Reclamation and rededication

It was a long weekend in Michigan and the updates I planned didn't happen. In fact, almost nothing went according to plan. As I updated on Thursday, we were good about food on Wednesday night, and ran on the treadmill Thursday. Unfortunately, that was really pretty much the last time I ate healthy the entire weekend.

Different studies say different things, but the most recent research indicates we all make about 200 food choices per day. I should say a typical day, because being on the road is not typical. Every time you see one of those road signs for a restaurant you make a choice, even if it's subconscious. Think about how many total road signs you pass in a 6 hour drive on a major highway. Add that to the number of food choices you make on a regular day. Then, add in that most of those food choices along the highway represent unhealthy but good tasting food.

Sadly, I was actually pretty well behaved for most of the driving time. An extra piece of pizza for dinner and a small ice cream sundae at McDonalds on Sunday were the only road times we deviated from good eating on the road. The real problem was everywhere else.

The hockey tournament was at Ford Field, and while this is a new stadium with a great many amenities; it did not appear to have a selection of healthy foods. In fact, the only place I found that was even close was a sandwich stand, and their normal fare was unavailable. Being that we were in the arena for 6 hours on Thursday and another 3 1/2 on Saturday, eating there was unavoidable. Between that and the biscuits and gravy breakfast Sunday morning at my parents, it just was just a bad weekend for food options.

That said, the above description is almost entirely excuses. I ate what I chose to eat because I didn't use thought and willpower. I let my stomach guide my choices, instead of my head and my points totals. In fact, I don't once remember thinking "how many points is this?" when I went to order. I am willing to bet that in at least one meal each day, I had close to a days worth of points because of the amount of fat and calories in the food I chose. After Rebecca's death, I was feeling revitalized about the process I am going through and the effort I was willing to put in, but it just seemed to evaporate when we hit the road.

So, here we are almost mid-April, and I'm back at where I was at the end of Feburary: 318. Granted, some of that is water retention and salt that will come off. But there is now doubt I backslid over the past two weeks. After reaching a low of 313, I promptly gave back 5 pounds.

Thankfully, just as I chose to eat poorly before, I can choose to eat well now. We didn't have groceries in the house this morning to pack lunch, but I'm being smart today about my food choices. I will be at or below my points total for each day of the week. I will count my points daily and weekly. I will use my extra points to ensure I don't soften my ability to make good choices on a daily basis. Even at the casino this weekend, I will be strong about what choices I make on what I eat and drink.

I am going to reclaim the weight I attained a couple of weeks ago, and rededicate myself to working on making the right choices about food and exercise.

Notes:

- On the success side of things this weekend, I golfed for the first time this year, and it seems the lesson I took is paying off already. I shot a 52 for 9 holes, which is about average for me. What was cool is that I had 4 pars on the day, three of them following makable birdie attempts. We drove golf carts, so it wasn't a ton of exercise, but it was some exercise.

- We ordered our triathlon uniforms today, and I ordered a size that I should be in by the middle of May. It will be interesting to see what happens, as it wouldn't fit me currently. Another thing to hold myself accountable. The more the merrier as they say.