[synger]

Saturday we are heading to Michigan to visit my family for a week.

Good news: we're sharing a beach house with my siblings and their families, so there will be lots of swimming, walking, hiking, boating to do. Gem will have a BALL with her cousins. She's the youngest of the bunch, and the darling of them all. My dad is getting older, and can barely see and hear, and is on oxygen. But he's all excited about seeing her. He's even pushed his doctor's timeframe so he can get his new hearing aids in time for our visit.

Bad news: Four days of travel with little opportunity to exercise and only restaurant food to eat. No computer access, so no updates or Fitday or shoulders to lean on when tempted. No privacy for Hunter and me when it comes time to do the Baby Dance. A week of being the weird (we like sci-fi fantasy, and do medieval reenacting), conservative religious ones in the family, and biting our tongues when conversations turn to political or religious topics.

The Plan:
write down what I eat, then post it here and on Fitday when I return
Strive to move every day -- walking and swimming are things I can easily do
Choose the healthiest foods, even if the options may not be what I would prefer
Allow myself to sample some ice cream and fudge, so I don't feel deprived
Take a deep breath before plunging into a conversation I'm uncomfortable with.
If Hunter gets into it with my brother, leave the room.

See you in a week!!

[taekwondomom]

Originally Posted by Synger

Bad news: Four days of travel with little opportunity to exercise and only restaurant food to eat.

My suggestion here regarding restaurant food: Opt for kids meals or salads and veggies (it's what I do when I eat at work) Not sure what restaurants you'll be visiting but I know Cracker Barrel (I'm a server at one so I'm very familiar with the menu-LOL of course, I can't remember if there are any Cracker Barrels in Michigan or not) has a 4 item vegetable plate which is my favorite thing to order. I get the baked potato (plain), baby carrots, and two tossed salads with fat-free ranch. I use some of the fat-free ranch and lots of black pepper on my potato. Otherwise I get the kids grilled chicken tenders meal with a tossed salad. Both are really yummy but the grilled chicken isn't really as low fat as it could be as it gets cooked on the flat grill with some butter thrown on top. You can ask them to skip the butter and cook them with a tiny tiny bit of olive oil though, that would be a healthier fat at least. Just remember, you are a paying guest and most decent restaurants will try make adjustments in how they cook/prepare/serve the food because they want to make you happy! So don't be afraid to speak up.

Of course, if you have a good sized cooler you could stop at grocery stores along the way to purchase ice for the cooler, bottled water, healthy snacks, sandwich or salad fixings then stop a rest areas to eat. While you're at the rest stop you could walk briskly around the picnic area or play with a ball/frisbee etc. This idea may even save some money.

Hope this helps. You have a good plan and wanted to give you extra ideas on how to stick with it.
Have a fun trip!