May 24, 2011 - 291.0 lbs.

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Eileen - March 22, 2011 - Tuesday
Exercise Today: … none
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 281.6   Today: 281.4
Change Yesterday: - 0.2   Total Progress: - 15.2
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Usually when I disappear from here it means that I went off-plan and binged myself to yet another weight gain — woohooo this time that’s not the case!  Yay!  I’ve actually been pretty good with my eating and I’ve gotten in some exercise (though not today).  My weight actually dipped down to 279.8 yesterday but for some reason I’m back up at 281.4 today.  I hope it drops back down again tomorrow - I would like to say goodbye to the 280’s one of these days.

I haven’t been posting here because I’ve just been super-busy at work and then over the weekend my husband and I painted our adirondack chairs and benches.  It was fun picking out the paint colors at the store!  At one point my husband said, “We should have printed out the picture you made” because we were having trouble choosing the exact shades.  It was funny, then, to compare the colorized photo that I created to the actual colors we picked!

Again, here is my photoshopped picture:

And ha!! Check out the colors we picked!!

I just think it’s funny that our choices were so close to the original picture, even though we didn’t have it with us!

Hubby just saw that I was going to share the picture above and he shared his objections to posting that particular photo:

a) The chairs look stupid sitting on those white squares (those are peel-n-stick floor tiles turned upside-down, btw);
b) The bench thing in the front is old and ugly and I should have moved it before taking the picture (I was using it to sit on while painting the red chair);
c) The sky was behind the clouds so the picture doesn’t really show how vibrant the colors are in the sun.  (OMG I don’t think those colors could look much more vibrant!); and
d) I forgot to take the paintbrushes off the arm of the blue chair before taking the picture.  LOL men are so funny!

So I’m sharing the photo anyway, lol.

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Yesterday at the grocery store I found something new.  I was so excited!  Now this is going to seem silly, to be so excited over something like this, but I was practically jumping up and down in the aisle.  Here’s what I found:

Apparently Polaner recently came out with a whole line of Splenda-sweetened low-calorie-low-carb-high-fiber jellies/jams!!  This is unprecedented!  I have scoured the jelly shelves at the grocery store and with the exception of Walden Farm products (which though zero-calories-zero-carbs, unfortunately have no flavor!), there were NO jelly options at ALL!!  Woohooo!!!  This grape jelly is not bad — and it has ONE net gram of carb in a whole tablespoon!  A tablespoon!!  Just to put this in perspective, a tablespoon of regular grape jelly has 13 carbs.  Thirteen!!

Apparently I’ve missed grape jelly, huh?

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FitDay totals for the day:
1140 calories, 39.6g net carbs

 010

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Eileen - March 15, 2011 - Tuesday
Exercise Today: … 20 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 282.0   Today: 281.6
Change Yesterday: - 0.4   Total Progress: - 15.0
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Yay!  Another four-tenths-of-a-pound!!  I love that, when the scale says nice stuff to me first thing in the morning!  I’d be totally happy if I could just consistently lose something every single day!!

I took a picture of the fire-pit area in our yard this morning!

As you can see, this area of our yard is sectioned off with landscaping timbers and lined with mulch.  There is actually some grass outside of that area, which we will eventually see again when we finally get out there and rake the leaves up!  (We don’t have “autumn” here in Florida, the leaves just fall off all year long whenever they feel like it instead of during one particular season!)

Hubby did a good job on the building the chairs and benches, eh?  He loves doing stuff like that.

Anyway, I played around a little with the picture I took.
First I digitally painted all the furniture red.

Then white.

And then I tried out my colorful scheme idea.

I like the colors!  I showed my digital coloring experiments to the Hubster and he said he definitely did not want them all white.  He didn’t care much for them all red either.  He said if I liked the different colors, he was okay with it.  Not necessarily these colors however.  Ha!  It’s okay, we’ll pick five colors from swatches when we go to buy the paint and we’ll find a combination that we both like.

