Traveling

I decided to come and hang out with my parents for a week. I think this is the longest period of time that I have spent in my hometown since moving away about 18 years ago, and I know the longest period of time that I have been out of town without Kip since we got married. I have gone away without him for the weekend and he has taken a business trip or two without me, but I think they were all shorter than a week. I am helping Mom with some projects around the house. We are making some real progress.

Traveling of course brings along it's own challenges when one is trying to eat healthy and especially when trying to lose weight. I made a meal plan before leaving and brough some food with me that I was afraid that I might have trouble finding. I had brought some organic fruits to bring too but forgot them. At least Kip will have lots of fruit to snack on this week! I was happy to find an Earth Fare store in Chattanooga which allowed me to buy the rest of the foods that I needed for my meal plan. My Mom and I are popcorn fanatics so I was happy to be able to find some organic popping corn for our snacks this week. Shopping at Earth Fare was great, I would love it if that could be my regular grocery store. At least I know that I can shop closer to Mom and Dad's and don't have to bring so much with me each time.

One of the challenges of being here though is that my parents eat out a lot. Like most of their meals. I have gone out for some meals with them at places where I know I can get a healthier meal but avoided the fast food breakfasts and lunches by sticking with my meal plan. I have managed to get in some exercise since I can work out at the Y here using their AWAY program. I have stuck to my meal plan pretty well too and haven't visited every single one of my favorite resturants here in my home town.

In the last post I mentioned the challenge I had joined to burn off 4500 calories in exercise last week. I am happy, and a little shocked, to say that I met that challenge and even exceeded it a little. Here are my totals:

Monday-770

Tuesday-803

Wednesday-1,148

Thursday-237

Friday-1,240

Saturday-177

Sunday-395

Total-4,770

So I made it. I have been trying to get a walk in before leaving for work every day and going to the Y 4-5 days a week after work. Thursdays are kind of a rest day since I work late on that day and only do the morning walk. Sundays we have been going bowling a lot but since I am out of town I didn't have that calorie burn. I will be doing this challenge again. I love the idea of having a specific calorie range to burn. I weighed in on Saturday instead of Monday this week so that I could get it recorded on the scale I have been weighing on. My total for last week was 1.2 lbs and I am very happy with that.

When I got to my parents my Mom had bought me some shorts at a yard sale. They fit! Most all of my shorts are starting to get pretty baggy so I was happy to get some that actually fit and I don't have to wear a belt. I hate hate hate wearing a belt!