I think it’s finally beginning to work. I dropped one of those nasty vacation pounds this week. I added more aerobics to my week. I think I took three long walks in addition to the regular Pilates and yoga. I don’t think I did very well with portion control. I eat too much meat with dinner. I need to cut whatever hubby makes in half, put it on my plate, walk away and be happy. He’s my little Atkins Addict, so cooks piles and piles of meat. Meat is my friend, but I certainly don’t need to go overboard with the portions!

I ventured out onto the home golf course this weekend. Friday, hubby and I just played nine holes. The temperature was in the 90’s, so it wasn’t a day to be exerting hard in the sunshine. Did okay. I beat him at putts. Today was another story. I played with a couple girlfriends, and it was the first time I’d walked our 18-hole course since September. It was absolutely abysmal! The golf, that is. The company was wonderful, and I enjoyed the hike. The weatherman had promised us 76 degrees today, but I don’t think it got above the low 60’s. I had dressed for warmer weather, and got a bit chilled. (Maybe that’s why my golf was so bad!) Had a lovely Copper River Salmon Caesar salad after the round. It tasted quite beneficial, even though it is neutral for this nonnie. I also indulged in a rare glass of beer. It tasted neutral…which it is.

I’m going to keep plugging away at these nagging pounds. More aerobics and less meat.

Hmmmmm, what gives here? I’ve been home for almost two weeks. I am firmly entrenched in my routine again, yet not one lousy little pound has dropped from my body!

This calls for action! What kind of action? Aerobic action! I must force myself on the old treadmill on rainy days and out for walks on the good ones. I have to stop using work as an excuse to not get it done.

Oh yeah… and portion control.

Later.

I think I’m back home for awhile now. I just spent the last six weeks coming home between trips. There were four of them. I’ve written about the first two already. At the end of April hubby and I went to an industry conference in Palm Springs for four days. It was really good. Every minute was packed with good information. You didn’t dare be late for breakfast or lunch, because they had one or two speakers lecturing and discussing topics during the meals. Very intense, but good for us. It kind of lit a fire under us to go in some new directions with the business. The hotel catered the meals, so there was no choice in food. I took boomibars to tide me over the rough spots. There was the obligatory chicken for lunch one day, and french toast at breakfast another day…. Things like that. One of the few avoids that I choose to eat whenever it is presented is bacon. I really can’t resist it if it’s sitting in front of me. So, I did have some of that with scrambled eggs for another breakfast. I can’t be super-strict diet-wise at these things, so I don’t push my cortisol levels up by stressing about it. There was no chance for formal exercise on the trip. My body was aching quite a bit by the end. Lots of sitting, airports and bad air conditioning.

Three days after returning from that trip, we left again for the California desert for a real vacation. Originally we were going to drive down and trailer the motorcycle so we could do some desert riding. But, the items hubby had ordered for the trailer that would hold the big bike on securely didn’t arrive in time for him to put them on. That was kind of disappointing. He had ordered them in February, and the company was just too flaky to get them here in time. They arrived the day before we left, and that wasn’t enough time to get the trailer ready. So, we flew. We stayed at a friend’s condo that we had bought time from several years ago at a charity auction. We finally got a chance to use it. Except for one big windstorm, the weather was perfect. Temperatures were mid to upper eighty’s and sun, sun, sun! We played golf three times, and things went pretty well there. I was afraid my shoulder wouldn’t deal with it very well. But, I remembered to swing easy, and was able to keep from injuring myself. We went to a casino one night and each got fifty dollars to throw away. I lost mine pretty fast. California slot machines are not as friendly as Nevada’s! Hubby played black jack and won back my fifty dollars, so we came out even. It just reminded me that I really don’t like gambling.

We were able to exercise at least every other day. There was a facility with machines nearby for hubby. I preferred to walk around the condo complex. It took 45 minutes to get around it at a fairly brisk pace. I did a lot of floor Pilates and yoga, too. There was lots of time to do those things.

Food wasn’t nearly as much of a problem this trip. We cooked our own meals for the most part. One of the culinary highlights was the grapefruit tree outside the condo. It would drop from one to three fruits every day. They were so good! I’d never tasted such sweet grapefruit. They were great for breakfast, and most evenings I would squeeze one into a glass and mix it with vodka. Very refreshing.

For Mother’s Day, hubby let me buy some calves liver and onions, and cook it for myself. That doesn’t sound very special, does it? But you have to understand his loathing of liver. He can’t stand to be anywhere near it when it is being cooked. I absolutely love liver, and have missed being able to cook it for myself on a consistent basis. This time, he said he couldn’t even smell it. Probably because it was fresh calves liver instead of older beef. He cooked chicken for himself, and we were both very happy.

Okay, so now I’m home for awhile and can get back into a routine. My weight is up a couple pounds from the trips. Portion control ya know!

I’ll let you know how it goes.

I find myself doodling around the Internet and spending money at the moment. Maybe I should stop and do something non-spendy… like blog!!

I’m doing okay diet wise. Have lost three of the four pounds I gained over those two trips I took earlier this month. We have to leave Sunday for a three-day conference. I have a new shipment of Boomibars and Larabars (thanks for the tip on those Kristen!) to take along in case I encounter a BTD wasteland somewhere along the way. There are so many temptations out there, even for this veteran BTD-er! I don’t think I’ll ever get totally uninterested in avoids. It’s just not in my nature. And trips away from home make me want to let my guard down. Of course, I’ve had enough experience in Avoidville to know the consequences of my choices. It will be an adventure anyway.

I’ve let some of my exercise lapse a bit. I’m still doing Pilates 2 – 3 times a week. And I try to get to Yoga at least once a week. It’s the aerobic part that has been lagging. I get going on it, then my hip acts up, and I don’t feel like it. The physical therapist and acupuncturist haven’t been able to fix it up yet. I keep hoping. I have lots of home strengthening exercises that have been prescribed by the PT. And I do them quite regularly. There just hasn’t been much pain relief yet. Anyway, I got on the recumbent bike and treadmill on Sunday. And today I went for a long walk in the warm Spring sunshine. Lots of stretching after the walk, and so far things are okay. Tomorrow is mat class.

Tomorrow night daughter and I are going to see STOMP! Yeah!

I’ve been too long away from my blogging duties. As an excuse, I have had two trips out of town since I last wrote.

The first trip was flying back east to visit family. My mother is 89 and needs a visit from me at least twice a year. It was good to see her. But she is changing pretty fast, which is hard to watch. Food wise, I ate too much wheat on the trip. It was everywhere. And family members served pork, corn, processed mixes…you name it. It was a diet disaster and I succumbed to most of it.

The second trip was this past weekend. It was the annual regional barbershop competition in Spokane. It is my favorite weekend of the year. Hundreds of middle-aged women in one hotel singing and partying. Everything about the weekend is pure escapism from real life. It’s a hoot. I actually made mostly good eating choices this time. I made sure that on Friday that I did not touch wheat or any other avoids that would hinder my voice. We competed on Saturday. Our chorus made fourth place, which wasn’t too shabby. We were third last year. After the competition, I found I had no desire for avoids at dinner and ordered beer, onion soup and spinach salad. I’m sure there were some avoid ingredients involved, but not as many as there could have been had I chosen a hamburger and fries, or whatever.

I obviously have been eating too much. After these two trips I am up four pounds. And nothing has budged from strict diet adherence over the past two days. I’ve got another trip scheduled in two weeks. Hopefully I can be good until then.