Mar 1, 2011

Roller Coaster February

WOW, where did the month go?  We started the month in the Keys, went to Disney World,  and suddenly the month is over.  I remember when we attended a Life On Wheels conference in the spring of 2008 in Tucson.  In fact it may have been one of the last conferences they had.  I remember vividly a talk given by the LOW founder Gaylord Maxwell.  He held up a tape measure and measured out 90 inches.  He then used that tape as a measure of his life.  One inch equaled one year.  He went on to say that he was almost at the end of his "tape".  Little did we know at the time how right he was, he passed away that fall.  The point being we all know that as we get older time seems to move faster, it's probably because we are getting closer to the end of the "tape".

While we were at Disney World, we went to Animal Kingdom, my favorite park. Where else can you watch silver backed apes and then go ride a roller coaster.  On our visit I talked Judy into riding "Expedition Everest".  I thought it would be a mild roller coaster like Thunder Mountain over at the Magic Kingdom. I was wrong.  I knew we were in trouble when Judy mentioned that we were the oldest people in the long line.  The ride started out mild enough but soon we were in the dark, thrown in every direction including backwards at one point. I can't say we enjoyed the experience, I think it was more that we survived it.

The second roller coaster ride I went on was the weight loss roller coaster.  I started out the month great.  Building on a good January, I was confident that I would meet or exceed my February goal.  Then Disney happened.  We had purchased the Disney Dining plan along with our stay at Fort Wilderness Campground.  I gained ten pounds in only 7 days.  I chart my weight daily on a spread sheet and it was strange to watch all my hard work disappear so quickly.  I decided not to sweat it and just enjoy the experience.  The truth is, we really didn't enjoy the dining as much as we thought we would.  We didn't sleep as well, and we had to break out the antacids, which we hadn't used in months.

The good news is that when we ended our little time in fantasy land, we went back to our sensible way of eating and amazingly the pounds came back off.  Not only have I lost the ten pounds I put on at Disney, I have made my goal for the month.  I am down a net 6 pounds for February and a total of 14 pounds since the first of the year, so I am still on track for losing fifty pounds for 2011.  This combined with last years weight loss brings me to a total weight loss of 56 pounds. This is the lowest I have weighed in over 10 years.

So actually I survived two roller coasters.

Until later.

7 comments:

Wanderin' said...

Congratulations! Losing weight is hard. You need to pat yourself on the back .. if you can.

Alan and Marilyn McMillan said...

Congratulations on the weight loss -- don't know why losing weight has to be hard -- it's much easier to gain than lose...lol. We are trying to lose as well. Motivation is important and it sounds like you are motivated.

Gail Houle said...

I believe that as you get farther down the "tape", the weight control becomes different too. It's far easier to gain than to lose. Congratulations to you for succeeding!

squawmama said...

First I want to say congratulations on your weight loss... It is very hard to do especially in our lifestyles. Plus we just plain love food!!!
Glad you had a great time at Disney World... We have lived in Florida most of our lives and have spent many many days there. It is one of our favorite parks still today.
Have fun & travel safe
Donna

Along the Way with JnK said...

We are so excited, next week is our time to visit Disney World. We had planned to ride that roller coast...but now, maybe not.

Losing weight is hard, not only as we age but in this lifestyle. It is one of our favorite things to do is to taste the cuisine in the areas we visit. Not always healthy choices so that is why we try to eat healthy when we are not visiting special places. Again, not always easy to do and that is why you need to congratulate yourself for doing it at all!

Donna McNicol said...

I look forward to going back to Disney. We loved the sit down dinner food but like you, gained weight. LOL!

Good job on getting back on track!

Carol K said...

Congratulations on your weight loss, John. You could have just accepted those extra ten Disney pounds, but you ate right and got rid of them. Good for you!