What I learned on my summer vacation
Two weeks ago I left for the UK for my first vacation since being banded. My path so far has been very straight & narrow - I am on a mission to change my life and, as I am fond of saying, I've got religion on this thing. However, going on vacation is a pretty scarey proposition if you're in the middle of a weightloss & exercise program (which for me is walking 60-90 minutes daily). But I don't need to tell that to anyone here.
Before going away I decided I would not obssess about what I ate or how much walking I did. It was an experiment of sorts - I know I cannot live the rest of my life controlling every little aspect of daily existence and figured now was as good a time as any to find out if I can make the choices I need to make in order to succeed once I'm outside of this very controlled "lapband bubble" I've created for myself. It was scarey, but I figured it was time to find out.
Here is what I did NOT do for the past 2 weeks while on vacation:
- I did NOT weigh or measure every morsel of food nor did I track my carbs and calories as I had been doing daily on CalorieKing
- I did NOT walk every morning for an hour like I always do - I walked maybe 4 days of the 14, (although of course we did quite a bit of walking just touring around seeing sights, etc., but we were definitely sauntering, not exercising!)
- I did NOT drink my usual 100+ oz. of water a day (I drank less than half that amount, and some days hardly drank any at all)
- I did NOT strictly adhere to my low-carb eating regime - I indulged in salted cashews several times and discovered a yummy wholegrain crispbread called spelt which I ate along with my scrambled eggs & sausage almost every morning for breakfast.
But, of all the things I did NOT do, there's one thing that I believe contributed the most to my epiphany yesterday when I got on the scale to find that, despite having ingested far more calories per day than normal and not being religious about my daily walks, I had LOST 2 lbs on vacation!!! .... And, what was the one thing I didn't do that made that possible? ....
I DID NOT EAT ANY SUGAR. NONE. Not one morsel of sugar or refined carbs passed my lips in 2 weeks!!
Was it hard to resist when others were eating chocolate and ice cream and pizza and potato chips? Nope! Having lived without that crap for 6 months has left me with absolutely no craving for any of it.
And as an added bonus - despite travelling for almost 24 hours on Sunday to get home (about 14 hours of which was on two different airplanes), my legs and ankles did not swell even a tiny bit, as they have always done in the past, and my jetlag has been mercifully minimal.
Oh yeah, not to mention I didn't need a seatbelt extension on the plane this time, either!!
So finally, blissfully, thankfully, I now UNDERSTAND that I can and WILL win this battle. Eventually I will be able to add more complex carbs to my meals, but as long as I never let sugar and refined carbs back into my life, I will be fine. I will really, truly, be fine.
And THAT's what I learned on my summer vacation.
Well done!! A real triumph!
But sorry that over here we gave you 2 weeks of lousy weather - early and mid July was glorious! Shame about August so far! But hope you had a good time despite that!
Kate
Highest 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too thin!). Comfort zone 155-165.
Happily banded since May 2006. Regain of 28lbs 2013-14. ALL GONE!
But some has returned! Up to 175, argh! Off we go again,
Glad you had a good time! I live in the next county to Wiltshire - it is a gentle and pretty part of the UK! Well, as long as you avoid Swindon!
Kate
Highest 290, Banded - 248 Lowest 139 (too thin!). Comfort zone 155-165.
Happily banded since May 2006. Regain of 28lbs 2013-14. ALL GONE!
But some has returned! Up to 175, argh! Off we go again,
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