[KittyKatFan]

So I'm on my first day of "vacation" - I'm out of town, but due to some family obligations coming up in a couple of days, it's not really all fun. I will be away from my normal routine today thru Sunday. Since I am still learning how to handle situations that are outside of my normal routine, I am going to try to do a report every day or two to hold myself accountable.

Did well in the morning. When I got off the first flight and was waiting for two hours in the airport for the next flight, I resisted the temptation to eat because I knew there would be lunch on the plane. Good for me! On the next flight, I had the choice between a teriyaki salmon salad and a chicken quesadilla. I chose the salad. It was a pretty big piece of salmon, maybe 5-6 oz., on top of mixed greens, a couple of snap peas and a few mandarin slices. It was served with a bag of oriental won ton crisps, a bag of pita chips, and a container of hummus. I ate the salad and skipped the hummus, pita chips, and won ton crisps. The salad dressing was a 1-oz container of a sweet type of dressing; I had half the container. After lunch, the flight attendant was offering warm cookies, which I passed on. I think I did well.

After the plane landed, I drove 90 minutes to my final destination. Not too many healthy lunch choices, so I settled for a grilled chicken Caesar salad from McDonald's. The dressing packet is 2oz; I had about half the packet. I took off about half of the Parmesan cheese. That was it. Except for drinking too much diet soda, I think I have done ok so far today.

After checking into the hotel, I cleaned up, got into shorts and a T shirt and set out for a long walk along the coast. So refreshing; love th sea air. The walk was much longer than I expected. I started at 4:18 p.m and finished at 8:00 p.m. I did not stop except to tighten my shoelaces. I would guess 3.2 to 3.4 mph but cannot say for sure. Probably about 10-11 miles, but was easy because it was mainly level or sandy surfaces.

I did so-so for dinner. Ordered room service. Not an xpansive menu, but I asked the guy who answered the phone whether I could make one choices not on the menu and he was accommodating. I ordered a shrimp cocktail. It came with 5 or 6 shrimp, cocktail sauce, and aioli. I had an extremely tiny bit of the aoili just to try it, and probably a total of half a tsp of cocktail sauce.

I asked for extra grilled veggies. I got a huge plate of them. Unfortunately they were sautéed; I could see and taste bathe butter. But I figured that even with butter on them they were probably pretty healthy. It was about two cups' worth go carrots, asparagus, and zucchini. I ate them all. Then a grilled salmon dish, served with flageolet beans in some kind of mole sauce. I ate the salmon. I had to try the beans, even if I shouldn't have. I have no idea how many calories were in the sauce, but I had about a cup of the beans.

The worst mistake, other than the beans, was that I had a small piece of fresh sourdough with about 2/3 of a pat of butter. But it was delicious.

Overall, I'm pretty proud of Day 1.
Positives: I stayed under control for breakfast and lunch, eating salads with decent proteins and limited unhealthy carbs. I got a lot of exercise. Not strenuous like I normally do, but I think it was therapeutic. I was able to turn down a yummy cookie, pita chips and won ton salad toppings. And I didn't put much calorie laden sauce on the shrimp. Salmon was healthy enough too.

Could've done better: should have avoided the bread. I was no longer hungry when I ate it and didn't need the butter or carbs. Should have eaten fewer flageolet beans supine the sauce they were in was unknown to me -could ave been 500 cals for all I know. I probably could have one without the shrimp altogether. Need to drink more water.

[KittyKatFan]

As I read this and see the auto spell errors, I am embarrassed. I hate the spelling auto correct feature

[KittyKatFan]

I will do Day 2 (so far) on this thread.

Got up and went to a nature preserve for a day of walking and hiking. Successfully avoided ordering yummy pastries for breakfast and shunned the pancakes and French toast. I wnt to my favorite bagel place and got one sesame bagel. They are so good, they don't need any toppings. I took it along with some later for the walk.

