But in real life, it’s a bitch.
“IT” being working (and giving 100%), being a mom (giving 100%), being a wife, friend, daughter and sister (giving 100%) and being good to me (100%).
Sometimes, something has to go. Last week, well, it was everything!
Except friend. I was good at that!
At my conference, I actually did pretty well – MUCH better than I used to do when I traveled. I learned a lot about being healthy and traveling. I didn’t take or buy a bunch of junk food. I didn’t eat the hotel breakfast or the conference breakfast just because it was there, and I didn’t care what anyone thought about me bringing my peanut butter and english muffin and banana!
The biggest obstacle for me following my plan was that, in order to save expenses, I had to car pool.
Which meant I ate where everyone else ate.
And no one wanted to drive me to the gym to work out.
And for some reason, when this particular group of work friends gets together, there is much drinking and merriment.
So…the rundown of tips.
1. Come as prepared as possible to eat your usual breakfast – I took english muffins, peanut butter, and fruit. My friends thought that was hysterical until they saw the lame-ass continental breakfast, both at the hotel and the conference. Then they were begging for my peanut butter! Which I generously shared and acted only a little smug about. Starting your day with your usual breakfast sets you up for success and healthy choices for the rest of the day.
2. As for conference-provided food – ugh. The conference provided lunch both days and I skipped it both days. It just wasn’t appetizing. There were a couple of cute restaurants nearby so we walked there and ate. I was able to make healthier choices – and try new things, Pulled pork with mango salsa – delish! I’ll be recreating that for sure! But if you are stuck eating the provided food, stay out of the bread basket and the dessert table, and the rest of the meal will probably be fairly healthy. Usually chicken, a grain and some veggies. Not awful. Scrape the salt-filled sauce off if you can.
3. Take a laptop and an exercise DVD with you, and decide ahead of time when you’re going to do it. Or, if the hotel has an exercise facility, USE IT. The hotel where we stayed had no areas around it that were conducive to walking – and no exercise room – so it kind of sucked. It was very easy to get off track.
4. Drinking. Sigh. Alcohol has a lot of calories. Mixers usually have more. I’m not sure if doing shots was really a viable alternative to drinking mixed drinks, but it worked pretty well – and I drank water between drinks so I didn’t get a hangover. The good thing was that I was the only one who thought to bring food and, by sharing it with everyone, I didn’t have a bunch of stuff in my room, tempting me. I think the thing to do (not that I did it) is to limit drinking to one night, choose the lowest calories drinks you can, and don’t have a lot of high-calorie snacks around (Though a little bit of food to mitigate the effects of alcohol on an empty stomach might be called for!)
5. Take water with you everywhere!! As far as I’m concerned, water and sleep are the best weight-loss aids around!
6. Try and go to bed on time!
7. Give yourself a bit of a break. It’s NOT easy – no matter where you are. Do the best you can with what you have, and decide how you will improve next time.
Bottom line – I gained back 3 of my seven pounds, but I lost them in less than a week. Not all bad, next time I will be more careful with drinking.
