176.4. It's Up To Me

The travel weight is coming off, thank goodness, but I have a lot of traveling/being away from home plans this summer. I need to really focus now on how I am going to manage this maintenance lifestyle while I'm away.

Most of my time away will be with family and they are all very supportive of what I'm doing. I'm the problem! Rather than have anyone cook, I'm too quick to suggest that we eat out, and I need to reign that response in. They are all good cooks! I can cook, Jeff can cook, our kids can cook, their partners can cook. Even four year old Julien (in the picture) thinks he can cook.

What is quite amazing to me is how quickly this weight is coming off in spite of the fact that the exercise piece is fleeting during this period of time. (That will be featured in another post once I come up with a good excuse :) ). And what that shows me is the damage that salt and wine can do.

I really am looking forward to these trips to visit our son's family, to visit our daughters, their guys, and pets, and to welcome our granddaughter due sometime in late June! Oh, and to go to the wedding of the daughter of very dear friends! It's all up to me to stay smart and in control of what I eat and drink. If I can lose 80 pounds, I can do this!

169.8 In The Soup!

I know, I know... I know what happened! Not to worry I keep telling myself. But over a pound over night? Jeff made soup for our dinner yesterday and instead of using water he used chicken broth (less sodium chicken broth). It was one of those soup mixes that includes the dried beans, etc., and a flavor packet. This was split pea with barley and promised to be delicious. Well, obviously the "flavor packet" contained salt as did the chicken broth, and we both were taken aback by how salty it was until we realized there was a reason why the recipe called for water. We ate it anyway, and today my fingers are a little salt bound, but it will all get washed out with the water I am drinking. I was really leery of soup while I was on the weight loss mission and maybe I'll go back to that mind set, at least for a while. Oh, I just remembered I had a cup of vegetable soup for lunch. Whoa!

202.4 Viva Las Vegas!

Well, maybe it was just the salt, or at least I can blame some of the weight gain yesterday on the salt since I was down a pound this morning! I am munching on a delicious apple right now. We had breakfast at our favorite breakfast place after we dropped our dog off at the pet sitter. I had my standard spinach and feta omelette and one pancake and then didn't have lunch so now I am hungry. Also, it is an hour earlier here in Las Vegas than in AZ, so a lot of time has gone by since I ate.

I am laughing to myself about our room situation. Our room at the Bellagio is free because we got a special offer based on the fact I had a recent birthday. We have the room for two nights and it is beautiful. But, there is a but! When we checked in, the only non-smoking room that was available (read for free) was located in the new Spa Tower which is several miles by foot from the lobby.:) In the past I would have been ticked off about this, but now, with my change of mind, I am just looking at it as a great source of exercise. And, it is a lot further from all of the gambling activity than the rooms in the main building here, so that is probably a good thing, too.

So we are off to go get some dinner and then see Andrea Bocelli. I wonder if he has to worry about what he eats! Just as I am finishing this, a bell man just brought us a complimentary box of eight truffles! Oh, my!