Beautiful day, with ocean on one side and redwoods on the other. Walked for an hour and 45 minutes, moderate pace, and went to my car to eat the bagel. Relaxed and enjoyed the view for half an hour, then got out to do more walking. The second part of the day was a bit more strenuous; true hiking with a few challenging hills and slopes. Was out there for another 3 hours and 15 minutes, then I as tired and hungry. I wanted a sandwich, but since I had a carb-loaded breakfast, I went for another McDonald's chicken Caesar salad. I used about half the dressing packet and took a lot of the parmesan cheese off the salad. I parked near the ocean and enjoyed the view while I ate.

This evening, I went to Whole Foods and packed a box from the salad bar. I got a really big box, filled it with romaine and spring mix, and added raw shredded zucchini and carrots, and raw broccoli. I put two tbsp each of chickpeas, black beans and kidney beans. I added about two oz of fresh fruit, and some marinated mushrooms. For protein, I added about four oz of shredded chicken and 3 oz of tuna. I got two kinds of dressing since I wasn't sure I would like them, but both are pretty low cal vinegarettes. I was going to get a grilled chicken breast from te deli but nobody waited on me so I left. I successfully avoided the yummy desserts and bread section.

As I added up the calories, I think I am actually going to be low by at least a couple hundred, which is disappointing. I knew I should have bought some granola bars or extra fruit. I didn't buy any snacks, and the room service minibar only has M&M's, Hershey, and Pringles. There are some cashews, but they are probably roasted in oils...

What I did well: I avoided the temptation to eat pastries and pancakes! I ate the bagel with no added toppings. Tons of walking and hiking. salad for both lunch and dinner.

Opportunities for improvement: could have had eggs instead of a high carb bagel, I suppose, but I loved the bagel so I feel no remorse! Probably should have eaten more before/while hiking, but I had no idea I was gonna be out there for so long. Not having a stash of snacks, because now I'm in a bind.

But I'm still proud that I ave done well for two days . The real challenge will be tomorrow, Friday and Sapunday though...

[RazzleBerry]

Good job! I think you're doing great on vacation!

[skinnypie]

Hope you are having a great time, it sounds like you are. You are doing a great job whilst being on vacation. I would have certianly bit the stewardeses hand off if she was offering me warm cookies. And as for pastries and pancakes I probably would have sucumbed.
Im going on holiday (as us brit chicks call it) in a few months and I'am already thinking what I'm going to eat, I think its going to be quite tricky but I will do my best. However being on holiday is a time to treat yourself so if I have a piece of chocolate cake one night I'm not going to fret over it.

[KittyKatFan]

Day 3 started off very early, waking up at 6 am. I didn't intend to get up til 7, but once again, intense cravings for breakfast foods kept me awake. I thought I might as well head to the fitness center, which I did.

I used the elliptical and the treadmill, all the while thinking about whether I could eat French toast or pastries. I sound like a broken record, but I have such temptations. If I weren't so close to te one-year ark, I would probably give in. I told myself if I wanted to cheat, then do it. But when I went ack to my room, I did everything I could to avoid eating: showering, finishing my book, playing games on the iPhone.

My cousin came in the night before, and we made plans for lunch and dinner, so I didn't feel right eating breakfast too. I was mad I hadn't picked up some low-cal snacks to keep me going. Wen she was ready to go, we headed out. I was starved but proud of my resistance.

We went to a Mexican restaurant I like for lunch. I had...a salad with grilled prawns. Just mixed greens, about six grilled shrimp, a few red pepper rings, and an unknown dressing on the side. Avoided the chips totally.

We went to the store to pick up snacks. I got a box of Kashi dark chocolate cherry granola bars and two fuji apples for my room.

We then went to the beach. We walked along the beach, not very fast, but to my surprise we walked 2.5 miles each way! When done, I ate a granola bar.

For dinner, we went to my favorite restaurant down here. Fresh, oak-grilled seafood. Yum. I started with a delicious appetizer: grilled baby octopus. I know, not for everybody, but if you like calamari you would like this. So tender, so flavorful and spiced just right. For the main course, I had oak-grilled halibut. It was probably an 8 oz portion. I asked for extra veggies instead of pasta as the side dish and got sautéed fresh broccoli, cauliflower, and one slice of carrot. It hada tiny bit of sauce on top.

