Starting weight:  285.2
Tuesday’s Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Tuesday’s calories & net carbs:   1550 / 34.9
Yesterday’s Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400 / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    975 / 25.8
Tuesday’s exercise:    10 minutes elliptical + sorta ran to work
Yesterday’s exercise:    baby shower  =D
Weight Tuesday:: 246.0    Weight Yesterday:: 245.2    Today:  245.2
Change today::  +0.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  40.0 lbs. 

Yesterday morning I hit a particular milestone…

I’ve lost a total of FORTY POUNDS!  WOOOHOOOOO!

 Yeeeeeeehawwww!!!!  I was so excited!  The wonderful thing about having lost 40 whole pounds is how I FEEL forty pounds lighter!  When I lean down to tie my shoes, I’m not struggling (as much!) to lean past the padding that was constricting my ability to move and breathe.  I still have so far to go, but forty pounds of fat off my frame is without a doubt - significant!!  Yayyyy!!!!

I was out of town last night, this time for a surprise baby shower.  I put it down as my exercise for yesterday because the work it took to pull it off was strenuous!  We went shopping at Sam’s club and bought sodas and plates and coffee and a bunch of other stuff which of course also came in huge packages and I ended up hauling stuff from van to shower to van again and so that was my weightlifting/exercise for the day. 

We (my coworkers and I) had planned a lovely turkey dinner for the shower and I had decided that even though I am taking Thanksgiving Day off from the diet, I was going to stick to plan through this event.  We ate lunch at Bob Evans on the way and I was careful - ordered grilled chicken, green beans, and cottage cheese.  Then last night’s turkey feast was awesome and I had plenty of low-carb choices:  turkey, gravy, green beans, salad from Olive Garden, and deviled eggs.  Yum!  I skipped the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, breadsticks, and cranberries (and the cake for dessert) but did not feel deprived at all. 

By the way, this (below) is the Puerto Rican turkey that I mentioned before!  And that is a sausage-based stuffing with plaintains.  I allowed myself a very small amount of that because it is just SO delicious!

Because I was out of town and the place where I stayed didn’t have internet access, I couldn’t track my calories!  So I was careful - lol a little too careful!  I partook in this wonderful feast - and only ate 975 calories the whole day!  Oops!

I’m slowly picking back up where I left off with the elliptical.  I put in only 10 minutes on Tuesday - but I made them count!  I went as fast as I could for that 10 minutes and actually worked up a sweat.  =D  Even though it was such a short workout that day, I did as planned and upped my limits by 200/10.  It felt really weird!

Then this evening I got on the elliptical and figured I’d go to 15 but I was cruising so fast and feeling so good that I went ahead and continued to the 25-minute-mark.  So far, so good - my knees aren’t hurting me!  (Crossing all my fingers!)

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5316

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1320 / 34.8
Yesterday’s exercise:    5 minutes elliptical
 Weight Yesterday:: 246.0    Today:  246.0
Change today::  -0.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  39.2 lbs. 

Yesterday my knee was feeling pretty good so I decided to get on the elliptical just to see how it felt.  Immediately I could confirm that the pain I’d been experiencing was caused by that motion because I could feel it in that muscle on the backside of my knee.  I kept saying that it was tight, like a rubber-band stretched as far as it could stretch.  As soon as I started moving on the elliptical, that same muscle complained.  Loudly.

So I only stayed on for 5 minutes.  Five!  I felt like such a weinie, getting off after such a short little workout, but I wanted to be smart about using that knee.  I did not want to reverse any progress I’d made.  I was happy to discover when I went to bed last night, that I had no residual pain from my five minutes of effort.

This morning when I walked to work (I live one whole block from my office), it was so beautiful out (nice and cool!) that I just felt sooooooo good … that I decided out of the blue to try running.  I haven’t run, really, since my children were little - and even then, it was only out of occasional necessity (when one of them would take off and I had to chase after them).  I have, for so many years, had so much trouble walking, that I thought that certainly I can’t possibly run, not with all this weight on my frame.  But for some reason today I really wanted to try.

