Okay, now, the printout is just overall loss, not month-to-month, so I've lost in some areas, and gained in others.

I didn't gain back the 8 pounds I lost when I was sick, so total weight is down 10 pounds. Total inches, 6.75. Body fat pounds, down 7.48.

A lot of what I lost when I was sick was water/fluid, so I need to make sure I stay hydrated, but keep the weight down healthily.

I plan today, to make muffins using the gluten-free baking mix, and bars using dollsahoy's recipe, substituting out for the wheat flour. Grab-and-go breakfast stuff.

Recently, Matt and I used a "Buy One Get One Free" recipe to pick up a couple of Six Dollar Burgers from Carl Jr's. He got the Western Bacon Cheeseburger (I think), and I got the Low-Carb: A burger and its toppings wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. It wasn't too bad, and wasn't even too tricky to handle.

Well, we're about halfway through the gluten-free month, and I've been behaving. Other than the occasional craving for hot dogs and hot dog buns (usually when I go past the "Arizona's Best Chili Dogs" sign), it hasn't been too bad.

On the frustration/anger issue, the reason I started this, I haven't had any episodes. Haven't had to run out of meeting, haven't felt like killing customers (unless I had a LOT of reason), haven't flipped out for any old reason. Two weeks isn't long enough to really judge, though, so in two more weeks, when the month is up, I'll try introducing a little wheat/gluten back into the diet, and see what happens.

I haven't noticed any change in the fatigue, though. I'm still exhausted all the time. I feel bad, because this month, I've only made it to Curves once. The first two weeks, I was sick with that virus, and after that, it's just been too tiring to even think about. I have a weigh-in on Monday, and I know I gained back the 8 pounds I lost while sick, and possibly more. What's really annoying is I was going to try to step up to 4 or 5 workouts a week this past month. :-P Oh well. There's always May. Wow, we're close to May already. Yikes.

The bread mix I bought worked well (Gluten-Free Pantry's Favorite Sandwich Bread, www.glutenfree.com), and the ingredients were mostly the same as in the recipe I had, so I'm thinking my yeast may be dead. I'm going to get a small jar of bread machine yeast on Thursday, and try the recipe again.

I'm supposed to go to Curves this morning, but I woke up feeling totally drained, so I may put it off til tomorrow. I think I'm going to make cookies instead. Found a GF chocolate chip recipe that looks promising, and I've been craving sweets since Sunday (psychological much? Can't have wheat, wake seriously craving donuts).

Matt and I made a resolution Sunday to not miss meetings anymore. We proved to ourselves last week that we CAN get to meetings. Now we just have to. Sure enough, though, the world is putting stumbling blocks in our way. Last night at work, my closer was sent home almost as soon as she got there (which in itself is foreboding, but I digress). Right now, my department has three people. One is a dedicated opener, because she has a second job in the evenings. One is my desktop publisher, who was sent home last night. The third is me. Now, it says in my file that I am NOT AVAILABLE Tuesday and Thursday nights. This is a non-negotiable. Remember a few weeks back when my closer called off and I couldn't find anyone to come in? Yeah. I knew this wasn't going to go well. Luckily, we had help from another store agree to stay until 8:30 or 9, as long as she left right at nine. It was 5:30 by the time I left, 6:30 by the time I got home. Meeting's at 7:30. We made it by the skin of our teeth. But we made it.

Now I just need to find a closer for next Wednesday, as the Tuesday meeting's moved to Wednesday next week because of the circuit overseer visiting another congregation in the hall. But I'm working on it. Other than that, the schedule's falling into place, and I can even give the two girls 2 days off in a row. Can't give MYSELF two days in a row yet, though. :-P Maybe when our new manager can start full-time, when he's done training his replacement at his old store.

Well, the bread was a dismal failure, but I'm not sure if the culprit was the recipe, the yeast, or the machine. It didn't rise at all; the loaf was maybe an inch and a half high. I bought a mix at Sprouts today, so I'm going to run that tonight to have sandwich bread.

