Lessons learned

1. Children at birthday parties only eat potato chips and icing.

2. Parents don't eat or drink anything at all when they are keeping up with their children.

We learned these lessons because we ended up with about twice as much pizza as we needed and about thirty-six times as much beer as we needed, and about eight times as much wine as we needed. We expected to have leftover soda because we wanted to offer a decent variety, but we had a greater variety than necessary -- surprisingly, many of the adults drank Hawaiian punch even though better options were available. The good thing is that soda and alcohol keep a long time if sealed, and we put most of the pizza into the freezer, but if you see me saying that I had a slice of pizza for dinner or lunch a LOT over the next few weeks, you know why.

My eating was every bit as bad yesterday as I expected. I had a half a banana and a half a white bagel for breakfast (after staring at the table in disappointment for a couple of minutes wondering if something whole grain would spontaneously appear -- I genuinely found plain bagels unappealing! Progress!) and then completely forgot to eat until nearly party time, except for the occasional bit of icing which got on my fingers. Daniel even tried to remind me around 2:30 but I was too busy! I did finally grab a handful of almonds when I headed upstairs to change. For dinner I ate one slice of pizza, and eventually I inhaled a can of root beer (which had sat for an hour after I'd opened it, because I was interrupted so I could keep the kids entertained). After the party left I ate a generous slice of cake, though in the end I wasn't all that keen on that, and I think I had a couple of chips as I cleaned them up. And about ten grapes -- I forgot about those! So I did eat something vaguely healthy.

The difficulty today is that I'm surrounded by opened bags of chips and sweets and I have the post-party munchies. I'm trying to break myself of the mindset that this food has to be eaten -- I ate a normal breakfast and I had a handful of almonds as a snack, and now I'm having my ONE slice of pizza for lunch. There is fruit in the fridge and we have tons of leftover salad, so I don't need to eat the junk food!

I did get my one-mile exercise yesterday. I walked hard for that mile (and it was hilly, and the road was slick) so it was more than a mile of effort, plus I was carrying Cecilia in the sling, and I continued to walk around and carry Cecilia for another hour or so after the walk, until Daniel's race was also done. Alexander decided he wanted to do the fun run instead of riding in the stroller, and he actually jogged the entire way!!! To my knowledge he has never walked a mile without help before this. He got a prize for being the youngest participant -- anyone younger than him was in a stroller or carrier.

Barb, welcome! I assume you know the rules -- we announce our weight to the blog on Tuesdays, and no one is allowed to quit, even if we fall off the wagon. That's about it for official rules. We try to post frequently, if not daily, to report our eating and exercise. And our goals are not just about weight loss -- though, for all of us, that's a necessary component of achieving health -- but about making long-term life changes toward eating healthy and improving fitness. We're glad you're joining us!