Interesting Propositions

First, the bad news: I haven't lost weight this past week as it seems like the "sick and stressed" diet can only work so much magic. But I haven't gained weight, either, which is also important.

The good news is that I haven't had a breathing episode at night for about a week (knock on wood). It will be nice if that never happens to me again, so I'm holding out hope.

Because the weather has finally gotten warmer, I've been walking more. On Friday, I met up with friends for dinner and a movie, and even though it was rainy out, I walked around the city for about an hour before we met up. Granted, it was very slow walking, but I was proud of myself for not giving in and taking a cab in the bad weather.

This weekend we had a hurricane-like storm, but today the sun came out so I walked for a little while after work. I'm meeting friends for dinner downtown on Thursday, so I'm planning to walk again. I used to love just walking around the city, so I'm trying to get back into that.

Meantime, I've been given two very interesting propositions. The first is, a friend of mine and my husband's has invited us to go with him to Peru in 2011. I've traveled a lot, but haven't yet been to Peru and am excited to see Machu Pichu, which are the famous ancient ruins. However, our friend then started talking about hiking the Inca trail and I had to give him a reality check on the kind of shape I'm actually in. Thankfully, he was very understanding. It would be nice if I really could hike around the Andes, but I need to be realistic in my goals and take things slowly. I'd love to get into good enough shape, though!

Then my other friend invited me to join her for a girls' vacation in Hawaii for 2013. She and her friend will be turning 40, and though I'll only be 39, I do have a February birthday like them. I love Hawaii and they plan to go to some places I haven't yet been, but already they're talking about doing all of these active things like taking hula lessons and biking down a volcano in Maui. Right now, I couldn't imagine doing that, but 2013 is a long way away. Plus, the friend who invited me has lost a significant amount of weight herself, so if she can get in shape, I don't see why I can't.

For now, my big goal is our 10th anniversary party, which is at the end of April. I'm kind of disappointed in myself because I was a fat bride and I was hoping that I'd be skinny for this. My original dream was to wear the wedding gown I'd wished I'd been able to fit into back then, but well, that ain't happening. But I did see a cute dress I like and want to look as best as I can. And I figure that the friends and family members who are coming won't really care, as long as there's good food and alcohol.

It's so hard to stay motivated, though. It's hard to battle food at every meal. I'm doing pretty well in my plan to eat fewer carbs, though I've been saving them for dinner. Breakfast is cereal, skim milk and a banana, and lunch is a big salad with a lot of veggies and soup. Then for dinner I'm a bit more lax about having things like pizza or pasta (hey, I can't give up everything at once). I'm finding that I'm craving the salads more and have enjoyed experimenting with ingredients. My favorite combo, though, has been a salad with oranges, cranberries, red onion and a fat free raspberry vinaigrette. Sounds weird, but it's really good!

I know I need to get moving more to really see a change. Hopefully, we'll continue to have sunshine and I'll be spending even more time outdoors.