I wasn’t expecting much in the way of weight loss this week. After my 1 pound drop last week, I figured I might plateau for a bit. But one thing I should have learned is that weight drops can surprise you. So I was pleasantly surprised to see 195.5 pop up on the scale. That meant a drop of 3 1/2 more pounds and brought me a hair away from the halfway mark.
Starting Weight
205
Current Weight
195.5
Goal Weight
185
Lost
9.5
Left Until Goal
10.5
Now, I find myself in the unusual position of fighting my sense of optimism. Part of me looks at my weight loss this past month and figures that I’ve lost 2 pounds per week on average. If I continue like that, I find myself thinking, I’ll be pretty much at my goal weight by time we go to Disney World for the Disney Social Media Moms conference.
Some optimism is good, but you’ve got to keep things in perspective. Like last week’s advice not to give in to pessimism when your scale numbers don’t plummet like they do on TV, too much optimism can be a bad thing. If you optimistically expect huge weight loss numbers, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. Of course, some optimism is healthy. You don’t want to go into a weight loss plan thinking “I’ll end this at the exact weight I started at” or “I might lose a couple of pounds but I won’t reach my goal.” However, you also don’t want to say “I lost 3 pounds last week so I can expect to lose at least that much every single week or else I’m failing at weight loss.” It’s all about balance.
Wednesday was the Snowpocalypse. After a decent snowfall on Tuesday, and a ton of snow still on the ground from previous snowfalls, we were scheduled to get about 15 inches of snow. Needless to say, schools were closed and everyone hunkered down. I wound up working from home since the commute into work would have been hazardous to say the least.
B shoveled our walkway, sidewalk, cars and driveway out while I worked. She came back in, sore from the shoveling and I made sure that a cup of hot chocolate from our new Keurig was waiting for her. Sadly, I didn’t get to play with the boys as much as I’d have liked to. After all, I was “at work” even if I was technically in my bed. Before it got dark out, though, I decided to take a break from working, bundle up and head outside. You see, we have a problem with ice dams and so the snow on the roof needed to be removed.
For those of you who don’t know what ice dams are, picture a roof covered in snow. The heat from the house warms the roof which melts the snow. The melted snow runs down the roof to the portion of roof that isn’t over a heated room. Since that portion of roof is colder, the snow re-freezes into ice. As more and more water runs over the ice, the ice gets bigger and bigger. When the ice dam gets big enough, the water can’t get over the ice and pools up. When this happens, the water can back up under the shingles and into the house. Needless to say, this is a bad thing.
So out I went with my roof rake, a very long handled implement used to pull snow off from the roof. I did all around the house, but the best part was when I did the front of the house. JSL was able to see me from his bedroom window. Since I had little room to work in, the snow kept coming down on my head. JSL thought this was the funniest thing he had ever seen! Don’t take my word for it, though, B shot a video. See if you can tell where my pockets filled with snow. I didn’t realize this until much later.
After I was done with this, I headed for the side of our house where I had to step in snow drifts that were, if you’ll excuse the expression, crotch-high. Nothing like being half-covered in snow to make you cold! I had heard that snow was insulating and that tunneling in snow should keep you warm. Apparently, my toes didn’t get the memo though because they were going numb. Granted, that might have been because the snow went into my boot, melted and soaked my socks with cold water.
After finishing the roof on the side, came another fun
part: walking in the backyard. As you might expect, we don’t shovel our backyard. So this would show me just how deep the snow really was. So, how high was it?
Knee-high, which for me is about 22 inches deep. Yes, we have a video of this too!
I cleared our roof as much as I could before noticing that the roof rake had broken. Nothing major, just a nut that had come loose somewhere. (You think a needle in a haystack’s hard to find? Try finding a nut in a yard full of snow!) A quick trip to Home Depot today and the roof rake’s all fixed. Of course, after I was done roof raking, I had to go back and shovel up all the snow I had dumped off our roof.
With snow you basically have two kinds. Heavy, wet snow is good for snowballs/snowmen but is a pain to shovel. Light, powdery snow is easy to shovel but doesn’t stick together enough for snowballs/snowmen. This snow was heavy. Very, very
heavy. Somehow, though, it was powdery also. Yes, this snow was a pain to shovel and also wasn’t good for snowballs/snowmen. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: TOO MUCH SNOW! In fact, here is a little message for Old Man Winter:
My Aloha Friday question for today is: Did you get any snow by you? If so, how much? Also, are you sick of the white stuff yet?
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.
On Friday night, B’s parents took the boys and we got to have an all-too-rare date night. We’ve been on a weight loss plan, so eating out is tricky. You don’t want to blow your progress by eating at some high-fat, high-calorie, stuff-your-face-until-you-hurl restaurant. On the other hand, what’s the purpose of going out if you don’t indulge a little?
We went to Blue Spice, a new (to us at least) Thai restaurant near us, and I was drooling from the start. It all looked so good. And best of all, there was a whole group of dishes that were vegetarian! You could add chicken or beef, but adding veggies or fried tofu kept them vegetarian-friendly.
We started with the fresh basil rolls.
This was zucchini, vegetables, rice noodles and, of course, fresh basil all wrapped up in rice paper and served with a honey tamarind sauce that brought back memories of ordering duck in New York City’s Chinatown. Delicious!
Next, we shared two entrees. First was a ginger mushroom dish with onion, carrot, zucchini, scallions, green peas and shiitake mushrooms with our fried tofu. All of this was served in a ginger mushroom sauce.
We also got the sweet and sour dish which consisted of onions, red pepper, fresh pineapple, carrot, tomato, zucchini and fried tofu. This was finished with, as the menu put it, the chef’s “mother’s recipe sauce.”
I loved that the veggies were all fresh. They seemed like they had just been sliced for our dish (and very well might have been). The serving portions seemed small at first, but it was quite deceptive. When we finished our dishes, we were quite full. We declined dessert, but there were some interesting options that might tempt us when we go back. And we will go back. There are too many dishes I didn’t get to try that are making my mouth water.
After a 3 pound weight loss week and a two pound weight loss week, it was a little disappointing to step on the scale and see only a single additional pound gone. I know, however, that this isn’t a bad thing.
Starting Weight
205
Current Weight
199
Goal Weight
185
Lost
6
Left Until Goal
14
When you first start on a weight loss plan, you’re bound to post some big numbers. Then, as the plan goes on, those big numbers disappear. Unlike The Biggest Loser, we normal folks trying to lose weight aren’t going to shed 10 pounds every week. In fact, that’s just not healthy!
There’s a reason that I chose a span of twenty weeks in which to lose the pounds I want to shed. Ideally, weight loss should come in 1 to 2 pounds per week segments. There are some exceptions, but this is healthy weight loss. So, while it is easy to get discouraged when the pounds don’t go flying off, you’ve got to celebrate the little victories and keep your eyes on the big picture. Even a single pound lower on the scale readout is a step in the right direction!