On the other hand, the GF pancakes we made today I thought were pretty tasty. Matt wasn't sure about them. They were made with buckwheat flour, which apparently is gluten-free. I like buckwheat pancakes, and that's what they tasted like to me. Matt probably would have preferred a more traditional type of pancake (light and fluffy).

ETA: In case anyone wants the recipe, it's here: http://www.gluten-free-online.com/Recipe21.htm

So, I went to Sprouts today (think something like Whole Foods or EarthFare, lots of organic and healthy products) to get flour based on two recipes I found at BreadWorld, the Fleischmann's Yeast website. I spent about $40, and got potato flour, brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, and xanthan gum. Also got cider vinegar, desert honey, some bulk quinoa, quinoa pasta, bulk rosemary, and a bottle of the MetroMint mint water I'd wanted to try.

Okay, unless you like the flavor of BeechNut chewing gum, stay away from the peppermint MetroMint. That's pretty much what it tastes like, old peppermint chewing gum. And by old I mean stale. You can get the same taste effect from drinking water while chewing gum. It was sort of nostalgic, as my dad used to like BeechNut chewing gum, but it was more not-good.

I made this recipe; http://www.breadworld.com/recipes/recipedetail.asp?id=710 ; at least the dough portion. We topped it with ranch dressing, chicken, bacon, broccoli, and cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. It wasn't bad.

I currently have a batch of their gluten-free white bread in the machine. I'm not staying awake until it finishes, so Matt will have to get it out in the morning.

I had an episode at meeting Tuesday night, bad enough that I had to leave and sit in the car for the last half-hour. I mentioned this to the sister who studies with me, described it as "It starts as frustration, then builds until I get, well, mean." I basically get agitated and frustrated, can't sit still, and then I get angry at myself for not being able to sit still and it just builds and builds till I start either hitting myself (fists to thighs) or scratching myself or something to cause pain.

She gave me a suggestion. "Try cutting out wheat and wheat gluten for four weeks." Apparently, she gets some of the same agitation and frustration, and that's what a doctor told her. Cutting out wheat and wheat gluten for some reason helps break the cycle before it starts.

So, starting Sunday (because I like starting things on week starts), I'm going to try to cut wheat and wheat gluten out of my diet for a month. I know there are substitutes out there, and I plan to pick up some rice flour, oat flour, etc, and go back to making my own bread. Now I just need to make sure Matt checks labels, since he makes dinner 5 days out of 7 (since he's home at 3 and the earliest I'm ever home is 5:30).

Just got back from my workout, and my heartrate actually stayed in the green the whole time!  I even did the entire 2.5 circuit!  Not sure what caused this dramatic turn, whether it was not having caffeine since Thursday, drinking a litre of water while I was there, the effects of the Singulair, or just finally getting used to the workout, but I'll take it.  

Now, if I can repeat it on Monday...

Wednesday, too, I used a different club than my regular one, since I had an opening shift and couldn't get to my  home club while it was open.  The Scottsdale club had two more machines than the Glendale club, so it was kind of nice to have some additional/different exercises available.  I might try to hit that club once or twice a month, just to mix it up.  Heartrate was a little higher there, still, but not into the purple.

I hope this trend continues.  

Four days till the official weigh/measure.  Home scale still shows 220.  I'm hoping for an inch or two lost ANYWHERE, and even just a fraction of a percent body fat lost.  Keep the expectations low, since it's only been a month.  Next month will be time to start adding dietary changes again.  Preportioning the carrots, grapes, and nuts helped, but I think we may either have to stop buying ice cream, or start weighing and preportioning it, too.  Plus, watching fiber, protein, fats, carbs and salt again.  

Suddenly, I'm very tired.  But I need to change and go to work.  I have tomorrow off; we go grocery shopping and can catch up on the week's television.  I love DVR.

Well, it's been three weeks now that I've been going to Curves.  Had a scare last week; made it 1.5 circuits before feeling lightheaded, my blood was pounding in my face, and I couldn't catch my breath.  I went to the doctor last Friday, mentioning that shortness of breath was an issue even back 10 years ago when I was thin.  He put me on a thirty-day trial of Singulair and Nasacort (a spray) to see if it helps.  On Saturday, I met with Terri, the owner of the Curves I go to, who's also a nurse.  She worked with me, and we decided that I'd take it REALLY easy on the boards between the machines, and only do 2 circuits rather than the standard 2.5.  

