Recently, on the Lighten Up Facebook page, there was some serious talk and some jokes about wearing swimsuits to the weigh-in.   I admit to joining in the fun.  My personal favorites are the "Speedo" jokes.  With summer approaching and all the improvements we are accomplishing fitness-wise, this new fashion of exposing some skin may not be too unrealistic.

This week, I was finally able to reap the fruits of my labor from all the hard work invested in Lighten Up.

Due to a bit of good fortune, once a year, I have access to a condominium in the Cayman Islands, free for a week.  For the cost of airfare and food, it is truly a Great Escape in Paradise.  The condo has a full kitchen so we eat most meals in.  In the Cayman Islands, if you don't have access to a way to cook for yourself, restaurant meals are VERY expensive, especially if you plan to eat three times a day.  There are many fine dining options that we reserve for only a few meals out during the week, so we rob a bank the week before we leave Ohio.  Limiting meals eaten out helps us keep some of that cash for luxuries back home like the mortgage, food, and electricity.

Consequently, we make healthy meals every day in the condo.  Cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, yogurt and fruit for a mid-morning snack, and for lunch, wraps using veggies and leftover fish or chicken from previous dinners.  The poolside has a few really nice grills available, so we cook out often for dinner.  Our favorite dinner is fresh-caught red snapper purchased from a fish market in Georgetown (the downtown area) and grilling the fish topped with a mango/habanero glaze.  If timed right, dinner can be eaten with a breathtaking view of the sunset over the Caribbean Sea.

Enough about the food.

Seven Mile Beach on the west coast of Grand Cayman is what is really fantastic.  I ran a lot on that beach.  I went out first thing in the morning, around 7 am, when it was cooler, if you consider 80 degrees and 85% humidity to be "cooler".  My runs were about five miles, and they were a lot tougher on sand than back home on grass or pavement.  After my run and a short coffee break, I would go for a leisurely five mile walk on the beach with my dear girlfriend.  Almost 20,000 steps before 10 am!  My dear girlfriend did ridiculously long open-water swims instead of the laps she would normally do at the Y, so her day was pretty physically active, too.

Overall a great time.  With the exceptions of too many rum punches, getting the pedometer water-logged twice because of the the rum punches, one visit to a frozen yogurt place across the street (just like Menchies), and one all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet, it was a great vacation.

See you all at the weigh-in on Saturday.  I'll be wearing a Speedo.