I wish I could bottle the days when I am in total control for the days when I need it later. For some reason, this last week I’ve been focused, and nothing is tempting me. Take for instance our catered work breakfast yesterday. It was catered by Corner Bakery and they had cinnamon rolls the size of my head, their cinnamon crisps, bagels with fluffy cream cheese, and my work friend whose on Weight Watchers too and I went straight to the fruit plate. I didn’t eat much of the yogurt because it was vanilla flavored and after eating plain Greek yogurt of so long, this is just too sweet. I did eat one of my banana muffins on the train ride home, so I am calling breakfast 8 smart points.
It was rainy at lunch, so my sister and I walked Macy’s. At 9 stories high, it’s huge and you could literally walk around the place for an hour and not see every section it’s so huge. Shelley, if you ever come to Chicago, I’ll have to take you there! We stopped by the Culinary Studio to see if anything was going on, but it was empty, so of course we had to take a selfie 😀
We can sometimes talk so much that we don’t even realize the time, and we were going to get something on the 7th floor food court for lunch, but there wasn’t enough time. So I picked up soup from Freshii. It was described as “Southwestern Soup with black beans, brown rice, tomatoes, black beans. I was execting a tomato based broth like a tortilla soup, but I was willing to give it a go. Oh, but hold up. The soup is 7 dollars WITHOUT protein – I added chicken so this was a $10 soup. I could make 3 pots of soup for $10 if I made it from scratch. But the night before last, Hannah had her apron on, which meant cleaning pants, and she was deep cleaning the kitchen when I usually prep my food for the next day, and well, I didn’t want to stop that groove!
This tasted like ass. Like water soup. No flavor, the brown rice was flavorless, as everything else. I tried adding hot sauce to the soup, but then I had spicy water soup. I sent an email to them – if I had time I would have gone back, but this was disappointing. I ate maybe 1/4 of the soup, and that was only because I had already taken my insulin and had to meet the insulin with food.
Thankfully I always have stuff in the fridge at work – I have a mini fridge near my desks coffee station, and as of yet, I am the only one who uses it. I had to work as night secretary last night, so I had an ounce of this salami and fruit.
I walked in the door at 8:55 – and at 9:00 the heavens opened up and we had lots of thunder storms last night. I could have easily ditched Day 3 of my Shaun T week, but I committed to the full 7 days – NO EXCUSES. So a mere 20 minutes after I walked in the door, I started Insane Weights. Here is the deal though, I could only find my 5 pound weights, so this was tough! I am feeling muscles in my shoulders and my upper back that I haven’t felt in a while!
And you’ll have to get used to seeing the after Insanity selfie pics 😀
Two years ago this week we were at our Aunt’s river house for a family vacation. I sent pictures to my brother of the river, pictures my niece took and pictures of us together. We’ll be getting together in the middle of July which I can’t wait.
My brother sent me this picture below of me on the left. Beer on one side and Triscuits and pimento cheese on the other side. There is a store brand of pimento cheese near my Aunt’s house that is amazing. Normally, I just throw all my healthy habits out the window as soon as my foot enters the airport.
I don’t want this vacation to be like that though. Mind you, I’ll have my indulgences, like my Aunt’s pork BBQ, but I can’t treat this vacation like a constant buffet eating from the time I get up until I go to bed. I still hope to get in a minimum of 10k steps. We spend a lot of time “porching” which means we just all relax, play board games, and just hang out, and while that is fun, I need to balance it out with some activity.
I am on my way to my weekly WI. Before I even know what the scale says, I have a #NSV this week – I bought two size 11 pairs of pants and I bought 2 sundresses for my vacation. I don’t wear dresses too often because of my muffin top, but Hannah actually found them for me when we were at Goodwill and they are very flattering.
How do you handle vacations? Do you just eat and drink whatever or are you mindful?? Any tips would be appreciated!
Now go make it a great day!
I was in Cabo with my best friends the week before last. I don’t drink alcohol anymore so that eliminated a lot of calories. I stuck to mostly proteins, fruits and veggies at each meal. When I did have high carb things like pasta or mashed potatoes (YUM), I took really small portions. I ate slowly and never stuffed myself. I did have dessert every day, including ice cream every night.