It seems to be helping.  I'm not huffing and puffing so much, and my heartrate's staying on the chart, even if it is still on the high end.  Today, though, I didn't even hit the purple, which is good.  I made the realization the other day that I usually have something with caffeine in it before I work out, whether it's tea, or something chocolate.  Caffeine is a stimulant.  It can increase your heart rate.  (smacks head with hand) So when I realized that, I made a conscious effort today NOT to have anything with caffeine before I went to work out.  I think it helped.

Also, a good note for today: Claire, the trainer who's usually there when I go, commented that it looked like my belly was getting smaller.  I couldn't see it (especially now, sitting down, it still looks as big as ever), but it's nice to hear it from someone else.  What I have noticed, however, is that my upper arms and thighs feel tighter, my pants are looser around the sides of my waist, and I swear my butt feels firmer, even if Matt can't tell.  :-P  I have my first weigh/measure day in a week and a half.  According to my scale here, I'm down 2 pounds, but that can be from anything.  I've been very good at measuring and portioning, most of the time.   I've even got Matt now weighing the pasta before cooking it, rather than dumping in half a pound at a time or more.  

I'm hopeful for the 28th (first measure day).

I crashed yesterday after work around 6 pm. I pretty much slept straight through til just now. Approximately 12 hours of sleep.

Haven't eaten since lunch yesterday, which was around 1:30. So...17 hours, no food. My fasting blood sugar this morning was 79. I was expecting it to be a lot lower.

According to my meter book, fatigue is a sign of high blood sugar. While 79 is still a decent fasting sugar, it's been lower after fewer hours of fasting. I also thought about my dry mouth/peeing/headache complaints from the other day: also signs of high blood sugar.

I think I'd better start keeping a food journal again, keeping better track of what I eat and drink. I've been slipping off the GI plan. We still have about half the giant bag of white rice in the cupboard. (sigh) It's cheaper and takes half the cooking time of brown rice. And I'm having a hard time drinking the water I'm supposed to. Especially with these morning shifts, when all I want is caffeine and sugar to get me through.

I'm somewhat afraid of tonight's closing shift. I've been crashing, hard, around six, seven or eight pm. I work tonight until 9. After seven, I'm there by myself. I can't get someone to cover me if I start feeling woozy or disoriented. I think I may have to make and bring something coffee-related, maybe bring some nuts or something. Just something to keep me going so I can get home, maybe nap a few hours until Ellen gets home from work. Haven't heard back from her whether or not she's going to be online tonight after work. If she's not, then there's no need for me to stay up tonight. Can come home and crash again.

I can't believe it. After 12 hours of sleep, I'm sitting here yawning, wanting to go back to bed. I think maybe I'll get a big glass of water, take my pills, and do just that. Get in as much sleep as possible this morning so I can maybe stay awake tonight.

For some reason, I've been craving coffee the past few days. Maybe because I'm not really supposed to have caffeine. I'm thinking about just giving in and brewing a pot. As long as I don't adulterate it with tons of sugar, creamer and chocolate, as is my usual modus operandi, I may be able to sneak a cup or three.

On the weight-loss front, this past month was a bust. I think I may have actually regained three pounds. And I know why. I totally went off the diet and exercise. Part of it was the new medication kicking my ass. I was too tired to exercise, and didn't feel like eating what I should have. Part of it was the budget. Couldn't afford to get fresh fruit and vegetables. Plus, my water intake went from 6 to 8 cups a day to like three. After watching a marathon of Celebrity Fit Club 2 the other day, I'm not making any more excuses. That's why I went to the pool yesterday, to get in my exercise. Today, I'm going to pop in Walk Away the Pounds Express and do the one-mile walk. Tomorrow, it'll probably be the tape again unless I can fasten a bra around this sunburn. If I can do that, then I'll head over to the fitness center and walk the treadmill.

