Cruisin' motivation

Long story... kinda.  Back before Christmas I mentioned to my hubby that "next" year (2013) is our 25th wedding anniversary.  Hubby quite likes watching the Gold Rush shows on TV and has tried a little gold panning himself around our area - for fun.   So I mentioned to him "why don't we take an Alaskan cruise?" I know he would love the ruggedness of it (shore excursions), the glaciers, the GOLD PANNING...

 BUT

 and yes its a BIG but.. timing is key.  If and when we take holidays is usually in the winter when no field work needs to be done (we are farmers if you haven't guessed).  Alaska isn't a place I want to be in the winter and Cruise ships don't run then either; end of August is usually the best time for us. 

BUT

 - yes another BIG but.   Hubby wasn't so sure he wanted to take that much time away - well actually depending on the weather depends on when we crop and if we go away in the summer its usually a last moment decision... a Cruise you have to book and stick to it.  So I had kind of all but given up the idea.

THEN... around March (or was it April?) I got a message from my cousins hubby.  He said "Hey, its our 25th anniversary coming up this summer and I would like to surprise my wife (my cousin) with a Cruise to Alaska... you two want to come?"

WELL... My hubby and my cousin's hubby get along very well (Two rednecks in a pod)... so I broached the subject with my hubby again.  Long story short, the answer was YES.

SO... with the cruise booked... for a week in July. We had to do the math in regards to when the ships sail  and estimate approximately when cropping would be getting done (gotta go between cropping) and what other things are scheduled around that time on top of arranging around my cousins schedule...yep it was interesting but we managed. 

SO...

That brings me to why I have posted this here....

 I have 7 weeks...

7 weeks to:

• get into shape
• lose weight

I don't want to look like a beached whale beside the pool on the ship... ;P

I have set out a plan... with a goal which I believe I can reach.

  Today is Day 1/week 1
I am determined to lose at least 10 lbs before we leave. I think that is reasonable.   That is 1.43 lbs a week.
Over long term I know I would not be able to keep that up and I shouldn't keep that up cause its unhealthy to lose fast (easy go, easy come back on).

So I have pulled out my Eat Clean book with its menu plans and will follow it for 1-2 weeks... All the while keeping track of my portions and tracking in my WW app what I eat and drink. Then I will switch to the WW menus that they give each week on 3 different topics. It's for members just starting. You get to hear about it during the meeting after the main meeting.  That's 5 weeks covered... then I may switch back to the Eat Clean menu. 

My plan is; I want my body to keep guessing and not get lazy... All the while I have cut out pop and foods that my body is sensitive to.  Recently I try to cook fresh and not out of a can or use prepared food processed food (unless its my own healthy canning) - and we have, over the past 3 weeks, severely decreased the amount of times we go out to restaurants and fast food places. ( hubby lost weight and I gained weight when we made this change... go figure)

One good thing though is I seem to be getting the determination back and drive to get this done...
I'm trying not to look at how far I have to go but just making sure I'm following the plan I've set for myself... Everything else should follow in succession right?

And I know what you are thinking... NO I am not going to "pig out" once I get on the cruise.  We will be exploring so much stuff that I will get lots of exercise in and they have an awesome diabetic menu... yes, I use their diabetic menu.  It keeps me in check and the food tastes great!

Last year when I went to Europe for 3 weeks I lost weight... we walked, and walked, and walked, and drank lots of water and although it seemed we ate a lot it was small portions and I never went for seconds.  I also didn't eat foods I knew my body is sensitive too.

So this is all doable!  I just have to keep my mind in the right head space.

This is what we have to look forward to... that should be incentive.. yes? ;)
Island Princess heading to Alaska