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I bought strawberries at the grocery store today and this afternoon I decided to finally try and make my own low-carb cheesecake.  I looked at a bunch of recipes online and finally decided to try this one:  http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/lcarbcheesecake.htm

I used almond flour, pecans, and butter for the crust and then halved the rest of the recipe because I didn’t have that much cream cheese on hand.  Besides, though this cheesecake recipe is definitely low-carb (just 3.5g net carbs per 1 of 8 slices), it’s seriously high-calorie (over 400 per serving!).  So, by making less cheesecake filling, the counts are more like 2.5/250.

Making cheesecake was a longer process than I expected, but the results were pretty much worth the wait!  Here’s what I had for dessert tonight!

Looks almost as good as it tasted!  :D
(BTW, it’s not food porn because there was no sugar or flour involved!!)

FitDay totals for the day:
1343 calories, 20.9g net carbs

 829

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Eileen - March 14, 2011 - Monday
Exercise Today: … 20 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 283.4   Today: 282.0
Change Yesterday: - 1.4   Total Progress: - 14.6
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Woohooo I finally saw some kinda drop on the scale this morning!!  All weekend long I was still feeling very swollen and sore yet I did a bunch of stuff around the house (complaining the entire time) so I didn’t even weigh myself.  Then this morning I got out of bed and immediately noticed that my knees felt better, less puffy and tight, so I was hopeful when I stepped on the scale.  Yay!!  I was hoping to see a two-eighty-two-point-something, so I was really happy to see that it was point-zero!!

Over the weekend I ate all my turkey waldorf salad, ha!  When I make it again I’m gonna use more mayo even though it packs on the calories, it doesn’t add carbs and 3 tbls wasn’t enough.  I’ll use less apple, even though it’s the apple that makes it yummy.  Too many durned carbs though.

Today for lunch I made chicken tacos, haven’t had that in a long time.  With cheese and sour cream on low-carb tortillas, omgoodness they were heavenly.  I also bought everything I need to make low-carb veggie soup again.  I’m feeling cold symptoms (sneezing, sore throat) and so I’m craving soup.  At least it’s not like the flu I had a few weeks ago.  Or.  At least I hope it’s not!!

Before I left on my trip to Texas, my clothes washer broke.  Yikes!!!  So Saturday Hubby and I bought a washer and WE carried the old one out and WE carried the new one in and WE installed it.  (Okay, he attached the hoses but I was the one that moved everything out of the way and then put it all back afterward!)  I then spent all day Sunday doing laundry, one load after another.  I washed sheets and blankets and jackets and sweaters and clothes — and even shoes.  If it wasn’t nailed down, I washed it, dried it, folded it, and put it away.

While the washer and dryer were running, I cleaned the laundry room (rearranged and vacuumed, threw some stuff out, even vacuumed and wiped down the walls) and then deep-cleaned my refrigerator.  Yep, pulled everything out, pulled all the shelves out, cleaned out all the nooks and crannies.  You could perform surgery in there, it’s so sterile.

While I was totally captivated with all this spring cleaning, my husband was building new furniture for our fire pit.  We used to have two benches out there, prissy little benches that we bought at the store.  They were falling apart so we’ve been looking for a sale on benches to replace them when my hubby got the idea to just build his own.  A few years ago, he built some adironack chairs and so why not build adirondack benches? So that’s what he did.

Now he wants me to paint them.  What color? I asked.  He said, “Whatever color you want.”  So now I’m thinking.  I could paint them white, that’s a very common color for these type of chairs.  Or red, like redwood.

I don’t have any pictures of this area in my yard, so use your imagination.  Hmmmm…. picture a fire pit in the middle, surrounded by white stones kinda like these:

Then, in a circle, around the fire pit, are three adirondack chairs and two adirondack benches.  Five separate seating choices.  He did say that I could paint them whatever color I wanted.  I’m now thinking something along the lines of…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… ready?