So since I didn't lose my required five pounds this month and gained three instead, I now have to lose 29 pounds in four months to reach my goal. If I can get back on track, I might be able to do it. I also need to start taking this medication regularly. I need to see if it's going to help or harm, and only taking it sporadically isn't going to do it. So starting tonight, I'm taking it the way it says to on the bottle, all at once, at night. We'll see if I explode.

Plus I need to go get laundry detergent. Matt seems to think he needs his black pants washed. :-P

Wow! I did it! 10 pounds in 4 weeks!

Now just imagine if I'd actually kept up with my exercise this past month, too... (heh)

I think I lost the five pounds I wanted to lose before August 5th. Then again, it occured to me this morning that I may have been misreading my scale for the last few months. It may have been at 230 all along and I was misreading it as 235. But I'm going to take it as a win, keep following the low-GI guidelines, and see if maybe I can lose another five. Plus keep going to the gym and working out. In that vein, it's time to do my weight routine, then go shower before starting another load of laundry.

Well, I'm on day six of the 30-day eating plan. Most of the recipes were decent (the meatloaf left a little to be desired, but thanks to Matt, I've become a meatloaf snob). The only problem I've had with it recently is that some days, even with the eating every 3 hours...I get hungry every hour and a half. :-P

Oh, and I've spent nearly $200 on groceries this week. I tell myself that a good portion of the things I've bought are "pantry" items, items that aren't just for this week. But then I look over the menus and realize how much I've left off the menu/shopping list (like, all the different flakes and seeds and nuts needed for the multi-grain cereal, and capers, and pine nuts...). Add in that husband and roommate still need "normal" things like bread, lunchmeat, and cheese, and I don't feel too bad about the grocery budget for this past week. And where ARE capers and pine nuts in the grocery stores?? I looked for capers with salad items, with pickles, with italian...I looked for pine nuts with baking nuts, with snack nuts, with international foods...nothing.

I haven't even had a chance to look at what I need for next week. o_O; And I don't know if I'll have anything money-wise for groceries for next week. Chris gave me $25, but that all went into still-needed items for today and tomorrow. Oh, and milk. Those boys burn through milk like nothing I've ever seen before.

And it's been too hot to motivate myself to get across the street to the fitness center. But I put Walk Away the Pounds on the top of my Netflix list, so it should be here soon. We'll see if I like it. If I do, I'll see about getting Chris to copy it for me until I can afford to buy a copy for myself.

I need to do some sewing so I can afford to pick up Half-Blood Prince this weekend or so. One of the downfalls about being a stay-at-home wife: no income of my own to spend as I wish. Unless I do little projects like the sewing, I don't have any "mad money." I just haven't had the energy to sew. Or clean. Or workout. Or do anything other than sit at my computer, watch tv, or nap. I'm wondering if it's because I'm back on my pills. If that's so, I hope this levels out after the first few batches of pills. I'd hate to lose the first week of every pack to hormone-related fatigue.

Plus Chris's parents are coming in this weekend, so it falls to me, the stay-at-home, to clean. I tried using the "but they're not my parents, I don't care what they think" approach in arguing against it, but Matt trumped me with the "but you're home more" approach. (grump, sulk) Besides, isn't there a universal kitchen law that states "The one who cooks is exempt from the cleanup?" I do fracking all the cooking. Matt and Chris should be able to pitch in and do a load of dishes. And I don't mean just tossing what can go in, into the dishwasher, adding a tablet and starting it. I mean the heavy-duty cleanup. The pots and pans that don't go in the dishwasher. Why can't they team up after dinner and wash them? One wash, one dry and put away. I spent an hour or more on dinner, it's the least they could do. Or even just put the fracking leftovers away. (sigh)

But on the plus side, Sci-Fi Friday starts up again tonight. New SG-1, new Atlantis (we're rooting for the Wraith, is that bad?), and new Galactica!!! I'm excited. I'll be watching the first section by myself, most likely, as Matt doesn't get out of work until 8 at the earliest and it takes him half an hour to get home, and as mentioned above, Chris's parents are coming into town. Too bad I don't have an air popper. That'd be the perfect time to have the 3 cups air-popped popcorn allowed as a snack. I'll make do with the apples an yogurt. Mmmm.

It's now day four of my new eating plan. I think this'll be the first day I actually get to eat everything on schedule. Sunday got thrown off track by going out, and Monday and Tuesday got thrown off because of meeting. We have to eat before meeting those nights, so dinner had to be at six or so.

Looking at the eating schedule (three meals, three snacks, with three hours between each one), if I want to get in all the food on meeting nights, I have to have breakfast at 6am. Which means getting up at 5:30 am most mornings. Pshaw, yeah, right. I'm an 8 am riser.

This is my modified food schedule for meeting nights:

9 am: breakfast
noon: lunch
3 pm: snack
5:30 pm: dinner
9:30 pm: snack

I just end up cutting out the mid-morning snack.
Now, in comparison, a non-meeting night:

9 am: breakfast
noon: snack
3 pm: lunch
6 pm: snack
8:30 pm: dinner
10 pm: snack

I'll probably end up cutting out the last snack most nights, as that's too late to be eating (unless it's Friday, and we're staying up for Galactica).

I'm also still modifying the menu around what groceries we have, and what I'll actually eat. I'm a much bigger vegetable eater than a fruit eater. Or, I guess with some clarification: most of the fruit I like is expensive. Apples, grapes, grapefruit, okay. But then it's pineapple, cherries, starfruit, ugli fruit... I'm not a big orange/peach/banana/strawberry/etc eater. But I love spinach, broccoli, peas, green beans (oooh, especially steamed...), carrots, lettuce, celery, cauliflower... It's making me think maybe I should attempt to try brussel sprouts again.

It's just one of those things. Every few years, I need to taste foods I don't like, just to make sure I still don't like them. Sometimes I'm surprised, like I was with spinach and broccoli. Other times, it's just reinforced, "Yup, don't like those." I'm still not a big tomato eater. Cooked, I can handle them somewhat. Ketchup and other tomato-based sauces, I can do. Tomato soup, I love. But just a slice of tomato on a burger? Bleargh. If I'm in a hurry and forget to ask for it without, I'll suck it up and eat it (like Matt with mushrooms), but if I have a choice, that thing's getting off my sandwich. No way I'd put a slice on a plate and eat it with a little salt like Mom does. Heh, when Matt and I go out to eat, and we both get salads, his salad ends up more nutritious than mine, since he gets my tomato, cucumber and pepper. That's why I love Sweet Tomatoes, because I can add other things to my salad, like jicama, corn, peas, beans, sunflower seeds...

Dangit, too much thinking about food. Now I'm hungry and it's still an hour-twenty before snack time!!

Yesterday was day one of my new eating plan. And it sort of got off track, but not too badly. We started the morning with the "puffy fritatta with ham and green peppers". The plan was "greek-style lentil soup" for lunch, and whole wheat pasta with marinara-like sauce for dinner. Well, after meeting (which put me 2 hours behind when I was next scheduled to eat), we were invited out to lunch with some other members of the congregation, to K&W Cafeteria.

No problem, I thought. There, I can pick out exactly what I want for lunch, nothing that isn't okay. Plus no wait for seating, wait to order, etc.

Slight wrong there. It was about another hour and half before the people paying got there, then about 15-20 minutes through the line. So, I had breakfast at 9:30, and I was getting lunch around 3:30 or 4. But, I did good, just having tossed salad, grilled chicken, broccoli, and cheesecake for dessert. So the cheesecake might not have been the best bet, but there were no sugar-free desserts, and cheesecake does tend to have fewer carbs than regular cakes. And I just had water to drink.

And that's all I had. All day. I didn't come home and eat more, I didn't eat again later that night. So I guess it still works out, calorie-wise.

Didn't get to the gym, but I can do that today, I guess.

