This Friday we are starting a mini vacation. We are going first to visit family in Connecticut. We will be there the Friday evening through the day on Sunday night. On Monday we will drive to Boston to and spend the day there or stop somewhere on the way there at some site. On Tuesday and Wednesday my husband will be at a conference in Cambridge, so the kids and I will be on our own during the day and then we can get together to do something in the evening. We'll come home on Thursday. So, really it's a 6 day trip.
Of course, this trip is timed to where right when I usually see the big weight loss. Normally, I would say that I would plan to not gain. A vacation spent at maintenance and then starting back up where I left off when we get back. Basically, making good decisions (like still keeping it lower carb with no rice, bread, pasta) and tasting sweets, but not over indulging. My guess is that we will be active all day so I won't worry so much about the missed exercise. Plus I'm sure the hotel will have equipment if I'm desperate for movement, but again... I'm not going to be anal about that.
Problem with this is my body's weight loss pattern. You all have seen it by now. I really don't lose an ounce for 2.5-3 weeks and then I lose everything I will lose for that month from post ovulation until my period, so 7-10 days. It's not some way of me mentally sabotaging myself by eating more for a few weeks and not exercising. I am extremely consistent. It's simply that during my period I bloat, then I might lose a teeny bit of that and then I gain water weight for ovulation, hold onto that for a few days after ovulation (my body probably preparing/hoping for a fertilized egg to protect) and then when it's obvious I am not pregnant, it releases all the water weight it's been building up. I literally lose all my weight for the month in that 7-10 days and it usually works out to a pound a day!
I really don't know how I will mentally handle two months of no weight loss if I go too overboard on vacation. Because a day or two after vacation it will be that time of the month again and onto another stall out until the latter half of August. I know that shouldn't be that difficult, but it is when you are so good and so consistent to not get rewarded for that effort. Yep, rewards are important! And I haven't been able to change that pizza pie for over a month because I didn't quite get to 60 pounds lost this past month! I want to get down to two slices people!
So, that's what's on my mind. I'm trying to think of strategies to help me stay on track. Of course it helps that I really need to watch my simple sugar intake and knowing that I have another blood test in a month's time that will read my sugar levels over the last three months. Last reading was just on the cusp of perfect, so I would like to keep it that! That means to continue with the no pasta, breads, rice as always. That, for the most part, is easy to follow. Desserts. Now that will be tougher. It's vacation and we'll want to try new things. I have to decide will I eat some or taste some? Not sure. But more, when eating out or at family's, how do I control portion size? We don't eat at chain restaurants, so there will be no figuring out calorie counts ahead of time. I guess I'll just have to try to stick to the known - meat and veggies or beans and veggies. I should also take a cooler full of foods for my younger son and probably for me - some protein shake mix and protein bars. I can't think of anything else I can do right now, but I do want to have fun and enjoy -including good foods while also keeping some semblance of a good eating plan in place. Once I'm at maintenance, I won't worry as much about a few pounds gained during vacation as I can just take them off the next month, but doing that now just means stalling out or relosing the pounds I just lost and that's just too hard to deal with mentally right now. Staying focused month after month is trying at times.
Stats for 7/18/11:
Beginning 255.6 Now: 198.0
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