195.2. That's down 1.4 pounds in two weeks - and one of those weeks I was on vacation! So, not a huge loss considering it's 2 weeks of time, but managing to not gain weight while I was vacationing is quite an accomplishment!
Speaking of vacation - I DID work out some of the days that I was gone. And I managed to make good food choices . . . some of the time. I often didn't track my food in the Weight Watchers website, mostly because I wasn't around my computer a lot. Yes, I could have used my phone to do it, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. I usually only do it if necessary when I'm out and about. Doing it for 5 days would have been a really big pain in the butt. And while I did work out some, I'm sure it wasn't equivalent to my normal workouts. BUT, vacation is MEANT for a little indulgence, right? The lesson is: don't consider vacation an opportunity to eat everything in sight. But don't deprive yourself while you're on vacation either - just like in real life, if you don't give yourself a break every now and then, you will never be able to keep this lifestyle up.
Coming back to my normal routine after my vacation felt really bizarre. And I'm talking about my diet/exercise routine here, not just work. It wasn't necessarily bad or good - it just felt weird. It sort of felt like I was starting all over again with my diet. There was that little sigh of sadness in my soul when I bought salad instead of potato chips. (That's right - sigh of sadness.) But after a day of going back into the routine, it felt just as easy as it had before I went on vacation. So, the first day was kind of hard, but the next days were fine. What I'm getting at is that I can understand why many people (and in the past, myself) struggle after getting back from vacation. But once you get past that first day of eating well, you remember how to do it. You don't have to reteach yourself every time you come back from a trip. Now, if you relapse into old habits for 3 months after your vacation, and THEN you try to get back on track, then you will have to relearn those habits. Morale of the story - don't allow vacation, or coming back from vacation, to become your get-out-of-jail free card. Allow yourself a vacation, then get back to it! You don't let vacation throw you off your job for more than a day or two once you get back, right? Why should your diet - taking care of your body - be any different? If anything, your body should be MORE important.
I'm not sure why Americans are so "work-oriented" compared to other countries. But I'm fairly certain it's one of the habits that has contributed to us being the fattest country in the world. We neglect taking care of ourselves to make sure we do our job. We even choose our jobs over our family and friends a lot of the time. (Just to be clear - this isn't all Americans. We all know people that obsess over their looks above everything else. But I know many more people who put their jobs first and let their health slide. Just an observation.) I am particularly guilty of choosing work/school over taking care of myself. I'll sacrifice sleep, down energy drinks or coffee, and shove fast food into my body just to accomplish a to-do list. Or shall I say, I HAVE been particularly guilty of doing all this. I'm proud of say that I have set aside time in 5 days out of the week to take care of my body, cook once a week, and get healthy food at the grocery store once a week. Interestingly - it's enabled me to get more work done because I'm not exhausted all the time. So taking care of ourselves is a win-win!!
More to come soon, weight loss followers!
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