Vacations Kill (your diet)

We all love vacation, it's a time to get away, to relax, to have fun. And usually all this fun and relaxation includes food, and not just the boring foods you have been getting used to on your diet, but "fun," super fried, super fatty foods. And if you are visiting family, they love to feed you. It's recipe for disaster.

Since starting my weight loss journey I have been convinced that "diets" should be something that you can do all the time. Something that can even be manageable on vacation. But I had no idea how hard that would actually be.

I ran every morning on vacation starting with the day of our flight. I ran between 3-5 miles, and there were some pretty good hills thrown in there. I attempted to track carefully and avoid bad foods for the first 3 days of my trip, but with dinner parties, and lunch outings, and new fun foods to try I failed miserably by day 4, and it didn't get better the next two days.

I was so sure all the running would keep the pounds aways regardless, but I was wrong. I managed to gain 4 pounds, which will now take me 2 weeks to get rid of. My measurements are all still the same, which is great, but those 4 pesky pounds I thought I conquered are back and staring me right in the face in big red blinking numbers. I'm so disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED every minute of my trip and I had so much fun, I just wish all that fun didn't come at a cost. It is so hard to keep your healthy lifestyle going on vacation. And I went to the south, it's a wonder I didn't gain 40 lbs with all the delicious eateries. There was a cute sign I saw that said, The South: a place where macaroni and cheese is a vegetable. It's cute and funny, but a little true. It was so hard to find even a subway in most areas. And I take for granted all the whole foods around us, because those are extremely hard to come by down there too. You think you can avoid eating out, but it becomes an every day occurrence when you travel. We did get lucky and find a whole foods and had a salad one afternoon fro their salad bar, and the next day at the aquarium we were able to get a salad too. My grandmother had the most amazing garden with the most delicious looking veggies, and I should have eaten more of those while I was there, but let's be real, when someone mentions beignets squash seems a little less appealing.

And its' not just the extra pounds of vacation either, it's the exhaustion from being on the go, the sluggish digestion from eating things you aren't used too and traveling. I think my body is going to feel so energized and happy this week.

This morning I am excited to get back into my routine, and run, and eat crazy healthy like I did before. I can almost taste the veggie plate now! I am trying to remind myself that the spike in calories for a few days may have helped to reset my BMR a tad and this week of healthy eating and working out should shock my system into rapid weight loss like the first week I started. We'll see.