The first few steps were horrible!  The term “high impact” was an understatement!  Both of my knees protested quite vehemently that running was a really bad idea.  Bam! Bam! Bam!  It was like slamming a sledgehammer into each knee, one at a time.  Okay, so I stopped running and resumed walking.

It really bugged me that I couldn’t.  Just couldn’t do it.  Couldn’t run.  I can zoom along on the elliptical and feel great - and then spend the next week barely able to walk!  No!  I don’t want to live my life like this!  I want. To. Be. Able. To. RUN!!!!!

Pissed me off, so I tried again.  I know I was sporting a really weird gait - a self-protective-let-me-try-to-minimize-the-impact-jolt-kinda-gait, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to run.  A little bit.

I ran most of the way.  It’s only a block, but it’s more than I’ve even attempted in at least twenty years.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5270

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Saturday’s calories & net carbs: 1252 / 37.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1092 / 31.3
Saturday’s exercise:    2 hours shopping/walking
Yesterday’s exercise:    3 hours shopping/walking
Weight Saturday:: 247.2    Weight Yesterday:: 247.8    Today:  246.0
Change today::  -1.8 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  39.2 lbs. 

I stepped on the scale this morning.  Stepped off.  Stepped on again.  Stepped off.  I musta weighed myself five times and I kept getting the same result!  I lost almost 2 lbs in one day!  Woohoooo!

This should not surprise me, however.  I have been stalled ever since my problem started with my knee so I’ve been swelling and I knew eventually that would come down - AND - yesterday I had myself a little digestive issue… okay not so little, it was several hours of digestive issues.  You don’t want the details, LOL.  It actually prompted me to do a little research, though.  Aren’t you happy that I’m willing to share what I learned?  ROFL, I crack myself up!

Okay, my question was this:  WHAT THE HELL DID I EAT?!?!? that made me have such a problem?  Was it what I ate earlier in the day?  (Romaine salad with grilled chicken, greek dressing & feta) or was it what I ate the night before?  (Vegetable soup, Iceberg salad with grilled chicken and viniagrette, and three-freakin-cups of movie-theater-popcorn)  How long does it take to digest the food you eat and … ahem, get rid of it?  How many hours?

Here’s what I learned (and I’m gonna skip many of the juicier details, lol):  If everything is working right and assuming the person has consumed ample fluids, the average morsel of food takes 20-30 hours to … uh, come out the other end of the process.  The typical rule of thumb is 24 hours, but whenever a person eats, the brain triggers the digestive system to move things along to make way for “incoming!”  So something might hang around longer just because a person skips breakfast.  Isn’t that interesting?  LOL!

SO the answer to my question is *BINGBINGBING!*  “What is POPCORN for 200, Alex!”  (Can we all say it together:  DUH!!!  Heheh)  Movie theater popcorn which my husband drenched in movie-theater-fake-butter-greasy-stuff.  And there you have it.  One very powerful laxative for Eileen.  And a one-point-eight-pound loss for the day.  Ta-da!

Bet you’re glad you tuned in to this blog today!  LOL!

——————*—————*————–*——————-

Oh, something else I wanted to share today.  Hubby and I did a bunch of shopping this weekend and between stores we stopped at a couple of garage sales.  At this one, there was a rack of clothes and I usually ignore those at garage sales because there is never anything in “women’s sizes” (I usually just call them “fat people clothes,” after all, that’s what they are).  However, I happened to glance over and saw a really cute blouse that looked… large.  So I checked it out and it was 22/24, the exact size that I’m in right now.  I haven’t bought much clothes lately, partly because I have clothes already in that size and partly because I plan on shrinking out of that size soon.  But hey, at garage sale prices, it might be worth a look.

I ended up buying three very nice blouses (sizes 22 and 24) and two basically-brand-new blazers (size 26 but they must’ve run really small because there was another size 26 blazer there and it swam on me).  This lady came over to help me with the prices (nothing was marked) and she said something like, “That blouse was like $60 when I bought it…” so I asked her, “These are your clothes?”  She said yes, and I said, “You must’ve lost a lot of weight then!”  (She looked to be maybe a size 10 or 12.)  She confirmed that yes, she lost over 100 lbs… in just FIVE MONTHS!  Yikes!

