THE NEW ME

Incredible!!!! This morning I weighed two pounds less, 182. In five days. This simply cannot continue. 10 pounds in 35 days.

I have given up dancing around the basement and the weight and stretching exercises, at least for now, until my knees seem better. But I have upped the speed on the marching tapes to four mph. And I can keep up with that pace, although I will admit, I'm exhausted when I walk back in the door. And only every other day. The off day, sometimes I walk to the library and back, about two miles, but at a leisurely stroll.

Still keeping to the food plan. The whole thing this week was hard because on Tuesday I received the news of the death of a friend's grandson. A bike accident. He was 19. This was a blow, as maybe 10 years ago she lost her only daughter (not the mother). She is a very good friend, we have season tickets to The Goodman together, and have frequently gone away to various B&B's. I was devastated, as were all her friends. We stood in line for a solid hour at the wake Wednesday nite, he had so many people who loved him. It was particularly hard for my husband and I because in 1980 we had lost his 19-year-old daughter suddenly also. She fell off a cliff at Starved Rock State Park.

At the lunch after the funeral Thursday (which was very emotional, as you can imagine) I did manage to eat properly, in spite of the macaroni and cheese and rhubarb pie, both things I adore. And at our table where there was only one woman of normal weight (besides my husband of course) I made a point of seeing what she ate. Learn from the pros. She had one thin slice of roast beef (I had taken a pretty good slab of the end), a small piece of chicken breast, a roasted fresh broccoli crown, and a very small portion of the mac and cheese. Plus a salad plate which may or not have had any dressing on it, but it sure wasn't the heavy creamy stuff I saw. I was sorry I could not be behind her in line, I would have chosen as she did. But I did alright, with the roast beef, broccoli, some cherry tomatoes, cukes and pickled onions, and a small roll with a tad of butter. I did have to put cream in my coffee.

Anyway, that was the five days. Tuesday, the day I received the news, I was paralyzed. Could not do any exercise at all. But didn't overeat, at least. "Learn to enjoy the weight loss process". I'm tryin', I'm tryin'. On Thursday, when I weigh again, I only have to be 184, and I do not plan on gaining any weight (now have I jinxed myself?). So I'll be happy to remain at 182.

35 days down.