Day 102 Christmas Day Edition and A Holiday 5K Tradition

Day 102

Christmas Day Edition and A Holiday 5K Tradition

Before we left Stillwater today we made sure to pack everything and load the car. I usually double and triple check to make sure we grabbed everything. And we did, except my Christmas Day food diary. I left it on my mom's counter top. We'll be back on Sunday to take my mom back home, so I can get it then, but as far as tonight's blog, I'm out of luck. I knew I had 900 left when we departed Stillwater, headed for Christmas dinner number two at our house. So it's not like I was completely lost. We opened up our home for hosting a dinner with Irene's side of the family. Everyone came over and prepared the dinner while we were in Stillwater. When we arrived back in Ponca City, everyone was already here and had been here quite a while.

I have 170 calories left and I'll probably leave them on the table tonight. I can't consume anything, not even water after midnight because tomorrow morning I get the blood work done. They'll check everything from blood sugar levels to cholesterol. So tomorrow evenings blog will have some interesting numbers included. I'm looking forward to seeing these results and comparing them to before I started losing weight. The only problem with that? They were good back then. My cholesterol was well below 200, my blood sugar was like 92, and the other stuff was also miraculously just fine. So, at the risk of sounding boastful, I don't know how they could improve. I just hope they haven't gotten worse! Of course I've always said, those good numbers were always a blessing of genetics pure and simple. I did nothing to earn those good numbers, in fact I did everything I could possibly do to sabotage them. And still I was blessed with good numbers at over 500 pounds. The only numbers that were bad back then was my astronomical blood pressure numbers. Those were out of control, could have a stroke any minute, bad. But that seems to be well under control now. I have to say I'm a very blessed person, and extremely thankful for those blessings.

So what did I have today? I'll try to recall without the list. Sharp Cheddar cheese log and crackers and a half a cream cheese everything bagel for breakfast. Then I had some of that German liver sausage stuff that's so hard to spell. For Christmas Dinner number one I had: Turkey, Ham, a roll, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey stuffing, and French style green beans with melted American cheese. After dinner I had a small slice of pumpkin pie with Cool-Whip, then an even smaller sliver of seconds on the pie. Add a small hand full of peppermint M&M's, and one miniature Reeses Cup and I was right at 1,600. With 900 left and another Christmas Dinner to go, I was a little concerned. I would have to be very careful the rest of the day to make sure I stayed under the holiday allotment of 2,500. I did easily, with room to spare. I wasn't that hungry really. For Christmas dinner number two: a small slice of ham, a small piece of turkey breast, a little scoop of mashed potatoes with a drizzling of gravy, literally a bite of stuffing, and a 100 calorie roll. That little sampling was 600 calories, leaving me 300. Then I had a 130 calorie ice cream bar for desert leaving 170. Oh, wait! I almost forgot!!! I had one chocolate covered cherry before I even looked at the calorie content. I very rarely do that. I have to know what I'm getting into first. After I popped that thing in my mouth I looked and discovered that little indulgence was 75 calories! So here's a correction: Instead of 170 left, I only have 95 calories remaining. Oh well, I'm “under budget”, and that's a good thing!

I encouraged everyone to take the leftovers away, but only one person took me up on it. So we have a fridge full of all kinds of stuff, including an entire pumpkin pie. Oh boy, I can see having that for breakfast in the next few days, at least once right? I'll be fine!

Our Christmas Day 5K went very well. DebBdimples and her daughter Candi and grandson Austin joined us for what will surely become a holiday tradition in our family. The wind was horrendous out of the south, and it slowed us a little, but it was all good. If we were giving out awards for finishing, Debbie would get first place! She out did everyone with a pace that left us about 15 minutes behind by the end of the 5K. Way to go Deb! I even jogged about 75 yards in the beginning because Keith and I dropped way behind early adjusting my socks. At first we were content with being way behind. But then I asked Keith if he wanted to jog to catch up, and he asked me if I could do it, and I said “I think I can.” So we did, until I had to stop. Like I've said before, at 423 pounds, I'm still not ready for jogging, but occasionally I flirt with it a little. It did take me a while to recover from that 75 yard burst, and we still didn't catch up all the way, but hey...it was a wonderful effort. The Christmas Day 5K was a wonderful experience. You get to see all of the other holiday exercisers out there. There's quite a few really. 102 days ago the thought of exercising so vigorously on a holiday would have been so completely out of the question. The only exercise I use to get on a holiday was lifting my fork to my mouth and walking all the way to the couch for an after dinner nap. But I'll tell you, the feeling of accomplishment when you cross that imaginary finish line is amazing. It feels so good! If I could bottle that feeling, I'd sell it and become a billionaire in a few months. It really feels that good!

Oh my, I just had a scare. Someone knocked on the patio door, but I couldn't see anyone out there. Of course I think of the worst possible scenario. Home invasion? That's the first thing that came to mind. I got up and loudly proclaimed “I have a gun.” Not really. But I sounded real tough when I said it. Then I grabbed an aerosol can of fake snow and started spraying wildly toward the patio door. I then had a moment of bravery, when I slung open the door and franticly sprayed fake snow in every direction while letting out my best “kill scream”, or at least some kind of macho rambling, I really don't remember, it's all kind of a blur. Still, nobody to be found. The neighbors probably think I'm drunk or worse. I quickly shut and locked the door, and by this time I had woke my mom. She came in the kitchen with a worried look on her face and a puzzled expression that I swear said “snow?” It was the first thing I could grab! And I bet it hurts if you get it in your eyes. A few minutes later a face pressed against the glass door. It was the face of my angel, Amber! Her and KL made the trip early! They were trying to scare/surprise us and they succeeded! What a great surprise! She's home from school for the holidays, and we get to keep her for more than a week! We're very happy about that! I better get to visiting! Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean