Well now that I’ve given you all the scoop about my fun and (too) exciting holiday, it’s time to recap the food and exercise aspect of it. Because as much as I’d like to say that I don’t think about food all the time…I do! And since Christmas and vacation are pretty much my two biggest challenges, well, when you add them both together…holy temptation, Batman!
And the reality is, the temptation proved to be too much for me. I just could not successfully resist all those sweets and all that food, especially when dealing with the shenanigans of my family. :p I ate a ton of food over the holiday, much more than I should have. But to my credit, I did do two things right: 1) I tracked everything, and 2) I exercised every day. Some days, twice!
Let’s break it down:
Wednesday: We got on the road late and ended up stopping at Bob Evans. I had the Wildfire Fried Chicken Salad (yes, I could’ve gotten the grilled, but I just didn’t feel like it!). Still, it was a salad, right? Because my husband surprised me by driving straight through (13 hours!), I ended up staying up all night. (I don’t sleep well in cars; plus, I was working on a project.) So I ended up snacking on things I had packed for the kid, which wasn’t ideal.
Thursday (Christmas Eve): We had breakfast at Waffle House before we landed at my parents, and let me tell you, I will never go there again. I love biscuits (LOVE ‘em!!), and I was excited to get a real biscuit in the south. Instead, I got this:
What the hell is that?! Biscuits aren’t supposed to be flat. Blech. I only ate half. I went to bed when we got home, and by the time I got up, my step-mother had “appetizers galore” ready for Christmas eve dinner. Lots of frozen things from GFS, and then plenty of homemade cookies and a chocolate cake my sister-in-law bought at Costco. Which, by the way, was AWESOME. Fattening as hell, but awesome. :p
Friday (Christmas Day): It started with mimosas (because Christmas) and then turned into more snacky-appetizer like things. And cookies. More chocolate cake. Cheesecake later. BUT—turkey, ham, and sweet potatoes. That’s healthy, right? 😉 Especially when paired with stuffing and green bean casserole, ha ha!
Saturday: I had my usual breakfast of coffee/cappuccino and an English muffin every day, but after that, my eating usually fell apart. I mentioned the local restaurant we’d gone to in Raleigh (Beasley’s Chicken and Honey). The wait was long, but the food was great. I actually chose to get a salad, but because my dad was insistent that “you must have the chicken,” I got their market salad with fried chicken and honey on top.
I had no idea how to count it, but I guessed, and let me tell you—it was totally worth it! I also split a biscuit with JJ—and that was a biscuit worth eating! 🙂 For dinner, we went to a local karaoke bar, and I got a salmon wrap.
I never get seafood (no one in my family likes it but me, boo hoo), so I figured I might as well enjoy it while I could. 😉 The steak fries were good, too, although not quite as healthy. And then I discovered that this little dive karaoke bar had homemade maple pecan bread pudding on the menu. So of course I got it!!!! Again, worth every calorie. (And I did share with my husband.) I should’ve taken a picture, but I was too intent on eating it. 😉
Sunday: Oh, Sunday. How I regret you. I didn’t regret the fun pool party on December 27th, no, never that. But the food. Specifically, the hot dogs. Hot dogs and I don’t get along. I know this. And yet…I didn’t just have a hot dog. I had two. And tater tots (my weakness). And a cheeseburger. And a Krispy Kreme (because some fool brought two dozen). Are you getting a picture of how bad my eating was that day? Well, don’t shellac the canvas just yet, because it’s not over. After the party, we stopped to do some shopping, and then we had Mexican. Great Mexican. But holy mother of stuffed Stephanies, I was so full. I was “Thanksgiving full,” from back in the day when I actually would eat too much at Thanksgiving. It’s been many years since I ate so much that I felt that uncomfortable, and I was cursing myself the whole damn night. (Also cursing myself for letting JJ overeat right alongside me, especially at 4am when he threw up in his cousin’s bunk bed. Ugh.)
Monday: Back to reality, or at least, as much as you can be in reality while on vacation. English muffin and cappuccino for breakfast, and then a salad for both lunch and dinner. I was 300 calories under my goal for this day.
Tuesday: Our drive home. I had great intentions of being healthy, but then I was informed of the power outage/flooded basement fiasco, and all willpower went out the window. I did have a delicious dinner at TGIFridays:
That peach sangria was AWESOME. The chicken and shrimp with cheesy mashed potatoes was good, too. Also, the brownie obsession, but I ate it too fast to get a picture. 😉
Overall, a pretty awful week for eating. But I tracked everything in My Fitness Pal, and I even logged it all in Weight Watchers when I got back. How bad was it? Check out my super-nifty Excel chart.
Ha ha, that’s just Monday through Sunday—it doesn’t even count the last two days of my vacation. But you can see that on Sunday, I had over 2800 calories! Yikes. In fact, when I logged my food on Sunday, here’s what MFP had to say to me:
Ha! Guess I know what to do if I ever need to bulk up to make the next weight class in wrestling. 😉
Do I regret some of my eating choices? Yes, definitely, mostly Sunday and those damn hot dogs that made me feel awful all afternoon. :/ But despite all that over-indulgence, I did do one thing right: I exercised! I ran all but one day while I was gone, and dude, let me just tell you…running in North Carolina is totally different than running in Michigan. How different, like, 239 feet different!
And then add the 70 degree temps and 100% humidity on top, and holy crap…I really thought I was going to die for the first few runs. My parents’ neighborhood is by a river, and the hills (ridges, I guess they call them) are just insane for a flat-lands girl like me. But I did it, every day except for one, and I had a hell of a calorie burn to show for it. Not enough to make up for my bad eating, but still… :p
So what was the final outcome of my vacation extravaganza?
For those keeping track at home, that’s a 3.2 pound gain. 😮 And that was two days after I got back. I thought a couple of days of healthy eating my help soften the blow, but no such luck. :/
I know it could have been worse, and I know my story isn’t uncommon. Staying on program is hard at the holidays, especially for a sugar-lover like me. But I’m still mad at myself for going so overboard. Yes, I know most people will say it’s water weight or whatever, and it’ll come off quickly after a week or so back on track, but I’m just mad at myself for getting into this situation. It took me 3 months to lose that last 6 pounds, and in just one week, I put half of it back on. Arghhhhhh!!!
But I’m committed to getting back to goal (again…*sigh*), and I’m hopeful it won’t take me quite as long this time!
Okay, enough whining. For the next post…the “project” will finally be revealed. 😀 Thanks so much for reading!
Man, I think a two pound gain with that much fun isn’t so bad. I love how active you were. Just think what Old Stephanie might have done. You are so far from that. Go you!
I commend you for tracking all that. I’ve found that when I do that it may not stop me overeating at the time, but it helps me get back on track. Somehow just the acts of tracking and being active like I would do if I wasn’t overeating helps me to get back to normal eating much more quickly.
And I love your Excel chart. I wish I knew how to do that. Maybe I’ll see if I can get DH to do that for me.