I can't stand cottage cheese. It's so BITTER! But it's on the new eating plan I'm trying to adopt. Gaarrr. I tried having it today with flaxseed, cinnamon and honey, all buzzed together to make it smooth. Had one spoonful and gagged.

Does anyone have good recipes to make this stuff palatable? Matt loves it as is, so he's no help. Oh, and I'm trying to avoid artificial sweeteners. Planning on getting a bottle of stevia extract next week to use instead.

Help!

Okay, so my MIL sent me a new book. She'd ordered it for herself a while back and liked it so much she sent me a copy, too. It's called The Sugar Solution, by Sari Harrer. I'd wondered about it, so I flipped through the table of contents, and whadda ya know, there's a chapter on PCOS. So I flipped to that chapter and started reading.

Another suprise! There's a 2-page pull-box interview with Kat Carney, the woman who started SoulCysters.com and SoulCysters,net, the PCOS message board I frequent. So I guess this is a good book/diet plan to use for PCOS.

I'll have to read it more in-depth, then adjust my food journals accordingly.

I've forgotten to take my multi-vitamins two days in a row now, and slacked off on my green tea intake over the weekend. I made it, and took it to convention, by Matt didn't like the flavored water I bought him, so he ended up drinking the tea. Well, that's fine, since he's got belly fat to lose, too. :-D Plus, it's Wednesday of the placebo week, and no period yet. I'm wondering if that's normal for this bcp, since I've read other accounts of people on Yasmin and not getting a period until month two. It's weird, though, because on the other bcps I was on, I always got a period the first month.

And I did a bad thing today...went back to bed at 11:30, and stayed there until 3:30.

Edit: just used the bathroom, and it looks like the period's on its way. Now if I can get that sharp pain in my side to abate...

Never again am I skipping the gym three days in a row. Matt was off this weekend, so I basically hung around him all weekend. We had to do a ton of running around Friday. He needed to get his tires rotated, balanced and aligned, so while that was happening, we walked around the Streets at Southpoint: basically a giant mall, half indoors, half outdoors. A nice mall, too, but you don't want to do the outdoor part if it's a hot humid day (which Friday was). Plus side, I got a wonderful caramel apple at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Minus side, I ripped up my heels and got a blister on my little toe (my feet didn't care for my shoes...the ones I was used to wearing are pretty much destroyed). A quick hop out to the dealership so he could pick up his draw check, then back home so I could change shoes and he could do a little cleaning (litter boxes, vacuum). Then back out. First to Kroger, to get the stuff for the salad and some other stuff they had on sale, then Dollar General and Food Lion to get what was left. Then all afternoon/evening was chopping and mixing and plating the foods, then I crashed on the couch while the party went on.

Saturday, he started playing Need For Speed Underground 2 at 9 am. We totally forgot that we were going to go to book study on Saturday because we missed it Tuesday night. He pretty much played NFSU2 until 6 pm, when Carolyn, Tim and Immy arrived. We went out to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. They have a new soup, Canadian cheese and smoked ham. Oh my goodness, that was good. Esp. with a piece of sourdough bread. We came back, they all went to the park with Immy (who is 4), and I played with my computer some, since I could finally get to it. They came back after an hour, and Matt got back into the game. I managed to nag him to go to bed around 11:30.

Sunday, we got up, he played NFSU2 for an hour or so before meeting, we came home, had lunch, he got back in the game, I hacked up meat for kabobs, he and Chris went grocery shopping again, I pigged out on crackers and experienced a carb crash (ugggh), then he got back in the game until I reminded him he needed to grill the meat. He did, and we had meat and watched Something's Gotta Give until the disk gagged. So, another return to Netflix with "Please Send Replacement." Then he got back in the game. (Are we sensing a pattern?)

So anyway, the last time I'd been to the gym was Thursday. I went back today, started up the machine, planning on using the same pattern I've been using. Two minutes into my highest speed, I felt like I was dying. So, pause, sip of water, catch breath, get back on machine. Five minutes later, dying. Repeat another time before I finally cut the session short at 25 minutes (I'd been up to 40).

