Totally Rocked the Family Camp Challenge!

Salad bar in the camp dining hall

So this was a first for me. I've been going to this family camp for years and it's always been an eat and drink binge pretty much. I was sooo focused on healthy eating this time. Didn't even open the bottles of wine and champagne (my favorite) that I brought for "happy hour" in our cabin. (The fact that it was in the 90s and higher also discouraged drinking alcohol.)

I brought my own dressing to lunch and dinner, and basically had a big plate of salad with whatever protein was being served. If the protein was too "saucy" (pulled pork, I'm looking at you), I just got by on the beans and cheese in the salad bar, and had a protein bar. Fruit was also served and so I had melon. I had eggs for breakfast, bacon once, and fruit. I was never hungry and it felt great.

I had a few splurges (rocky road ice cream at the camp store) and a few "tastes" (a bite of my granddaughter's s'more) so didn't feel deprived. And coming home, not sure what the scale would say, it was actually a pound or two lower than when I left! But we just got home yesterday and I sweated SO much at camp due to the heat that I'm thinking it was just water loss! In any case, I don't think I gained so YAY!

Challenging Week Ahead

In an hour or so I'm off to a week at a "Family Camp" in the Sierras where our family goes every summer. This year there are extra challenges. Some of those include the record heat in California right now (and associated fire danger), and the rapidly-melting record snowpack along with the danger of flooding and extra-cold, extra-fast moving water (our cabin is right by a river). But, the main danger I'm worried about is the food! ;-)

Food is served more or less family style and is typically high-carb (spaghetti, etc.) with very few healthy choices, with the "veg" being some limp iceberg lettuce. And traditionally we take lots of snacks - and alcohol - for in-tent "happy hours" and all day munching by the water. Not to mention s'mores - yum!

I'm taking some shakes and bars, but at this point being back on "real food" it is hard to go back on mostly product at meals. But one way or another, I'm determined to survive the camping excursion without significant backsliding. Not only do I never want to go back to bad habits and old weight, but I have a wedding I'm going to on July fourth and a dress I need to fit into! ;-)

I'll be away from phone and internet service for a week. Wish me luck with surviving fire, floods and food, LOL!

Optifast Kaiser Diet - Down 55 Pounds

Weigh-in tonight (missed last week) was down 2 pounds, which was good. I actually would have been fine with no change, but Thursday am leaving for 6 days at an inclusive family camp, and am worried about gaining. Lots of high carb food served family style with not that many healthy choices. I'm going to try my best!

Not on product-only for some time, but I still have a bar or two a day. I'm happy that I'm holding my weight down even while eating "real food" and certainly have had food that wouldn't be necessarily recommended, from champagne flights to fig chutney on French bread to frozen gelato. BUT, those are the exception, and I've compensated, and mostly I'm eating high protein, low carb, high veg. And not a lot. Sadly at my age my metabolism can't handle lots of calories.

Related to that, in a few weeks we'll have that test that tells us how many calories we should eat to maintain. But I had it maybe five years ago and it was distressingly low - related to muscle (and lack of) and exercise (and lack of). And age and gender are probably figured in too.

It's in the hundreds where I live this week so am SO happy I shed that 55 pounds or I would be SO miserable - sweaty, rashy, exhausted. Well done me, is all I can say, for my success on this program! And best wishes to anyone considering a similar program, starting out on it, struggling through it, hitting transition, or in the maintenance phase. I've gone probably from a size 18 to a size 8, so for me this program is a big thumbs up. And I hope in 5 years I say the same thing!

The Danger of Delicious Food

I've realized that for me, the biggest danger with regards to healthy eating is that some food just tastes too darn good! So I'm fine when on Optifast product, and if my fridge and daily diet is full of eggs, tuna, salad, apples, plain yogurt, veggies, I'm OK too. No problem with portion control or overeating.

But put me at an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, or hand me a jar of chocolate-covered apricots, or sell me a basket of ripe cherries from a road-side stand, and that food is gone, all of it.

My mom could make a box of Sees candy last a month. I obviously didn't inherit the self-control gene. It is really really hard for me to stop eating when food tastes good. Yesterday at a buffet I only had salad because I knew if I started on the other food it would be a pig-out. Not proud to say it, but I feel like I know myself after all these years, and I know that I will blow through any stopsign on the autobahn of eating when the food is yummy.

So do I just eat meh food the rest of my life? That's kinda what I'm thinking at this point! I did read that successful post-dieting folks limit the variety in their meals. So basically eat mostly the same thing day in, day out. That's probably due to this same problem.

So for now, I'm keeping the sexy, high-interest foods out of my fridge and pantry, avoiding certain restaurants, and hoping for no more chocolate apricot gifts. (It was from my son! From Vienna! And he knows I love apricots. And chocolate!)

My weigh-in last night was half a pound below a month ago, the previous weigh-in. If I was still trying to lose a lot of weight that would be a bummer. But actually, I'd be happy to maintain, so no gain was good news. Just gotta keep keepin' on!

Weigh-In Tonight - After a Month Away

I've missed the weekly meetings for a few weeks, or in the case of last week, it was a holiday and we didn't meet. A month ago my weight was 144.5. Since then there have been ups and downs. I've had a meal replacement bar or two each day, but no soups or shakes. I've eaten mostly low-carb - salads, tuna, eggs, chicken, strawberries, nonfat greek yogurt, apples - but there have certainly been other times where I've had pizza, chocolate, wine, bread, Panda Express, and other items that probably weren't the best choices. But I've weighed every day, adjusted my diet when I've had more calories than I felt wise, kept going to the water aerobics class a few times a week, and most important, reminded myself daily how much better I feel. Fitting into clothes that look good on me, being able to go up and down stairs, and get out of bed in the morning without a Herculean effort!

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what the official scale has to say tonight. I'm eager to meet again with my Kaiser cohort!