…

…

…

…

… heheh

…

…

HA!!!  Whaddya think?!?  I think it’d be a hoot!!

Okay, so I’m gonna hafta take some pics of this fire pit arrangement so I can share what it really actually looks like.  I’m at my office right now and probably will be here until well after dark, so maybe I’ll snap some pics in the morning.

Edited to add:  Decided to make crustless-broccoli-bacon-quiche for dinner.  Oh man, so good!!  Have I mentioned how much I appreciate the low-carb woe?

FitDay totals for the day:
1331 calories, 19.9g net carbs

 740

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Eileen - March 11, 2011 - Friday
Exercise Today: … 40 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 283.2   Today: 283.4
Change Yesterday: + 0.2   Total Progress: - 13.2
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I forgot to weigh myself yesterday (busy morning!) but then today I was all psyched to hop on that scale because I was sure sure sure that I was gonna see that gratifying drop that I’ve been waiting for… and nope, I’m up two-tenths of a pound instead of down.  Ha!  That funny scale!  What a sense of humor it has!!!

Eh.  It’s okay.  It’ll come off eventually!!!

This afternoon my husband and I went to the restaurant where I get that turkey waldorf salad, it’s soooo good.  It’s weird though, the last time we were there I ordered a sandwich without the bread and I got this large portion of the turkey salad, about two-thirds of a cup.  Today I ordered the same thing and got a portion that was less than half the size of last time.  I asked about it and the server said that the scoop I’d been given (today) was equal to the scoop that goes onto the regular sandwich with bread.  Oh well.  So I love this stuff so much that I’m gonna try to make it at home.  I’m gonna used smoked turkey breast, lots of celery, a little bit of chopped apples and raisins, some walnuts and I guess I’ll use mayonnaise.  The only components which are not low-carb are the fruits and so I’ll just keep those minimal.  I looked online for waldorf recipes and many of them call for sweet stuff like sugar or honey but I don’t think I need to go there.

It’s 11:45pm and I’m making myself hungry!

I ate today without keeping track of my calories or carbs and had no idea how many I’d racked up until I entered it all into Fitday a little while ago.  I knew I’d stayed on plan - even with the 4 low-carb peanut butter cookies I ate today! - but I was way surprised to see that I’d consumed less than 900 calories all day long!  Oops.  Too late to eat something now!!

To my already-really-slow-metabolism:  I’m not in starvation mode!  Please do not shut down!!!

Edited to add:  My husband got home from work at midnight and we decided to go to the grocery store.  I came home and made my turkey salad!  It’s not exactly the same as what I had for lunch today but it’s fabulously low-carb and delicious!!  Woot!

Turkey Waldorf Salad

FitDay totals for the day:
873 calories, 25.9g net carbs

 541

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Eileen - March 9, 2011 - Wednesday
Exercise Today: … 20 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 283.4   Today: 283.2
Change Yesterday: - 0.2   Total Progress: - 13.4
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I’m home!  We pulled in yesterday afternoon about 3pm.  My co-workers all pitched in to help unload the RV (it’s amazing how much non-luggage-type stuff we either brought with us or bought along the way!!) and by 4pm it was empty except for the stuff in the refrigerator.  I told everyone to go home, we’d clean the rest in the morning, we didn’t have to take the RV back until this afternoon.

So I went home about 4:30, sat down in one of my comfy living room chairs and promptly fell asleep.  I woke up at 9:00pm!!  Ate dinner, then went to bed, slept all night from 10:30 until 7:30 this morning.  Ohmigawd, traveling is exhausting!!

The trip was great, full of really cool memories, but man am I happy to be home!!

My co-worker-friend who is on WW was amazed when I told her that I stayed on-plan for the whole trip, not even one little slip.  It’s easy, though, with doing low-carb because there are just so many wonderful food choices!  I had a wonderful time eating-out when we ate out and eating-in when we ate in!!  I had fajitas and turkey burgers (without buns) and chicken, lots of chicken.  Oh, and the day we cooked out on the grill I saved up carbs and calories all day so I could have ONE s’more — and I ended up only eating half of it.  After three wonderfully scrumptious bites, I decided I’d had enough and gave the rest away!!

