Tag Archives: vacation

Jul 26 2012
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Vacation Weight

Does this happen to others?  You go on a vacation – be it two nights a town a way, a week at home visiting your parent, or the one I’m less familiar with – a one week trip to somewhere that can actually have the prized name of “destination?”  When you get home, you step on the scale and low and behold there is some obnoxious number that (in my case of a two day trip) is an average of 3.5 pounds gained per day.  Per day!

It IS misleading, to a degree.  I expected a little bump, after all I had salty margaritas, and ate food that others prepared (though I very closely watched my portion sizes).  I drank water or un-sweet tea when I wasn’t drinking margs (and even those were limited to maybe 3 on Friday and 3 on Saturday).  I was more active, too – playing in the pool with my “nephew,” as I like to call him (he’s actually my cousin’s child, and therefore my 2nd cousin, I believe – but nephew gets the point across better).

So, Monday morning – SEVEN pounds gained.  Well, and I should say gained from the last time I weighed in, not necessarily the weekend alone.  Tuesday morning, I had lost more than two of those (I think this is salt-related water weight).  Today, another couple of pounds lost.

I know I’m not on an island (though fully expect some judgement from a few folks), but I just don’t “diet” when I’m relaxing like that.  I definitely didn’t “pig out;”  I was reasonable, conservative and only a tad snacky.  The real bummer (for me) is I’m OUT of the 230s once again, and that was a place I wanted to live in for a while (well, at least until I hit the 220s!).

And, I have a looming deadline of August 31st to get into size 16.  I’m quite nervous about this happening on time and so it is CRUNCH TIME.  No alcohol (I quite literally had water at a bar, at a birthday happy hour, this Tuesday).  Count calories, EVEN IF following the South Beach Diet.  Avoid eating out at all costs (this is hard because of my social life, but I must try).  If I do have to eat out, make good choices.  E.g., the company’s COO took me to lunch the other day to a Korean restaurant.  Instead of carb heavy sushi and fried pork in “Lunch B”, I got sauteed vegetables, broth-based soup and a teeny bit of rice.  And ugh – I hate doing it, but I need to cut out the salt, too.  I cut out the shaker a while back, but it slowly made a comeback.  (BTW,  I hate how I talk about salt as though I don’t have control over the shaker – as if it has a mind of it’s own.  It doesn’t, Katie).

I actually did go to the grocery store on my lunch break for health snacks (yogurt, cherries, an apple, hummus), low calorie frozen lunches (yes, these have their drawbacks, but the pro of calorie control right now is worth it to me), and pretzel chips (for that craving of Doritos/SunChips/Ruffles that hits at like 11am, and 2pm, and 4pm).

I also need to cut caffeine back.  It causes food cravings about 2 hours after my last sip, but BOY does it make me productive.  I spent a good couple of hours updating my LinkedIn profile last night, even though I’m not looking for a job (crazy, right?).  I was just on fire and could have worked longer had it not been the sheer fact that I must go to bed in order to have a reasonable amount of hours sleep before waking up (which my body did sans alarm clock at 6am or so).  Aye aye aye.

I will post pictures from this weekend’s trip soon!

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Apr 05 2012
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Size 20

Vacation – Final Thoughts

Vacation is (was!) amazing.  And a perk to it all – I managed to lose weight (a little less than a pound, but a loss all the same).  On my last day of vacation, back inAustin, I slept in, got a pedi, potted some flowers, went to boot camp AND THEN went to the gym.  Oh yes!

So what was my secret for losing weight?  Weeeeeeell, for

(1) Chicago is a very active city – you walk everywhere.  In Austin, you really have to drive everywhere.  Though I lived there for some time, I think most of my stops were on-the-way, or else I would drive to them. For instance, shopping: I stopped into the stores on the way home, but if I was intentionally shopping, I would drive.

(2) I wasn’t so busy that I had to fit in meals I didn’t have time to mindfully consider.  It wasn’t about what was easy and quick, but rather I could carefully plan the time of my meals and snacks so they were 3-4 hours apart.

(3) I didn’t order everything on the menu.  I never *really* did that, but I would order an appetizer to share, a meal with sides, and a diet soda or alcoholic beverage.  This time around, it was water all the way and no appetizer.  And, as I mentioned in my previous, Bottomless Pit post, I didn’t always finish everything on my plate.

(4) Food is less of my focus this particular week.  I mean, I hope the feeling lasts, but it was really all about reconnecting – with or without food.

I unfortunately cannot credit any weight loss to working out.  Every time I considered it, there was some guilt about having “me” time when I have a limited amount of time with friends.  This is something for me to think about, for sure.

The last four days of my vacation were wonderful.  Just more of seeing old friends, visiting my old church, and just relaxing with my nook to absorb a taste of my old life.  Here are pictures of me and some of my friends/family:

Hanging out in the car with my Great Aunt - Jean :)

When at my Aunt's house, this is where I slept

This is the home of my wonderful friend Linda, and her family (well, sort-of - they live in one of the town homes, though not the one pictured).