It looks like three days is too many to skip. I'm going to have to make the effort this coming weekend to find the fitness center in the hotel and walk on the treadmill at least one night to keep the pace going. Add in that we're probably going to be eating out at least two meals, and I have to try to keep it healthy if I want to make my 5lbs by Aug 5th goal.

Okay, I'm back on the diet and exercise wagon. Yesterday and today, I went to the gym, walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes. Goes fast when there's a show I enjoy on. Yesterday it was Seven Days, today DS9. Also, the nausea and fatigue seems to be easing, but I'm starting to feel the diuretic effects of this new pill. Dry mouth. I drank all 8 glasses of water by 2 pm, then switched over to green tea, as it's supposed to help with belly fat. Heh, I'm making Matt drink it, too. He gets more honey in his, though, since he's not (as far as I know) IR.

Today, though, after getting off the treadmill, I felt lightheaded and a little queasy. I sat on one of the weight machines for a while, sipped some water (I'd taken a break after 20 minutes or so and had some, too), and waited for the world to stop spinning. Felt okay enough to walk, so walked back to the apartment, thinking, okay, I just need to get some lunch (I'd had a bowl of cereal w/milk around 10, and this was about 12:30 or so). Got upstairs, into the apartment, and my hands were shaking. Without thinking I grabbed an apple and chowed down at the sink. It was almost gone before I realized that it wasn't a particularly good apple, sort of dry and mealy. I felt steady enough to get the leftovers out of the fridge, plate them, and put them in the microwave. Ate a leftover cranberry muffin while it heated up.

And I just spilled water all over myself while checking the level in the bottle.... Guess that's nature's way of saying, "Go take a shower!!"

I just checked out the new food pyramid guidelines for my age and activity level.  I was generous and presumed it with my old activity level, when I was walking with Cyn and trying to get back into the weights and stretching.

Yikes.  Only 6 ounces of grains a day?  I just blew that by eating an entire bagel.  My old diet plan allowed me six servings of grains/starches a day!  And I don't think their idea of a serving was one ounce.  I made up a sample menu using their daily guidelines.

Breakfast:
1/2 bagel with 2 teaspoons cream cheese
1 cup milk

Lunch:
1 cup salad
1 cup yogurt
water

Snack:
1 apple

Dinner:
1 small chicken breast
1 cup salad
1/2 cup cooked vegetable
1 cup milk
1 apple

My old diet plan allowed me six servings of grains & starches, four of vegetables, four of protein, two fruits, three dairy, four fats, one sweet and one alcohol (sometimes I'd sub a second sweet for the alcohol).  I could have an egg and toast for breakfast, a salad with chicken for lunch, and have double meat with dinner.  I could have more than one serving of grains a day!  I could have rice with my chicken and a baked potato with my salad if I so wanted.

And I did lose some weight with that plan before I nerfed it.  Sigh, there is a lovely little air-conditioned fitness room in the complex.  Maybe I should go use it today.  It's gotten too hot and humid for my afternoon walks with Cyn, but she does go again in the evenings (the dog's gotta go sometime).  The only trouble with that is, she goes around seven or seven-thirty, which is when I need to start working on dinner three nights out of the week, and when I have meeting the other two nights.  Any earlier and it's still rip-roaring hot.  I should at least go and walk on the treadmill.  Turn the tv to Spike, watch Star Trek while walking to nowhere. 

Hearing about my aunt losing weight is motivating me.  She's camping this week with some friends of hers, and has promised me pictures.  I haven't seen her since just a month after her surgery, when she'd lost a bit of weight, but not enough to be really noticeable.  Last I'd heard, she'd lost 85 pounds, and on an unrelated note, has hit the one-year cancer-free mark, too!  She and my parents are supposed to be visiting in August. 

Decision is made.  Time to pull hair back, change into t-shirt, find socks and sneakers, and go walk on the treadmill for half an hour or so.  Let's see how long this diet and exercise kick lasts.  I'm going back to my old diet plan, too.  Maybe if I make progress on that one, can get on track and stay on track with it, maybe then I'll try the food pyramid one.  I doubt it, but you never know.