Ahhh... Monday morning. It's nice to have the work days back. Yesterday was a long and hard day for me. I didn't do too well, but I think it all ended up good, just like in the fairy tales.
As I wrote in my journal yesterday, we had a little going away party for Lodger. It was a small, intimate affair, nothing big. Kind of a brunch thing, breads from the local baker, cold cuts, cheese, and a few other things along with coffee, tea and orange juice.
I only had one egg for breakfast, knowing that we were gonna eat again already at 11.30 am. I was fine, but as people came late I got more hungry, and I just tried to patiently wait for them.
By the time we finally sat down to eat I was starving, and had a hard time controlling all the goodies on the table.
Normally, when we eat at home, we prepare our plates in the kitchen, and then go eat at the dinner table or by the "movies". This way, when we're done eating what we prepared, it's a LONG walk (we have a huge apartment, with a long hallway between kitchen and living room) to get more food. That's usually enough to make me consider if I really need more food, or if it's just for fun.
Well, I ended up spending more than 1000 calories at the table. :( I tried to restrict myself, but it just didn't happen.
However, I did what I could to compensate.
1. I pre-calculated my dinner, preparing what I was gonna eat, so I knew what the damage would be. Also, knowing that lunch was gonna be a little tough on me, I had asked Wife if we could have a good, low cal dinner. She did amazingly well on this.
2. I pre-calculated my dessert. I know many would just say "skip the dessert, silly", but I know that on Sundays I need something sweet. If I don't have something, I will be scavenging the kitchen to try to find something. I may as well go for my low calorie ice cream, and NOT fall into the trap of something much worse.
I hadn't planned any exercise yesterday other than my morning DVD. So to compensate for the huge lunch, I got on my exercise bike and spend an hour there at a pretty decent energy level. Enough to break sweat and be short of breath. The meter said 500 calories burned, but I don't trust it. It's a cheap bike and it seems like it's sometimes just random numbers it throws at me. However, I recorded an hour of slow bicycling in the exercise journal, and it pretty much agrees. I think it'll compensate for the lunch.
I did, however, still gain weight today. I think there are several reasons, and one is not really the lunch. Well, maybe short term.
1. It's 2nd day after Indulgence Day. This happens on a regular basis.
2. Dinner was HEAVY. Lots of vegetables, in a soup. The famous Viking soup that I mentioned yesterday. It was delish! I really loved it. Thanks babe!
3. Okay okay... maybe lunch. :)
Last night we had an amazing time.
Wife, Lodger and I were enjoying the new blu-ray of the 25th anniversay of the stage show of The Phantom Of The Opera. We watched it on projector (about 100 inches!) and the surround sound cranked up. It was almost like being there. What an amazing show. If you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend it.
I am generally not the musical type, but I really like this show, and the story. I always have. I had the CD as a kid, maybe that's why it's closer to my heart.
I am trying to find the old Lon Chaney movie from 1925 - I want to see it. It's a classic and I'm kind of ashamed that I never saw it, being a horror movie fan and all. :)
Anyways...
Today, I did all the usual morning stuff. I have done my 30 minute morning exercise DVD as always, as has Wife. I'm so happy that she's doing it, and seeing the benefit of it. She states that she is amazed how much better she feels throughout the day when she does it, and she doesn't want to be without it now. It makes me happy, because I know she needs to stretch before work, and I know how much better I feel after doing the exercises.
I got work today, of course, and I bring leftover soup for lunch. It's a big, heavy portion again, so I don't know how this will affect tomorrow's weigh-in. It's super low calorie though, so it's just a temporary thing, nothing to worry about. I have time.
Actually, I have about 100 days until I can qualify for the surgery. Time is going fast, and I hope I will be at 77 at that time. I don't want to wait longer than I absolutely have to.
After work today I am going to the gym, for a long walk. I'm kinda considering if I as an alternative should get on the bike up there to compare to what I am doing here at home. It could give me an idea of how much I actually burn doing it. We'll see what I feel like.
I have movies loaded on Tabby, and I am curious how well it works size-wise with the exercise machines. I'm a little concerned with whether I'll be able to read the display on the machine if I have it sitting there. Then again, if all I do is walk, then I don't really need the display. Sometimes it's an advantage for me to NOT be focused on time and numbers, and just go. Then, all of a sudden, time is up and has just flown by. It's not a bad thing.
Lodger is out tonight, I believe. It's her last week here in Denmark, so she will probably be out most of the week for little going away sessions with her friends.
Wife and I will cook Danish fried (in our case oven-baked) meatballs ("frikadeller") with potatoes and carrots for dinner. It's a favorite of mine. I'm looking forward to that.
Today I am thankful that
- the weekend is over. It was quite the challenge on my food journal.
- it's getting easier to wake up early in the morning. I got kind of used to sleeping later over the holidays.
- kitty cat purring in my lap whily I write my journal
- morning coffee!
- a work day without TOO many tasks. It's a good way to start the week.
I hope you guys will have an amazing day and an amazing week. I hope you (and I) will lose some weight this week. I feel that I'm ready to move forward. Even if I have reached a new low every week, I still feel that it's not going fast enough.
Which reminds me... (and you though I was done, huh? LOL!), I have decided to UP my calories a notch. I was at 1600 a few weeks ago, and not too much happened, then I went to 1500. Still not moving fast enough. Then I realized, that I have been burning SIGNIFICANTLY more calories doing exercise lately. You all know how I have gotten into it over the holidays, and how I have started to see the point to doing it, other than burning calories. It's all about feeling better both mentally and physically.
So, to feed my body a little more - in the hope of it releasing the fat that I have left - I am going for 1800 calories now, and still doing my 3500 calorie Indulgence Day. This evens out to a daily average of 2042 calories. According to the Fatsecret calculator I should - as low active - eat 2200 calories to lose weight at 1 lb per week. I know I burn more than low active, but I just don't want to go higher. I have always had my meters set at sedentary, but I think I am more active than that.
Let's see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.
Have a great day, my friends! Life is good!