Linda and I at Lou's pizza

At the Bulls game with friends!

The Bulls!

And (and, and, AND) I’m soooo close to the next 5lb mark!  Maybe by next Friday :)

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Mar 31 2012
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Size 20

The Bottomless Pit

While eating breakfast at a Chicago home-cooking restaurant, I was amazed to find I did not finish everything on my plate.  I had my eggs and two mini salmon cakes, but barely touched the grits, cornbread or biscuit.  This floored me not for the first time this month.

I have said it before and I will say it again: I used to be a bottomless pit.

I would not only clean my own plate, but you better believe not a single appetizer was taken from the table uneaten.  And, if I saw a friend’s food going to waste, I might offer to take it off their plate.  Though I suppressed how this overeating made me feel, if I’d taken the time to listen to my body, it was likely in pain; I’m sure my stomach was stretching to new limits.  My body could only just handle what I was doing to it, and doing to it completely mindlessly.

Perhaps there was some bit of wholeness or completeness that came with a full stomach or a completely cleaned plate.  Everyone has their “thing.”  I have a cousin who constantly empties the crumb tray on toasters – says it makes her feel good, like she can’t relax until the toaster crumbs are taken care of.   For some it’s having a cup of freshly sharpened pencils, doodling while on the phone, locking the front door, counting to 23 in their heads over and over again (I know someone who does this, by the way).  I can’t say for certain this is what emptying my plate did for me.

But today, watching the waiter take some of my food away, was a sense of accomplishment – not for what I did in that meal, but rather for the different way I approach food these days.  The goal of eating out with a friend is no longer what I get to eat; the focus is now on the time spent together, the conversation had.  And, for this reason, there’s little to no eating out alone anymore, and very rare occasions of picking up food.

It’s comforting to know my pit has a bottom now.

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Mar 31 2012
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Vacation Part 2

This vacation is very different from my general idea of vacation.  With a “normal” vacation for me, I’d love to be in a big, preferably foreign, city and peruse the streets taking pictures.  Visiting Chicago feels a little like the early days of college when I would visit my home town of Corpus Christi – so many people you want to see, with little interest in sight seeing.  And before you know it, you trip is half over and you feel like there were so many people you didn’t connect with.

Also, I thought I would be ALL ABOUT the eating out at my favorite restaurants, and that I would have to fight the urge to order too much when I undoubtedly went to them.  Instead, I’m not feeling the urge to visit them all.  The only one I *really* wanted to visit has been visited, and anything else, I can take it or leave it.

Last night, I had dinner (at 4:30 PM) with my 92ish Great Auntie Jean, her daughter and son-in-law.  I guess when you’re over sixty, your idea of “a good restaurant” is vastly different.  It’s about decent tasting food, LOTS of options (but no real specialty), and value.  It just so happened that what I ordered came with a salad AND a side AND a drink AND a dessert.  Oh my.  I nibbled on everything, though left 90% of my fettuccine Alfredo in my Aunt’s fridge.

This morning, when she pressed me to tell her what I wanted for breakfast, I told her I’d cook some eggs.  By the time I walked in the kitchen, she had pulled out everything I would need – two eggs, pan, spatula AND… a pat of butter, already in the pan. Guess the concept of olive oil spray has not made it to the pre-boomer generation yet.  And so, I had buttery eggs so as not to offend or confuse my little aunt (though I can honestly say I’d have preferred not to).

This evening, I had a great time.  I met my friend Linda and her family at a local Chicago pizzeria before heading to a Bulls game (my first!).  Again, I did really well (all things considered) with eating, having just one (one!) slice of pizza, salad, and one slice of fried zucchini and one fried cheese ball.  I spent the rest of the evening curled up on the sofa dishing with my pal Linda.  Perfect day :)

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Mar 29 2012
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Size 20

Vacation, Part 1

So yesterday, I made my way to Chicago!  I happen to be staying in my old neighborhood, and seeing tons of old friends (so much so, that I haven’t really left any time for sight-seeing!).  It’s also been a flashback into old (and lingering) eating habits.

Let’s just start with the worst of it and get that over with.  I have not been to an airport since 2010.  I used to travel quite a bit for travel and recall business travel being the time I “get” to eat at the airport.  I would get to the Chicago airport with enough time to have breakfast at the airport Chili’s – dine-in.  Yesterday though, I arrived at the airport with the intention of getting just ONE breakfast taco from the Austin Airport’s Maudie’s.  Standing in line and reviewing the menu board, I see that there is a breakfast combo with two tacos for $6.  And so without thinking, guess what I purchased?  After receiving the two tacos, I recalled my plan, and decided to have one before my flight and save the other for the tail-end of my flight.  Forgot again.  Before I knew it, I’d eaten both tacos prior to flying and didn’t remember my plan until much later (when I was hungry again).

This frightened me slightly.  How easy it is to mindlessly put on weight (I’d done it for years)!  Even when TRYING to be mindful, the slightest distraction can well, distract you from the best of intentions.

