I am going to Miami for 5 weeks on the 17th. I would like to lose 5-6 pounds by then and if I keep to my track record, it should be fine. I’ll take my scale with me and make sure I have enough Optifast to take me through. I’m using the Medifast soups and bars to supplement my diet and give me some variety and that is working out well. Their shakes are not as good as Optifast, in my opinion, but at least I tried them. I want to see if I can join Curves down there for a month since I won’t have the JCA. I can take my Denise Austin tape with me although likely I recall all of it by now. I can walk the track at Baptist Hospital and maybe swim in the pool at the condo complex depending on how warm the water stays. There will be some dinners out and some things I would like to eat down there that I enjoy and don’t have here but overall the plan is to live there the same as I do here. I am even taking my cat!

I expect to lose before I go in 3 weeks. I want to be 10 pounds less than I was in Naples. I also took measurements today and wrote them down to compare to last April. I have lost well over 12 inches in total around my body. I have another pile of clothes for Goodwill along with a bunch of shoes that no longer fit. I think I will only shop in consignment stores if I need transition clothes. The clothes I bought before I went to Vegas no longer fit so that was money down the drain.

I’m in it to win it!!

Today there is a new water aerobics class so I am looking forward to that. It means there is a class every week day and that is great. I am heading out for my morning walk and swim now. I weigh less than I have in a very long time. I went for so many years without weighing but judging from what size of clothes I was wearing my weight had to be around 200 or so consistently. The only weight point I have prior to that is back in the early 70s when I lost weight on the Atkins diet and got down to 150. Given what I’ve lost so far, another 40 lbs seems reasonable and something I can do. It will depend on how I look. I’ve noticed that as you age you seem to look a bit better with a little weight on you rather than being boney. I could never be boney but I think I go on maintenance based on how I feel and how I feel about how I look. I’m a ways from making that determination!

I am doing mostly Optifast now. While I was cutting the Optifast by one serving and substituting a “lean and green” meal up to this point, I am now only having a non O meal a couple of times a week, if that. I figure I can go full bore with the plan now until about a week before I go to Miami. I will go back to one meal a day at that time so I can enjoy stone crab season’s opening in Miami. After I am back from Miami, the next time “off” the diet is Thanksgiving. I am hoping to be at 175 by that time. This is incredible to think of and I am so grateful to be losing and feeling good and healthy. I walked today, swam laps, did water aerobics and even rode my bike tonight. A couple of years ago I would not have been able to do any of this. Life is Wonderful!!

I am still into this, going for 50 pounds total and then see how I look and feel. It was interesting in Vegas. The worse the food was that I ate, the worse I felt and the panic attacks edged in again. It is still amazing to me how feeling so bad and getting the panic attacks is not enough to keep me away from sugar, white flour and processed food. It is utterly amazing to see how self destructive you can be.

But onward and upward. TS Fay is blowing through town tonight. In the morning my sister and I are going to exercise, likely go to the J if it’s open and walk, maybe swim, hit the gym. It will be a good thing!

And I’ve been eating! With inspiration from Andrew Weil’s book I am having my one meal and making it the way I will eat going forward. More fruits and vegetables. I even found some grass fed beef as a treat and it was excellent. Last night I had Chilean sea bass that I baked on flavoured skewers. The skewers were a Thai coconut lime and I sprinkled the fish with curry. I steamed asparagus with red pepper slices and drizzled it with a little bit of olive oil and sea salt. It was fabulous. I am losing weight at the same rate as when I was doing just liquid so for the most part I will include a meal. Oh, and I had wine. This will remain a treat but I certainly enjoyed it. I have fallen into not cooking and it’s really easy to put together a fairly simple whole food meal. It’s not like I don’t have the time. I figure in the future to shop every couple of days to assure I am getting fresh food products and do my own cooking for the most part. Lunches may continue to be a liquid or a lean cuisine but dinner and breakfast will be my own conconctions. I love breakfast. It is nice to have time to fix it and enjoy it. I should take maximum advantage of not having to work!

Time to walk and swim and maybe the weather will allow bike riding tonight!

The funny thing is that I bought 3 new pairs of slacks to take to Las Vegas for vacation about 2 weeks ago. They are pretty loose on me now and that’s fabulous.

I am still swimming and walking every day and tonight I rode the new bicycle. I can ride 4 miles before I get numb butt and my legs begin to ache. I will be able to do the 5 soon. It still takes me almost half an hour to ride the 4 so it adds to my aerobic time. It’s important for me to try and keep my metabolism up with the low calorie intake.

Hoping for more weight loss before the week is over on Wednesday!

Around 1 AM I woke up with an awful stomach ache and a panic attack. It was a totally miserable night for me with my stomach rebelling and my nerves rattled. The reason I eat a small meal daily is so I will be able to go on vacation with a girlfriend two weeks from now. I don’t want to be a drag and only eat powdered drinks and ruin the time for her. I had been going several days on shakes alone, however, and the return to food full bore was a big mistake. And I knew this could happen! Why do we do such things to ourselves? I guess it was better to learn this at home than in LA with my friend. so I am being consistent with having a small meal daily so I can do so on vacation.

The day after the food fiasco my weight shot up to 206. I’ve battled all week to get it down to 201.5 again. I weighed in the middle of the night (I know, bad idea) and it was 201 but this morning the “.5″ was back again. I have until Wednesday to post a loss for this week or that one day cost me an entire diet week. Dieting is not for the weak.

On the positive side I did finally buy a beach bike and have been riding that some. It hurts my back end so it will take time to get used to it. I’ve ridden about 4 miles each time. I’d like to get up to 10. All things in time. I am doing well with the walking and swimming too so I am Sure I will be down a couple of pounds by Wednesday!

I’m going to a dinner theatre this afternoon to see my nephew perform. I am back and forth between having my “lean and green” meal there and not eating at all. I had all optifast yesterday except for a small green salad. I was going to do all optifast today as well but I could try to fine something appropriate on their buffet. I guess I can make that call when I get there and see what they have. I’m hungry for food, not hungry overall but hungry for food so of course I don’t trust myself. I keep saying that this is not very good food and to pass on it.

I have had a history of letting down on my diet when I reach that 200 mark. This time I want to blow past it and keep on going. I am strong enough to do what I should.  I AM strong enough to do what I should!!