I gained 3 pounds and was perfectly happy with that. I lost that almost immediately and the scale continues to drop.
You can do whatever you put your mind to.
Thanks Mary – my only concern going in is that since we stay at my Aunt’s house the food is all around me. I may have to tell myself after dinner “the kitchen is closed!” like I do at my house 😀
I am sure you had an amazing time in Cabo with your friends! It’s on my bucket list to go there 😀
I eat whatever I want on vacation, but it ends up being one big meal and one light meal…and dessert. But on our last vacation, I ordered salads for several of my meals and was happy with that. I say go and eat and enjoy – just be mindful of what you’re eating…like, if you want the pimento cheese, then eat it, but be “there” while you’re enjoying it.
You and I are opposites because I can leave dessert on the table pretty much every time – but then I’d have a glass of wine in place of your dessert 😀 #bemindful is going to be my mantra!
You’re looking amazing. Btw, I’ve had terrible experiences with Freshii. So many, in fact, I have (3) 12.00 credits from them on their APP. They’ll probably tell you to download the app so they can give you a credit. The nearest location( besides the franchise thats in our Target stores, where I can’t use the reward) is 20 miles away. I have basically given up on them!! I hate that adding protein is extra $$. Everything should come with protein!!!
Thanks Randi! And I didn’t even realize the soup didn’t come with protein until he asked me if he wanted to add it – really? $7 with just brown rice, broth and like 1/2 cup of veggies?! Crazy!
I have complete confidence in you during your vacation. I think your mind is in a good spot and you have been tracking long enough now that your mind won’t let you get to out of control before reeling you back in. Take time and enjoy all the vacation has to offer. Leave it to Charlie to post a “reality check” picture. 🙂
The soup looks nasty, the broth looks like dirty water and to think it was $10 would make me cringe. Your make shift plate of food on the other hand looks yummy.
Charlie has been sending me pics all week 😀 I am still surprised I haven’t heard back from anyone at Freshii – maybe they think a $10 soup isn’t worth responding to?!
Biz you can really see your weight loss in those two side by side pics!
Vacations are tough – they say (they meaning WW peeps) to go into it deciding what you want – maintain, lose or gain. I never go into a vacation wanting to gain! So I think it really depends on where you’re going sometimes. Like when we went to New Orleans I knew I would gain – you want to try all the great food there! I try and grocery shop to have my own breakfast – yogurt, cottage cheese, fruit. When we went to NYC in March I made a dozen of Kim’s (Fit and Fabulous Mama) banana kodiak muffins and ate those for breakfast all week (3 SP for 2 muffins). I also bring snacks – bags of almonds and apples are good and portable. Dinner is usually my splurge meal – but I still usually stick to fish or chicken and veggies. And wine of course! That’s my big difference on vacation – I will have wine every night.
It takes me SO LONG to lose a few pounds – my losses have been quite slow. So a 2-3 pound gain can take me months to lose. It’s pretty annoying.
I also always have my fitbit and do 10,000 steps. And I keep tracking! I’m so used to it now I would never skip a day. Even if I just go in and say – Tuesday – 40 points – and don’t itemize stuff – I can at least move on from the day.
Sounds like you know what’s worth it (your aunt’s BBQ) and what’s not (bags of chips) and I’m sure you’ll do a great job! Have a great time!
Awesome tips B! I love Kim of Fit and Fabulous Mama and she posted her cruise gain of 6 pounds that she’s still trying to work off six weeks later. I think if I go in with the mindset that I don’t mind maintaining that week, that will let me feel like I am on vacation – not too strict, but strict enough, ya know?!
We need to meet up sometime when I get back!
I’m definitely mindful, but I live a little too on vacation. It really depends.
1. First, I make an effort to exercise every day.
– If I’m visiting family, I go for walks. At my family, my sister. Husband’s family – his sister’s best friend, or my MIL, or by myself. Sometimes I’ll borrow a bicycle at the in-law’s house.