So that was the worst of it, honestly.  On the positive side:

(1) The airplane used to be a time for free soda.  (Side note: I used to have a mantra that free food/drink trumps healthy food/choices).  But, with the two tacos mentioned above, I also purchased a bottled water.  So, I politely declined the beverage choices and peanuts, as I’d just had an unintentionally large breakfast.

(2) A friend of mine asked me to pick up lunch and bring it by his place (he’s not rude – just works from home and was on a 3-hour conference call).  He’d asked me to pick up some Noodle and Company, though I had to talk him out of it, as the only think that looks appetizing (to me) on that menu is mac and cheese or grilled cheese.  His alternate was Panera.  Now, Panera might very well be a small part of the last 20 pounds I gained.  I would spend my last Saturday’s in Chicago there, studying for the Teaching exams.  I would typically order an Asiago bagel with garden veggie cream cheese and something else (nothing in particular).  This may not be THAT bad for someone maintaining weight, but I was not in maintenance at that stage in my life.  I just needed a good study spot.  Still, I was surprised to see they had low-calorie soup options (and the salt wasn’t terrible either).  Not the most nutritious, but considering I hadn’t eaten since 7:30 AM (and it was now 1:30 PM), I was mostly interested in kick-starting my metabolism again.

(3) I went to one of my favorite burger places here, The Counter.  I am embarrassed to say that (a) I have day dreamed about this place and their pretzel buns and one of the most amazing veggie burger patties around.  In addition to my standard, (b) I would always encourage the table to get an order of either sweet potato fries or Parmesan fries.  This place would turn me into a bottomless pit.  Yesterday though, I stuck to the burger and stole only a FEW fries off the plates of my friends.  In the end, my meal was between 700 and 800 calories (including the fries).  That’s more than my typical dinner, but my calories for the day were under 2,000, which still creates a deficit.

(4) I went grocery shopping upon arrival – to get breakfast and snack items, and identified the new trader joe’s near my “hotel” for other quick meals.

I’m really excited to be on vacation.  I still want to get exercise in, but feel the tug to spend as much time as I can with friends.  I know someone will post and say to work out with friends (and perhaps I will), but for the moment, I’m really trying to get on the road to see my 90-year-old great-aunt!!

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Feb 15 2012
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Size 20

Planning and Puzzlement

Oh what a week it has been.   Last I wrote, I’d just been to the nutritionist and left rather confused.  What I don’t think I mentioned was that I had been to the dermatologist earlier that week, and was heading to south Texas for vacation later that week.

Well, the dermatologist was not really worth mentioning, or so I thought.  See, she put me on birth control to help regulate my hormones, in an effort to help my adult acne.  I have not been on that stuff in quite a while and man it messed me up.  For one thing, I spent a week being very crabby.  I caught myself crossing my arms a lot, was very irritable, did not want to see people, etc…. especially the past couple of days.  I bitched and moaned about going out with a friend for valentines day.  Ya’ll, I even drove all the way to tennis (about 5 miles) and felt like turning around and going home because I didn’t want to be around people while grouchy, and also didn’t want to put on a happy face.  I didn’t bail though.

Last Sunday was when another side effect of BC hit in a big and uncomfortable way home from  South Texas – constipation.  My God.  I thought (not for the first time in my life with this condition) that I would have to go to the hospital to have it taken care of.  I drove probably 150 miles with some major discomfort before the laxatives kicked in.  By the way, the other time this happened was also medicine-induced, but that was post-surgery Vicodin.

Anyway, I feel like I’m back to normal, but still confused as ever about my diet after my trip to the Nutritionist.  Before, when I did South Beach, it was very black and white on I what I could/should eat, and what I couldn’t/shouldn’t.  The nutritionist simply added carbs to my diet, and recommended 1600 to 1800 calories per day.  So, the list of food items out there was simply on a platter once again, and this overwhelmed me.

I have since reached out to her via email, but have not yet heard back.  I’ve spent the past few days  (well, past week if you count calories on vacation, which I should, but don’t), eating over 2,000 calories per day.  Hey, at least I’m tracking!  I’m just so lost, honestly.  The other issue is that Sunday I was all stopped up, Monday it was back to work, tennis Monday night, dinner with a friend Tuesday night.  Tonight is the first night since vacation that I wasn’t burdened with some other duty or task.  I can spend some time thinking more about my diet moving forward.

The way I think I’m going to approach this is think about things I WANT to incorporate into my diet.  For instance, I want more oatmeal in my diet – for the cholesterol benefits.  I want skim milk in my diet.  I’d like to keep nuts, fruits and vegetables in there, too.  I SUPPOSE by the time I put all the wants in the diet, plus the carbs my nutritionist wants to integrate, there will likely not b e a lot of room for much else.  Perhaps that’s my approach.

Truthfully ya’ll, if you have some advice here, I could really use it.  Why is a calorie restriction so confusing for me?  I started my diet this way, and now I’m back to it.  Puzzled.

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