So my weight is still about the same as a few days ago but I’m still majorly swelling around my knees.  I can feel it, my legs are so stiff and uncomfortable.  I was soooo good diet-wise and got soooo much exercise that I can’t help thinking that when the swelling goes down I’ll have lost a nice chunk of weight.  I know I keep saying that but I really really hope it’s sooooooo!!!!!!

FitDay totals for the day:
1234 calories, 29.8g net carbs

 541

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Eileen - March 6, 2011 - Sunday
Exercise Today: … 20 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 284.4   Yesterday: 283.4
Change Yesterday: - 1.0   Total Progress: - 13.2
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Woohooo dropped a whole pound this morning!  I love it when that happens!

I took a Motrin before I went to bed, so I’m thinking maybe some swelling finally went down?  I dunno but I’m grateful nevertheless.

We are on our way home now, right now we’re in Louisiana.  It’s tempting to go to New Orleans and check out Mardi Gras, but alas, we don’t have time.  We need to be back home in Florida on Fat Tuesday, not out partying on Bourbon Street!!!  It would be fun though.

As fun as this trip has been, I’m ready to go home.  Big time!!

Hugs to y’all.

FitDay totals for the day:
1208 calories, 31.4g net carbs

 457

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Eileen - March 4, 2011 - Friday
Exercise Today: … 4 hours walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 284.4   Yesterday: 284.4
Change Yesterday: - 0.0   Total Progress: - 12.2
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Wow I walked a lot today.  I put “4 hours” up there and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration at all!  In fact it was probably more like five!

- We had a meeting in the morning and then around noon we walked out to the road so we could catch the bus and ride into town.
- Got off the bus, walked to a restaurant, had lunch.
- Walked along the San Antonio Riverwalk (omg gorgeous place!) and bought our tickets for the boat tour.
- Walked back to the hotel where the conference is being held (had no idea which way to go so we ended up going “the long way.”
- Attended classes then walked again along the Riverwalk (this time I knew which way to go) back to the boats so we could take our tour (it was awesome!).
- Then walked down the Riverwalk the other direction so we could find a place for dinner.
- Had dinner, walked all the way back to where we started from so we could catch the bus back to the KOA.
- Walked from the busstop to our RV.
- Gathered my dirty clothes, walked up to the clubhouse and did laundry.
- Walked back to the RV.

My knees are swollen and stiff, I can barely bend my legs.  Oh and my bruises are healing (from the fall Monday night).  Wanna see?

Lovely, huh?  (Yeah, that lumpy swollen thing under the lightest bruise (lower left) is my knee, ha!) It’s actually healed a LOT since Tuesday!  I wish I’d thought to take a picture of it then.

My weight registered exactly the same this morning, to the tenth of a pound.  That’s cool though, because I know how swollen I am from all the walking so eventually there will be a loss coming.  I can wait!

FitDay totals for the day:
1190 calories, 35.9g net carbs

 392

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Eileen - March 3, 2011 - Thursday
Exercise Today: … 90 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 285.2   Yesterday: 284.4
Change Yesterday: - 0.8   Total Progress: - 12.2
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It’s been a really really long day and I’m beat.  But.  I just had to post here because I’m pretty happy about the 0.8 lb loss this morning on the scale (so now I lost almost all of that mysterious 4 lbs, woohoo).  Plus I did a lot of walking today so I’m feeling good about my calorie in/out ratio.

I haven’t brought up the whole C25K thing because on our 2nd night out from Florida, we stopped at a campground which had many lovely trees - but also many bumpy roots all over the place.  In the dark I managed to trip over one of ‘em and landed directly on my knee - my good knee!!  It has the most horrible black and blue bruise ya ever saw - and it’s very sore, I’m even having trouble climbing up into the RV.  So, no running.  Just a lot of walking.

