Cape Vacation

Vacation is going nicely. It's not so challenging as I'm pretty much in charge of what gets eaten. Watching the kids alone is a bit of a challenge but that's ok. I'm eating a bit more than usual as life is so physically active here. Lots of walking. I'm either running, or now that my mom is gone and I'm stuck in the house with the kiddies I do on demand exercise.tv segments. They have Jillian and Bob and lots of good stuff. I like The Biggest Loser workouts. I missed the hand weights so badly I had to go to K-mart and buy some. I had been using wine bottles but they were a poor substitute. The only two choices at K-mart were 5 lbs or 10 so I stuck with 5s.

I had one day off so far and had some delicious hot blueberry/blackberry muffins among other goodies. Other than that just a bit less strict than normal. It's so hot I don't have an appetite sometimes. Everyone is complimenting how I look which is nice, but then the conversation moves on quickly, which is also nice. I've seen these people once a year for my entire life, so we've all seen each other go up and down and after almost 40 years no one takes too much notice anymore. It's refreshing.

Interestingly I saw an old friend today for the first time on the trip. I mean old - from age 7 or something. I know her from here. She looks fantastic. It's been a year and she lost 25 lbs from last August to Christmas. As soon as she finished I started - unbeknownst to us!

The practical and psychological similarities to our weight-loss were striking. Same mental attitude, use of technology, insistence upon exercise and portion control above all other ideologies. Supportive core of people - for her it was her fellow teachers.

She did an online Jillian Michaels program. So interesting -it all comes back to Jillian and Jackie as they use the same method for diet and exercise. She gets emailed recipes and workouts every week for $4/week. She lost 25 lbs. She has a very different schedule from me - she leaves the house at 6:30 am to teach on Cape Cod. I can't leave my house until 8:45 when the bus picks up my kids. She does about the same amount of exercise as me each week but instead of doing a little bit every day she does 3 long days at the gym - 1.5 hrs each. She leaves her kids in daycare longer and goes before picking them up. She would like to do more exercise but can't get to the gym any extra. She said she wanted to lose 10 more pounds but know she can't maintain it so she didn't. She does do some of the Biggest Loser stuff on demand like I do but she has a 2 yr old and 5 yr old at home so it's not quite as easy for her to do anything at home as it is for me.

So here are the similarities...

• Mindset change is number 1 factor in success.
• Exercise is non-negotiable.
• Alcohol will inevitably mean you blow your calorie intake for the day.
• Most sugar is a horrible waste but some is imperative.
• Portion control!!!
• Structured eating for all meals and snacks - Jillian and Jackie do a similar 3 meals, 2 snacks thing 400 cal for meals and 100-150 for snacks.
• She agreed with me about 1400 cal a day - I did probably 1200 but I generally recommend 1400.
• She, like us, does not eat low-fat salad dressing!
• Looking out to an unhealthy future scared her - and me. She has diabetes, cardiac disease and colon cancer in her family history and just decided she was going to get healthy for her kids- very similar to my thought process.

OK - off to get my kids from down the street and eat pizza. I really don't want any but I may have one slice. More vacation news as it happens....