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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Weight today:  236.8       Change since last week:  +7.0 lbs.
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Okay, my Independence Day feast was awesome, awesome, awesome.  BUT.  It cost me SEVEN pounds.  OMG!!  Is that even possible?  I went off-plan for two days, TWO DAYS!!!  As of Monday my scale said I’d gained ten pounds.  TEN!!  And then in the past two days I lost three which leaves me with a net gain of seven.

It’s really hard to say right now if it was worth it.  The day off was wonderful - I feel like I needed it, needed to get away from all the “no I can’t have that” and the worrying and the counting.  Once I made the decision to have the holiday off, I totally enjoyed the freedom to plan our menu with no limitations.  My family enjoyed it too, LOL!  I spent the whole day cooking, which I never do (generally I hate cooking and avoid it whenever possible).  DS17 didn’t get off work until 4pm so I had the meal on the table when he got home:  Hamburgers and hot dogs (with buns!) and barbeque chicken on the grill, chips and dip, macaroni salad, potato salad, devilled eggs, fixed-up-baked-beans, fruit salad, and then strawberry shortcake for dessert.  This was the menu requested by my men and they dug in and enjoyed.  It’s amazing that a meal that takes all day to cook is devoured in 15 minutes or less!

We followed up the meal with a (rented) movie, went to see the local fireworks display and then shot off our own fireworks in the back yard - with a 11pm treat of smores (marshmallows cooked on the gas grill, lol).  It was the perfect day, framed by the perfect array of food.  On Sunday, I only went off-plan to indulge in some leftovers (didn’t go crazy though) and then Monday I went fully back on-plan.

It was an awesome weekend!  To the tune of SEVEN pounds.  Yikes!

This, I suppose, is testament to how our society views food.  It is so ingrained into us that our happy memories are so closely tied to our food enjoyment.  I enjoyed the fireworks and watching the movie with my men just as much as the food - but if you were to ask me in a few months what I remember about this year’s 4th of July, I can betcha the first thing that will come to mind is that meal.

Eh, the next holiday is -what?  Halloween?  Thanksgiving?  I have a long stretch of on-plan time ahead of me.  I’ll take this stupid seven pounds off again.  And again, if necessary.

I’m so not done with this journey!

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