I’m sorry I haven’t been around to everyone’s blogs… I hit a few yesterday but tomorrow I have to get up at 6am and I’m so tired, if I don’t go lie down I’m gonna fall asleep right here, sitting up.  I promise I’ll get caught up after this trip!

FitDay totals for the day:
1211 calories, 26.4g net carbs

 349

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Eileen - March 2, 2011 - Wednesday
Exercise Today: … 30 minutes walking
Starting Weight 01/02/11: 296.6     Last Weigh-In: 288.2   Yesterday: 285.2
Change Yesterday: - 3.0   Total Progress: - 11.4
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Yay!!!!! I have internet!!!!!  LOL it’s amazing how dependent I’ve become on technology!  I haven’t had a decent online connection, haven’t been online for more than 5 minutes since last Friday!!!  More than five whole days since I got my online fix!!!  I was jonesin’, big time!!

Okay, so I did bring my scale with me (yep, said I was gonna!  ha!) and I weighed myself yesterday morning and the magic number “285.2″ came up.  (This is the exact weight I was when I started dieting back in 2008, LOL!!)  I was just happy to see a number that was three whole pounds lower than my last weigh-in!!  Woohooo most of those crazy pounds came back off!!

So - I said that I was gonna be out of town for a business trip but I didn’t share any details.  Well, I am currently sitting inside a 31-foot RV which I am sharing with four other women.  In case ya didn’t catch the significance of that, I’ll put it this way:  FIVE WOMEN IN AN RV FROM FLORIDA TO TEXAS AND BACK!!

ROFL!!  Is that funny or what?!  Here is our lovely (rented) RV:

There are two slide-outs, one that widens the living/dining/kitchen area and then one that widens the big bedroom in the back.  There’s a big bed above the cab, then the dining area folds down into a bed and the couch folds down into a bed.  So the two bosses (yep, I’m one of ‘em) are sharing the bed in the back (we’ve been friends for going on 20 years so we know each other well) (and we’re both married and straight, just in case anyone wonders, LOL) and our three employees each get their own bed and storage spaces.

We are going to a conference in San Antonio.  We would have been staying in a hotel on the Riverwalk for four nights, three rooms (2 in each of 2 double rooms and 1 alone) at a special conference rate of $159 a night.

$159 x 3 rooms x 4 nights + tax = $2100.

The rate to stay at the KOA for 4 nights totalled only $153.

Okay so $2100 - $153 = $1947.

The savings right there — more than pays for the rental of the RV
for twelve whole days!

AND THE CREW IS LOVING IT!  I offered to pay to park the RV and put them up at the hotel (for the convenience of being right there at the conference AND for having a “real” bed to sleep in) and there was a resounding chorus of “No way, we wanna stay here in the RV!!!”

It’s a good thing we all like each other!

So, the only one of this group of five women who have ever “camped” in an RV before is ME.  My parents had an RV and then later when I grew up and had a family, they had a bigger RV that they allowed their grown-up kids to borrow.  Though I did the driving of the RV, I never dealt with the whole hookup thing (electric, water, sewer, cable, hubby did all that stuff).  The people who rented us the RV gave us a very brief overview of the operation of the thing and left out a lot of important details!  A LOT!!  We have learned along the way and by the time we get home we should all be experts at this whole RV camping thing!!

Anyway, I’ve gotten a lot of exercise since I left (lot of walking, lot of climbing up and down and up and down and up and down in and out of this RV LOL.  We went shopping before we left and stocked the fridge and freezer with all sorts of stuff - including food I can eat on-plan! - so I haven’t gone off-plan even once, not even a nibble!  I said earlier today, “I better lose some weight after this trip because I am being SOOOOO good!!!”

Thanks for all the encouraging messages while I was off-line!!!  It was really heartwarming to come back online to so many wonderful comments!!

Happy Hump Day!

FitDay totals for the day:
1168 calories, 20.6g net carbs

 236