I got back to my room, and to my excitement and horror (both emotions a once!), the maid had left two small chocolates. I couldn't resist. They were only .32 oz each so I only did bout 77 calories worth of damage and it was delicious. I will probably have an apple enforce going to bed.

I am extremely proud of myself today!

Wins: tons of exercise. Avoided naughty, sweet carbs for one more day . Ate pretty healthy: a salad, lots of veggies, and lots of grilled seafood.

Opportunities for improvement: skipping breakfast when I was very hungry...could ave been a disaster. Not enough fruit. Having more calories late in the day instead of earlier on.

Three good days so far! Tomorrow will be the biggest challenge yet though,

[KittyKatFan]

Day 4: woke up early. Same story, wanting pastries and/or French toast. Same story, pushed those thoughts aside and thought about eating an apple and granola bar instead. Decided to kill time by showering, and when I got out of the shower I was running late so I ended up not having anything.

Checked out of hotel for long drive up north. Picked up a sesame bagel from my face shop again, but didn't eat it then. At the halfway point of the drive, I ate the apple. Upon arrival in the town where the relatives live, I ate the bagel. That had to tie me over til dinner because we needed to get to the relatives' house.

About an hour before dinner, the host brought out a bunch of snacks. I avoided most of them but had a pretzel thin. When dinner was served, I ate 5-6 oz. of the grilled London broil, four mallish scampi style shrimp (grilled), and about a cup of raw broccoli/cauliflower/carrots. I was feeling proud of myself when they announced dessert: apricot cobbler made with fresh apricots, that the host's mother baked. Ugh. I couldn't turn that down, it would be rude. So when she served a bowl, I said "just half that amount for me!" and that's what I got. She wasn't upset, I don't think. I wanted the whole big bowl but couldn't. I put a tiny bit of the canned whipped cream on it. I had about a cupful of cobbler...yum.

After I got to the hotel, I added up the cals as best I could, and based on those numbers I had a Kashi bar. Did great today! Can't believe it...just one more ay of challenge to go and I will be done with the trip -and week 51!

[gailr42]

Wow, Kittykatfan, you are awesome! Reading about your vacation is fun and you think about exactly what I would be thinking about - food!!!!

[KittyKatFan]

Thanks! I can say that I have just returned from my trip and for the most part did ok today too. Success

I met a couple of relatives for breakfast at a chain restaurant. I had looked at the online menu ahead of time and ordered scrambled egg whites, a ground turkey patty and a side of fruit. That was very hard because they both ordered cinnamon French toast platters and, as you know if you have been reading this, I have been craving French toast all week! But I got through it and went to the airport.

Before boarding the plane I had a Kashi granola bar since I didn't think we would be served food. I was wrong. Out came the bowl of mixed nuts. I didn't avoid them like I did on the flight out, but ate about half the container. I shouldn't have, but they looked good. 200 cals down the drain...

For lunch, they ran out of the salad option, which p*ssed me off, so I was stuck with the chicken quesadilla platter. I ate half of the quesadilla and ate the chicken and cheese out of the other half. I ate the small salad and used about half of the 1-oz dressing container. I ate about a tsp of the hummus and five pita chips. I did manage to avoid the cookie.

On the connecting flight, they passed out a 130-cal carb-loaded snack mix. I ate it, and on the way home, I had another Kashi bar. I'm estimating 1700-1800 cals, which is higher than normal for me, but this was the only day I went that high and I did the best I could with the limited food options.

Overall though, I'm very proud of how I did on this trip. I proved that I can eat reasonably sensibly when I am away from home, which is a big victory for me (especially since I found out I am gonna have to travel for business in the next couple of weeks )

Major NSV and a successful end to Week 51!!!

[Arctic Mama]

Ugh, this all sounds so delicious! I think you're doing great with your choices and accountability, keep it up!