So then we started talking.  In the meantime my husband was talking to her husband and they were yukking it up, I’m not sure about what, I was afraid to ask, lol, but anyway it was good that they were keeping busy because the lady and I chatted away for like 20 minutes.  So of course I was dying to know just one thing!  I asked her how she’d done it and her answer was … weird.  At least I thought it was. 

She said, “Oh, I went to Dr. Blahblah.”  (Blank stare from me.)  “You know, the really famous weight-loss doctor?”  (A shrug and a shake of my head, I didn’t recognize the name and don’t remember it now.)  “Well anyway,” she said, “he’s really expensive, but he definitely helped me to lose the weight.  My husband has no idea how much money I spent to lose 100 lbs. and I’m not ever going to tell him!  It cost me over $3000 in doctor’s visits alone and that’s not counting the other expenses involved.”  She never told me what those other expenses were.  In fact, she never told me much of anything else about how she lost the weight.  She dodged questions about the method involved but did share with me that as a result of the (likely poor) nutrition, her hair started falling out!  She showed me how thin her hair had become. I could see her scalp.

I’m thinking I’m really good with losing weight on my own, nice and slowly!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

This cartoon actually is about the Kimkins diet scam,
but it fit so well with my entry today I had to use it!

5193

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Thursday’s calories & net carbs: 1255 / 34.8
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1001 / 27.4
Thursday’s exercise:    none
Yesterday’s exercise:    none
Weight Thursday:: 247.2    Weight Yesterday:: 247.8    Today:  247.2
Change today::  -0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  38.0 lbs. 

Up, down, up, down.  The same pound, over and over again.  I really expected to see 246-something today because the swelling on my knee has gone down considerably.  Oh well, hey, at least I’m not gaining.  I’m still not hopping on the elliptical yet, though.  I don’t want another setback, so I’ll wait until it feels normal, or at least as close to normal as my knees get.

Thanks, everyone, for all your input and support!  I have decided that on days when I can work up a sweat, I’ll add an extra 200 calories and/or 10g carbs, bringing my daily goal/limits to 1600 and 40g for those days.  My rules for going just a bit over will still apply.

I’m having no trouble keeping my calories below goal (sometimes too far below goal!), but I am starting to have some difficulty adhering to the carbs.  I’ve started cutting out certain carbs to try to stay within 30g a day, like for example on chicken taco nights I just have my taco innards in a bowl and skip the tortilla.  They’re only 3g carbs each but that’s 6g saved and heck, the good part is the inside anyway.  Still, I find myself going over (but still within the 10g limit).  Part of it I can blame on my addiction to popcorn.  On days when I want popcorn, I usually try to “save up” enough carbs so I can indulge … but sometimes the yen for popcorn hits on days when I haven’t planned ahead.  Or - like on days like today - I indulged a little too much!!! 

This evening we went to a sneak preview showing of “Bolt,” the new Disney 3-D animated movie about the dog who thinks he’s a superhero with special powers.  With the exception of the randomly-spaced 32 minutes of the movie during which I wanted to smack the mother of the child four rows ahead of us for not taking her very loud, very disruptive child out of the theater until the movie was almost over - I enjoyed every minute of it!  LOL!  Annnnnyway, I ate popcorn.  Too much popcorn.  Too much really tasty movie theater popcorn while mesmerized by the big screen.

It was really good, though.  =D

I stayed well within my calories for the day though (1252) - and I’m still within that 10g limit of goal (at 37g).  I still wish I hadn’t eaten that much popcorn.  And I still wish I’d smacked that mom on the back of the head a couple times.  =D   I’m sorry, but when my kids were little - I made sure that they did not disrupt other people’s enjoyment of their recreation time, whether at the movies or in a restaurant.  If a child cannot behave quietly in either environment - TAKE THEM OUTSIDE! 

That’s my opinion.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5131

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Tuesday’s calories & net carbs: 1407 / 30.9
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1337 / 37.1
Tuesday’s exercise:    30 min. ex. bike
Yesterday’s exercise:    none (knee pain)
Weight Tuesday:: 247.8    Weight Yesterday:: 247.8    Today:  247.2
Change today::  -0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  38.0 lbs. 

