Now That I've Eaten My Way Through Seattle...

I had an amazing time in Seattle over the weekend, but I have to admit something. In the midst of all the fun, the food, and MANY cocktails, I had to continually force nagging and negative thoughts out of my mind.

"You're blowing all the work you've done on the elliptical the last two weeks!"
"You just consumed more calories in one meal than you do in a day!"
"Why did you even think you could keep any weight off? Are you an idiot?"
"How are you going to face writing that you've gained back 10 pounds?"

In short, this was my first HUGE challenge on the wellness front. Totally away from home and completely out of my normal routine, I felt out of control, but tried my best not to show it. I mean, how do you tell a friend of 12 years that you're afraid to eat their food? And you don't want to go anywhere and be tempted by food.

I resigned myself to simply accept my fate and own up to the embarrassment of failing. And drowned my sorrows in numerous cocktails.

The dread escalated the minute I walked in my apartment Sunday night. You see, the scale is in the entryway, because it's the most level piece of floor where I have enough room to stand without bumping into anything. It taunted me. I weigh myself in the mornings, so breaking the routine would be like asking to fail even worse than I knew I already had. But I resisted, figuring I would put off the inevitable bad news until the next morning rather than going to bed upset.

When I got up the next morning, I knew I had to face to music. So I climbed on the scale, Kleenex in hand, and looked down in shock after a few moments....

I had only gained a pound. One pound. The entire weekend.

As I got in the shower, I tried to rationalize how this was possible. Broken scale? Dreaming? Need eyes checked? After a reweigh post shower, including a reset and test of the scale, I realized none of my theories was the answer. Then I remembered something....

Muscle burns more calories than fat. And I've been building muscle with all the exercise.

Once my brain was able to correct it's perspective, I thought back through the weekend. Dinner Friday night was very small portions, which was a great choice since I try not to eat too late. Leah and I got up Saturday morning and went to the gym, and I got in a solid workout in spite of being a bit off my normal pace. I had a salad at lunch Saturday. Everything we had for dinner, except the blueberry pie, was fresh, simply prepared without a lot of heavy sauce, and very healthy overall. I was a little bad at brunch and split Lola's homemade donuts with Leah, but the rest of breakfast was not terrible. Damn, if not for the booze count, I probably wouldn't have gained anything!!

I felt like a huge weight got lifted from my shoulders, and I set a new record pace on the elliptical Monday night! And at this morning's weigh in, I had lost the pound I gained over the weekend plus half a pound more. Maybe I can do this after all!

Most importantly, the whole weekend experience made me so thankful to all the great people I have in my life that keep supporting me on my journey even when I'm afraid I'm failing. Leah had read my blog and was following my progress, so she asked me right away Friday night if I wanted to go to the gym over the weekend. And then today, I got this amazing card from "Coach Nadine," my exercise guardian angel..



I so appreciated her gesture I almost cried! I must say, I love the "Shoe Sale Starter Pose," and will definitely be using that one.

The only casualty of the week so far has been my headphones. They started shorting out today, probably because I've been sweating buckets into the ear padding and ruining the circuits underneath. Luckily I've got a spare pair.



I'm sure I'll have doubts again as I continue down this road, but I learned a huge lesson this weekend. Keep the faith, do the right thing as much as you can, lean on your friends, and the rest will take care of itself.