Keeping It In Check On The Road

Gary & I leave for our road trip this Saturday!  While I want to enjoy myself tremendously {especially when it comes to food - Oregon has soooo many cheese shops & wineries} I do NOT want to undo all the hard work I've put toward my health the past 7 weeks!

To accomplish this, I've come up with some guidelines for me to follow while on vacation.

• Stay active.  Sightseeing can burn lots of calories when you are doing a majority of it on foot!  On the days we will be doing more driving than exploring I will either hit up the hotel gym or do some cardio in our hotel room {I am bringing my workout clothes and some easy workout equipment}.  Even 20-30 minutes is better than nothing!
• Eat a hearty breakfast.  Personally, I do better throughout the day once I've eaten a good breakfast.  All the hotels we're staying at offer a free breakfast, hopefully offering more than just waffles & pastries.  Which leads to.....
• Bring our own food. All our hotels offer mini fridges & microwaves, so we are loading up a cooler full of healthy snacks to bring with us.  If all else fails and the breakfast sucks, we can enjoy a waffle with our own boiled eggs and kale chips.
• Limit Indulgences.  Yes, I want to try VooDoo Doughnut.  But I don't need to load the cooler full of them, so I can enjoy one for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!
• At times, just IGNORE my guidelines. I think this is the one I will struggle with the most because I tend to have a "do or die" attitude.  I need to remember that we are on vacation for 2 weeks.  I don't need to have a salad or a side of steamed broccoli for every meal {even though these are 2 things I truly love}.  I can stick to my food rules 100% of the time when I get back from vacation.  

***How do you handle eating when on vacation?  Do you stick to normal eating or have the belief "I'm on vacation; I deserve to eat what I want?"***

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Please tell me you have David Bowie singing in your head now!  If you have ME singing in your head...I'm sooo sorry!


The past few months I have felt terribly lost inside.  No matter what I did, I was gaining weight fast due to my hormones being out of whack and not-so-great eating or exercising habits. That led to a horrible hit on my self esteem, which made me lash out in different ways.


Finally, I had enough.  I sat down with Gary and outlined a plan for us to follow to finally make a REAL change in our lives.


I feel like we're deep enough into our plan {4 weeks} for me to tell you about it.


CLEAN EATING


Except for 4 meals this whole month {including our Anniversary Dinner}, I have cooked every meal we eat, including breakfast at 5am.  It's HARD working full time, then coming home and making dinner, but 3 things have really helped.

1. Prep - I've been making 2 week meal plans, the spending the weekend chopping as many veggies up as I can so I am not so overwhelmed when I get home.
2. GARY - Misery loves company {especially in the kitchen}.  Instead of complaining about eating clean and begging for In-N-Out, Gary has stepped up and helped in any way he can.  He is now a MASTER of making a Cucumber Salad, which has been a side dish quite a bit lately.  He even makes up some for a snack at work.  
3. KISS - Not the band.  Keep It Simple, Stupid!!  Our dinners have not been very exciting lately.  Only a few ingredients, focusing on lean protein and veggies galore. Snacks are easy, too - cucumber salad, boiled eggs, etc.

ACTIVITY

Gary & I have come to the realization that there IS so much room for activities....in our daily schedule.


Can we dedicate 2-3 hours a day?  No way.  But we CAN take a 2-mile walk or a 5-mile bike ride.  30 minutes a day, 4-5 times a week is what we have been achieving.


ATTITUDE


Taking control of your health can be hard and stressful, to say the least, but having PCOS makes it a million times worse.  I've had 2 doctors tell me that in order to lose weight I'll have to work twice as hard as a woman my age with no hormonal issues.  It used to make me want to have a fit, but what good does that do me?  Instead of focusing on weight loss directly I am now focusing on changing my attitude to reflect my need for fueling my body.


Healthy, REAL food = 90% of the time
Desserts & treats {planned} = 10% of the time with no guilt!


Saying "no" to a free Starbucks or a deli sandwich SUCKS when you have the attitude that you are turning down delicious treats.  But when you turn it around and realize that neither of these will fuel you in the same way homemade food will, it's empowering!  


Saying "no" to these spur of the moment treats lets me say yes to treats that I know are coming up, like this delicious homemade chocolate cake with strawberries that one of our staff members daughter made for us.

I knew this was coming for 2 days, so when I craved chocolate the night before it was easy to tell myself that I only had to wait a few hours before I got to indulge.


SUPPORT


Poor Gary has gone through so many food changes with me over the past 12 years. There was my Weight Watchers stage, where I bought all the pre-packaged food they told me was so good for me.  There was the Atkins Diet, where I are NO carbs.  Now it's focusing on lean proteins and oodles of veggies.  He has been a trooper through it all, but this is the first time he is REALLY on board and being a part of the change.  


It's not just Gary though.


My mom now know that when we come over for dinner, there does not always have to be dessert.  And if she wants to serve dessert, we are fine with fruit.




It's the support of my co-workers, who know I bring my own lunch to work, so they don't tempt me with Chinese takeout.  


Signing up to run 5k's and trying to train as often as possible with my friends gives me support AND keeps me accountable!


And definitely, it's the support of all my amazing blog friends!  Bloggers are a unique bunch, I am finding out, because you all want to gain readers and have a following {drink the Kool-Aid...mine's organic!}, but we all "get" each other in a way no one else can.  Am I struggling to find the motivation to workout?  All I need to do is log on Twitter or read the comments in previous blog posts and I see how much my "Blends" mean to me!


So what does clean eating, activity, attitude and support lead to??


Besides a positive outlook on life, it means a 14 pound weight loss for Gary and a little over 8 pound weight loss for me!!  


There's still a ways to go in my journey, but I didn't gain this weight overnight, so I sure as heck will not lose it overnight.


Thanks for sticking around as I document my journey to a healthy life!