Yesterday I went over my goal on net carbs.  It’s good that I get to make the rules on my particular plan because I decided - back when I started counting both calories and carbs - that I would still be “on plan” if I either:  a)  kept at least one of ‘em (carbs or calories) below goal or b) stayed within 10g carbs or 100 calories of goal.  So far I’ve been able to stick to that.  Giving myself that little bit of leeway makes me feel guilty (because it feels like cheating) but it also keeps a lid on any temptation I might have to binge and go WAY over goal (probably because it feels deliciously like cheating, lol).

Now I’m faced with a decision.  I’ve been reading in other people’s blogs about how many calories people are consuming and many - particularly the really successful ones - are keeping their daily caloric intake above 1500 a day, some as high as 2000 a day.  I’ve read where people have upped their calories and started to see greater losses, which at first glance doesn’t seem to make sense.  I know all about the body’s “starvation response,” and how if a person cuts their calories too low, their metabolism will slow down.  I’ve googled this and read lots about it - and no one - and I mean no one! - has pinned down a number, the caloric level at which this occurs, because it’s different for everyone.  Nor can anyone agree on how long a low caloric intake level must be maintained before this response kicks in.  Some say two weeks, some say two hours.

In my googling efforts, I came across several sites which will calculate your daily caloric intake needs for you, based upon a formula which takes into consideration your height, weight, and age. 
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm  is a pretty cool one.

I also found a site that showed the formula itself, for those who want to do their own math.  Being the numbers nut that I am, I had to try it out:

The Mifflin-St. Joer Equation
(Approximate calories per day for resting metabolic rate)
[ (weight-in-lbs / 2.2) * 9.99 ]  +  [ (height-in-inches * 2.54) * 6.25]  -  [ age-in-years * 4.92]  +/- [ (-161 for women) or (+5 for men) ]

Mine came out to:  1682

Now here’s the thing.  I did the whole calorie-counting thing from January thru May of this year.  I tracked my daily activities and factored in the base metabolic rate that Fitday had estimated for me.  I kept my calories between 1500 and 1900 per day.  Regardless of what Fitday was saying I should have been losing, I lost only 10 lbs.  In five months.  It’s not that I wasn’t exercising!  In the month of April I logged 135 miles of bicycling.  That’s an average of 4.5 miles per day!  Yet in the month of April, I lost only 2.4 lbs.

I can’t go back to that!

I’ve shared on here that I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, a malfunction of the immune system that causes the thyroid to go all wacky and overproduce.  There’s no cure, all they can do is treat the symptoms.  So my doctor prescribed a medication for me (which I would have to take for the rest of my life) to crank my thyroid down - which of course means it would slow my metabolism down.  While taking this drug, if my resting metabolic rate was 1682, well, the drug would maybe turn it down to 1200, who knows. 

I have a confession to make.  About 3 months ago, I quit taking my pills.

I was feeling really good, so good that it seemed silly to be taking pills everyday.  Back when I was diagnosed, I got a conflicting opinion from the tech who did the testing on my thyroid, said that if it was overproducing before, well, it wasn’t anymore.  With this in mind, I know what it felt like when my thyroid was speeding (felt like I had the flu) so I knew what to watch for.  I kept some pills in reserve just in case I started feeling sickly again…

And it never happened.  No flu symptoms.  No overwhelming fatigue.  I felt great!  Except for my stupid knee, I still feel great!  I know I should go back and see my regular doctor, but I’m NOT going back to the endocrinologist!  I truly believe that I was misdiagnosed.

SO.  Now that I’m off the metabolism-slowing drugs, am I slowing it by not eating enough calories every day?  Should I try upping my calories for a while and see if it makes a difference?  I’m trying to decide.

I definitely don’t want to make any changes until I can start elliptical-ing again!  (The 6 miles on the exercise bike the other day was a bad idea after all - the next morning I could barely walk!  I’m icing the knee and taking it easy until it’s truly healed.)   What I’m thinking is that maybe I’ll up my calorie goal to 1800 on days when I can exercise.  (Not sure how to estimate the corresponding carb goal to go with that.)

