I love returning from the United States...!

For one thing, it feels good to be back in Canada where my money is accepted at face value (rather than mere pennies on the dollar, and where clerks think I am trying to pass Monopoly money because it is all funny colours).   For the other thing, I shed pound after pound as my body purges itself of all the sodium ingested over the previous week.

I was surprised and delighted last week to come back from vacation slightly lighter, at 201.9 pounds (compared to 202.7 pounds prior to vacation).  Although I did make very determined efforts to do something active every day I was on vacation, I was eating (and, well, drinking) my face off, and I was sure that I would come back heavier from South Carolina.  To actually lose weight felt wonderful.

This past week, however, I have been shedding weight like crazy.  Not only was I able to finally break the 200 pound barrier mid-week (yipee!), but I held that loss and built on it over the remainder of the week.  By this morning's weigh in I was down to 197.4 pounds, a loss of a ridiculous 4.5 pounds versus last week, and a loss of 136.5 pounds overall.  This represents 80.8% of my total goal loss, and leaves me with only 32.4 pounds left to lose. 

I still have quite a bit to lose, that, if done properly, will take me at least until late November or early December.  This is still a long term goal, and although this week has seen amazing weight loss, I cannot expect to see these numbers continue now that I am back in Canada and back in my routine.  It's back to the normal 1-1.5 pound a week loss next week, I expect (hopefully!).

I think I can credit two things with this huge loss over the past week.  First and likely foremost is the fact that although the Nerd and I were eating as healthily as we could, avoiding prepared foods for the most part and eating lots of fruits and vegetables, we were not cooking for ourselves at every meal.  And those meals for which other people were cooking involved much higher levels of sodium than we typically see when cooking for ourselves at home.  For one thing, we consciously choose the sodium reduced options when purchasing ingredients like cheese, beans or canned tomatoes, and we don't generally add much, if any, salt during cooking at home.  This was not the case when others were cooking, and we were at the mercy of higher average sodium levels as a result.  And let us not forget the car snacks for the drive home from South Carolina, including Nutter Butter cookies, rice crackers and Cheeze-Its - - also known as "mini salt licks".  As I now know, sodium = water = higher weight.  Eliminating the sodium over the past week and flushing my system resulted in higher than usual water weight loss.  I don't mind - - a loss is a loss in my books.

The second reason I saw a bigger than usual loss is that I completely broke from routine while on vacation.  I was miles from the nearest elliptical machine, and in my normal routine I never swim or kayak.  And when the Nerd and I go for walks in the city, the hills are gentle and gradual rather than steep and cliff-like (at least where we walk!) - our city hikes are utterly unlike the grim and challenging hill training we did in South Carolina.  I did nothing from my normal routine while on vacation, and I think the change was as good as a rest.  My body is approaching its usual workouts with new energy and I am losing a bit more weight than usual as a result. 

Tomorrow is my rest day and it will be challenging to keep my food consumption within my new target of 1,420 calories (!).  I think I have a menu that will work, but it is pretty tight.  No snacks for me tomorrow except my "cholesterol medicine" (aka my Rye and Diet Pepsi). 

This week I am not changing anything much in my routine since I stepped up my free weights on my return last week.  My program for this week will still be for Mon - rest; Tue, Thur and Sun - 5 sets of 10 reps x 10 pounds free weights and body weight exercises x 9 exercises + 60 min on the elliptical.  Wed and Fri - 75 min on the elliptical (or whatever is required to break 800 calories).  Sat - 90 min on the elliptical, if I can trick myself into doing that again. 

Took another selfie today, and by george if I don't have collarbones and cheekbones!  Yay!  Please excuse the assertive head angle, but I was trying to reduce the glare off my glasses.  I know, good luck with that. 

I don't see the difference in myself from day to day, but I sure notice it in photographs.  Love it!

So what about the progress against my goals?

Pretty good.  I have 32.4 pounds to go overall, and only 12.4 pounds to get to my next objective at Middleweight.  The next two weight classes essentially split most of the balance of the weight I have to lose - - once I reach Welterweight I will be only 5 pounds away from my goal, which is hardly anything at all.