed a day to recover. I will try to get out for a jog tomorrow morning, but we will see how I feel… and how the morning shapes up.

    Speaking of tomorrow, I suspect that around mid-morning we will partake in our traditional latté and cigars on the balcony. We are meeting my sons for lunch at Colossus where I can be smart with what I order. Knowing where we are dining tomorrow to celebrate our wedding anniversary I will try to eat very healthy during the day. I also plan to avoid meat, as we are going to a steakhouse for dinner.

    For those readers who came late to my journey, your confusion is understandable. After all, it was less than two months ago that I wrote about our fabulous wedding in California. That was our religious wedding, and beginning next year it will be the one that we celebrate. Last June we got married in a civil ceremony with a judge. We discussed it and decided that this year we would celebrate the first, and beginning next year we will celebrate only the religious anniversary. I’m glad I was able to clear that up for you.

    Today was another anniversary of sorts. Four years ago today I drove out to Beverly Hills to adopt Her Royal Floofness, Princess Sophie. She spent the day playing with Charlie, but when we return home she will get a special treat to celebrate.

    Have a great day folks!