So anyway, I need to make a decision.  All input would be greatly appreciated!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5039

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1395 / 30.4
Yesterday’s exercise:    none (knee pain)
Weight Yesterday:: 247.8    Today:  247.8
Change today::  -0.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  37.4 lbs. 

My knee’s a little better today… whew!  The kneecap area is still sore and the muscle behind my knee still feels tight, but I’m not having any of that stabbing pain anymore when I walk.  I actually felt well enough tonight to put in 30 minutes (6 miles) on the exercise bike!  I’m hoping that tomorrow it’ll be okay to get back on that elliptical!  Woohoo now that would make me happy!

My theory about my knee is this:  I went a bit too far, too fast on the elliptical, and strained a muscle group, causing swelling which messes with the proper alignment of the joint - and - which aggravated my old injury.  The miniscus in my right knee was actually the first one that I tore (about 8 years ago).  I tried to push a very heavy box with my foot (bad idea) and actually felt it rip. 

Years ago, I didn’t realize that our knees, which support nearly the entire weight of our body, are our body’s most vulnerable spot for injury. 

The joint itself and the muscles surrounding the joint are complex, leaving lots of opportunities for things to go wrong.  The most common minor injury to the knee area is a sprain or strain of the tissues (ligaments, muscles, and/or tendons) - by being stretched beyond their normal tolerance during motion.

I really wanted to work my way up to an hour straight on the elliptical and so last week I put in a couple 45-minute sessions - and face it Eileen, ya just weren’t ready for that!  Even though in past months I’d worked up some stamina and strength from my bike-riding, still it was a different motion than pedaling, a motion I certainly wasn’t accustomed to.

I’m thinking that once I’m not carrying around 240-plus pounds on those knees, I’ll have less of these kinds of problems with them.  That’s what I’m thinking.  In the meantime, I’ll just listen very carefully to what my body says to me about my exercise and exertion, with particular attention to what my knees have to say.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

4946

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1274 / 33.4
Yesterday’s exercise:    none (knee pain)
Weight Yesterday:: 246.8    Today:  247.8
Change today::  +1.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  37.4 lbs. 

Another gain this morning but I know it’s my stupid knee.  I’m still all swollen and sore.  I’m gonna put ice on it tonight and hope that that helps.  *Sigh*  I want so bad to jump on the elliptical but I really think I shouldn’t put strain on a joint that is obviously injured.  I just wish I knew what I’d done to injure it!!  I was just walking, for heaven’s sake!

Today I wore my pink jeans.  I bought these jeans about three years ago when I was going through a pink phase.  LOL I had pink everything, even sunglasses!  Anyway, I loved my pink jeans but unfortunately grew out of them after I quit smoking.  I started wearing them again a couple weeks ago - and I noticed earlier today that they are getting baggy.  Wow, that was quick! 

My friend Diane asked me today if I was gonna do a before-and-after picture.  Now, she knows that I blog about my weight-loss stuff but has no idea what the web address is and I’m not about to tell her.  This is a place where I can post whatever I’m thinking or feeling and so far I’ve only given out the address to one person that I know in RL (my niece - and I have no idea if she ever comes here and reads what I write).  Anyway, I told Diane that I had done a “before” picture and that I didn’t want to do an “in progress” picture to compare it with until I lost 30 lbs from the first one. 

What I didn’t tell her is that I weighed 270 in the “before” picture - so I want to get down to 240 before taking a subsequent one.  Except for my husband (and I guess my niece) no one (in RL) knows how much I weighed before or how much I weigh now.

I probably won’t share that my highest weight was 285 with ANYONE - at least not until I get very close to goal.  Am I weird?

CARTOON OF THE DAY

4885

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Friday’s calories & net carbs:  1213 / 35.9
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1359 / 30.9
Friday’s exercise:    45 min. elliptical 
Yesterday’s exercise:    none (knee pain)
Weight Friday: 247.2    Weight Yesterday:: 246.2    Today:  246.8
Change today::  +0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  33.0 lbs.  /  38.4 lbs. 

