Doing Very Well And Proud Of It.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Vietnamese restaurant, and and Pad Thai and chicken. It was fabulous, and it must have agreed with me, because my weight was down after having it 2 days in a row. That was the beginning of a good weight loss run.
Today I'm 177.5. A mere 1 lb away from my lowest weight. I am very focused to get below that darned 176.5. I know I can do it.
I've struggled since the cruise in March, and have had quite the time getting the 10+ pounds off, not to mention the added pounds from the summer.
I'm feeling great now. It's hard to imagine how much 10 lbs shows now. Everyone is commenting on my weight loss.
My mom has yet to see me. I'm seeing her tomorrow, so I wonder what she'll say.

I've also noticed my appetite is much smaller. I do get hungry, but a couple of bites and I'm good to go for hours. I still try to get my protein in. Mostly I eat a high protein bar to supplement when needed. I much prefer those to a shake, but will have one when absolutely needed.

I'm getting ready for Christmas. Besides the usual shopping and decorating, I'm planning out my menu ahead of time so it can be WLS friendly. So far I'm planning on turkey and stuffing made with pork sausage. I'll probably only have 1 tbs of that. I'm planning on mashed turnip and carrots, broccoli, and corn. A Scoobie Doo salad which is like a macaroni with veggies, and a regular house salad. The veggies will all be made without butter or salt. The can be added to taste later, which I don't add any. Desert will be pie and ice cream. I'll buy a sugar free pie for mom and I.
I'll probably also bake some cookies in case we have guests over the holidays.

Dec. 20th I'm going to bottle our wine that we ordered. I plan to have a glass with Christmas dinner, and again on the day we get together with my brother Dave and his family. No other alcohol is needed.... until New Years Eve.

I think I have a pretty good handle on things right now. It seems to be coming pretty naturally since I'm not "dieting", which is perfect. I never want to diet again. I just want to continue with life and not love and fear food. Gee, I can easily compare food to an abusive spouse. Love em and fear em.

I'm also getting ready for our cruise. We leave for Detroit (at least I think we're flying out of Detroit) on Jan 14th, and flying to Fort Lauderdale on the 15th. We board the ship on the 17 for a 10 day cruise to the Caribbean. Since I gaining that weight over the summer, and feeling like my summer shorts were getting to small, I'm very conscious of my weight. I can't be going with my shorts to tight and gaining on the cruise too. That would be very bad.
As it is, I have a sneaky suspicion I'll have some sort of weight gain... everyone does, but I've got a strategy to minimize the damage. I plan to eat very small portions and keep a protein bar with me in case I get hungry at odd times. At our seated dinner, I plan to immediately cut everything in half and eat only that. I also don't want to even look at a desert menu. I know I'll be drinking on the ship, and I imagine that is where most of my weight will come from. Since the drinking will once again stop once back home, I'm hoping the weight will be temporary and not such a struggle to get off as the last time.