April 10 - Friday

[gitfiddle]

Thinking well is wise; planning well, wiser; doing well wisest and best of all.
Persian Proverb

That pretty much describes Protein Power, doesn’t it? We do all of these steps, every day!

Good morning! I can't say TGIF today, because it's my last day of vacation. :tear: The weekend is going to be busy!

Breakfast will be a protein shake. Lunch will be roast beef and carrots. Dinner will be chicken and broccoli.

[maxlharris]

I am still reasonably jet lagged. Come two o'clock, I am crapped out like you wouldn't believe. Scale continues to shed lbs. Down to 219.5 today, so it looks like two weeks off was not a problem. I said to wife, while we were there, that I thought my brand new pants, that we'd just bought the week before leaving, were fitting looser. Wife thought this impossible. I am not sure. While we pastried pretty large in France (breakfast every day, frequently a lunch snack, though we moved to cheese and wine for "tea time" instead of pastries for I dunno why, and really didn't eat much in the way of restaurant dessert (if we were still wanting something, we'd go to a baker/pastry shop and get the remains of the day). Cold weather cut ice cream consumption (versus Italy trip of two years ago) to 3 servings total between us (we had days in Italy with three servings a piece... mmm... Florence). Then into the realm of the real breakfast in Belgium and The Netherlands (real, not low carb, but couple rolls, some protein, some cheese, some yogurt, an egg). Ate a lot more candy in the NL than restaurant desserts, which I think might've been a better move.

At any rate, Today is day 3, which is usually the hard day. Although yesterday, I was kind of ravenously hungry. Made good choices (had a beer with dinner, worst choice I made all day, but not a bad choice... we had those two dinner parties before we left, and we had beer drinking guests, so I bought a six, and between both dinners, 1 bottle was consumed... WTF... at least I bought something that I like, so it will go... DW has turned into a bit of a beer drinker from our trip, but I imagine I will be drinking the remaining 4 over time... strictly looked at as a carb food... last night had with a steak).

Any rate, work work work, then go home and work the weekend. I am considering ham specials at the supermarket, as something to cook on Sunday.

What else: Am wanting to get back to bringing lunch from home. Have not done it here, at all, and I think I would do a lot better doing that. One thing I learned... cooked duck confit will last for a month or more in the fridge... useful knowledge, since it's very low carb. Duck cooked in duck fat. High cal, high fat, good protein, very low carb. Me likey.

Later, peeps.
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/candywarehouse_2045_37354290

[friendly]

This morning my "skinny pants" fit with room in the waistband. Feb. 24th, I couldn't pull them up. two weeks ago, I wore them but it was a little ugly (muffin top), today, they aren't staying up real well. I haven't lost any weight in the last two weeks, so that's proof that my fat is going down and my muscle's going up.

breakfast was weird--2 ounces diet v-8, black coffee, atkins bar, oopsie rolls with butter and cinnamon and spenda

lunch will be cheese and lunchmeat, a few nuts and a couple grapes (eaten in the car on the way to IKEA)

dinner will probably be a chicken caesar salad at a restaurant

if hungry, bedtime snack will be half a protein shake.

I'm gonna get a ton of walking in today--an entire mall and IKEA window shopping.

[maxlharris]

Congrats friendly. Further proof that the scale is one way to measure, but not the only.

[gitfiddle]

Max, I'm impressed with your recovery rate! I like to bring my lunch to work vs hitting the cafeteria. It's better if I choose when I'm not hungry and get into a mindless routine.

Friendly, good job on the exercise routine! It's amazing how the body rearranges itself without shedding pounds. Muscle burns fat, which is what spurs me to the gym. Into your skinny pants! Wow!

I'm still recovering from this highly inconvenient cold. :peeved: I think it's in the final stages. I hope! I'm getting my to-do list down, little by little.

We just received our fourth wedding invitation for this summer. :eek: Three of them are relatives, so regrets aren't an option. Our summer weekends are usually maxed-out with music festivals and get-aways, so it's going to be a bit crowded.

[maxlharris]

We did have about 7-8 days in a row with varying height "stair masters."
Notre Dame (plus assorted other stairs) on Day 3
Arc de Triomphe (plus assorted other stairs) on Day 4
Monmartre hill (up the stairs, down the street) + the Catacombs on Day 5
Champagne Caves (and assorted train station stairs) on Day 6
Not much on day 7
We were on the 3rd floor (4th by American standards) at our hotel, and it was a walk up, in Paris.
Bruxelles had the stairs from low town to high town, plus the big Museum, which has all the old art up a couple flights of stairs, then all the new art buried as deep as level -8, mostly with stairs... built into the hill between the old town and the high town, so count it double.
Bruges, we passed on the Belfort, but our room was up a couple flights of steep stairs and man did we walk.
Amsterdam, we were up this insanely steep staircase to get in and out of our place. And really, anything you go into in Amsterdam has steep stairs... one at the Anne Frank "Stairmaster" was called by the Franks the "Knee Breaker"... I banged my knees on it a couple times.

Really, we walked a ton (which seems to help me lose, but retain water... not sure why, but I never weigh lighter after big walking days, but give it a couple days off and I melt a bit), climbed a lot of stairs, and I think ate pretty light for a vacation, though not low carb at all. Very light breakfasts, for me reasonably light lunches, pastry or candy or cheese for snacks, and moderate dinner... the alcohol was the big thing. Wine every night in france, either a bottle or a 50cl between me and the wife. Beer in Belgium, with everything, and for me, mostly beer in the Netherlands with everything, with the wife going between beer and wine. But in Italy, we drank a ton of wine too. I think the ice cream was a lot more in Italy. Also, Italy was a lot more stressed, because of museum reservations and a lot more travel.

I expect to level off soon, but I can dream, no?

[Claudette]

Hi, ya'll,

Great quote, Carol.

Still jet lagging, from Boston trip, got into town very late last night, but showed up at work today. I feel very bloated, scale said I was up 1lb. I have really drank the water today and tonight, I am feeling better, hands are back to normal.

Friendly, congrats on the pants feeling looser. I will always take inch loss vs. scale.

On plan today, tonight grown son in town visiting is grilling steaks for us, will have steamed brocoli, green salad. He marinates the beef before, but doesn't add any sugar. We love it when he is here.

Have great weekend all.

Back to reading and studying.

Claudette

[gitfiddle]

I expect to level off soon, but I can dream, no?Absolutely! I'm impressed that you did all those stairs! I think even Shadow would count them. ;)


On plan today, tonight grown son in town visiting is grilling steaks for us, will have steamed brocoli, green salad. He marinates the beef before, but doesn't add any sugar. We love it when he is here.
What a treat, Claudette! You can definitely have marinades without sugar. My son has a recipe using olive oil, herbs and lime juice and it's terrific.

[SandyHanson]

I had a good day today, all around.

Breakfast - a small protein shake and protein pancakes
Lunch - tuna salad
Mid-aft - a few walnut halves
Supper - Cheesy Ham Casserole

Protein - 125.4
ECC - 17.7
Calories - 1768

Could have added a few more vegetables - had lots of leeway on carbs, but everything else is good.

[Karole]

Whoops for today. I didn't make myself exercise and I didn't keep track in fitday for some reason. Was it a form of rebellion. I don't know. I did meditate and my carbs weren't overboard even tho we did eat out last night. I had steak, salad, mushrooms and broccoli so all was in range.

[maxlharris]

Protein: ~150
Carbs: ~20
Water: good
Cals: in range
reporting: done
Fitday: done