Hubby and I have been busy going places all weekend.  Yesterday our son was in a high school band competition and we went to watch and cheer him (and the rest of the band) on.  We’ve been going every year for six years to this particular competion because our older son was in band also.  It’s pretty entertaining.

Then today my nephew (36 years old) was consecrated as a deacon at his church.  I don’t really know that much about how the Lutheran religion works but it seems like it was a fairly big deal for those involved.  We were happy to be there to support and congratulate him.

Last night after the band competition, we decided to drop by the movie theater and see what was playing.  We ended up leaving without seeing anything (there was seriously nothing playing that appealed to us at all) but anyway as I was making my way through the parking lot, suddenly my knee felt like someone had stabbed it with an ice pick.  Now I’m used to having occasional problems with my knee but here’s the thing: it was the WRONG KNEE.  I usually have pain and swelling in my left knee and this time it was my right.  I tried to walk on it normally but it kept hurting.  By the time I went to bed, it was swollen and sore.

When I woke up this morning, it was considerably worse.  The muscles on the back side of my knee felt like rubber bands stretched to their limit.  The knee itself kept “going out,” which is the only way I can think to describe the sensation.  It felt like the bones were not fitting together properly, like something was out of alignment, and it was very painful.  My right knee was visibly swollen in comparison to my left.

So it didn’t surprise me to see a 0.6 pound gain on the scale.

The sucky thing is, I don’t wanna aggravate the knee by doing anything strenuous with it - so no bike-riding and no elliptical.  I did some walking today at the grocery store and as long as I was supporting my weight on the cart I was fine but as soon as I tried to walk normally without support, I had major pain.  *Sigh*  That really sucks.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

4856

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1265 / 30.6
Yesterday’s exercise:    none (Orlando trip)
Weight Yesterday:  247.4    Today:  247.2
Change today::  -0.2 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  32.6 lbs.  /  38.0 lbs. 

I love my elliptical.  I LOVE my elliptical!  Did I mention that I love my elliptical?!?  =D

It kicks my butt!  I just did 45 minutes and I am sweaty and my heart is still pumping and I feel like I just DID something!  When I get that thing crankin’ I feel like - like I’m running!  Only without the body parts flopping around LOL!!  I feel like I’m doing something that I definitely would not have been able to do 38 pounds ago.  I feel like I’m packing in some really good calorie-burning effort into a short period of time.  I feel energetic and healthy and more flexible, if that makes any sense at all.  I just feel GOOD.

I musta went over the edge… I never would have imagined that sweating my ass off would be something I actually look forward to.  =D

4804

Starting weight (7/15/08):    279.8    (1/8/08):    285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:  1362 / 22.8
Yesterday’s exercise:    15 min. + 45 min. elliptical
Weight Yesterday:  246.2    Today:  247.4
Change today::  +1.2 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  32.4 lbs.  /  37.8 lbs. 

Went to Orlando today, not for overnight, just for a meeting and then back home.  I brought snacks with me (Chocolite bar and smoked almonds) to hold me over because I figured I wouldn’t have time to eat lunch until I was on the way home.  So at about 2:30 pm I stopped at Golden Corral and paid eleven bucks for their buffet lunch. 

The plus side would be that there were many low/no carb choices so I had no trouble finding something to eat that would be on plan.  The minus side was that I had to wade through so many temptations.  I didn’t give in to any of them, but they were there.  Looking good.  Too good.

Woke up to a gain this morning.  *Sigh* I wanted to be under 247 and stay there.  Eh, normal fluctuations.

On the way home from Orlando I stopped to visit my sister (and my nephew and my niece, who both live with her).  I haven’t seen them since July.  I totally expected that they would say something about my weight loss, that they would immediately notice the difference.  None of them said a word.  It sucks that I have so much weight to lose, that I can lose almost 40 lbs. and it’s such a drop in the bucket that it’s not noticeable.  Then again, my friends and co-workers say all the time, that they can tell I’ve lost weight.

Oh well.  Maybe after another 38 lbs., it’ll be more noticeable.

4760