Ash Wednesday

It's my daughter's 11th birthday today. Happy birthday, Baby Bug!

It is also Ash Wednesday. And if you're a good Catholic girl.... well, you're probably not ready this. But if you're a regular Catholic girl, just doing the best you can, then you might be thinking about giving up something for Lent.

That's where I'm at right now. What am I going to give up? It needs to be something meaningful, a true sacrifice. But it also needs to be something achievable. There's no point in setting myself up for failure.

But here's the thing. I've already given up coffee and soda. I haven't been going out to fast food and I've cut out a lot of sugar. I don't have rice or pasta or bread. Foodwise, I really only have two vices: French fries and alcohol.

I ate my share of french fries while I was in Vegas last weekend. They're so good! They're my weakness. But I also drank my share of alcohol this weekend, too. The weekend would not have been as good without alcohol... or french fries.

So, I covet both of these indulgences. If I'm being honest, I probably covet alcohol more than french fries. So  it makes sense to give up alcohol, right?

Right.... but man. It's a long time until Easter. And there's crab feeds and birthdays  and basketball and baseball and girl scout cookie booths. Yeah... I just don't think I can do it.

Maybe I should just give up red meat instead.

weight loss while travelling, part 2

I had been worried about eating while on my trip. It was really hard when all the menus looked like this:

And then all the meals looked like this:

And then there was a whole lot of this mixed in:

But here's what worked for me.

I didn't eat any bread. Well, very little. I had a 1/4 of a croissant, and a bite of a danish. But no sandwiches and no rolls at dinner.

I had the dressing on the side. Actually, I was only able to do this with one salad, as the other salads I had came with the dressing on them and I didn't have a choice. Luckily, those were light vinaigrettes. But for the third night, they put the creamy dressing on the side. I said no thank you to dressing all together that night.

I didn't have any rice or potatoes. See that heap of potatoes in the picture above? Yeah, that stayed on the plate. I did eat about 10 truffle fries one night, but then I passed the rest around my dinner table. Let me tell you, those ten truffle fries were AMAZING.

I skipped dessert. I have a weakness for cheesecake, and they served that on the last night. I did have two or three bites of the cheesecake but I left the rest, and I said no thank you to dessert all together on the other nights.

I indulged when I wanted to. All this sacrifice was because I knew I was going to drink a whole lot. And I did.


The end result? I lost half a pound! Hey, when I thought I would be lucky not to gain, I'll take that!

liquid courage

So. I survived my work trip.

I drank a lot, and I ate very little. In fact, I probably ate TOO little, and I for SURE drank too much.

When it was time to be in a meeting, I was on. I was poised and professional. I contributed to the conversation without being overbearing.

After each day of meetings.... well, not so much.

The first night I was ok. I enjoyed several beverages but didn't go overboard.

In bed by a decent hour

The second night was a little worse. My team went bowling, and I am a terrible bowler. I drank several beers, hoping that I would get a little better. I didn't. But I was still able to maintain, and I didn't drink at dinner and only had one cocktail afterwards, so I was still ok.

The third night.... wow.

It was the roaring 20's costume party, and I was wearing a dress out of my comfort zone, along with two girls much younger, thinner, and prettier than I am. I needed some liquid courage.

Oh my. I was courageous.

It is a little comfort that several people went out AFTER the party and they did a few things that I KNOW I didn't do. I've also looked through several photos and I don't see anything incriminating. 

Ugh.


 

Packing

I'm sitting on my couch, with an open suitcase in front of me and laundry piled all around me. I have to pack for stupid work trip. It's giving me major anxiety.

This is going to be a conference filled with rich, beautiful people. They can afford designer wardrobes and personal trainers.

I am neither rich nor beautiful. My wardrobe is straight from Target. My personal trainer is You Tube.

And the clothes I do have are ill fitting. My big clothes are now too big but my skinny clothes are still too tight. And it's in the desert,  so it's going to be warm. It's a lot easier to hide  my size under a sweater than under a thin shirt. If only the conference was in another month or two, so I had a chance to lose another 10-20 pounds!

And the masquerade-- the friggin' 1920's themed  mystery dinner theater. Lord help me.

Other than the masquerade dinner, the conference is casual. So I have my dress, hose and shoes for the dinner. I have two pairs of jeans and a pair of capris for the other days. I have work out clothes in case I have the wild desire to exercise. I need a couple of nice shirts to wear with the jeans, and maybe a sundress to wear if we go out for drinks one night, and something to wear when lounging around the hotel....

