December 29, 2023
I woke up today and stepped on the scale like I do each day and saw that I now weigh 230 pounds. That puts me at 175 pounds lost from my highest of 405 on April 22, 2022.
My life has changed in a thousand ways… from my labs looking like a never-been-sick-person-with-Obesity to never using a wheelchair, walker, or cane anymore.
I did my morning walk (30 minutes) and worked a bit. I felt very happy and proud of myself and the work I’m doing, beyond GLP-1s, then thought, “I need to go to Disney.”
Disney World Bound
It’s packed the week between Christmas and New Year, so I had no plans to go into a park. But, I grew up at Disney (mom worked there for 42 years, I worked there twice, etc. etc.) so knew where to go for free and have a blast… all by myself.
Of course I had to do my own version of Disneybounding. You can’t see the black top with white polka dots… I’m Minnie-ing!
I landed at the Beach Club Resort and began walking.
Walking is still incredibly surreal. My #1 Goal for 2024 is to walk around EPCOT by the week after Thanksgiving.
I have not walked anywhere at Disney in at least two decades, and possibly longer than that. I always rented an ECV, either in the parks or from a local company if I was staying at the resorts for more than a couple of days. I could not park it and walk into most rides or restaurants, having to ride it in and have someone else take it back outside to be parked while I was doing the activity.
So today, when I walked out the back door of the Beach Club and headed towards EPCOT, I felt like I was flying.
Walkway or Hill?
As you head towards EPCOT’s International Gateway, there is the choice between the flat Walkway or the hill.
I chose the hill.
As I write this 8 hours later, I can’t believe I went up the hill. And when I was leaving the EPCOT Gateway, I went back up the same hill, but from the other side. I avoided the Walkway completely. I never stopped to rest, just walked up, turned around, and walked up again.
Just wow.
Is this me talking? Me who did this feat of strength and persistence? I’m thinking it was!
Off to the Boardwalk Resort
As I crested the hill, I turned towards the Boardwalk, up yet another hill. This time when I got to the top, I stopped and wiped tears as I looked down at the canal below. I am so very proud of myself.
Facing the Boardwalk, I felt lightheaded. I wondered if it was a runner’s high from the exertion. I’d been walking for over an hour by then. I thought about what I’d eaten so far and it was a small handful of chicken 12 hours earlier. Time to eat something!
Disney Dining at the Boardwalk
I haven’t eaten in a Disney restaurant in awhile and not since being on GLP-1s, so wasn’t sure exactly what to eat. I chose the Trattoria al Forno.
I was a Food Writer for a few years and wrote a lot of reviews about eating at Disney restaurants. I’d eaten in all of them except Victoria & Alberts, wine pairings and everything. I knew this would be a different experience.
Walking to my table, I had to go behind a couple of tables with people sitting and eating.
I didn’t bump into anyone.
Do you see my mouth hanging open in shock? I recently wrote about the experience of Body Integration Syndrome (my choice for an alternative to the wrong use of the words “Body Dysmorphia Disorder”) in the post “Phantom Fat?” / “Body Dysmorphia Disorder?” and that was in full force today.
I ordered a salad and a side dish, knowing I would not even close be able to eat a full-sized meal.
The server sat bread and olive oil slathered garlic on the table and I looked at the bread as if it was a foreign food. Because it is.
I pulled out the inside of the bread and had a couple of bites, dipping one bite in the olive oil, but blech. No more of that. And I used to love garlic olive oil. Now it just tasted gross.
When she sat the beautiful salad down, I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat it. I only have upper dentures, for a variety of reasons, so can’t masticate anything chewy or tough or hard. Getting new dentures and having the bottom anchored is the second major goal of 2024.
Then came the “Crispy Pancetta Arancini: Risotto Balls with a Creamy, Rich Mozzarella Center.” It was really good, but so rich I thought I was going to barf for hours afterwards. The pancetta was pretty, though.
The server was very sweet and offered me a taste of the tomato bisque that wasn’t on the menu and I said, “Sure!”
Again, it was so rich, I only had two spoonfuls. But look how lovely it was!
Exhaustion Sets In
When I got up from dinner, feeling way too full and kind of sick to my stomach (the more intense nausea didn’t set in for another half hour), I still had that runner’s high feeling and knew it was time to go home for a nap.
Looking across Crescent Lake at the Beach Club, I didn’t know how I was going to get over there, I was so tired. Then I remembered I came in Uber and was happy I could go upstairs, still here at the Boardwalk and get in Uber there.
I looked at the stairs up the two levels and was suddenly glad I knew every wheelchair route so I could go up elevators and closer to the lobby. A part of me was disappointed I wouldn’t still be walking like I had been, but I might have fallen on the stairs, so the shorter and easier way was going to be it.
Upstairs, I sat in the foyer until my Uber arrived, taking pics of the lovely live flowers. I looked down at the pedometer and saw I’d walked right at two miles. In two hours. Tears fell onto my cheeks, as they are now as I write this, that I could go so far and for so long on my feet, in this quite foreign body I’m inhabiting now.
Riding home, I fell asleep, then when I got home, I went right to the bed and slept in my clothes, barely getting my Sketchers off.
I dreamt of Disney.
all photos by Barb Herrera