The Vacation Challenge

I'm back after a two-week vacation, and while I've missed two weeks of posting, I haven't stopped following Shirley--for the most part, anyway.  I did stop writing down what I ate, which is not recommended, but I didn't stop trying to stick with the plan as much as possible.  But considering that in the past a vacation, especially with a road trip, was my chance to overeat, I think I did pretty well.

During the trip there were two birthday celebrations, complete with trips to Olive Garden restaurant and cake and ice cream for dessert.  I had some fairly fattening restaurant meals, and did have one piece of cake and a serving of ice cream each time.  But I didn't go back for seconds on cake and ice cream, and I ended up taking home leftovers from my restaurant meals, substituting them for other meals on subsequent days.

Trying to save money, John and I ate in the hotel room most of the time, which left us limited in terms of what meals we could make, since our room didn't have a microwave.  But I didn't overindulge in snack foods, as I might have in the past, for the most part keeping my snacking to veggies or yogurt in small quantities with the occasional handful of potato chips or small piece of chocolate. There were a few meals eaten at restaurants, but again I tried to choose wisely and saved the leftovers.  I also ate with my mother a few times at her nursing home.  Though the food there was not gourmet, it was good and mostly nutritious.

I prepared for the trip by taking my scale and measuring devices, though I didn't always use them. And we exercised as much as we could, with cleaning and moving work as well as walks when we had the chance, so I think that I didn't gain any weight, though I probably didn't lose any either.  I'll find out tomorrow, when I do the weigh in.

My most important achievement on this trip is that I didn't fall off the diet wagon, going on a binge or abandoning the eating plan.  I did the best I could, given the challenges, and I'm completely satisfied with my overall performance because a diet disaster was avoided.  I turned what would normally have been an occasion to overeat into two weeks of normal eating, or at least how I imagine people without eating disorders eat on vacation: little indulgences here and there, but mostly not making food the centerpiece of their trip.

So all and all, a successful two weeks.  Now I'm back at it, and looking forward to an ordinary week of following Shirley!