Last week was a little bit of a challenge. I attended a week long work conference in St. Louis. There was a lot of food over the week and it came frequently. I don't think I over ate and I focused mostly on eating lots of veggies but I did eat desserts and other things I would not have eaten otherwise.
The stress level was kind of high. It was a long week . . . meetings, training attended and trainings led, performances (I was Oprah), awards, top executive visitor . . . you get the picture. By Thursday, I was so ready to go home.
Our flight out of St. Louis was delayed by an hour. We knew we were going to cut our connection very, very close so we decided to eat at the airport before we flew out. I shared a pizza with another friend. Finally, we took off and headed for Atlanta.
Our flights in Atlanta were the last flights of the day. My flight was at 10:50pm and the other girls' was at 10:52pm. We knew that if we missed our connection, we would be stuck for the night. Our plane arrived in Atlanta and we were not able to pull into the gate for about 10 minutes. As we exited the plane, we found we were on concourse A and had to go to concourse D. We ran, took the train, and ran some more. We arrived at our gates at 10:45 and the doors were closed. They would NOT let us on. Seriously???? But they did put our luggage on the plane. Ummmm, how thoughtful of them. We would be staying in Atlanta for the night but our luggage would make it home.
I rented the other girls a car to drive home to Alabama and called my daughter, who now lives in Atlanta, to come pick me up. She had been wishing all night that I would miss the connection so I could stay with her. I'm not sure she considered what I would smell like the next day since I had no clothes or toothbrush or clean underwear but at least she could take care of me. We arrived at her apartment at 1:30am.
A friend drove to Atlanta on Friday to bring me home. Of course, we all had dinner before leaving at a wonderful restaurant in Old Roswell. It was amazing and we took off for Knoxville around 10pm. We were stuck in traffic outside Chattanooga for one hour and finally arrived at the Knoxville airport to pick up my car around 2am on Saturday.
However, I couldn't get out of the parking lot. There was only one booth open and it had a sign on the window that said "back in 20 minutes". Ummmmm, really? I waited. I moved the cones from the automated lanes and tried to pay but the machines were broken. I wondered when I had pissed off Karma?
Finally, after 25 minutes, I called information on my cell phone and got the number for airport security. They went and found the booth worker. He came barrelling across a median on a golf cart, obviously angry. He unlocked the door, went into the booth and slammed the door. He couldn't get the window open which made him MORE angry. Finally, he got it open. Lucky for me! The officer was trying to carry on a conversation with him and "dude" was so rude. He never apologized or even spoke to me. RUDE! It was 3am when I got home, ready to just fall into bed.
I remembered as I walked in and the temperature was the same as outside that I needed to call the air conditioner repairman. I went into my kitchen to set my purse down and there was about an inch of water on the floor and towels were floating on top of it. My water/ice line for the refridgerator had sprung a very small leak and my son had put towels down to soak it up. Of course that was about 12 hours before when he left for work and my kitchen was now flooded. As I held back tears, I picked up the towels and put them in the sink. I went to get more towels and soaked up some more water. I went to the sink with an armload of towels again, slipped on the wet floor and went down.
I cannot repeat here the words that came out of my mouth. Lots of inappropriate words. I got the mess cleaned up and turned the water off under the sink. I found 3 fans and pointed them all at my bed. I turned them on "high" and fell into the bed. Ahhhhhhh, sleep.
It would be a lie if I said I didn't eat like crazy that weekend. I spend most of Saturday picking up my luggage from the airport, calling repairmen and setting up appointments and just laying on my behind. And eating. And eating. And eating.
Monday was another day. Back to work and back to healthy eating. I jumped right back into my routine and ended the day having consumed 1541 calories and burned 2100 calories. I felt in control again and it felt good. Today has been good too.
I think I can do this.
Recently I was involved in an online conversation about food that made me think. It started innocently enough. It was not a bad conversation but I realized I had some feelings during the conversation that led to me examining my relationship with my way of eating.
