Last week the family and I were out of town, and normally anxiety sets in for me in terms of missing workouts and eating like an unsupervised child. I remember years ago when I was weightlifting, I used to count the number of training days that I would miss while being out of town and worry about losing progress. I historically have not done well traveling and eating well. Even when I start off strong, by the end of the trip, I give way to buying sweets and energy drinks at every gas station that I stop at. This time around, I was determined not to give in to every single temptation.
Rather than being strict, my goal was to enjoy vacation, but within reason. I still did my best to track what I was eating and drinking as accurately as possible, knowing it would be really difficult to nail it down 100%. I wanted to get at least 10,000 steps in each day, more if possible. Since some of our trip was at a condo, we opted to go to the grocery store to get our breakfast and lunches. This was great for me as it allowed me to stay within the boundaries I had set for those two meals and then enjoy dinner.
One thing we did much better this trip was to split a lot of the meals. So many portion sizes were insane and not only did it save us money, but it helped us eat better while still enjoying our meals. I managed to avoid buying candy at every gas station, same with energy drinks. In fact, I believe that I have gone 8 weeks now without an energy drink. In the back of my mind, I was worried about coming back from the trip, getting on the scale, and seeing lost progress.
When I did get on the scale, I only gained two pounds, which totally surprised me. Also, as soon as I got back home and began my regular eating, I immediately felt much better in my clothes. I have been surprised at all of that for some reason. I was expecting to see a gain of more than five pounds, perhaps more. Looking at the bigger picture, the scale isn’t the only measurement of progress. I met my goals for the trip and feel as if I got to really enjoy it and then came back home in a great place to begin training again.
This morning at the gym, I noticed that I was still in the same place on my weight belt. That is another measurement that I keep an eye on. With my lifting belt, I have four notices available when lifting. I remember gaining so much weight that it was at six available. On my final set of squats this morning, I pulled my belt tight and realized I had three notches left. The belt was tight, but not so tight that I felt miserable. This was better news to me than the scale as it means I am losing inches in my waist.