Week 1: Not Too Shabby

Yesterday's Results

The scale reads: 163 lbs. Goal: 127 lbs.
The awesome pedometer reads: 10406 steps (2789 aerobic steps for 32 minutes), 3.28 mi.

December 14's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 7732 steps, 2.44 mi.

December 13's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 10622 steps, 3.35 mi.
Other aerobic activities:

• Fat Blasting Cardio (30 min.)

December 12's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 10023 steps, 3.16 mi.
Other aerobic activities:

• Fat Blasting Cardio (50 min.)

December 11's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 5930 steps, 1.87 mi.
Other aerobic activities:

• Fat Blasting Latin Dance Mix (20 min.)

December 10's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 10876 steps, 3.43 mi.
Other aerobic activities:

• Fat Blasting Latin Dance Mix (30 min.)

December 9's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 13350 steps, 4.21 mi.
Other aerobic activities:

• Cardio Hula (30 min.)

December 8's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 10053 steps, 3.17 mi.
Other aerobic activities:

• Office party tomfoolery (dancing)
• Goofing off on an elliptical (the awesome pedometer didn't seem to register any of these movements - so much for awesome)
  

December 7's Results

The awesome pedometer reads: 4673 steps, 1.47 mi.

Oh, you've heard this record before. The holidays, office and spontaneous gatherings, and rainy weather are the perfect trifecta in derailing my weight loss plans. The holidays bring sedentary chat fests coated with sugary homemade confections. This past week alone, 4 food-intensive gatherings (that's half of the week) rendered me in a useless siesta state: Chris' company's holiday party, my company's holiday dinner, a random friend's visit (it is a food frenzy every time we meet up), and a visit with my aunt. The rain automatically resigns you to hibernation mode.

Despite the same ol' moan 'n' groan you hear around this time of year, I think I did pretty well gaining only a pound this week. Honestly, I was relieved the scale didn't tip 165 at all. I even managed to lose a pound and kept it off for a couple of days.

To sum up the consumption damage, here's a visual buffet:

Going prime time at Chris' holiday party: prime rib with au jus and just a tad bit too much horseradish

From healthiest to oh my at the holiday party: butternut squash bisque, asparagus, mixed veggies, rice pilaf, pistachio-crusted orange cream chicken, pork loin, some bread thing with a smidgen (OK, maybe more) of butter

Going to <Shakes head in disgust status> at the holiday party: pumpkin pie with Cool W-hip (I'm assuming they'd go for the gold with this particular brand), bread pudding, and cannoli with sprinkles (?! I was mortified I actually bit into this. Sprinkles are no-nos for cannoli. Should've known.)

Breakfast the day after the holiday party: Sunflower Bakery and Cafe's Oyster bienville omelet (Galveston Bay oysters topped with a creamy seafood sauce of white wine, cream, shrimp and crabmeat) with house potatoes and jalapeño toast

Mid-week weakness: Witchcraft Tavern and Provision's Stilton Burger (hickory maple bacon, sauteed mushrooms, balsamic onion, and Stilton blueberry cheese), Blues Burger (BBQ pulled pork, Texas slaw, red onion, and house pickles), and fries. Yes, I shared with Chris.

My company's holiday dinner at Carrabba's: The seasonal special - a combo of the Pollo Rosa Maria (chicken stuffed with fontina and prosciutto, and topped with mushrooms and basil lemon butter sauce) and Chicken Involtini (another chicken thing stuffed with Italian fennel sausage, spinach, ricotta and romano cheese and topped with a marsala wine sauce) with a special appearance by fettucine alfredo and unnecessary levels of grated Parmesan

I ate one of its brethren...

... the Deluxe appetizer from Crazy Alan's Swamp Shack: gator bites, fried pickles, frog legs, boudain, bacon-wrapped scallops

Crazy Alan's 3 lbs. of mudbugs (a.k.a crawfish). Nobody ate the potato or corn. The Miller Lite pitcher was actually a pitcher of Abita's Andygator, a brew from LA (Not Los Angeles).

Crazy Alan's smoked oysters - the Pontchartrain were topped with garlic butter, Pontchartrain sauce, piece of  shrimp and mozzarella; the Mexican were topped with garlic butter, hot sauce, diced jalapeños, piece of shrimp, and mozzarella

Need to have the raw stuff, too.

House of Pies' mincemeat pie. I found out I don't care for mincemeat. There was hardly a trace of meat. A very deceptive name for a pie if you ask me. Not only is the cake a lie, the pie is a lie.

East Wall Chinese restaurant's chicken with ginger sauce

Pot o' beefy goodness and stuff

I'm more fascinated with the container of rice. Prior to this feast, I haven't seen rice encased in such a nice wooden container

Beef: up close

Walnut shrimp

Fatty beef goodness

I forget what kind of chicken. Take your pick: orange, General Tso's, ...

This was only a sampling. To think I only gained a pound! I only did a total of around 2.7 hours of aerobic activity this week and didn't exactly reach my 10k steps/day goal each day of the week. However, I thought the randomness of dancing at holiday parties, messing around with an elliptical, and slowly breaking the sedentary routine did a lot of good.

Let's see what happens this coming week. Even with the holidays, I think I can whittle down to 161.