It started with a status update on Facebook (doesn't it always?). I was in Nashville on business and posted that I was "having a "healthy" breakfast at IHOP before taking on Nashvegas". It was random and insignificant.
An old friend from high school posted the comment "What can you find at IHOP that is healthy?" I explained that they have a new "For Me" menu that uses Egg Beaters, Turkey Bacon and Sausage, and they post the nutritional information. He commented that he eats nothing but fruit for breakfast and can't imagine eating like that. I said that I do better with protein for breakfast rather than carbs. Then he sent me a message.
He advised that I think of breakfast not as an event but rather as just another part of the day. He then detailed how he has eaten fruit all day for 16 years and feels even better than he did at 15. He eats fruit first thing in the morning and then eats fruit every 30 minutes throughout the day until later in the evening when he has protein. I explained how my eating pattern works for me and that although I love fruit, the sugar makes me hungry and it doesn't stay with me for long. He shared his thoughts on eating and processed food and evolution and the bible, as did I, and then he said . . . "People get so offended when you they think you are trying to change the way they eat when really it's only that you care about them and their health".
Hmmmmmmm. I thought about why his whole tactic offended me a little bit. I thought about my personal relationship with food and why I am so protective of that relationship. I thought about how there is no one right way to eat and how you have to find the way that works for you.
When we share our way of eating, is it really because we care about others or because we feel the need to share our knowledge. Or is it our need to be right all the time?
I hope that as you read this blog, you understand that I share what works for me and only me. I have said that in many posts. I am definately no expert, just someone who has tried a lot of different ways to lose weight. I have found a way that works for me but I am learning and trying new things every day. Some things work FOR ME and some don't. But I share them because they MIGHT work for you.
I am thinking about what he said. I am not going to change to eating fruit all day but I am considering that I do tend to think of meals as events. Maybe I can get to the point one day where food is for sustenance rather than pure enjoyment. I'm not there yet.
I have been on vacation. It was a vacation from life, vacation from work and a vacation from my diet. My daughter and her friends were on spring break from their various colleges so we planned a girls trip to the beach with
moms and daughters. Now I am back from my very relaxing week and headed back to the the real world.
For the most part I was careful on my vacation when it came to eating. I was thoughtful about what I ate but I did not restrict myself. I was at the beach so it was easy to do seafood. I was the cook all week so I was able to control what I ate and how it was prepared. I used a lot of Cooking Light recipes that everyone could enjoy and they all loved the food I made. The few times we ate out, I passed up the Cheeseburger in Paradise and went for the grilled fish with steamed veggies. I ate steamed shrimp but also enjoyed baked oysters. I stepped out of bounds on occasion but it was a conscious choice. I ate dessert and I drank some pina coladas and had a few beers and enjoyed some chips and dip.
But the difference during this trip was I made the dessert and only made enough for one day rather than every day. I had a few chips and some dip rather than a bag of chips and a container of dip. I had one pina colada instead of the whole blender full. I shared an order of fries rather than getting my own. I brought my hula hoops and hooped on the beach. We went for a walk. I made an effort to stay moving rather than just sitting in a beach chair or on the couch.
But I will not be getting on the scales for a couple of weeks. I don’t feel like I gained, more likely I maintained. But because I reached a milestone of 50 pounds the week before I left for vacation, I don’t want to get wrapped up in the number on the scale or the inevitable guilt that might result. I don’t do guilt and I don’t need it affecting my progress. The next time I weigh, it will be a lower number than the last time.
Tomorrow I will be back to food tracking and wearing the bodybugg and attending dance classes and moving my butt more. I am excited to be back to my routine. I am thankful for the time I had with my daughter and her friends and my friends. But I love my routine of healthy choices and focused effort to make changes in my life. I really don’t want go back to my old way of living. I like things the way they are now. I have learned so much and have come so far. And I have a really long way to go so I know I can take a vacation and come right back and stay on track.
It was a good week.