– Traveling with kids, depends on where we are. If there’s a pool, maybe swim. Otherwise, hotel gym or exercise room. If we are at a national park, hiking.
– This is where Beachbody On Demand is great too. There are a number of workouts that don’t require any kind of weights. So when I was visiting my stepdad last summer by myself and my sister was busy, I brought it up on my tablet and did a PiYo workout.
– Short circuits – my BIL likes to do pushups on vacation. I learned this years ago on vacation with them. So sometimes I just take 10 min breaks during the day and either walk 10 minutes or do 10 pushups, 10 squats, 10 burpees, 10 tricep dips, 40 bicycle crunches, and some planks.
2. Food. This is also tough, depending on where we are. I balance what I *want* with what I should have.
– At my home town, there’s a lot of junk food. It is inordinately hard to say no to it. I underestimate how much of my success is that I just don’t buy the stuff. I usually try to pick *one* treat per day. That could be a beer, or some chocolate, or some chips. And only about 150 calories worth.
– In my MIL’s house, it’s a lot easier. The food is usually a bit heavier than I cook but is very healthy with lots of veggies.
– On vacation, I am balancing cost, eating in vs. out, and eating out with annoying kids. On road trips I pack snacks – fruit, veggies, hummus, crackers, cheese. Our last road trip we stopped at Costco, and I just ate my snacks.
– When we stay at a hotel, we usually pick one with breakfast. I aim for fruit and eggs and some carbs. Vacation is when I often give in and have a bagel.
– For lunch, it is usually “out”. I try to stick with sandwiches or protein and veggies. If we are hiking then it’s a sandwich that I packed. Or I eat more snack like things from a road trip. I don’t eat salads “out” because they often make me sick (I’m guessing a preservative in the pre-bagged salad mixes).
– I’ll stock the hotel mini-fridge with raw veg, hummus, cheese, meat, fruit.
– Dinner is almost always something we “bring in” like pizza. If we manage to get a full kitchen (about 1/3 the time), then we’ll get a roast chicken from a grocery store and some vegetables.
If there is something I really want – I have it. But I try to remember that this isn’t my last meal. It’s not my last vacation. I can have it tomorrow. When I go “home”, it’s the ham salad from the local market. I don’t need to eat ham salad *and* doritos *and* wine *and* brownies, all in the same day.
I have no idea why the formatting did not show up. I’m sorry, it reads much better formatted, ugh!
Formatting or not, LOVE your tips! There will be no internet access, but I like the idea of walking and may just get up earlier then everyone else and get my long walk in to kind of “set the tone” for the day. I also thought of the “one treat a day” approach too. We are only going to be there for six days, I just want to be mindful going in so I don’t eat/drink everything and spend the rest of the summer trying to lose what I gained in 6 days. THANK YOU!!
No internet?? Google “The scientific 7 minute workout” and print it out. It’s a good one too! All body weight exercises.
On vacation, I do not track food and I eat exactly what I want. What I find is that after a couple days, what I want is often quite healthy. For example on this last trip we took, I managed to eat a big salad as one of my meals on 8 of the 11 days. It was what I wanted. Sometimes I truly believe I’m better off not thinking and obsessing about food and it’s values all the time!
Your Macy’s in Chicago sounds like their flagship store in NYC. There almost seems to be a floor for each department!
Good tips Helen – its just that we stay at my Aunt’s river house, that is off the beaten path and there is a ton of food around like all.the.time. My cousins favorite things to have there is vanilla ice cream with brown sugar pop tarts – sounds awful but it’s amazing and insulin worthy! I plan to hit up the grocery store to do a mini healthy shop for me. This Macy’s has one whole FLOOR of clearance – it’s insane!
Looking good, Biz!
And gross soup!
Thanks Carrie! I still haven’t heard back from them – not sure I’ll go back for anything else there, and they are in the lobby of my building!
I certainly indulge on vacation but I don’t usually snack. I also like to go for a run in the morning before the day starts. I like to have some time on my own and explore new areas this way. Not super long maybe about 30 minutes. But it just kind of sets the tone for the day and energizes me. I tend to make slightly better choices when I’ve worked out already anyway.