a REALLY GOOD excuse...

OK, I have a really good excuse for not blogging yesterday. I spent the day with friends who had driven in from Utah and wanted to see Albuquerque. Now there's just no way to see Albuquerque in a day, but we got to do a few things: Old town (including a trip to the Rattle Snake Museum), The Pueblo Cultural Center (there was a dance demonstration going on) and a very brief look at Petroglyph National Monument.

I met my friend Leigh and her partner on Lupies, an online support community for people with Lupus. After running around Old Town and the Mesa, we met up with another Lupie from Rio Rancho and her family and the bunch of us went out to dinner.

Now because of health issues, we ended up in restaurants twice during the day, which was quite the challenge. For lunch I did ok: half a sandwich (roast turkey breast on wheat) and a side salad with the dressing on the side (I dip my fork in dressing before taking the salad, which gives a touch of flavor without a big glop of calories). Dinner, at a Chinese Buffet, was a lot more challenging. I have to admit, I ate things I loved rather than things I should have... things like crab rangoon and a pork eggroll and general Tso's chicken. But even though I went back for 'seconds', both the first and second trip had a lot less on my plate than I used to take a buffet. In fact, I was one of two people at the table who could actually see plate after 'loading up'. I'll take that as a small victory.

The problem food-wise was that afterwards I felt uncomfortable... a bit nauseous, so I sent the kids out for something to settle my stomach. Instead of coming home with ginger ale and saltines, they came home with a bag of salty pretzels. I ate a few with water, but couldn't tolerate them much either, so I just let the kids eat them.

Today I have what I call my "salt and carb hangover" I'm bloated, puffy and sore, and my mouth tastes like a sewer. It's getting to the point where it isn't even worthwhile to eat unhealthy anymore. The temporary joy of the taste is being outweighed by the horrendous morning after.

At least I had quite a few veggies yesterday (I made it a point) so I don't feel all bad about yesterday's eating.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of the photos from the day:

I've been tagged

... by Big Girl!

5 things found in your bag:

1. gym schedule
2. contact lens case w/ spare lenses
3. Curel Skin Cream
4. bottle of water
5. reading glasses

5 favorite things in your bedroom

wow, I don't know that I HAVE five things in my bedroom, though I do have a few things in my closet...

1. My new (free) bedroom set
2. My silver/ turquoise necklace, which is in my jewelry box
3. My "workout sandals"
4. My cat (who is currently fast asleep on my bed)
5. My fancy dancing shawl


5 things I have always wanted to

1. Travel to sites of anthropological importance around the world
2. scuba dive
3. be slender
4. get my PhD
5. Win the lottery


5 things I'm currently into:

1. nudibranchs!
2. blogging
3. the gym and pool
4. road trip plans
5. dark chocolate


5 bloggers I'm tagging:
1. John, of John is Fit. John, we figure you might not have a bag, but let us know what you carry with you, always ;)
2. Felicia, of Life Happens
3. Manuela, from A New Decade
4. Sharon, of Goodbye to All Fat
5. Irene of Loserirene vs the Fat Monster

Home Alone

Today I didn't have enough gas to get to the pool or the gym. Unfortunately the mailman, who sometimes comes after dark, sometimes not at all, was having one of his "not at all" days yesterday, meaning my check from Cafe Press is not yet here.

It wouldn't be so bad, except I'm bored out of my mind. Today I think I'd like to go up into the national forest land (.75 miles from my home!) and do some walking. First, I have a huge mess to deal with. At 6am when I still thought I might have enough gas to get to the pool, I set out the rules for the girls: They had to get their chores done before going to the library. A while ago they tried to take off, and I knew the cat box wasn't clean and the bathroom hadn't been cleaned. They went to work, came back a half hour later, said all the chores were done and I let them go (yes, without checking).

... then went into the kitchen, which has half eaten hotdogs on the counter, filth on the stove, and the George Forman grill is a mess. So I went upstairs, found all the cleaning supplies in the (dirty) tub, and toothpaste in the sink. So I went into their room, where last week's clean laundry was still in the laundry bag at the foot of one of the beds, while all this week's dirty laundry is scattered across the floor, with various art supplies, games, toys, and half their bedding. Needless to say that after I go get them they'll be grounded.

In the few moments of quiet though I was reflecting a little that my daily weight fluctuations and my fluctuations throughout the day aren't as great as they were when I first started this journey. It's rather nice to have a clearer idea when I'm losing (or gaining!) fat.

Morning weigh in (10:00am) 308.8 lbs.

Wednesday Weekly Weigh In

Current weight (12:20 pm) : 309.6lbs

So I'm still up almost 1 lb from my low on Sunday.  I swear, it seems the fluctuations always occur so that I don't get my low weight on Wednesdays!  Anyway, that's about a 6.5 lb loss from last week, but I really wanted to hit 8 lbs this week.  I guess I'll just have to try harder next week. I WILL be under 300lbs when I get to LA on August 1st!

((sigh))

Here we go again.

Yesterday I didn't weigh in before blogging. I sometimes do that, then tack my weight in later. Yesterday for some reason I was weighing in around 310.4 lbs. With all the hard workouts I figured that was pretty unlikely,and that it was probably water retention that would go away as the day wore on. It didn't, and I never got back here with a weight.

This morning I am once again weighing in at 310.2 lbs... up almost 2 lbs from the weekend, which i have a lot of trouble believing. I do think it may have to do with the salty foods I ate on Sunday afternoon, although I'm hoping that it'll subside soon.

This morning I got involved in online drama (bad thing to do) and missed my classes at the pool and gym. I'm planning to hit the pool this afternoon for a couple hours instead.

So far the conscious eating thing has been the most difficult. I succeed about 70% of the time, but am looking for at least 85% compliance. I have to get on my own case about that!