What do you all do in these situations??

Hi all, So, I have been gone about a week. My husband and I enjoyed a mini vacation. Being that my husband is in the military and doesn't get much time off, I was more than ready to enjoy every single second with him . We even stayed at a hotel that offered complimentary 24 hour fitness visits during our stay. I didn't make much use of it though. Our son did so much running around that I know I got a good workout. Anyway, here's the sitaution. We went to the city museum in downtown st louis. Beautiful place by the way. While we were there, we decided to get something to eat. There were NO healthy options or close to healthy options. The only noncarbonated beverage was lemonade. Don't get me wrong, I like lemonade, but geesh can we get a little variety! Later we decided to take our son to see flushed away (cute movie!!) AGAIN nothing close to healthy. AND they had NO noncarbonated beverages! Another day, we went bowling. They had lemonade of course, but nothing good to eat. I am one of those who now eats consistantly every 3 hours. Because of that, I didn't make the best choices. What do you all do when you are out and about and run into these sitautions??? Thanks for your suggestions Cam

Hi Cam, I am going to give you a rather unpopular response, so get ready!!!! I always go prepared, wherever I go. I pack my "things". Cheese sticks, sugar free pudding, "on the go" packets, protein bars. I always bring a bottle of water, and bottled water is always available anywhere I go. No, it's not fun to be eating my "diet" food when others are enjoying themselves. But since I no longer associate food with fun, it's not so bad anymore. It's all about choices, even hard ones. Good luck. Donna

Donna, Thanks for the response. I don't get what's so unpopular about your suggestion?? lol Now as far as the water thing, it MUST be extremely iced for me to drink it. I guess I could have asked for a cup and bought bottled water. I know I should have been better prepared. I just let the family time take over my better judgement. My husband literally gets a week off every 4 months. Other than that, he works 7 days a week 4 am -10pm. In my defense, I didn't make awful choices, it was just things that I wouldn't normally eat at home. For example, they had a philly cheese steak. I ate the steak and cheese without the bread. At home, I try to avoid fried foods. That is pretty hard when you are out. Alot of the places we went I simply did not eat, which is just as bad. One of the positives I discovered is that this time verses any other time I've tried to lose weight, I didn't beat myself up about what I did. I gained 3 lbs while we were gone. Usually I would have thrown my hands up and quit. I simply said to myself, "well you know what you did wrong and the bad food choices, next time be prepared". From that thought, I know that I am making a lifestyle change and not a "diet" and quite frankly, I'm proud of me lol. Afterall, everyone has a bad day. Thanks for the advice I truly appreciate it all donna! Cam PS Don't worry about offending me, I am very hard to offend I assure you So, give me honest advice. I admire nothing more than honesty.

Hey Neecee Thanks for the great tips! But I have to make a comment about the 4th one. I am a black woman and the one thing black women do not like to do is get their hair wet While in st louis, I shelled out $200 to get my hair braided. There is NO WAYYYY I'm getting that wet!!! This style has to last me 3-4 months Yea, I really did focus on the family. My husband and I have been married 6 years and we always try to make family time, especially once we had a child. We have learned that your birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc are when you are together and not a particular day. They are the whole reason I am working so hard to get healthy.

well it depends on the type of braids or weaves. For example there are braids where it's braided all the way down to the end. Those are easy to manage if they get wet. What I have is called micorbraids. They simply braid part of the hair at the root and the rest (normall a combination of fake hair and your own) hang loose. If it gets wet, it may tangle. That would cause it to look matted and not as nice. Weaves can be sewn or glued in. There is another technique called fusion that a lot of celebrities wear. I am not too familiar with that. Just know it cost 1000s of dollars. If it is glued in, you don't want to get it wet cause the water will loosen the glue and it will come out. I once went swimming and my swimming cap came off and my weave was swimming next to me Ok, so if you get it sewn in, you can get it wet. You wouyld just have to wash, blow dry, curl, style, etc your hair afterwards. BUT that also depends on the type of weave. If you buy weave hair that is curly, you may not be able to do things to it. Therfore you can't get it wet. I guess you can tell I have pretty good knowledge on weave lol. It's so much easier to manage and it keeps a lot of the harsh stuff out of your hair and lets it grow better for me. I say go for it! I must warn you..you may become an addict lol

Hey Cam I just wanted to suggest something for ya. Are you allergic to aspartame?? I always like to have something to drink when I'm out and sometimes I can't find any healthy options either. I have two tricks that I use. I don't know if you'll like them but they work for me. #1 I stash those singles (Crystal light or Nestea) in my purse, and have them on me at all times. You can always get a glass or a bottle of water so they're perfect, and they still make me feel like I get something nice to drink like everyone else. #2 I carry a couple of tea bags on me, and a couple of spenda packets. I order ho****er and a glass of ice. I make the tea and put the splenda into it hot. Then I pour the tea over the ice. Voila....diet proof iced tea ;) Just two of my little travelling secrets. Hope that helps ya... Kate

well i agree with others that the best thing is to plan ahead and bring something healthy with you. the other part is to educate yourself. there are quite a few purse-size fast food nutrition guides out there. a lot of times, there are healthy options that you might not think are healthy while things that *seem* healthy can be really bad. like a plain old decent sounding turkey burger at ruby tuesdays is like 700 cals or something while a veggie burger wrap is like 3-400. lemonade can have a lot of sugar and calories in it and since its not juice, doesn't really have any nutritional value. there really isn't anything wrong with carbonation as long as it is in moderation and you're drinking lots of water at other times during the day. movies are tricky places for me as well. i usually am easily talked into sharing a giant popcorn. if you can plan, i like to bring little things to munch on like 100 calorie packs or grapes. even if you want candy, its better to stop at the gas station at the corner and buy a "normal" size bag of M&Ms rather than buy the giant size that they sell at the movies (and yo'll save money). i don't know, nothing too creative, but that's all i can think of to say right now....

Hi andrea Thankd for the advice. I agree that I could have planned better. I am So caught up in family time that I didn't focus. I guess it showed me that for a lifestyle change, you have to make it part of your life at all times. My issue with carbonated beverages is that I just don't drink them. As a teen, that was all I would drink. The result was very spotty skin. So I don't drink them at all. I never thought about lemonade not having any nutrtional value. I was simply thinking it wasn't carbonated. You all have given me so much advice and I am really going to be better prepared from now on.