How My Vacation Didn't Ruin My Weight Loss Plan

Yes, you read that right... I haven't gained any weight on my vacation. I've done my best to eat healthy and naughty at the same time. Ha. I'm still here in wonderful sunny California, but my little babe was needing a serious nap, so I volunteered to sit at the hotel while she slept. I figured I'd blog about my vacay diet during her nap time. Sound good? Here we go.

Some things that helped me stay on track this week.

This

(my hotel gym)

and this

(attitude)

Now, this may look like I'm not happy... I wasn't. My attitude was not uber happy. I was grumpy about waking up on my vacation. BUT the minute I got to the hotel gym I felt better and after I was done working out I was SO GLAD I did. I was definitely a sour puss about working out, which ironically worked to my favor. When I was in the gym I pushed it harder because I was so ornery. haha. I tricked myself into hard workouts. Sa-weeet! My first workout morning I forced myself out of bed at 5:15am to meet my brother at the gym. When it was 5:50 and he still hadn't shown up I got really upset. I looked at the clock closer and realized that it was 4:50....oh man... he was late I was an HOUR early. Blast. I hadn't reset my cell phone clock. Grrrrr. Let the orneriness sweep over me. I already had 20 minutes of cardio in, so I figured "well, just do 40 more until he gets here." I alternated between running a mile, biking 3 and doing the stairstepper. I was a sweatpile when my brother showed up. A massive SWEAT. PILE. It was lovely. We did a hard 60 minute strength training session. My brother corrected my form on my overhead tricep curls. Ummm they hurt SO MUCH worse. Manda, you'll get to learn that this week. Just start crying now. The things we put ourselves through to be healthy! (and I'll admit I am slightly addicted to working out... endorphins people, endorphins!!!)

• Walking and walking and walking and walking and walking also helped me out a lot. It's so gorgeous here. You walk everywhere. Dinner each night we picked a different place that was at least .5 mile away. It made for a lot of nights carrying my 5 year old and 7 year niece on our backs walking back to the hotel, but worth not ordering room service! Plus, it was extra calories burned!

Food choices on vacation stink. They are sooo nummy and soo fattening; they are also soooo pricey and sooo EVERYWHERE. Our first day here we went to the store and got healthy alternatives: pb & j, granola bars, cereal, fruit, popcorn, bottled water, etc. Each morning and afternoon we ate our own breakfast and lunch, that helped alot. Being on a tight budget also helped because we REALLY chose when we splurged on a 4$ lemonade or a $3 churro. The kids got a treat everyday so they were really careful with what they chose. Having snacks in the backpack that were healthy alternatives helped us snack throughout the day without resorting to hot dogs, pizza, cotton candy, etc. This trip was also a budget-imposed soda sobriety test for me. Yup. I was NOT willing to pay $2.75 for a 20 oz caffeine free diet coke. So... yup. Sad, sad, sad. I've tried to eat a lot of protein and avoid snacking late a night. I won't sit here and say I haven't had naughty food. Cause ummmm have YOU ever gone on vacation and not? That's what I thought. However, I've only had dessert twice this week and tried to eat more veggies when we order out.

I'm really psyched that my 6 day trip has left me the same size/weight as I was when I left. My goal was only to gain 2-4 lbs... so I definitely hit my goal! YAY!!!!!!