Dang, I'm going to need to pack like four pairs of shoes. Good thing I'm checking my luggage.

weight loss while travelling

I'll be leaving soon to go on a week-long conference for work.

I know from past years that these conferences are very difficult if you are trying to eat healthy and lose weight. They give you three big meals a day, plus snacks are available all day long. There's an open bar at night, and the food is... not the healthiest.

Two weeks after my conference, I will be going to Las Vegas with some friends for a girls weekend. More food and more drinks.

These events were planned months ago. When I decided to go on this weight loss journey, I told myself if I had a really good January, I would allow myself to splurge in February by not worrying about what I ate or drank, and then I could get back on track.

I had a really good January.

But do I really want to undo all the hard work, just for a couple of days of fun?

No, I don't think so.

I think I'll be ok, not drinking any coffee or soda. I know they'll have water and tea. Limiting myself to one cocktail in the evening might be tough-- let me tell you, the people at these conferences can drink! But still, I think I'll be ok.

Meals will be harder. Meals are eaten with the group. I remember breakfast being served buffet style-- eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, lots of pastries. I don't remember any vegetables, but I think there was fruit. I think I'll be ok with that. I'll eat eggs and wheat toast, maybe a banana.

Lunches were either a working boxed lunch (like a Panera sandwich, chips, and an apple), and I think one day they served grilled chicken and burgers. I think that will be ok, too. I don't remember there being a salad option, but there must have been. I can eat my burger and my panera sandwich with no bread, pass on the chips, look for salad.

Dinners were.... gosh. I don't really remember. I think there were some carving stations, so that should be ok. I remember there being a taco bar. Lots of rolls, cheeses, cold cuts. Again, I don't remember there being any salads or vegetables, but there must have been. Maybe I just passed by them last year, because who wants to eat vegetables?

I think if I can remain flat, and just not gain any weight that week, I'll be ok.



 

I want to be the only one

My husband went to the grocery store the other day, getting our groceries for the week. Part of the key to weight loss is planning ahead, so we make our menu for the week and then buy all the groceries at once.

As I was putting the groceries away, I noticed that he didn't buy the case of beer that he normally buys each week. "Hey Babe, where's your 805?" I asked.

My husband informed me that he decided to quit drinking. "You're trying to lose weight, and I support you," he said. "You've been working hard, so I wanted to try, too."

I don't know why, but this kind of upsets me.

I love that he supports me. But I'm doing so well, and now he's going to stop drinking beer and probably lose 20 pounds in one weekend. I don't know why this is so bothersome to me. Why can't we both ose weight? Why can't we both be successful?

I don't know, but we can't. I want to be the only successful one.

This makes me want to eat a whole can of Pringles.

Eating Dinner at Someone Else's House

We went to my parents' house last night for my stepmother's birthday. This was the first time we had seen them since Christmas.

They didn't know that I was trying to lose weight, nor did they notice that I had lost any. But that's ok. I'm so tall, that you really can't tell I've lost anything until at least 20 pounds.

Because this was my stepmother's birthday, she got to choose the menu. She chose spaghetti, chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce, and an ice cream cake with red velvet cake and chocolate ice cream.

I needed to eat, and I couldn't bring my own food. So, what do you do when you're eating at someone else's house  and you're at their mercy? Here's what I did:

* I filled up on salad. My grandmother always makes a salad with every meal, and it usually goes untouched. I filled my plate with lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, and all the other yummy ingredients in the salad. No dressing needed-- the avocado had enough fat to break down the lettuce.

* I kept my water glass filled. My family must think I am a huge drinker. My grandfather had a glass of champagne waiting for me when I arrived. That was ok, I had planned to have one glass, and I had budgeted that in to my day. But 30 minutes later, my father wondered why I hadn't refilled my glass. Then my stepmother wanted to give me a glass of wine at dinner. When I said no thank you, my grandfather accused me of being a "fuddy duddy." But I kept my water glass filled at all times and sipped and was a lot easier to pass on a second glass that way.

* I had a little of everything. I'm not rude. If my grandmother spends all afternoon making spaghetti and meat sauce, you better believe I'm going to eat some. But nobody said I had to eat all of it! I had a serving spoon full of spaghetti, half a chicken breast (with the delicious mushroom cream sauce), and a whole lost of salad. I probably had half of what the other adults had, but it was still enough to satisfy me.

* I enjoyed dessert. Did you think I wasn't going to have a piece of birthday cake? Most of the time, I don't even LIKE sweets. I'm more of a salty Pringles girl. But it was a party, and I had a small slice. It was the best ice cream cake I had ever had.

So that was how I enjoyed my evening, without any guilt!