7/7/14. The post where I start my diet by hosting a party.

7/7/14: slept horribly last night (as evidenced by the 63% sleep score).  Was it my foot or the cupcake at 11pm?  Hard to say, but I was still in the 7-7.5 range this morning.  Not the best way to start a Monday. 

And not just any Monday.  As you know, I've been trying to come up with a way to lose the weight I've gained since my diagnosis.  I have a friend who would also like to lose a few pounds.  Neither one of us is inspired by competition, but we are both inspired by shoes, so we came up with a different plan.  We made a deal that beginning today, neither of us can buy a new pair of shoes until we have both lost ten pounds.  So now the pressure is officially on.  While she is probably much more disciplined than I am when it comes to losing weight, I am very motivated by guilt.  I have already seen the shoes she wants to buy when we make our goal, and I do not want to be the reason she can't have them.

I'm not off to a good start, though.  Today after work, I threw a small get-together for a friend's birthday.  Along with the other snacks I prepared, my patient, long-suffering husband grilled pizzas.  Yes, you read that right.  He grilled pizzas. On his grill.  And they were fantastic!  He is a food genius.  I tried to exercise moderation, but between the pizzas and wine and cupcakes, I doubt I am going to happy when I step on the scale tomorrow.  And I doubt my friend is going to be happy when she reads this.  I promise to do better tomorrow.

I tried to balance the effects of tonight's dinner by going on my long walk this morning, despite my foot's protest.  (I did make one concession and avoided the big hill.)  It really is much more pleasant than walking up and down the same street four times.  Here are some things I wouldn't have seen if I had stayed on my street.

My foot stayed in the 7-7.5 range all day, which was a rude awakening. I'm hoping this is just a short-term reaction to my "gardening incident", because I've grown accustomed to having better days over the last couple of months.  Tomorrow after work I will make the drive up to my parents' home for the first time in awhile to accompany Mom to her next chemotherapy treatment.  I sure could use a 3-4 day.

On a side note, if any of you are concerned about the fly who took up residence in our house over the weekend, I'm sorry to report that he violated the terms of our agreement and met an untimely demise. The insect goodwill I built up from our vacation only goes so far.