Week 5, Day 1: Slower progress

Sigh. A mere 1.2 pound weight loss this past week. On the other hand, that puts me over 20 pounds of weight loss, so I shouldn't complain. And a 1.2 pound weight loss beats a 1.2 pound weight gain...

I suspect that some of it was a water-retention problem. I ate out Wednesday, and although I carefully ordered a grilled salmon salad with fat-free dressing on the side, I suspect that both the fish and the dressing were pretty high in salt content. For the next two days, the tops of my feet swelled up like little pillows, and the pants that were loose earlier in the week were a bit snug.

Yesterday I was reminded that weight loss doesn't equal instant fitness. After a trip to the 'burbs on public transportation, I needed to walk half a mile to get a train home. Then I walked four or five blocks to a reception; spent 90 min on my feet at the reception; then decided to walk home, a distance of about a mile. About three blocks into the walk home I discovered that my knees and ankles had had all they wanted to take. I hadn't hit a money machine so a cab wasn't an option. The rest of the walk home was, let's just say, very slow and not very pleasant.

Coming up this week, I have the challenge of a road trip -- up at o'dark thirty to take the cattle cars, ooops, I mean the airplane, to Pittsburgh for a meeting. That means a catered lunch over which I have little control, and a flight at dinner time. I am planning my strategy -- take two hard-boiled eggs and a couple of small apples; eat the eggs at the airport for my breakfast, use the apples as snacks to ward off hunger if I can't find some kind of simple salad for dinner at the airport on the way home.