Hi, all!
I've been MIA for about 3 weeks because my DD and I were gone for college visits and both time internet access was sort of inconsistent and limited to checking and responding to emails.
So, because we were traveling I really had a very hard time staying on plan. I had hoped to do Simply Filling but quite honestly, in addition to time crunches, it was also a very emotional couple of weeks because DD is pursuing a degree where, in addition to having to submit all the normal applications, essays, test scores and transcripts, she has to audition to get into the program itself and most of these programs take between 8-20 students in any given year (depends on the University). So with all of the stress and exhaustion, I found that I simply didn't find grilled chicken with vegetables very appealing. Add to that the fact that restaurants often don't carry whole grains and non-fat dairy items and needless to say, I simply didn't do it.
I did, however, track as best I could, even on the days when dinner consisted of the cheese and cracker hors d'oevres platter on the Concierge floor of the hotel! And let me tell you, those were some HIGH point days. The saving grace to all of this was that I wore my pedometer, and between the airports, the college campus tours and the running from floor to floor and hall to hall of the hotels for the various auditions, I never logged less than 12,000 steps in any day, and several of them, 20k or more. So that helped tremendously!
We actually got home the evening of my normal weigh-in day, so I missed my meeting and decided to just wait until the following Friday (I think I was scared!). Managed to get back on plan pretty easily that week and at Friday's meeting I was down 2 pounds for the 3 weeks! I'll take it!! Very excited by that, let me tell you!
Now that I'm back in my routine, I'm really sad that I'm finding it so difficult to get my steps in. I loved those weeks when the steps came naturally as a part of our daily existence. It's so much harder to make myself "go on a walk" or walk on a treadmill. It was so great to just live my life and record 10-15k or more steps (with all those extra points!!) at the end of every day. It's just one of the pitfalls of living in the suburbs where there's just nowhere to walk to. The grocery store would be an option, I suppose, but there's no easy way to carry the groceries home, and every other destination is simply too far to walk. GRR...of course I use all the tricks of parking in the far corners of the parking lots, etc. but I just wish it could come more naturally, you know?
Anyway, my total now is
down 13 pounds since December 9. I'll take that!
