Feb 5 - Day 26

It's been raining here all day, at times quite hard.  Thank goodness the temp stayed above freezing! My plan for tomorrow is to go to breakfast, say goodbyes :-( and leave Durham around 10am which will get me to Perry's mid afternoon.

Today was my "last chance workout." Those of you who watch the biggest looser on TV will know what I mean.  I spent about 4 hours in the pool and gym today hitting all the exercise machines for the last time. I also had my last aqua aerobics class. Gerold, the head of the fitness team here lead the aerobics and he really worked us out for 45 minutes. The scale in the locker said I had lost a total of 22 pounds, but I will check this before I leave.

This afternoon, I came back to my room and packed the car. I wanted to give a gift to Paula for being such a wonderful host, so I found a florist and bought her come cut flowers.  Tonight was steak night at DFC.  They served a strip steak with sauce, cheesy potatoes, a wonderful salad with blue cheese dressing, and for desert, a chocolate mousse made with tofu.  It was delicious, and it's another dish I might well make when I get back.  You never know when it might show up at your table :-)

I stopped by a grocery store on my way back from dinner, and bought some snacking food for the car as I drive.  You would be proud of me as I purchased apples, almonds, and very light popcorn.  I also bought some baggies to put one serving of each in IE, 25 almonds = 1 serving.

When  got back, I presented the flowers to Paula and she was touched that I had thought about her. So tonight I have blogged, skyped with Sudie and portioned the snacks out.  Now it's time for bed.

Roger sent me pictures of Dylan today and here they are:

Epilogue

The first thing I did when I got to DFC was weigh myself. I went into one of the examination rooms, stripped down to my skivvies and discovered my final weight is loss 24.1 pounds!!!!!! I spent the morning saying goodbye to my new fiends.  It's different when you are the departee. I arrived at Perry's around 1:30 pm.  Their house is well designed and very lovely.  It was fun to see all the old Mixter furniture and paintings. Perry took off for a chili contest (I was asked if I wanted to go, but I declined -pre DFC I would definitely gone.  While he was gone, Jan and I took a mile and a half walk around a large undeveloped piece of real estate close to their home.  We saw a large flock of turkey vultures that roost near a lake nearby. Very cool!
                                                                                                                                      
PLEASE NOTE:
THIS BLOG COMPLETES THE RECORD OF MY STAY AT THE DUKE DIET AND FITNESS CENTER. I WILL NOT BE BLOGGING ON MY WAY BACK TO YORK.  I WILL CONTINUE ONCE I ARRIVE BACK AND BLOG FOR THE NEXT YEAR, ONCE EVERY WEEK OR SO. SO DON'T GIVE UP ON ME. I MIGHT POST SOME PICTURES OF ME OVER THE YEAR SO THAT THIS RECORD WILL HAVE SOME VISUAL RECORD OF MY PROGRESS.