So here I am, on a completely different continent for a two-week vacation, and I can't stay away from this board. (actually, I wanted to find out how the San Antonio Spurs did so I sprung for Internet...can't believe some hotels still charge for it).
Vacation is definitely one of my triggers. It's like someone said "you're on vacation - do whatever you want!" And I do. I went nuts on my last two vacations, and normally I stay in pretty good control. So this time around, I am doing everything I can to stay away from that "anything goes" attitude, while still trying to enjoy a different culture and different food. So my strategy is to eat as healthy as I reasonably can, while still enjoying some of the not-so-healthy specialties over here - and exercise, exercise, exercise!
I have struggled, but at the same time I have had some big wins IMO. On the airplane, I ate some of the nuts but not quite half, and had the chicken salad instead of the chicken sandwich. And when the flight attendant brought around a cookie, I said no. Big win
Not as good on the flight from PHI to LIS, as I ate everything served to me and ate the breakfast on the flight yesterday. However, in the afternoon, I walked non-stop through the streets of Lisbon. Had to have walked at least six miles. I ate lunch, which was roast pork (if I had more than 4 ounces I would be shocked - pork must be hard to come by over here), peas and carrots, and a few roasted potatoes. I wanted a pastry but didn't get one, as I decided to wait until I got to a pastry shop that was well known - Portugal is known for its pastries. Big win
I found a local grocery store and went in, because I thought I had forgotten my toothbrush. I love going to stores in other countries; it's fun to see the different brands and the different foods they have. I went down the cookie aisle and the candy aisle, and thought I would pick up a box or two of cookies. Just to try something different. But I didn't - I thought "I'm only on my first day here and I want to binge??? NO!" So I walked out of the store with just a toothbrush. Big win
My room has a minibar, and there are three big boxes of Toblerone in there. I came so close to opening them up, and just replacing one of them with a box I could buy at a store for less $$$ so I wouldn't have to pay minibar prices. Then I looked at the calories. They are sneaky in Europe; they put down the number of calories in a serving in plain lettering on the package. But I'm smart - I looked at the number of calories in the total package...over 500. Uh-uh! My personal goal is to keep those Toblerone right where they are right now. Big win
For dinner, I wanted the apple crumble with the fish stew I ordered. But I didn't order it. Big win
Instead I had the fruit salad, which was actually just canned fruit with some fresh berries on it. Rip-off. I ate only the fresh berries. The seafood stew couldn't have been too bad; it was just fish and jumbo shrimp in a tomato broth with onions and red peppers. And I didn't have much of the broth. I did have two pieces of bread and some butter, but since I didn't eat the syrupy fruit salad and stayed away from dessert, I don't feel too bad.
Today, I was going to go to the fitness center but was too tired. I went to Sintra, half an hour from Lisbon, and basically built on a hill, so I committed to doing lots of hill walking. Which I did. I traipsed through palace after palace, tower after tower, and garden after garden. The entire town is build on hills. I laughed inwardly as my surprisingly physically fit self conquered step after step on each stair and hill, while skinny people were winded. Easily walked 4 and a half hours, primarily on hills and stairs. Big win
The town is known for two pastries - queijadas (a cream cheesy, sugary kind of tart like cheesecake) and trasseveiros (a pastry filled with an egg and almond custard). This is one of those times when you have to try the local specialty, so after lunch (I had a bifada - a pork sandwich, again with very little pork, and some crusty bread - that's all I had had so far so I don't feel bad), I bought one queijada and one trasseveiro. I laughed when I saw the queijada - it was the size of one of those two-bite brownies - no way I'm getting fat again on THAT. The trasseveiro was bigger but not gigantic. OMG, the trasseverio was worth every calorie. I wanted to order four of each like I normally would do, but was very conservative. Big win
Finally (yes, finally) I was once again tempted to eat something fattening for dinner, and have dessert. But I had a grilled mixed seafood platter with vegetables and three small chunks of boiled potatoes. They must boil the taters in crack, because they were quite good. The seafood was probably quite high in calories since it was primarily oily fish (salmon, I think mackerel, not sure about another one but it was oily). But healthy. And no dessert - big win
. I had a Portuguese beer, just a small glass, but it tasted wonderful since I was terribly thirsty. And it was cold, which is rare in Europe.
It hasn't been easy, but I think that exercising and thinking twice about my choices has made a difference. Sorry for the long post, but will probably not be able to post again for a while, and I found writing about my challenges to be therapeutic
A vacationer's challenge (Long)
