Weight down 1lb to 233.2. I hope by end of the week to break 230. If I can do 1lb ever 2nd day I’ll be there but giving the stalls I seem to get that might not be realistic. ah well, down is better than up right?
Almost one week after making it then throwing it in the freezer, I had my most anticipated meal of the week…my thrown together keto coconut chicken & celery. The flavour? Was spectacular. Already thinking of variations of it. Shrimp…or thin cut beef…and sesame seeds. I keep thinking peanuts or cashews too. Was tempted to add a 1/4 cup. Maybe on a more relaxed carb day once I get to my weight goal but at this point I want to keep it to 10ish grams for the day. Very proud of this dish as a chinese food keto option.
As I have 230lb in my sights it brings many feelings and memories. In my last, less than educated weight push down to 230, I stalled for days at that number & plain gave up. I didn’t think about it until now but maybe my subconscious planned the fast to coincide with getting to and fighting through that number? Anyway…I will not give up this time!!!
The far more memorable and enjoyable thoughts are of my 2014 Maui trip. Going into it I had fasted & got down to 220 stabilized before I left. I pretty much did it by force of will and severe calorie deficit. I wasn’t working and just lay on the couch and remember being so weak & tired. I slept on & off all day, watching tv. I was single as I am now. I don’t recall being motivated by any desire to “look better for the beach” that I recall. I had been travelling on & off for 2 years at that time & was pretty depressed & mentally close to my darkest point. It was June 2014 and I was about 1 month away from my intent to end my life. And 5 weeks in Hawaii, my vision of paradise was meant to be my last hurrah! And what an experience it was. Here are my memories…
I went to Maui…alone and spent 1 month there, 1 week on the Big Island. Here are my memories.
-I stayed this time on the southeast side of the Island, closer to the homes & services the residents enjoy…way more condos for visitors, no hotels to speak of unlike the west side. Much more enjoyable for me. My first condo was soooo hot for me! Window AC only, ceiling fan in the bedroom. I remember I ended up sitting on the beach at 2, 3am every night cause I couldn’t sleep. It was right across the street. I remember the gentle breeze ever present in Maui that made 26-28C tolerable outside. Then first full day there, I drove to Walmart & bought a box fan…and a bathroom scale. Lol.
3 days later I moved into my more pleasant condo rental. Central air, right off the ocean, new appliances & everything & unlike the first one, down the road from the main area by design especially because it was far enough for a good walk in the morning to get a Mcdonalds coffee & a newspaper (which in spite of my extensive use of my phone to read books, has always been a treat to read a US newspaper, local preferred if it was a good one, in my hotel travelling for work over coffee & a room service breakfast). Yet, it was so close no temptation to take my rental car. Highlights of my Maui trip were:
-Snorkeling with huge turtles at a black sands beach, especially a treat because it seemed to be little known by tourists.
-That every day walk to get the paper & a coffee which turned into a daily breakfast at Dennys. What I love about this Denny’s was I always picked an outside table so I could see the ocean, the beach & the locals surfing & wakeboarding before work…and I’d be eating a birds nest breakfast…bacon, hash browns & 2 eggs nestled in the hollow of a croissant (the nest). I would read my paper, enjoy breakfast, a few cups of coffee and think, I could do this everyday for the rest of my life. Sigh.
-I remember this young guy who looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Dirty all over, long hair & beard. I would see him walking day & night, sometimes with a shopping cart full of junk he’d picked out of garbages. And he always had garbage bags tied to his feet. And one to his body in the evening. I remember he smelled, but he was a local fixture of Maui like the naked cowboy in NY city. I saw him on my first trip in 2009 & everyday in 2014!
Thx to the tons of walking I did (minimum 20,000 steps per day) I would eat my big Dennys breakfast than skip lunch, usually and amongst this strip of tourist trap restaurants, I found my kryptonite…the biggest, tastiest danishes I’ve ever had with a Kona coffee. Little local place that was always packed with tourists. Occasionally I’d buy a danish for lunch. And right around the corner was the dinner I’d have most late afternoons. A Mai Tai or 2, with a plate of crabcakes. But not just any crabcakes. This place rocked a variety of them. my recollection is they had 7 or 8 varieties…teriyaki or hollendaise being my favorite. As you can imagine, about 1 week in I started weighing. In spite of all my walking, I was up to 230. Never did get lower than that while I was there and it of course was the slow but steady beginning of a climb back to about 250 which I stuck for a good 3 yrs after that. But I digress from the best part of Maui.
As I have a bad back, walking took its toll. I should mention at the “House of Crabcakes” as I’ll call it, I met this very pretty too young for me, bartenders gf who was having a conversation with him about hockey. The playoffs were on & I believe the Kings were playing. It was fascinating to be in Maui, watching hockey on a big screen & seeing how excited visitors & locals alike were about the game! I used to be the operations manager of Calgary Flames Radio so we struck up a good conversation & a pleasant afternoon was had.
But back to my bad back. I felt a good massage was what I needed & found a practioner online who happened to work out of her apt near by the restaurant, so I make an appt & so my new best Maui memories began. The masseuse was this beautiful, somewhat wild & incredibly intelligent, articulate and interesting woman with long raven hair who aspired to be an artist. After the massage, she offered some pot and we sat in her living room, we talked about her art which filled the living room & was in various stages, worked on as she was inspired. And so began a little affair of the heart at least on my end. We travelled the island together, swam everyday (I remember she had this mermaid fin that she loved because it worked the abs. i had never seen such a thing. It was something to behold. We sat on the beach every night & smoked pot. We saw some concerts under the stars. It was a blissful 3 weeks, even though I knew it couldn’t last. Remember that pretty & interesting gal who loved hockey at the bar? Turned out it was my masseuse friends daughter. Shoulda known.
My last day in Maui, I took them both out for brunch at the 4 Seasons Hotel. Very expensive but very lovely…and I was thrilled to see what a treat it was for them. She was pretty much a poor struggling artist, no car so in spite of how close a drive it was & how small the island is, it may as well have been a great distance. Especially as the 4 Seasons wasn’t where the “locals” hung out. So it was our last special time together. I had 410 bucks US left in my pocket and offered her 400 to help her out a bit. She didn’t want to take it but I said look at it as a down payment on a painting she was working on that I liked. I said I plan to come back & get it someday & so we parted. That was 6 years ago. I never spoke with her again for various reasons, including that I didn’t expect to be around much longer.
Maybe…one day…I’ll go back again and see what she has painted since. Wouldn’t that be something.